This issue deals with three topics: employment attainment, organizational citizenship behavior and readiness of Indian companies for modern HRM practices. The first two papers are written by academicians, whereas the third paper is aptly written by a practitioner.
The first paper, “Employment Attainment – Constraints and Devices: A Holocletic Model”, by Miguel Baião Santos, has worked on a model to identify the constraints and devices that lead to professional insertion of people seeking employment. Employment attainment is a major concern in most of the economies today and especially in India where a large number of graduates do not find a suitable job for themselves. Given this scenario, a study like this that tends to identify the constraints and devices that can lead to professional insertion, is of great relevance. The study very systematically goes about building the model for professional insertion, devoting sufficient space to defining each term used in the model for a proper understanding. This is done because professional insertion is a complex task and refers to the process of integration of the individuals in the economic activity. It is not only a complex but also a dynamic process by which an individual goes from a training or educative system to a relatively steady work position. Since professional insertion deals with several factors, some of which are innate to the individuals and others that are exogenous, the author makes use of a socioeconomic approach to arrive at a theoretical model for professional insertion. Based on the model, the paper is able to conclude that age, parents’ nationality, schooling, qualification levels and vocational training features are connected to the job-search method adopted by ex-trainees to get a job.
The second paper, “Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Demographic Variables of Employees in Indian Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Sector”, by Sulakshna Dwivedi, Sanjay Kaushik and Luxmi, deals with the topic of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and its relation with demographic variables. OCB is largely defined as a desirable discretionary behavior of individuals working in organizations. OCB is a widely researched topic in the area of industrial and organizational psychology, and though studies in the past have examined the antecedents and correlates of OCB, the recent studies on OCB have focused also on the negative outcomes of OCB, especially at the individual level. These studies are based on the premise that too much of a good thing is not a good thing and many studies have been effective in stating that helping behavior or engaging in OCB comes at a personal cost and thus too much of it actually may not be good. This paper examines the relationship between OCB and demographic variables. The research question is: Does individual engagement in OCB varies with age, gender, marital status and educational level across managerial levels? The findings do indicate that engagement levels of individuals in OCB tend to differ with respect to the above-stated demographic variables. Further interesting questions to investigate could be why it differs and whether there are some interaction effects with personality dimensions, as OCB is largely seen as a discretionary behavior and would therefore have some relation with personal disposition too. Meta-analyses examining the effect of demographic variables with respect to engaging in OCB could be another area of research to follow.
The final paper, “Readiness of India Inc. for Modern HRM Practices”, by Naval Garg, seeks answer to the question: Is Indian firms ready for adopting modern HRM practices? The background for writing this paper is set in the current context of business which is witnessing many changes on account of increased workforce diversity in the workplace. In order to deal with these changes in the workforce, corresponding changes are being adopted in the sphere of management and administration and more so in the management of people. The paper also examines the need for businesses today to adopt high performance work systems and asks the questions whether organizations are ready to make the transition towards high performance work systems, and regarding the required adoption of modern HRM practices to suit the requirements of becoming a high performance work system. The paper explores the readiness of organizations to adopt modern HRM practices on both individual and organizational levels, and the findings of the paper discuss the interaction effect between both the individual and organizational variables for a deeper understanding of readiness.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
