UNIT-3

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work environment covers two category :

(i) Physical Environment with reference to illumination, noise and atmospheric conditions. (ii) Work Schedule such as hours of work, work week, shift work and rest pauses.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

1. Illumination. The most important physical aspect of the working environment concerns the illumination of the working space. Brown & Ghiselli (1949) told that there are two important principles of effective illumination.

(a) Intensity of illumination (b) Uniformity of illumination

(a) Intensity of Illumination. The intensity of the illumination should be sufficient for the task. High intensity of illumination results in an increase in accuracy particularly with fine work such as type setting. Brighter light therefore results in faster and more effective work.

(b) Uniformity of Illumination. Uniformity of illumination shows its effects upon production. The strong tendency of the eyes to fixate the brightest part of the visual field is evidence that the visual field should be uniformly illuminated.

For the high productivity in industry.

(i) Intensity of illumination would be depend on the nature of task.

(ii) Intensity should be more than 200 foot candles.

(iii) Illumination should be distributed uniformly.

(iv) Illumination should be comes from the side.

2. Ventilation. Ventilation means circulation of fresh air. It is common belief that the bad effects resulting from inadequate ventilation are due to the reduced oxygen content of the air and to the excessive amounts of carbon dioxide present in it. Breathing polluted air can have negative effect on both personal health and task performance. Substance such as dust, pollen, carbon monoxide and sulfer are common in major cities and various industrial settings Example—Increase in output resulting from improvement of ventilation is reported by Wyatt, Fraser and Stock. These investigators studied output in weaving mills. When the ventilation was inadequate, output decreased and breakage increased. When the problem of discomfort was solved by introducing fans, then output increased and breakage decreased.

3. Noise. The noise of extreme intensity not only can be irritating but also can lead to actual physical pain and permanent ear damage. Generally noise levels above 100 decibles (db) should be so considered, and employee should be protected from such noise by ear plugs or ear muffs.

Control of noise. The control of noise is very much an engineering problem. It include the following approaches:

(i) Reduction of noise at the source (such as by proper machine design) enclosing the noise,

(ii) the use of baffles and soundproofing materials,

(iii) the use of ear protection devices.

WORK SCHEDULE

Work schedules have various aspects, including the total number of hours, worked per week, distribution of hours, shift of work and rest pauses.

1. Hours of Work. During material crisis, such as war, it has been common practice to lengthen the work day to as much as 14 or even 16 hr in anticipation of greater production of manufactured goods to satisfy increased demands. The total hours worked by people on their jobs is a major issue.

2. Five-Day Work Week. For many industrial operations 8-hr-day, 5 day-week schedule appears to be the best. The optimal daily or weekly work period varies with the nature of the work, with the type of working conditions and with the type of worker. In 2005, 33% of organizations surveyed by the society for Human Resource Management offered five-day work weeks (Burke, 2005). Numerous studies suggest that five-day work week bring a moderate reduction in absenteeism.

3. Shift Work. The shift work influenced people’s work-related behaviour.

(i) Mott and others reported that there was some evidence indicating that errors tend to be a bit higher and output a bit lower on shift work, especially on the night shift.

(ii) Shift work affects male workers, who generally pattern their schedules around leisure activities; women tend to adjust their schedules to domestic concerns (Chambers, 1986).

(iii) Disruptions of circadian rhythms, the 24-hour cycles of physiological functions maintained by every person.

Minimization of the effect of night shift. To minimize the effect of night shift on employee’s performance, rotating shifts (in which an employee rotates through all three shifts.) should be adopted. A survey of various companies using shifts found that 66% used rotating shifts (Circadian Technologies, 2003).

4. Rest Pauses. Rest breaks during scheduled work sessions are becoming rather common practice providing time to have coffee, soft drinks, tea and other refreshments. The effect of rest pause does not reduce output but increase output.

ENGINEERING PSYCHOLOGY

Engineering Psychology is the design of machines and equipment for human use and the determination of the appropriate human behaviors for the efficient operation of the machines. Synonyms include human factors engineering and ergonomics.

• Ergonomics : the physical fit between human and machine.

• Ergonomic Engineering : the science of human engineering which combines the study of human body mechanics and physical limitations with industrial psychology.

Aim of engineering psychology

• Improving overall system performance

• To fit man to machine

• To study human problem related to designing and operating machine

• To specify the capacities and limitations of the human, which is useful in designing the machine

Person-Machine Systems: A system in which human and mechanical components operate together to accomplish a task . Neither part is of value without the other

• These systems involve a wide range of human input

– Even automated equipment needs to be designed and maintained by humans

• Humans are involved in all aspects of technology

– Designers

– Users (operators)

– Maintenance personnel

• The successes (and problems) of technology arise not solely from machines (machine failure) or solely from humans (human error), but from the interaction of humans and machines (system error)

Man-Machine system is a combination of display and control system

Display: In man-machine system, operators receive inputs from the machine through the physical senses

Example: While driving a car, person receive information of high speed of car from visual displays (speedometer) and from auditory displays (the chime)

Control: In human-machine system, once the human operators receive input through the displays and that information must communicate some control (motor) action and transmit their control decisions through such devices as switches, levers, breaks etc.

Importance of engineering psychology

• Enhance efficiency (productivity)

• Ensure safety

• Appraisal System (testing of new equipment design in relation to man)

• Improve human performance (Designing of new machine in such a way to minimize human errors)

• Gain market acceptance (quality, comfort)

• For Safety purpose

Application of engineering psychology Engineering Psychology can be applied in

• Aero scope

• Information Technology

• Health Care (Design of medical equipments)

• Transportation

Sensory

Cognitive

Motor

Display

Processor

Control

Human Machine

Inte

rfac

e

• Automotive Design

• Industrial enterprises

• Military

WHAT IS FATIGUE?

The general concept of fatigue is used to describe a general state of the individual a state resulting from continuous activity or work. Fatigue is a feeling of deficiency and lack of pleasure in doing the work.

Fatigue may be defined as decline in physical energy, deficiency in mental energy and decline in production.. Decline in Physical Energy. When a person is continuous involved in work, he feels a lack of balance, which causes physical fatigue.

Decline in Mental Energy. If a person is engaged in some mental work for a long time, a point is reached when he does not want to exist any and he has left energy, it is mental fatigue.

Decline in Production. Decline in mental energy and physical power affects production rate adversely. Fatigue is understood in terms of decline in production.

SYMPTOMS : Symptoms of fatigue are as follows:

- Difficulty in attention and concentration- Feel dull and sluggish- Feel careless, uncoordinated, confused or irritable- Cognitive deficits

CAUSES OF FATIGUE:

(i) Personal Factor. Personal factor produce fatigue. Lack of sleep, lack of motivation, are the some examples.

(ii) Environmental Factor. Several environmental factors are responsible for fatigue. Noise, improper lightning and extreme heat are environmental factors.

- Noise. The effect of noise depends on the kind of noise and the kind of work. Mental work is affected more than manual work by noise. The effect of noise is greater when it is irregular and also when it is interesting.

- Illumination (Lighting): Unevenly illuminated cause continual adjustment changes and consequently higher visual fatigue. Poor illumination causes fatigue and irritability, and a source of errors and industrial accidents.

- Temperature: The effect of temperature on worker productivity was encountered as much as in higher temperature

- Long Working Hours: Long working hours is the cause of fatigue. Vernon Bed Ford (1925) found that the speed of production reached a maximum at apparently 40 hours a week but decreased with the increase in the length of the working week beyond that point.

- Lack of Rest Pauses. Another cause of fatigue is lack of rest pauses. If the proper rest pauses as not provided to the workers, then it results in fatigue, which influenced the quality and quantity of the workers.

REDUCTION METHOD OF FATIGUE

There are the different methods for reducing fatigue, which are as follows :

(i) Length of the Work Period. Fatigue is generated by prolonged activity, one avenue to its reduction is the shortening the length of the work period. Various studies shows that 44 to 45 hours per week is sufficient for reducing the fatigue. For Example—5 day per week.

(ii) Rest Pauses. Rest pauses are desirable in each type of work and it is useful for reducing fatigue. The duration of the rest period should be from 5 to 20 minutes, with heavier work requiring the upper limit.

(iii) Environmental Condition. Several environmental conditions, noise, improper light, extreme heat increase fatigue. Various studies have reported improvements in these conditions as contributing to fatigue alleviation.

(iv) Coffee Break. The favorable effects of coffee breaks were reported as : reduction in workers fatigue, by 82 per cent of the companies; improvement in morale, by 75 per cent; increased productivity, by 65 per cent; lower accident rate, by 32 per cent; and lower employee turnover, by 21 per cent.

WORK CURVE :

A work curve is depicting the level of performance against time spent at work.

Types of work curve

• Simple Muscular Work curve : Simple muscular curve is derived by recording the units and output of a group of muscles against the force of some weight or spring. It can be seen in following figure:

Performance

Time

The above simple muscular activity curve shows a short warm up period followed by a high level of performance with gradual tapering off and subsequently sudden drop occurs.

• Complex Muscular Work Curve: This curve depicts the amount of work done per unit of time in analytical industrial situation as a complex muscular activity.

R

Performance E

S

Time

The above complex muscular curve shows that the productivity immediately after the lunch break may be lower as compared to the productivity at the time of going to the lunch. But the productivity again increases to the peak and, after some time, it starts declining until the shift ends.

Mental Work Curve : Mental work curve is derived by mental task. Mental work decrement occurs in quantity, speed and accuracy of output as in muscular work as it is depicted in following figure:

Performance

Time

Conclusion: Fatigue is a feeling of tiredness which is caused by several factors and psychologists manage these factors for minimizing the fatigue in industry.

BOREDOM

Boredom is also known as monotony. The name implies monotomy is one tone or the word is made up by mono + tone, which means one tone. When there is no variety, no change in a work, the person becomes boredom. According to Harrell “Boredom is characterized by depression and a desire for change of activity”

CAUSES OF BOREDOM : There are various causes of boredom.

Causes of Boredom

Nature ofjob

System of Payment

Lack of Rest pauses

Uniformity of Work

Lack ofmotivation

Individualdeference

Personality Traits

Fig.: Causes of Boredom

(i) Nature of job. The primary cause of boredom in job is repetition, or lack of variety. Due to mechanization jobs become repetitive. Boredom is less likely to occur with work that is completely demands a high degree of attention and more likely to occur in the case of automatic work. Study shows that mechanized routine work leads to feelings of boredom.

(ii) System of Payment. Method of payment is the cause of boredom. Boredom may be induced under the time rate payment than the piece rate payment.

(ii) Uniformity of Work. Uniformity may lead to monotony. The influence on production of uniformity and variety of work has been investigated in a number of studies. Wyatt studied, in connection with the packing of drugs in the shipping room of a manufacturing concern and concluded that repetitive work through out the day was conducive to fatigue, boredom and monotony.

(iv) Lack of planned rest pauses. Repetitive work has a tendency for a decreases in the rate of production. If there is the absence of well planed rest pauses it creates the monotonous situation in the industry. For example, If a person has a work to put the plate in machine all the time, he does not provided the sufficient rest pauses, this works create boredom.

(v) Individual Differences. Monotony depends upon the disposition of the individual worker. The same work may be monotonous to one and interesting to another. The same individual may also show more boredom one day than another. And same people may become adjusted readily to boring tasks than repetitive ones.

(vi) Lack of motivation. In the industrial situation boredom becomes manifest, when the individual finds his work presenting no challenge and when his interest in the immediate accomplishment of that work is gone. Individual fully realizes that unless he continues to produce, he will not be paid.

(vii) Personality Traits. Boredom is also caused by the personality traits of an employee. The study reveals that several personality traits which are believed to be cause of monotony are not found to influence. Measures, for instance, of day-dreaming habits, ambitiousness, intelligence and extrovert personality were not found to differentiate between the workers who are highly susceptible and those who are non-susceptible to monotony.

EFFECTS OR CONSEQUENCES OF BOREDOM

On Performance Job Satisfaction Absenteeism Negative affective states

(i) Effect on performance. One immediate consequence of boredom may be decrements in performance. When meaningful stimulation from a task is very low, physiological arousal begins to decline and a person, experiencing boredom may begin to feel sleepy.

(ii) Job dissatisfaction. Boredom is an unpleasant emotion, it seems likely that frequent feelings of boredom on the job would contribute to job dissatisfaction, at least with the facet (s) held responsible for the experienced boredom.

(iii) Absenteeism. Boredom is related to absenteeism. Kass, et. al. (2001) found that employees those high in job boredom possessed significantly greater absenteeism.

(iv) Negative affective states. Boredom has also been significantly related to a multitude of negative affective states such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, dissatisfaction, and impulsivity (e.g. Boredom creates anger and aggression among employees.

METHODS OF REDUCING BOREDOM

(I) Improving the Conditions of Workers. The conditions of workers may be improved by:

(i) Mental abilities and personality traits should be ascertained.

(ii) The system of paying wages and bonus.

(iii) Promotion and in-service training programmes.

(iv) Cordial social relations.

(II) Improving Conditions of Work. In order to reduce boredom or monotony, conditions of work may be improved by : (i) Working Method. Adopt interesting method for doing job.

(ii) Shifting Job. Shifting jobs from time to time is a best way to reduce boredom. The Capital Transit Company, operator of buses and street cars in Washington, D.C., has found that allowing operators to shift jobs every several months works well. The system of sifting an employee from one machine to another or from one type of work to another has been found to have a favorable effect in relieving employee from the boredom or monotony of work.

(iii) Job Enlargement. If the job is enlarged, the worker is required to manipulate various types of job and its operations. Variety of operations reduces the feeling of boredom. One development for reducing the monotony of overspecialized, mass-production jobs is job enlargement. In 1943, IBM’s president realized that machine operators could save a lot of time and gain variety in their jobs by setting up their own machines. This type of job enlargement brings more pride in work and less specific strain and fatigue, as well as less monotony.

(iv) Music. One of the most popular work environment changes is the introduction of music during the work hours. The reason of popularity of music is because it could be presented in a number of varieties and intensity. For example - instrumental, classical, jazz, pop, etc. The music could be provided either during lunch hours or at synchronized interval of time, for instance- for 15mins every two hours or as suitable. In repetitive factory work if music is introduced, it could result in increased production which is ultimately combination of quality and quantity, thus overall production is enhanced.

(v) Job Rotation. The system of relating an employee from one machine to another has good effects in relieving the monotony of mass production work. Give people the opportunity to use a variety of skills, and perform different kinds of work. The most common way to do this is through job rotation. Move the workers through a variety jobs that allow them to see different parts of the organization learn different skills and acquire different experiences. This can be very motivating, especially for people in jobs that are very repetitive or that focus on only one or two skills.

Conclusion: Boredom induces in industry due to machine system, so workers have no variety in jobs, which results in low productivity. Various types of measures used for reducing monotony.

Difference between ‘Fatigue’ and ‘Boredom’ in psychological framework

The difference between fatigue and monotony (boredom) are as follows:

Fatigue is tiredness and feeling like drained of energy physically while boredom is a mental condition where a person tends to think he has nothing to do and sit ideally, i.e. mental dullness.

Fatigue is a condition of decreased capacity for work, whereas boredom is a condition of decreased interest in work.

Fatigue can be measured while boredom is a subjective attitude and cannot be measured. Fatigue cannot be removed, it can be reduced, whereas boredom can be removed. Fatigue expresses in the form of gradual decrement in the work curve with a final and spurt. Boredom

expresses in the form of irregularities in the work curve with intermittent spurt of short duration and rapid rise toward the end.

Fatigue can be expressed in the desire of rest, whereas, boredom can be expressed in the desire for change of activity.

ACCIDENTS

The number of industrial workers killed or disabled in connection with their jobs runs. The main factor behind this is accidents. An accident is an event that takes place without expectation and results in some type of personal injury/or damage to equipment or property. According to Heinrich “Accident is an unplanned and uncontrolled event in which the action of an object, person results in personnel injury”.

According to National Safety Council accident means, “any unexpected event that interrupts or interferes with the orderly progress of the production activity or process.”

Thus, accident may cause damage to equipments or materials or may delay production, without resulting in an injury or fatality. Accident behaviour does not result only in personal injury or physical damage but can be considered as being a precipitating factor of accidents.

Causes of Accidents

Personal Factor(i) Age(ii) Health(iii) Personality(iv) Emotional

Causes of Accidents

Situational Factor(i) Temperature(ii) Illumination(iii) Work Schedule(iv) Shift of work(v) General characteristics of situation

Personal Factors. Personal factors are those which are related to an individual. These are as follows:

(i) Age. To study the relationship between age and accidents, workers are divided into age groups. The accidents rate decreases with increasing age. It is evident in the following graph.

20 25 30 35 40 45 50

·5

1·0

1·5

Age

Hosp

ital V

isits

per m

an

Fig. 1. Hospital visits all man per year in relation to age

(ii) Health. The physical defects of various sorts predispose the individual to measured accident liability. In various types of jobs it has been found that vision is related to accident frequency. The results of study on vision and accidents are shown in the following figure :

50

100

Perc

enta

ge o

f Acc

iden

tsin

one

year

0Meet Visual

Standards

Do not Meet Visual

Standards

Fig..2 : Vision in relation to serious accidents among 104 paper machine operators.

(iii) Personality. Employee’s personality factors is related to accident. The person who are well adjusted to his environment are less prone to accidents than those who are maladjusted. In a study of street car motormen it has been found that in one fifth of the accidents personality maladjustment or improper mental attitude is responsible.

(iv) Emotional. Emotional states of the individual are important factors in accidents. Individual who is emotionally disturbed will have more accidents than a well-adjusted person. Inadequate relations between a workers and his supervisor are likely to result in such disturbances. Fear of machines, worries about continuing on the job, home, marital conflicts and financial worries may produce emotional upsets and leads to accident.

Situational Factor. Situational factors are those which are related to the working conditions.

(i) Temperature. There is a inverted U shape relationship between temperature of the work environment of frequency of minor accidents. The accident rate being lowest near an optimum temperature and higher is lower in higher temperatures. The optimum temperature in any given circumstance would depend upon the nature of the task work.

(ii) Illumination. Accident rate shows an increase under conditions of poor illumination. In a study it was found that under conditions of inadequate artificial lighting accident rate was 25 percent greater than under ordinary day light illumination.

(iii) Work Schedule. The accident rate depends upon work schedule. The frequency of accidents would vary with the speed of work, severity of work and length of the work period. The high speed of work, high severity (high physical demands) and increasing length of the working period will result in increase in accident rate.

(iv) Shift of Work. It involves day shift and night shift. On the night shift accidents are relatively more frequent under poorer conditions of artificial illumination than under conditions of good illumination.

(v) General characteristics. The general characteristics of situations and the predisposing characteristics of situations set the stage by establishing the probability of accident-inducing circumstances. In any given situation such a probability in combination with the incidence of accident behavior by people in the situation, determine the risk of accidents in the situation.

Role of Machines in Accidents

Accident may caused by chance factors and characteristics of personality. Some motor car are more dangerous than other—machines are more risky to operate. Accidents can be caused by these factors, which is known as system factors (as). Thus. AT = ac + ap + as

Where AT = total number of accidents

ac = accidents caused by chance factors

ap = accidents attributable to personal characteristics

as = accident caused by system factors

Also, there may well be an interaction of people types with system types, such that some people are suited for some systems while others are suited for other systems. Thus, a short man in a motor car may tend to have more accidents. While a tall man might have the reverse tendency. Actually, the role of systems in accidents has probably not been given enough attention. If there have been some noticeable advances in motor-car safety features in recent

years with padded dashed, seat belts, etc. but even so it is apparent that the public is not overly concerned with safety items when buying. No one seems to want an ugly, unsafe motor car.

Accident Proneness

Accident proneness is the continuing tendency of a person to have accidents as a result of stable and persisting characteristics. Example—Two individual operating the same piece of machinery under identical circumstances have the same situational probability of having an accident. However, one may be inherently a poor operator in the area of coordination. Because of this lack of proficiency, individual will have a greater probability of having an accident in circumstances requiring coordination. He is called an accident prone operator.

Accident Proneness Principle

Accident Proneness is a hypothesis about human behavior which says that accident behavior is not a random phenomenon. Rather, it is a consistent characteristic which can be predicted. The accident proneness concept does not hold that accidents are caused strictly by chance. One can represent this concept with the simple equation

AT = ac+ ap

Where AT = total number of accidents

ac = accidents caused by chance factors

ap = accidents attributable to personal characteristics

Those who believe in accident proneness believe that ap is an important source of accidents. According to

chance expectancy, some men will have no accident, some will have one accident, some two accidents, and some three or more accidents. In other words, chance will result in a distribution of accidents, and it is wrong to assume that in accordance with chance expectancy all men should have equal numbers of accidents.

To establish or support the principle of accident proneness, three methods can be used. In one method, the distribution of the total number of accidents in a population is compared with the distribution that would be expected if only chance factors operated. A comparison of these two distribution make it possible to determine whether accidents happened more frequently to some men that would be expected by chance. The second method is to study the individuals and the number of similar numbers of accidents can be regarded as evidence in favor of accident proneness. The third method is to compute the correlation coefficient of the accident records of a group for two periods.

Mintz and Blum (1949) found a considerable amount of careless reporting, illogical reasoning, and unfamiliarity with the statistical theory underlying accident proneness. Their analysis show that 60 to 80 percent of the accidents reported appear to be attributable to unpredictable factors and the remaining 20 to 40 percent to the component of accident liability which includes both personal characteristics and environmental conditions contributing to accident records.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF SAFETY UNDER THE FACTORIES ACT 1948

The legal framework of safety and accident prevention for the factory workers is provided under Act, 1948. The safety provisions are contained in section 21 to section 41 of the Factories Act, 1948. The safety provisions as given under the Factories Act are described as under:Section 21 : Fencing of Machinery. In every factory, every dangerous part of any machinery must be securely fenced by safeguards of substantial construction.

Section 22: Work on or near Machinery in motion. With a view to secure the safety of the workers, it is necessary to examine any part of the machinery, while it is in motion. The worker should wear tight –fitting clothes.Section 23: Employment of Young person on dangerous machine. No young person shall work at any machine unless he has been fully instructed as to be dangers arising in connection with machine.Section 24. Striking Gear and Devices for Cutting off Power. In every factory, suitable devices for cutting off power in emergencies from running machinery shall be provided and maintained in every work room.Section 25. Self acting machine. No traversing part of a self-acting machine in any factory.Section 26. Casing of new machinery. All machinery driven by power and installed in factory should be completely encased.Section 27. Prohibition of Employment of Women and Children near cotton openers. No women or child shall be employed in any part of a factory where pressing cotton opener is at work.Section 28. Hoists and Lifts. In every factory every hoist and lift shall be properly maintained.Section 29. Lifting machines, chains and Ropes. In every factory every lifting machines should be properly checked and maintained.Section 30. Revolving Machine . In every room in a factory in which the process of grinding is carried on, there shall be permanently affixed to or placed near each machine in use a notice indicating the maximum safe working peripheral speed of every grindstone.Section 31. Pressure Plant. If in any factory, any part of the plant or machinery used in a manufacturing process is operated at a pressure above atmospheric pressure, effective measures shall be taken to ensure that safe working pressure of such part is not exceed.Section 32. Floors, Stairs and Means of Access. In every factory all floors, steps, stairs and gangways shall be sound constructed and properly maintained.Section 33. Pits, Sumps, Opening in floors. In every factory fixed vessel, sumo, tank, pit in the ground shall be either securely covered or securely fenced.Section 34. Excessive Weights. No person shall be employed in any factory to lift, carry or move any load so heavy as to be likely to cause him injury.Section 35. Protection of Eyes. The state government may be rules to protect eyes from exposure of excessive light by providing employees the effective screens or suitable goggles.Section 36. Precautions against Dangerous Fumes. In any factory no person shall enter or be permitted to enter any chamber, tank, pit, pipe or other confined space in which dangerous fumes are likely to be present. Section 36A. Precautions regarding the use of Portable light. In any factory no portable electric light or any other electric voltage exceeding twenty four volts shall be permitted for use inside any chamber, tank, pit or other confined space.Section 37. Explosive or Inflammable Dust, Gas etc.Section 38. Precautions in case of Fire. In every factory there shall be provided such means of escape in case of fire.Section 39. Power to require Specification to defective part.Section 40. Safety of buildings and Machinery. Safety officers shall be deputed for safety purpose.Section 41. Power to make rules. The state Government may make rules requiring the provision in any factory.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES FOR REDUCING ACCIDENTS OR SAFETY MEASURES

Devices for prevention of accidents should be considered from the point of view engineering and psychology.

1. Direct Preventive Measures from Engineering Point of View. The engineer should devise new types of machines which may not cause accidents. A machine should be so devised that any human organ may not come in close contact with it.

2. Indirect Preventive Devices. Removing fatigue by providing equitable rest pauses

— Speed of work must not be very fast.

— Temperature should be controlled

— Arrangement of proper light and ventilation

3. Psychological Preventive Devices. The right methods of handling tools.

(1) Safety Programme. Safety programme deals with the prevention of accidents and with minimizing the resulting loss and damage to persons and property. A safety programme contains six elements, which is given in following figure.

Fig. : Safety Process

(i) Strategic Choices. The first step in a safety programme is for management to make decision regarding safety of their workers. There are four strategic choices level of protection, formal or informal programme, proacetone in developing procedures, safety of workers as a marketing tool for the organziation.

(ii) Safety Policy. The second step is evolving the safety policy. The policy for specifies the company’s goals and designates the responsibilities and authority for their achievement.

(iii) Organization for Safety. The third step is to constitute an organization for safety. Companies constitute safety committee which are composed of employees from across the organisation.

(iv) Analysis of Causes for Accidents. There are various causes of accidents. In this step there is analysis of these causes. What are the causes of accidents such as accident rates, training in safety, role of management and unions etc.

(v) Implementing the Policy. It is another step in a safety program me, safety policy has been implemented in industry. The programme covers :

—Procedures for reporting accidents.

—General rules on safe working habits and Safety inspections.

—Suggestions on safety measures.

Industrial Safety Programs

There are various types of safety programs used in industry.

Strategic choices

Development of Safety Policy

Organization for Safety

Analysis of causes

for Accidents

Implementation of

Programme

Evaluation of Effectiveness

1. Work Methods in Relation to Safety. As with equipment design, most research on work methods has the ultimate aim of increasing speed and quality of work. While some studies have been conducted for the specific purpose of increasing safety of performance. Work methods are related to safety in three ways.

First, Concentration on act or skill.

Secondly, Incorrect working method.

Lastly, Check the tool before use.

By examining each of the above three aspects of work methods in relation to a specific job and by adopting appropriate measures or precautions, safety can by increased. Employee’s concentration could be increased by training, doing exercise, and chosing a correct working method. For inspection of tool or equipment, the development of a comprehensive check list is necessary or required.

Safety Records. Procter and Gamble has had safety progress through “teamwork.” There has been a program under which everyone “thought” safety and “worked” safety. In 1930 the company has thirty-six disabling injuries for every million man-hours worked; in 1955 this accident frequency was 1. This corporation, like many other, is reducing accidents. Companies which have demonstrated good safety records are those that have careful and comprehensive safety programs with a great emphasis on training.

Slogans. Slogans with an appeal to fear attract attention of thirty percent population (Vernon, 1945). The relative training values of these appeals in decreasing accidents are very useful. For example, “Be Careful”, “Danger”, etc.

(2) Safety Committees : In most modern industries, safety committees have become almost a permanent feature of life. The generally include a safety officer, a welfare officer and some representatives of workers. In large industrial organizations, there may be many departmental sub-committees working under the main committee. Very often, we have representatives of such committees working on Town, State and National Safety Councils, whose main are careless workers, whether hazards, and find out whether there are careless workers, whether workers use safety devices and precautions. They also collect safety data and call for safety suggestions from workers and educate them in the various aspect of safety in a department or plant.

Conclusion

Accidents are unexpected and unforeseen. They occur due to particular working situations or errors committed by workers. Some workers are more prone to accidents. There is a close relationship between nervous stability and accident proneness. Accidents are prevented by considering the view points of engineering and psychology.

JOB ANALYSIS

Jobs are the means by which people earn their daily bread and represent how they spend a major portion of their lives. Job analysis is the process of collecting job related performance.

According to McCormick “Job analysis is the process by which one obtains information about jobs.”

According to Robbins “Job analysis is a systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of a job.”

Process of Job Analysis :The process of job analysis results in two sets of data, which is clear by the figure :

(How management expects the job to be performed or human qualifications to do the job)

Education Experience Training Judgement Communication skills

Job Specification

Job Description(How the job is really performed)A statement containing items such as

Job title Location Job Summary Task

Working Conditions

Job Analysis

Fig. Job description and Job specification in job analysis.

JOB DESCRIPTION: A job description is obtained from a job analysis. It is a short summary of a job and should be about two to five pages in length. Job description should contain the following items :

(i) Job Title. A job title is important due to various reasons. An accurate title describes the nature of the job and also employee selection and recruitment. Job title provide workers with some form of identity. Instead of just saying that she is a “Employee in college,” a woman can say that she is a “assistant professor” or a “machinist.”

(ii) Location. It is concerned with the location of job. The name of department, to which the job is concerned. For example, assistant professor in mechanical department of HCST, college.

(iii) Brief Summary. The summary should briefly describe the nature and purpose of the job. This summary can be used in help-wanted advertisements, internal job posting, and company brochures.

(iv) Tasks. It describes the task and activities, in which an employee is involved. These tasks and activities should be organized into meaningful categories to make the job description easy to read and understand.

(v) Working Condition. It is description of conditions of work which will help a worker to make a right choice for his job. It involves temperature, light, means of communication transport, toilets, refreshment rooms and parking facilities, etc.

JOB SPECIFICATION A job specification is a document which states the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job. Human qualities refer to the knowledge, skill, ability, personal characteristics, and credentials needed for effective job performance. These terms are defined as:

Knowledge—the body of information one needs to perform the job.

Skill—the capability to perform a learned motor task, such as forklift operating skills and word-processing

skills.

Ability—the capability needed to perform a non-motor task, such as communication abilities, mathematical

abilities, and reasoning or problem-solving abilities.

Personal characteristics—an individual's traits (e.g., tact, assertiveness, concern for others, objectivity,

work ethic) or their willingness/ability to adapt to the circumstances in the environment (e.g., ability to

withstand boredom, willingness to work overtime, willingness to treat others cordially).

Credentials—proof or documentation that an individual possesses certain competencies, such as diplomas,

certifications, and licenses.

PURPOSES OF JOB ANALYSIS : The purpose of job analysis are useful in Human resource planning (HRP), employee hiring, training, job evaluation, compensation, performance appraisal.

Job Analysis

Training & Development

Recruitment & Selection

HRP

Job Evaluation

Remuneration

Performance Appraisal

Personnel Information

Safety and Health

Job Description

Fig.: Purpose of Job Analysis Human Resource Planning: It determines as to how many and what type of personnel will be needed in the

near future, i.e., the requirement of number and the type of personnel. Recruitment and Selection: Another purpose of recruitment, which is useful in recruiting the staff members

of organization or recruitment is the process of searching applicants for job. Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with a greater likelihood of success in a job.

Training and Development. Job analysis is useful in training and development. Training refers to the process of importing specific skills. Development refers to those learning opportunities designed to help employees grow.

Job Evaluation. Job evaluation involves determination of relative worth of each job. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of job description and job specification. Job evaluation helps determine wage and salary grades for all jobs.

Remuneration. Remuneration involves figure benefits, bonus and other benefits. Remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job.

Performance Appraisal. Performance appraisal involves assessment of the actual performance of an employee against what is expected of him/her. Job analysis facilities performance appraisal in as much as it

helps fix standards for performance in relation to which actual performance of an employee is compared and assessed.

Personal Information. Personal information is the information regarded to an employee and in organization it is maintained by computer. Job analysis is useful for building such information systems.

Safety and Health. Job analysis is useful in identifying hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors (such as heat, noise, fumes), so that corrective measures can be taken to minimize and avoid the possibility of human injury.

Relevance of Job Analysis in Manpower Acquisition Process

Job analysis assists organization to manage their HR functions in a systematic and structured way, for instance,

it plays as an indispensable factor within organization’s performance and reward system; it provides great helpful

for evaluating and designing the training program and refining the training content by creating realistic training

objectives and standards; particularly, it carries tremendous administrative benefits, by assisting organizational

general recruitment and selection process and keeping alert on the possible management problems;

Job analysis is the cornerstone of the major HR activities, it provides valid and solid foundation for the effective

recruitment and selection practices. Recruitment is the ‘process of seeking and attracting a pool of qualified

applicants from which candidates for job vacancies can be selected.’ With using the sufficient information

developed by job analysis, the organization could establish valid job requirements, and identify who, how and when

to recruit during the recruitment process. As Clifford (1994) indicates in his study, job analysis provides significant

assistance for developing job announcements, summary of job descriptions and job required level of skills, provides

facilities for the recruitment procedure and enables organization to have a clear audit trail back to the critical tasks

included in the job analysis data. In other words, Irrelevant or/and distorted job information has/ have been

identified by job analysis, which enables the HR department to proceeding accurate and efficient vacancy

advertisement. With using this finally produced information, both organization and individual job applicants could

have a thorough understanding about the nature and content of the job, and the job required relevant knowledge,

ability and skills (KASs). It is not only facilitate for HR managers to target on and attract qualified potential talents,

but also convenient for individual job applicants to choose the most desired and appropriate job.

Compared with recruitment, selection is the process that choosing from a group of applicants the best qualified

candidates. In order to choose the most appropriate and qualified individual candidates, various selection methods

will be involved, such as group/ individual interviews, achievement test and aptitude test. The validity and reliability

of these selection methods become essential. In order to ensure all the involved selection methods achieve these two

features, inevitably job analysis is necessary. As Hartley (2004) mentions in his study, the outcome of the job

analysis is critical deliverable, and could be considered as the foundation to create multiple derivative products, for

instance curriculum design, interview guides self-assessment tools and even organizational assessments. (Hartley

2004, pp.20) Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the information produced by job analysis is efficient for

developing selection methods. Since job analysis does not contain irrelevant or/and distorted information, thus job

analysis enables to specifically develop the valid, fair and reliable selection methods that appropriate for the

particular selection process; additionally, it will also enable to explicitly show the clear documented link between

the content of the selection methods and the job. Gray (2003) provides an example in his study that, the best

interview follows structure or checklist format, where the structure and the checklist are developed based on the

sufficient job analysis, therefore they are valid and reliable. Select the right person for the right position is

specifically important for the organization in nowadays. Inappropriate recruitment and selection not only waste

organization’s time and effort, but also diminish its profitability and impair it competitive advantage. Therefore, job

analysis is vital and critical, not only for particular general recruitment and selection process, but also for the

organization itself. As Jassim (n.d.) reiterates in his study that, job analysis is specifically vital for organizational

consistent competitive advantage. Sufficient job analysis enable organization to target on potential talents that with

requisite knowledge, skills and abilities; once those talents are employed by the organization will inevitably add

value to the organization, which is rare and inimitable. From organizational employers’ perspective, good quality of

job analysis assist targeting and attract potential recruits; whereas from the individual applicants’ perspective,

sufficient job analysis helps them to be more convenient to make up their mind about whether to apply for the job or

not.

METHODS OF JOB ANALYSIS. There are various methods which may be used to obtain data for a job analysis these are as follows :

(I) Questionnaire Method—This method is usually used to obtain information about occupations via surveys. The job incumbent is asked to provide data about himself and his job in his own words.A questionnaire that lists more “worker-oriented” job elements can be used more broadly,, in as much as it tends to cover more broadly, in as much as it tend to cover more generalized worker behaviors. One such questionnaire is the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), developed by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham. The PAQ consists of 194 job elements in the following divisions. The first three divisions of the PAQ parallel a conventional model of behavior in which behavior is viewed as consisting of a stimulus (S) acting upon an organism (O) to bring about a response (R). Human work is one manifestation of this model but might be expressed in different terms, as follows :

Information input

Information processing and decision

Action or response

Position Analysis Questionnaire analyzed the jobs in quantitative form. It covers 195 job elements grouped into six sections:

a) Information input. There are 35 items. These are related to where and how do workers get information to do their jobs.

b)Mental Processes. There are 15 elements and items are related to reasoning, planning, organizing and decision-making.

c) Work Output. 49 elements related to what physical activities, tools and machines are used?d)Relationships. 36 elements. It deals with what contact with other people, both in the company and outside of

it is maintained or developed?e) Job context. 19 elements are related to the physical and social context in which the job is performed?

f) Other Job characteristics. 41 elements covered what other activities, conditions or characteristics not covered by the other categories are relevant?

The individual job element within each of the six classes can either be checked if the apply to the position being analyzed or rated on an appropriate rating scale such as importance, time or difficulty). Although some of the job elements are not, strictly speaking, behavioral items, it is nonetheless believed that these elements have strong implications in terms of human behaviors. In practice the PAQ can be used in analyzing jobs by job analysts, by supervisors, and in some instances by the incumbents themselves.

(II) Checklist Method. This technique requires the workers to check to tasks he performs from a long list of possibe task statements. They are easily administered to large groups and easy to tabulate. Checklists can cover as many as 100 activities and job holders tick only those tasks that are included in their jobs. Preparation of a checklist is a challenging job. The specialists who prepare the list must collect all relevant information about the job concerned. Such information can be obtained by asking supervisors, industrial engineers, and other familiar with. When a checklist has been prepared for a job, it is sent to the job holder. The job holder is asked to check all listed tasks that he/she performs and indicated the amount of time spent on each task as well as the training and experience required to be proficient in each task. He/she may also be asked to write any additional tasks he/she performs which is not state in the checklist. The checklist, thus answered, will be the basis for tabulating job-related data.

One advantage of the checklist method is that it is useful in large organization that have a large number of people assigned to one particular job. Also, this technique is available to tabulation and recording on electronic data-processing equipment. The technique, however, is costly and, hence, not suitable for mall organizations.

(III) Individual Interview Method. Interview is face to face interaction process between interviewer and interview. In individual interview method one person has been interviewed by interviewer. The interview is usually structured and the results of a number of interviews are combined into a single job analysis.

(IV) Group Interview Method. The group interview is similar to the individual interview except that a number of job incumbents are interviewed simultaneously. Under the guidance of the interviewer, the interviewees recall and discuss their work activities. The interviewer then combines their comments into a single job description. The main advantage of this method is time saving.

(V) Psychological Technique. Viteles has developed the technique known as Job Psychograph. Job psychograph consists of a complete statement of the personnel requirements for a job. It involves an analysis and specification of special abilities necessary for success. A uniform list of traits is presented and each trait is rated on a five point scale in accordance with its degree of importance for the specific job. A job psychograph for power machine operator is shown in following figure

1 2 3 4 5 Remarks

1. Energy ×

2. Rate of discharge ×

3. Endurance ×

4. Control ×

5. Coordination A ×

6. Coordination B ×

7. Initiative ×

8. Concentration ×

9. Distribution for attention ×

10. Persistence ×

11. Alertness ×

12. Associability ×

13. Visual discrimination ×

14. Auditory discrimination ×

15. Tactual discrimination ×

16. Kinesthetic discrimination ×

17. Space perception ×

18. Form perception ×

19. Accuracy ×

20. Visual memory ×

21. Auditory memory ×

22 Kinesthetic memory ×

23. Understanding ×

24. Understanding (quickness) ×

25. Observation ×

26. Planfulness ×

27. Intelligence ×

28. Intellect ×

29. Judgment ×

30. Logical analysis ×

31. Language ability ×

32. Executive ability ×

In this psychograph 1 means negligible, 2 means barely significant, 3 is for significant, 4 for great importance and 5 for utmost importance.

Conclusion

Job analysis is an accurate study of the various components of a job. It is concerned not only with an analysis of the duties and conditions of work but also with the individual of the worker. The purpose of job analysis are useful

in HRP, employee hiring, training, job evaluation, performance appraisal. Various methods has been discussed to obtain data for a job analysis.

RECRUITMENT

Meaning: Recruitment means obtaining prospective employees with appropriate qualifications. In other words recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential candidates from within and outside the organization to evaluate for employment. According to Robbins “Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.” It is a linking activity—bringing together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs.

According to Aamodt “Recruitment is the process of attracting people with the right qualifications as determined in the job analysis to apply for the job.

Features: The following features are found in the definitions of recruitment :

(i) It is the process or a series of activities.

(ii) It is a linking activity as it brings together those with jobs (employer) and those seeking jobs (prospective employee)

(iii) It is a positive function as it seeks to develop a pool of eligible persons from which most suitable ones can be selected.

(iv) Recruitment is a two-way process. It takes a recruiter and recruitee. The recruiter has a choice whom to recruit or not. In the same way prospective employee can choose for which organization to apply for a job.

Sources of Recruitment: Sources of recruitment may be classified into two categories :

Recruitment

Internal Sources

External Sources

(i) Transfers(ii) Promotions

(i) Press Advertisements(ii) Educational Institutions(iii) Placement Agencies(iv) Employment Exchanges(v) Labour Contractors(vi) Walk-in Interview(vii) E-Recuiting

Internal Sources. Internal sources of recruitment lie inside company. Internal sources consists of :

(i) Transfer. Transfer implies shifting of an employer from one job to another without any major change in the status and responsibilities of the employee.

(ii) Promotion. It refers to shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher status, responsibilities and pay.

External Sources. External sources of recruitment lie outside the organization. These are as follows :

(i) Press advertisement. Advertisement in newspapers and journals is widely used source of recruitment. Gere, Scarborough and Collison, (2002) conducted a survey of 281 organizations and found that recruiters selected newspaper advertising as one the most effective avenues of applicant recruitment.

(ii) Educational Institutions or Campus interview. Many organizations send recruiters to college campuses to answer questions about themselves and interview students for available positions. Campus recruitment is going global with companies like Hindustan Lever, Citibank, HCL-HP, L&T, Motorola and Reliance looking for recruitees in global markets.

(iii) Placement Agencies. Several private consultancy firms e.g., Ferguson Consultants, ABC Consultants etc. perform recruiting function on behalf of client companies by charging fee.

(iv) Employment Exchanges. Government of India has established public employment exchange throughout the country, which provides information about job vacancies.

v)Labour Contractors. Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain close links with the source of such workers.

(vi) Walk-in Interview. The most common and least expensive approach for candidates is direct applications, in which job seekers submit unsolicited application letters or resumes. In this type of interview people from different age groups thronged the premises.

(vii) E-Recruiting. It involves screening candidates electronically, directing potential hires to a special website for online skill assessment conducting background checks over the internet, and managing the entire process with web-based software.

Process of Recruitment: There are five steps in the process of recruitment.

Planning

Strategy Development

Searching

Screening

Evaluation and Control

Fig. : Process of Recruitment.

(a) Planning. The first stage in the recruitment process is planning. Planning involves the translation of likely job vacancies and information about the nature of these jobs into a set objectives or targets that specify the (i) number and (ii) type of applicants to be contacted.

(b) Strategy development. Once it is known how man and what type of recruits are required, serious consideration needs to be given to (i) ‘make’ or ‘buy’ employees; (ii) technological sophistication of recruitment and selection devices; (iii) geographic distribution of labour markets comprising job seekers; (iv) sources of recruitment; and (v) sequencing the activities in the recruitment process.

(c) Searching . Once a recruiting plan the strategy are worked out, the search process can begin search involves two steps—(i) source activation, and (ii) selling. Sources and search methods are activated by the issuance of an employee requisition.

(d) Screening. Screening of applications can be regarded as an integral part of the recruiting process, though many view it as the first step in the selection process. Even the definition on recruitment, we quoted in the beginning of this chapter, excludes screening from its scope. However, we have included screening in recruitment for valid reason. The selection process will begin after the applications have been scrutinized and shortlisted.

(e) Evaluation and Control. Evaluation and control is necessary as considerable costs are incurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred are :

(i) Salaries for recruiters.

(ii)Cost of advertisements or other recruitment methods, that is, agency faces.

(iii) Cost of producing supporting literature.

(v) Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain unfilled.(vi) Cost of recruiting suitable candidates for the selection process.

Method of Recruitment

Direct method or Channel

Indirect method or Channel

Third Party method or Channel

(I) Direct Method- An employer can tap the candidates directly through the following ways:(a) Campus Recruitment or Interview- Under this method, the recruiter visits schools, colleges, universities,

vocational-technical and management institutes for meritorious degree holders. During such type of interview, the recruiter tells the students what the company can offer and screens potential applicants. Campus interview is of two types: On-Campus interview and Off-Campus interview. On campus interviews refer to the interview venue being the University or the place where you applied at. While off campus means a location elsewhere like a hotel, or another city/country for an international student in case.

(b) Walk-in Interview-This is a direct method of recruitment which offers quick response. The most common and least expensive approach for candidates is direct applications, in which job seekers submit unsolicited application letters or resumes. In this type of interview people from different age groups thronged the premises. Companies and organizations generally conduct walk-in interviews to source personnel to meet their immediate need. In today’s business world where growth and achievement of target is the mantra, companies need staff on short notice for fulfillment of their projects. After the interview, the candidate may be informed the selection or rejection decision of the employer.

II. Indirect Method- An employer can tap the candidates indirectly through the following ways:

(a) Press Advertisement- The most frequently used method or technique of recruitment is advertisement in publications such as newspapers, magazines, technical and professional journals. The choice of media, place, format and timing of the advertisement and appeal to the reader, all determine the efficacy of an advertisement. Effectiveness can be increased further by an improved layout and design, phrasing, location of advertisement in the paper and journal.

(b) Internet Recruitment- Such sites have two main features: job boards and a résumé/curriculum vitae (CV) database. Job boards allow member companies to post job vacancies. Alternatively, candidates can upload a résumé to be included in searches by member companies. Fees are charged for job postings and access to search resumes.

(II) Third Party Method- The job of recruitment may be handed over to third parties such as:

(i) Employment Exchange(ii) Placement Agencies

RECRUITMENT POLICY FRAMEWORK

Recruitment policy spells out the objectives and principles of the recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of the recruitment programmes. It cover the following areas :

—Should the recruitment be centralized or decentralised at unit levels ? (This is eligible to those organizations which has more than one unit).

—The degree of emphasis that would be placed on recruiting from inside the organization or outside the organization.

—The weightage that would be given to certain categories of people such as local population, physically-handicapped personnel, personnel from scheduled casts/tribes and backward classes.

—The degree of flexibility with regard to age, sex and other service conditions.

“Sons of the Soil” Policy

Some groups have demanded that industrial organizations follow the sons of the soil policy in the matter of recruitment, i.e., recruitment should be from the people belonging to the particular region. In this connection the National Commission on Labour suggested that :

—Young persons from families whose lands are acquired for industrial use should be provided training opportunities for employment in jobs.

—In “Sons of the soil Policy” the National Commission on Labour observed that the solution has to be sought in terms of the primary of common citizenship, geographical mobility and economic feasibility of locating industrial units, on the one hand and local aspiration on the other. The commision suggested these steps for employment in the public sector, it was also of the opinion that they should apply equally to recruitment in the private sector.

SELECTION

“Selection is the process of rejection”. Justify this statement.

Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the organization.

According to Stone “Selection is the process of different- iating between applicants in order to identify (and hire ) those with a greater likelihood of success in job.”

Selection means choosing the right person to be hired from a group of applicants. In other words selection means collecting, measuring, and evaluating information about candidates qualification for specified positions. Companies use these practices to increase the likelihood of hiring individuals who have the right skills and abilities to be successful in the job.

Selection Procedure. The selection procedure or process involves various steps which are depicted in following figure:

Fig. : Selection process.

(i) Reception of applicants. The first step in most selection processes involves the collection of basic candidate information. Almost all organizations require job candidates to submit a resume and complete a standard application to summarize education and work history.

(ii) Behaviour based interview . The organizations used behavior-based interview to some extent as part of their selection process. In structured behavior-based interviews, candidate are asked to describe specific behavioral examples of their skills.

(iii) Employment tests. Types of tests were used by more than 50 percent of the respondents :

— Performance/Work sample tests (for example, writing a computer program under structured testing conditions) are used by 58 percent of organization.

— Knowledge tests (tests that measure job-specific knowledge) are used by 56 percent of organization.

— Ability tests (mental, clerical, mechanical, physical, or technical) are used by 52 percent of organizations.

(iv) Employment interview. Interview is a formal in depth conversation conducted to evaluate the applicant’s acceptability. It is considered to be an excellent selection device.

Reception of Applicants

Behaviour based interview

Employment Tests

Employment

Investigation of Previous History

Waiting List of Desirable Applicants

Preliminary Selection in Employment Department

FinalApproval By Department Head or Supervisor

Physical Examination

Placement

Negative decision

Physically unfit

Rejection

(v) Investigation of previous history. Many Employers request names, addresses, and telephone numbers or references for the purposes of verifying information and, perhaps, gaining additional background information on an applicant.

(vi) Final approval. In most of the organizations, selection process is carried out by human resource department. The candidates short listed by the department are finally approved by the executives of the concerned departments.

(vii) Physical examination. The selected candidate is required to undergo a physical fitness test. The physician is given a copy of the job description and asked to determine if there are any medical conditions that will keep the employee from safely performing the job. It assists in determining whether an applicant is physically fit to perform the work.

(vii) Placement. After an employee has been hired and oriented, he or she must placed in his/her right job. Placement is understood as the allocation of people to job. It is the assignment or reassignment of an employee to a new or different job.

BASIC SELECTION MODELThe purpose of selection process is to take full advantage of measuring individual differences in order to select those persons who possess the greatest amount of attributes important for success on the job.

Step 1 : Examination of the Job(s) having Vacancies : This step consists of job analysis. A through knowledge and understanding of a job is important and must precede the use of any test in the selection and placement of workers.

Step 2 : Selection of Criterion and Predictor : Criterion means choosing indicators. Criterion measures the extent of how good or successful a worker is and choosing a particular measure that can be used to predict how successful worker will be on the job. Thus, criterion is an evaluative standard, which can be used to measure a person’s performance.

Step 3 : Measurement of Performance :Once the criterion and the predictor have been selected it is necessary to obtain measure on both from a sample of workers on the job. This can be done either by giving the predictor to present employees and simultaneously obtaining criterion measures, or by giving the predictor to new hires and waiting a specified time before obtaining the criterion measures (thus allowing enough time for the new hires to establish themselves as successful or unsuccessful)

Step 4 : Relating Predictor to Criterion :The fourth step in the selection process involves determining whether a true and meaningful relationship exist between the employee scores on the predictor and the criterion, i.e. assessing the validity of a predictor (This is a stateside process which involves the use and understanding of correlation methods and significance tests).Step 5 : Deciding upon the Utility of the Selection device : Making the final decision as to whether to use the predictor to select new job hires depends not only upon the size of the relationship found and its significance, but also upon many other conditions, the number of applicants, number of job openings, proportion of present employees considered successful.Step 6 : Re-evaluation :The fact that the predictive situation is dynamic or ever changing. What makes for good selection today may not be at all appropriate tomorrow, applicants change, job change and employment conditions change. Thus, any good selection program should be revaluated periodically.

Man Power Planning :The most important activity of psychologists in industry is employee selection and placement. Selection is the process in which good workers distinguish from poor workers with the help of test and other devices of selection. The selection and placement are important phases or area of manpower planning.

Selection is the picking up a good workers from the total number of available workers at any give time.

Placement is right person for right job. Hiring of N men to fill N job. (Put the right person to right job)

CROSS VALIDATION OF SELECTION TEST

Cross validation is a procedure for further evaluating the validity of a test by administering it a second time to a new sample of individuals selected from the same population as the first time. Cross-Validation is a statistical method of evaluating and comparing learning algorithms by dividing data into two segments: one used to learn or train a model and the other used to validate the model. In typical cross-validation, the training and validation sets must cross-over in successive rounds such that each data point has a chance of being validated against. The basic form of cross-validation is k-fold cross-validation. Other forms of cross-validation are special cases of k-fold cross-validation or involve repeated rounds of k-fold cross-validation. In k-fold cross-validation the data is first partitioned into k equally (or nearly equally) sized segments or folds. Subsequently k iterations of training and validation are performed such that within each iteration a different fold of the data is held-out for validation while the remaining k _ 1 folds are used for learning. Cross-validation is used to evaluate or compare learning algorithms as follows: in each iteration, one or more learning algorithms use k _1 folds of data to learn one or

more models, and subsequently the learned models are asked to make predictions about the data in the validation fold. The performance of each learning algorithm on each fold can be tracked using some predetermined performance metric like accuracy. Upon completion, k samples of the performance metric will be available for each algorithm. Different methodologies such as averaging can be used to obtain an aggregate measure from these sample, or these samples can be used in a statistical hypothesis test to show that one algorithm is superior to another.

Mosier has discussed a number of types of cross validation that can be conducted depending upon the design of the study and whether one is concerned about generalizing only to a new sample or if broader generalizations concerning the prediction equation are desired (for example, to different sexes, different criteria, etc.)