allana institute of management sciences, pune...prof. priti kulkarni, professor, symbiosis institute...

Pune / Vol. IV, Issue 1 / January - June, 2014 (Half Yearly) / Price Rs. 300/-

ISSN 2231 - 0290

Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society’s

Allana Institute of Management Sciences, Pune

“Origin of Spread Sheet Risk and IT strategies for its control in Enterprise Management”

Dr. Haridasa S. Acharya, Professor, AIMS, Pune

“Quality Circle Tools and Techniques”

Dr. Vinod S. Ingawale, Director, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, School of Distance Education, Pune

“Design and Implementation of “Service Identity” at Dealership Network - A case study”

Govind Hemrajani, Research Scholar, Symbiosis International University, Pune

“Impact of attrition on the quality of software projects”

Prof. S. Bala Subramaniam, Professor, AIMS, Pune

“Problems of implementation ERP in educational institutes : A case study”

Prof. Jawed S. Khan, Associate Professor, AIMS, Pune

Prof. Irfan J. Shaikh, Joint Secretary, M.C.E. Society, Azam Campus, Pune

“Computer mediated communication in Enterprises, need for their classification and algorithmic complexities”

Prof. Priti Kulkarni, Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Symbiosis International

University, Pune


“An analytical study of the marketing practices with reference to professional ethics in Pune”

Prof. David Sampat Kadam, Director, Projects & Alumni Affaire, Balaji Institute of Modern Management, Pune

“Human resource enrichment through skills development “ Issues and Challenges”

Dr. Sanjay Kaptan, Professor & Head, Department of Commerce & Research Centre, University of Pune

“A study on implications of financial assistance schemes for the BPL families by the Government of Maharashtra

from 2008-09 to 2012-12 in Pune city”

Dr. Bharat Meghe, Dean, Department of Commerce, RTM, University of Nagpur

Prof. Dhirendra Kumar, Assistant Professor, SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

Dr. Vidya Nakhate, Assistant Professor, SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

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Hidayatullah Road, Azam Campus, Pune - 411001. Chief Editor - Dr. R. Ganesan

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Allana Institute of Management Sciences, Pune

“Origin of Spread Sheet Risk and IT strategies for its control in Enterprise Management”


“Quality Circle Tools and Techniques”

Dr. Vinod S. Ingawale, Director, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, School of Distance Education, Pune

“Design and Implementation of “Service Identity” at Dealership Network - A case study”

Govind Hemrajani, Research Scholar, Symbiosis International University, Pune

“Impact of attrition on the quality of software projects”

Prof. S. Bala Subramaniam, Professor, AIMS, Pune

“Problems of implementation ERP in educational institutes : A case study”

Prof. Jawed S. Khan, Associate Professor, AIMS, Pune

Prof. Irfan J. Shaikh, Joint Secretary, M.C.E. Society, Azam Campus, Pune

“Computer mediated communication in Enterprises, need for their classification and algorithmic

complexities”

Prof. Priti Kulkarni, Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Symbiosis International

University, Pune


“An analytical study of the marketing practices with reference to professional ethics in Pune”

Prof. David Sampat Kadam, Director, Projects & Alumni Affaire, Balaji Institute of Modern Management,

Pune

“Human resource enrichment through skills development “ Issues and Challenges”

Dr. Sanjay Kaptan, Professor & Head, Department of Commerce & Research Centre, University of Pune

“A study on implications of financial assistance schemes for the BPL families by the Government of

Maharashtra from 2008-09 to 2012-12 in Pune city”

Dr. Bharat Meghe, Dean, Department of Commerce, RTM, University of Nagpur

Prof. Dhirendra Kumar, Assistant Professor, SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

Dr. Vidya Nakhate, Assistant Professor, SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

ALLANA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL OF RESEARCH /JANUARY - JUNE 2014 / PAGE NO. 001

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT

MARKETING

MANAGEMENT

HUMAN

RESOURCES

MANAGEMENT

ACCOUNTING

& FINANCE

MANAGEMENT

13

18

24

35

40

51

57

67

71

ALLANA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL OF RESEARCHCONTENTS

JANUARY - JUNE, 2014

CHIEF EDITOR

DR. (PROF). R. GANESAN

DIRECTOR, AIMS, PUNE

ADVISOR

DR. A. B. RAO

SENIOR RESEARCH GUIDE & MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

HEAD, RESEARCH CENTRE, AIMS, PUNE

EDITORS

DR. ASHRAF RIZVI

PROFESSOR, IIM, INDORE

DR. (PROF). ROSHAN KAZI

PROFESSOR, AIMS, PUNE

DR. (MRS.) SURYA RAMDAS

DIRECTOR, II BM, PUNEe

ASST. EDITORS

PROF. ASHFAQUE AHMED PINITOD

ASST. PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF YAMBU, KINGDOM OF SAUDI, ARABIA

PROF. S. D. BAGADE

ASST. PROFESSOR, AIMS, PUNE

EDITORIAL BOARD


his journal has been marching towards its goal of providing a variety of

Tinnovative, original articles of relevant research contents. Today research

in the area of management is progressively extending towards

technologically oriented allied sciences and thereby becoming multi disciplinary.

However if is the healthy originality with technical refinement that would justifiably

recognise the sanctity of research.

Multi-dimensional research approach to multi-faceted managerial problems can

ensure new trends of thought and thereby usher in opportunities and as well as

challenges.

It is earnestly hoped that the articles in this issue would be quite interesting to the

readers. Suggestions from readers are welcome.

EDITORIAL


DR. (PROF). R. GANESAN

CHIEF EDITOR

Spread sheet risks are a reality in enterprises. They are an unavoidable

component of any enterprise data processing system. Use of spread sheets

can never be fully eliminated from any enterprise data processing

environment. The only way to counter the problem is to minimize their ill effects

with proper IT policies and data processing strategies.

In this article, to begin with a quick analysis of the data base types and the changing

needs of data processing requirements of any Enterprise, small or big in size, is given.

An attempt has been made to trace the origin of the very concept of 'Spread Sheet

Risk' from historic perspective.

A formal theory is proposed to establish that 'Spread Sheet Risk' is an unavoidable

evil , specially in financial data processing.

Next an attempt has been made to theoretically examine the trend of 'Spread sheet

risk' over the past few years, and estimate the growth rates.

Strategies for monitoring the risk and effectively managing the same have been

suggested , using proofs which are based on the Software Engineering Principles,

established data growth laws, and the dynamics of tiny data to big-data

evolution.

It can be stated that this article conclusively proves that - Spread Sheet Risk is now

an established concept , which is a minimizable evil, but which can never be

eliminated. Hence it is necessary for the Enterprises to train their managers

adequately to be able to select and adopt appropriate control measures.

Dr. Haridasa S. Acharya

Professor

AIMS, Pune

ABSTRACT

“ORIGIN OF SPREAD SHEET RISK AND IT STRATEGIES FOR ITS

CONTROL IN ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT”


13

uality Circle is a small group of 6 to 12 employees doing similar work who Qvoluntarily meets together on a regular basis to identify improvements in

their respective work areas. Quality circles have the advantage of

continuity. Group members are trained by competent persons who may be personnel

and industrial relations specialists trained in human factors and the basic skills of

problem identification, information gathering and analysis, basic statistics, and

solution generation. Employees who participate in quality circles usually receive

training in formal problem-solving methods such as brain-storming, pareto analysis,

cause-and-effect diagrams and are then encouraged to apply these methods either

to specific or general company problems. After completing an analysis, they often

present their findings to management and then handle implementation of approved

solutions. After thoroughly reviewing literature, the author highlighted the probable

reasons behind the failures of the Quality Circle.

KEYWORDS

Quality circle, Problem Solving, Brainstorming, Pareto Analysis, Cause and Effect

Analysis.

Dr. Vinod S. Ingawale

Director

Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University,

School of Distance Education, Pune

ABSTRACT

“QUALITY CIRCLE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES”


18

he paper delves on the strategies adopted by a key player in two wheelers

Tto emerge as a robust player in the industry after being ridiculed as

complacent by the rivals. To maximize customer convenience, the

organization undertook massive efforts with a mega project named “Service

Standardization” at dealership network. The project covered the development of

service standards in terms of space, layouts and the elements which make the service

experience for potential customers. The paper contributes towards providing the

vital insights to the industry and practitioners into the design and implementation of

the service standards for better planning and control.

Govind Hemrajani

Research Scholar

Symbiosis International University

Pune

ABSTRACT

“DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF “SERVICE IDENTITY”

AT DEALERSHIP NETWORK - A CASE STUDY”


24

ndia being one of the leading software exported in the global market. The

Isoftware industry is also plagued by high attrition of skilled manpower. This

paper tries research into the impact on software projects and how companies

are trying to mitigate it. In this paper a new method of online responses to the

questionnaire collected from the targeted group.

Prof. S. Bala Subramaniam

Professor,

AIMS, Pune

ABSTRACT

“IMPACT OF ATTRITION ON THE QUALITY OF SOFTWARE PROJECTS”


35

esource planning is the prime objective of every enterprise. Production

Rcompanies, business Enterprises are all using ERP to optimize their

resources and keep themselves afloat in this era of competition.

Educational sector, especially Universities and Colleges cannot be exceptions. In

many Educational Institutions administrative work as well Teaching-Learning process

is computerized to some extent through various software, which could be considered

bits and pieces.

A survey was conducted on effective usage of E-Admin (a component of ERP), in a

selected Educational Hub, where information of Students, staff, Employees,

Accounts and Library is handled with the help of a typical ERP software. Currently

three modules namely Library Management, Students information system and

account information system are being used since last seven years. In this paper,

findings of the survey are reported. Analysis of the data was carried out using system

analytic methods, especially module wise flow of data, data distribution, data

integrity in various in educational business processes were critically examined. Flaws

and problems of the E-admin software were identified. Finally solutions are

suggested, based on the system analysis, in this case study.

KEYWORDS

Enterprises Resource Planning(ERP), E-Administration, Educational Institute,

Information Technology, Data Distribution, Data accessibility, ERP implementations.

Prof. Jawed S. Khan

Associate Professor,

AIMS, Pune

Prof. Irfan J. Shaikh

Joint Secretary,

M.C.E. Society,

Azam Campus, Pune

ABSTRACT

“PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION ERP IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES :

A CASE STUDY”


40

ffective and efficient communication is the heart of business. Computer-

Emediated communication (CMC) has become very common in work life and

has replaced need for face to face (F2F) communication to a large extent.

The high percentage of the total traffic over the internet is the-email, which is the

major component. It has enriched and facilitated business with a fast, efficient and

an inexpensive method of reaching out to a large number of people regardless of time

and location constraints. The exponential increase in the volume of e-mails make the

processing of e-mails tedious and time consuming. Employees at all levels,

managerial or at lower levels, have to spend significant portion of their precious

working time on organizing these e-mails and classifying them, before effective

business decisions can be taken. Some of the business surveys have shown that the

huge volume of e-mails do lead to unintentional ignoring of critical mails,

miscommunication between concerned individuals and enterprises, and avoidable

losses to business.

This paper presents establishes the need for dedicated software solutions for

enterprise level email classification and its strong relation to the network

architecture of the enterprise itself.

KEYWORDS

Email Categorization, Enterprise network, Computer Mediated Communication.

Prof. Priti Kulkarni

Asst. Professor

Symbiosis Institute of Computer

Studies and Research,

Symbiosis International University

Pune

Dr. Haridasa S. Acharya

Professor

AIMS, Pune

ABSTRACT

“COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN ENTERPRISES,

NEED FOR THEIR CLASSIFICATION AND ALGORITHMIC COMPLEXITIES”


51

n a survey based market research an attempt was made to find the nature and

Iextent of marketing practices by the marketing managers from various types of

companies. The survey includes the 292 customers whose first hand experience

of the marketing practices & styles w.r.t. professional ethics was recorded. The

observations and records shows some alarming facts regarding this important issues

.The focus on only short term gains by managers will affect the business and Brand

names heavily in the long term. Irreversible losses will be suffered if the companies

do not train, educate and guide their staff though strict monitoring about the policies

and practices. The marketing practices which are detrimental for the future growth

of the companies should be curbed or it will lead to the failure. This paper has thrown

light on this important issue and some appropriate and timely steps are required to

be taken to foster trust and confidence in the minds of the most important stake

holder who should really feel like the King of the business world.

Prof. David Sampat Kadam

Director

Projects & Alumni Affaire

Balaji Institute of Modern Management

Pune

ABSTRACT

“AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE MARKETING PRACTICES

WITH REFERENCE TO PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN PUNE”


57

he present paper deals with the role of the development in enhancing the

Tquality of human resources. IT also explains how skill development has now

become a major aspect of economic development of India. There are no

two opinions to the facts that skill development is the key to enhance employability.

The professional and skill requirement of the employees are not rightly met by

educational institution. There is a skill gap that exists in what is taught in academic

institutions and what is required by the employers. Unless and until the skill gap is

met by enhancing the quality of learners by improving their skills and updating their

knowledge to meet market requirements, employability of the youth cannot be

improved. There is no dearth of jobs. However there is a dearth of people with the

desired skills and qualities. To overcome this mismatch, special efforts are required

to be made. The paper focuses on how skill development can help in enriching quality

of human resources.

KEYWORDS

Skills, skill Development, Human Resource Enrichment, Initiatives for Skill

Development, Industry – Institution Interaction.

ABSTRACT

“HUMAN RESOURCE ENRICHMENT THROUGH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

‘ISSUES AND CHALLENGES’”


67

Dr. Sanjay Kaptan

Professor & Head,

Department of Commerce

& Research Centre,

University of Pune

he state of Maharashtra having the second largest population in India ranks

Tfifth in the country in terms of Human Development Index (HDI). In spite of

that, it is having 24.5% of population below Poverty line (BPL). Though this

figure is below the all India level of 29.8% but questions can always be asked on

various social assistance programmes implemented by the government and its

outcomes. The state has implemented various financial assistance programmes like

Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, National Handicap Pension Scheme,

& National Widow Pension Scheme, National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) etc.

This research paper focuses on the various financial schemes of the Government of

Maharashtra and tries to find out its reach to the right beneficiaries and its outcomes.

KEYWORDS

HDI, BPL, Financial Assistance Programmes, NMBS.

Dr. Bharat Meghe

Dean

Department of Commerce,

RTM, University of Nagpur

Prof. Dhirendra Kumar

Assistant Professor

SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

Dr. Vidya Nakhate

Assistant Professor

SIBAR, Kondhwa, Pune

ABSTRACT

“A STUDY ON IMPLICATIONS OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SCHEMES

FOR THE BPL FAMILIES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA

FROM 2008-09 TO 2012-12 IN PUNE CITY”


71


INTRODUCTION

he

Tpopular financial risk management news and analysis site,

Risk.Net [ 3] , attributes a significant proportion of Financial

risks to use of spread sheets by the employees of the finance

departments. Protivity Inc., a prominent risk and business consulting

agency company confirms this and has presented an exhaustive analysis

of the problem in its publication titled “Spread sheet Risk

Management, Frequently Asked Questions” [1 ]. However most of the

analysts seem to have missed one basic aspect of the problem namely

the 'real cause of Spread Sheet Risk ' . The risk can be attributed to the

presence of Unstructured Enterprise data in almost all cases. Software

solutions acquired by the companies are only capable of handling well

structured data in most cases. The onus of preprocessing the data ,

whenever it is unstructured is on the employees of the organization, and

require a lot of human intervention . Employees are left with no

alternative but to fall back on tools like spread sheets in this respect.

The aim of the current article is to examine the real 'cause' of spread

sheet risk from 'formal theoretical perspective' and to prove that the

solution lies in 'managing the situation' from a integrated-data

management approach and rather than treat the problem as a

'consequence' of 'indiscrete and careless use of spread sheets by

untrained employees .

SPREADSHEET AS AN E-DATA PROCESSING SUPPLEMENT : A HISTORIC

PERSPECTIVE

Spreadsheet was and is a large electronic sheet that organizes data about

transactions for a business person to examine. It spreads or shows all of

the costs, income, taxes, and other related data on a single sheet of

“ORIGIN OF SPREAD SHEET RISK AND

IT STRATEGIES FOR ITS CONTROL IN

ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT”

DR HARIDASA S. ACHARYA

PROFESSOR,

AIMS, PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


paper for a manager to examine when making a decision. It

summarizes information from many paper sources, reports

from other more sophisticated business software , in one

place and presents the information in a format to help a

decision maker see the financial "big picture" for the

company. Spreadsheets have been used by accountants for

hundreds of years, the latest being their electronic forms.

There are reasons to believe that Dan Bricklin of Harvard

Business School as the "father" of the electronic

spreadsheet. In 1978, Bricklin and Bob Frankston co-

invented or co-created the software program VisiCalc. In

fact Prof Richard Mattessich was the first to develop a

computerized spread sheet in 1961. In 1980 with

invention of DIF format, portability between different

programs became a reality. Lotus 123 with its capability

to prepare charts came up in 1983 and since then Excel ,

Appleworks , and Corel Quattro Pro have appeared and are

being extensively used.

By the late 1980s many companies had introduced

spreadsheet products. Spreadsheet products and the

spreadsheet software industry were maturing. Microsoft and

Bill Gates joined the fray with the innovative Excel

spreadsheet. The spreadsheet entrepreneurs were moving

on , so were the business individuals and Enterprises using

spreadsheets were increasing at an alarming speed. Open

source software world offered Gnumeric as a free ,

cross-platform spreadsheet program that is part of the

GNOME Free Software Desktop Project. OpenOffice.org

Calc and the very closely related LibreOffice Calc are free

and open-source spreadsheets, also licensed under the GPL.

With the advent of advanced web technologies such as Ajax

circa 2005, a new generation of online spreadsheets has

emerged. Equipped with a rich Internet application user

experience, the best web based online spreadsheets have

many of the features seen in desktop spreadsheet

applications. Some of them such as Office Web Apps or

Google Spreadsheets also have strong multi-user

collaboration features and offer real time updates from

remote sources such as stock prices and currency exchange

rates. Spreadsheets that can handle big data, are also a

reality [5].

WHY SPREADSHEETS ARE INDISPENSABLE IN THE

ENTERPRISE WORLD

In 2013 Board walk tech had couple of key steps forward with

new integration framework using its 'Super Merge'

technology and advancements to configuring templates that

are used for access and input. Both of which help further

embrace and extend use of spreadsheets. In some cases,

third-party or internally developed dedicated applications

are the right choice. In others, embracing and extending

existing spreadsheet-driven processes is the most practical

approach. If your organization is currently using desktop

spreadsheets for some collaborative business process, it

probably is putting up with a host of issues that are the

inevitable result of the spreadsheet's inherent

shortcomings.

What can replace a spread sheet ? Answer is 'Dedicated

applications', either internally developed or third party

solutions. Numbers in Table 1 throw light on interesting

aspects.

Table 1 Results of Enterprise Benchmark Research (Source

VENTANA RESEARCH)

From the Enterprises perspective the key division happens

to be

Employee Resistance (56%) + Replacement is too

expensive(44%) = 100 .

From the spread sheet users perspective the key division is

Training Required (19%) + Alternative could be difficult

to use (31%) + Business case not strong enough (50%) =

100.

Why would any one say that the business case is not strong

enough. The users must have some reason to say so, the

reason becomes evident when we look at the constitution of

data itself.


ENTERPRISE DATA : ITS CONSTITUTION AND PROCESSING

NEEDS

Most of the analysists who have attempted solutions to

spread sheet risks have ignored the fact that

indispensability of spread sheets has much to do with the

very constitution of the 'Total Enterprise Data'. Fig 1 gives

a graphical view of the continuum of the Enterprise data.

Fig 1. A graphic view of the CONTINUUM of

Enterprise Data

The whole of an enterprise data would always constitute of

three mutually disjoint data sets.

W = U S C

Where W is the Universe of discourse, U is the

unstructured component, S is the Semi-structured

component and C is the core structured component of the

data. We may assume that these are mutually disjoint sets,

or DOMs. Hence

U S = ф , S C = ф , U C = ф

The semi-structured component which is not properly

handled by the dedicated applications is what is subjected to

spread sheet processing by employees out of necessity.

Replacing this usage by providing dedicated software could

really be difficult. This is what is reflected in the fear

'business case not strong enough' , as expressed by users

when replacements are thought of. Thus it is evident that

the very nature of data pose some basic Software

Engineering Problems which need to be addressed prior to

attempting elimination of spread sheet usage.

If one views the problem of data processing needs from the

software engineering point of view we may conclude

1. The Component (C) should be handled by well

designed dedicated applications, and the

processing will lead to Risk Free functionality.

Hence should pose no real problems.

Without loss of generality we may assume that

Enterprises have either procured or would be

procuring well tested applications for

processing of this component of data.

2. Enterprise data would have a semi structured

components. This component poses problems for

proper Dedicated Application development as per

the business rules.

The semi structured nature of data makes the

choice of analytic methods difficult and hence

use of spread sheet becomes unavoidable.

Attempt to reduce this component by using

methods as discussed in [6] [7] [8] could help.

Reduction of size of S and increase of size of C

obviously will bring more and more functionalities

under the dedicated applications which would be

risk free.

3. The Unstructured component requires strong

technology intervention.

Currently the Enterprises have to hope for the

technology to develop and solve the processing

problems, and as such management by itself can

do nothing.

There is ample evidence to show that efforts are on

to improve the situation. Many adhoc solutions

seem to be existing and better solutions are forth

coming ([2], [6], [7])

TRENDS OF GROWTH OF SPREADSHEET RISK

The compound annual growth rates(CAGR) of data as

projected by Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)

estimates 21.8% CAGR in respect of transactional data ,

whereas the estimated CAGR for unstructured data is at

61.7%. There are no reasons to suspect the growth rates but

not all the unstructured data is relevant to Enterprises. A

better picture would be given by archived data, assuming

that Enterprises would not archive data unless it is essential

to them. Table 2 shows the distribution of total archived

data from 2008-2015.


Table 2: Relative sizes of archived U, C, S projected upto

2015 (Petabytes)

Source of data : Enterprise Strategy Group, 2010, USA

A look at the trends shows that share of C is decreasing,

share of U is also decreasing but share of S is increasing.

Implications are very clear. A conscious effort to provide

structures to unstructured data is possibly increasing the

volume of semi-structured data. This would naturally put

additional load on Spreadsheet type of processing in coming

years, potentially leading to more Spread Sheet Risks.

Invention of Trillion-row spread sheet [5] is a strong

evidence of the fact that even big-data is going to be treated

with spread sheet like solutions in the coming years.

STRATEGIES FOR CONTROL OF SPREAD SHEET RISK

So far we have looked into the origins of spread sheet risk.

Our focus has been on aspects which are related with the

basic nature of enterprise data and software engineering

aspects like to what extent lack of structure to data and

resulting weakness in business case prevent dedicated

application developments which can replace spread sheets.

In conclusion it may be stated that control of Spread Sheet

Risk is possible with three pronged approach.

Management must think of reducing Spread Sheet Usage by

increasing dedicated applications development. This

requires efforts to increase clarity in business cases, more

efforts at providing structure to data so that software

engineering becomes possible and affordable. This is an

evolutionary process. Business rules keep changing, more

and more unstructured data enter into business. The rate at

which these things happen will always leave a gap between

actual rate at which dedicated applications are developed

and the rate at which demand increases.

Management must continuously monitor the volume of

Spread Sheet Usage, and properly audit the processes.

Incorporating additional checks at the very stage of

designing the spread sheet solutions and strict quality

control of the logic is necessary. In fact all the Enterprise

spread sheets should be tested and validated as any

dedicated application is tested normally. In addition, since

designs of spread sheets can be changed by Employees at

their end, the process of testing and validation should be a

periodic event.

Employees must be trained adequately. They should be

able to distinguish between transaction processing and

processing for analytics. Multiple validations should be

incorporated in case of spread sheets designed for

transaction processing to reduce risk. In case of analytical

usages sensitivity analysis should be more stringent so

that managers who take business decisions based on the

analytics are aware of the extent to which their decisions

can go wrong.

Enterprises should accept the fact that spread sheet risk can

only be managed and minimized there is only a very remote

possibility that the risk can ever be fully eliminated.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Author acknowledges help rendered by Asmita Mer, Ritu

Arora, and Vivek Kumar, students of Bharti Vidyapeedth,

who helped specially in collecting information on

Historic Aspects of Spread sheet Developments.

REFERENCES

1. Anonymous (2009) , Spread Sheet Risk Management, Pub Protiviti

Inc., PRO-0609-101019, http://www.protiviti.com/

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I INTRODUCTION

quality circle is a volunteer group composed of workers,

Ausually under the leadership of their supervisor (or an elected

team leader), who are trained to identify, analyze and solve

work-related problems and present their solutions to management in

order to improve the performance of the organization, and motivate and

enrich the work of employees. When matured, true quality circles

become self-managing, having gained the confidence of management.

The Japanese description of the effectiveness of a quality circle is

expressed as: “It is better for one hundred people to take one step than

for one person to take a hundred'. Quality circles were first established in

Japan in 1962; Kaoru Ishikawa has been credited with their creation. The

movement in Japan was coordinated by the Japanese Union of Scientists

and Engineers (JUSE). The first circles were established at the Nippon

Wireless and Telegraph Company but then spread to more than 35 other

companies in the first year. By 1978 it was claimed that there were more

than one million quality circles involving some 10 million Japanese

workers. They are now in most East Asian countries; it was recently

claimed that there were more than 20 million quality circles in China.

Quality circles have been implemented even in educational sectors in

India, and QCFI (Quality Circle Forum of India) is promoting such

activities. However this was not successful in the United States, as it (was

not properly understood and) turned out to be a fault-finding exercise

although some circles do still exist.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Following are the objectives of the study :

a) To understand the Quality Circle concept.

“QUALITY CIRCLE TOOLS

AND TECHNIQUES”

DR. VINOD S. INGAWALE

DIRECTOR

BHARATI VIDYAPEETH DEEMED UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION, PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


b) To know the requirements of Quality Circle.

c) To know the reasons behind the failures of the

Quality Circle.

III. EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF QUALITY CIRCLES

In a structures-fabrication and assembly plant in the south-

eastern United States, some quality circles (QCs)were

established by the management (management-initiated);

whereas others were formed based on requests of employees

(self-initiated). Based on 47 Quality Circles over a three-year

period, research showed that management-initiated Quality

Circles have fewer members, solve more work-related QC

problems, and solve their problems much faster than self-

initiated Quality Circles. However, the effect of Quality

Circle initiation (management- vs. self-initiated) on

problem-solving performance disappears after controlling

Quality Circle size. A high attendance of Quality Circle

meetings is related to lower number of projects completed

and slow speed of performance in management-initiated

Quality Circle. Quality Circles with high upper-management

support (high attendance of Quality Circle meetings) solve

significantly more problems than those without upper-

management support. Quality Circle membership tends to

decrease over the three-year period. Larger Quality Circles

have a better chance of survival than smaller Quality Circles.

A significant drop in Quality Circle membership is a precursor

of Quality Circle failure.

IV. OBJECTIVES OF QUALITY CIRCLE

Following are the objectives of the Quality Circle.

a) Reduce error and enhance quality

b) Inspire more effective teamwork

c) Promote job involvement

d) Increase employee motivation

e) Create a problem-solving capability

f) Build an attitude of “problem prevention”

g) Improve company communications

h) Develop harmonious manager/worker relationships

i) Promote personal and leadership development

j) Develop greater safety awareness

V. CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITY CIRCLE

Following are the characteristics of Quality Circle :

A) CIRCLE MEMBERSHIP

It is more or less homogeneous group of people usually from

the same work areas. However, whenever required experts

may be invited for guidance or advice.

B) CIRCLE SIZE

Usually a group of 6 to 12 members seems quite effective;

however, it depends upon the people employed in a

particular section.

C) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION

The main characteristic of Quality Circle is attendance and

participation in meetings voluntarily without any

compulsion.

D) QUALITY CIRCLE MEETINGS

An hour's duration is usually quite adequate for a meeting.

Whatever may be the frequency, regular meetings should be

ensured.

E) AUTONOMY

An important ingredient of a Quality Circle is the sense of

autonomy experienced by its members.

VI. REQUIREMENTS OF QUALITY CIRCLE

The problems of adaptation, which have caused quality

circles to be abandoned, are made plain by a look at the

conditions which the two experts think are necessary for the

success of quality circles. Ron Basu and J. Nevan Wright, in

their book Quality Beyond Six Sigma specified seven

conditions for successful implementation of quality circles.

These are summarized below :

1. Quality circles must be staffed entirely by

volunteers.

2. Each participant should be representative of a

different functional activity.

3. The problem to be addressed by the Quality Circle


should be chosen by the circle, not by management,

and the choice honored even if it does not visibly

lead to a management goal.

4. Management must be supportive of the circle and

fund it appropriately even when requests are trivial

and the expenditure is difficult to envision as

helping toward real solutions.

5. Circle members must receive appropriate training

in problem solving.

6. The circle must choose its own leader from within

its own members.

7. Management should appoint a manager as the

mentor of the team, charged with helping members

of the circle achieve their objectives; but this

person must not manage the Quality Circle.

Quality circles have been tried in the USA and Europe, often

with poor results. For the small business owner, he or she may

actually be in a very good position to try this approach if it

feels natural. An obviously important element of success is

that Quality Circle must be practiced in an environment of

trust and empowerment.

VII. BENEFITS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

Organizations adopting quality circles can benefit in several

ways. Some gains may be tangible while others may be

intangible, but ultimately quality circles will lead to

improved performance.

Direct gains are :

Improving quality and productivity

Promoting job involvement and sense of participation

Creating a problem solving and problem- preventing attitude

Developing creativity and an innovative spirit

Inspiring team work and developing harmonious relations.

Quality circles are an important source of job interest; they

provide a sense of participation and enhance the ability to

work with others. increase productivity, enhance motivation

and improve quality.

VIII. QUALITY CIRCLE-PROBLEM SOLVING STEPS

In Quality circle, problem solving is used as a main process to

achieve its objectives. Members creativity is tapped to solve

their day-to-day work related problems. It is through this

process they get become cohesive team and their

organizational ownership get developed. Hence it is

necessary that the group member should understand this

process and following steps very clearly.

1) IDENTIFICATION OF WORK RELATED PROBLEM

Method

a) Generate a list of problem using Brainstorming

b) Prioritise problems using ABC analysis

2) SELECTION OF PROBLEM (FROM A LIST)

Method

a) Pareto Analysis or Rating based on past data

b) Register the selected problem with coordinator

3) Defining the Problem

Method

Flow Diagram

4) ANALYSE THE PROBLEM

Method

Data Collection of problem on all possible aspects

5) IDENTIFICATION OF CAUSES

Method

Brainstorming and Cause and Effect diagram

6) FINDING THE ROOT CAUSES

Method

Identifying the main relevant causes in Cause and Effect

diagram by data collection and discussion.


7) DATA ANALYSIS

Method

a) Using techniques like bar, pie, areal graph,

histogram, stratification, scatters diagram etc.

b) Why-Why analysis

8) DEVELOPING SOLUTION

Method

Brain storming

9) FORESEEING THE PROBABLE RESISTANCE

Method

Brain storming

a) Identifying the probable constraints and finding

ways to overcome them.

b) Make a presentation to all involved employees to

explain the solution selected.

i.e. Departmental head, facilitator, other officials

and non members involved with implementation.

c) Discuss and evolve a system of implementation.

10) TRIAL IMPLEMENTATION AND CHECKING

PERFORMANCE

Method

a) Data collection after implementation

b) Comparison of old and new data with Pareto,

Histogram, and Control charts

c) Watch process trend

d) Analyse the results

e) Discuss and incorporate the changes needed

11) REGULAR IMPLEMENTATION

Method

Once validity is checked and improvement observed with

data, regular implementation can be done.

12) FOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW

Method

a) Implement evaluation procedure, use control

charts and have six monthly reports for evaluation.

b) Make modification if required.

IX. STUDENT QUALITY CIRCLES

Student quality circles work on the original philosophy of

Total Quality Management. The idea of Student quality

circles was presented by City Montessori School (CMS)

Lucknow, India at a conference in Hong Kong in October

1994. It was developed and mentored by duo engineers of

Indian Railways PC Bihari and Swami Das in association with

Principal Dr. Kamran of CMS Lucknow India. They were

inspired and facilitated by Jagdish Gandhi, the founder of

CMS after his visit to Japan where he learned about Kaizen.

The world's first Student quality circles was made in CMS

Lucknow with then 13-year- old student, Ms. Sucheta Bihari

as its leader. CMS conducts international conventions on

student quality circles which it has repeated every 2 years to

the present day. After seeing its utility, the visionary

educationalists from many countries started these circles.

The World Council for Total Quality & Excellence in

Education was established in 1999 with its Corporate Office

in Lucknow and head office at Singapore. It monitors and

facilitates student quality circle activities to its member

countries which are more than a dozen. Student quality

circles are considered to be a co-curricular activity. They

have been established in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal,

Sri Lanka, Turkey, Mauritius, Iran, UK (Kingston University

and started in University of Leicester), and USA. In Nepal,

Prof. Dinesh P. Chapagain has been promoting this innovative

approach through QUEST-Nepal since 1999. He has written a

book entitled "A Guide Book on Students' Quality Circle: An

Approach to prepare Total Quality People", which is

considered a standard guide to promote Student quality

circles in academia for students' personality development.

X. CAUSES FOR FAILURE OF QUALITY CIRCLE

Some of the common causes for failure are :

Low morale of employees due to autocratic

management and lack of trust.

Lack of training.


Incompetent leadership.

Lack of management support.

Quality circle concept succeeded in Japan, South Korea and a

few other Asian countries, but it was a different kind of

experience in Europe and USA. In Europe and USA, it became

very popular from middle of 70s to middle of 80s,and

subsequently, started its journey of declining from there

onwards.

THE REASONS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO

In Japan, it was mainly considered as a development process

of grass-root employees, and organizational improvement

was given secondary importance, whereas in Europe and

USA, the focus was given to organizational improvement and

no proper attention was paid to improvement of people.

Work associated to Quality Circle is totally carried out as an

internal process in Japan, whereas in Europe and USA, the

focus was given to organizational improvement and no

proper attention was paid to improvement of people.

Work associated to Quality Circle is totally carried out as an

internal process in Japan, whereas in Europe and USA, it was

left to the external consulting agency. In India too, these

reasons are equally valid and applicable.

XI. QUALITY CIRCLE TECHNIQUES

The most common techniques are :

Brainstorming

Data Gathering (sampling)

Check Sheets

Pareto Analysis

Cause-&-Effect Problem Analysis

Presentation Techniques

Histograms

Control Charts

Stratification

Scatter Diagrams.

BRAINSTORMING

The technique used to bring everyone's ideas out into the

open is “brainstorming.” Each member, in turn, voice on

possible cause of the problem. These ideas spark enthusiasm

and originality, wild ideas are safe to offer because the rules

of brainstorming do not permit criticism or ridicule. All ideas

are recorded for later analysis.

DATA GATHERING

A major function of Circle is to analyze problems. Usually,

before analysis can begin data must be accumulated. This is

frequently done by the Circle members. Thus, training in

data gathering and sampling techniques is necessary to

assure accuracy and save time. Check sheets are convenient

and economical ways to collect data.

PARETO ANALYSIS

Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful where many

possible courses of action are competing for attention. In

essence, the problem-solver estimates the benefit delivered

by each action, then selects a number of the most effective

actions that deliver a total benefit reasonably close to the

maximal possible one.

Pareto analysis is a creative way of looking at causes of

problems because it helps stimulate thinking and organize

thoughts. However, it can be limited by its exclusion of

possibly important problems which may be small initially,

but which grow with time. It should be combined with other

analytical tools such as Failure Mode Effects Analysis and

Fault Tree Analysis.

Pareto analysis helps to identify the top portion of causes

that need to be addressed to resolve the majority of

problems. Once the predominant causes are identified, then

tools like the Ishikawa Diagram or Fish-bone Analysis can be

used to identify the root causes of the problems. While it is

common to refer to pareto as "80/20" rule, under the

assumption that, in all situations, 20% of causes determine

80% of problems, this ratio is merely a convenient rule of

thumb and is not nor should it be considered immutable law

of nature.

CAUSE-AND-EFFECT ANALYSIS

This is a widely used and popular quality circle technique. A

diagram with the appearance of a fish-bone is constructed


while the problem is being brainstormed for possible causes.

Later, cause-and-effect analysis identifies the most likely

cause.

PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES

The best plan in the world will fall on its face unless it is

properly sold. Several times a year each Circle has to do just

that. The members use a presentation setting to make

recommendations or provide status to their manager. Their

training in presentation techniques includes the basics of

public speaking and the fundamentals of preparing and using

graphs and charts.

HISTOGRAM

A histogram is a graph that display the distribution of

something being measured. Each column in the histogram

represent a certain measurement. Circle members are

taught to interpret the meaning of various shaped

histograms.

CONTROL CHART

Control chart are basically line graph that record the number

of defects each period, (e.g. shift, day, week, etc.). what

makes these charts different are the control limit lines.

These are simply two dotted lines, one above and one below

the solid line that depict the actual defect level. If that

actual defect line stays within these control limits, all is

okay. Circles are trained to use and interpret this problem

prevention tool.

STRATIFICATION

Sometimes a problem is best analyzes by taking it apart and

examining each piece separately. For example, an excessive

number of errors are occurring in one large department. It

may be best to separately analyze what the error rate is

within each group in that department. Perhaps the problem

exists only in one small area.

SCATTER DIAGRAM

A scatter diagram is a useful analytical tool, as it shows

relationships between two variables, e.g., weight and

volume.

XII. QUALITY CIRCLE SUCCESS STORY IN INDIA

Quality Circle took birth in India in 1982 and some of the

industries to launch Quality Circle first were Bharat

Electronics Limited, Bangalore and Bharat Heavy Electricals

Limited, Trichy. However, with the progress of time, Quality

Circle achieved success in a number of industries in India, to

name a few are TATA, TELCO, Reliance Industries Limited

and Kirloskar Brothers Limited .

XIII. CONCLUSION

Quality Circle concept if appropriately implemented in

industries, the results will not only be amazing but it will

also help these companies to stumble on outtide over their

own lacunae and facilitate designing of better system.

Quality circles can be a very useful tool for solving work-

related problems. It helps in involvement of employees in

decision-making, promoting good relationships among

colleagues, encouraging team work and developing

problem-solving skills.

REFERENCES

1. Basu, Ron, and J. Nevan Wright. Quality Beyond Six Sigma.

Elsevier, 2003.

2. Cole, Robert. Managing Quality Fads: How America Learned to

Play the Quality Game. Oxford University Press, 1999.

3. "Imitate Excellence?" Nilewide Marketing Review. 23 October

2005.

4. Robbins, Harvey, and Michael Finley. Why The New Teams Don't

Work : What Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right. Berrett-

Koehler Publishers, 2000.

5. Zimmerman, James P., and Jamie Weiss. "Six Sigma's Seven Deadly

Sins : While the seven sins can be deadly redemption is possible."

Quality. January 2005.

6. www.google.com

7. www.inc.com

8. www.slideshare.net


1. INTRODUCTION

he

Tcompetitive market scenario today has created a change in

the consumer profile. Organizations more often face with a

customer who is younger, more aware, has access to wider choice

and with higher aspirations and expectations. Fast food to internet

telephony, all have contributed towards creating a changing business

environment that is customer driven. A fervent need for change demands

the organizations to convert customer service as a key competitive

strategy. In after sales service, presentation is validated as very critical

to customer satisfaction process. The tone of the customer demands

service reliability and performance assurance.

The focal point of the paper is the after sales service environment of a

conventional automobile service outlet of an authorized dealership. It

concentrates on the concept of the service identity in the context of an

automobile company and its dealership network (What is service

identity?) and the effective action program for implementing the concept

at their establishments. (How can it be implemented?).The paper

describes the modus operandi which can be adopted by practicing

managers for implementing the project of similar nature.

2. AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The automobile industry in India has witnessed a tremendous growth in

recent years and is all set to carry on the momentum in the foreseeable

future. Today, automobile sector in India is one of the key sectors of the

economy in terms of the employment. Directly and indirectly it employs

more than 10 million people and if we add the number of people

employed in the auto component and auto ancillary industry then the

number goes even higher. The automobile sector in India underwent a

“ DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF

“SERVICE IDENTITY” AT DEALERSHIP

NETWORK – A CASE STUDY”

GOVIND HEMRAJANI

RESEARCH SCHOLAR

SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, PUNE

FORMERLY VICE PRESIDENT

MIMA CENTER FOR MANAGEMENT

EXCELLENCE AND NATIONAL MANAGER

BAJAJ AUTO LTD., PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


metamorphosis as a result of the liberalization policies

initiated in the 1991. Measures such as relaxation of the

foreign exchange and equity regulations, reduction of tariffs

on imports, and refining the banking policies played a vital

role in turning around the Indian automobile industry. Until

the mid 1990s, the Indian auto sector consisted of just a

handful of local companies. However, after the sector

opened to foreign direct investment in 1996, global majors

moved in India. The industry is manufacturing over 11

million 2 and 4-wheeled vehicles and exporting about 1.5

million every year. It is the world's second largest

manufacturer of motorcycles, with annual sales

exceeding 8.5 million in 2009. India's passenger car and

commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the seventh largest in the world, with an annual production of more

than 2.6 million units in 2009. In 2009, India emerged as

Asia's fourth largest exporter of passenger cars, behind

Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Fueled by

government stimulus packages, better demand and lower

loan interest rates, the country's automobile industry has

reported a whopping 26.41 per cent growth in sales in the

year 2009-10 making FY10 one of the best years for the

sector. In the domestic market, the sales were driven by car

and the two-wheelers. While the cars segment posted a

25.10 percent growth in 2009- 2010, the two wheelers

witnessed a 26 percent surge. The SIAM (Society of Indian

Automobile Manufacturers) had forecasted 10-14 per cent

growth for 2010-11. Indian automobile industry has matured

in last few years and offers differentiated products for

different segments of the society. It is currently making

inroads into the rural middle class market after its inroads

into the urban markets and rural rich. In the recent years

Indian automobile sector has witnessed a slew of

investments. India is on every major global automobile

player's radar. Indian automobile industry is also fast

becoming an outsourcing hub for automobile companies

worldwide, as indicated by the zooming automobile exports

from the country.

3. AUTOMOBILE SERVICING IN INDIA

After sales service operations have been very crucial in the

automobile business. Customers tend to be very sensitive

about maintenance of their vehicles. If they are anyway

dissatisfied with the charges or quality of the service an

authorized dealer provides, they will take their

maintenance problem to roadside garage owner. Customers

have general perception that the service charges levied by

an authorized dealership are higher compared to the next

door garage owner. At the same time, they are also aware

that the authorized dealers' service shop has highly skilled

people and wide variety of sophisticated equipment for

maintenance and repair of vehicles. The automobile

organizations and dealers confront the dilemma of

improving the workshop traffic and retaining the customers

after the completion of mandatory free services for which

customers generally visit the authorized outlet. According

to the experts in the car industry, authorized car service

outlets account for 40 percent of after sales and service

business with the unorganized sector making up for the rest.

Therefore the automobile organizations and their

respective dealers have been consistently undertaking

measures to seek the patronage of their customers. Service

promotion schemes like free service campaigns, discounts

on spare parts, free emission checkup, pick up and drop

facility etc are in vogue at dealers' outlets. In fact, Toyota

Kirloskar has tried to address the problem by introducing

“Express Service” concept in car servicing for customers. On

the other side, with the advent of vehicles with newer

technology and sophisticated features, the majority

customers tend to realize the necessity to follow the

instructions given in the manual & intend to get the vehicles

serviced through authorized dealer network. The

persistence efforts undertaken by the authorized dealers to

prompt the customers to visit their workshops can result in

improvement in the customer traffic to authorized

workshops. This trend may necessitate authorized dealers to

update their facilities to provide top notch service and aim

better planning and control at their dealerships. However, a

new challenge in the form of multi brand service centers in

organized sector is emerging of late. Keen to leverage the

increasing opportunities in vehicle service, several new

players have entered the car servicing business including

Mahindra First Choice Services, a Mumbai based player

backed by Mahindra and Mahinra which has pan India

expansion plans and Carnation Auto, started by the former

Maruti Suzuki managing director , Jagdish Khattar. Multi

brand servicing is now an emerging opportunity in the

country with just a couple of players in this sector but given

the potential there to be tapped, the future may see several

more players enter the field. S Muralidharan, vice- president

(automotive aftermarket), Bosch Ltd, says, “With

technology in the automotive sector changing fast, there is a

need for organized vehicle service.” Indeed, the value of the

vehicle servicing industry is huge. Currently estimated at Rs


20,000 crore, this could rise to as much as Rs 27,000 crore by

2015, representing a CAGR of 10-12 percent over the next

decade. The result of this turbo-charged growth will clearly

be demand for better and reliable services.

4. SERVICE IDENTITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE

AUTOMOBILE ENVIRONMENT

The term “Service identity” is synonymous with “Service

standardization” in the automobile industry. It is a subset of

overall dealership identity which broadly comprises of 3 S viz

sales, service and spares parts, three fundamental facet of

an automobile outlet.

The activity of providing vehicle maintenance and care

happens in an environment with the expert skill and training

of dealership personnel. Service identity is the physical

expression of this interaction in architectural, graphic and

engineering context. A good service identity has to maintain

a balance between location, service, productivity and cost

effectively so as to make a good business proposition.

The service identity can be defined as a set of concepts,

standards, service codes, systems and procedures

established by an organization to extend the after sales

service to its existing and potential customers in order to

maximize the customer satisfaction. It involves development

and implementation of a systematic approach to identify the

problems of the customers, designing of various elements,

establishing the systems and procedures to provide the after

sales service in a uniform manner to facilitate efficient and

effective workshop management.

The objectives of service identity are two fold : Brand image

and Problem solving

1) Create the atmosphere, the ambiance for the

customer which complements the service offers,

instinctively tells customers, they are in the right

place.

2) Focus on practical problem solving issues of better

planning, better space productivity, and innovative

presentation methods, better merchandising

facilities, better customer flow.

When the image and problem solving attributes combine well

with workshop and service management, the results can be

successful both in financial and human terms (experience).It

is important to create a bright and unified image in the eyes

of the consumers. It is becoming increasingly difficult for

dealers to create product differentiation and therefore it is

pertinent to create competitive edge by providing service

backup that creates good value for the customer. A more

responsive and value adding after sales service also offers a

great opportunity for dealerships to establish a long term

quality relationship with customers and create overall

differentiation. The practice of auto companies propagating

the workshop standards for their authorized dealers came in

to vogue after the multinationals set up their shops in India.

The workshop manuals detailing the variety of standards in

terms of layout, parking, wok flow, washing area, accident

repairs, color scheme, signage etc were prescribed to the

network members for designing their workshops. However

each organization had its own set of priorities to deal with

respect to their potential customers.

5. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The concept of service identity came in vogue in India during

mid 90s, when petroleum companies embarked on the make

over of the complexion of their petrol pumps &

metamorphosing them into new trendy entities. The old

structures were demolished and totally new structures were

installed to suit international standards. The employees

working at the stations were given crash courses to extend

effective service to their customers. The changing faces of

the petrol pumps were reflection of the changing priorities

of the oil companies to bring in global best practices in

consumer market. Simultaneously the automobile

organizations like Maruti Suzuki, DCM Daewoo Motors,

Hyudai Motors, Tata Motors, Ford Motors, and Honda Motors

have all promoted the modernization and standardization of

their service outlets to bring in the major changes in

customer handling process at their dealerships.

1. DCM Daewoo Motors Ltd (2005) emphasized on

service standards to its dealers through its manual

detailing the guidelines on service facilities to

maintain a high standard of service level and

customer satisfaction. The standards broadly

included the basic concept of layout, scale of

dealership workshop, arrangement of workshop,

arrangement of service front, parts and warehouse

etc.

2. In June 1998, the then Managing Director of Hyudia


Motors, Yang Soo Kim while releasing its standards

opined that the implementation of dealership

identification standards can result in complete

customer satisfaction and improved internal

management.

3. In Oct 1994, TVS Suzuki , one of the leading two

wheeler company ( now TVS Motors ) discussed

about the creation of “Quality Dealerships” by

implementing corporate identity program at their

dealerships. TVS Suzuki suggested workshop layout

principles in its manual to promote efficient after

sales service by its dealers.

4. Toyota Kirloskar in India has been promoting the

concept of Express Maintenance Service (EMS) at

various dealerships. The service provides a one hour

periodic maintenance service for all models .It

supposes to reduce the servicing time of a vehicle to

one hour by eliminating the stagnation time

between processes. The service requires 3 people at

the maintenance bay and requires specific tools and

equipment that are imported from Japan. EMS is

based on the Toyota production system and Kaizen

methodologies and aimed at increasing

customer satisfaction and retention. EMS is a part of

the TSM (Toyota Customer Service Marketing)

advanced program that was introduced by Toyota

globally. TSM advanced program removes the waste

from the system by redesigning the layout of the

maintenance bays to ensure that no time is wasted

in searching the equipments etc. It supposes to

strengthen the foundation of dealer after sales

service operations, achieving excellent levels of

customer care. The idea of EMS is beneficial to the

busy customers and also for the customers who are

skeptical about visiting authorized service stations.

5. Michael Cusumano, Steve Kahl and Fernaando

Suarez in their research paper “A theory of services

in product industries”, have explained about the

conditions under which services are important to

product firms. In many product oriented industries,

services have become increasingly important. In

case of automobiles, many automakers generate

the vast majority of their profits from a service

activity closely tied to their product activity. The

automobile industry overall generates a large

portion of its profits not only from financing but

from other product-related service activities such

as insurance and repairs (Gadiesh & Gilbert,

1998).The authors argued that despite the seeming

importance of services, there is not much theory to

help researchers or practitioners explain the

conditions under which services matter in

product industries. The general view that emerges

from the services literature is that services tend to

become important for manufacturing firms once

their industries reach a mature stage (Oliva &

Kallenberg, 2003; Potts, 1988).

6. The paper “factors affecting customer satisfaction

in after sales service of Malaysian electronic

business market”, the authors have referred

“delivery, installation and warranty as three

significant factors which are of utmost importance

to build a long lasting profitable relationship with

the existing customers. The concept of warranty

plays equally important role in the context of

automobile industry though majority of customers

nowadays believe it to be part of the extended

product features.

7. The Toyota motor corporation, Japan gives best

Toyota dealer award in the world annually for

excellence in customer care and service. There are

over 1000 odd Toyota dealers in the world who

are judged on customer reception, imparting

product knowledge to the customer, transparency

in dealings, environment policies, and safety

standards and so on. The award winner dealer of

2003, DSK Toyota provides excellent service

experience to its customers. For customers'

chauffereurs, the dealership has a separate rest

room with cots and a television to relax while cars

are being serviced. It offers subsidized food &

toiletries to its customers and their drivers. For

children, there is a special entertainment area

with toy cars in the facility. To be eco friendly, the

dealership follows some interesting policies like

placing a potted plant in each bay, extracting all

fumes from the cars in to exhaust pipes going

underground and forced ventilation in the

workshop so that technicians always get fresh cold

air to breath.


8. Mr. Ramakrishnan (2003) has indicated that the

vehicle servicing business in India is undergoing a

transformation. In early days, the servicing needs of

the vehicles were undertaken mostly by roadside

mechanics and a few organized workshops. Maruti

Udyog limited set up a huge chain of authorized

service stations covering the entire country to

service its vehicles. However, as the competition in

the new car market intensified and profit margins

squeezed MUL viewed servicing as a money spinner

for the entire operation. In the recent years, other

players have entered in the field and the creation of

national chain of organized workshops is underway

and that is likely to change the nature of vehicle

servicing market in India.

6. BAJAJ AUTO – KEY PLAYER IN TWO WHEELER

INDUSTRY

ndBajaj auto is 2 largest player in two wheeler sector. It

manufactures wide range of two wheelers & three wheelers.

The company has about 500 dealers spread across the

country and covers all major cities and towns. The

organization has been experiencing major changes in the

market place since mid 90s and was required to take

measures in different areas like product development,

network expansion, sales promotion, channel management,

customer relationship management to maintain its influence

and share of market. While it could not maintain its position

of market leadership , nevertheless over a period of time

with consistent new product introductions, sales promotion,

implementation of showroom identity program at its network

, dealer training program it emerged as robust player

withstanding the market pressures and onslaught of

competitive forces in the two wheeler industry. In the

beginning of the new century the company was under

massive pressure to overhaul its service strategy and

incorporate radical changes in its after sales service

approach and methodology in extending the after sales

service through its network. The prevailing service standards

and practices were insufficient and did not reap the required

benefits. A necessity was felt to adopt a grass root approach

and establish totally new set of service standards to meet the

changing environment and customer expectations.

Showroom standardization was already in place.

7. ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION

The management of Bajaj Auto formed a task force to work

on service standards relevant to the environment of its

dealership network. The task force comprised the

managers from across section of the organization like

marketing services, sales support, regional & national

service team. The attempt was to follow a grass root

approach to get insights into the day today problems faced

by the potential customers, dealers and the company in

extending efficient after sales service system. The first

phase of the project was to undertake an internal analysis to

ascertain the concerns of key stakeholders viz customers,

dealers and company from the impending standards for the

service identity of the company. The outcome of a

brainstorming session among the key managers from

marketing services, sales support, and service department

of the organization revealed that the team ought to focus on

studying the expectations of customers, dealers and

company and use the relevant perspectives in the formation

of generic design. The team believed that the standards and

design should be seen as problem solving process and not as

exercise recommending fancy elements resulting pomp and

show alone. The perspectives visualized from different

angles are summarized as follows.

PERSPECTIVES FROM CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW

1. The service centre should be conveniently located

and easily accessible.

2. The charges levied towards the maintenance and

spare parts should be fair and just.

3. The service extended should be reliable and no

repeat complaints to be experienced.

4. The delivery should be as per the promised

schedule.

5. The staff should be courteous, helpful and adopt

problem solving approach.

6. The staff should have good diagnostic and technical

skills.

The customer focus model can be represented in diagram 1

as follows :


PERSPECTIVES FROM DEALERS' POINT OF VIEW

1. The space should be utilized optimally.

2. The standards and the processes should result in

high productivity.

3. The generic design and codes once implemented

should result in to better workshop management.

4. The implementation of standards should result in

increased workshop traffic & revenue.

The problem solver approach for the dealer can be viewed in

diagram 2 as follows :

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE COMPANY'S POINT OF VIEW

1. The service centers should transmit good company

and dealer image.

2. The standards once implemented should result in

minimizing the customer complaints.

3. It should effect in dealership deploying trained

manpower and good workshop system.

4. The service standards should convey common

understanding to potential customers.

In the next phase, the team visited select Bajaj Auto and

competitors' dealerships in key cities in India like Mumbai,

Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and

Delhi to assess the prevailing practices in extending after

sales service by different players. Select customers were

interviewed to get the insight into the problems faced by

them at Bajaj Auto dealerships. The broad problem areas

identified by the team were as follows :

1. Lack of distinct visual identity.

2. Display of multiple signages hanging around the

premises creating clutter and chaos.

3. Diluted customer experience within service

station.

4. Communication with customer lacked clarity and

reassurance.

5. No defined areas of parking space for customers

and staff.

6. Service infrastructure was not state of the art.

7. No clear physical distinction of work flow through

the service process.

8. Vehicle care norms continuously flouted during

service.

9. Insufficient lighting and ventilation

10. Unclean environment.

11. Out of touch with the customers.

The field survey also revealed the actions being taken by

organizations like Toyota, Honda and others with respect to

the augmentation of the after sales service at their outlets.

The subject organizations had initiated huge efforts at their

outlets in converting them into truly world class by

incorporating very high standards of service norms .The task

force recommended roping in a design agency to work on the


project. A reputed design agency from Pune was signed up for working on the generic design and implementation for the project.

The members of the design agency traveled to different regions and studied the service operations of Bajaj auto dealers. At this

stage the organization of the project from conceptualization to finish was also conceived as shown in the diagram 3.

1. Efficiency of the staff and system

2. Strong visual identity with high recall.

The agency was briefed on various aspects like product

classifications of the company, products that are likely to be

reported for service, free service schedule for different

products, average vehicle reporting per day, expected time

required for repairing a vehicle. The generic design was

expected to follow the problem solving approach. The

customer and dealer feedback was converted into design

concerns as follows. Some of the design concerns are explained

as illustrations.

ENTRANCE

The customer should be able to identify the location of the

service station without any hassles. So there was need for easy

cognition through good graphics for easy identification of

service station which will also promote Bajaj service identity

brand effectively.

PARKING

There was need to earmark separate parking areas for

customers and working staff. Hence design has to consider the

aspect of defining areas of parking of vehicles to avoid

inconvenience to a customer. Graphic signages with distinct

identity can facilitate movement of people and vehicles.

8. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS WITH AGENCY & DESIGN

BRIEF

The discussions with the agency reflected the thought

process that the generic design for the service section of

Bajaj Auto dealers must draw inspiration from the following:

1. Awareness (What is bajaj service)

2. Involvement (What is the activity)

3. Culture (how is the activity carried out).

4. Aim (what is the objective)

The generic design for the service of Bajaj Auto should have

direct relation to the expectations of the target customers

in terms of :

1. Access/approachability

2. Confidence / trustworthiness

3. Efficiency of the system

4. Staff behavior

5. Visual presentation

Apart from happy customers and smooth business flow an

appropriate design would prove beneficial in the following

areas.


CUSTOMER LOUNGE

Customer lounge is most important area and preferred to be

an informative place for a customer with essential facilities

like drinking water, TV & Music. It should reflect warm and

welcoming ambience through judicious use of various

elements like furniture, lighting, color scheme, graphics etc.

RECEPTION

Well designed reception area for enhancing the efficiency of

staff and a better service experience for a customer. A well

thought out layout for efficient and smooth function of

various sections (service advisor, cash sections) is desired.

MAIN WORKSHOP

Activities of various kinds, man and material movements

take place in this area. Various areas according to their

functions/ attributers ( types of vehicles to be serviced), the

kind and extent of repairs , the spare parts areas , work

stations, various equipments, support system for repairs,

washing and drying areas , painting and tinkering areas need

to be assigned adequate and well defined spaces in a well

thought out and logical layout.

The list also included provisions for training/conference

space, space for mechanics, workshop furniture system,

graphics, exterior signs and interior signs.

9. GENERIC DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

The generic design development comprised of different

phases. The first phase expounded the concepts related to

the generic service model, generic layout, concept customer

interaction area, service work bays, quasi workshop, sample

layout, flooring, color schemes, materials and finishes,

lighting, customer utilities, graphics, signage system etc.

The first presentations to the management lead to a distinct

style and direction for deciding the design that would be

further developed. In the second phase, the feedback

obtained during first presentation was incorporated for all

aspects of image, aesthetics, systems, design, production

and implementation. The third stage involved precise

detailing of all the generic elements and creation of

production drawings, specified materials, processes,

technologies and artwork. The outcome of this phase was in

the form of architectural specifications and codes, layout

drawings, decisions on service utilities. Detailed production

drawings of furniture and all other elements such as display,

windows, and kiosks are prepared in this stage. Artworks for

visual elements such as fascia, signage and displays are also

prepared in this phase. Identification of vendors and cost

estimation of each element are done at the end of this stage.

Thus the design agency worked in tandem with the task

force members of the organization and established

standards for the various areas of operations in a workshop.

The formation of standards passed through the series of

presentations to the top management and the task force on

various alternatives layout, materials, and color schemes to

be used for the different elements as mentioned above. The

process of development of the generic design extended over

one year in view the plethora of issues it addressed.

10. PROTOTYPING & APPLICATION OF GENERIC

DESIGN

Prior to the launch of the generic design, it was crucial to

check its applicability and impact. Unless a prototyping

exercise is undertaken, the expected outcome of the

project may not prove as effective. Therefore it was

essential to adapt the generic design to a specific site and

implement it in its entirety. Two dealers, one in Delhi and

another in Cochin showed enthusiasm for implementation of

the intended standards for their workshops as per the new

design evolved. The site available at Delhi was taken up first

for developing it as a prototype workshop. However the

actual inspection & evaluation of the site at Delhi caused

certain problems in terms of space available compared to

the requirement of the generic design. The space limitation

was an impediment in incorporating the various elements of

the generic design and customizing it to suit the specific

site. Nevertheless, the challenges posed turn out to be an

opportunity for everyone involved in the project. It was a

useful exercise in customizing the generic design to suit a

site reflecting severe constraints of space. Furthermore the

workshops located in different parts of the country with

different sizes and dimensions were not expected to fulfill

the space required by the generic design either.

Considering the real estate cost in various metros and mini

metros and reluctance of the dealers for investment in

project of such nature, the design had to be adaptable to

address such issues without compromising the essence of the

design. Therefore after working and reworking on the

layout for almost one month all the parties involved in the

project that are the design agency, the dealer and the

company staff agreed to work on a particular layout. Bills of


materials for service standardization was prepared

reflecting the details of interior work, electrical works,

furniture elements, display elements, service equipments

etc . Contractors were signed up to expedite the work at the

specific site in Delhi. With continuous monitoring and

supervision, it took four months to complete the prototype stworkshop. Thus 1 new generation workshop of Bajaj Auto

dealership was ready for inauguration.

11. PRESENTATION AND LAUNCH

Through integrated efforts, the organization designed the

new Bajaj auto service standards in order to provide the

service network with distinct visual identity, enhanced

customer experience, state of art high tech equipment

spread over highly functional layouts. The workshop at Delhi

was inaugurated in the presence of the senior executives and

key dealers. The prototype workshop was shown to the key

dealers in the country and feedback obtained.

12. STANDARDIZATION MANUAL

This was most important phase from the communication

point of view. The new service experience was condensed

into a manual to provide Bajaj dealership around the country

with necessary elements which would enable them to

present service reliability and performance assurance

process effectively and consistently to the customers. The

manual documented all the relevant drawings and details of

construction, assembly and installation of all elements and

other codes that go into an outlet. The manual also

documented first outlet as a case study. The manual explains

the a) objectives of service standardization b) design of

service set up's c) elements of service set up's d)

implementation guidelines.

GENERIC SERVICE CONCEPT

The service workshop areas are conceptually divided into the

zones shown in the diagram 4 .These zones indicate

concentrated activity zones. Apart from the above, there are

intangible issues surrounding and affecting a service

dealership like for example, Image and Identity. These are

part of dealership and co exists within and in an area much

larger surrounding a dealership. The layering in the generic

design conceptually prioritizes the zones from the point of

view of the customer and workshop productivity on a given

space layout.

The following list gives details of some of elements as

illustrations of standards for service station.

CUSTOMER INTERACTION AREA

Customer interaction area is the 'Service Interface' to the

customers. It is provided in the front so that it is visible from

the main entry. Enquiry and billing counter is located near

the entrance of customer interaction area. Customer

waiting is provided if the customer wish to wait for his turn.

Facilities like TV, magazine rack, drinking water, toilets are

provided for customer convenience. Service managers' cabin

is located within customer interaction area and is accessible

to the customers. Service manger has the access to the

workshop through the cabin.

SERVICE WORK BAY AREA

The service work bay areas to be located behind the

customer interaction area. The generic design

recommended that the work bay area should be visible

through customer interaction area. This works

psychologically as customers are able to witness the

methodical approach in functioning inside the workshop.

VEHICLE FLOW

The flow of the vehicles should pass certain sequence like

entry, parking, inspection, washing, drying, work bay, final


inspection, testing, parking for delivery area and delivery.

Refer diagram 5.

QUASI WORKSHOP AREA

The areas, which are difficult to maintain in immaculate

condition, noise producing and involves dispensing /disposal

of water/oil/grease etc like washing, lubrication, painting,

denting should be located away from direct view of the

customers.

SERVICE STAFF AREA

This area should be at the back side of the workshop. This

includes staff parking, locker rooms, toilets, lunch room,

meeting room, training room etc.

LOCATION CODES

Since good service set up becomes an image point, it should

be located on the main road or off main road by not more

than 100 meters.

ARCHITECTURAL CODES

This includes various architectural codes related to the

building construction, expected set back in front of the

building, compound wall , toilets , wash areas, pipes, electric

supply, drain arrangement, generator and compressor rooms,

landscaping ,plantation etc.

FLOORING

Within the workshop space there are a number of varied

functional activities taking place which deserve specific kind

of flooring to derive the maximum benefit for the ensuing

service activity. For example customer interaction area is

high traffic & high aesthetic area. Therefore the subject area

has to be provided the flooring with high aesthetic appeal

which is equally tough and scratch resistant.

SIGNAGE ELEMENTS

A good signage system helps customers to find and be

informed about various activities and facilities. The design

recommended attractive signage, for fascia, spares fascia,

entrance signage, spot signage and door signages.

QUICK REPAIRS CELL

For minor repairs, separate area was earmarked so that the

customers do not have to wait for longer hours in the

workshop.

FASCIA

Fascia is most significant element and first impression of the

service center. It serves the purpose of identification. A

customer forms the impression about the dealership through

the fascia and therefore the execution of the fascia requires

utmost care and attention.

The above list is a representative list and not exhaustive list

of elements prescribed by the generic design as standards of

service dealership.

13. GENERIC DESIGN APPLICATION IN PHASED

MANNER

The introduction of a new concept or activity despite of it

being well thought out takes time for it to be fully accepted.

It even takes longer to establish it as a credible, sincere and

progressive activity. Fortunately the dealer network had

already established the showroom standards and majority of

them experienced its positive impact. The manual

prescribing the standards were presented to the members of

the network. The regional teams of the company chalked out

the plans for their respective regions for implementation of

the generic design in a phased manner. The dealerships with

high service turnover in metros and mini metros were

prioritized for implementation of the standards. The

vendors for the critical elements were developed by the task

force team in consultation with experts in the field to

facilitate smooth implementation and achieve uniformity

across the country. The dealers all over the country

undertook the work in a phased manner. Over years, Bajaj

Auto emerged as robust player in two wheeler industry. An

analysis revealed that apart from range of new products

introduced by the company, its initiative in standardizing its


showrooms and workshops created a positive visual identity

in the market place. It helped the company create immense

impact on the potential customers thereby maintaining its

thump in the market place.

14. SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The vehicle service market is highly unorganized. The

participants in the vehicle servicing market are authorized

dealer's workshops, authorized service centers of vehicle

manufacturers, road side mechanics and some organized

service centers. Most of the vehicle manufacturers have been

gearing up for enhancing the after sales service by programs

like service standardization to attract and retain the

customers. The establishment of chain of service centers

have posed problem for authorized dealers since the

organized service stations can provide service for multi

brands. Therefore there is scope of further research on the

methodology being followed by these service centers to

extend service for multi brands under one roof. The concept,

standards and system and procedures adopted by them can

give new insights in the subject.

15. REFERENCES

1. DCM Daewoo Motors Ltd, New Delhi (2005),”Dealership Facilities Guide”, May 1995.

2. H M T Tractors, Chandigarh, “Dealer Identity Program Manual”.

3. Hyundai Motor Company, (1998) “Hyundai Motor Dealer

Identification Manual”, June 1998.

4. TVS Suzuki Ltd, (1994), TVS Suzuki CI Manual – Oct 1994.

5. Mamata Parhi (2008), Indian Automotive Industry : Innovation &

Growth : India Science & Technology 2008.

6. Michael Cusumano, Steve Kahl, Fernando Suarez (2008), “A theory

of services in products industries”, Paper no. 242, published by MIT

Sloan School of Management in Oct 2008.

7. Auto car professional (2010), “Auto sector headed for servicing

boom”, Nov 8, 2010.

8. V G Ramakrishnan (2003),”vehicle servicing in India th –transformation in progress”, 18 June 2003.

9. Auto servicing, 2009 © http://www.automobileindia.com/

10. Mohd Rizaimy Shaharudin, Khaizir Muzani Md.Yusof, Shamsul Jamel

Elias, Suhardi Wan Mansor, “Factors - Affecting customer

satisfaction in after sales service of Malaysian electronic business

market”, published by Canadian academy of oriental and

occidental culture, Vol 5 No 6 2009, ISSN 1712-8056.

11. Elephant Design (2000), “Proposal for standard design of Bajaj Auto

dealer service centers”, Sep 2000.

12. Toyota kirloskar motors introduce global benchmark in vehicles

servicing in city

http://toyotabharat.com/inen/news/one_hour.asp.

13. Kawasaki heavy industries ltd (2001), “corporate identification

manual applications”, Jan 2001

14. Hindustan Motors Ltd (1995),”Corporate identification manual”,

July 1995.

15. Bajaj auto Ltd (2002),”Bajaj Auto service standards”, 2002.

16. Toyota Kirloskar Motor takes customer service to a higher level

March 21, 2009, posted by PRWIRE.

17. Times of India May 19, 2004 “DSK Toyota rated best dealer in the

world”.

18. http://news.oneindia.in/2010/04/09/automobile-industry-

growth.

19. http://eng.hil138.com/?il50939-54k


NEED FOR THE STUDY

ne of the biggest challenges faced by the Information

OTechnology companies globally is the increasing rate of

employee attrition. There are many causes for attrition

including, retirement and death. However, most attrition is due to

employee turnover. Staff attrition (or employee turnover) represents

significant costs to technology and business process outsourcing (BPO)

companies. High attrition rates drive up training costs, and increase

human resources, recruiting, and productivity costs. They also increase

the prospect of customer service complaints or quality problems, and

create substantial continuity problems for longer-lived projects.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

An attrition rate, also known as a churn rate, can be a measure of two

things. It is the measure of how many customers leave over a certain

period of time or how many employees leave over a certain period of

time. An attrition rate can also be a combination of these two factors.

CHALLENGES BEFORE INDIAN IT INDUSTRY

At present there are a number of challenges that are facing the

information technology industry of India. One of the major challenges for

the Indian information technology industry was to keep maintaining its

excellent performance standards.

HR CHALLENGES IN THE IT INDUSTRY

As the IT industry moves beyond tapping the talent in the best campuses,

to recruiting large numbers from second and third rung institutes, the

challenge of quality is going to be a major one. Urgent steps are needed to

“IMPACT OF ATTRITION ON THE

QUALITY OF SOFTWARE PROJECTS”

PROF. S. BALA SUBRAMANIAM

PROFESSOR,

AIMS, PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


upgrade the physical and intellectual infrastructure of

colleges, and also the syllabi and teaching materials/

methods.

While the attrition numbers will not be a serious

impediment, the same cannot be said about quality. It is true

that some Indian institutions (the IITs and IIMs, in particular)

have established an enviable world-wide reputation for

turning out top-quality professionals. However, the average

engineering graduate is hardly of world-class, and the

average non-technical graduate is of distinctly inferior

quality.

ATTRITION DUE TO TALENTED FEMALE PROFESSIONALS -

REVERSING THE BRAIN DRAIN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING,

AND TECHNOLOGY

Athena Factor survey data show that 41% of highly qualified

scientists, engineers, and technologists on the lower rungs

of corporate career ladders are female. To fill the skills gap,

companies need to turn to the female talent in their own

backyard.

The female drop–out rate is huge. Fully 52% of highly

qualified females working for SET companies quit their jobs,

driven out by hostile work environments and extreme job

pressures.

HIGH ATTRITION RATES IMPACTS QUALITY OF SERVICES TO

THEIR END CONSUMERS

The high attrition rate as high as 20-22% was a major

drawback since the companies suffered with the quality of

services to their end consumers as also the high costs of

recruitment and the costs on training and development.

With the warm-chair attrition gaining concept, it is still a

long way to go before the IT companies stabilize as far as

retention of employees is concerned.

OVERVIEW OF INDIAN IT INDUSTRY

Attrition affects the quality of service, leading to greater

expenditure on training and development, thereby affecting

the overall performance, including improving utilisation

rates of the company.

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER - DUTIES, BENEFITS, EXPENSES

High turnover can be a serious obstacle to productivity,

quality, and profitability at firms of all sizes. For the

smallest of companies, a high turnover rate can mean that

simply having enough staff to fulfill daily functions is a

challenge, even beyond the issue of how well the work is

done when staff is available. Turnover is no less a problem

for major companies, which often spend millions of dollars a

year on turnover-related costs. For service-oriented

professions, such as management consulting or account

management, high employee turnover can also lead to

customer dissatisfaction and turnover, as clients feel little

attachment to a revolving contact. Customers are also likely

to experience dips in the quality of service each time their

representative changes.

OBJECTIVE

3.1 PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

To identify the attrition rate in IT industry, its

causes and measures to control.

To analyze the impact of attrition on the quality of

the projects and identify measures to control and

retain quality standards amidst attrition.

3.2 SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

To study the impact of attrition on the growth of

the organization and identify measures to control

the cost incurred.

To identify the additional cost incurred to the

organization due to attrition.

METHODOLOGY

DATA COLLECTION

SECONDARY DATA

Response through e-mails

Journals, Magazines

Organization records

Statistics from various sources like media, web,

management books etc

Data was collected from secondary sources to understand

the problem clearly and focus on the problem faced by

various companies in the IT industry.


PRIMARY DATA

Circulation of Questionnaire.

Interview with executives from IT industry.

Data collection by online Survey.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

The quantitative research was conducted using an online

survey, this option is chosen as it's cost effective. We would

like to select the right population to survey, and thus online

survey provides us a great advantage on both cost and

sampling.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the quantitative research is to determine the

opinion of the sample population on the subject under study

and perform further analysis to derive conclusions.

FOCUS GROUP STUDY

A focus group study was conducted on small sample of 5 IT

project managers and their inputs have been used to prepare

the Questionnaire for further data collection.

POPULATION AND SAMPLING

Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the

selection of a subset of individual observations within a

population of individuals intended to yield some knowledge

about the population of concern, especially for the purposes

of making predictions based on statistical inference. Sampling is

an important aspect of data collection.Researchers rarely

survey the entire population for two reasons (Adèr,

Mellenbergh, & Hand, 2008): the cost is too high, and the

population is dynamic in that the individuals making up the

population may change over time.

The three main advantages of sampling are that the cost is

lower, data collection is faster, and since the data set is

smaller it is possible to ensure homogeneity and to improve

the accuracy and quality of the data.

A sample of 30 respondents was chosen to represent the

entire population. IT project managers who would have a

greater visibility to the IT project delivery from various

companies are chosen to be the sample.

The sample includes a mix of both genders and from various

geographies.

PRE-TESTING

Once the questionnaire was developed in order to ensure the

questionnaire was clear and understandable, the

questionnaire was evaluated by the supervisor of our

research. The suggestions made by the expert was taken in

to consideration and the questionnaire was further modified

to make it, focused, crystal clear, short and easy to

understand. Further, a small group of respondents were

asked to take the survey to ensure that the scales were clear

and that respondents were able to comprehend the

information.

ON-LINE SURVEY

MANAGEMENT STUDY

Impact of attrition on the quality of the project delivered.

Using on –line questionnaire.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

The survey was conducted online, thus an online survey

based on invitation was conducted. In order to get high

response, snow ball method was used. Thus, the links of the

survey was forward to project manager in IT industry. Thus,

the response rate was fairly high for the survey. Some other

methods of publishing the URL on social networking sites,

like face book and LinkedIn were used; this helped us

increase the response rate.

SURVEY RESPONSE

The response received from 30 respondents is attached in

excel format


DATA PRESENTATION

TECHNIQUES FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Data collected will be analyzed using various statistical methods to derive at conclusions.

For practical reasons, a chosen subset of the population called a sample is studied — as opposed to compiling data about the entire

group (an operation called census). Once a sample that is representative of the population is determined, data is collected for the

sample members in an observational or experimental setting. This data can then be subjected to statistical analysis.

Interpretation of statistical information can often involve the development of a null hypothesis in that the assumption is that

whatever is proposed as a cause has no effect on the variable being measured.


Most studies will only sample part of a population and then

the result is used to interpret the null hypothesis in the

context of the whole population. Any estimates obtained

from the sample only approximate the population value.

Confidence intervals allow statisticians to express how closely

the sample estimate matches the true value in the whole

population. Often they are expressed as 95% confidence

intervals. Formally, a 95% confidence interval of a procedure

is a range where, if the sampling and analysis were repeated

under the same conditions, the interval would include the

true (population) value 95% of the time. This does not imply

that the probability that the true value is in the confidence

interval is 95%.

WORK DONE SO FAR

Prepared the questionnaire to be circulated for data

collection.

Identified contacts in various IT companies for the

data collection.

Conducted interviews with the identified focus

groups.

Circulated the questionnaire and collected

response from the identified sample.

High level analysis of the data has been carried out.

WORK TO BE DONE

Perform statistical data analysis.

Identify trends and conclusions.

Prepare the final project report.

LIMITATIONS

The study is specific to IT industry only.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

To improve the quality of projects amidst attrition.

To reduce the cost incurred to the organization due

to attrition rate.

REFERENCES

1. “Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and

Technology” by Harvard Business Review - by Sylvia Ann

Hewlett et al.

(http://app.post.hbsp.harvard.edu/athena/athena2/index.html)

2. Challenges before Indian IT Industry by Economy Watch

(http://www.economywatch.com/india-it-industry/challenges.html)

3. “HR Challenges in the IT Industry” by Kiran Karnik

(http://www.nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id=2205)

4. Overview of Indian IT Industry by D&B

(http://www.dnb.co.in/TopIT_08/overview.asp)

5. Employee Turnover - duties, benefits, expenses by Encyclopedia of

Business, 2nd ed.

(http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Eco-Ent/

Employee-Turnover.html#ixzz16kVbMprb)


INTRODUCTION

esource

Rplanning is the prime objective of Every enterprise.

Production companies, business Enterprises are all using ERP

to optimize their resources and keep themselves afloat in this

era of competition. Educational sector, specially Universities and

Colleges cannot be exceptions. In many Educational Institutions

administrative work as well Teaching-Learning process is computerized to

some extent through various software, which could be considered bits

and pieces.

In recent years many Educational Institutions have introduced ERP

systems in order to improve their operations and make them manageable

and more transparent. In this study one such attempt is presented as a

case study. Attempt has been made to present a detailed analysis

specially from the system analysis point of view. Problems of

implementation have been identified and possible solutions have been

suggested.

Next section is devoted to discussions on basic definitions followed by

discussions on specific need of Educational ERP. Later sections are

devoted to the findings of the survey and analysis.

WHAT IS AN ERP

An enterprise is a group of people with a common goal, which has certain

resources at its disposal to achieve this goal.

In the traditional approach, the organization is divided into different nits

based on the functions they perform. These departments function in

isolation and have their own systems of data collection and analysis. In

enterprise way the entire organization is considered a system and all

“PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION

ERP IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES :

A CASE STUDY”

PROF. JAWED S. KHAN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,

AIMS, PUNE

PROF. IRFAN J. SHAIKH

JOINT SECRETARY,

M.C.E. SOCIETY,

AZAM CAMPUS, PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


departments are its sub system, each sub system knows what

others are doing , why they are doing and what should be

done to move the company towards common goal. [1]

If the information that is generated is accurate, timely and

relevant, then the systems will go a long way in helping the

organization to realize its goals.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an integrated

project/software/application which is used for connecting

various departments, business functions and storing their

data at central place for efficient access. This data is

accessed by various departments for different business

functions.

ERP integrates the information system of an organization and

automates most of the functions. The term was minted in the

early 1990s. The activities supported by ERP system include

all core functions of an organization, including financial

management, human resource management and operations.

Increasingly, ERP vendors are offering “bolt-on” products ,

such as business Intelligence (BI), Product Life Cycle

Management (PLM), Advance Planning and Scheduling (APS),

Customer Relationship Management, Supply Chain

Management etc [1].

While ERP had its origins in manufacturing and production

planning systems, the functions of ERP offerings expanded in

the mid-1990s to include other back-office functions such as

order management, financial management, asset

management, and human resources management. The range

of functionality of ERP systems has further expanded in

recent years to include more applications, such as grants

management, marketing automation, electronic commerce,

student systems, and supply chain systems. Examples of ERP

systems include those from Oracle, BAAN, PeopleSoft, and

SAP.[4]

Fig. 1 ERP Project Overview

Figure 1 shows the sequence of events in an ERP project. It

usually starts with a needs assessment and requirements

analysis, and ends in the first cycle with training and a

phased implementation.[3]

The continuous circle of development shown in Figure 1

suggests that soon after completion of the first phase or

cycle of an ERP project, we're back to planning the next

phase. Each successive round of development arises from

the need to add functionality and the rapidity of upgrades to

ERP software.

WHY ERP FOR AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

A typical educations ERP system usually supports student

administration (enrolment procedures and student

enrolment, financial support for students, student data),

teaching and Non teaching staff management (monitoring of

employees) and finance (accounting, fees payments,

payroll, investments, budget). It is possible to include some

other programme add-ons, e.g. assets management

(contracts, subsidies, grants, etc.) or for monitoring student

and developmental services of institutions [4]. The main

advantages of ERP for educational institutions are according

to Educause Center for Applied Research ( ECAR) [6]

organization are

Improved information access for planning and

managing the institution

Enhances workflow, increases efficiency and

reduces reliance on paper

Improved services for the Teachers, students and

employees

Tightens controls and Streamlines processes and

eases adoption of best business practices

Lower business risks, Increased income and

decreased expenses due to improved efficiency.

Provides user-friendly Web-based interfaces

Establishes a foundation for new systems and

integrates existing systems

The main advantage of ERP systems is improved access to

accurate and timely information. As Top level management

like presidents, chief financial officers, or directors want to


understand Educational Institute's overall performance with

existing systems, they may find many different versions of

the truth. An ERP system creates a single version of the truth

because everyone uses the same system.

Furthermore, some existing systems make developing

reports or tapping into transaction data stored on the

computer quite challenging. Modern ERP systems often

improve upon this process by offering a strong foundation for

moving to a data warehouse that can provide even more

capability to extract data from administrative information

systems.In Educational Institute basic activities are involved

of students Admission, student, Examination and their fees

and their document. Teaching and Non Teaching staff,

Administrative staff are involved with student. Course

curriculum and Library/books, laboratory are also involved in

educational institute. Smooth functionality and efficient

and accurate working is expected from educational ERP. The

objective of ERP is to provide efficient, effective services to

the stakeholder of institutions. Cost and time savings is

expected from educational ERP.

An integrated database shared by different functions and

consequently, different modules of a single integral

information solution is of main importance. Data can be

transferred between individual processes and accessible by

various users in real time. Through educational ERP software

Information sharing is the possible for whole organization.

The use of up-to-date information approaches (web

technologies, mobile phones, on-line services, etc.) is an

additional advantage, not only for the administration within

educational institutions, but also for people who constantly

interact with the institution (students, teachers,

researchers, etc.) [7].

METHODOLOGY

The case study corresponds to a situation where E-Admin (a

component of ERP) is being used since last seven years. Last

few years status was surveyed and System analysis was

carried out, Problems were identified. A brief description of

the methodology is discussed in this section.

The Current study has following phases

4.1 Survey of Current status

4.2 System analysis of Processes using Rational Rose

UML diagram

4.3 Identification of Problems

4.4 On the basis of analysis Possible solution were

suggested

A brief description of each of the phases is given in next few

subsections.

4.1 SURVEY OF CURRENT STATUS

The Campus under consideration has a ERP solution installed

in the year 2005. Over the years /period the number of

institutions in the campus increased from 17 to 28. The

institutions offer education at various levels from primary,

senior primary, higher secondary, to higher education

colleges upto doctoral programs at the campus. The

number of students, potentially targeted under ERP is

approx 25000. (Nearly 20% of the students are not covered

under the ERP implementation span). Nearly 90% of the

stakeholders are covered under the ERP implementation

span.

Modules currently installed and commissioned at various

levels of functionality are

a) The student Modules

b ) Payroll & Fees Modules

c) Back office

d) Library

A dedicated SERVER of high end technology was procured.

The application runs on a campus wide network.

Adequate availability of band width and an appropriate

VLAN design have been implemented to ensure proper

data communication network facility, along with the

Dedicated server for the application to run. Proper security

policy has been implemented and access control has been

accordingly designed. Prior to commissioning of the ERP

solution, most of the work related above modules was done

manually (Registers/note book/files) and some of the work

was done in word processing and speared sheets or Ms-

Office-Word and Excel packages. Tally is being used as

independent accounting software.

Surveys were conducted periodically, to determine the

extent of usage, problems of users, adequacy of reports

and status of data entry, by specifically nominated

committees.


4.1.1 CURRENT STATUS : MODULE WISE VIEW

At the campus, E-Administration (E-Admin) Software basically constitutes of Student Module, Account -Payroll Module and

Library Module. In addition, the accounting package Tally is being used since last many years at the Campus. Out of these

modules, Student module, library module and payroll module were implemented in stages at various constituent Colleges.

A perusal of evaluation rounds conducted by the E-Governance committee over the past three year indicated following status

various Task in E-admin software.


As a sample one year data entry is shown in figure 2, though the survey was done for three years, almost 80% of data entry was done

in this year, data entry of Library is remarkable excellent where as other modules admission, back office fee entry are good.

Payroll data entry is average. Educations level wise Primary school data entry is excellent where as Senior College’s data entry

very good and data entry of high school and junior college is good.

4.2 SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF PROCESSES USING RATIONAL ROSE UML DIAGRAM

A details system diagram was drawn to analysis the activities and data flows. The system diagram (Fig 3) shows the complete

activity from student's first access (enquiry) to his exit via completion of education or exit in the middle due to other reasons.

Critical activities which need to be properly monitored are discussed here.

Figure 2. Shows the percentage data entry module wise and Education level wise (Year 2011-12)


Figure 3. System Flow Diagram for E-Admin Software


4.2.1 ANALYSIS OF THE FLOW OF DATA, SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES IN THE CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION

A critical look in to how the data flows and the sequence in which activities happen is very important component of the analysis.

As can be seen from the figure 4, data gets distributed in four parallel channels of processing.

Since the E-Admin software is only partially implemented, data flows through multiple channels as shown in Fig. 4. Our Analysis is

based on two major classifications. One is data distributions and other is accessibility of data for various educational stake

holders as shown in Table 1. Channels named i) Manual ii) Spread Sheets iii) Accounting software and iv) E-Admin software as

shown figure 4. The basic principle of parallel processing using distributed data becomes naturally applicable [8].

Initially, almost all the Data is living in the manual system , where as other part of systems are waiting for data. In the second

stage data gets distributed in two channels.ie Spread sheets and Manual. In third stage data is distributed in three channels i. e.

Manual, Spread sheets and accounting software and partial in E-Admin software. In the fourth stage data gets distributed in all

four channels. From this data distribution chart, it is clear that data is not available for admin software most of the time and

hence software is waiting mostly for further processing of data . The matrix DD1 represents the data division pattern :

Figure 4. Current data flow : distribution in to four channels

2

0

22

31 32 33 34

41 42 43 44

232


Table No.2 Current status of availability of data of E-Admin software to various Educational stake holders

(Legends: Fully Accessible = FA, Partial Access = PA , Not Accessible=X A).


TABLE NO 3. REPORT ON CURRENT STATUS OF CRITICAL DOCUMENT GENERATIONS & ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS

However this would be the case in general in any e-

governance environment, specially due to the slowness of

data feeding. Employees avoid data feeding at the initial

phase, maintain parallel records on spreadsheet (Ms-Excel)

and update the records only after few months. During the

intermediate period data is not available for other work.

This leads to lot of duplication of work. One common

complaint about the software is that it is slow at the time of

data feeding.

Hence the data in E-Administration (E-Admin) is not

available in time for its productive use where it is most

needed. Though the data entry is being done currently but

there is a necessity to monitor data entry through a

systematic audit. So that data can be made available for

productive purposes.

4.3 IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEMS AND REASONS

The information need of different people would be

different. Our analysis is aimed at providing a clear insight

into the needs of problems keeping these differences in

mind. Our stake holders can be classified into four

categories as under

TOP_ MANAGEMENT

Office bearers of the Education Society, Directors , Dy.

Directors and Principals.

MIDDLE-MANAGEMENT

Head of the Departments, Library In-charges, Sports In-

charges, Placement officers, Accounts heads, Network

administrators, Hostel Managers etc.

TEACHERS

Professors, Associate Professors, Visiting Faculty,

Demonstrators and Examination section In-charges.

STUDENTS, PARENT AND ALUMNI

Students themselves and Parents are a very important

component who need information. Alumni of any

institution form a very important stake holders who render

help in many ways.

People in all above categories have their own needs of

accessibility to data, timely availability of data, and a


reasonable assurance of integrity of data.

Our analysis, as detailed in Table No. 2, and Figure 4,

shows that the current status of implementation, data is

distributed and stocked into many independent channels,

hence not meet above requirements of accessibility and

timeliness availability of information with various degrees

at various levels. This is because end users or stake holders

not enthusiastic or not motivated in using this facility of

e-admin software. End users or stake holders attitudes may

be a problem.

There is also small data integrity problem at some places

like Payroll data and Fees data. Data that is input and

processed in Tally is not integrated with database of

E-admin software. Integrations of various department or

modules is a another problem. The care for data validations

and cross references is not taken in the software. In many

institutes Bio-metric devices are being used for monitoring

attendance of employees, attendance data, but the data

generated is not integrated with the database of E-admin

software.

Educational ERP data is categorized stake holder wise,

module wise, into department wise and institute wise.

Security of data will be a problem in future as partial access

for network drive is available for all users. Partial access of

data is available for all users of all institutes. User access

control matrix is not defined in the software. Due to lack of

interfacing with tally the productivity of Account module in

E-Admin software is effectively less. At best it is a record

keeping exercise and not a resource planning activity.

REASONS FOR THE ABOVE PROBLEMS ARE

i) Distributed Data

The multiple channels, as shown in Fig 2. , into which data

gets distributed is one of the major reasons for lack of

timeliness and non availability

ii) Partial Implementation

Partial implementations or partial implementation of some

of the modules has been one of the reasons why information

does not completely processed and lot many

synchronization gaps are generated.

iii) Lack of interface between Tally and ERP

Manual processing become mandatory since the two

software components do not share information. This leads

to lot of repeated work leading to significant inefficiency

and exposes the system to serious human errors and Spread

sheet Risk.

iv) Users attitude

This is a common problem in all software implementation

efforts. Extensive use of spread sheet which is module

independent, and not properly integrated are frequent

reasons for errors.[11]

v) Infrastructure and Network Problems

There are some problems/issues of speed which could be

attributed to IT infrastructure and E-Admin software itself.

4.4 Solutions suggested

To make educational ERP effective , remedies for above

lacunae need to be found and implemented. Most of the

problems can be managed with a combination of technical

changes and better implementation policies.

1) Reduction of multiple channels of data

distribution

This is the first thing to be managed, need to remove

conventional methods of storing data and motivate the end

user to use available modules of e-admin software.

2) Complete and full implementation

Critical dependent module should be fully implemented , so

that piecemeal processing approach is stopped. It should be

enforced and facilitate by executive management.

3) User Motivation and Education

Most of the trainings, generally given by the software

suppliers, are focused on how to use the software. They

are a must. However the mental block of employees can

only be removed if trainings focus on demonstrating the

benefits. Case studies including success stories of

implementations and involvement of Senior officials during

the training highlighting the future visions is a must.

4) Awareness of Spread Sheet Risk

Users need to be made aware of benefits of the risk involved

in processing data externally using spread sheet risk, when

the software has dedicated modules doing the same work.

They should be made aware of the time lost in duplicate

processing efforts , and future integrity problems which

may arise.

5) E-admin software and Network performance

Monitoring

In any enterprise the usage pattern is always dynamic. When

a software is implemented the number of users is initially

very small. With passage of time the number of users are

known to increase exponentially. Hence a flexible dynamic

VLAN design is a must so that network performance can be

tuned as the usage increases. At the same time there is need

to monitor software and network performance.

CONCLUSION

The case study discussed in this paper is a typical scenario in

many Educational campuses. In conclusion it can be stated

that a proper implementation of the ERP or at least a

restricted e-Admin is possible if problems as identified

in section 4.3 and solutions as suggested in section 4.4 are

taken care of.

REFERENCES

1) Alexis Leon, (2008), ERP Demystified, Pub: Tata McGraw Hill Inc.

2) Anonymus, New Analysis Reveals Best ERP Systems for Higher Ed.,

Nonprofit Business Advisor 2002;5(154):11–13.

3) Dave Swartz and Ken Orgill,(2001), Higher Education ERP : Lessons

Learned , Educause

4) Donovan R. M (2005) Successful ERP implementation the First

Time, Process improvement

5) Guha I. B.,(2006), Moving outside the ERP comfort Zone, Express

Computer, Dec., 2006

6) King P. (2002) The promise and Performance of Enterprise Systems

in Higher Education, Respondent Summary. ECAR Respondent

Summary 2002.

7) Murphy C. (2004) ERP: The Once and Future King of Campus

Computing. Campus technology. Syllabus Media Group. 2004.

8) Poonahiya P. (2009), Data Warehousing Fundamentals, Willy

Eastern Inc., India

9) Shahin Dezdar,(2011), 3rd International Conference on Advanced

Management Science IIES, Tehran, Iran 2011 IPEDR vol.19 (2011))

IACSIT Press, Singapore


10) Shivani Goel, Ravi Kiran and Deepak Garg (2011), African Journal

of Business Management Vol. 5(34), Academic Journals,

December, 2011, pp. 13197-13204,

11) Blaustin R. E(2009), Eliminating Spreadsheets Risks Internal Audit

Report(IAR), Protivit Inc.


I. INTRODUCTION

omputer-mediated communication (CMC) has become very

Ccommon in work life and had replaced need for face to face (F2F)

communication to a large extent. Email communication is one

dominant component of CMC. Chat and voice and video mails are also

important. In the business domain e-mail is most frequently used in an

information-gathering and communication function (Kettinger & Grover

1997). Email has also led to the emergence of on-line communities by

supporting asynchronous communication (Sproul and Kiesler 1991). Kidd

(1994) , Landsdale (1988) and Malone (1983) have portrayed email as a

virtual file cabinet. It is a means of storage to use, and organise

messages. Classifying the messages in terms of their contents, for

effective retrieval for proper business use of the messages is the next

step, hence there is a need for proper structured filing. Malone, Grant

and Turbak (1986) developed a computer based system which helps

employees to filter, sort and prioritize messages at individual levels.

Mackay et al., (1989) revealed that newer computer users can effectively

sort and prioritize emails to some extent. Landsdale (1988) emphasized

that two problems faced by uses persisted :

a) How to define categories to use.

b) How to remember these categories later, at the time of

retrieval.

He concluded that information retrieval based on recall-directed search

is always followed by reorganisation based scanning. Another dilemma for

classification is about sorting and categorizing email is that if user spends

“COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

IN ENTERPRISES, NEED FOR THEIR

CLASSIFICATION AND ALGORITHMIC

COMPLEXITIES”

PROF. PRITI KULKARNI

ASST. PROFESSOR

SYMBIOSIS INST OF COMPUTER

STUDIES AND RESEARCH,

SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL

UNIVERSITY, PUNE

DR . HARIDASA S. ACHARYA

PROFESSOR

AIMS, PUNE

MARKETING

MANAGEMENT


time to categorize an item less likely categorization will be

done. If this process is automated the fewer users will able

to recall it. This suggest that automatic filing and message

folders two ubiquitous features in contemporary email

software and intended to help email overload problem.

In this paper, evidences from few prominent international

surveys are given to indicate the extent to which

enterprises rely on emails, next different purposes and

approaches to categorization are discussed. There are a

few network infrastructure related intricacies which cannot

be ignored when Enterprises go for dedicated applications to

be deployed for the purpose of monitoring and

categorization of emails. Most of the researchers seem to

have ignored this aspect while discussing the categorization

problems. We focus on this aspect of email categorization

in the later part of this article.

2. INTERNATIONAL SURVEYS

Radical group ( Anonymous, 2012, 2013 ) has conducted

survey in mid of 2011 to study corporate and business user

preferences, deployments, attitudes and behaviour with

regards to email with 100 businesses and a total of 228,068

email users. The survey indicated that

a. 44.8 billion Emails are delivered each day.

b. 112 daily emails are received and sent on average

by business professional causes an overflowing inbox.

c. 42% of corporate email is ignored. (Due to inbox is

overflow).

d. 50% of emails are misunderstood. (Without these

visual/auditory cues)

e. People switch between applications 30 times an h o u r.

(Leeds to loss of focus and working time).

3. SURVEY BY INFOCOMM

According to a survey conducted by Infocomm In 2012, the

usage of computers, Internet, broadband has increased. The

proportion of enterprises that used computers and the

Internet increased from 79% in 2010 to 84% in 2012 and from

77% in 2010 to 82% in 2012 respectively. The most common

Internet activities were sending and receiving emails (95%)

and information search (92%).

Fig 1 : Internet activities on computer (Annual Survey on

Usage by Enterprises 2012)

The results show that usage of internet for communication

dominates practically every other usage.

4. TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS

According to statistics published by Radicati Group,

estimates for future indicate(Table1) :

An average annual growth rate of 6% over the next four years

is indicated.

a. ESTIMATES OF SPAM EMAILS

Spam mails are a real problem. Statistics as on Week ending

November 18, 2012 by Trust wave indicated 67.8% Spam ,

and Spam cop reports 2679044 spam messages per week.

Hence the top level categorization is always spam vs no

spam.

b. EMAILS ON A BUSINESS STRATEGIC NETWORK

A study by Markus (1994) based on 549 emails sent from the

hub of the strategic network during six months in 2002 and

2003 , are classified in Table 2. The respondents have

reported that they have not deleted any job-related emails,

the content of their out boxes can be expected to be a good

representation of typical communication behaviour in the

strategic network. As most emails have been classified as

having more than one communication reason, the total

number of registered reasons exceeds the number of emails.


Table: 1 Email traffic and Accounts 2013-2017 (Extracted from: Radicati Group survey -2013-17)

Table 2: Category wise analysis of emails from a Business Strategic Hub

Fig 2 The Layered Concept of Security in an Enterprise Network


Fig.3 Typical (simplified) Email classification framework at enterprise level

Classifier 1

Classifier 2

IT

HR

Accounts

Finance

Email Server

Incoming email

Spam

or

Nonspam

Spam

Block Email as per defined

set of rules.

Nonspam


5. EMAIL CLASSIFICATION AT ENTERPRISE LEVEL

According to AMA 43% of companies monitor email, 96% track

incoming and outgoing messages. Only 58% monitor internal

traffic sent from internal staff. Employees assigned to read

and review employee e-mail are employed by the following

departments: IT (73%), HR (34%), legal (18%), compliance

(17%), outside third-party (4%), other (17%).

In order to classify the emails, first decide on useful

categories that represented the whole of emails. When email

hit email server first it is checked for spam or non spam , and

is discarded. If email is non-spam it is classified on basis of

different users.

6. NEED FOR MULTI LEVEL CLASSIFICATION

As we mentioned earlier need for classification though is

well recognized most of the surveys have focussed on

identification of business reasons for categorization.

However it is necessary to recognise that dedicated

classifications and monitoring require huge cost to be

incurred. Most of the time Infrastructure designers do not

understand the needs and hence do not create appropriate

provisions for multi-level . Let us have a look at the security

setup in a typical Enterprise level network. For simplicity we

have shown a LAN, but the principles remain the same when

we are looking at a global network.

An Enterprise network will have varied security setup,

possibly separated by multiple firewalls. The information

need will be different in different layers.

Email monitoring and categorization needs at each layer

certainly would be different. The stringency of censorship,

importance of decision making needs, risk associated with

actions associated with each layer will dictate the type of

email classification applications to be used in each layer.

Most of the surveys have focussed either on total volume and

traffic of email communications. However a strong coupling

of the network design and dedicated categorization

applications customizable to varies levels of accuracy of

classifications would be needed in any enterprise.

The quick access to records and other documents helps for

sound decision-making. According to the Australian Standard

for Records Management, AS ISO 15489, best practice in

records management classification is on a rigorous analysis of

business functions and activities. Similar standards would

exists in most countries as this is essentially a business

requirement.

A natural corollary of these standards specification is that

such policies should have natural extention to Email

categorization and monitoring as well.

The process of information classification describes, organize

and control information. It creates order in understanding

what an organization does and how it does it. Government

and other organization have invested heavily to protect

their system from virus, worms and other threads. Users

often have cluttered in boxes containing hundreds of

messages, including spam, Unsolicited marketing messages,

outstanding tasks and conversational threads. Also the

exponential increase in the volume of e-mails can make the

processing of e-mails tedious and time consuming. The e-

mail user spends most of the time on organizing these e-

mails to reduce their size of inbox. Sometimes important

messages get overlooked, or "lost" in archives. Also another

risk includes loss of proprietary information violation of

record retention and privacy laws. Email is considered as a

weak link in organizational security. This rapid growing

email requires proper classification with less user

interference.

An E-mail filter is personalized and the knowledge used by

each personal filter is subjective. Therefore, classifying

personal E-mail messages is more challenging. A rule-based

system provides a way to semi-automate e-mail

classification. Such a system requires users to define a set of

instructions for the e-mail application to sort incoming

messages into existing folder. (Bekkerman et al., 2004)

showed applications in spam filtering of automatic e-mail

classification extraction of e-mail threads and automatic e-

mail foldering, as per user-defined folders. Ishmail

automatically sorts messages into folders and orders them

by importance, based on user-defined classification filters.

Procmail, Elm Filter works on same concept. Most popular

commercial e-mail clients such as Eudora, Mozilla

Thunderbird, and Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook

Express also support message filing according to user-

defined rule sets.

These types of systems are challenging for nontechnical

users because writing the rules requires some level of

programming experience, folders defined by individual

users can be a tiresome and time consuming task if it is not


done regularly. Email data normally does not follow any fixed

structure. The use of machine learning techniques would

certainly be required. Examples of such systems are PEA-a

Personal mail Assistant with Evolutionary Adaptation

(Werner Winiwarter,1999), MailCat(Richard et al,1999),

Re:Agent (Gary Boone,1998).

7. NEED FOR DEDICATED EMAIL CLASSIFIERS

Personal classification , organization and sorting can never

be eliminated at the employee level. But an enterprise

should go for better dedicated and standardised classifiers

to eliminate business risks. The situation is almost similar to

what we observe in the form of Spread Sheet Usage Risk ,

which is common in case of financial data processing .

8. CONCLUSIONS

The evidences about and the discussions on the network

designs indicate that

a. Emails are heavily used by business as a Computer

Mediated mode of communication.

b. Problems of lost mails, ignored mails and

misunderstood mails are a reality.

c. Proper dedicated classification softwares will

certainly reduce dependency on employees using

personal classification strategies and hence reduce

these problems.

d. Generally a multi layered security setup would be

available in any enterprise network. Email

categorization policies should also be parallel .

9. REFERENCES

1. Anonymous (2012)ANNUAL SURVEY ON INFOCOMM USAGE BY

ENTERPRISES FOR 2012.

2. Anonymous (2012),The radicati group, inc. A technology market

research firm, “Survey : Corporate Email, 2011-2012”

http://www.radicati.com

3. Anonymous (2013) The radicati group, inc. A technology

market research firm, “Survey: Corporate Email, 2013-2017”

http://www.radicati.com

4. Anonymous( 2007), The 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance

Survey from American Management Association (AMA) and The

ePolicy Institute.

5. Bekkerman, R., McCallum, A., and Huang, G.:(2004) Automatic

Categorization of Email into Folders: Benchmark Experiments on

Enron and SRI Corpora. Center for Intelligent Information

Retrieval, Technical Report IR-418, 2004

6. Derks, D., & Bakker, A. (2010). The Impact of E-mail

Communication on Organizational Life. Cyberpsychology: Journal

of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 4(1), article 1.

7. Edith Andresen, Anette Bergeman, and Lars Hallen (2003), th ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION IN STRATEGIC NETWORKS , 19

th Annual IMP Conference 4th–6 September 2003

8. Kidd, A. (1994). The marks are on the knowledge worker.

Proceedings of the CHI 94 Conference on Human Factors in

Computing Systems. New York: ACM.

9. Landsdale, M. (1988). The psychology of personal information

management. Applied Ergonomics, 19, 55–66

10. Malone, T. W. (1983). How do people organize their desks?

Implications for the design of office information systems. ACM

Transactions on Office Information Systems, 1,99–112

11. Mackay, W. E., Malone, T. W., Crowston, K., Rao, R., Rosenblitt,

D., & Card, S. K.(1989). How do experienced information lens

users use rules? Proceedings of the CHI 89 Conference on Human

Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM.

12. N. Ducheneaut, L. Watts, In search of coherence: a review of

e-mail research, Human-Computer Interaction 20 (2004) 11–48.

13. Nicolas D.,and Palo A., “In Search of Coherence : A Review of

E-Mail Research,” HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, 2005,

Volume 20, pp. 11–48

14. Richard B. Segal and Jeffrey O. Kephart, ”MailCat : An Intelligent

Assistant for Organizing E-Mail.”, In Proc. of the Sixteenth

National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pages 925–926,

Orlando, Florida,USA, 1999

15. Rennie, Jason (2000) “ifile: An Application of Machine Learning to

Mail Filtering.” Proceedings of the KDD-2000 Workshop on Text

Mining, Boston, USA, August 20, 2000.

16. Radicati Group,(2013) The Ineffectiveness of Email

Communication, Radicati Group, Message Mind Survey, Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, Communications of the ACM,

Marketing Sherpa https://vingapp.com/ving-improved-

communicat ion-technology/5-shock ing- facts -emai l -

communication/#more-6717

17. Sproull, L., and Kiesler, S. (1991) Connections. MIT Press,

Cambridge,Mass., 1991

18. Walther, J. B., & Tidwell, L. C.(1995). Nonverbal cues in

computer-mediated communication. Journal of Organizational

Computing, 5, 355-378

19. W. Kettinger and V. Grover, 1997. "The Use of Computer-Mediated

Communication in an Inter organizational Context," Decision

Sciences, volume 28, number 3, pp. 513-555.


I. INTRODUCTION

he

TGlobalization and liberalization has led to fierce competition

since it has made the dream of becoming an overnight billionaire

possible. The sky is the limit for expansion, improvement and

profit making. The world has witnessed paradigm shifts in marketing

function like never before. Marketing is interlinked to other functions in

business world. The customer is supposed to be a king but are the business

activities and functions really customer oriented? Or they are just

commercial ventures and profit making opportunities with a quick –buck

style.

The world has witnessed the success stories of business Icons such as

Mittal in Steel, Dhirubhai in Textiles, and Tatas in Automobile business

.But at the same time the companies such as Bofors and Satyam reveal the

negative aspects. Of business. We also know the stories of fast rise and

fall of notorious Stamp business by Telgi and the stock exchange scandals

by Harshad Mehta.

The total of this scams is coming upto Rs. 910,603,234,300,000, which is

equal to USD 20.23 trillion. With this huge amount, India will become a

super-power overnight and can permanently kill all social problems

mainly poverty and unemployment.

This study aims at exploring the cause and effect of effective marketing

(Ethical and Non-ethical) for the long term benefit or success.

The effects of different styles in marketing will be studied, so that it can

serve as a guideline for upcoming entrepreneurs in future. Man is a social

animal and can not live like an Island in isolation. Along with the personal

“AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE

MARKETING PRACTICES WITH REFERENCE

TO PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN PUNE”

PROF. DAVID SAMPAT KADAM

DIRECTOR

PROJECTS & ALUMNI AFFAIRE

BALAJI INSTITUTE OF MODERN

MANAGEMENT, PUNE

MARKETING

MANAGEMENT


growth /gains he must also achieve social change as he

grows in every field to achieve balanced growth in business

all the three i) Profit making, I) customer satisfaction, and

iii) Social responsibility can achieve complete success. The

marketing function in business should be in congruence and

in accordance with the other business activities. The ethical

marketing practices in marketing and its impact will be the

main focus of this present study.

Marketing, like Human life is all about relationships and for

today's marketing firms, the relationships with customers,

dealers, suppliers, government agencies, and other

marketing people are shifting the focus from mere profit

maximizing to maximizing mutually beneficial relationships.

Marketers have to be in constant touch with their customers.

They need to understand the changing and growing needs of

the customers. It is no longer enough to just satisfy

customers, but equally important to delight those by

meeting their expectations and at times provide them with

unexpected products, sales promotion schemes, and other

marketing activities. Marketing means managing markets to

bring about profitable exchange relationships by creating

value and satisfying needs and wants. In the words of Philip

Kotler, “A social process by which individuals and groups

obtain what they need and want through creating and

exchanging products and value with others.”

The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to

build social responsibilities among society into their

marketing practices. It stresses the need for an organization

to balance three factors while taking marketing decision:

Consumer satisfaction + Company's profit + Society's well-

being. In other words, firms should not just make consumer

satisfying goods but also 'environmental friendly' and

'consumer health oriented products'. Firms are established

largely to offer goods and services to people and their aim is

to maximize profits. In their profit maximizing efforts, their

responsibilities towards society are almost forgotten. As

consumers now realize the need to protect environment and

society, companies are also supposed to realize their

responsibilities towards society and environment.

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the social

commitments of organizations and some prefer to buy

products of that firm that are socially responsible.

Organizations are gradually realizing that following

unethical practices for short-term gains, would spoil a

company's image in the long run and the costs incurred in

becoming socially responsible would improve organizational

sustainability in the long run. Firms must give maximum

importance to the customers they are serving. Consumers'

needs and their purchasing power should be kept in mind

while developing products and services. Products should

satisfy the quality requirements of target customers.

Companies must also ensure that they deal with customers

in a fair and respectful manner at all points of contacts.

Several companies have been criticized for misleading

customers through advertisements, pricing and packaging.

Many organizations have begun to realize their responsibility

towards society. For example, Companies need to be

environment conscious, and sensitive towards issues like

global warming and ozone layer depletion. Till recently, CFC

(Chloroform Carbon) that damages the ozone layer was used

in most countries to manufacture compressors for

refrigerators. However, of late, many companies have

developed alternate ways of manufacturing and have

banned the use of CFC in any product and processes.

They should also adopt fair practices of employment like,

giving equal opportunities to both men and women of the

community, and provide a safe and healthy work

environment for employees along with adequate

compensation packages.

The characteristics that define acceptable conduct in

marketing are called Marketing Ethics. Practicing ethics in

marketing means deliberately applying standards of

fairness, or moral rights and wrongs, to marketing decision

making, behavior, and practice in the organization. In other

words, Ethics in Marketing is a sub-set of business ethics and

examines the moral issues relating to marketing decisions

made by organizations. In a market economy, a business may

be expected to act in what it believes to be its own best

interest. The purpose of marketing is to create a

competitive advantage. An organization achieves an

advantage when it does a better job than its competitors at

satisfying the product and service requirements of its target

markets. Those organizations that develop a competitive

advantage are able to satisfy the needs of both customers

and the organization. According to Kotler, in recent years,

people have started questioning the value of marketing

concept, when the world is faced with environmental

degradation, resource shortages, hunger and poverty and


neglected social services. Ethics are a collection of

principles of right conduct that shape the decisions that

people or organizations make. Those organizations that

develop a competitive advantage are able to satisfy the

needs of both customers and the organization.

Marketers must develop ethical standards that are followed

by the entire organization and ensure that these standards

are never compromised. A firm which strictly adheres to

these standards without compromising on them for short-

term benefits would definitely find itself in a profitable

position in the long run. Though it might be legal to use

children in advertisements, it may be unethical to use them.

Similarly, a Pharmaceutical Company can provide technical

details about its products in advertisements, but can hide

critical information about their side effects. In such a case,

the Company might not be breaking any rule, but it will be

morally incorrect to deprive customers of the information

which may affect their health adversely.

A salesperson of a financial services company can sell a

product to a customer, which does not best suit his needs.

There is a myth that if a Company acts ethically, its profit

objective will be adversely affected. It actually adds to

profitability in the long run. For example, good safety

standards and employment policies can improve

productivity.

Because not all managers have fine moral sensitivity,

Companies need to develop corporate marketing ethics

policies-broad guidelines that every one in the organization

must follow.

Organizations following the best business practices are

being encouraged through awards like Business Ethics which

include 100 best corporate citizens who adheres marketing

ethics and its responsibility towards society. One of the

leading organization among the list of 100 best corporate

citizens is Hewlett – Packard (HP). HP's started its tradition

of serving the community from the year 1939, when its

founders Hewlett and Packard donated $ 5Mns to charity in

their first year of business. HP's have gained people's faith

and goodwill of the organization by getting involved in social

welfare activities, thus reflecting the concept of

responsibilities towards society.

After a detailed study on this topic we have come to know

that there is a great impact of social responsibility and

ethics on marketing. This impact not only reflects its

negative side but also its positive side on marketing a

product.

Marketing done in ethical manners following the societal

responsibilities side to side shows a positive flow of business

which enables a marketer to not only maximize his profit but

also increase the credit worthiness of his organization,

gaining goodwill. And on other hand, marketing done in

unethical manners, not following the laws and regulations

results in losses, poor reputation, which takes a long time for

a marketer to retain its goodwill because business standards

and practices vary from country to country. The issue of

social responsibility and ethics poses challenges for

marketers. The growing consensus among today's marketers

is that it is important to make commitment to a common set

of shared standards worldwide.

Ethics are a collection of principles of right conduct that

shape the decisions people or organizations make.

Practicing ethics in marketing means deliberately applying

standards of fairness, or moral rights and wrongs, to

marketing decision making, behavior, and practice in the

organization.

The American Marketing Association, for example, has

developed a code of ethics (which can be viewed on its Web

site at www.ama.org). Self-regulation not only helps a firm

avoid extensive government intervention; it also permits it

to better respond to changes in market conditions. An

organization' long-term success and profitability depends on

this ability to respond. When a product or service does not

provide expected value, customers will often seek a

different source.

Several product-related issues raise questions about ethics

in marketing, most often concerning the quality of products

and services provided. Among the most frequently voiced

complaints are ones about products that are unsafe, that are

of poor quality in construction or content, that do not

contain what is promoted, or that go out of style or become

obsolete before they actually need replacing. An

organization that markets poor-quality or unsafe products is

taking the chance that it will develop a reputation for poor

products or service. In addition, it may be putting itself in

jeopardy for product claims or legal action. Sometimes,


however, frequent changes in product features or

performance, such as those that often occur in the computer

industry, make previous models of products obsolete. Such

changes can be misinterpreted as planned obsolescence.

Ethical questions may also arise in the distribution process.

Because sales performance is the most common way in which

marketing representatives and sales personnel are

evaluated, performance pressures exist that may lead to

ethical dilemmas. For example, pressuring vendors to buy

more than they need and pushing items that will result in

higher commissions are temptations. Exerting influence to

cause vendors to reduce display space for competitor's

products, promising shipment when knowing delivery is not

possible by the promised date, or paying vendors to carry a

firm product rather than one of its competitors are also

unethical.

Research is another area in which ethical issues may arise.

Information gathered from research can be important to the

successful marketing of products or services. Consumers,

however, may view organizations efforts to gather data from

them as invading their privacy. They are resistant to give out

personal information that might cause them to become a

marketing target or to receive product or sales information.

When data about products or consumers are exaggerated to

make a selling point, or research questions are written to

obtain a specific result, consumers are misled. Without self-

imposed ethical standards in the research process,

management will likely make decisions based on inaccurate

information.

Children are an important marketing target for certain

products. Because their knowledge about products, the

media, and selling strategies is usually not as well developed

as that of adults. Children are likely to be more vulnerable to

psychological appeals and strong images.

Thus, ethical questions sometimes arise when they are

exposed to questionable marketing tactics and messages. For

example, studies linking relationships between tobacco and

alcohol marketing with youth consumption resulted in

increased public pressure directly leading to the regulation

of marketing for those products.

The proliferation of direct marketing and use of the Internet

to market to children also raises ethical issues. Sometimes a

few unscrupulous marketers design sites so that children are

able to bypass adult supervision or control, or sometimes

they present objectionable materials to underage

consumers or pressure them to buy items or provide credit

card numbers. When this happens, it is likely that social

pressure and subsequent regulation will result. Likewise,

programming for children and youth in the mass media has

been under scrutiny recently.

In the United States, marketing to children is closely

controlled. Federal regulations place limits on the types of

marketing that can be directed to children, and marketing

activities are monitored by the Better Business Bureau, the

Federal Trade Commission, consumer and parental groups,

and the broadcast networks. These guidelines provide clear

direction to marketers.

Unlike the legal protections in place to protect children

from harmful practices, there have been few efforts to

protect minority customers. When targeting minorities,

firms must evaluate whether the targeted population is

susceptible to appeals because of their minority status. The

firm must assess marketing efforts to determine whether

ethical behavior would cause them to change their

marketing practices.

As society changes, so do the images of and roles assumed by

people, regardless of race, sex, or occupation. Women have

been portrayed in a variety of ways over the years. When

marketers present those images as overly conventional,

formulaic, or oversimplified, people may view them as

stereotypical and offensive.

Examples of demeaning stereotypes include those in which

women are presented as less intelligent, submissive to or

obsessed with men, unable to assume leadership roles or

make decisions, or skimpily dressed in order to appeal to the

sexual interests of males. Harmful stereotypes include those

portraying women as obsessed with their appearance or

conforming to some ideal of size, weight, or beauty. When

images are considered demeaning or harmful, they will work

to the detriment of the organization. Advertisements, in

particular, should be evaluated to be sure that the images

projected are not offensive.

“'Ethics' most often refers to a domain of inquiry, a

discipline, in which matters of right and wrong, good and

evil, virtue and vice, are systematically examined.

'Morality', by contrast, is most often used to refer not to a


discipline but to patterns of thought and action that are

actually operative in everyday life. In this sense, morality is

what the discipline of ethics is about. And so business

morality is what business ethics is about” (Goodpaster, 1992,

p. 111). This quotation offers a simple and fruitful entrance

into a discipline. Questions about moral acceptability in

business contexts and others can beaked (and answered)

descriptively or critically. A descriptive (or empirical, or

social science) question could be what given individuals and

groups themselves actually do accept as right or wrong. Such

a question cannot be answered without empirical data. A

critical (or normative, or ethics) question would focus on why

choices, consequences, or system states are acceptable (or

not). Such questions cannot be answered without good

reasons, arguments, and criteria. Ideally, asking and

answering do not stop before the facts are clear (enough) and

good (enough) reasons are found and offered, or before at

least good enough discussion procedures are followed.

1Marketing ethics a preliminary portrait of marketing ethics

could simply extend the above quotation. Marketing ethics

examines systematically marketing and marketing morality,

related to 4P-issues such as unsafe products, deceptive

pricing, deceptive advertising or bribery, discrimination in

distribution (cf. Smith and Quelch, 1993, p. 13). Other issues

are related to exploitation of consumer weakness (see ibid,

p. 30) or using PR for preventing critical journalism and

public debate. If business ethics as an academic field is about

moral criticism and self-criticism of business and business

education, this would include criticism and self-criticism of

marketing as well, as its most out-going and aggressive part,

with its specific Johannes Brinkmann, Ethics, Teaching

Business Ethics, Business Ethics: European Review as well as

two books about business ethics (1993, 2001, in

Norwegian).Business and Marketing Ethics as Professional

Ethics. Concepts, Approaches and Typologies Johannes

Brinkmann Journal of Business Ethics 41: 159–177, 2002.

2 a) OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is :

To study the Present marketing practices w.r.t. professional

ethics in Pune Region.

WHY STUDY MARKETING PROFESSIONALS ?

In the age of liberalization, privatization and globalization,

organizations are forced to thrive on the cutting edge of

competition. They have to convert their core competency

into competitive advantage on an ongoing basis. The

organization has to keep moving ahead even to stay on the

same spot since the competition is tremendous. The

pressure of this market driven economics is felt most on the

Marketing Professionals who have to prove their worth

consistently. In order to do so they often may be tempted to

cut corners and do things that are not strictly ethical. The

investigator wishes to see whether marketing as a profession

is capable of bringing out ethical leaders in the years to

come for developing business.

The investigator wants to check whether the time has

come to visualize the future leader as the ethical leaders

who can stand up to be counted and walk his talk. Certain

innate core values and ethics that govern his actions guide

the leader. If an organization has to thrive on the cutting

edge of global competition then the marketing professional

above all else must be ethical.

The investigator himself is a marketing specialist and would

like to see as to what extent marketing professionals in the

corporate world are ethical and what particular values guide

their ethical conduct. [Value is a thought-based concept

while ethics is an activity-based concept.]

The short cut methods in business in General and in

Marketing in particular are common and we see that short

sighted goals are affecting the economy and welfare of the

nation. The examples of 'Stamp Scan', bofors, kickbacks,

defense deals are not good examples and the country can

not improve its economy and good will and productivity

which are very vital for the progress of the nation. We can

only dream of better Shinning INDIA when the life style &

living standards of the common people changes and that is

possible only by improving productivity and distribution of

the benefits of Globalization and modern high-tech,

knowledge based society to the grass roots. That is only

possible through practicing high ethical standards in every

sector including marketing too.

The effects and the inter dependency of the ethical

Marketing will help to a great extent. The business of various

sectors in future can play a leading role to contribute in the

welfare and progress of the nation.


2b) HYPOTHESIS

The hypothesis of the research study is :

a) Professional Ethics is a vital component of

marketing for the rapid growth of business.

b) The Ethical Attitude of the managers in the

modern corporate sector needs overhauling.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research process is carried out by

(a)� SELECTING THE SAMPLING DESIGN

The items i.e. Large Scale / Small Scale Industries of

different types will be selected from the Pune

region (Universe/population)

(b) The type of sampling method used is random area

sampling where different areas having different

types of Industries will be considered for doing the

sampling work. About 100 (Hundred) managers from

various types of industries will be interviewed and

questionnaires will be filled in by them. Also 300

(three - hundred) customers has been interviewed

and questionnaires are filled up from them.

(c) DATA COLLECTION

The data is collected by carrying out a systematic survey. The

data can be collected by one of the following ways.

By observations.

Through personal interviews.

Through telephone interviews.

By mailing the questionnaires.

The project was executed with efficient time management.

The data will be collected with the help of structured, well

planned questionnaires.

4 ANALYSIS OF DATA

A) THE DATA PROCESSING

Preparing Data for Analysis

The data collected are first processed through following

steps in order to prepare the data for actual analysis.

(a)� Editing

(b)� Coding

©� Classification

(d)� Tabulation

(e)� Using percentages

B) ANALYSIS OF DATA

(a)� Descriptive and

(b)� Statistical analysis will be carried out.

C) FINDINGS

The findings are based on the analysis of the data of research

study. Conclusions and suggestions depend on the findings.

The research process has been carried out systematically

and scientifically.


Table No. 1

Only 15% customers are satisfied with the claims made by the

company or shopkeeper and 85% on the other hand remain

dissatisfied with the false claims and promises during

Marketing.

Only 28% customers received detailed information of the

product about its Advantages & Limitations.

But 72% customers were not given the vital information about

the advantages & limitations. This indicates that managers

are hiding the information from customers which confirms

/highlights the unethical practices by the marketing

managers.

62% of the customers felt that they have been cheated with

respect to price & Quality of the product offered to which

indicates the customers were deprived of a fair price & good

quality of the product offered to them.

57% respondents are saying that they have not received the

best product for the price the customer paid.

65% of the customers were unsatisfied with the justification

of the price of the product explained to them. That is the

facts about the actual price of the product and its total

information was not given. This fact reveals the unethical

practices of the managers.


Maximum 81% percentage of customers do disagree that the

managers follow good ethical practices while supplying their

products.

92% of the respondents believe that the unethical practices

do not affecter the business adversely.

It signifies that that the marketing managers generally are

involved in unethical practices and getting away with it scot

free and the practice continues.

79% customers do agree to the superiority of the product

claimed by the company in advertisement .That proves the

point that only main positive features and benefits and

strengths are highlighted and negative aspects such as

higher price charged for such high end products are hidden.

Table No. 2


If the customers received the product for the fair price, according to them it is considered to be good ethical practices by the

Managers ?

Detail information about the product 35%, good service after sales 26% & Fair price charged to them 24% believe that good ethics

followed by the salesman or shopkeepers.

Table No. 3

Table No. 3


75% of the customers are satisfied with respect to purpose

and needs but that results in low price related satisfaction. It

signifies that high price is charged for better features.

CONCLUSION

1) The code of conduct should be followed by the

Marketing managers.

2) The marketing practices of manager's w.r.t.

Business Ethics requires complete overhauling.

3) The company should appoint controlling authorities

to control the market ting activities strictly as per

norms, policies and code of conduct.

4) The managers plan long term strategies considering

ethical issues.

REFERENCES

1) Bibliography For: "Ethics in Marketing".

John Swope “Ethics in Marketing”, Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd

Ed.,

Findarticles .com 26 Marth, 2009. By Julie A. Mitchell - Business

Consultants 2001

By Andrew L. Friedman, Samantha Miles - Business & Economics

2006.

Business Ethics (Weiss 1998, 2003) And Marketing (Duncan and

Moriarty)

Marketing Management : Ethical and Soial Dimensions

Marketing And Finance - Michael Vaz

Principles of Marketing - Philip Kotler and Arms Strong.

2. By Hands Edward Bynagle - Philosophy 2006 - 385 pages.

3. A Companion to Business Ethics - Page 192

4. By Robert Frederick - Business & Economics - 2002 - 480 pages.

5. GR 1981 : Marketing Ethics : A Review with Implications for

Managers, Educators.

6. By Angela Thody - Language Arts & Disciplines - 2006 - 264 pages

7. The Number Of These Words That You Can Alllocate To The

Literature Review Is ... Regarding Teaching Professional Ethics Is

Can Ethics Actually Be Taught ?

TABLE NO. 5


INTRODUCTION

kills

Sand knowledge are the prime factor that helps in proper and

well directed economic growth. A country cannot think of

balanced and sustained economic development along with social

justice without offering fair, equal and large number of opportunities to

its people .These opportunities help the people to acquire new systems,

techniques, skills and even cultural change and adjust with cultural

changes. The most important factors which people in a given society

needed to acquire are new knowledge and skills. Without possession of

new knowledge and skills people in a given society cannot maintain the

tempo of growth and development. Various researchers have proved this

beyond doubt that the basic essential requirement for growth of any

society is the ability to acquire, digest and acquaint with new skills and

knowledge inputs. The countries and societies where people have the

ability to accommodate themselves with new skills and caliber usually

are better placed than other because they can meet the challenges of

change effectively. Hence it is necessary that the focus of educational

system should be on skills development and enhancement of knowledge

inputs.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

India claims to have the largest population of the youths and in the

coming year India will have advantage of demographic dividend due to

large number of working youths that India shall have. A small simple

statistic can explain this well.

India is passing through a phase of unprecedented demographic change

where the working age population, aged between 15 and 64, will rise by

around 12 million every year in the next two decades. In 2020, the

“HUMAN RESOURCE ENRICHMENT

THROUGH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT :

ISSUES AND CHALLNEGES”

DR. SANJAY KAPTAN

PROFESSOR & HEAD

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

& RESEARCH CENTRE,

UNIVERSITY OF PUNE

MARKETING

MANAGEMENT


average Indian will be only 29 years old, compared with 37 in

China and the US, 45 in West Europe and $* in Japan, making

India one of the young nation in the world. The age advantage

of the nation is stated to continue for at least 3 decades till

2040.As such, we indeed have great opportunities in our

hands to leverage the nation's young human resource to help

grow our country economically.

On this backdrop it is necessary that efforts should be made

to improve the quality of human resource and develop a

consistent supply of qualified, skilled man power which can

help the economy to maintain growth pace. On this backdrop

it is necessary to analyses the issues related with skill

development and enhancement of the quality of human

resources. As we all know all the resources but the human

resources are static in nature. Unless and until the dynamism

of human resources is put to effective utilization, the

economy cannot maintain its growth rate. Hence in the

present study an attempt is to make to identify how human

resource development helps in development of economy and

what is the role of skill development in the quality of human

resources. Therefore the title of the present paper is “Human

resource enrichment through skill development: issue and

challenges”.

NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, INDIA

(NSDC, INDIA)

The NSDC was set up as part of national skill development

mission to fulfill the growing need in India for skilled

manpower across sectors and narrow the existing gap

between the demand and supply of skills.

The Finance Minister announced the formation of the

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in his Budget

Speech (2008-09): “There is a compelling need to launch a

world class skill development programme in Mission mode

that will address the challenge of imparting the skills

required by a growing economy .Both the structure and the

leadership of the mission must be such that the programme

can be scaled up quickly to cover the whole country”.

In order to enhance skills amongst the youth, NSDC has

accepted following as its primary objectives –

To contribute significantly (about 30 percent ) to the overall

target of skilling / up skilling 500 million people in India by

2022, mainly by fostering private sector initiatives in skill

development programmes and providing funding.

NSDC WAS ESTABLISHED WITH THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES

1. To upgrade skills to international standards through

significant industry involvement and develop

necessary frameworks for standards, curriculum

and quality assurance.

2. To enhance, support and coordinate private sector

initiatives for skill development through

appropriate Public-private Partnership (PPP)

models; strive for significant operational and

financial involvement from the private sector.

3. To focus on underprivileged sections of society and

backward regions of the country thereby enabling a

move out of poverty; similarly, focus significantly

on the unorganized or informal sector workforce.

4. To play the role of a “market – maker” by bringing

financing, particularly in sectors where market

mechanisms are ineffective or missing.

5. To prioritize initiatives that can have a multiplier or

catalytic effect as opposed to one – off impact.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The principal objectives of the paper are enlisted as follows:

1. To identify the role of skill development in

improving the quality of human resources.

2. To know how various skill development initiative

help in improving the human resources in our

economy.

3. To suggest various measures for industry institute

interaction.

RELEVANCE OF THE IDEA

The idea of skill development has become more and more

appropriate in present day concern. The idea of skill

development has become more and more relevant in the

present day context. Offering mere conceptual and

theoretical knowledge inputs is not adequate to meet the

real life challenges and to provide meaningful employment

or self-employment in any sector. It is necessary that

everyone who learns or takes education in a particular

discipline should be equipped with essential skills in that

discipline. We cannot have a system where ability, skills and


caliber are not interlinked with learning inputs. It is expected

that every learning inputs shall enhance some abilities and

skills. From this point of view there has to be proper co-

ordination between educational systems and skills

development. The idea of human resource development

cannot work effectively without infusing necessary inputs of

skill development in the educational system itself. In other

words on contemporary educational system should emphasis

on skill development along with information deliverance and

knowledge generation. This is how the system is expected to

work. Unless and until we reframe our educational system to

enrich our human resources the idea of sustained economic

development cannot be rightly achieved.

WORKING DEFINITION

1. Skills : The term skill means ability to apply

knowledge in practice.

2. Skill development: It means every initiative

undertaken to enrich competence, caliber and

ability so as to develop a person's personality to

meet challenges of real life situations.

3. Human resource development: Human resource

development means developing manpower in a

given society so as to satisfy expectation of the

industries, economy and society for meaningful

deployment of available human resources.

DISCUSSION

1. SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR HUMAN RESOURCE

ENRICHMENT

A country cannot proper with only policy of manpower .A

manpower no doubt is strength of a country only when it

possess skill, ability and knowledge. Unskilled, untrained and

uneducated people cannot be considering as demographic

dividend but it is a demographic liability. People who are

unable to contribute the productive and meaningful

activities are a big boss.

Unless and until the human resources are properly

channelized for meaningful development the society cannot

prosper and economy cannot grow. However, the prosperity

of the economy is the function of skill, competence, caliber

and capacity building. From this point of view there is no

institution for human resource development. Human

resource can contribute to purposive growth only when they

possess desired skills and caliber. And possession of such

skills can be organized only with the help of organizational

system. Education is the only mechanism which can help to

develop human resources n term of values, ideas, ideology

and competence.

Education as a system should inculcate the spirit of

awakening, desire to learn and ability to acquire new

techniques and skills and knowledge to understand

environment that surrounds the society. Hence mere

delivery of information cannot be termed as education. The

learners who participate in the educational system should

understand what is expected from them and how they shall

be using knowledge inputs for their personal development.

From this point of view education should play the role of

change agent. A change agent that creates awakening

develops abilities and improves skills and caliber to apply

knowledge in practice. When such kind of education is

offered to people at large, human resource development

takes place in its truest sense. Therefore education should

be considered as a true and basic input for HRD.

2. INITIATIVE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Skill is a very broad term. Its simplest meaning is ability to

apply knowledge in practice. However, knowledge has many

connotations. Therefore different type of skills exits in the

human system. These skills are associated with different

trades, professions, occupations and vocations. Every

business or industry acquires a large number of skill sets

which helps in its smooth functioning. A skilled person

becomes an expert who through his proficiency, ability and

acumen helps in improving the productivity of the system.

Hence skill development is one of the issues associated with

HRD. The idea of rapid advancement of economy is possible

only when we nurture appropriate skill development

initiatives and how such initiatives can be undertaken is a

very important issue for discussion. The skill development

initiatives can be of different type and may have different

purpose. One may classify skill development initiatives on

broader scale as follows:

a) � National level initiatives.

b) � State or regional level initiatives.

c) � Institute of micro level.


NATIONAL LEVEL INITIATIVE

Skill development is a major concern of our economic

planners. It is unanimously accepted by all that skill

development is the primary requirement for economic

growth. It is only the skilled workers who can get appropriate

employment and who is a key to productivity enhancement.

From this point of view at national level various initiatives

are undertaken for development of variety of skill sets. These

initiatives encourage formulation of national policy for skill

development undertaking skill development programmes by

establishing national institutes. Furthermore national level

skill development initiatives are essentially designed to offer

a guideline as to what should be the approach of various skill

development programmes .A national level initiative offers a

broad spectrum of policy which helps in working out

appropriate programmes at regional and local level. The

state and regional level initiatives are helpful in establishing

institutes and skill development centres as well as

organization of specialized programme to meet region

specific and industry specific requirement. Different region

have different types of industries and employment avenues.

Establishing regional skill development centres helps to meet

the specific requirement of a particular region and promote

appropriate vocational and training activities. It also helps

in effective way and reduce gap between demand and supply

of manpower.

Institute or micro level initiative encourage institute –

institute interaction and develop appropriate collaborate at

different levels. It also helps educational institutes to

identify the strong and weak areas of manpower requirement

and develop suitable strategies to train the youths in the

industry – institute interaction in many ways resources. It

helps to satisfy industry specific skill needs and thus improve

the productivity and performance of the industry.

3.� MEASURES TO IMPROVE INDUSTRY – INSTITUTE

INTERACTION

In order to strengthen the concept of industry – institute

interaction, few useful measures are suggested here. These

are :

a. Industrial manger, employers and entrepreneurs

should define their specific requirements in terms

of skill needs and types of traders or activities for

which they require particular type of manpower.

b. The industrial managers should participate in

designing of suitable teaching mechanism.

c. Industries should offer opportunities to youths for

hands on experience and give necessary exposures

as to how industries functions.

d. Industries should also assist in developing suitable

infrastructure and expertise for skill building

activities.

CONCLUSION

Thus the above discussion justifies the need for appropriate

collaboration between industries and academic institutions.

Skill building cannot be the sole responsibility of academic

institution. Industries should come forward and spell out

their specific skill requirement. Similarly at national level a

broad and pragmatic policy of skill development should be

formulated which will provide guidelines for development of

skilled and developed manpower to meet economics and

industrial requirement.

REFERENCE

1. Neil Richardson and Lucy Laville, Develop Your PR Skills, Kogan

Page, London Philadelphia, New Delhi (2010).

2. G. Jegadeesan and R Santana Krishanan, Soft Skills Development,

Training and Evaluation, The Icfai University, Press 2008.

3. Naveen Kumar and A.S. Sudan, Managerial Development, Anmol

Publications Pvt. Ltd., (New Delhi), 2004.

4. Leslie Ray, The Art of Training and Development in Management”,

Effective Planning, Crest Publishing House (New Delhi), 2002.

5. Ditkoff. M. “Ten Skills for brainstorming breakthrough thinking”,

Journal Quality and Perception, 21 (6), 1998.

WEB SITES

http://nsdcindia.org/about-us/organization-profile .aspx


Maharashtra is the second largest state in India both in terms

of population and geographical area (3.08 lakh sq. km.). The

State has a population of 11.24 crore (Census 2011) which is

9.3 per cent of the total population of India. The State is highly urbanized

with 45.2 percent people residing in urban areas. The State has 35

districts which are divided into six revenue divisions' viz. Konkan, Pune,

Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur for administrative purposes. As

per India's Human Development Report, 2011 Human Development Index

of India is 0.467 and the State ranks 5th in the country with Human

Development Index of 0.572 but in spite of this, the total percent of BPL

population in the state is 24.5% in 2009-10 as per the Planning Commission

report.

The basis for identifying the extent of poverty in India has evolved over

time. Attempts to define a “poverty line” that permits an estimation of

the extent of poverty have a fairly long history. Official methods of

determining poverty use average per capita energy intake norms of 2,400

kcal in rural areas and 2,100 kcal in urban areas. However, the use of a

minimum adequate norm of nutrition as a key criterion for defining the

poverty line has come in for criticism, both for the level at which it has

been fixed and for the inadequacy of the expenditure level of households

at which these norms are likely to be met in providing a minimum

standard of living. Poverty reduction requires that the earnings of the

poor increase, either through productivity or through income transfers. If

‘Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you,

apply the following test: recall the face of the poorest and the weakest

man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you

contemplate is going to be of any use to him.’

- Mahatma Gandhi

“A STUDY ON IMPLICATIONS OF FINANCIAL

ASSISTANCE SCHEMES FOR THE BPL FAMILIES

BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA

FROM 2008-09 TO 2012-13 IN PUNE CITY ”

DR. BHARAT MEGHE

DEAN

DEPT. OF COMMERCE, RTM,

UNIVERSITY OF NAGPUR

PROF. DHIRENDRA KUMAR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

SIBAR, KONDHWA, PUNE

DR. VIDYA NAKHATE

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

SIBAR, KONDHWA, PUNE

GENERAL

MANAGEMENT


the options for improving income are either weak or absent, poverty will persist. Shocks can lead to a decline in income levels, for

instance crop failures, ill-health; disabling accidents or other disasters, the number of people who are poor will increase. Above

all, traditional reliance on joint family support and dependence on children in old age is largely fading away, as we drift to micro

families and as children migrate elsewhere to seek employment opportunities. Existence of formal Social Security System, in such

a scenario, acts as a cushion of adjustment in face of the changes in the social fabric and ensures sustenance to individuals or

families when they or the earning member of the family retire, die or suffer a disability. The recent Planning Commission's pegging

of BPL cap needs to be more pragmatic. At the National Level, anyone earning Rs. 672.8 monthly that is earning Rs. 22.42 per day

in the rural area and Rs. 859.6 monthly or Rs. 28.35 per day in the urban area is above the poverty line. Though the government

plays a significant support role, but the system needs to be more transparent and vigilant. The government policies towards

financial assistance schemes for the poor families should be in tuned with rise in prices.

LITERATURE REVIEW

To support the research study, various research journals on the related topics were referred. A report on causes of farmers'

suicides in Maharashtra by TISS mentioned- crop failures, inability to meet the rising cost of cultivation and indebtedness seem

to create a situation that forces farmers to commit suicide. The study was done in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh regions of

the state. However according to the report, not all farmers facing these conditions commit suicide- it is only those who seem to

have felt that they have exhausted all avenues of securing support have taken their lives. They recommended a long term solution

in the form of reducing interest rate & pro- farmer agricultural policies. In another paper by S Burrah: Towards a pro-poor

framework for slum upgrading in Mumbai examines the institutional framework and financial mechanisms for slum upgrading in

Mumbai. It discusses the historical relationship between the central, state, local governments and slum communities. It described

how the Government of Maharashtra introduced legislation that protects slum dwellers from demolition but has no proactive

provision to support resettlement. Throughout year after year substantial financial resources have been directed towards

promoting these schemes, there is lack of field level of monitoring. Nayak Radhika, Saxena N.C's Reaching the poor, the

influence of policy and administrative processes on the implementation of Government poverty schemes focuses on four

types of poverty reducing schemes i.e. income transferring to the poorest, enhancing their infrastructure, employment creation

and enhancing the self-employment possibilities.

SOCIAL SECTOR

Social development paves the way for economic development. The various social sectors schemes which have been studied are :

I) � EDUCATION

a) � ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE SCHEME

In order to reduce the dropout rate of the girls studying, in Primary Schools, the State Government introduced 'Attendance

Allowance Scheme' in January, 1992.

Table No.3: Various Schemes to encourage education

Source: Directorate of Primary Education, GoM


b) � SPORTS EDUCATION

The State Government has established 'Shiv Chattrapati Kridapeeth' at Pune in the year 1995 with the motive of promoting sports

and develop excellence by upgrading the skills of sports persons.

Table No. 4 : Achievements of students of sports academies

Source : Directorate of Sports and Youth Services, GoM

II) � PUBLIC HEALTH

a) JANANI SURAKSHA YOJANA

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is being implemented in the State since 2005-06, to encourage institutional deliveries in rural &

urban areas and thereby to reduce MMR & IMR among beneficiaries (belonging to BPL, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe

(ST) families) of age more than 19 years at the time of Anti Natal Care (ANC) registration. Number of beneficiaries and expenditure

incurred under JSY is shown in Table No.5.

Table No.5: Number of beneficiaries and expenditure incurred under JSY

Source : State Family Welfare Bureau, GoM + upto December

b) NAVSANJIVANI YOJANA

Matrutva Anudan Yojana (MAY) is being implemented under NSY to provide health services like ANC Registration, regular health

check-up and required medicines to pregnant women in tribal areas. Number of beneficiary mothers and expenditure incurred

under MAY are given in Table 6.

Table No. 6 : Number of beneficiary mothers and expenditure incurred under MAY (Rs. Crore)

Source : Directorate of Health Services, GoM


III) � WOMEN AND CHILD

a) GOVERNMENT WOMEN HOSTELS

Government Women Hostels are set up to provide shelter, protection and rehabilitation of the destitute, orphan, deserted, unwed

mothers, victimized women and those found in difficult situations between age group 16 to 60 years.

b) INDIRA GANDHI MATRITVA SAHAYOG YOJANA (IGMSY)

This scheme is being implemented since 2011 to improve health and nutrition level of pregnant and lactating women.

Table No. 7 : Women welfare schemes

IV) � POVERTY

a) � SEED MONEY SCHEME

This scheme is being implemented by GoM to encourage unemployed to take up self employment ventures through industry,

service and business by providing soft loans from institutional finance to meet part of the margin money.

b) MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is being implemented in all districts except Mumbai city and Mumbai Suburban

districts as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It is the combination of NREGA and old

Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) which was exclusively implemented by the State.

V) HOUSING

A) URBAN HOUSING : BEEDI KAMGAR GHARKUL YOJANA

The State is implementing Beedi Kamgar Gharkul Yojana since July, 2001 for construction of houses at Solapur, Nashik, Pune,

Kolhapur, Nanded, Garkheda in Aurangabad and Kamtee in Nagpur for Beedi workers.

B) RURAL HOUSING: INDIRA AWAS YOJANA

Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) is being implemented in the State since April, 1989 to construct the houses for houseless BPL families in

the rural areas.


VI) WATER SUPPLY & SANITATION

a) 'MAHARASHTRA GOLDEN JUBILEE NAGRI DALIT VASTI WATER SUPPLY & SANITATION SCHEME’

This was launched under Maharashtra Sujal & Nirmal Abhiyan, to provide domestic water connection & individual toilet to the

families of Scheduled Caste & Nav Boudha.

b) NIRMAL BHARAT ABHIYAN

'Total Sanitation Campaign' scheme has been renamed as 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' with effect from April, 2012.

VII) SOCIAL JUSTICE

a) SANJAY GANDHI NIRADHAR ANUDAN YOJANA

This scheme is applicable to destitute persons of age below 65 years, orphan children,all types of persons with disabilities,

patients suffering from severe illness (T.B., Cancer, AIDS and Leprosy), destitute widows including those of farmers who

committed suicide, destitute divorced women not getting maintenance allowance and women in process of divorce, women freed

from prostitution and outraged women.

b) INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OLD AGE PENSION SCHEME

Destitute persons of age 65 years and above belonging to BPL family are eligible under this scheme.

Table No. 8 : Details of important Social Justice Schemes

Source: Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance, GoM.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Concept, need, significance and role of financial assistance schemes in Economic Development.

Demographic and socio-economic structure & its relations with these for the country as a whole and the state of

Maharashtra in particular.

It gives an idea about the effectiveness and utility of these schemes for the BPL families.

It provides an insight as to how these schemes can be more effective.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY


1. To study the various Financial Assistance Schemes of the Government of India/ Maharashtra

2. To study the demand and supply of these schemes for the BPL families

3. To study the various promotional activities by the Government in creating awareness about these schemes.

4. To study the efficacy and outcomes of these Schemes.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

H The beneficiaries are not aware about these schemes.0:

H The Government is ineffective in providing these schemes to the right beneficiary.1:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study made use of both primary data and secondary data.

In this Research paper, researcher adopted various techniques to collect the data as.

a) Personal interview - through correspondent

b) Telephone survey - through telephone

c) Questionnaire - By making the set of questions & giving it to the respondent to collect the data.

The Research Methodology adopted in the research is Judgement / Purposive where information collected & utilized to study

implications of Financial Assistance Schemes for the BPL families by the Government of Maharashtra. The Research Methodology

adopted include following steps.

a) Sampling.

b) Data collection.

c) Analysis & conclusion of data.

a) SAMPLING METHOD

the sampling method chosen is Judgment / Purposive sampling which are types of Non- Probability sampling.

Four areas of Pune have been judgmentally selected. BPL Families have been randomly selected from each area. Areas of Pune

selected are :

b) Sample Size : 600

Table No. 9 : Number of BPL families in Pune District


Out of the scattered BPL families as mentioned above, we have selected four regions on the basis of highest number of BPL families

for the study.

PRIMARY SOURCE OF THE DATA

Collection of primary data is by distributing the questionnaire to the selected samples to obtain their views on research by mail or

through personal interview.

SECONDARY SOURCE OF THE DATA

Technical and trade journals, books, magazines and newspapers, report and publication of various associations

connected with business and industry, banks, stock exchange; etc.

Public records and statistic, historical documents and other sources of published information.

Through the direct search on the Internet.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study helps in knowing and creating awareness amongst the BPL families for these schemes.

The study will help in finding out the challenges involved by the beneficiaries in getting the benefits of these schemes.

It will help in revealing the satisfaction level of the beneficiaries regarding these schemes.

The study will help in taking corrective measures by the Government regarding accessibility of these schemes.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

a. Any statistical technique employed has some inherent assumption, which may or may not distort the references.

b. Analysis is made on the information provided by the BPL families in four areas of Pune District.

c. The Sample size chosen may not be enough to give a true representation of the total population.

d. It was not possible for the researcher to cover all the financial assistance schemes of the GoM.

e. The perception of researcher and the beneficiaries may differ regarding the benefits of the schemes.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

1) H The beneficiaries are not aware about these schemes.0:

To test this Hypothesis, research asked following question to the respondents.

Which are the Financial Assistance schemes you know (Total=169)

Table No.21: Awareness of Financial Assistance Schemes


Table No. 22 : Frequency Table of Question 3


Table No. 23 : Hypothesis 4 : Chi-Square Test

Reject Ho because 66.2 is greater than 9.488 (for alpha = 0.05)

To check this hypothesis researcher applied chi square test of uniformity. As p value is greater than 0.05, researcher working

hypothesis “Most of the beneficiaries are not aware about these schemes.” is rejected at 5% level of significance.

2) H The Government is ineffective in providing these schemes to the right beneficiary.1:

“I am satisfied with the role of Government in proceeding FA schemes”

Table No. 25 : Hypothesis testing


Reject H1 because 13885.28 is greater than 9.488 (for alpha

= 0.05)

To check this hypothesis researcher applied chi square test of

uniformity. As p value is greater than 0.05, researcher

working hypothesis “I am satisfied with the role of

Government in proceeding FA schemes” is rejected at 5%

level of significance. Hence the Null Hypothesis i.e. most of

the respondents are not satisfied with the role of

Government in proceeding FA schemes is accepted.

FINDINGS

1. Most of the respondents knew about the one or the

other schemes but only few knew about all these

schemes.

2. Out of the total schemes studied, most of the

respondents or any of their family members were

availing benefits of MNREGA, Seeds money

schemes, Indira Awas Yojana and old age pension

schemes.

3. Most of the respondents knew about the financial

assistance schemes only through their neighbours /

friends / relatives. Government personnel's were

less involved in promoting or creating awareness

about these schemes.

4. Lengthy procedures are the major problems faced

by the respondents in availing the benefits of these

schemes.

5. The respondents were able to afford meals on day to

day basis but at the same time most of them were in

favour of increasing the amount of financial

assistance schemes.

CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY

Based on the findings we can conclude that no doubt most of

the respondents know about various schemes but still lot has

to be done by the government in creating awareness about

these schemes. The procedures need to be made very much

transparent and systematic in order to target the right

beneficiaries. These schemes no doubt have been helpful in

raising the standard of living but at such a high rate of

inflation, the compensatory amounts need to be hiked.

REFERENCES

· Kapur Aasha, Shepherd Andrew'sINDIA CHRONIC POVERTY REPORT:

Towards Solutions and New Compacts in a Dynamic Context.

· Economic survey: Government of Maharashtra 2012-13

· www.tiss.edu : cause of farmers suicides in Maharashtra : An

Enquiry

· Burrah S : Towards a pro poor framework for slum upgrading in

Mumbai

· Economic survey : Government of India 2012-13

· Shekhar T.V : Special financial incentive schemes for the girl child

in India

· Nayak Radhika, Saxena N.C , Reaching the poor: the influence of

policy and administrative processes on the implementation of

Government poverty schemes in India.

allana institute of management sciences, pune...prof. priti kulkarni, professor, symbiosis institute...

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