Human Resource Management and the Banking Sector Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Management and the Banking Sector Essay tHuman resource management and the banking sector By Imran Samad Human resource management (HRM) has long been overlooked in the corporate sector in the country where a small section, comprising mostly the multi-national companies was practising the same. With the growing realization of proper HRM in the corporate sector, it has grown into an important activity. Now the head of HRM is an important member of the senior teams of any thriving business. Although the idea is new for many local businesses where entrepreneurs are at the beginning of the learning curve yet in reality the theme is getting support from the organized entrepreneurs. The banking sector has grown from a few institutions primarily involved in deposit acceptance and trade finance into a complex multi player markets where large number of commercial banks, financial institutions and specialized banks are operating with various products and activities. The banking has become a complex activity within the financial market linked directly and indirectly with an over-all national growth and its impact as an integral part of regional segment of a global banking environment. Almost every bank and financial institution is involved in various functions in a days job and thus requires a highly effective team and appropriate manpower to run the show. Corporate goals are translated into viable realities and profits only with human element who play their due role in achieving the desired results. Thus even the high automation would require proper man behind the machine to make things happen. This idea has been realized by top managements in progressive banks. Like many other organized sectors, banking requires a multi layer manpower for its various requirements of professionals and support staff. The range may require reasonably educated security guards on the one end and a highly educated and trained professional as head of corporate finance at the other. With liberalization of activities within the banking sector, for example, more emphasis on consumer and house finance and personal loans, etc. banking has turned itself into a more market-based business where banks have expanded their reach more to customers door steps in a big way making banking more practical. This has further highlighted the need for proper deployment of man-power to run banks efficiently. For many years, HRM banks like other institutions have been handling this sensitive activity through respective personnel departments. This means human resources were managed like other physical assets e. g. pieces of furniture, calculators, equipment and appliances. Personnel departments were primarily engaged in approval of leaves, handling of staff loans, issuance of show cause, conducting disciplinary enquiries and termination from service. Recruitment was a routine function and was done in a mechanical way to hire people with specific educational background irrespective of their real value to the institution. Success stories of large banking companies have been evident of the fact that HRM is quite different from management of physical assets. Human brain has its own peculiar chemistry. Its strong sensory and decision-making capacity has to be greatly emphasized by the employers. The work force constituting all levels of employees are constantly thinking in many dimensions. On the one hand it is the assigned duty and task they are to perform and for which they are paid by their employer, on the other they think of their long run goals and objectives. By no means, their brains can be controlled to think beyond the current situation of employment. Managing this educated, skillful and trustworthy work force is not an easy job. A few of the current challenges faced by the banking industry in terms of human resource management may be the following: Effective work force:Â  A time-consuming and hectic job is to hunt the right talent. Its just sitting by the river and waiting for the right fish to catch. Higher the professional value of the vacancy, tougher is the search. Identifying the right stuff followed by negotiation is the element which makes the job tough for the employer. Banks are keenly interested to fill up two types of breads of professionals. Ones who are outstanding professionals with high job hopping attitude these are those who come in work for some time and then leave for better prospects. Others are those who are keenly picked-up, trained and are some how retained to be developed as future management within the bank. Management trainees are a growing popular phenomenon where freshly qualified business graduates are engaged by banks and a certain percentage of these well equipped professionals stay back within the organization to grow into the footsteps of senior managers. Banking jobs being apparently lucrative for many, attract a large number of candidates against advertised vacancies in media creating a large data base management problem. This has been facilitated by specialised hiring agencies who may take up the job of hiring in case of large number of vacancies. Right people:Â  The most difficult agenda of HRM across the banking sector is to retain the right people. Sudden growth of retail banking and other services has put pressure on HR mangers in banks to engage more professionals within shorter span of time thereby attracting manpower in other banks on attractive packages has made the job market very competing. A bank in a normal course invests time and money to hire and train the appropriate work force for its own operations. This ready-made force is often identified and subsequently picked-up on better terms by others. Compensation:Â  How much to pay to the right employee and how much to the outstanding performer. Banks have traditionally followed pay scales with predetermined increments, salary slabs, bonuses and time-based fringe benefits like car and house advance, gratuity, pension, etc. The situation is not the same anymore. An increment of Rs500-800 per annum is no more a source of attraction for a professional anymore. A basic pay with traditional formulas of linkage with medical and other facilities has no soothing effect today. A promise of future growth, learning culture and corporate loyalty is out of dictionary and does not mean anything to this energetic and competent performer today. A waiting period of 3-4 years in each cadre haunts the incumbents who strongly believe in immediate compensation. There are examples to this. Thanks to the car financing modalities car is no more a fantasy item any more. A freshly hired professional requires a brand new car or car loan on resuming office quite contrary to his previous breed of bankers who would wait for the job seniority to qualify for a car loan. Job satisfaction: Everybody in the bank wants to work in the preferential department, preferential location, city of his own choice and boss of his liking. An administrative deviation from any of these results in lowered job satisfaction. Although hiring is normally based on regional requirement matching the area of activity with that of employees nativity yet other elements like appointment in the department of choice and preference makes the job of HR manager quite challenging. What the HR manger cannot afford is the dissatisfied employee who not only disrupts the smooth working himself but also spreads the negativity to others by his de-motivated attitude. Morale boosting:Â  What has long been overlooked is the morale boosting of the employees by the organizations. Human beings even if satisfied of material wellbeing need to be appraised and encouraged constantly. Smart banks have realized this need and have taken steps to keep their work force motivated through proper encouragement like man of the month awards, repeat get-togethers, conferences, sports events, dinners, company sponsored travel, reunions, etc. This is the way employees create a feeling of belongingness.

Limitations of the current system :: Computer Science

Limitations of the current system The current system is slow in terms of processing tasks. When a lot of customers are present it is very time consuming to look for individual products because of the large stock room. This means fewer sales transactions are completed so overall there is less profit being made. The customer filing cabinet is taking up a lot id space which can be used for a lot of other things which is un-efficient. Also when a customer comes searching for the customer details is very time consuming and sometimes the details are overlooked so new ones are made causing reputation. If a staff report is created to see who has sold most products can be done by the current system, but it can be very time consuming to go through every invoice. This means that these types of reports are not done despite the ability to do them no one does. The advantage of doing such a report would be to see who doesn’t sell as much so more motivation can be given. The current system also limits the functions you can do because when stock runs out it is hard to find out until sales rep comes looking for the product. This means that they have automatically just lost out on a sale. These are the limitations which with my system shouldn’t occur. New system The new system will enable the users to process tasks quicker and with greater easy. Meaning the new system will have a whole new stock control database. This will definitely improve the time taken to search for a specific product which will mean more customers are attended too. With the aid of security different levels of system uses can be introduced which would mean company information like employee details can be stored on the database. This will also be a good feature because it will mean when a sales transaction is made it will be recorded so if errors arise in human error with sales transactions the system can check to see who carried out the sales transaction. Using the new system more better results and charts can be produced to give a better prospectus of the company finance and how much profit is being made. Also this can lead to queries being performed to see which items sell the most so a larger variety can be introduced or the items that don’t sell that well can be re checked to see why people are not buying them. With the new system it will be easier to do sales transactions because the sales rep doesn’t have to worry about saving the transaction,

Discrimination Against Women Essay

The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period,to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In modern India, women have adorned high offices in India including that of the President, Prime minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Leader of the Opposition. As of 2011, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha (Lower House of the parliament) both are women. However, women in India continue to face discrimination and other social challenges and are often victims of abuse and violent crimes and, according to a global poll conducted by Thomson Reuters, India is the â€Å"fourth most dangerous country† in the world for women, and the worst country for women among the G20 countries. History Ancient India Scholars believe that in ancient India, the women enjoyed equal status with men in all fields of life.[11] However, some others hold contrasting views.[12] Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as Patanjali and Katyayana suggest that women were educated in the early Vedic period[13][14] Rigvedic verses suggest that the women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their husband.[15] Scriptures such as Rig Veda and Upanishads mention several women sages and seers, notably Gargi and Maitreyi.[16] There are very few texts specifically dealing with the role of women;[17] an important exception is the Stri Dharma Paddhati of Tryambakayajvan, an official at Thanjavur around c.1730. The text compiles strictures on womenly behaviour dating back to the Apastamba sutra (c. 4th c. BCE).[18] The opening verse goes: mukhyo dharmaH smr^tiShu vihito bhartr^shushruShANam hi : women are enjoined to be of service to their husbands. Some kingdoms in the ancient India had traditions such as nagarvadhu (â€Å"bride of the city†). Women competed to win the coveted title of the nagarvadhu. Amrapali is the most famous example of a nagarvadhu. According to studies, women enjoyed equal status and rights during the early Vedic period.[19] However, later (approximately 500 B.C.), the status of women began to decline with the Smritis (esp. Manusmriti) and with the Islamic invasion of Babur and the Mughal empire and later Christianity curtailing women’s freedom and rights.[7] Although reformatory movements such as Jainism allowed women to be admitted to the religious order, by and large, the women in India faced confinement and restrictions.[19] The practice of child marriages is believed to have started from around sixth century.[20]

Origins of the Ancient Mesoamerican Ballgame

The Mesoamerican Ball Game is the oldest known sport in the Americas  and originated in southern Mexico approximately 3,700 years ago. For many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec, it was a ritual, political and social activity that involved the whole community. The ball game took place in specific I-shaped buildings, recognizable in many archaeological sites, called ballcourts. There are an estimated 1,300 known ballcourts in Mesoamerica. Origins of the Mesoamerican Ball Game The earliest evidence of the practice of the ball game comes to us from ceramic figurines of ballplayers recovered from El Opeà ±o, Michoacan state in western Mexico about 1700 BC. Fourteen rubber balls were found at the shrine of El Manatà ­ in Veracruz, deposited over a long period beginning about 1600 BC. The oldest example of a ballcourt discovered to date was built about 1400 BC, at the site of Paso de la Amada, an important Formative site in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico; and the first consistent imagery, including ball-playing costumes and paraphernalia, is known from the San Lorenzo Horizon of the Olmec civilization, ca 1400-1000 BC. Archaeologists agree that the origin of the ball game is linked with the origin of ranked society. The ball court at Paso de la Amada was constructed near the chiefs house and, later on, the famous colossal heads were carved depicting leaders wearing ballgame helmets. Even if the locational origins are not clear, archaeologists believe that the ball game represented a form of social display—whoever had the resources to organize it gained social prestige. According to Spanish historical records and indigenous codexes, we know that the Maya and Aztecs used the ball game to solve hereditary issues, wars, to foretell the future and to make important ritual and political decisions. Where the Game Was Played The ball game was played in specific open constructions called ball courts. These usually were laid out in the form of a capital I, consisting of two parallel structures that delimited a central court. These lateral structures had sloping walls and benches, where the ball bounced, and some had stone rings suspended from the top. Ball courts were usually surrounded by other buildings and facilities, most of which probably were of perishable materials; however, masonry constructions usually involved surrounding low walls, small shrines, and platforms from which people observed the game. Almost all main Mesoamerican cities had at least one ball court. Interestingly, no ball court has yet been identified at Teotihuacan, the major metropolis of Central Mexico. An image of a ball game is visible on the murals of Tepantitla, one of Teotihuacans residential compounds, but no ball court. The Terminal Classic Maya city of Chichen Itzà ¡ has the largest ball court; and El Tajin, a center that flourished between the Late Classic and the Epiclassic on the Gulf Coast, had as many as 17 ball courts. How the Game Was Played Evidence suggests that a wide variety of types of games, all played with a rubber ball, existed in ancient Mesoamerica, but the most widespread was the hip game. This was played by two opposing teams, with a variable number of players. The aim of the game was to put the ball into the opponents end zone without using hands or feet: only hips could touch the ball. The game was scored using different point systems; but we have no direct accounts, either indigenous or European, that precisely describe the techniques or rules of the game. Ball games were violent and dangerous and players wore protective gear, usually made of leather, such as helmets, knee pads, arm and chest protectors and gloves. Archaeologists call the special protection constructed for the hips yokes, for their resemblance to animal yokes. A further violent aspect of the ball game involved human sacrifices, which were often an integral part of the activity. Among the Aztec, decapitation was a frequent end for the losing team. It has also been suggested that the game was a way to resolve conflicts among polities without resorting to real warfare. The Classic Maya origin story told in the Popol Vuh describes the ballgame as a contest between humans and underworld deities, with the ballcourt representing a portal to the underworld. However, ball games were also the occasion for communal events such as feasting, celebration, and gambling. The Players The entire community was differently involved in a ball game: Ballplayers: The players themselves were probably men of noble origins or aspirations. The winners gained both wealth and social prestige.Sponsors: Ball court construction, as well as game organization, required some form of sponsorship. Affirmed leaders, or people who wanted to be leaders, considered ball game sponsorship an opportunity to emerge or reaffirm their power.Ritual Specialists: Ritual specialists often performed religious ceremonies before and after the game.Audience: All sorts of people participated as spectators to the event: local commoners and people coming from other towns, nobles, sport supporters, food sellers and other vendors.Gamblers: Gambling was an integral component of ball games. Bettors were both nobles and commoners, and sources tell us that the Aztec had very strict regulations about bet payments and debts. A modern version of the Mesoamerican ballgame, called ulama, is still played in Sinaloa, Northwest Mexico. The game is played with a rubber ball hit only with the hips and resemble a net-less volleyball. Updated by K. Kris Hirst Sources Blomster JP. 2012. Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. Diehl RA. 2009. Death Gods, Smiling Faces Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Inc: FAMSI. (accessed in November 2010)and Colossal Heads: Archaeology of the Mexican Gulf Lowlands. Hill WD, and Clark JE. 2001. Sports, Gambling, and Government: Americas First Social Compact? American Anthropologist 103(2):331-345. Hosler D, Burkett SL, and Tarkanian MJ. 1999. Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284(5422):1988-1991. Leyenaar TJJ. 1992. Ulama, the survival of the Mesoamerican ballgame Ullamaliztli. Kiva 58(2):115-153. Paulinyi Z. 2014. The butterfly bird god and his myth at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(01):29-48. Taladoire E. 2003. Could we speak of the Super Bowl at Flushing Meadows?: La pelota . Ancient Mesoamerica 14(02):319-342.mixteca, a third pre-Hispanic ballgame, and its possible architectural context