Human Resource Management- meaning, nature and objectives.

Q. Define Human Resource Management. Explain its nature and objectives. 

Ans. MEANING OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: In simple words, Human Resource means people working within the organisation. It refers to the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, aptitude and beliefs possessed by its workforce in the organisation. So, HRM deals with proper or best utilization of available human resources in the organisation.

HRM is the focal point of all the organisations in the present day competitive world. It is not possible for any organisation to achieve its objectives without proper management of human resources. It focuses on Human Approach while managing people in the organisation. It means that organisation should consider its people as an important resource to effectively achieve the objectives of the organisation along with the development of its human resources. HRM is a people oriented management policy. It stresses that organisation should consider its people as an asset not as cost. It deals with acquisition, development, motivation and maintenence of human resources to gain competitive advantage.

DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: 

1. According to Flippo, “Human Resource/Personnel Management may be defined as the planning, organising, directing, and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organisational and societal objectives are accomplished.” 

2. According to Wendell L. French, “The human resource management refers to the philosophy, policies, procedures, and practice related to the management of people within the organisation”.

NATURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: 

1. Universal: HRM is universal in nature. It is present in all types of organisations i.e. government, business, education, health, social etc. It permeates (spreads, व्याप्त, फैला हुआ है) all types and levels of management in all organisations. 

2. Part of Management Discipline: HRM is a part of management discipline. It is not an independent discipline in itself. It is a functional area of management, so it depends on the management concepts, principles and techniques to a reasonable extent and applies these principles in the area of HRM.

3. People Oriented: HRM is all about people I.e. individual and groups in the organisation. It covers all kinds of people at various levels in the organisation. It is concerned with acquisition, development, motivation and maintenence of people in the organisation.

4. Action Oriented: HRM is an action oriented approach. It deals with policies and practices related to the management of people and resolve their problems by balanced policies.

5. Goal Oriebted: HRM is directed towards attainment of Organisational goals by strategic deployment of capable work force and personnel techniques.

6. Long Term Perspective: HRM is a long term perspective to the management of people in the organisation. Development of human resource and value addition is a long term process and for it, managers have to invest in human resources to harness their knowledge and capability in the organisation.

7. Integrating Mechanism: HRM tries to integrate Organisational goals and personal goals for the benefit of organisation as well as human resources.

8. Development Oriented: HRM is development oriented approach. It aims at development of human resources. It assesses the training needs of the employees and develops their knowledge and skill in the interest of the organisation.

9. Continuous Process: HRM is a continuous process. It has to regularly assess (estimation, valuation) the human resource requirement of the organisation, and plan to.meet the human resource needs of the organisation according to its ever changing needs and human resource requirement of various departments in the organisation.

OBJECTIVES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

1. Societal Objectives: Every organisation i.e. business, government, education, health, recreation etc. is a part of society. So, it is the responsibility of the organisation to use the human resources in an ethical way not only for the benefit of organisation but also for the welfare of the society. They should respect the law of nation while hiring human resources into the organisation, maintain proper union-management relations, perform proper labour welfare functions and ensure safety of workers. The failure of organisations to use their resources for society’s benefit may result in failure.

2. Organisational Objectives: No organisation can achieve its objectives without human resources. It is the skill and efficiency of the human resources which utilizes all other resources i.e. money, material, technology, machines etc. So, it is the ultimate source that assists the organisation in achieving its objectives efficiently and economically.

3. Functional Objective: HR department is supposed to perform various functions such as Human Resource Planning, Recruitment, Selection, Training, Development, Appraisal, Employee Relation etc. It has to ensure that adequate number of manpower is available in the organisation according to the current and changing needs of the organisation.

4. Personal Objective: Human resources in the organisation help to achieve organisational goals. So, the organisation should also help human resources to satisfy and achieve their personal goals. There must be proper integration of organisational goal and personal goals so as to effectively achieve organisational goals. The satisfied and motivated employees will work more efficiently in attaining organisational objectives. It is essential to meet personal objectives of human resources in the organisation in order to retain, maintain and motivate them. This will lead to enhance their individual contribution in meeting organisational objectives. 

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: MEANING, NATURE AND OBJECTIVES.

Index Numbers- meaning, uses & problems

1. What are Index Numbers ? Explain uses of Index No.s and discuss various problems faced in the construction of Index No.s. 

Or 

What are Index Numbers ? Explain various problems faced in the construction of Index No.s .  

Or 

Explain the uses of Index Numbers. What are the difficulties in the construction of Index Numbers ?

Ans. MEANING OF INDEX NO.s: Index Numbers is a statistical technique which helps us to measure (which measure) the relative changes in general price level. These are a specialized type of averages designed to measure the change in a group of related variables over a period of time. These are economic barometer of (economic activities of) the country because if one wants to have an idea as to what is happening in an economy, he should check the important indicators like the index number of industrial production, index number of business activity etc.

USES/UTILITY OF INDEX NO.S:  The main uses of Index No.s are the followings:

i) To Simplify Complexities: An index number makes possible the measurement of such complex changes whose direct measurement is not possible. In other words, index numbers are used to measure the changes in some quantity which we cannot observe directly.

ii) Helpful in the Fixation of salary and Dearness Allowances: By index numbers, government and other employees can properly make wage and salary fixation. They determine the instalment of dearness allowance for employees on the basis of index numbers only.

iii) Helpful in Prediction: Index Numbers give the knowledge as to what changes have occured in the past. On the basis of these changes alone, predictions about the future are made. Thus, index numbers are economic barometers.

iv) Helpful in Comparison: Index Numbers make possible the comparative study of phenomena (fact or event that can be observed). By index numbers, the relative changes occurring in the variables are determined. This simplifies the comparison of data on the basis of time and space.

v) To measure purchasing power of money: By index numbers, the changes taking place in purchasing power of money can also measured.

vi) Useful in Business: Index Numbers measures the changes taking place in the business world and prove very useful in making a comparative study of those changes e.g. sales, change in output and value etc. Thus, index numbers, for a businessman, function like a barometer.

PROBLEMS FACED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INDEX NO.S: The number of problems come up while constructing the index numbers. Some of them are as follows:

i) Purpose of Index Number: Index numbers are of many types as they are constructed for different purposes. A single index can not fulfil all the purposes. It is very essential to fix the purpose of index number, because selection of commodities, their prices, fixation of their weights etc., depend on the very purpose of index numbers. There can be many purposes of an index number- measurement of changes in retail prices or measurement of changes in wholesale prices etc.

ii) Selection of Items: Another important problem in the construction of index numbers is the selection of items. The following things should be considered while making a selection of items. (i) Only those items should be selected which represent the taste, habit, custom and needs of the related group of people, (ii) the selected items should be standardized and of classified feature, (iii) their quality too must be considered, (iv) the number of items should be enough and they should be of current quality, and (v) the selected items must be classified into groups and sub-groups.

iii) Selection of Prices: After making the Selection of items, the next arises the problem of selection of prices. Prices can be of both types– retail and wholesale. Whether wholesale or retail prices are to be used, the decision depends upon the purpose of index number.

iv) Selection of Base year: Another important problem in the construction of index numbers is related to the selection of base year. A base year has to be selected for making an index number. The year for which changes are to be determined, is known as base year. Index number of base year is always taken as 100. In selecting a base year, the following things are to be kept in mind.
a) Base year should be normal year and no unusual event like Earthquake, Flood, War etc. should have taken place in that year.
b) Base year should not be very far in past.
c) So far as possible, base year should be close to the current year.
d) Base year should not be too old or too distant.

v) Selection of Weights: The term weight refers to the relative importance of different items in the construction of index numbers. Another important problem in making of index numbers is to assign weights to different commodities or items. In fact, all commodities included in the construction of Index numbers do not have equal importance. Therefore, to have accurate results, commodities are assigned weights according to their importance. There are two ways of assigning weights: (i) Quantity, (ii) Value. Weights decided in the construction of index numbers should be logical, accurate and rational.

vi) Selection of an Average: Averages can be of several types. Theoretically, any average can be used but in practice, arithmetic mean and geometric mean are used. Geometric mean is considered to be best for the construction of index numbers as this is the most suitable for measuring relative changes but due to the difficulties of computation, in place of geometric mean, arithmetic mean is often used in the construction of index numbers.

vii) Selection of an Appropriate Formula: Various formulae can be used in the construction of index numbers but it is very essential to select the most suitable out of them. This selection depends upon the purpose of index number and availability of data. Fisher's formula, which is called as Fisher's Ideal Index, is considered to be the best.    

Define DATA and Information. How data is different from Information ? Discuss types of information.

 Q. Define DATA and Information. How data is different from Information ? Discuss types of information.

Ans. MEANING OF DATA: Data can be defined as a representation of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing by human or electronic machine. Data can be represented with the help of characters like alphabets (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) or special characters (+,-,*,>,<,= etc.)

MEANING OF INFORMATION: Information is organised or classified data so that it has some surprise value (meaningful values) to the receiver. OR 

Information is the processed data on which decisions and actions are based.

Differences between Data and Information.

DATA	INFORMATION
1. Data is Raw facts and figures. 2. Data itself has no meaning. 3. It does not help in decision making. 4. Data cannot be divisible. For example day, month and year. 5. In B.com examination, Anu got 45 marks in Paper 1, 50 marks in Paper 2 and 55 marks in Paper 3. Here marks obtained in different subject is example of data.	1. Information is processed form of the data. 2. Information is always meaningful. 3. It helps in decision making.  4. Information can be divisible. For example Date_of_Birth. 5. Anu passed the B.com examination with 50% marks. Hence, Result of B.com exam becomes an information.

Types of Information: There are three types of information.

1. Strategic Information is used by top management to plan the objectives of their organisation and to assess whether the objectives are being met in practice. This relates to long term planning policies of the organisation as a whole. Such information includes overall profitability of the organisation. Information requirements by top management are met by strategic information by arranging information from internal and external sources. 

2. Tactical or managerial information is used by middle management to ensure that the resources of the business are employed to achieve the strategic objectives of the organisation. This relates to the medium time period planning and is of use at management control level. Such information includes productivity measurement (output per man-hour or per machine-hour), budgetary control or variance analysis report, cash flow forecasts, manning levels, profit results within a particular department of the organisation, labour turnover statistics within a department, short term purchasing requirements etc. A large proportion of this information will be generated from within the organisation. 

Another important function of tactical level is to supply information to strategic tier for the use of top management. 

3. Operational information is used by operation level of management such as foreman or head clerks to ensure that specific tasks are planned and carried out properly within a factory or office etc. This relates to short periods which vary from an hour to a few days. Operational level require information for implementing and regulating operational plans for the purpose of conversion of inputs into outputs. Also it supplies routine and other information to tactical tier in summarised form.

Define DATA and Information. How data is different from Information ? Discuss types of information.

Define DATA and Information. How data is different from Information ? Discuss types of information.

Macroeconomics: Meaning, scope, limitations

 Q. Define macroeconomics. Explain the scope and limitations of macroeconomics.

Ans. MEANING OF MACROECONOMICS: The term ‘Macro’ is derived from the Greek Word ‘Makros’ which means large. Thus, macroeconomics means economics of large dimension, referring to the economy as a whole.

Macroeconomics is defined as that branch of economics which studies economic activities including economic issues and economic problems at the level of economy as a whole. It focuses on macroeconomic variables like aggregate demand, aggregate supply, general price level, national income and output etc.

DEFINITION OF MICROECONOMICS:
In the words of Boulding, “Macroeconomics theory is that part of Economics which studies the over all averages and aggregates of the system.”

According to Shapiro, “Macroeconomics deals with the functioning of the economy as a whole.”

SCOPE OF MACROECONOMICS: It refers to the issues, problems and parameters of Economics that are included in macroeconomics. Following are the broad areas of study of macroeconomics and subject matter of macroeconomics.

i) Theory of National Income: Macroeconomics studies the concept of national income, its different elements, methods of measurement and social accounting.

ii) Theory of Employment: Macroeconomics also studies problems relating to employment and unemployment. It studies different factors determining the level of employment, viz. effective demand, aggregate supply aggregate consumption, aggregate investment, aggregate saving, etc.

iii) Theory of Money: Changes in demand for and supply of money have considerable
bearing on the level of employment. Macroeconomics studies functions of money and theories relating to it. The system of barking and other financial institutions is also studied in this context.

iv) Theory of General Price Level: Determination of changes in general price-level are the core issues of macroeconotnics. Problems concerning inflation and deflation are the principal issues involved in this context.

v) Economic Growth and Development: Study of problems relating to economic growth or increase in per capita real income forms a part of macroeconomics. Specifically, it studies the growth problem of underdeveloped economies.

vi) Business Cycles: Economic activity always shows ups and downs, it never shows a steady pattern of change for all time to come. This cyclical movement of the economy is better known as business cycle. It is a major macroeconomic issue and an important area of macroeconomics study.

vii) Theory of International Trade: Macroeconomics also studies trade among different countries. Theory of international trade, tariff protection, etc., are subjects of great significance in macroeconomics.

viii) Budgetary Deficit and Fiscal Policy: In the wake of privatisation and globalisation of the world economies, budgetary deficit and the related fiscal policy has emerged as a issue of macroeconomics.

ix) Interest Rates and Monetary Policy: Monetary policy involves monetary measures by the government in terms of changing interest rate with a view to stimulating economic growth and stability.

LIMITATIONS OF MACROECONOMICS: Main limitations of macroeconomics are as under:

i) Dependence on individual units: Several conclusions of macroeconomics are based on the sum total of individual units. In fact, it is not correct, because what is true for individuals may not necessarily be true for the whole economy. For instance, an individual may save in terms of money but if everybody starts saving, the aggregate demand will fall causing reduction in national income.

ii) Heterogeneous Units: Under macroeconomics, hetergeneous units are studied. These units are measured in different ways. It is not possible to express these units in uniform numbers or homogeneous measure.

iii) The composition (ingredients) of structure (manner) of the Aggregate is more important than the Aggregate itself: Macroeconomics studies aggregate but as a matter of fact, it is the composition of the structure of the aggregates which influences an economy more than the aggregate itself. Supposing, price level in 2012 and 2013 remains constant but it does not imply thar no change prices took place in 2013. It is possible that prices of food grains might have fallen in 2013 and that of industrial goods might have risen correspondingly, keeping the general price level constant. Thus, for a proper study of an economy, knowledge of the composition of structure of the aggregate is much essential as the aggregate itself.

iv) Different effects of Aggregates: Another difficulty in the study of macroeconomics is that it does not study the different effects of an aggregate on different sectors of an economy. Macroeconomic tendency (particular way of behaving) has not uniform effect on all sectors of an economy. For example, rise in price level benefits the traders and the industrialists but the wage-earners are the losers.

v) Limited Application: Another limitation of macroeconomics is that most of the models relating to it have only theoretical significance. They have very little use in practical life. Moreover, it is very difficult to measure various aggregates of macroeconomics.

vi) It ignores the contribution of Individual units: Macroeconomics analysis throws light only on the functioning of the aggregates. However, in real life, the economic activities and decisions taken by individual units on private level have their effects on the economy as a whole. Such effects are not known by the study of macroeconomics alone.