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1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SCENARIO IN

21ST CENTURYWe are growing year after years, century after centuriesboth quantitatively and qualitatively. This century has wit-nessed a tremendous growth in human population. Not onlythis we have had speedy industrial growth, development inscience and technology, spread of education, improvementin health and what not. In the next millennium we are readyfor a giant leap and no looking back. Today we have thebest of civilizations. As we grow in numbers we grow ininstitutions. Institutions and organisations of all kinds—edu-cational, social, economical, political, religious, industrialbusiness etc. All these are run and managed by humanbeings. Human beings are resourceful entities. They aremultifaceted, their maximum utilisation lead to attainmentof our goals. We have to manage these resources perfectlyto the best of its kind. The organisations with perfection inhuman resource management are leading and growing. Nowit is realized by all that efficient management of humanresources is the key to success and growth. In the timesto come each organisation will manage its human re-sources efficiently and stand in the competition. The com-petition is not from within but it is global. Organisationsshould be prepared for facing global competitions. Thereare giant players in the globe where survival of theorganisations is at stake. Only the fittest will survive. Hu-man resource management plays a pivotal role in this re-spect. Growth in science and technology has brought thecountries closer where the giant multinational corporationsare the chief operators in business, industries and educa-tion. They have achieved perfection in managing and man-agement. The future will require still more perfection. Thesecompanies have shown the way. They are shaping theeconomies for they are creating value and making economicprogress. The progress in primarily dependent on the qual-ity of management in general and human resource man-agement in particular. The companies have exploit oppor-tunities with the help of the limited resources at their dis-posal which is possible with the help of quality manage-ment. The people with knowledge and expertise are thebiggest resources with the companies. They are the key togrowth and success. Organisations have to build-up thebest of internal environment, improve quality to create ex-ternal reputation and grab the market share. Striving forexcellence in every field keeps the organisation ahead ofothers.Today there is a flood of hi fliers. It becomes increasinglydifficult to arrest their stay in the organisation. The veryspecial efforts are needed to restore them in theorganisation and use their full potentials. To get rid of thesepeople who give a serious blow to the organisation at timesthe human resource manager should make sincere effortsand have the second line of defence at every level so that ifthe senior or any expert leaves the organisation the juniortakes the charge to reduce the tension. One should knowthere is no dearth of experts now. If one leaves the othermay come in. In the whole drama it is the work that suffers.Human resource development is the answer. Continuousdevelopment of knowledge, skill, competence should goon in the company.Nothing untowards is going to happen in the 21st century.Whatever changes are to take place in new millennium wecan see the footsteps today. We should be prepared to

accept the change and equipped ourself to cope with it.The projection for future can be very well made on the basisof the indications today. The future is always uncertain.There is nothing new about it. On the basis of knowledgeand expertise we must be in a position to manage change.The most of the changes we come across are because offast changing technology. The manager has to use the ap-propriate technology to cope up with the change.Globally the world will come very closer and we experienceglobal changes. The recent advancement in information tech-nology will play the key role and take the lead in develop-ment and growth of the industry, business, trade of the coun-try. Every field shall get affected by it. A new era of indus-trial development will be ushered in.There shall be changes in the overall environment i.e., eco-nomic, social, political, educational, cultural, demographic,legal, technological etc. Organisational environment willchange according to the changes in general environment.A manager has to visualize the future trends and act ontime. Late may be repenting. The use of robots, videoconferencing, computer network will change the pace ofmanaging and management. Every thing will move in a fasterway. All these are going to influence in a big way. Largescale use of robot will erode employment opportunities. Allheavy and difficult jobs shall be done by robots. Hence it isdifficult to concede the technological impact. Technologi-cal progress is a continuous process and no one can ar-rest it. Organisations have to make the best use of it.Computer is a widely used machine that has made thethings simple. Computer illiteracy shall be a curse. Com-puter has made its impact on day-to-day life. Computerawareness is a compulsion now. Knowledge of computer isan essential qualification. Computers are playing a key rolein managerial decision making, forecasting the market forthe products. Small business computers are widely used.A wide range of softwares available to solve complex busi-ness and managerial problems. Computers are now usednot only in advanced scientific and technological ventureslike satellite communication, atomic energy, genetic engi-neering but also in offices, business and management,medical institutions. Computers in the days to come willensure a continuous supply of energy.New ways and means will be found out to utilize solar andnuclear power.Computers will affect every part of organisation’s operation.It will affect the work culture and help immensely the vari-ous operations. Not only it will but it has already startedinfluencing that can be apparently seen in manyorganisations. Human resource information system keepsa track on human resources of the organisation.Education has also come under the influence of techno-logical progress. With the advent of electronic media anddevelopment in information technology the entire scenariohas been changed. The distant education system has ush-ered in. It has also reduced the importance of classroomteaching. The students may take their lessons at home onthe screens of their television sets. At home education sys-tem will start. They may get the desired depth of knowl-edge of any subject in their rooms. Compact discs are alsoavailable in this regard. People also have lost faith in theeducational institutions because of their fast deterioratingstandards. They are in search of the new avenues of get-ting better and quality education. Through computers, sat-

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ellite communication and cable operators it has becomeeasy to have access to any kind of education. Modern tech-nology have revolutionised the education.The development in technology will change the economyalso. There shall be a shift from economy of industrial ageto the global economy and information economy. There maybe cessation of national economy and emergence of globaleconomy. It will lead to investment opportunities globallyand organisations have to think of global market for theirproducts. The economies shall be inter-dependent now. Theyhave to work together. It will usher in better quality of hu-man life.All these are going to play their role in the total environmentaffecting the organisations operating in any part of the world.The manager will be facing many challenges in the comingcentury. Complexity of environment will cause several prob-lems needing immediate solutions. Computers are themachines that can aid a manager in providing solutions tomany complex problems and making correct and appropri-ate decisions in day-to-day corporate working. Organisationshave to take up speedy human resource development ac-tivities to cope up with the prevailing complex environment.It will increase the responsibilities of human resource de-partment by manifold. He must be aware of the existingexternal environment and should study it thoroughly exist-ing so that their impact on the internal environment can berightly assessed. He will then use the qualities and poten-tials of the human resources at his disposal for the better-ment of his organisation. He has to see the quality perfor-mance of the resources because it is the quality that mat-ters more than anything else. He must be in a position touse the immense information available to him by makingappropriate analysis of it. Manager of tomorrow should bean analyst and should have creative thinking ability. Heshould utilize his abilites for achieving high productivity. Aquality conscious manager must involve his subordinatesin decision making by inviting their participation and avoid-ing authoritative way. He should understand the new workculture and the change taking place in and around theorganisation.Future of Human Resource DevelopmentHuman resource development includes training, executivedevelopment, improvement in leadership skills, impartingmanagement education, improving skills, knowledge, po-tential, talents, competence etc. Human resource depart-ment of the organisation has to develop human resourcedevelopment strategy in such a way that the changes tak-ing place resulting from technological development can beaccommodated to meet the challenges ahead. The changeis inevitable, no one can avert it rather every one has toaccept it. Change can be because of any reason. Every-thing is changing, demographic combination, social, politi-cal, economic, educational pattern etc. All these affect theenvironment in the country and the world and the internalenvironment of the industrial and business organisation. Theypose various challenges before the organisations. Humanresource development strategy should be formulated to meetthese challenges. The employees should be taken intoconfidence and tell them the need for change. Training shouldbe according to the needs of the organisation. For exten-sive transformation changes in the organisation should beintroduced. Training and development also becomes verynecessary to pay attention for growth of organisational re-

sources so they can shoulder more responsibilities. A sys-tem of taking timely feedback should also be developed.Training and development enhances their thinking and mak-ing judgement and take right decision. The organisationsshould take lead in human resource development. It shouldbe a continuous activity. Now in the days to come the em-ployees and executives should become training and devel-opment conscious to remain in employment of theorganisation. The organisations in future will need not hu-man resources as employees and executives but the peoplewith courage, knowledge, potentials and always ready tolearn and keep themselves always as fit for work and ac-cept change and new development. They should take thelead, generate profits and be growth oriented. Organisationsshould feel their needs. Organisations in days to come shallnot be employment providers but they will offer opportuni-ties to able and the men with talents and potentials to surgeahead and contribute a lot to the organisation. Graduallythe days of providing employment for life will fade away.The people will remain in employment on the basis of theirpotential, performance and ability to learn and acquire skills.These shall be the resources the organisations will be in-terested to develop. Idle employees shall hardly have anyscope for remaining with the organisation. Nobody knowsthe future. It is only a forecasting, an assessment aboutfuture.Human resource development interventions can be imple-mented from grass root workers and empowered teams ofemployees can be built up to meet the requirements ofchange. The change shall have to be properly canalisedand it should be meaningful and give way for innovation.The employees at the lowest level (grass roots) should haveto be prepared to accept the change. For implementinginnovation the government can play a crucial role in meet-ing the challenges thrown by change. Govt. should con-tinue to provide employment in the industries managed bythem and they should take up the HRD activities. It gives anecessary boost.Managerial Leadership : Managerial leadership shouldbe capable of coping with the sea-change coming in thenew millennium. They should have a gripping vision of allaspects. They should have the capacity to see through theirvision and convince the subordinates, employees, custom-ers, suppliers etc. They should stand affirm in the times ofdistress and during tough periods. They should not loseheart. They should be able to empower subordinates andemployees to achieve desired objectives. The captains ofindustries should treat expenses on employee developmentas investment and establish relationship of people with qual-ity product and positive profits.Management Education : In India there are several man-agement institutions and universities imparting managementeducation and producing graduates in management science.Management education has got divided according to thestatus and standard of institute imparting the education.Accordingly the graduates are getting jobs in corporatebodies. There is a crying need for uniformity in syllabusand minimum infrastructure required to teach and train thestudents. Government and large corporate bodies shouldsee to it, so that quality of management education be im-parted throughout the country. The country needs qualitymanagers. It is that rare creed that can ensure speedy de-velopment of the country and enable the country to achieve

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higher economic growth rate and put the nation in line ofthe developed ones.Now in India many young graduates have realised the needof doing M.B.A. They are striving to get the managementeducation. Management education has now attracted allkinds of graduates for the study. Many have got the em-ployment in Indian and foreign corporate bodies. For tech-nical graduates management degree becomes an addedqualification giving them a special status in the company.Management is a skill that can be acquired through its propereducation and studies.Government’s Role in Human Resource DevelopmentGovernment can play pivotal role in the human resourcedevelopment. In India we have a full fledged separate minis-try for the purpose covering education, health, sport etc.The government department is plagued by bureaucratic illswhich hampers the overall human resource development. Itis not progressing as is expected. There are several loop-holes. It should be made more effective to handle the ob-jectives of human resource development. There should betask forces, rotating employees in various sections and sub-sections so that they get acquianted with the entire sys-tem. They should work efficiently and take the lead in hu-man resource development because government’s invest-ment in it will be of autonomous nature without any profitmotive. It will induce the private sector to make large in-vestment in their human resources development. Humanresources of the country are national assets and they needdevelopment. Overall progress of the country depends onthem. They should therefore be developed to shoulder theresponsibility.Lack of management education has harrowing effects onindustrial economy of the country. The sickness of severalthousand industrial units of small and medium scale is at-tributed to managerial inefficiency. Managers at every levelneed to be trained and retrained for the better future. Thefuture is competitive-Only the fittest will survive. The mana-gerial excellence should be the order. The media can playan important role in paving the way for better managementeducation in the country among people. The people shouldunderstand the need for management excellence and itsutility in economic development. Media can popularise themanagement education among masses of the country.The front line managers and middle level managers needimmediate attention of the management institution. It isthese people who work hard to attain excellence in anyorganisations. The objectives are achieved through their hardwork and skill. It is they who practice the managementprinciples. The management institutions and managementscholars should conduct research on the problems of frontline managers and middle level managers and the role theyplay and the difficulties they face in achieving the lofty tar-gets of the corporations. Government should take initiativein improving the quality of management education in thecountry.Role of Management AssociationThe management associations of the country, both at localand national level, play an important role in spreading man-agement education and management culture. They areholding discussions, seminars, conferences in their regionsand at national level. They are also providing training to themanagers of middle and lower levels through various ways.The All India Management Association is regularly holding

National Competition for young managers, taking out jour-nal containing articles from experts, holding seminars, con-ferences and various other competitions for practicing man-agers and also providing facilities for distant education . Itis doing a great job in providing management education.Still more is required from these associations. They have acrucial role to play in the days to come.Role of Technical InstitutionsThe technical institutions in the country are imparting tech-nical and engineering education in the country. Every manu-facturing units require a lot of technical graduates in theirconcerns. They are well paid human resources. They haveto perform managerial jobs and lead their subordinates andworkers in accomplishing organisational objectives. Theyalso require the knowledge of management which theyshould get in their technical institutes during the course oftheir academic instructions. These institutes should incor-porate the study of management principles in the curricu-lum. They should have been given intensive training in thevarious factories during their course of study. The syllabusof management in these institutes should be updated tosuit the requirements of the industries. The industries andeducational institutes should come together and design thesyllabus of every subject according to the needs of indus-tries. The stress on the study of human resource manage-ment should be given. Students should know the impor-tance of human beings and human values and their roles inshaping the future of the country. They should be well versedwith human psychology. Management education is mustfor all, engineers, physicians, scientists, academicians andother experts.Role of Training and DevelopmentTraining and development should be a continuous activityin the organisation. The expenses on training and develop-ment should be considered as investment that generatesincome. Training updates the knowledge, improves skillshelps in moulding attitudes and behaviour of the workersand employees positively. The trained staff do not resistchange. They accept any change introduced by theorganisation for its development. The model approach totraining should be discarded. The training should be mademore relevant to the jobs. In plant training should be givenpriority. Higher management bosses should take active in-terest in providing training and training activity.Executive development plays vital role in improving moraleand motivating the executives. They become capable ofimplementing change and carrying on innovation. The ex-ecutive development enables the managers to plan theircareer and succession. The top management must encour-age executive development and relate it with their careerpaths. It is also a way to retain the executives with theorganisation thus minimising their turn over.Career plateauing during a career of the executive preventshim from hard work and is the cause of low motivation. Thepurpose of executive development should be to help execu-tive to cross the plateau in his career. Such environmentshould be created in the corporate organisation and keepthe morale of executive high.Role of ConsultantsThere is a spurt in management consultants of all kinds.They are growing in number and providing great help to thecorporations. There will be further rise in their number andquality in the days to come. They will then provide still greater

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service to the corporations. There are many human resourcedevelopment consultants who accepts the assignments ofproviding training and executive development. The use ofsuch consultants by the companies will rise in the nextmillennium because company becomes worry free oncethe job is assigned to them and it incurs less costs as thecompany does not have to pay them regularly a salary.There are consultant institutions or firms which providespecialised services to the corporate bodies. They take upthe assignment of searching required number and qualityof people may be workers, employees and managers re-quired by the companies thereby reducing the worries andthe huge expenses recurred on advertisements, conduct oftests and interviews and above all the immense time whichis more important for company executives and companyitself in saved. There are several consultancy firms provid-ing the valuable services to the corporations. These con-sultants are experts in their field. They are HRD experts.They can play diagnostic role. They identify the root causesof organisational ailment and provide solutions. They cantoo often advise the company to go ahead with theprogrammes of job enrichment, MBO, having quality circles,providing incentives etc. to cure the organisational ills.The human resource expert can perform the job of a con-sultant in the company occupying a position or remainingoutside the company and independently practice manage-ment. The knowledge acquired by him does not go waste.Practising management consultant has a tremendous scopein the next millennium. He can ably work as a catalyst-facilitator. He can create an environment for discussion onmanagement leadership, styles management ethics, workculture and climate. He can help the management to de-velop clear understanding on these inter-relatedorganisational aspects. He is the resource persons in theareas of organisational development and organisational ef-fectiveness and increasing the organisational efficiency.Human resource expert can make the human resourcesaudit and can evaluate their efficiency and need in theorganisation. He can make the cost benefit analysis of hu-man resources. He knows the perceptions of employeesand the management views and he can then suggests theprogrammes and policies most suitable to the corporation.Hence human resource expert has a great role to play inthe coming days and his importance will go on rise and hisservices will be required by more and more organisations ofall kinds and types in the country.Management AttitudeMost of the management follow theory “x’ even today. Thestyle of managerial leadership should change now. It shouldbe more participative in nature and practice. A new awak-ening has come up among workers and employees now.Traditional ways of managing should go away and replacedby the new ways. Democratic style should now be adopted.Workers should be taken into confidence to run theorganisation. Management should be humane in nature.Employees and workers are valuable human resources andnot the cogs in the machines. If they are ill-treated revolt isthe immediate outcome that can take any dimensions stall-ing the work and unnecessary increasing the expenses ofthe corporate bodies.In India people from different parts of the country are com-ing to join the company. They speak different languages,practising different religions and cultures. These human

resources should be treated with care and their feelingsshould be respected. They should feel secured, their inter-ests should be protected. If so it will increase organisationaleffectiveness. Gross roots should be mobilised to haveorganisational efficiency.Participation should be voluntarily accepted. No one shouldbe forced to accept it. Work groups should be allowed totake their time in participating. Management structure shouldbe so designed to allow participation. Management shouldbe caring one. It should be tolerant in the times ahead.False ethos should be shed away giving rise to new con-cepts. It should be adaptable. Efficiency, sincerity shouldbe rewarded.With the advent of globalisation a new twist to the humanresource management and development is on card. Thereshall be a process of internationalisation that will create anecessity for additional expertise in language and cultureof different countries. Human resource expert should knowthe culture, tradition and behaviour of the people of differentcountries. He has to work with different people of differentcountries and hence he requires additional knowledge. Onglobal fronts the human resource expert requires more knowl-edge, more competence, hard work to keep him fit with hiscounterparts in other countries of the world. Lagging be-hind will oust him from the global scene. Sensible and hardwork is the key to keep him in the race. He should haveopen mind and listening ability and courage to defend hisconcepts and not to stick to the bygone ethos.A global executive will emerge now. He will be responsibleto work in any part of the world efficiently and fearlessly asif he is working in his own country. He has to work withdifferent people under different environments. He shoulddevelop an inbuilt capacity to work anywhere on the globewithout any hitch and with full interest and potential, ca-pacity and drive. He should work for the company andachieve company’s goal setting aside his self interest andmust have a lion’s heart to defend the company’s convic-tions.Global scenario differs from the domestic ones. The strat-egy that is successful in domestic country may be a failurein international arena. It is therefore necessary for a globalexecutive to develop a global vision, adaptable mind and aclean foresight to see the prospects of the organisation heis working for. He is very mobile on the globe and hence heshould possess the additional knowledge of labour laws ofdifferent nations, their traditions, customs and language.Human resource expert should be in a position to makecorrect job descriptions for the jobs in different countries.He should update the knowledge from time to time keepinghimself in tune with the other global executives coming fromother nations.......

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MANAGEMENT TERMSA

Abandonment ValueThe amount which could be recovered from an investmentproject if it were immediately to be abandoned. It is of im-portance in the field of capital budgeting as a concept rel-evant to the monitoring and review of ongoing capitalprojects. No decision to invest should be regarded as irre-vocable, and if at any time the abandonment of a project isof greater value than its continuance then abandonment isindicated. The simple decision rule is that a project shouldbe abandoned if its abandonment value exceeds the netpresent value of its projected cash flows.AbatementA deduction which reduces the effect which some chargewould otherwise have. The term is usually applied to anabatement of taxation which is given in special circum-stances. Small companies, for example, receive an abate-ment of corporation tax by being charged at an especiallylow rate.ABC MethodAn application of the principle of management by excep-tion by which stock is analysed into categories by value oftotal annual usage. The object is to focus attention on thosegroups of stock items which warrant closest control. Alsoknown as split inventory system.Abnormal CostA cost which has been incurred in connection with an ac-tivity but which would not normally have been expected tobe incurred. It relates to some unanticipated and non-re-curring event.Abnormal WastageWastage heading to an unanticipated additional cost. Manyindustrial process as creates a certain amount of wastematerial. When garments are cut out of cloth, for example,there will be pieces of material which cannot be used. Theactual amount of waste depends partly upon the care withwhich the process is undertaken but there will be an irre-ducible minimum which depends upon the technicalities ofthe process. Abnormal wastage is that amount by whichactual wastage exceeds the irreducible minimum, knownas normal wastage. Its significance is that it represents aloss due to avoidable causes as opposed to a necessarypart of the cost of production. For costing purposes it shouldbe shown separately in the costing profit and loss account.Above the LineIncluded in the profit and loss account of the business. The‘line’ is that dividing the profit and loss account from theappropriation account. Also below the line.Above-the-line AdvertisingAny form of advertising for which a commission or fee ispayable to a recognized advertising agency operating onbehalf of its client(s).Abridged AccountsAccounts which, while covering the full financial period towhich they relate, are not fully detailed financial statements.They may be used where a company wishes to give infor-mation of its financial affairs in a summarised form to thosewho may not be entitled to or require a full set of accounts,e.g. its employees. Where a company issues abridged ac-counts they must be accompanied by a statement whichindicates:

(a) that they are not complete financial statements;(b) whether or not full statements have been filed with theRegistrar of Companies(c) whether or not the auditors have reported on the fullfinancial statements; and(d) whether or not the Auditors Report was qualifiedAbscondTo disappear, often taking property or money. An employee,for example, may abscond with the contents of the cashbox.AbsenteeismThe failure to report to work. It is often expressed as apercentage: the number of absentees per 100 employeesfor a given time period, e.g. a work-day or work-shift.Absolute LiabilityLegal liability for an act that causes harm, even tough thedoer of the harm is not at fault.AbsorbTo allocate or apportion an item of overhead to some unit ofproduction or cast centre. Thus if fixed overhead is chargedto production on, say, a machine hour rate it is said to havebeen absorbed on that basis.Absorption CostingAn American term sometimes used to describe historical‘costing or ‘orthodox’ costing, i.e. the assignment of all fixedand variable costs to goods and services produced.Abstinence1. The conduct of a person who either abstains from theunproductive use of what he can command, or designedlyprefers the production of remote to that of immediate re-sults.2. The sacrifice of the present for the sake of future hasbeen called ‘abstinence’ by economists. However, this termis misunderstood. Therefore, we may better use the term‘waiting’ for it.Abstract of TitleA written document used to determine the ownership of aparticular parcel of land. It summarizes the material portionof every deed and other transaction that affect the title ofthat land, thus representing a history of its ownership.Abusive DismissalWhen an employee is dismissed in a way which is techni-cally correct according to his Contract of Employment—forexample, by giving the stipulated period of notice—but insuch a way that management has abused its power in do-ing so. Such dismissal can be grounds for a appeal to anindustrial tribunal and is illegal in many countries.ACAThe designatory letters of an associate member of the In-stitute of Chartered Accountants in many countries.ACCAThe designatory letters of an associate member of the Char-tered Association of Certified Accountants.Accelerated DepreciationA method of calculating depreciation in such a manner thata larger proportion of an asset’s value is written off in theearly pan of its life than in later parts. Examples of meth-ods of applying accelerated depreciation are the reducingbalance method and the sum of the years Digits method.The straight line method is, by contrast, not a method ofaccelerated depreciation. Accelerated depreciation may beused either because it is believed that this reflects the ac-tual pattern of the decline in value of the asset or because

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as a general principle, it is regarded as more prudent towrite off assets as quickly as possible.Accelerating Vocational TrainingTraining or (usually) retraining which is intended to helpadult workers to acquire skills which traditionally have beenacquired by apprenticeship in a much shorter period thanis usually taken by an apprenticeship. Training programmesof this type are usually government sponsored.Acceleration ClauseA provision in an agreement for the repayment of a loan byinstallments that if a specified number of installments arenot paid then all the outstanding payments are due imme-diately.Acceleration PrincipleThe basic relationship between the change in the level ofoutput and the volume of investment spending is known asthe acceleration principle. The capital-output ratio is knownas the accelerator. The theory of investment based on thisrelationship is known as the acceleratory theory.Acceptable Quality LevelIn manufacturing, it refers to the level of quality at whichcomponents, processes, or finished goods are consideredgood to be continued without rework, or immediately ship-pable. The maximum percentage of defectives (or numberof defects per 100 units) that will be accepted in the outputfrom a production process.AcceptanceThe action of signifying on the face of a bill of exchangethat liability is accepted under it. An accepted bill of ex-change is likely to be easier to negotiate than one whichhas not been accepted.Acceptance SamplingIn statistical quality control, the extraction of a sample froma quantity of goods or materials to be inspected for thepurpose of determining whether the entire quantity will beaccepted or rejected.Access Right1. The level of access which is granted to users of a sys-tem e.g., read a file only, or write to a file.2. The right of an owner or his authorized agent to enter orleave his property without trespassing.Accident BookA book which almost every employer must keep at eachworkplace so that any employee can make a record of anypersonal injury suffered by him as a result of an accident atwork. The main purpose of the record is so that an em-ployee can have evidence to support a claim for industrialinjuries benefit.Accident InsuranceInsurance which gives an indemnity for the consequencesof an accident, e.g. extra expenses incurred, loss of in-come, but not for other sources of loss. Accidental deathinsurance carries a much lower rate of premium than fulllife assurance.Accommodation BillA bill of exchange which has been drawn on and acceptedby a reputably party for the purpose of giving value to thebill so that it can be discounted. There is no underlyingtrading transaction as would normally be the case for a billof exchange.Account1. Any document or device whereby a record is kept offlows of value measured in money terms. A business will

record all of its transactions in a set of accounts making upits ledger. A cash account, for example, will show all cashreceived and” paid. A fixed asset account will show pur-chases, sales and depreciation of fixed assets. The termmay also apply to a record of dealings between contractingparties. Thus one may have an account with a shop fromwhich one makes regular purchases or an account with abank.2. A period of time designated by the stock exchange dur-ing which all transactions fall to be settled at the sametime. An account is usually of two weeks’ duration, from aMonday until the Friday next but one, except where it em-braces a public holiday, when it will last for three weeks. Allthe transactions within an account are due for settlementon settlement day which is the Tuesday next but one afterthe end of an account.Accountability1. The obligation of a subordinate to answer to his superiorfor the exercise of authority in line with his delegated re-sponsibility, for the performance of duties assigned to him.2. The obligation of providing evidence of good manage-ment, supervision or performance, for example, by a Boardof Directors to its shareholders.3. Frequently synonymous with responsibility.AccountancyThe activity of preparing and auditing the financial recordsand statements of organisations.Accountant’s International Study GroupA body representative of accountants from a number ofcountries which considers a variety of topics and issuesreports on them.Accounts Reporting RulesA statement issued jointly by the main accountancy bod-ies setting out guidelines for accountants who have to re-port on the profit forecasts contained in company prospec-tuses.Account ExecutiveThe manager on the staff of an advertising agency whohandles all negotiations with a client and is responsible forthe agreed service to him.AccountingThe principles and techniques used in establishing, main-taining and analysing the records of the financial transac-tions of a business or other type of organisation. Account-ing is primarily concerned with devising recording meth-ods, keeping records, internal auditing and reporting to man-agement.Accounting BasesThe various methods of constructing accounting figureswhich are available. There are, for example, several baseson which depreciation might be determined. From the avail-able accounting bases any business has to make an ap-propriate selection which become its accounting policies.Accounting ConceptsThe fundamental framework of ideas which underlie the prepa-ration of accounts. There is no authoritative agreement onwhat these concepts are or ought to be although someattempts have been made by to codify them........

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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESSMeaningSocial responsibility of business implies the obligations ofthe management of a business enterprise to protect theinterests of the society. According to the concept of socialresponsibility the objective of managers for taking businessdecisions is not merely to maximise profits or sharehold-ers’ value but also to serve and protect the interests ofother members of a society such as workers, consumersand the community as a whole. Thus, Sachar Committeeon Companies and MRTP Acts appointed by Governmentof India states, “In the development of corporate ethics wehave reached a stage where the question of social respon-sibility of business to the community can no longer bescoffed at or taken lightly. In the environment of moderncorporate economic development, the corporate sector nolonger functions in isolation. If the plea of the companiesthat they are performing a social purpose is to be accepted,it can only be judged by the test of social responsivessshown to the needs of the society. It may be noted thatsome Indian sociologists and economists relate the idea ofsocial responsibility of business of the Gandhian conceptof trusteeship. According to Mahatma Gandhi, capitalistclass owns wealth or capital as trustees of the society.The resources and capital they use for production of goodsand services, according to him, should be used not tomaximise profits for them but for the larger benefit of thesociety.However, in our view, it will be too idealistic to expect thatbusiness enterprises will be purely guided by the benefitsthey confer on the society by their activities. The conceptof social responsibility as used in management science isthat businesses should maximise their profits subject totheir working in a socially responsible manner to promotethe interests of the society. Their business activities shouldnot harm other groups such as consumers, workers, andpublic at large. Mr. N.R. Narayana, Chairman of Infosysmakes the idea of social responsibility of business quiteclear when in a conference on corporate social responsibil-ity he said, “Corporate’s foremost social responsibility is tocreate maximum shareholders’ value working in a way whichis fair to all its stakeholders — workers, consumers, thecommunity, government and the environment. He furtherpoints out, “Working in harmony with the community andenvironment around us and not cheating our customers andworkers we might not gain anything in the short run but inthe long term it means greater profits and shareholdersvalue”Social Responsibility of Business and Social ContractIt is evident from above, the social responsibility of busi-ness implies that a corporate enterprise has to serve inter-ests other than that of common shareholders who, of course,expect that their rate of return, value or wealth should bemaximised. But in today’s world the interest of other stake-holders, community and environment must be protectedand promoted. Social responsibility of business enterprisesto the various stakeholders and society in general is con-sidered to be the result of a social contract. Social con-tract is a set of rules that defines the agreed interrelation-ship between various elements of a society. The social con-tract often involves a quid pro quo (i.e. something given inexchange for another). In the social contract, one party tothe contract gives something and expects a certain thing

or behaviour pattern from the other. In the present contextthe social contract is concerned with the relationship of abusiness enterprise with various stakeholders such as share-holders, employees, consumers, government and societyin general. The business enterprises happen to have re-sources because society consisting of various stakehold-ers has given them this right and therefore it expects fromthem to use them to for serving the interests of all of them.Though all stakeholders including the society in generalare affected by the business activities of a corporate enter-prise, managers may not acknowledge responsibility tothem. Social responsibility of business implies that corpo-rate managers must promote the interests of all stakehold-ers not merely of shareholders who happen to be the socalled owners of the business enterprises. We have de-picted the various stakeholders whose interests have to beserved by the corporate enterprises. In what follows weexplain in detail how the interests of various stakeholdersare to be served and promoted.Responsibility to ShareholdersAs explained above in the context of good corporate gover-nance a corporate enterprise must recognise the rights ofshareholders and protect their interests. It should respectshareholders’ right to information and respect their right tosubmit proposals to vote and to ask questions at the an-nual general body meeting. The corporate enterprise shouldobserve the best code of conduct in its dealings with theshareholders. However, the corporate Board and manage-ment try to increase profits or shareholders’ value but inpursuing this objective, they should protect the interests ofemployees, consumers and other stakeholders. Its specialresponsibility is that in its efforts to increase profits or share-holders’ value it should not pollute the environment.Responsibility to EmployeesThe success of a business enterprise depends to a largeextent on the morale of its employees. Employees makevaluable contribution to the activities of a businessorganisation. The corporate enterprise should have goodand fair employment practices and industrial relations toenhance its productivity. It must recognise the rights ofworkers or employees to freedom of association and freecollective bargaining. Besides, it should not discriminatebetween various employees.The most important responsibility of a corporate enterprisetowards employees is the payment affair wages to themand provide healthy and good working conditions. The busi-ness enterprises should recognise the need for providingessential labour welfare activities to their employees, espe-cially they should take care of women workers. Besides,the enterprises should make arrangements for proper train-ing and education of the workers to enhance their skills.However, it may be noted that very few companies in Indiafollow many of the above good practices. While the cap-tains of Indian industries generally complain about low pro-ductivity of their employees, little has been done to ad-dress their problems. Ajith Nivard Cabraal rightly writes, “Itshould perhaps be realised that corporations can only beas effective and efficient as its employees and thereforesteps should be taken to implement such reforms in a pro-active manner, rather than merely attempting to comply withmany labour laws that prevail in the country. This is prob-ably one area where good governance practices could makea significant impact on the country’s business environment.”

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Responsibility to ConsumersSome economists think that consumer is a king who di-rects the business enterprises to produce goods and ser-vices to satisfy his wants. However, in the modem timesthis may not be strictly true but the companies must ac-knowledge their responsibilities to protect their interests inundertaking their productive activities. Invoking the notionof social contract, the management expert Peter Druckerobserves, “The customer is the foundation of a businessand keeps it in existence. He alone gives employment. Tomeet the wants and needs of a consumer, the society en-trusts wealth-producing resources to the business enter-prise”.In view of above, the business enterprises should recognisethe rights of consumers and understand their needs andwants and produce goods or services accordingly. The fol-lowing responsibilities of business enterprises to consum-ers are worth mentioning.1. They should supply goods or services to the consumersat reasonable prices and do not try to exploit them by form-ing cartels. This is more relevant in case of business enter-prises producing essential goods such as life-saving drugs,vegetable oil and essential’ services such as electricity sup-ply and telephone services.2. They should not supply to the consumers’ shoddy andunsafe products which may do harm to them.3. They should provide the consumers the required after-sales services.4. They should not misinform the consumers through inap-propriate and misleading advertisements.5. They should make arrangements for proper distributionsystem of their products so as to ensure that black-mar-keting and profiteering by traders do not occur.6. They should acknowledge the rights of consumers to beheard and take necessary measures to redress their genu-ine grievances.Despite the above responsibilities which are generally re-garded as good marketing practices by management ex-perts the business enterprises in India generally do not payheed to them and as a result consumers are dissatisfied ordisappointed in a large number of cases. There has been agrowing awareness of consumer rights. The organisedmovement to protect consumer rights which is termed asconsumerism has been the result of the negligence of busi-ness enterprises to their responsibilities to consumers. Be-sides, due to the indifferent attitude of business enterprisesto consumer rights, Government has been compelled toenact Consumer Protection Act to protect consumers’ rightsand to prevent their exploitation by the businesses.Obligation towards the EnvironmentThe foremost responsibility of business enterprises is toensure that they should not damage the environment andfor this purpose they should reduce as much as possibleair and water pollution by their productive activities. Theyshould not dump their toxic waste products in rivers andstreams to avoid their pollution. Pollution of environmentposes a great health hazard for the people and is a causeof several respiratory and skin diseases. In economic theorypollution of environment is regarded as social cost that mustbe minimised. There is now a growing awareness towardsreduction in environment pollution. According to the recentfindings the climate change is occurring due to greateremission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Therefore,

the corporate enterprises should adopt high standards ofenvironmental protection and ensure that they are imple-mented regardless of enforcement of any environment lawspassed by the government. Many countries including Indiahave passed laws to protect the environment but they arenot properly and strictly enforced. Business enterprises intheir attempt to maximise profits recklessly and negligentlypollute the environment. Therefore, it is required that gov-ernment should take tough measures and enforce environ-ment laws strictly if environment is to be protected.Responsibility to Society in GeneralBusiness enterprises function by public consent with thebasic objective of producing goods and services to meetthe needs of the society and provide employment to thepeople. The traditional view is that in performing this func-tion businesses maximise profits or shareholders’ value anddoing so The above views of Dr. Manmohan singh showthat corporate businesses in India do not show any senseof social responsibility and due to oligopolies, informal col-lusion and other malpractices fleece the customers by charg-ing higher prices in order to maximise their profits. This isclearly refutation of Friedman’s view that profit maximisationalways implies social responsibility of business.Business enterprises have a lot of responsibility to the so-ciety at large. We mention below some of them.1. To take appropriate measures to reduce level of pollutionand adopt eco-friendly technologies.2. To generate sufficient employment opportunities so asto make good contribution to the reduction of poverty in thecountry.3. Respect the rights of workers and other employees andtake appropriate measures to ensure their safety and toimprove their working conditions.4. To provide quality healthcare to their employees.5. To invest adequately in the research and development soas to make innovations to improve their productivity.Dr. Manmohan Singh in the speeches referred to above addsthe following social responsibilities of the corporate enter-prises in India :6. Do not pay excessive remuneration to promoters andsenior executives as it creates social resentment.7. To end cartels that keep prices high!8. To implement affirmative action and to provide jobs toSCs, STs and OBCs. Besides, Dr. Manmohan Singh wantsthe private corporate sector to give preference to minori-ties, especially Muslims in providing employment.9. To resist to pay bribes to officials and therefore do notpromote corruption. He thus says, “Corruption need not bethe grease that oils wheels of progress. There are manysuccessful companies today that have refused to yield tothis temptation. Others must follow “.Conclusion. Social responsibility is related to the conceptof ethics. Ethics is the discipline that deals with moral du-ties and obligations. Social responsibility implies corpo-rate enterprises should follow business ethics and work fornot only to maximise their profits or shareholders’ value butalso to promote the interests of other stakeholders and thesociety as a whole.Two instances of lack of social responsibility of businesswitnessed in India are worth mentioning. One refers toBhopal Gas Leak Tragedy. On Dec. 2, 1984 in a pesti-cide factory located in Bhopal and owned by a multina-tional corporation ‘Union Carbide Limited (UCL), there was

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a leakage of poisonous gas from factory which resulted inthe death of more than 2000 poor people and about 2 lakhpersons were badly injured and crippled. This was due tothe non-installation of safety measures by the company.Union Carbide tried to show that it was not responsible . Along legal battle was fought and ultimately Union Carbidewas held responsible by the court and was asked to pay$650 millions to the victims as damages.Another recent famous case of social irresponsibility ofbusiness is that of Uphaar Cinema Hall tragedy on June13, 1997. Starting from the transformers installed in thepremises of the Hall the fire broke out and smoke spread inthe Hall which resulted in the death of 59 persons and morethan 200 persons were seriously injured who were seeing amovie there. The deaths and injuries were due to the factthat owners and managers had closed the exit points withinstallation of extra seats which violated the Cinema Actprovisions. Besides, the installation of electricity transform-ers in the premises also violated the safety norms pre-scribed. After a ten year long battle a Sessions Court heldthe owners (Ansal Brothers who run a famous building com-pany), managers of the Hall and DESU officials who per-mitted the irregularities were held responsible and sen-tenced. They put their customers to risk of life violating allsafety norms required to be followed in relation to cinemabusiness.The above two examples should serve as a wake-up call forIndian Corporate businesses that they should dischargetheir responsibility to their customers, employees, otherstakeholders and society at large.

USE OF COMPUTERS IN MANAGERIAL APPLICATIONSWhat is a ComputerThe word “Computer” comes from the word compute whichmeans to calculate. So a computer is normally consideredto be a calculating device that can perform arithmetic op-eration at an enormous speed. But more accurately, a com-puter may be defined as a device that operates upon data.Data can be anything, like bio-data of several applicantswhen the computer is used to assist us for recruiting per-sonnel. Similarly, the data can be the details of passen-gers such as name, age, etc. when the computer is em-ployed for making airline or railway reservations.The two basic types of computers are the analog and thedigital. The analog computer handles or process informa-tion which is of a physical nature, as for example, tem-perature, pressure, etc. The digital computer process in-formation which is essentially in a binary or two-state formnamely, zero and one. When talking about computers, wemostly refer to the digital type electronic machines.Digital computers fall into ranges called microcomputers,minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers classi-fied in ascending, order of size—small, medium, large andvery large.Characteristics of ComputersComputer display the following characteristics dependingon their type of use :(a) The ability to perform calculations at a fast speed andto store that information for future retrieval or use.(b) The ability to take in information and to store that infor-mation for future retrieval or use.(c) The ability to take in and store a small variety of instruc-tions for computers to obey.(d) The ability to use simple logical rules to make deci-sions for their own internal control or for the control of someexternal activity.(e) The ability to communicate with other computer sys-tems.(f) To carry out calculations accurately and speedily.Applications of ComputersComputers may be used in the following fields/ institutions:(a) Offices(b) Book Publications(c) Data Analysis(d) Graphics(e) CAM (Computer Aided Manufacture)(f) Data Base Management(g) Project Management(h) Communications(i) Education(j) Medical Field(k) Airways and Railways Ticket Reservations(/) Industrial Control and Instruments(m) Military(n) Banks(o) Designs and Research Work(p) Other Applications(a) Office Uses: The work done in offices is generally, thepreparation of letters, reports, memoranda, copy of adver-tisement, publicity, minutes, contracts, forms, notes etc.All these tasks can be performed by computers more effi-ciently. Small offices, organizations and institutions canafford to have a personal computer because of its low price.A high end PC personal computer costs in the range of Rs.

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35,000 to Rs. 50,000. This type of computer can help userin reports preparation, storing and retrieving and displayingof test. Word processing package like Microsoft Office 2000,Word Perfect, Word Pro etc. are available that help usersto write, edit, manipulate, store, retrieving, display, and printthe text. The paperless office needs much less office spaceand lesser number of workers to do the same job moresmartly.(b) Publication of Books (Desk Top Publications): Au-thors prepare manuscripts of books using Word process-ing programs. Tests is stored on a floppy disk and format-ted by specialized personnel called type-setters.These are then printed using laser printers. Laser printersproduce high quality print and the final copy is called thecamera ready copy (CRC). These prints are sent to theoffset press for printing purposes and then binding is doneat the binding centres. The cover page of the books aremade by artists or they are also designed using anothergraphic software such as corel DRAW. The cover is thensent for printing in another type of printing press which isspecialized only in colour printing. Illustrations, pictures andtables are also created on specialized softwares such asAuto CAD. Such figures and diagrams are then importedand pasted in the text of the book using a word processor.These jobs are done very fast. Thus book publishing is revo-lutionized by computers.(c) Data Analysis: Special software called spreadsheet pro-gram are used for data analysis. Data are entered in rowsand columns in a spreadsheet. Using spreadsheet programone can tabulated results, and carry out interpolation ofresults such as the likely profits of the company based onthe sales and expenses. These results are then comparedby the actual results and corrections are accordingly ap-plied from time to time. One can prepare product sales,profit, investment. Similarly, statistical packages are avail-able for any kind of computation for data analysis. Theyhave functions to calculate average, maximum and mini-mum, mean, mode and median values etc. They can ac-cept data from other files and sort, merge and manipulatedata as needed.(d) Graphics: Computers are being used to make draw-ings, graphics and pictures. Corel DRAW, Harvard Graph-ics and Freelance Plus for Windows are some such soft-ware packages which help an artist in increasing his draw-ing capability. Preparation of drawings is a time consumingtask if it is done by draftsman. But computers can drawsophisticated drawings in minutes. It can produce three-dimensional pictorial views. Graphics such a’s bar graphs,pie charts and line graphs are plotted from spreadsheetdata and other tabulated form of stored data. Graphics pack-ages are also used to recognize picture, process images,draw pictures etc.(e) Computer Aided Manufacture: Computers are usedto control production of engineering items, chemical pro-cesses etc. Designers use Computer Aided Designsoftwares to design machines and machine parts whichare likely to be manufactured in large numbers. Computersare also used to control manufacturing machines such aslathes, drill or milling machines. Integrated approach ofComputer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manu-facture (CAM) is used in automated factories. The design-ers design new machines using CAD. There are softwarespackages to get design information from the CAD design

database and convert them automatically into other pro-grams which activate and control manufacturing machinessuch as lathes, drills, milling machines etc. A series ofcomputer-controlled machines perform the whole task ofproduction. Maruti Udyog in Gurgaon (Haryana) in India forthe manufacturing and assembly Maruti Cars.(f) Database Management: Computers are used to handlefiles which store a variety of information. The terms data-base is used to refer to one or more related files. Informa-tion can be seen on the computer screen. To handle files,database management packages are widely used. Let ussuppose a computer stores information in a file regardingstudents, e.g. name of the students, roll number, markssubject wise, total percentage of marks subject wise, per-centage of total, division awarded etc. If one asks com-puter to print the list of students who have secured totalmarks 75% and above, computer will be able to do so veryeasily. One can also ask it to print the names of the stu-dents who have secured the highest marks in different sub-jects. A database management system can provide infor-mation from more than one related files.A user would like to have certain information which is not ina single file. The program will search all the required infor-mation from different files and supply it to user. Take anexample of records maintained by an advocate. He main-tains two files. One file contains the records of differentclients. It may be named as client file. It records clientnumber, client identification number, name of the client,address, phone number, amount due etc. He maintains an-other file which keeps the records of different cases. It maybe named as the case file. It records case number, identifi-cation number of the client of different cases, attorney, court,judge, opening date, court date etc. Suppose the advocatewants information about which cases are to be taken up ona particular date, the details of the cases and details ofclients to obtain information requires searching both thefiles—client files as well as case file. The software pack-age will collect information from both the files. The case filegives the information about the cases that are due on aparticular date. It also gives the identification numbers ofthe client corresponding to each case. For these identifica-tion numbers the details of clients are obtained from theclient file. The information so retrieved is given to the userin a very short time.(g) Project Management: A project work has a series oftasks which must be completed in scheduled time. Com-puters can be used to manage project work to plan, sched-ule and control man power, material and other resourcesneeded to complete the project work in time at reasonablecost. What are the tasks to be performed, the sequence inwhich tasks are to be performed, time required to completeeach task and the starting data—all this information shouldbe supplied to the computer. The project management pack-age shows the longest sequence of events in the projectcalled critical path. It calculates total project time. In casea project lags behind the schedule, speed can be increasedto reduce the time of completion of one or more tasks onthe critical path to catch up the schedule. Project manage-ment package will show the impact of the delay. It willquickly show the modified schedule. It will also show theincreased man power required for completing project in time.(h) Communications: Computers are extensively used insending and receiving information ...........