Case Study on HR Issues: Supervisory Support

Joseph a plant level worker has been twenty years of experience, in Zeal Zink Ltd, a large scale industrial establishment in Maharashtra. He is hard working, competent, punctual and reliable employee of Binani Zink Ltd. He is having good interaction and interrelation with his superiors, co-workers and other members in the organization. The management has better impression and appreciation about his performance and commitment. The only disagreement the management has on him is his affiliation to one of the trade unions in the organization. Management didn’t have any impression towards the existence of trade unions within the organization as they believed that trade unions are to mislead and exploit the work force and a big hurdle in the smooth progress of the organization. To make Joseph more work oriented, management decided to promote him to supervisory level. The promotion decision is beyond his expectation. He found himself very happy with Continue reading

Statutory Measures for Employee Protection and Welfare in India

The preamble to our Indian Constitution promises justice – social, economic and political. It also stresses Equality of status and of opportunity. Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits traffic in human beings and forced labour. Article 24 prohibits employment of children in factories. The article 38 and 39 spelt under Directive Principles of State Policy are now enforceable as per the dictums laid by our Supreme Court. Constitution of India, Article 38: State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people: The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life. The State shall, in particular, strive to minimize the inequalities in income, and endeavor to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst Continue reading

Foreign Exchange Forecasting in Practice

Most of the approaches to foreign exchange rate determination tell only part of the story–like the several blindfolded men touching different parts of the elephant’s body–and other, more comprehensive explanations cannot, in practice, be used for precise forecasting. We do not yet have a way of bringing together all of the factors that help determine the exchange rate in a single comprehensive approach that will provide reliable short- to medium-term predictions. The exchange rate is a pervasive and complex mechanism, influencing and being influenced by many different forces, with the effects and the relative importance of the different influences continuously changing as conditions change. To the extent that trade flows are a force in the market, competitiveness is obviously important to the exchange rate, and the many factors affecting competitiveness must be considered. To the extent that the money market is a factor, the focus should be on short-term interest Continue reading

Organization Structure and Management Control

Four different types of organization structures have been identified for managing the tasks of the organization. These are (i) a centralized functional structure,     (ii) a decentralized divisional structure, (ii) a hybrid (matrix) structure, and (iv) network/coupling structure. An important aspect in the design of management control systems is that it should be linked with responsibility centers. Because of this   intimate linkage between the control system and the organization structure, it becomes important to know about key control considerations in the choice of an organization structure. Important parameters on the basis of which choice of the structure can be decided are (i) efficiency and effectiveness, (ii) economies of scale, (iii) problems of coordination, (iv) assignment of profit responsibility, (v) conflict and cooperation. Since efficiency is related to level of activity, as the level of activity increases efficiency also increases. Size permits the division of labor and specialization within Continue reading

International Accounting Standard 37 (IAS37)

The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) issued IAS37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets in September 1998. It replaced parts of IAS10 Contingencies and became operative for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 July 1999. Before the announcement of IAS37, different countries use various ways to verify their provisions, which bring the problem of inconsistency. Some enterprises confirm their provisions, depending on whether to undertake current obligation or not. While some other enterprises are according to managers’ willingness of proceeding future payments to confirm their preparations. Therefore, the results are: Different types of business enterprises have different classification of provisions, so it creates inconsistency. This jeopardizes comparability of different enterprise’s financial statements. It provides the opportunity for certain enterprises to manipulate their profits. For example, the cost should be recognized in the period but may be moved to other period to confirm; the cost should be Continue reading

Capital Sources for Business: Bonds

A bond is a type of loan. Bonds are certificates of debt that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money with a promise to pay a specified sum of money at a fixed time in the future and carrying interest at a fixed rate. Generally, a bond is a promise to repay the principal along with interest (coupons) on a specified date (maturity). The main types of bonds are corporate bond, municipal bond, Treasury bond, Treasury note, Treasury bill, and zero-coupon bond. It is a tradable debt instrument that might be sold at above or below par (the amount paid out at maturity), and are rated by bond rating services to specify likelihood of default. Bonds are relatively more secured than equity and has priority over shareholders if the company becomes insolvent and its assets are distributed. There is no legal distinction between a debenture Continue reading