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for promotion”. For the fourth factor, 58% of the employees of Reliance Super favored to the factor “percentage of employees whose jobs are highly enriched”. For the fifth factor, 66% of the employees of Spencer are favored to the factor “percentage employees whose performance appraisals are formalized”. For the sixth factor, 78% of the employees of Reliance Fresh favored to the factor “percentage of employees whose performance appraisal results are used to determine compensation”.

For the seventh factor, 76% of the employees of Reliance Fresh favored to the factor “percentage of employees whose performance appraisals focus on how job is done, not how well”. For the eighth factor, 64% of the employees of Reliance Fresh have favored to the factor “percentage of employees who have a say in the criteria used in their performance appraisal”. For the ninth factor, 64% of the employees of the Spencer are favored to the factor “percentage of employees whose performance appraisals are based on objective quantifiable results”. For the tenth factor, “64 % of the employees of Spencer are favored to the factor percentage of employees whose performance appraisals are used to identify their training needs”.

From the above table, it is evident that the role of supervisor is vital for the organized retailers in implementation of performance appraisal. 79% of the employees of Reliance Fresh favored that “Supervisor is the initiator for the Performance appraisal. 72.89% of Spencer’s employees, 73.56% of the More employees and 72.21% of the Reliance Super employees favored that supervisor is the initiator for the Performance appraisal system in their respective retail organizations. Apart from that the next decider plays key role in the performance appraisal are Supervisor’s boss. The role of peers, subordinates, clients are less in making decisions about the performance appraisal system in the selective retail organizations selected for the study.

TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ON THE MOTIVATIONAL ASPECTS ENCOURAGED THEIR PERFORMANCE

S. No.

Evaluator

V-Mart

Spencer’s

Q-Shop

Reliance Trends

1

Supervisor

79.19%

72.89%

73.56%

72.21%

2

Supervisor’s boss

10.92%

13.69%

11.98%

8.12%

3

Peers

2.01%

2.56%

2.56%

1.96%

4

Subordinates

1.92%

1.59%

2.5%

3.49%

5

Subordinates

2.99%

4.92%

6.31%

5.62%

6

Clients

2.97%

4.35%

3.09%

8.6%

Total

100%

100%

100%

100%

Source: Primary Data

From the above table, it is clear that, the employees of the Reliance Fresh favoring more to the factor “positive work environment” which is encouraging for better performance. The employees of Spencer’s have opinioned that “good team commitment encouraged for better performance the employees of more are favoring to the fact “Incentive schemes encouraged for better performance”. The employees of Reliance Super have favored more to the fact “qualitative training and better scope for promotion encouraged for better performance”.

From the above table, it is observed that, the employees of Reliance Super have the satisfaction of 35% over the employee rest room facilities. The employees of Reliance super again topped as 80% of the employees of Reliance Super have shown their satisfaction over the sanitation & water facilities. For the factor „satisfaction over the transportation facilities‟, 80% of the Spencer’s employees showed their intent of satisfaction. When it comes to the facilities about recreational area with landscaped sit out, no employee of any of the selected retail out lets showed their satisfaction. When it comes to On-site First-aid Clinic, 50% of the employees of Reliance Super have showed their satisfaction. And regarding the staff accommodation, no retail outlets selected for the survey are providing staff accommodation.

PROBLEMS & CHALLENGES AHEAD

Human resources people are the backbone of any company and the success of retail business depends a lot upon the kind of human resource strategies it is following and how people are managed. Because of increasing competition between organized retailers, the retail industry is facing the challenges and hurdles from different areas. From the survey on select organized retailers, the following observations were made.

1. HIGH ATTRITION: Employee retention and motivation of staff has become the major concern for HR department in the organized retailing sector. Because of the strenuous schedules and tasks involved in the retail industry, it becomes imperative for HR staff to take good care of their employees who form the building blocks of their retail chain. The undercurrents among the employees regarding company policies are many and they must be felt from time to time to sustain the quality crowd and reduce the attrition rate. From the report of Retailer, it is found that the attrition rates are comparatively high when it comes to the retail industry in India. The attrition rate in the Indian retail industry is 30-35 percent. The main reasons found to be the typical nature of job where a particular employee of an organized retail company need to work on his feet the whole day and the job is reaction intensive and the business is mainly transactional.

2. TRAINING FOR COMPETITION: The need for efficient trained sales team is of great importance in the organized retailing at present. For every retail organization, the secret behind the success of their business is to keep the list of their loyal consumers interact. The need for a well designed HR practices are greatly needed for proper training to the newly recruited people to the retail organization. Providing training to the sales staff plays a significant role in every business operation. Nowadays, the organized retailers are looking at a sales training company to help the sales staff gain more proficiency and expertise in their respective field.

3. OBSERVATIONS FOUND IN TRAINING SESSIONS OF SELECT ORGANIZED RETAILERS

From the field based survey, it was found that the organized retailers at Gorakhpur District, apart from using the services of outsourcing firms to train its sales people, they are also using some of the innovative new training techniques to the staff. The techniques which are observed during the survey are:

A). STRESSING UPON BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING: The HR managers and trainers are emphasizing upon making the sales people to think and act innovatively in designing the retail out let and as well as attracting the customers through innovative promotional strategies. The trainers are focusing on making the staff to effectively use advertising as a tool to enhance sales, promote growth, and attract new consumers.

B). COUNTING THE CUSTOMERS: In this, the retail firms and the trainers are making the staff of the retail organization to increase the customer relationship management. Through effective training, the trainers are working on highlighting the components of marketing strategies which the sales people should perform activities of promotion, product development, relationship management, distribution and pricing. The trainers are making the retail staff which include sales staff and supporting staff to identify the firm’s marketing goals, and are explaining about how the goals can be achieved.

3. ONLINE TRAINING: The trainers of HR department are showing the visuals of well designed and successfully running retail organization’s outlets to the employees in order to make them to realize the importance of the design of retail outlet. Apart from that, from the survey it was also realized that the trainers are focusing on online training which include web based support to enhance the abilities of the staff of the retail outlets.

4. High Labour costs and Complex nature of labour laws: Because of the increasing competition and the complex nature of the work, the retail outlets are facing the problems of labour costs. Apart from that, various labour laws are giving restrictions to the HR department to achieve desired objectives of the retail organizations. From the survey, it was found that the HR department is facing with the problems like lengthy leisure hours and frequent absenteeism of the employees to the duties. Even, it was found that the existing labour laws in India forbid employment of staff on a contractual basis that makes it difficult to manage employee schedule. Especially, when retail organizations are performing 365- day operation, the problems in encouraging and motivating the employees to perform well is a tough challenge for the HR department.

CONCLUSIONS

The human resource management practices are vital for the development of any business or sector. The HRM practices have inevitable dependence on the organized retailers. From the study it was found that, right from new hire to orientation period, there are many differences in the implementation of HR practices in the selected organized retailers. The satisfaction levels of various performance appraisal measures adopted in the selected retail outlets showed that the employees are not only favored to the incentive plan but also the healthy environment and close relations between the peers are playing vital role for their performance. Further, the supervisor has the key role in taking initiative in the implementation of performance appraisal at the select organized retail outlets. The employee facilities in the select organized retail outlets found to be not satisfactory to the employees of the retail outlets. The HR department is facing the challenges which include high attrition rate, absenteeism, and implementation of innovative practices in the retail outlets. Hence, from the study, it was found that the HR management practices in the select retail outlets are still in the initial stages of development. The employee facilities and proper performance appraisal measures will always encourage the employees to achieve the best. Hence, the retail outlets should decide and implement proper HR practices in order to retain and develop the work force who are the assets for the development of organizations. The government should also need to bring revision of existing labour laws and should provide flexibility in working hours and should encourage with its laws that can bring conducive environment.

REFERENCES

BOOKS

James R. Ogden & Denise T. Ogden(2008), “Integrated Retail Management”, Biztantra, An Imprint of Dreamtech Press, Reprint Edition 2008, New Delhi.

U.C. Mathur(2010), “ Retail Management - Text and cases”, I.K. International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Michael Levy & Weitz(2007), “Retailing Management”, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi. 4. Barry Berman & Joel R. Evans(2007), “Retail Management – A strategic approach”, 10th Edition, Eastern Economy Edition, New Delhi.

JOUNRALS

Ashok Som, “Bracing for MNC Competion through innovative HRM Practices: the Way ahead for Indian Firms”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Wiley InterScience, Vol.48(2) 207-237, March-April,2006., Pg.No.207-211

Wharton, “How will competition change Human Resource Management in Retail banking? A Strategic Perspective”, Workiing Paper Series, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Pg. No.1-29.

Susan E.Jackson & Randall S. Schuler, “HRM Practices in Service-based organizations: A role theory perspective”, Advances in Services Marketing and Management, Vol.1, Pages:123-157.

A CII – A.T. Kearney report, “Retail in India: Getting organized to drive growth”.

Derek C.Jones, Panu Kalmi & Antti Kauhanen, “How Deos Employe Involvement Stack Up? The effects of Human Resource Management Policies on Performance in a Retail Firm, Working Papers, Cornell University.

 

Reservations for Other Backward Classes in India

Dr. M. Laxman

Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Nizam College, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India,

ABSTRACT

Community is a social unit of any size that shares common values. Empowerment refers to the process by which people gain control over the factors and decisions that shape their lives. It is the process by which they increase their assets and attributes and build capacities to gain access, partners, networks and/or a voice, in order to gain control. ‘Community empowerment’ refers to the process of enabling communities to increase control over their lives.

Under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution, it is obligatory for the government to promote the welfare of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The president may by order appoint a commission. The First Backward Classes Commission was established by a presidential order on 29th January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar, and submitted its report on 30 March 1955. The Mandal Commission was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government to "identify the socially or educationally backward." It was headed by Indian parliamentarian B.P. Mandal. The commission's report submitted in1980.

On 29th March 2007, the Supreme Court of India, as an interim measure, stayed the law providing for 27 percent reservation for OBCs in educational institutions. On 10th April 2008 the Supreme Court of India upheld the government's initiative of 27% OBC quotas in government-funded institutions. The Court has categorically reiterated its