Kaushik Komanduri

1801CE15
22 February 2021

HS341 MIDSEMESTER
EXAMINATION
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
A) Short Answer Questions:
1. The traditional job analysis methods have become redundant. Because of that we must
use better analysis methods suited for the current “jobless” world situations. Techniques
like job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation must be used in job design and for
demobbing the organisation we can use flattening the organisation, using self managed
work teams and re-engineering business processes.
2. Effective recruitment is challenging for the employers because they try to maximise the
output with minimal resources. To recruit a more diverse work force, a thorough job
analysis must be done to advertise the perfect job description. The preliminary screening
of recruits can be done using tests that can measure cognitive, physical, personality and
achievements. Then validity and reliability can be verified for the chosen candidates. This
provides a thorough and reliable method of effective recruitment.
3. a) Preliminary technical tests.
b) Technical interviews.
c) Compatibility and Performance test.
d) HR interview.
e) Training and job allotment.
4.
5. I agree with the statement. In assessment centres a standardised form of employee
appraisal that uses multiple assessment exercises such as 'in basket', games, role play, etc.,
and multiple raters is used. This is not as effective to normal jobs as it is for management
jobs. And hence these are more often used for management jobs.

B) Long Answer Questions:

1.
a) The manufacturing process has many intermediate states where there could be an issue
causing the lack of quality.
The factors that could be contributing to the issue are:

HS341 MIDSEMESTER EXAM 1

 • Improper raw materials used.
• Faulty assembly machinery.
• Improper curation by the workers.
• Lack of proper training to the workers.
• Lack of extensive knowledge of the workers.
• Lack of motivation for the workers to work upto their potential.
• Improper handling during transportation.
• End-user mishandling.
b) To conclude that the issue is indeed a training problem, we need strong evidence that the
workers are in fact giving their best and yet there exists the issue. For that we can increase
supervision over the workers and see if there is any mistake in the process of manufacturing
or if anyone is going against the standard procedure. If a very few people are wrongly
handling the parts it may be due to lack of effort to understand the procedure from their side,
but if large number of people are unable to follow the procedure it may be a training issue.
A series of analysis methods like interviews, self analysis, and hiring outside counsel
can be implemented to understand the source of the issue. The self analysis and structured
interview method is my personal choice as we can cross check the employees’ answers with
the interviewers’ answer and can find out discrepancies and pin point the source of the issue.
If the interviews point towards lack of knowledge but the workers are confident about
their skill, it means that the standard procedures are not transferred to the workers effectively.
Or, if the workers themselves feel that they could do better if there exists some better working
conditions, we can conclude that the issue is not with the job training but with the job
environment. Similarly, if there exists no issue with the workers and interviewers, we can look
at other sources of issues.

2. There has been a huge bump in the usage of technology in the recent past. The
inclusion of Artificial Intelligence into the HR realm has its advantages and disadvantages.
The process of recruitment, selection, hiring, training and analysis has become simplified but
also obscure. The analysis became unbiased but the inputs given to AI are not sufficient for
overall estimation of the performance. If given the correct inputs, it can be used to get radical
results.
In selection and hiring, we can use objective datasets to estimate the potential
candidates. The use of AI and Machine Learning has made it easier, less time consuming and
reduced biases. This also helped in reducing the costs as no or very few person are required to
monitor the whole process.
During training, AI and ML can help the trainers follow a structured and effective
method of training. To the trainees it can help in complementing the training from the higher
authorities and help them better understand the work.

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 The technologies can also be used to analyse the working environment and suggest
changes that can improve the working conditions which will in turn improve the overall
outcome of the workers. This kind of things are usually hard to assess and hence AI and ML
are the best choice. There are a lot of jobs that are redundant, these jobs can directly be
replaced by the computers and AI if configured properly and reduce the overall costs of the
company and increasing speed.
If the company is looking to cut budget by firing some employees, AI and ML can
analyse the worker and their work patterns and provide the ranking based on performance. It
eliminates the biases induced due to non-objective reasons like emotional connections,
previous opinions, etc.
Even though the technological advancements provide these many advantages, it is
better not to rely on them completely as they are prone to errors if the inputs are not properly
provided and they cannot understand non-objective data like the impact a worker has on his
co-workers, reasons behind an issue, etc. Also, it poses a threat to a lot of jobs and may cause
unemployment and threat to economy.

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