To comprehend and deal with multi-disciplinary subjects and issues, academicians and students need to be knowledgeable about interrelated disciplines of management. To encourage and promote research across a wide breadth of management topics, this journal has articles pertaining to various fields of management. SIT Journal of Management, SITJM, is a bi-annual journal published with the aim to provide an online publishing platform for the academia, management researchers, and students to publish their original works. SITJM seeks original manuscripts that identify, extend, unify, test or apply scientific and multi-disciplinary knowledge concerned to the management field.
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Editorial MessageFrom the Desk of Editor-In-Chief:
There are a lot of challenges organizations are facing in the globalised era. Innovative management strategies can play a very distinctive role in bringing about effective changes in the field of Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, and General Management practices so that organizations can successfully cope with these challenges. One of the key objectives of management research should be its usability and application. The SIT Journal of Management has been very productive as authors from diverse backgrounds have contributed articles that glimmer a debate on the research focused on innovative management practices. We are really overwhelmed by the enthusiasm with which the contributors from across the length and breadth of the country have expressed their desire to submit papers on various contemporary issues from different fields of management. In recent years, research on management related fields has augmented, and it has become a basic prerequisite for academicians and practitioners to suggest ways through contemporary research to suggest proactive strategies to cope up with the changes in both micro and macro environment. This is the age of performance. Organizations are becoming very careful in enhancing their performance in all spheres - may be customer satisfaction or their responsibilities towards the society. Numerous studies are being conducted to receive feedbacks from customers on the services and products offered by the organizations. Such information enables them to enhance their performance in improving their product and service quality.
Prof. (Dr.) Dwarika Prasad UniyalEditor-In-Chief SIT Journal of Management
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
CONTENTS Sl. No. Title of the paper & Author/(s) Page No.
Talent management issues in Indian I.T industry- a case studyDr. K.K. Das and Auroshikha Samal 1-7
Income Tax Practice- A Creator of DisparitiesArindam Metia 8-15
Students' perception on contribution of industrial training towards employability in hotel industry: a case study of Siliguri Institute of TechnologySoumyadipta Mitra 16-23
Traditional food plants in West Bengal and its food value- A StudyMd. Irfan 24-33
Workplace stress: some essentials revealed in health care sector in kolkataSoumi Das and Urvashi Banerjee 34-46
A Secondary Study on Information Technology Applications in the Retail SectorDr Shuvendu Dey and Ms Santana Guha 47-51
Demonetization: Building Cashless India or Castles in the Air!Dr. Sujit Kumar Ghosh 52-65 A study on the relevance of this concept on Consumer buying behaviour.Rumi Paul Chowdhury and Monika Sharma 66-73
Issues and Challenges of Social Recruiting: An Indian PerspectiveDr Parul Saxena 74-84
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Talent management issues in Indian IT industry- a case study
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Dean- School of Management & Commerce, CoE, Ravenshaw University, CuttackEmail: [email protected]
Auroshikha Samal **Research Scholar in Management, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack Email: [email protected]
Dr. K.K. Das *
ABSTRACT:
Talent management is the new trend that is catching up across the sectors. The biggest reason for this is the fact that organizations have started realising that it is the right “talent” in an organization which is the sole differentiator giving it an edge over its rivals. This fact holds even greater significance for the I.T industry in India, where the attrition rate remains at a higher end over a greater period of time. Talent Management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organization, either in view of their high potential for the future or because they are fulfilling critical roles. Hence, talent management process starts immediately once a talent is hired, further involving the engagement, development, deployment and retention of the right talent. However, this is not that easy or simple as it appears to be. With changing demography, diversifying expectations of employees, intensifying competition and ample opportunities outside, an organization has to really struggle to manage its talent effectively, or else it might end up losing to its rivals. The I.T industry is one such sector, which, despite being one of the important contributors to the country's development, is one of the most vulnerable sectors when it comes to managing and retaining talent. The study, based on primary secondary source, aims at identifying the issues faced by the I.T industry towards effective talent management. It further attempts to suggest feasible measures for the same.
Keywords: Talent Management, Attrition, Retention, I.T Industry
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INTRODUCTION:
If technology is the engine which moves an organization towards its goals, human resource is the driver. It is the force that drives the technology in the right direction and thus helps as a catalyst in its growth. Hence, still today, human resource is the lifeline of an organization. For the modern organization, it is the “talent”. “Talent”, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is a special natural ability or aptitude that is innate or inborn in an individual. Every individual possesses a unique set of talent, which enhances all the more its value for an organization. In fact, talent is the key differentiator for performance management and for leveraging competitive advantage especially in knowledge-based organizations. (Bhatnagar,2004). Hence, the organizations strive hard to catch hold of the best talent available in the market. However, only bringing in the talent is not sufficient. It needs to be nurtured, managed retained. These are the bigger concerns of the day. This situation thus highlights the need for effective 'talent management', more so for a technology-driven, knowledge-based industry like the IT industry. The concept of talent management was introduced by Micheal Armstrong in his famous work “War For Talent” in the late 1990s.Talent management is the process of managing the ability, competency and power of employees within an organization. In other words, it can be seen as an integrated process of ensuring that an organization has a continuous supply of highly productive individuals at the right job at the right time. The concept of talent management is not restricted to recruiting the right candidate, but it also extends to exploring the hidden qualities of the employees and developing and nurturing them for the individual's as well as the organization's growth and development. Talent management is a useful tool for the employers to strengthen the brand of the organization, which can make it attractive for potential candidates. (Jenner & Taylor, 2009). Hence it can be said that that the talent management is
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The IT sector is one of the important pillars of the country's industrial and economic development. Presently, it is the biggest employment generator in India. Despite occupying a vital position in the world business and being an important contributor to the country's development, the IT industry is one of the most vulnerable sectors when it comes to talent management and thus retention. Today, it is facing a formidable hurdle of effectively managing its talent. This results in a higher attrition rate as compared to other sectors. Changing patterns of demography and diversifying expectations of the Gen X & Y has posed a really big concern before the management to bring them to a platform and manage talent effectively and efficiently.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
It was almost late 1990s when McKinsey & Co. first coined the term “talent management” in their report “The War For Talent”, exposing the war for talent as a strategic business challenge and a critical driver of corporate performance. Newhouse et al. (2004) defined talent management as 'ensuring that a sufficient supply of talent is available across the organizations to achieve competitive advantage, enhanced corporate performance and managing the productivity of an organization's talent pool. It is the actor that includes all talent processes necessary to “optimize” employees in an organization, performance management, succession planning, decision analytics, target selection, development planning and support, career development, workforce planning and recruiting. (Farley, 2005). The challenges faced by profit and non-profit organizations are enormous. One of the most critical challenges for any organization is finding, recruiting and retaining talented individuals. According to a Manpower Survey data gathered from companies representing 33,000 employees from 23 countries, companies worldwide are facing trouble in filling the positions. Forty percent of the surveyed employers reported problems in filling positions because of a lack of talent in their labor markets. (Manpower Inc. 2006). Pallavi Srivastava & Jyotsna Bhatnagar (2008) explain in their study that talent management had become an area of growing concern where there is a need for practicing due diligence in the talent acquisition strategy. Micheals, E., Handfield-Jones H., and Axelrod, B., (2001) have pointed out that while it takes more than money to build a winning EVP (Employee Value Proposition), if employee don't stay competitive with the market price for the best managerial talent, employee will have a hard time. According to Swapnika, C and Amitabh Kondwani (2005), high performance organizations are built around elements such as innovations, values, purpose, leadership and trust. However, the core element which acts as a dynamo is “people” where they bring the best performance processes. So, people management practices must be revamped and synthsized to form high performance work systems. Cindy McCauley & Micheal Wakefield (2006) explained that talent management processes include workforce planning, talent gap analysis, recruitinfg, staffing, development, retention, talent reviews, succession planning and evaluation. Nityanand Rao, S. & Shravani Bhavirishetty (2008) carried out a research on attrition in IT sector. They Indicated that employee attrition is due to retirement, death (natural attrition) and resignations. The phenomenal increase in resignations is giving rise to concerns among employers, who are making efforts to trace the causes of resignations. Attrition in the Indian IT sector has been increasing. Griffeth & Hom (2001) opined that despite widespread studies on employee turnover, there are numerous resources which effectively and expansively bridges over the scholar confirmations that concerns with the employee retention and practices and efforts. There is a wide range of reasons of employee turnover
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which includes better salary, leaving an obnoxious supervisor, getting fired, etc… All these factors may take place when talent is not managed properly.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study is descriptive in nature. It takes the IT industry as a case to study the challenges faced while managing talent in the IT companies. The sources of data include face-to-face interaction with employees of selected IT companies situated in the capital city of Odisha, Bhubaneswar. It also includes secondary sources of data such as company reports, journals and papers published by the organizations and the company websites.
TALENT MANAGEMENT IN IT INDUSTRY IN INDIA
The IT industry has played a key role in putting India on the global map as a major knowledge-based economy and outsourcing hub. It has helped India transform from an agriculture-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. Presently, it is the biggest employment generator in India. Moreover, India has become the world's largest sourcing destination for the IT industry accounting for approximately 67 percent of the US $124-130 billion market. The industry employs about 10 million workforce. The IT industry in India has two major components- IT & ITeS. This includes hardware peripherals networking training and domestic and export market for IT services and software and ITeS-BPO. Its contribution to India's GDP has increased from 1.2 percent in FY1998 to 9.5 percent in FY2015. (NASSCOM 2015). The market size of the industry is expected to rise to US $225 billion by 2020, considering India's competitive position.IT industry is a majorly people-driven, knowledge-based industry. As compared to other sectors, the importance of human resource or “talent” is the maximum here. Hence, all the more essential it is to manage the talent available. The management of the IT companies have realised this fact and have started putting in place various measures that can help in effectively managing the available talent. This includes attracting the best possible talent, hiring them, developing and nurturing them, deploying them strategically and optimally utilizing them for the betterment of the individuals as well as the organizations in an attempt to maintain a win-win situation. For this, the IUT organizations have put in place structured processes that would help them to achieve this objective. These include structured processes of talent acquisition, talent development and upgradation, talent evaluation and recognition, motivation and thus acquiring long term commitment. This is what effective talent management sums up to.
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TALENT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN THE IT INDUSTRY IN INDIA
1. EFFECTIVE TALENT ACQUISITIONTalent shortage is rampant. The IT industry today, has to deal with the demand-supply gap of IT professionals, which has become global in nature. The demand, here, is driven by the IT industry and the supply is driven by the academic institutions. Today, the IT companies are focussing more on the quality of candidates than the quantity factor. As the frequency of introduction of new updated technologies have increased, the IT companies find that many graduates are not employable as per the industry requirements as maximum times the curriculum followed by the academic institutions are not updated as per the latest industrial developments and requirements. According to a recent study, only 25 percent of IT graduates are considered employable as per industry standards and only 17.85 percent are eligible for job in IT sector with six months training. Hence, the employability gap” poses the biggest challenge in Indian IT industry.
2. EFFECTIVE SKILL UPGRADATIONNTHROUGH RETRAINING
Upgradation of skills at regular interval has become an entire need of the organization. Especially in the IT sector, it is even more essential because of rapid and unpredictable technological changes and the increased emphasis on quality of services. Further, nowadays, the software professionals themselves expect their employers to provide them with all the training they may need in order to perform not only their present projects, but also in related ones that they may subsequently handle in near future. However, it has been observed that normally, as the software professionals gain competence, they do not necessarily gain motivation. This happens as once the curiosity to learn a certain skill is fulfilled, it is no more binding.
3. TALENT ENGAGEMENT
Talent engagement pertains to securing the commitment of the employees. It talks about how far an employee feels involved in and identifies himself with his job. The IT organizations are focussing on the cycle of “Hire to Retire”. With changing environment, the expectations of an individual from his/her job changes. Simple monetary rewards no longer satisfy them. They need more out of their work life. One of the biggest challenges faced by the IT companies is identifying the requirements of the individuals, tapping their talents, linking it to their expectations and providing them with tasks and opportunities that would give them a sense of fulfilment and meaningfulness in their job front. For this, IT companies are catering to like reward & recognition, performance management, leadership management, career paths and succession management.
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4. TALENT WORTH
Employees have a certain worth regarding themselves in their eyes. They want to see that “worth” being given to their work too by the management. They put in their acquired knowledge, their talent and skill, effort, energy and time. Hence, it is important for the management to have such an evaluation and recognition process in place that it would seem to the employees to be transparent, efficient and giving them their 'worth'. This will also increase their commitment levels and motivation towards an organization.
5. TALENT RETENTION
It is a well-known fact that the ultimate motive of putting in so much investment in terms of plans, strategies, time, effort and money behind the talent management is to retain its talented employees. However, nowadays, many-a-times, it is seen that despite reaping the good of an organization in terms of training, development and recognition, many individuals, especially the Gen X & Y, tend to jump ships easily. This is mainly due to the ample opportunities present outside that lures one to easily change jobs. However, for an organization, it is not about losing just another person. It is about losing a talent, the return on investment that it would have got of all its investments made behind acquiring and nurturing the talent. In other words, the IT organization not just faces monetary loss or breakage in its day-to-day operations, but it is the knowledge-transfer that is even more riskier as for the IT companies the technologies and processes used is also important, the knowledge of which can be easily transferred to their rivals by the employees leaving these organizations. Hence, talent retention being a major component of talent management, it is the biggest challenge to not only attract, but have such policies and strategies which help in retaining the precious resource, i.e. the talent.
CONCLUSION
Though talent management as a concept has started occupying an integral position in the business strategy of an organization, yet, it is in a nascent state when it comes to the implementation part. Many-a-times organizations use the term “talent” synonymous to human resource, and acknowledge the fact that this “talent”, which is the lifeline of an organization, needs to be managed effectively, in order to witness a win-win condition. In this pursuit, the IT companies are taking various steps in terms of various structured processes. However, there is still a long way to go as there are numerous hurdles that need to be crossed. Some due to the complicated human nature and some because of the changing environment and time. Despite the challenges in the path, the lucrative end result makes the path work taking.
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REFERENCES
Micheals, E., Handfield-Jones, H. & Beth, A. (2001). The War For Talent, McKinsey & Company Inc. Harvard Business School Press.
Newhouse, R. (2004). Evidence based Practice: A Practical Approach to Implementation. The Journal of Nursing Administration. LWW Journals. 35(1), 35-45.
Bhatnagar, J. (2007). Talent Management Strategy of Employee Engagement in Indian ITeS Employees- Key to Retention. Employee Relations, 29(6), 640-63.
McKeown, J.L. (2002). Retaining Top Employees. Journal of Management & H.R. McGraw Hill Publication House. Issue 6.
Osteraker, M.C. (1999). Measuring Motivation in a Leveraging Organization. Journal of Workplace Learning.
Kaliprasad, M. (2006). The Human Factor: Attracting, Retaining & Motivating Capable People Cost Engineering. 48 (6).
Kule Lagunas. (2012). Five Employee Retention Strategies for a Higher Performance Environment. TLNT, The Business of [email protected].
Lalitha, C. (2012). Managing Employee Attrition- The HR Role & Challenges. International Journal of Research in Management, Economics & Commerce, Vol. 2(11), pp. 262-67.
Fitz-enz, J. (1990). Getting & Keeping Good Employees. In Personnel. 67(8).
Bhatnagar, J. (2007). Talent Management Strategy of Employee Engagement in Indian ITeS Employees- Key to Retention. Employee Relations, 29(6), 640-63.
Walsh, K. & Taylor, M.S. (2007). Developing In-house Careers & Retaining Management Talents- What Hospitality Professionals Want From Their Jobs. Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 48(2), 163-82.
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Arindam MetiaAssistant Professor in CommerceNorth Bengal St. Xavier's CollegeUniversity of North BengalE-Mail:[email protected]
Abstract
A civilized country has to care better welfare for its citizen. For this purpose, the Government needs resources. Tax is an important and significant source of Government's income or revenue for this purpose.For the reason of resources, reducing income and wealth inequalities, the economist suggests progressive and proportional taxation procedure for developing & democratic country t like us.The paper has been designed to describe a case where an individual drawing a heavy salary is less financially solvent that the family where both husband & wife are in employment in respect of same income.The paper also highlights about the higher tax burden on individual earning member than the same salary income of joint earning members in the family.The present paper concludes with some suggestions regarding reformation of income tax structure in the form of recognising the different income tax slab rates,exemption and also for the purpose of imposing tax, the family should be taken as the centre instead of the individual assessee.By this, the families with the same family income will at equal footing in terms of solvency & wealth accumulation.
Keywords: structure, slab rates, exemption
pp-8
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INTRODUCTION:
As per Income tax Act,1961 Every person ,whose total income of the previous year exceeds the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income tax,is an assesee and chargeable to income tax in the assessment year at the rate prescribed in the Income Tax act. Since Income tax Act,1961 is a revenue law,there are bound to be amendments from time to time in this law.These amendements are generally brought in annually Union Budget. As Income Tax is goverened by the Finance Bill,that is why it is known as financial charge/levy and it is also an enforceable contribution .It is duty of every Government in every civilised country to look after the welfare of its citizen.For this purpose,the Government needs resources.Tax is an important and significant source of Government's income or revenue for this purpose.It is also the principal instrument in the hands of the Government by which it can achieve varoius social and economic objectives.The person who pays taxe cannot demand any specific service in return for the tax paid by him immediately.The sovereign or the Government which receives the tax ,spends the money for the general benefit or common good of all people rahther than any specific person who pays it.For this, tax payer feels dissatisfaction due to his earned money is taken from hin by the Government.So,Indian tax system is always facing a resist from tax payes in respect of tax payment in form of tax evasion.This may due to irrational tax structure in respect of tax rates,tax slabs,exemption limit in personal income tax.Over the years. A number of attempts have been initiated by the varrious Goverments covering differenr aspects to rationalization of tax structure but very littlle reforms has been seen so far.
Objectives of the study:
1. To measure the disposable income and trend of personal income tax structure in India.
2. To determine the present scenario of the financial solvency of two categories of family(one with the single earning member and other family both the husband and wife, drawing the same family income like single earning member)
3. To propose suitable measures to rationalisation the personal income tax structure.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study is descriptive and exploratory in nature.In the present study, the researcher has taken 12 financial years (2006-07 to 2017-18) to determind the tax burden on individual's salary income. The paper was prepared collectimg information from seconadry data, journal, research
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paper, circular of CBDT ,various internet websites, various books on direct taxes and Government reports have been used.The present paper has organised in the following stages:
1. Comparative analysis income tax liability and exempted income.
2. Computation of tax liability and financial solvency between two families (with imaginary data) having same income.
3. Conclusion and suggestions.
Comparative analysis income tax liability and exempted income.
Ideal tax structure of a welfare Government should be disigned in such a way, that it will reduce income and wealth disparities and will also reduce the gap between the rich and poor.For the purpose of reducing income and wealth disparities, progressive and proportional taxation procedure to be an ideal one for any developing democratic government.Under this system,an assessee with higher income earnings will have to pay higher amount of tax to the Government than the assessee with lower earnings.The present paprer invistigates that, who should be the centre for imposition of income tax? Whether the individual assesee or the family consisting hasband, wife and dependent children.
Table-IExempted income for male, female and senior citizen
Financial Year Male (less
than 60years)
Female Senior Citizen
(more than 60 years)
Very Senior
Citizen (more than 80 years)
2006-07 1,00,000 1,35,000 1,85,000 1,85,000
2007-08 1,10,000
1,45,000 1,95,000
1,95,000
2008-09 1,50,000 1,80,000 2,25,000 2,25,000
2009-10 1,60,000 1,90,000 2,40,000 2,40,000
2010-11 1,60,000
1,90,000
2,40,000
2,40,000
2011-12 1,80,000 1,90,000 2,50,000 5,00,000
2012-13 2,00,000 2,00,000 2,50,000 5,00,000
2013-14 2,00,000
2,00,000
2,50,000
5,00,000
2014-15 2,50,000 2,50,000 3,00,000 5,00,000
2015-16 2,50,000 2,50,000 3,00,000 5,00,000
2016-17 2,50,000 2,50,000 3,00,000 5,00,000
2017-18 2,50,000 2,50,000 3,00,000 5,00,000
Source: (data compiled from http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in)
Table –I shows the exempted incomes slabs for varous types of assessee from the financial year 2006-07 to 2017-17 for male,female ,senoir citizen and very senior citzen.The study shows that, first eight years (2006-07 to
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2012-13) exemption limit has increased mariginally every year Exemption limit for female has incerases very lower rate in compare to male exemption limit and distinction between male and women in slab rate was abolished in the financial year 2012-13.In the financial year 2011-12,new exemption section has been introduced for the individual who attained the age of 80 and they can enjoy the tax free incomes upto Rs.5,00,000. As per census 2001,only 0.8% of the total population have reported the age exceeding 80yeras.So, highet tax exemption limit only available to a very few number of individuals.
Figure-IIncome exempted from tax
Here, the present paper will try to focus, who should be centre for imposing tax? Whether the individual assessee or the family consisting of husband, wife and dependent children.If the individual assessee is taken as the centre for imposing of income tax as it is presently in operation, without taking the family income together, the practice is quite enough to create disparities amongst the families having same amount of family income. The paper has been designed to describe a case where an individual with high educational & technical background and drawing a heavy salary is less financially solvent that the family where both husband & wife are in employment in respect of same income.
Composition of total personal income tax liability of individual tax payers from A.Y 2008-09 to 2018-19 is shown in table-II.Here ,taxable income Rs.10,00,000 is taken into consideration in both the cases and tax liability is calculatd accordingly. Mr.X is a salaried person with annual salary 10,00,000 whereas Mr. A and Mrs. A are also salaried persons and drawing
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salary Rs.5,00,000 p.a by each of them.Though the both the families have equal income per annum but people have misconception that in the case of Mr.X has much solvency than in the case of MrA and Mrs.A.As both the families have the same amonut of annual income
Single earning member in the family
(only Husband is working drawing salary Rs.10,00,000 per annum)
Both are earning member in the family(Both husband and wife are working drawing salary
Rs.5,00,000 each per annum)
Husband's Income (Mr.X)
Husband's income(Mr.A)
Wife's income(Mrs.A)
Assessment year
col-I Col-II
Col-III
Col-IV
col-V
col-VI Col-VII col-VIII
Income (Rs.)
Tax liability (Rs.)
Income (Rs.)
Tax liability (Rs.)
Income (Rs.)
Tax liability (Rs.)
Toatl tax liability of the Family Rs.)
Excess Tax Burden on Individua (Rs.)l< Col-II-Col-VIII>
Souce: Calculated by the author from Direct tax reports
It can be expected that both the families should run with same financial solvency provided other factors remain constant in both the cases. But from the above table No-II, it is shown the quite different result.Tax liability on first case (Mr.X) varies between Rs.2,56,470 to 1,15,875 for entire perion under review In the second case (Mr.A and Mrs.A),it is Rs.2,03,940 in 2008-09 and Rs.25,750 in 2018-19.Tax liability is higher always in the first case (Mr.X) in compare to second case (Mr.A and Mrs.A).However total tax load is showing decreasing trend but in the fist case where the individual with sigle earning member always facing increasing trend of tax liability in compre to joint eaning during the period.
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Figure-II
Figure –II reveals that present tax procedure impose more tax burden on Mr.X than Mr.A & Mrs.A In Case-I (Mr.X) shows that individual assesee pays higher tax , whereas with a same family income in case-II (Mr.A and Mrs.A), their tax liability is lower. In case-I, the individual assessee gets basic exemption, once where as case-II ,husband and wife gets basic exemption twice..Furthermore,the rate of tax load,which is given in table no-III,varies between 25.64% to 11.58% between 2008-09 to 2017-18 in case of single earning member family,whereas variations in joint earning member family was 20.39% to 2.57% .
Souce: Calculated by the author from Direct tax reports
Keeping in the view the variation in the tax system,there is ample justification to say that there is need to bring to reform in prevaling personal income tax structure.Due to inflationary nature of indian economy,those who pays higher tax in compare to others, can affect adversely their sustanibiity and willingness to contribute for tax payments.
In this part researcher has calculated tax liability on same income for both single earning and joint earning family.Tax burden of different assessment years gives us a different picture and this is virtually clear thar over the years tax burden is much lower for joint earning members though the income is same like single earning member family.Continously higher amount of tax on same income on single earning member is exposing disparities.Overall tax liability is higher for single earning member and this
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the violation of progressice taxation policy in India. so the tax administration should design tax rate schudlu in such a way that should be equitable and efficient ,so that people will not follow unethical practice in form of tax evasion which could have adverse affect on in Indian economy.
Tax rebate for working womn u/s 88C had introduced by Govt. of India in financial year 2000-01, which enabled working women paying less tax.From the financial yaer 2006-07 to 2011-12,woking women entitled to get higher tax exemtion limit .Such practice of allowing more tax exempption,it had not been effective and it created social inequality.Out of 125 crore Indians only1.5% (1.9 crore) pay income tax. There are several categories of income earners ,who do not pay tax .Since the assessment year 2001-02,Government of India has introduced tax rebate for senior citizen.i.e person attaining the gae of 65 years and above,entitled to get tax exemption upto maximum Rs.15000.Later on,from assessment year 2012-13,new basic exemption limit has been introduced amounting Rs.5,00,000.It would be more rational to exempt some medical expense and allowing them some free medical benefits in hospitals and nurshing homes.
Conclusion and Suggestions:
From our above discussion it is clear that the present tax structure is not on line which will reduce inequalities and income disparities among the salary earners. In order to make the income tax structure more rational and effective the following suggestions may be forwarded
a) For the purpose of imposing tax, the family should be taken as the centre instead of the individual assessee.By this, the families with the same family income will at equal footing in terms of solvency & wealth accumulation.
b) Replacing extra tax exemption by allowing senior citizen to enjoy medical expenses to be exempted to some seems to be more rational. A man drawing high income during he/she was in employment , goes on enjoying extra tax relief afer his/her retirement is not expected when lakhs of young educated fellows are in bad shape of employment .
c) Limiting the basic exemption to a certain extent instaed of allowing the double in the case where both husband and wife both are in employment.Though the payment of tax is a compulsory duty of a every citizen of India and when all the tax payers are well aware about the fact that the contribution in form of tax plays an important role in nation building.But, assesses usually make an attempt to reduce tax burden by lowering or hiding real incoome, which is a majo draw back in Indian tax structure.Urgently we need a friendly uniform taxation policy so that everyone should voluntarily come forward to pay taxes.The tax bracket and tax rate should be
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redesigned separately according to family income base,so that every one in society feels that we all equal.
Limitation of the study:
All income of an assesee shall be classified under the five heads, consist of salary,house property,profit & gains of business or profession,capital gains and income from other sources.All taxable income of an assessee must be brought under any one or more of these heads.Income tax may be levied on an individual,HUF,firm,an association of firms.The present study is only confined to individual assesee on their salary income.
References:
Ahuja.G and Gupta.R (2017),Systematic Apprach to Income Tax (A.Y.2017-18),Wolters kluwer (india) Pvt.Ltd.
Central Board Direct Tax Report.2012
Gupta Radha (2013),personal income tax structure in india,Pacific Busibess Review International Review,Volume 5 Issue 7 (January)
Taxman's Income tax Act 2017 Edn,New Delhi Taxman Publication,2017www.incometaxindia.org
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Students' perception on contribution of industrial training towards employability in hotel industry: a case study of Siliguri Institute of Technology
In this era of 21st century Hospitality Industry is symbolizing a vital role in the service sectors. To serve this tourism sectors, hospitality industry has shaped up with full-fledged 5 star facilities and services. Now for the smooth operations in all the departments of these properties they require competent and efficient manpower for both managerial and subordinate positions. In India itself, many hospitality training institutes have emerged out to provide the industry some skilled and knowledgeable manpower. The curriculum in these training institutes are not only limited with the classroom knowledge but the students also need to attend industrial exposure training in a star classed property to gain a real life experience to back their theory knowledge. Earlier studies conducted by various researchers have highly advocated the need for industrial exposure along with classroom studies. In this study the researcher identifies the students' perception on industrial exposure training, its benefits and importance in the recruitment process. The study has been conducted on the hotel management students of Siliguri Institute of Technology, West Bengal and provides an insight on the perception of the final year and pre final year students regarding industrial training.
Keywords: Hospitality Training Institute, Industrial Training, Career Perception, Siliguri Institute of Technology
Abstract:
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INTRODUCTION
The era 21st century has played a vital role for the upliftment of the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry is the oldest commercial sector in the world. The larger business enterprise known as travel and tourismwhich provides a wide range of travel related services, such as mode of travel, accommodation, food anddrink and other recreational activities. But tremendous amount of hard work goes behind the sheen and glitter that meets the eye.
Tourism is the most important commercial activity in the modern era. The relationship between the tourism and the hotel industry is also explained with the diverse profile of the present day client. An overview of the hotels and their core departments is also provided for the overall understanding of the hotel operation.
According to the data provided by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a global forum for promoting tourism, the number of international arrivals in the world grew from 25 million in 1950 to a level of 205 million in 2005, registering an annual average growth rate of 6.5 percent.
Tourism can be categorized in two forms:
International Tourism
When people visit a foreign country is referred as international tourism. In order to avail the foreign tourism service one needs to have valid passport, visa, health documents etc.
Domestic Tourism
The tourism activity within the own country is referred as domestic tourism. It is much more easier than the international one and the documentation formalities is not so tough.
Over the years depending upon the nature and purpose of tourism, fulfilling tourists' demands, providing certain facilities and services, has given the need of development of the hospitality industry. The travel and tourism nower days represents the wide range of related industries. Hotels are the commercial establishments that developed the identity with the raise of the tourism industry. It plays a significant role , as all tourists require a roof to stay at their destinations and require more services and facilities to fulfil their specific needs and demands. These inn concept gradually got developed and hotels found their own entity.
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The invention of currency and wheel in the 5th century BC are considered as the two main factors of the development of inn keeping in the ancient days. People used to travel in different areas for different purposes like pilgrimage, medical purpose and other reasons. During this journey these travellers used to stay in these innand different services like foods, drinks and entertainments are also served by these inns.
Now these hotelindustry require immense manpower for the smooth functioning of the organisation. These manpower needs to get proper training in their core fields to boost up their expertise. There are many hospitality training schools all over the countrywho are providing trainings to the hospitality staffs and making them efficient enough to work in the industry. Students after completing their standard XII studies are joining the hotel management schools to complete their graduations under the roof of different universities. They are enrolling themselves in the 3 years or 4 years degree course of hotel management and after the completion of this course they can join different hospitality industries or tourism sectors. The students also need to attend 22 weeks training session in some star category hotels within this course period as that is the part of the curriculum. Industrial exposure is simultaneously much more important with the classroom studies.Students can gain practical knowledge in all the relevant departments.In this training session the students need to work inall the four core departments of the hotel like front office, house keeping, food production and food & beverage service departments.
Siliguri Institute of Technology, situated in the abode of Himalayan ranges in the Darjeeling district, is such a type of institution whose hotel management department is well known in the northern part of West Bengal. It is providing the hotel management degree under the banner ship of MAKAUT of WBUT. Students from various districts of West Bengal and from North East regions of India come every year to take admission in this course and to enlighten their career path.
This study is regarding the perception of the students' of Siliguri Institute of Technology on contribution of industrial training towards the employability in hospitality industry. According to the students, who have just returned from the industrial training, the overloaded working hours and heavy duty jobs are the only factors that demotivate them to join the hospitality industry.So in todays time these renounced hotels are all suffering for the lack of manpower.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this study is to find out the needs of the hotel industry and the changed perception of the students after the completion of the industrial trainings. The duty timings during the training period, heavy work
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schedule and low salary scale are becoming the hindrances that are restricting the students to join the hospitality sectors. The students are getting demotivated due to these negative factors and are tending to join other sectors like retail industry, fast food chains etc rather than the hospitality industry. The questionnaire round that was conducted with the final year students of Siliguri Institute of Technology, who have just returned from industrial training, resulted into the fact that most of them have got demotivated for these factors of the hotel industry. The students are mostly planning to pursue some higher studies or are planning to join the other sectors other than hospitality industry. So this study is to relate the present perception of the students who have already completed their industrial training and the type of manpower that are needed in the hospitality industry.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Amit D. & Babita J. (2015) Industrial training and its consequences on the career perception of the hotel management students of Jaipur, says that the students' perception gradually changes after the completion of the industrial training due to the hectic pressure in the industry and negative the working environment of the hospitality sector.
Barron P. (1997) An analysis of Australian students' images of hospitality industry, a qualitative study investing factor that students are more interested in joining the industry and their career perception before the on job training session.
Casado M. (1991) perceptions of corporate recruiters, alumni, and educators towards critical factors of hotel/restaurant management programme, where all the eminent industrialists form a common discussion of the reason behind students not wiling to join the hospitality sectors and some remedial programmes that were conducted to give the students some positive vibes.
Walo M. (1999) The latest win-win strategy in recruiting hotel staff, are following some new method of recruiting staffs and adopting some new ideas for maintaining the sustainability of the staffs.
METHODOLOGY
Primary Data
A questionnaire session was conducted with the final year students of Siliguri Institute of Technology with the final year students who just got returned from their industrial trainings. Their perception of the students that had been studied during this methodology session that most of them have
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got demotivated with the working environment of the hotel industry. Many of them have marked a remarkable position during their training sessions in the hotels and tried to grab some satisfactory certificates for their hard works. But still most of the students got diverse from their main career goals. They are hardly anymore interested for joining the hotel industry. But industrial training again plays a vital role in acquiring practical experience in the hotel industry. Students get exposure in the industry. They get chance to interact with different guests and to know about the latest trends in the hospitality industry. So the industrial training part cannot be avoided too.
Secondary Data
The secondary data was collected from the various sources like internet resources, journals, etc.
RESEARCH and FINDING
Reliability Statistics
The format below explains the approximate rate of students' perception those who are not willing to join hotel industry as their career.
TOTAL NUMBER OFSTUDENTS
NUMBER OF STUDENTS SATISFIED WITH TTHE INDUSTRY
NUMBER OF STUDENTS DIS-SATISFIED WITH TTHE INDUSTRY
BHM STUDENTS 3617 19
BSHM STUDENTS 26 10 16
So with the above studies it is understandable that major number of students are mostly not interested to join the hotel industry due to the detoriating working environment of the hotels. Infact the salary package is the other factor of demotivation because the scale is too low in the initial stage.
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Group Statistics
Data Analysis
From the above mentioned both the statistics it is understandable that out of the total number of 62 students pursuing bachelor degree programme from Siliguri Institute of Technology, those who are in their last year of their degree programme and have already completed their industrial training, major number of students are not satisfied with the hospitality sectors due to the various issues and these hospitality sectors need to develop some new ideas to cooperate with these future new joiners. After completion of the industrial exposure the students are having inner conflicts regarding their career growth. So hospitality industry specially needs to take care of these certain issues.
CAREER FACTOR
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING STATUS
TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS
IN HOTEL
MANAGMENT IN SIT
NUMBER OF STUDENTS SATISFIED & DIS -SATISFIED WITH TTHE INDUSTRY
Work itself
Yes/No
62
22/40
Work condition
Yes/No
62
19/43
Job security
Yes/No
62
43/19
Career development
Yes/No
62
20/40
Work life balance
Yes/No
62
18/44
Salary and facilities
Yes/No 62 10/52
Social status Yes/No 62 30/32
Job stress Yes/No 62 10/52
Education Yes/No 62 52/10
Training for development
Yes/No 62 13/49
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CONCLUSION
This research paper is targeted in the career perception of the hotel management students of Siliguri Institute of Technology. The students has expressed that though the hotel job itself having lot of positive side, like attractive, interesting and lots of innovative things to learn everyday, but the students are also having more expectations regarding the improvement of the hotel environment and the other factors of the hotel industry. The students have diversified experience about the working conditions of their industrial training. Some of the infrastructures of the staff areas like staff lockers, cafeterias, etc also need some improvements that may inculcate employee satisfaction. According to their perception, some minor changes in the industry can be a positive factor of developing more and more interest in the students to join the hospitality sectors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The author recommend the students to perform their industrial training with full concentrations and to understand the working environment of the hospitality industry. They should take the industrial training as the learning platform and should try to gain as much experience as they can.
The author also recommend the hotels to treat the trainees not as substitute labours but should provide them the knowledge to make them more efficient and to provide the students a platform to learn skills.
AREA OF FURTHER RESEARCH
Like all research, the findings presented here have some limittions, the study is based on the sample of students located only in Siliguri area and are of Siliguri Institute of Technology and cannot be generalised in other parts of India. Limited papers were also available on the Indian hospitality issues so it is difficult for the Indian researchers to get more literature on the topic. Further studies with the students in other parts of India are required.
REFERENCE
1. Amit D. & Babita J. (2015) Industrial training and its consequences on the career perception
2. Barron P. (1997) An analysis of Austraia students' images of hospitality industry
3. Casado M. (1991) perceptions of corporate recruiters, alumni, and educators towards critical factors of hotel/restaurant management
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programme
4. Kusluvan S. (2003) Managing employee attitudes and behaviours in the tourism and hospitality industry
5. Ross, G.F. (1994) what do Australian school leavers want of the industry
6. Walo M. (1999) The latest win-win strategy in recruiting hotel staff
7. Hotel Front Office by Jatashankar R. Tiwari
8. Front Office Management by Sushil Kumar Bhatnagar
9. Front Office Training Manual by Sudhir Andrews
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Traditional food plants in West Bengal and its food value- A Study
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
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Md. IrfanAssistant ProfessorDepartment of Hotel Management & Catering Technology,Siliguri Institute of Technology, Darjeeling, West BengalEmail: [email protected]
Abstract: The motif of the paper is to explore the knowledge of traditional food plants of west Bengal and its benefits towards the health with their food value. It focuses on the culture in relation to the traditional food habit of the people of West Bengal with reference to their day to day food habit.The culture of West Bengal is considered to be one of the finest cultures in India and the people of West Bengal are popularly known as Bengali's speaking Bengali language. The state also considered as pioneer of cosmopolitan culture in the country. Over the year the West Bengal became a perfect blend of tradition and modern culture. The delicious Bengali cuisine also forms an important constituent of state culture. The culture also has its roots in Bengali music, cinema and literature. A distinct culinary tradition emerged in Bengal on the availability of traditional food plant and ingredients. The great river system, heat and humidity combine with the fertile soil to allow rice and abundance of vegetable to thrive; these become the corner stone of the diet. Leafy vegetable (Shak, Palta pata, Neem Pata), root vegetable (Man kochu, mukhi kochu), and edible flower of plant (Kumro fhool, Sajna fhool) grow in abundance.Food Plants play an important role to create the authenticity of Bengali Cuisine, and enhance the food value in relation to different essential nutritive, and also emphasize the culture of Bengal.Keywords: Bengali cuisine, traditional food plant, Bengali culture
Introduction:Bengal or Sonnar Bengala is geopolitical, culture and historical region in Asia, which is located in the eastern part of the India subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, and is made of the state West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. The people of Bengal grow rice, vegetable and fish is the fertile Ganges.
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The Bengal culinary tradition depends on the availability of local food plants and ingredients, rice, the staple of Bengalis since ancient times, has remained untouched by the currents of religious change and its preparation has held to a continuing high standard. One crop a year was sufficient to sustain the people, providing ample leisure time for the Bengalis to pursue cultural ideals: folklore, music, and the culinary arts.The 16th-century Mughal kings left their mark on the cooking of Northern India, which to this day is known as Mughalai cooking. With the introduction of Islam, Bengali Muslims adopted dishes such as kababs, koftas and biriyani from their Mughal conquerors. But the major portion of rural Bengali Hindu cuisine retained its original characteristics except that the use of onion and garlic became more popular.The European traders introduced food from the New World - potatoes, chillies, and tomatoes. Bengalis incorporated them into their diet, combining them with a variety of native ingredients creating new dishes. Spread of IslamThe Islamic influence came to Bengal a few hundred years after its arrival on the western borders of India. While the religion propagated in the populace, the region remained isolated from the political and religious centers of Muslim India. This meant that people retained many of their local customs and especially food habits.
Partition of BengalThe partition of India from the British in 1947 separated West Bengal from the present-day Bangladesh, causing a significant change in demographics. The newly formed West Bengal was a small state in India dominated by the mega city of Kolkata, which was already one of the largest cities in the world and about a quarter of the population of the state. Kolkata naturally came to dominate the food habits of the state. The culinary culture of undivided Bengal and the partition of Bengal have created a huge impact on the cooking style of Bengali cuisine. The large scale of religious displacement has lead to considerable exchange of food habits, cooking style, spices and ingredients resulting in a distinctive blend of Eastern (now Bangladesh) and Western part of Bengal.Amongst the high-caste Bengali Hindu, 'Bangaal' and 'Ghoti' are used as social sub group in the state. The “Ghoti” (people of West Bengal) and the “Bangaal” (people originated from East Bengal) as they are fondly called flaunt their cooking skill. Ghotis tend to prefer their dishes sweet while Bangaals use much more spices and green chillies then Ghotis and Bangal love their vegetables somewhat sweet.
Culinary Influences of Traditional Food Plants: Bengali food has some food plants which are play a significant role on Bengali food habit and food security and nutritional requirement of rural Bengali's daily diet. Since ancient time plants have been used in traditional Bengali cuisine and nowadays traditional food plants are being used in the
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daily diet to meet the daily requirement of nutritional property and in West Bengal most of the rural population depends on the food plants to meet their additional nutrient requirement. However, many of food plants are nutritionally important because their high vitamin, mineral and fibber content and they can be used by renowned chefs on their exotic food recipes to evolve the culinary trend of Bengali Cuisine.
Notable literature work survey has been done on wild edible plants of West Bengal ( Maji, et al, 1982; Jain et al, 1964; Das , 1999; Chowdhury et al, 2012; Biswas et al 2011; Bandyopadhyay et al, 2009; Tanmay Chowdhury et al 2014; but no such work has been done to popularize the different food plants of West Bengal and to bring the awareness about the benefit and nutritional value of these traditional edible plant. Daily use of these plants in diet will lead to complete the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of an individual. They also help to maintain the requirement of essential minerals and vitamins with other nutrients.
1. MethodsThe study is based on ethnographic field work. One to one discussion has been done with local people of different districts of West Bengal in reference to their traditional culture and food habits .Tried to find out the Importance on daily plates of local households of West Bengal. Meeting with people of different age group and tried to find out the general awareness of traditional food plants of different districts of West Bengal. The data were collected with standard literature of Tanmay Chowdhury, et al, 2014; and Mohammed Rahmatullah, et al, 2011. Physical questionnaires survey of local plants/vegetable markets (Haat/ Bazar) and meeting with individual sellers to identify their vernacular names, editable parts of different food plants and their traditional preparation.The aim of this study was to popularise the traditional food plant of Bengali Cuisine in the nation in reference to their food value and explore how food plants play an important role in Bengali culinary culture and investigate the nutritive value of some food plants like, Basella alba (Pui Shak), Nymphaea neuchali (Shapla), Hygrophila (Kulkhara), Drumstick Flower (Sajna Phool), Taro (Maan Kochu) etc (Table-1, 2, & 3). The wonder palnts has been collected from local people and market survey.
2. Result and Discussion:The food culture of West Bengal is evolving gradually and brings huge changes of food habits of west Bengal population. The present generation is fascinated about fast food which may not meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of an individual in reference to World Health Organization (WHO). The reference value for an average adult is 8,700 k.Cal/ day which an individual need for their daily activities. At the same time they need vitamins and minerals, which are very essential for bodies' metabolizing and nervous system.
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About 60% of population is suffering from deficiency of various kinds of vitamins and minerals which has been recognized as the cause of serious health problem. Deficiency of vitamins and minerals are quite common in the cosmopolitan population of West Bengal. To maintain a proper health of an individual/ adults have to ensure adequate intake of vitamins and minerals in daily diet to meet the RDA according to WHO.The study documented and categorizes the food plants on the basis of their edible parts (leaf & stem, roots, and flower). Traditional and most common food plants from different district of west Bengal are collected. Documentation has been done on the basis of their edible parts and their scientific name, family name, vernacular name, major nutrient content and their benefits on daily plate/ consumption.
1.1 Edible leaf and stem of food plants: The green fresh leaves and stems of the food plants are ideal for weight loss as they are typically low in calories. They are use full in reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease. They are low in fat, high in dietary fiber, and rich in folic acid, vitamin-C, B-complex vitamins, Vitamin- A, vitamin- E, manganese, phosphors, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and copper. Increment of one daily serving of green leafy and stem lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by 11%. Because of their high manganese content and low glycemic index, green leaf and stem are also valuable for person with type of diabetes. An increment of 1 serving/day of leafy vegetables can lower the risk of diabetes around 9%. The high level of vitamin-K in green makes the important production of ostecalcin (protein essential for bone health. Play an important role to protect the eye health, they protect against both cataract and age related macular degeneration, the major cause of blindness in the elderly. It may help to reduce the risk of certain type of cancer, such as breast and lung cancer, and may contribute to the prevention of heart diseases and stroke. There are 16 sixteen different type of food plants has been collected which are most common and easily available in the different district of West Bengal on the basis of their edible parts. (Table-1)
Table-1 on the basis of edible part (leaf and Stem) of the traditional food plants:
Serial
No.
Scientific
Name
Family
Name
Verna
-cular
Name
Edible
Parts
Major
Nutrients
Present
Benefits in Daily Plates
1
Amaranthus
Amaranthaceae
Note
Shak
Leaf,
Stem
Manganese,
Phosphorus,
Potassium,
Calcium
Provide Essential lysine;
help with hair loss and
graying, lower the
cholesterol and risk of
nnxcardiovascular disease,
full of antioxidants and
minerals, improve eyesight,
easy to digest.
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2
Amaranthus
Tricolor
Amaranthaceae
Lal
Shak
Leaf,
Stem
Protein,
Vitamin-A,
Vitamin-C,
Calcium,
Manganese,
Niacin
Provide Essential lysine;
help with hair loss and
graying, lower the
cholesterol and risk of
cardiovascular disease, full
of antioxidants and minerals,
improve eyesight, easy to
digest.3
Basella rubra L
Basellaceas
Pui
Shak
Leaf,
Stem
Vitamin-A,
B1 (thiamine),
B2
(riboflavin),
B6 (niacin),
and C,
Calcium, Iron,
Phosphorus,
Magnesium,
Potassium,
and Sodium.
Lower the risk of strokes
and heart attack, Play
essential role in
metabolizing mineral, full of
antioxidant activities, help to
treat the depression.
4
Metteuccia
Struthioresis
Dryoteridaceae
Dheki
Shak
Leaf,
Stem
Vitamin- B3,
C, Niacin
,Potassium,
carbohydrate,
fat, and
protein
Treats cancer, enhance
immunity, anti inflammatory
activity, maintain eye health,
prevent form bone disorder,
5
Corchorus
Olitorius
Tiliaceae
Pat
Shak
Leaf
Vitamin- K ,
Vitamin- B6,
Iron, Vitamin-
A, Vitamin-C,
and Major
Minerals
Help in maintaining internal
bleeding, protect eye health,
supports skin health and cell
growth, fight off cold and
flu, reduce cholesterol,
Maintain teeth and gum,
Prevent from asthma 6
Colocasia
escutenta
Araceae
Kochu
Loti
Stem,
Protein, Fat,
Carbohydrate,
Calcium, Iron,
Magnesium,
Phosphorus,
Potassium,
Sodium, Zinc,
Copper.
Control arthritis, Blood
Pressure, and heart health,
Increase immune power,
essential for control diabetes
health.
7 Rumex ocetara Polygonaceae Tok
Palong
Shak
Leaf Vitamin- C,
Vitamin-A,
Vitamin- B6,
Iron,
Magnesium,
Potassium,
Calcium and
trace amount
of protein
Boost eyesight, slow the
aging process, reduce,
certain skin infection,
strengthen the immune
system, Improve digestion,
build strong bones, Prevent
form cancer, lower the blood
pressure, increase appetite.
8 Enydra
Fluctuans
Asteraceae Leaf,
Stem
Helancha
Shak
Protein, Fat,
Carbohydrate,
Potassium,
Sodium,
Calcium,
Magnesium,
Copper.
An effective antibacterial
and antioxidant.
9 Musa
Acuminate/
Musa
Paradisiaceae
Musaceae Stem Thoar Carbohydrate,
Fat,
Potassium,
and Vitamin-
B6
Helps muscles and the
body’s production of
hemoglobin, help in weight
loss, beneficial to overall
health, help to prevent from
kidney stone formation.
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9
Musa
Acuminate/
Musa
Paradisiaceae
Musaceae
Stem
Thoar
Carbohydrate,
Fat,
Potassium,
and Vitamin-
B6
Helps muscles and the
body’s production of
hemoglobin, help in weight
loss, beneficial to overall
health, help to prevent from
kidney stone formation. 10
Amaranthus
Lividus
Amaranthaceae
Stem,
Leaf
Data
Shak
Protein,
Vitamin-A ,
Vitamin- C,
Vitamin – B2, -
Vitamin- B6,
Calcium, Iron,
Zinc, Copper.
Boast bone strength,
improve digestive system,
helps in lower the
cholesterol level, and also
helps in weight loss.
11
Ipomoea
aquatic forssk
Convolvulaceae
Leaf,
Stem
Kalmi
Shak
Good source
of
Carbohydrate,
Protein,
Vitamin- A,
Pantothenic
Acid (B6),
Vitamin- C,
Phosphorus
and
Potassium,
Iron.
Prevent from constipation,
act as anti poison, anti
diabetes, increase immunity,
maintain healthy vision and
good liver health.
12 Lagenaria
Siceraria
Cucurbitaceae Leaf,
Steam
Law
Shak
Vitamin C,
Zinc,
Potassium,
Vitamin- B6,
Vitamin- B5
Maintain skin health, lower
the risk of stroke, treat
cancer, prevent from cold
and flu, hormonal balance,
and maintain good heart
condition.13 Spinaciaolerace
a
Chenopodiaceae Leaf Palong
Shak
Carbohydrate,
Fate, Protein,
Calcium,
Vitamin- A,
Phosphorus,
Potassium,
Iron, Vitamin-
B1, Vitamin-
B5.
Increase apatite, improve
eyesight, treat macular
degeneration, provide
neurological benefit,
maintain blood pressure,
increase metabolism.
14 Nymphaea
mouchali
Nymphaeaceae Stem Shapla Carbohydrate,
Phosphorus,
Potassium,
Vitamin B1,
and trace
amount of
Protein.
Maintain strength in the
body, increase immune
system, helps in metabolism,
helps in maintain the bone.
15 Trichosanthes
Diocia
Cucurbitaceae Leaf,
Stem
Palta
Shak
Copper,
Vitamin- C,
Phosphorus,
Vitamin – B2, -
(Riboflavin),
Vitamin – B1,
(Thiamin),
Protein,
Carbohydrate,
Calcium,
Helps in blood Purifier,
reduce flu, improve
digestion, fight, with aging
facto, treat constipation,
control blood sugar and
cholesterol, help in weight
loss.
16 Azdirachta
indica
Meliaceae Leaf Neem
Pata
Protein,
carbohydrate,
calcium,
phosphorus,
Vitamin-C,
Iron,
Potassium
Purify the blood, prevent
damage cause by radicals in
the body, remove toxins,
treat insect bite, anti
bacterial properties, any kind
of skin problem.
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1.1. Edible roots of food plants:The most common root of plants is mentioned (Table-2) Maan Kachu, Mukhi Kachu and Oal. This is thick, tuber stalk of different edible plants extremely important for health of an average adult. In fact edible roots are considered one of the first cultivated plants in human history. Edible roots contain a wealth of organic compound, mineral, and vitamin that are essential for human health and can benefit overall health in a number of different ways. Root contain vary significant amount of dietary fiber, and carbohydrate, as weal high level of vitamin-A, vitamin-E, vitamin- B6 and folate (vitamin- B9) as well as magnesium, iron, zinc, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, and copper. The plant also provides some protein in diet, but the amount is almost negligible. As a mentioned (Table-2) root contains various antioxidant including beta-carotene and cryptoxanthin these antioxidants can help to improve vision. These roots contain vitamin-E, vitamin-A, which are essential vitamins to eliminate skin condition and boost overall cellular health. It has very high level of vitamin-C in each serving, which stimulates the immune system to create more white blood cells which defend the body from foreign pathogen and agents. The minerals content of roots has useful application, presence of iron and copper in roots make it very important food to prevent anemia and boost circulation through body. Iron and copper are both essential for the production of red blood cells which carry the all important oxygen of blood through the body. It helps to increase the metabolic activities, growth of new cells, and general oxygenation of the body, which result in the organs and system function at their optimal levels. The only major problem with roots it is extremely high in calorie content. Every 100gm contain 112 calories, which can be an issue for people to lose weight
Table-2 On the basis of edible part (roots) of traditional food plants:
Serial
No.
Scientific
Name
Family
Name
Verna
-cular
Name
Edible
Parts
Major
Nutrients
Present
Benefits in Daily Plates
1
Colocasia
esculenta
Araceae
Maan
Kachu
Roots
Carbohydrate,
Protein,
Vitamin-A,
Vitamin-C,
Vitamin-E,
Vitamin-K,
Niacin,
Sodium,
Potassium,
Calcium,
Copper,
Magnesium,
Zinc.
Lower risk of developing
diabetes, reduce risk of lung
and oral cancer, beneficial in
increasing cognitive
function, helps to prevent
anemia and boast blood
circulation, prevent excess
gas, bloating, cramping and
constipation, help to relieve
stress and pressure on blood
vessels, Boast vision, and
reduce risk of macular
degeneration of cataracts.
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2.3 Edible Flowers of food plants:The most common edible flower of food plants which are familiar almost with all the districts of West Bengal and has been documented in this study, Moringa flower (Sajna Phool), Banana flower (Moacha), Agathi flower (Bok Phool), Pumpkin flower (Kumro Phool) and major nutrient content and benefits in daily consumption. (Table-3)Moringa flower (Sajna Phool) contains vital amino acid and excellent source of calcium and potassium, which makes them a valuable supplement of nursing mothers. It is an excellent source of B-complex vitamins and vitamin- C and vitamin- A, beta-carotene, protein and manganese aside from other major nutrients. In Asian countries women consume it for healthy glowing skin and hair strengthening. It also act as natural blood purifier. Moringa flower are good source of folic acid, pyridoxine and riboflavin, which play a vital role in food digestion. Banana flower (Moacha) is rich in vitamin-C and vitamin-A, which include in the diet as the vegetable. The banana flower (Moacha) has ability to treat infection because it possesses ethanol flower which helps to prevent the pathogenic bacterial growth. Diabetic patients should consume banana flower either boiled or alone so that it helps to reduce the level of blood sugar and rise the hemoglobin in the body as it is rich in fiber and iron which assists red blood cell production. It increases progesterone which helps to reduce the excessive bleeding, as rich in fiber and nutrients helps in weight loss. Agathi flower ( Bok Phool) are large and out of the armpit leaves, which contain calcium, iron, sugar, vitamin-A, and vitamin-B-Complex, which are beneficial for bone building. It is also prevent from Alzheimer's disease and migraine. Pumpkin flower (Kumro Phool) are reach in vitamin-C 10.22%, vitamin- B9, (Folate) 4.75%, Vitamin –A, 4.57%, iron and phosphorus , high level presence of vitamin –C helps in bone formation and enhance the
immunity system. As pumpkin flower consist of huge amount of vitamin-B9 (Folate) which is essential for both sperm creation and proper functioning. Men with low intake of folate have been shown to often have sperm with defective chromosomal structure. Increasing dietary folate help to improve sperm quality and assist with infertility problem.
Table-3 On the basis of edible part (flower) of traditional plants:
CONCLUSION: The traditional food plants of West Bengal have its importance in daily diet of an individual. As far as the food habit of West Bengal and India is concerned, these plants add to the daily RDA requirement of maximum population in the country. Bengali food plants are major source of vitamin and minerals and play an essential role in fulfilling the RDA of rural population of the state. The researcher found that the cosmopolitan population of state and our nation is unaware of the remarkable benefits of these edible parts of food plants. Different diseases
Serial
No.
Scientific
Name
Family
Name
Verna-
cular
Name
Edible
Parts
Major
Nutrients
Present
Benefits in Daily Plates
1
Moringa
Oleigera
Moringaceae
Sajna
Phool
Flower/
Blossom
Protein,
Vitamin-A,
Vitamin-C
Vitamin-B6,
Vitamin-B1,
Vitamin-B2,
Calcium, Iron,
Copper,
Manganese,
Zinc,
Selenium,
Magnesium.
Anti oxidant ,mucosal
repair, maintenance of skin,
integrity, improve vision and
immunity, co -enzymes in
carbohydrate, protein and fat
metabolism, maintenance of
hair growth,
2
Musa
acuminate
Musaceae
Moacha
Phool
Blossom/
Flower
Manganese,
Copper, Iron,
Potassium,
Vitamin-
E
Curing the infection,
Overcoming diabetes and
anemia, improves lactation,
improve menstrual problem
and weight loss, anti ageing,
and helps to heal the
wounds.
3
Sesbania
grandiflora
Fabaceae
Bok
Phool
Blossom/
Flower
Protein,
calcium,
phosphorus,
Iron,
Vitamin-C,
Selenium,
Vitamin-B1
thiamine
Help in building strong
bones, lower blood pressure
and help in keeping arteries
flexible, supports normal
fetal development, beneficial
for skin, prevents
Alzheimer’s disease and
migraine. 4 Cucurbita
moschata
Ducherne Cucurbitaceae
Kumro
Phool
Blossom/
Flower
Vitamin-C,
Vitamin-B9
(Folate),
Vitamin-A,
Iron,
Phosphorus
Bone formation, Enhances
immunity, Treat the
common cold, helps in male
infertility, ensure healthy
eye.
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can be prevented as well as cured with the help of these most neglected wonder plants. The popularization of these plants will help the cosmopolitan population of the country against health hazards. The renowned chefs in the country may add these food plants in some innovative recipes to further popularize them among the urban population. Further research can be done in the line of creating innovative recipes, which can be very delicious, keeping the nutritional value of the plants intact.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:The author grateful to the department of Business Administration, Siliguri Institute of Technology. Author also thankful to Prof. Santanu Dasgupta, School of Hospitality and culinary Art, The Neotia University of suggestion and encouragement.
REFERENCES:Satter. M.M.A, Khan. M.M.R.L, Jabin, S.A, Abedin. N, Islam.M.F, and Shaha. B, (2015), Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 6 (2): 125-131.
Jennings et al. (2014) “Food, home and health: the meanings of food amongst Bengali Women in London”, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 10:44 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/10/1/44
Chowdhyry. T, Roy. S. C and Sarker. S.D, (2014), Wild Edible Plants of Uttar Dinajpur District, West Bengal, (2014), Life Sciences Leaflets, International and open access print and journal, 47: 20-36
Banerjee. A, Muherjee. A, Sinhababu. A, (2013) Ethno botanical Documentation of Some Wild Edible Plants in Bankura District, West Bengal, India, The Journal of Ethnobiology and Traditional Medicine, Photon 120: 585-590.
Biswas, P. and Mondal, S. 2012. Ethnobotanical investigation of wild edible plants of Arambagh Sub- division of Hooghly district, West Bengal, India. Life Sciences Leaflets, 8: 54-61.
Chowdhury, M. and Mukherjee, R. 2012. Wild edible plants consumed by local communities of Maldah district of West Bengal, India. Indian J Sci Res, 3(2): 163-170.
Biswas, P., Pal J. K. and Mondal, S. 2011. Diversity, productivity and uses of non- cultivated wild edible plants of the District South Dinajpur, West Bengal. Wesleyan Journal of Research, 4(2): 6-19.
Rahmatullah. M, Ishika. T, Rahman. M, Swarna. A, Khan. T, Monalisa. M.N, Seraj.S, Moin Mou. S, Jumrut Mahal. M and Biswas. K. R (2011), American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 5(3): 325-331.
Bandyopadhyay, S. and Mukherjee, S. K. 2009. Wild edible plants of Koch Bihar district, West Bengal. Natural Product Radiance, 8(1): 64-72
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Workplace stress: some essentials revealed in health care sector in kolkata
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Soumi DasAssistant Professor, Techno India College of Technology, KolkataE-mail: [email protected]
Urvashi BanerjeeAssistant Professor, Techno India College of Technology, KolkataE-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract:
Stress management is a very dynamic concept under human resource management. Job stress is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses which are occurred when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the workers. Stress in medical practice has always been a topical issue. This is because medical service involves taking care of other peoples' live, so mistakes or errors could be costly and sometimes irreversible. It is thus expected that the health care professionals must be in a perfect state of mind. If health care providers are not in perfect state of mind then desired goals and targets will not be achieved by the system. Since health care system is unique in the sense that they are not just employees in the healthcare industry but the provider of quality services with much needed human touch, so managing stress of health care providers are very crucial under this juncture. This paper will help to know about the perception of health care providers related to stressors in work place and in this paper we are trying to find out the most influencing factors of stress and their effects on employees.
Key words: health care, job stress, stress factors, employees, health services etc.
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Introduction
Healthcare has become one of India's largest sectors - both in terms of revenue and employment. Healthcare comprises hospitals, patient's care, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment. The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well as private players. Massive transformation has taken place in the health care industry in India. As new health care reforms are implemented and standards are revised, the demand for continuous quality improvement will also continue to rise. Especially after economic liberalization the health care system has become more competitive in terms of quality health services to patients, modernization of hospital infrastructure, application of technology and uses of more modern medical gazettes and equipments. Organizations are social system where human resources are most important factors for effectiveness and efficiency. Organizations cannot be succeeding without their employees efforts. Job stress is referred to as the non specific negative responses of the body in the work place. Stress can be generally defined undue, inappropriate or exaggerated responses to a situation; stress is always negative with attending adverse psychological and physiological changes leading to decrease productivity, disease and sometimes death. According to management standards (2010) employee stress is an external organization factor or stimulus that causes physical or emotional or even mental discomfort for an employee in an organization. The management standard defines work demand as all factors related to employee's workload, work design patterns and the environment where they are working. Since these can have significant effects on their mental and physical well being. Stress also may harm professional effectiveness. It decreases attention, reduces concentration, reduces decision making skills and health care provider's abilities to establish strong relationships with patients. Stress also may have to increase burnout which is defined as a syndrome of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and absence of low personal accomplishment. Increased levels of job stress as assessed by the perception of having little control but lots of demands have been demonstrated to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders. The amount of stress a person experiences at work is likely to be a result of the interaction of a number of factors such as the type of work they are doing (their occupation), the presence of work stressors, the amount of support they receive both at work and at home and the coping mechanisms they use to deal with stress. Different occupations will have different basic stressors, for example, the threat of violence, lack of control over work decisions or long working hours. However, people working in the same occupation will experience different levels of stress due to the interplay of many other factors, for example, their personality type and the support mechanisms they
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have available to them. It is not possible therefore, to say that all people working in a certain occupation will experience the same amount of stress. Different occupations will have different basic stressors, Fifty-seven per cent of workers in the corporate sector in India reported an increase in stress over the last two years, a survey has said over 11,000 corporate across 13 countries, 58 per cent companies worldwide experienced an appreciable rise in their workplace stress over the last two years, according to a survey by workplace solutions provider Regus plc. The survey asked more than 11,000 respondents about their experience in the workplace during tough economic times. It found that Indian workers experienced a slightly lower rise in stress than their international counterparts, with 57 per cent reporting that their levels of stress have grown “higher” or “much higher” over the past two years. .A Regus statement said a study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations found that India's rapid economic expansion has boosted corporate profits and employee incomes, but has also sparked a surge in workplace stress and lifestyle diseases that few Indian companies have addressed. Health care providers have higher stress levels and complaints than employees of any industry, including the professional, business service, and retail sectors, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. According to the survey, more than half of health care workers say their workloads increased over the past year. Moreover, 25% of medical personnel plan to switch jobs in the coming year, the survey found.Cooper and Marshall's five sources of stress with example of components are as follows I. Intrinsic to the job, including factors such as poor physical working conditions, working environment, work overload and time pressure, II. Role in the organization which includes role ambiguity and role conflicts, III. Career development which includes lack of job security & under/over promotion, IV. Relationship at work including poor relationship with boss or colleagues and organizational structure and climate, including little involvement of decision making & office politics. Generally, a health worker will be motivated and express job satisfaction if they are stress free and he will perform well at their job. So workplace stress is very important under this juncture. In this paper we are trying to find out the most influencing stress factors among the health care professionals in the hospital industry and the determinants which influence a lot the health care employees and its effects. For conducting this study we have selected two large size hospitals in Kolkata. Data are taken from those two hospitals.
Objective of the study
In this paper we are trying to find out the workplace stress related perception among health care professionals.To highlight five most influencing workplace stress factors and how much they are probable/workable on health care employees.
Literature Review
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Paul A. Landsbergis (1998) depicted in his study that Models of occupational stress have often is not able to make explicit the variable of control over the environment, as well as the role of job socialization in shaping personality characteristics and coping behaviors. This neglect has helped maintain the focus of stress reduction interventions on the individual. The survey instrument also identified high strain job titles in the surveyed workplaces. The results are discussed in relation to directions for future research, research on stress in Nursing and approaches to stress reduction. Johnson Sheena and Cooper Cary (2005), in his study compared the experience of occupational stress across a large and diverse set of occupations. Three stress related variables (psychological well-being, physical health and job satisfaction) are discussed and comparisons are made between 26 different occupations on each of these measures. The relationship between physical and psychological stress and job satisfaction at an occupational level is also explored.Richardson M. Katherine & Rothstein R. Hannah (2007) were conducted to determine the effectiveness of stress management interventions in occupational settings. Thirty-six experimental studies were included, representing 55 interventions. Interventions were coded as cognitive– behavioral, relaxation, organizational, multimodal, or alternative. Analyses based on these subgroups suggested that intervention type played a moderating role. Cognitive– behavioral programs consistently produced larger effects than other types of interventions, but if additional treatment components were added the effect was reduced. Within the sample of studies, relaxation interventions were most frequently used, and organizational interventions continued to be scarce. Effects were based mainly on psychological outcome variables, as opposed to physiological or organizational measures. The examination of additional moderators such as treatment length, outcome variable, and occupation did not reveal significant variations in effect size by intervention type. Andrew McVicar(2003) identified nurses' perceptions of workplace stress, consider the potential effectiveness of initiatives to reduce distress, Workload, leadership/management style, professional conflict and emotional cost of caring have been the main sources of distress for nurses for many years, but there is disagreement as to the magnitude of their impact. Lack of reward and shift working may also now be displacing some of the other issues in order of Ranking. Organizational interventions are targeted at most but not all of these sources, and their effectiveness is likely to be limited, at least in the short to medium term. Individuals must be supported better, but this is hindered by lack of understanding of how sources of stress vary between different practice areas, lack of Predictive power of assessment tools, and a lack of understanding of how personal and workplace factors interact. Richardson Katherine M. Rothstein Hannah R.(2008) conducted the study to determine the effectiveness of stress management interventions in occupational settings. Thirty-six experimental studies were included,
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representing 55 interventions. Interventions were coded as cognitive– behavioral, relaxation, organizational, multimodal, or alternative. Analyses based on these subgroups suggested that intervention type played a moderating role. Cognitive– behavioral programs consistently produced larger effects than other types of interventions, but if additional treatment components were added the effect was reduced. Susmita Halder & Mahato Akash Kumar(2013),their study aims to explore and assess psychological well being and stress levels among health care Professionals in Kolkata. Majority of the subjects had evidence of psychological distress. Deshpande Bharati(2014) revealed there is a significant difference between stress level in male and female. Stress is more in age group less than 25 yrs of age due to under participation, low status. In male due to inter personal stressors, job stressors where is female it due to under participation and powerlessness. Stress also varies with location. There is significant difference in the behavioral and psychological consequences of stress in male and female managers. There is a significant difference in physical consequences but no significant difference in behavior and psychological consequence of stress in Mumbai and Bangalore.Bushara Bano and Rajiv Kumar Jha(2012) studied the differences in job-related stress, if any, between public and private sector employees, based on ten role stressors. It also examines the role of demographic variables on the stress levels of both public and private sector groups in Uttarpradesh, india. Basu Mukherjee Sushmita (2015) in her study showed that the nature and distribution of Organizational Role Stress Scale Scores revealed dissimilarities among the four sample groups, and moderate level of organizational role stress was the general characteristic feature of the managers. Some components for organizational role stress in organization showed reportable variation with rank position (senior/junior) of the managers in Kolkata. Marine A, Ruotsalainen J, Serra C, Verbeek J(2006) evaluated the effectiveness of work and person-directed interventions in preventing stress at work in healthcare workers. And compare the effectiveness of different kinds of interventions in preventing stress in healthcare workers. Sankpal, Shilpa; Negi, Pushpa; Vashishtha, Jeetendra(2010) studied to examine organizational role stress of employees of public and private banks. The study was conducted in Gwalior city and a sample of 100 bank employees is used for data collection -. The data collected was subjected to analysis through z-test for comparing between the employees of public and private sector banks. Overall 11 hypotheses were tested. Not only was the data compared in the entirety, it was also compared on the basis of inter role distance, role stagnation, role expectation conflict, role erosion, role overload, role isolation, personal inadequacy, self role distance, role ambiguity and resource inadequacy. Mohsin Aziz(2004) in his paper investigated the intensity of organizational role stress among women informational technology professionals in the Indian private sector. Organizational role stress scale is used on a sample of 264 to explore the level of role stress. Resource inadequacy has emerged as the most potent role stressor, followed by role overload and personal
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inadequacy. The research found differences in the level of stress between married and unmarried employees on several role stressors. However, level of education does not emerge as a significant differentiator of stressors. R. Murray- Gibbons, C. Gibbons, (2007) considered the occupational stress experienced by chefs and the moderating influence of coping behavior and locus of control on stress outcomes. The reported stress was markedly higher than in previous research. Excessive workload, feeling undervalued and communication issues were common and bullying and threats of violence were present for some. Unexpectedly, locus of control was unable to predict stress experiences. According to the Hindu Business Line (2016) health care sector in India is the most discussed topic these days and are center on its problems: spiraling costs, lack of access and disparate quality. Therefore, the new Government's 10- point agenda which included healthcare and education reform as one of the top-five issues on it reflects a positive trend. It was, indeed, an encouraging start to a healthier tomorrow. There is ample conclusive evidence world over to prove that improved health leads to better economic performance and prosperity. The healthcare industry's growth rate is twice that of India's and it is adding jobs faster than other sectors. As per statistics, every hospital bed adds direct employment for five people and indirect employment for twenty-five and with the right impetus, healthcare in India could well become the engine for employment in India.
Research Methodology
This part of our paper is designed by the help of primary data. We have collected data from two giant hospitals in Kolkata. Fifty employees are taken randomly. Study populations are Admin executives, coordinator, managers (patient service), supervisor, technicians, Pharmacist, Lab Assistant, medical staffs etc as much as possible. Health care employees who have more than 2 years of experiences they are included. Sample includes both male and female employees whose age limit between 20 to 40 years.
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The respondents are male and female both. Among them 64% are male and 44% are female.
Sample Size: 50
Methods of data collection:
Primary: · Question naire, · Face to face interview
Data analyzing tools:
We use descriptive statistics like pie charts for data analysis. Descriptive statistics are statistics that quantitatively describe or summarize features of a collection of information. Descriptive statistics are distinguished from inferential statistics (or inductive statistics), in that descriptive statistics aim to summarize a sample, rather than use the data to learn about the population that the sample of data is thought to represent. This generally means that descriptive statistics, unlike inferential statistics, are not developed on the basis of probability theory. Even when a data analysis draws its main conclusions using inferential statistics, descriptive statistics are generally also presented. For example in papers reporting on human subjects, typically a table is included giving the overall sample size, sample sizes in important subgroups (e.g., for each treatment or exposure group), and demographic or clinical characteristics such as the average age, the proportion of subjects of each sex, etc. Here we use descriptive statistics tools or pie charts to analysis the views regarding stress of health care employees.
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And all the five factors of stress such as remuneration & benefits, incentives & bonus, working condition, job insecurity, heavy work load are equally probable on employees or not, for testing this hypothesis we use chi-square test.chi square test is a statistical method assessing the goodness of fit between a set of observed values and those expected theoretically. A chi-squared test, also written as ÷2 test, is any statistical hypothesis test wherein the sampling distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared distribution when the null hypothesis is true. Without other qualification, 'chi-squared test' often is used as short for test. Chi-squared tests are often constructed from a sum of squared errors, or through the sample variance. Test statistics that follow a chi-squared distribution arise from an assumption of independent normally distributed data, which is valid in many cases due to the central limit theorem. A chi-squared test can be used to attempt rejection of the null hypothesis that the data are independent. Also considered a chi-squared test is a test in which this is asymptotically true, meaning that the sampling distribution (if the null hypothesis is true) can be made to approximate a chi-squared distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size large enough. The chi-squared test is used to determine whether there is a significant difference between the expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in one or more categories. So to find out the effectiveness of stressors on health care employees we have done chi square test.
Some empirical evidences
This pie chart is made on the basis of stress factors among the employees of two hospitals. Majority says that their reason for stress are job insecurity (30%),remuneration, pay & perks(24%).And few employees are saying incentives & bonus(18%), working condition(16%),heavy work load (12%), these are their stress factors.
This pie diagram implies that most of the employees (64%) have taken leave due to increase of stress in last 6 months and the rest of the employees (36%) they don't.
From the above diagram we can say majority of the employees are somewhat satisfied (44%) with the effective handling of stress by management, few employees (30%) their satisfaction level is very low. and very few of them (20%) agree with effective handling of stress by management. these employees are very much satisfied.
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From the above study have revealed the job stress level in workplace. The employees of health sector are rating their stress level by mild , moderate and extreme. And the pie chart implies 54% more than half of sample size are facing extreme level of job stress, 32% facing moderate and the rest 12 % employees are facing mild.
We can say that if there is stress in workplace there must be exit exhaustion, tiredness. And our statistics has revealed that near about half 48% are feeling exhausted, tired or fatigued some of the time during work session and 32% most of the time and only 20% are staying out of this.
From the above descriptive statistics it implies that majority (56%) are saying that they are losing a clear perspective on work or life due workplace stress which can create problem to their work life and personal life.. 32% are somewhat agree with that and rest of them 12 % are saying they don't face any problem regarding this.Apart from that the above five stress factors (remuneration & benefits, incentives& bonus, working conditions, job insecurity and heavy work load) are equally effective or not on the health care providers, to find out this we have done a chi-square test.
Hypothesis testing,
Ho : All the stress factors have the equal effects on employees.
H1 : All the stress factors have not the equal effects on the employees.
So, the degree of freedom is d.f (n-1) = (5-1) = 495% confidence interval 5% level of significance, ÷2 (d.f.4) =9.49 (From Table)9.49 > 5.00, calculated value is small than tabulated value.So, Ho is accepted.We can say the entire stress factor have the equal effect on employees.
Findings and Conclusion
A key source of competitive advantage of an organization is the quality and strength of its human resources. Stress is the concept that has sustained the interest of health care employees and researchers for several decades. These concepts are highly relevant to the workforce in general. Healthcare employees provide the mental and physical human effort that supports their organizations to provide services. Hospitals as modern organizations must do everything possible to ensure that employees related stress that has impact on employee's productivity. Most of the employees believed that stress is caused by the load of work they handle each day, the pattern of work and its design, as well as the work environment. This study helps to find out the most influencing stress factors in health care sector. And from the above study we can draw a result through descriptive statistics such as pie charts. Highest numbers of employees of health care sectors are saying that their stress factor is job insecurity. And besides them many employees are agreeing with the remuneration, incentives & bonus system which are their reason of stress. Very few say the reason of stress is working condition and work overload. The employees of health sector are not very much satisfied with the effective handling of stress by the management system, they are somewhat satisfied, so management of these hospitals should take care of this matter as they are not just employees but the provider of quality health services with much needed human touch. Here service quality is directly related with the patient care. And due to increase of stress in the work place absences are also increased by them. And this is not good for the organization as because absence of employees may effect on productivity. It may create a barrier for the smooth running of the hospital units and achieving the goal by the health care system. In this paper we have discussed about five stress factors of health care employees these are remuneration & benefits, incentives & bonus, working condition, job insecurity and over load of work. And to find out that all the stress factors have the equal effect on employees or not in the work place we have done here a chi-square test. And we have revealed by this hypothesis testing that all these five factors are equally probable on employees of hospital sectors. Human resources are very critical resources of every organization, making them satisfied organization can achieve the goal. So stress free environment is very much needed in this case, if the employees are stress free they can give satisfactory level of effort to their work which helps to create a positive impact on health care providers and health care sector also.
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Limitations and scope of the study
This study has attempted to deliver into some of the important issues on stress in health sector in Kolkata. However it is admitted that there are some limitations in the conduct of this study. Due to shortage of time we are not able to collect large sample size and non-availability of time on the part of the employees leads to a small sample size also. Also not all the employees are participative in the survey or are willing to express their views due to either fear of being exposed or lack of interest. And stress management is a large concept it is not possible to conduct all the sphere of stress into one article, besides these five there are so many stress factors which are workable in human mind And we have made the study on the basis of two hospitals only where there are many larger size well known and recognized hospitals in Kolkata. So it will be better to collect data from those health care units that help to distinguish the employees' views from one another related to other factors. So the survey on the stress of the employees of health care sector can be further undertaken in Kolkata.
References
Arthur, A. R. (2000). Employee assistance programmes: The emperor's new clothes of stress management? British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 28, 549–559.
Atkinson, W. (2004). Stress: Risk management's most serious challenge? Risk Management, 51(6), 20–24
§ Arnetz Judith E. and Arnetz Bengt B.(2001) Violence towards health care staff and possible effects on the quality of patient care, Social Science and Medicine 52 (2001) 417±427
§ Baba Irfana (2012). Workplace Stress Among Doctors In GovernmentT Hospitals: an empirical study, International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol.2 Issue 5, May 2012, ISSN 2231 5780.
§ Bano Bushara and Jha Rajiv Kumar(2012). Organizational Role Stress Among Public and Private Sector Employees: A Comparative Study, The Lahore Journal of Business 1:1 (Summer 2012): pp. 23–36.
· Baker, D. B. (1985).'The study of stress at work', Annual Review of Public Health, 6, 367-381.
· Bates, E. M. and Moore, B. N. (1975). 'Stress in hospital personnel', Medical Journal of Australia, 2,765-767.
§ Chaudhary, A. (1990). A study of the relationship between job
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satisfaction and role stress of bank officers. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Rajasthan, India. § Cooper, C. L., & Marshall, J. (1976). Occupational sources of stress: A review of the literature relating to coronary heart disease and mental ill-health. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 49(1), 11–28.
· Clark, C., Donovan, E. F., & Schoettker, P. (2006). From outdated to updated, keeping clinical guidelines valid. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 18,165–166.
· Chesney, M. A. and Rosenman, R. H. (1980). 'Type A behaviour in the work setting'. In Cooper, C. L. and Payne, R. (Eds) Current Concerns in Occupational Stress, Wiley, London, pp. 187-212.
· Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Jr., Van Harrison, R. and Pinneau, S. R., Jr. (1975). Job Demands and Worker Health (Publication No. 75-168), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio.
· Caplan, R. D. (1983). 'Person-environment fit: Past, present and future', hin: Cooper, C. L., (Ed.) Stress Research, Wiley, London, pp. 35-78.
· Davidson, M. J. and Cooper, C. L. (1981). 'A model of occupational stress', Journal of Occupational Medicine, 23(8), 564-574.
· DeClercq, N. (1985). 'Workers compensation, job stress and mental injury', Labor Studies Journal, 9, 279-292.
· Frankenhauser, M. (1980). 'Psychoneuroendocrine approaches to the study of stressful person-environment transactions'. In: Selye, H. (Ed.) SelyeS Guide to stress Research, Van Nostrand ~ e i i h o l dN, ew York, pp.46-70.
· Henry, J. P. and Stephens, P. M. (1977). Stress, Health and the Social Environment: A Sociobiologic Approach to Medicine, Springer-Verlag, New York.
· Hoiberg, A. (1982). 'Occupational stress and illness incidence', Journal of Occupational Medicine, 24,445-45 1.
· Johnson Sheena , Cooper Cary, Millet Clare, Journal of Managerial PsychologyVol. 20 No. 2, 2005 pp. 178-187
· Landsbergis, P. A. (1986). 'Occupational stress among health care workers: A test of the job strain model'. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
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Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
· Landsbergis Paul A. Occupational Stress among Health Care Workers: A Test of the Job Demands --Control Model, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 9, No. 3. (Jul., 1988), pp. 217-239.
Martin, E. V. (1984). 'Job stress -labor and management issues'. In: Cohen, B. G. F. (Ed.) Human Aspects in Office Automation, Elsevier, New York.
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A Secondary Study on Information Technology Applications in the Retail Sector
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Dr. Shuvendu DeyAssistant Professor, Dept. of Business Administration, Siliguri Institute of TechnologyE-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Santana GuhaAssistant Professor, Dept. of Business Administration, Siliguri Institute of TechnologyE-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The importance of the impact of information technology, popularly termed as IT, for organizations around the world, especially in light of a very slow recovery from the global financial crisis, has amplified the need to provide a better understanding of the IT managerial and technical trends. The increased deployment of IT is creating new opportunities and challenges for retailers. The line between online and physical channels is getting blurred aimed at delivering a seamless customer experience regardless of the channel. IT not only improves the process of the enterprise, but also affects the business relationship with customers. IT includes among others such solutions as RFID, Kiosk Stores with Touch Screen, Electronic Shelf Labeling, and the Mobile Shopping System etc. Today's retailers need to enhance their IT capabilities because they are facing ever increasing competition poised to reach global level in India with the allowing of FDI in this sector. Further, consumer expectations have sharply increased demanding better and enhanced service. The retailers need to gear up to meet the expectations. On the other hand, technology, in form of both hardware and software tools, is also evolving rapidly to meet this challenge.
Key Words: Information technology, Trend, Retailer, Customer, Service, Challenge
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Introduction:
The retail business has been around since the dawn of civilization. In the beginning was the general shop to cater the necessities of the people of local community. Societies advanced leading to expanded cities. Simultaneously, innovation in information technologies offered a possibility of implementing a great number of ground-breaking solutions in retail. These solutions aim to increase the efficacy of a retail enterprise and improve customer service. Information technologies can be applied to various areas of retail operation e.g. supplies, stock control, logistics, customer service, back-end operations etc. (Reinartz, 2011). It is increasingly being felt that retailers have to bolster their IT capabilities to increase the company's ability to face a rapidly changing market, to analyze customer data and to augment differentiation, and to run the business more efficiently, retailers need to have systems working across stores to ensure the effective use of products and to support optimized business process. Information technology is an amalgamation of people, hardware, software, communication devices, networks and data resources that processes data and information for a specific purpose.
Advancements in information technologies offer a possibility of implementing a great number of innovative solutions in retail and are relentlessly altering competitive dynamics in the market place. These solutions aim to increase the effectiveness of a retail enterprise and improve customer service. Information technologies may be applied to different areas of operations of a retail enterprise, for example supplies, stock control, logistics, customer service. Some of them are used for back-room operations, others are available for customers in a salesroom. The paper aims to discuss selected solutions based on information technologies used in retail.
Review of Literature:
The modern information solutions are finding ever increasing application in the retail sector. These are used in different parts of the organization mainly to improve the performance of an enterprise and for more efficient customer service. In addition to improving the process in business enterprise, Information technology also affects the relationship with customers (Kucharska, 2013). But, most retailers remain oblivious of substantial benefits of leveraging IT into their operations. They do not have a proper road map on the types of products and services available in the changing scenario of the IT industry in a broader sense, and in the emerging areas of the data mining, data warehousing, and supply chain management in
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particular (Rao, 2000). Basically, Information technology is needed in retailing for garnering Product Information (Availability, supply, demand, new launches etc.), Operating Information (inventory, shelf space, procurement, logistics etc.) and Customer Information (details, preference, activities, distribution etc.). As the retail industry has become more global in its procurement and marketing operations it requires greater use of information technology to reduce the time and distance barriers (Dominguez-Péry, Ageron and Neubert, 2013). Commercialization of information technologies has happened in a short span of time and the performance and price of new information technologies is making them more affordable and useful to the organization. Information technologies are highly integrated and, with the introduction of end to end digital technologies it is possible to transmit, store, process and distribute myriad forms of information on a single integrated technology. Increased Competition is forcing the retailers to become more efficient and effective and gain competitive advantage through the use of information technology. This in turn is reducing operating costs through automation, improving the product or service quality by providing quality assurance and quality assurance with product differentiation.
Again, business leaders and economists are continually engaged in the process of trying to forecast, or predict, the future of business in the economy. Modern demand forecasting systems provide new opportunities to improve retail performance. The new approach to demand forecasting in retail will add to the precision of future plans, the overall competence and profitability of retail operations (Seshanna, 2015). Inventory can include raw materials, finished goods, finished items for sale or goods in the process of being manufactured, and in order to optimize the effectiveness of retail outlets, retailers need to manage the uncertainties and complexities across other supply chain on regular basis. Information technology makes it easier for retailers to improve their inventory forecasting ability and to lay down achievable inventory targets. Information technology is useful for store management systems that give alerts to stock-out items. Store systems are types of marketing systems that use business process information systems to raise and transform the retail shopping experience of a shopper in both store-based and online shopping environment (Kumar and Dange, 2014). The share of retail sales transformed over e-commerce and mobile phone as well as smart phone channels is expanding as Omni-channel touch points become more convenient and easy to access by shoppers (Roggeveen et al, 2017) denoting or relating to a type of retail which integrates the different methods of shopping available to consumers (e.g. online, in a physical shop, or by phone).
Nowadays store front or inside store operations are greatly supported by Store Front Technologies that consist of Point of Sale Terminals, Payment Applications, Radio Frequency Identification, Smart Operating System,
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Surveillance Cameras, Customer Relationship Management Applications etc. The Retail storeback or backend technologies involves technologies for backend operations of a retail that include Time and Attendance Tracker, Real Time Stock Locator, Computer Based Training, Auto Replenishment and Store Orders, Personnel Management, Store Warehouse Management, Enterprise Resource Planning and Logistics Management. Retailers are increasingly drawing on digital technology to boost the shopping experience of the shoppers by empowering shop floor personnel in providing customer service inside a store. Digital shopping kiosks present opportunity to order the variety, assortment and consistency of products that is not displayed at the store when the shopper searches for it (Raj and Rajasekaran, 2013). Digital or interactive kiosks offer incomparable online shopping access to the shopper to accomplish the shopping visit and free frontline retail shop floor sales associates to attend to other shoppers' needs and wishes. Side by side, shoppers can make use of kiosks to gain more knowledge of merchandise and seek out solutions. The Personal Shopping Assistant (PSA) is a touch screen equipped tablet personal computer with built-in wireless connectivity to support in-store mobility of the shopper. The PSA is portable and its integrated keyboard technology allows consumers to fasten the PSA on top of their shopping cart and move around the store. PSA facilitated shopping is a highly cost-effective method of providing personalized customer service in the store as this shopping device allows shoppers the liberty of shopping with the handiness of personalized digital assistance (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2014).
Conclusion:
As the scope of retailing further expands and more retail firms globalize, they face new challenges. Application of Information technologies in retailing is an imperative in order to transform these challenges into opportunities and successfully compete, particularly in mature markets and less developed markets. Technology is an indispensible part for the modern retail to grow. Even the traditional retailers are adopting technology for rapid evolution of retail and for demanding consumers. Retailers are also engaging with shoppers more actively and customer service is a domain where retailers are evolving varying stages of maturity: Store interaction, online channel and social media channels. These are used in many different areas of enterprise mainly to improve the functioning of enterprise, offer customization, management of information and more efficient customer service. Information technology can not only improve the processes in the enterprise but also affect the business relationship with the customers. Information technologies include among others such solutions as RFID, the mobile Shopping System, kiosks stores with touch screen, Electronic Shelf Labeling.
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References:
Kucharska, B. (2013). Information Technology in Retail Trade. Studia Ekonomiczne, 150, 109-119.
Rao, B. P. (2000). Improving retail effectiveness through technology: a survey of analytical tools for physical and on-line retailers, Technology in Society, 22(1), 111-122.
Khurana, A. (2009). Information Technology for Retailing. Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited.
Dominguez-Péry, C., Ageron, B., & Neubert, G. (2013). A service science framework to enhance value creation in service innovation projects. An RFID case study. International Journal of Production Economics, 141(2), 440-451.
Piotrowicz, W., & Cuthbertson, R. (2014). Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(4), 5-16.
Roggeveen, A., Grewal, D., Toldos, M. D. L. P., González, E. M., Valdez, A., Franco, A., & Ordenes, F. V. (2017). The Role of In-Store and Online Retailing Factors in Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing Trends (pp. 553-557). Springer, Cham.
Kumar, V., & Dange, U. (2014). E-retailing in India-A study of consumers' Internet usage pattern, their profile and their shopping pattern, Sept. 2014, a v a i l a b l e a t https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2518295accessed on 27.01.2017
Reinartz, W., Dellaert, B., Krafft, M., Kumar, V., & Varadarajan, R. (2011). Retailing innovations in a globalizing retail market environment, Journal of Retailing, 87, S53-S66.
Seshanna, S. (2015). Retail Management. McGraw-Hill Education, New Delhi.
Raj, N. A & Rajasekaran. B (2013). RFID in Retail Industry, International Journal of Retailing and Rural Business Perspectives, (2), 419
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Demonetization: Building Cashless India or Castles in the Air!
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Dr. Sujit Kumar GhoshAssociate ProfessorDepartment of CommerceUmeschandra College, KolkataE-mail [email protected]
Driven by the objective of cleansing corruption and sweeping black money out from the formal economic system of India, the Government of India demonetized 1000 rupee and 500 rupee note on 8th November 2016 at meteoric suddenness. While its unpredictive appearance was spearheaded to burn the parallel black economy, its sustenance was targeted to channelize the transactions in a cashless digitized stream, which would plug most of the peepholes the black money oozes through. A plethora of reasons were rainbowed by the Government to underpin the decision and its abruptness of appearance as well as obtusing the criticism of implementing a radical step in an unprepared economy loaded with digital illiteracy. A large percentage of consumers in India is not e-literate and is afraid of making transactions in a digitized environment irrespective of the level of formal education they have. With a boost of demonetization the Government of India tried to peel out the shyness of the consumers to operate in a digitized economy at an accelerated speed and created an environment the consumers are forced to enter. Hence, the consumer behaviour in a cashless environment must be counted upon in terms of differences with pre-digitized environment. Moreover, apart from demonetization the intensity of intention of a consumer to go digital depends on various factors remaining active at the time of purchase which are also required to be surfaced. With this prelude the present paper is an attempt to measure the change in purchase behaviour of the consumer after demonetization as well as to excavate the degree of influence of various factors like age, profession, income etc. on digitized purchase both before and after demonetization. Moreover, the paper also made an effort to rank the factors the consumers consider while purchasing digitally.
On 8th November 2016, India witnessed a cosmological economic incidence popularly known as demonetization due to its thundering suddenness of appearance. Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gifted India an unprecedented experience of being 'no cash' country by announcing almost 87 per cent of the total cash in circulation as scrap. Two high value currency units, Rs 500 and Rs 1000, were stripped of its status as legal tender. The prime motive of demonetization, as announced by our Honourable Prime Minister, was to burn all the black money existing in the economy out and to plug all the peepholes of the parallel economy the unaccounted and untaxed income oozes through. As a sequel of this initial suddenness of announcing demonetization the country will be given a boost to fit her in an almost cashless environment by introducing various incentives for the agents working under digitized environment and by curbing the options of using cash as a medium of exchange (Raju and Chaturya 2016). Some other additional benefits were also advocated to underpin demonetization like national security will be tightened or counterfeit notes contributing to terrorism will be controlled or tax revenue will be increased or more financial inclusion could be made possible and so on. Hence, a dramatic change in the economic environment of the country was portrayed by the advocates of demonetization where almost all the members of the country will start using cash substitutes like pre-paid card, debit card, credit card, store value card, mobile wallet, mobile banking, internet banking etc. as a medium of exchange. Accordingly business organizations, irrespective of their sizes, will adjust themselves in the digitized environment by using digital payment gateways, cards and technology-based banking system. Thus, the tsunami of going cashless put India in an economic system which will ensure transparency in its functioning as well as technologically advanced business operation under a completely digitized environment. In this light the present paper is an attempt to portray the impact of demonetization on consumer behavior and to study the factors remaining active in the cashless environment.
Demonetization
Reviewing the history of demonetization in India and around the world one can easily trace this incidence in a number of countries and number of times in India. What is different in the present case is not due to its newness rather due to its suddenness of announcement. In the year 1946 the high value currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 10000 were gradually taken off to strengthen Indian economy. Once again the Morarji Desai Government in the year 1978 had also withdrawn high-denomination currency of Rs 1000, Rs 5000 and Rs10,000 to curb counterfeit money and black money. In both the cases it appeared as a process where gradual withdrawal and replacement by smaller denomination currency took place simultaneously
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(Uke 2017). This time almost 87 per cent of the total currency value was rendered as paper trash with a promise of not replacing the whole of the amount withdrawn and thus forcing the people of the country to go cashless. Almost similar incidence may be experienced in the economic history of various countries across the globe like Britain, Ghana, Nigeria, Myanmar. Congo and North Korea. Hence, demonetization is not a new phenomenon in the world and also not in India. Our country may claim its virginity only due to its meteoric suddenness of thrashing the economic shore.
Going Cashless
While the prime objective of demonetization, as stated by our Honourable Prime Minister, is to curb and sweep the black money out from the Indian economy the percolated benefit is to make India a cashless economy. Demonetization, if translated as 'going cashless', is only possible while a large part of the currency withdrawn is not fed back to the economy both in denomination and in value as well as if it brings a change in the consumer behavior to reduce dependence on cash (Kumar 2017). Realizing the gravity of the emergency for going cashless it is anticipated that the Central Government will decide not to replace the whole amount of currency, withdrawn through demonetization, in circulation. This vacuum will create a digital environment the consumers will be forced to play in. But to do so consumers will find it obvious that the economy will provide a problem free cashless medium as they are used to with cash based medium (Kumudha and Lakshmi 2016). Ignoring all the arrows coming from the critics of demonetization a fair view of going cashless stands to be the only alternative available to ensure transparency in the economy whether today or a decade later. In addition to the numerous aspects like infrastructure, security, level of education of the people and so on as the pre-condition of digitized economy, consumers' behavior should tilt toward this, failing which the gross demand in the economy as well as income generation will be compressed if digitization is forced by making cash inaccessible.
Digital Environment of India
Almost all the forms of digital payment system like debit card, credit card, store value card, auto pay, digital wallet, M-banking Apps and online banking are now common in India as communication technology used for financial transaction has reached to maturity crossing its nascent stage. The number of internet user in India as of December 2016 is about 500 million, being the second largest user base in the world after China, which is 650 million. And of now the numbers of netizens are having exponential growth due to launching of 4G services (Banerjee and Sayyed 2017). Even, the number of internet users in rural India is expected to increase from 120 million in 2015 to almost 315 million in 2020 as per the BCG report. Every bank, both private and nationalized, is undergoing a radical change in their
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digital infrastructure to spread their entire digital payment gateway even to the remotest branch and introduced mobile app for enabling customers to resort to mobile banking facilities and making petty transactions like phone recharge, bill payments etc. The security issues in cashless medium have been considered with extra care and all the clefts are tired to be plugged off the security leakage was oozing through. The Gen-Y consumers are trending to the cashless transaction system and use of digitized medium is increasing day by day. Various mobile wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik, Freecharge, Citrus Pay etc. are very common in different petty transactions. Government is also giving various incentives to create an environment where digital transactions will have a positive move. A high degree of penetration regarding cashless transactions from Government's end facilitated digital transactions to a large extent as almost 1.45 million point of sales (POS) terminals were installed by the banks during post demonetization period. Even the small shops and kiranas also insisted customers to pay through digital wallets. These transformations demand change in mindset of the people. Hence, from the view point of a market researcher it's a prerogative to assess the change in consumer behavior boosted by demonetization.
Revising Existing Literature
Due to its meteoric suddenness of appearance demonetization has given less opportunity to the researchers to assess its impact on all the fields including economy, society, finance as also on the consumer behavior. Though the apparition of going cashless through demonetization created an environment the researchers were induced to search in, but most of these attempts were propelled towards gauging the economic and financial impact of demonetization. Kaur (2017) wanted to assess the impact of demonetization on India's cashless payment system. She analyzed nine kinds of electronic payment system and observed that card usage during November 2016 has almost been doubled. The study conducted by Chandani and Khare (2017) tried to hold the impact of demonetization on online shopping. They revealed that online shopping was badly hit in India aftermath of demonetization. Kumudha and Lakshmi (2016) wanted to assess whether the trend of digital marketing will have a positive impact on it due to demonetization. They found that instead of getting a positive trend of digital marketing the issue of demonetization created an adverse impact on it. Pasumarthy (2017), searched the way through which demonetization can help the e-commerce in future in India. He disclosed that despite the impressive numbers, e-commerce is still suffering from the skepticism in India. Basic premises of cashless economy was analyzed by Raju and Chaturya (2016) and argued in favour of cash based economy showing that cash transactions are not the only reasons to generate black money. Further they showed that rural and unorganized sector will face contraction of demand due to cashless economy. Banerjee and Sayyed (2017) studied the buying behavior of online customer before and after demonetization and
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analyzed the impact of demonetization on consumers' mode of payment while buying products through online shopping. They found a positive move in the e-commerce industry after demonetization. Kumar (2017) analyzed the changes in online shopping behavior of the people of Ghaziabad city after demonetization. She observed that even after easing out of the cash crunch intention of continuing buying online showed a positive trend. The study conducted by Uke (2017) wanted to know whether note banning decision has any future potential in Indian economy. He concluded that Indian financial market, real estate market and FMCG sector have declined for a short time but will regain in near future with more prospects. Muthulakshmi and Kalaimani (2017) attempted to assess how the tool of demonetization can be used to eradicate parallel economy. Their study revealed that demonetization cannot eradicate black money completely although it can curb black money to a large extent.
Research Gap
Having gone through the existing literature it is found that almost all of them emphasized on the impact of demonetization on the economic aspects of the country. Some of the researchers studied the prospects of e-commerce and online business after demonetization. But no such study is available that analyzes the attitude of the consumers towards making cashless transactions. Unless there is a behavioural change of the consumers going cashless will remain a dream only without getting its foothold to appear as reality. In light of this prelude there is a dark area that can be illuminated by a proper study which will emphasize on the change of consumer behavior due to demonetization.
Objectives of the Study
The present paper wants to throw light on the bahavioural aspects of the consumers in general and has set three specific objectives:
1. Tracing the change in the consumer behavior due to demonetization.
2. Identifying the influence of demographic variables such as sex, age and occupation on the digital behavior of consumer.
3. Ranking the factors that determine the digital behavior of a consumer.
Research Methodology
With a view to analyze the attitude of the consumers towards resorting to various modes of digital payment gateways and cashless media in various transactions customers coming to ATMs to get various services were interviewed. This is because on the premises that all of them have at least one digital medium to exercise transactions. Ten ATMs located in central Kolkata, three in Chandni Chowk, two in BBD Bag, two in Esplanade and
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three in Chowringhee are selected on the basis of convenience and with an intention that people having various demographic characteristics will be available for interview and also randomness can be inserted in the study as while selecting respondents no choice was preferred. Respondents having any medium of digital transactions but never availed any of the payment gateways for making even a single transaction were excluded. Factors that set customer attitude to withdraw cash from ATMs using debit cards or to deposit cash obviously differ while the same person uses debit cards to pay for products purchased through online shopping. Moreover, the study was initially motivated to the assessment of customers' attitude towards the use of various cashless payments gateways for making transactions and the period covered pre-puja season, i. e. August and September 2016. The survey was made through a structured non-disguised nature of questionnaire having ten questions (Annexure) and respondents were asked questions through personal interview that is face to face conversation. After collating a total of 876 responses were found workable. While performing the study the incidence of demonetization appeared which induced researcher to change the dimension of the study from a mere assessment of customers' attitude towards cashless payment system to the assessment of impact of demonetization on the customers' attitude towards medium of digital payment system. Hence, same set of respondents were given the questionnaire adding the last one that is the pairing table, once again for the second time through mail and telephonic conversation. But only 400 respondents were found to reply once again in time, i. e. between mid-December and mid-February 2017. Three respondents replied later, but they were excluded for the convenience of the study. Consequently, the number of respondents came to 400 whose attitude towards going cashless both before and after demonetization was analyzed. The study is based on primary data collected and collated to fit for the analysis. Since the study is based on primary data reliability test is required to understand the internal consistency of the data set. Here Cronbach Alpha is used to measure internal consistency or reliability of the data set. The value of Cronbach á has been found to be 0.842 which shows consistency in the data set. So it can be said that the data is useful for further statistical analysis. Simple percentage was also calculated to know the change in the choice of digital medium after demonetization. Chi-square test was adopted to know whether the attitude of the consumers depend on sex, age and occupation. For ranking the factors determining the consumers' attitude towards digital mode of payment Thurston scaling technique was resorted to.
Hypothesis Formulation
To analyze the influence of demographic variables on the attitude of respondents towards digital payments following hypotheses have been formulated:
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H01: Consumers digital behavior is gender independent.
H02: Consumers digital behavior is age independent.
H03: Consumers digital behavior is occupation independent.
Findings and Interpretation
While calculating the percentage of respondents using internet or mobile banking of pre-demonetization period it was observed that only 6 per cent uses either internet or mobile banking. But it became more than 11 per cent during post-demonetization period. Similarly, the percentage of users of card or digital wallet to make petty transactions was 13 per cent during pre-demonetization period, which became 19 per cent after demonetization came into existence. Hence, a positive move was noticed in the use of digital mode after demonetization took place. Findings relating to the influence of demographic variables are discussed under three sub-heads as given in the following paragraphs.
Influence of Sex on the digital behavior of consumers
The results calculated so far for determining influence of sex on the digital behavior of consumers before and after demonetization are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Influence of sex on respondents' digital behavior before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
It is observed that the estimated value of ÷2 during pre-demonetization period is greater than its critical value. So, the null hypothesis cannot be accepted, which implies that there is a significant difference between the attitude of male and female consumers towards dependence on cashless payment systems.
The estimated value of ÷2 during post-demonetization period is found to be greater than its critical value. Based on the result it is said that the null hypothesis cannot be accepted and can be argued that there is a significant difference between male and female consumers towards digital payment media. So the initial hike in percentage of users of digital medium may be attributed to the pressures created due to non-availability of cash during
Observed Frequencies Sex
Frequency of +ve attitude
Frequency of -ve attitude
Frequency of neutral attitude
Male
122 (133)*
77
(79)
18 (5)Female
73
(77)
102
(98)
8 (8)Expected Frequencies
Sex
Frequency of +ve attitude
Frequency of -ve attitude
Frequency of neutral attitudeMale 105.8 (113.9) 97.1 (96) 14.1 (7.1)Female 89.2 (96.1) 81.9 (81) 11.9 (5.9)Estimated ÷2 = 16.883 (14.883) , (df = 2)Table ÷2 = 5.99 at 95% level of confidence
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post-demonetization period as there was no change in the attitude of the consumers after demonetization.
A casual glance at the relative percentage of male and female towards the attitude of cashless transactions during pre and post demonetization period (Table 1a) will also reveal that the percentage of positive attitude of male is greater in both the periods. Hence, no change is registered by demonetization.
Table 1a: Relative percentage of male and female's attitude towards digitization before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
Influence of Consumers' age on their digital behaviour
Table 2 shows the results of influence of users' age on their attitude towards use of digital media during transactions for pre and post demonetization period.
Table 2: Influence of age on respondents' digital behavior before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
As shown in Table 2 the estimated value of ÷2 during pre-demonetization period is greater than its critical value which implies that the null hypothesis cannot be accepted. Now it can be argued that consumers attitude towards digitized forms of transactions varies based on their age.
The results relating to post demonetization period reveal that the estimated value of ÷2 is greater than its critical value. Based on this result it can be said that the null hypothesis cannot be accepted. So, there is no change in the attitude of consumers depending on their age. Here also no significant change in the attitude of the consumers is noticed after demonetization. So, the percentage change in favour of digitization may be
Attitude TotalPositive
Negative Neutral
Gender
Male
Count
122(133)
77(79) 18(5) 217% within Gender
56.2(61.3)
35.5(36.4) 8.3(2.3) 100.0
FemaleCount
73(77)
102(98) 8(8) 183% within Gender 39.9(42.1) 55.7(53.6) 4.4(4.3) 100.0
Estimated ÷2 = 29.813 (28.292) , (df = 6)Table ÷2 = 16.81 at 95% level of confidence
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a mere temporal event as the accessibility to cash was restricted just after demonetization.
It is also observed from table 2a that the relative percentage of lower age groups towards the positive attitude of digital payment medium both in pre and post demonetization period is higher than the higher age groups.
Table 2a: Relative percentage of age groups' attitude towards digitization before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
Influence of Consumers' occupation on their digital behaviour
The results revealing the influence of consumers' occupation on their attitude towards cashless payment mode during pre and post demonetization period are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: influence of occupation on respondents' digital behavior before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
As shown in Table 3 the estimated value of ÷2 during pre-demonetization period is more than its critical value. Hence, it is not possible to accept the null hypothesis. Now it can be said that the consumers' attitude towards cashless payment mode is influenced by their occupation or job type during pre-demonetization period.
The results of the post demonetization period show that the estimated value of ÷2 is greater than the critical value, which implies that the null hypothesis cannot be accepted. Hence, the customers' attitude towards digitized medium of exchange is also influenced by their occupation or job type during post demonetization period. This indicates that positive increase
Attitude TotalPositive Attitude
Negative Attitude Neutral
Age
<30
Count
26(33)
6(4)
8(3) 40% within Age
65.0(82.5)
15.0(10.0)
20.0(17.5) 100.0
31-45
Count
126(131)
140(140)
10(5) 276% within Age
45.7(47.5)
50.7(50.7)
3.6(1.8) 100.0
46-60
Count
24(25)
16(16)
4(3) 44% within Age 54.5(56.8) 36.4(36.4) 9.1(6.8) 100.0
>60Count 19(21) 17(17) 4(2) 40% within Age 47.5(52.5) 42.5(42.5) 10(5.0) 100.0
TotalCount 195(210) 179(177) 26(13) 400% within Age 48.8(52.5) 44.8(44.2) 6.4(3.2) 100.0
Observed Frequencies Occupation
Frequency of +ve attitude
Frequency of -ve attitude Frequency of neutral attitude
Businessman
121(132)
113(106) 10(6)
Blue Collar Employees
32(34)
15(14) 3(2)
White Collar Employees
23(25)
34(32) 1(1)Others
19(19)
17(25) 12(4)Expected Frequencies
Frequency of +ve attitude
Frequency of -ve attitude Frequency of neutral attitudeBusinessman
Estimated ÷2 = 39.717 (27.073), (df = 6)Table ÷2 = 16.81 at 95% level of confidence
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in percentage towards resorting to mobile or internet banking and digital wallet during post-demonetization period was not due to persistent change in the consumers' behavior; rather it was a forced change because occupation's influence on consumers' digital behavior during pre and post-demonetization period remained unaltered.
Looking at the relative percentage of different occupational groups in terms of attitude towards cashless payment medium it is observed that positive attitudes are more with businessmen and blue collar employees in both pre and post demonetization period (Table 3a).
Table 3a: Relative percentage of occupational groups' attitude towards digitization before and after demonetization
*Figures in bracket indicate results relating to post-demonetization period.
Factors determining consumers' digital behavior
After observing the impact of different demographic variables on the consumers' attitude towards cashless medium of transactions an attempt was made to gauge the relative importance of various factors that may be deterministic to implement digital payment system in India. Based on the literature surveyed and consumers' word of mouth eight factors have been identified that play an important role while opting for cashless medium of payment. These factors are named as safety, network, consciousness, orthodox belief, ubiquity, trustworthiness, privacy and simplicity. Each two of these eight factors are compared each time by every respondent, composite of which developed Table 4. Figures in each cell of Table 4 indicate the proportion of respondent emphasizing the column attribute than to the row attribute.
The table has been developed by forcing the respondents to choose one alternative at a time from a pair of two factors in each of the twenty eight cases as the maximum number of paired comparison was twenty eight for this study. Finally the responses were cumulated. These observed proportions will tend to imply the distance between different factors.Based on normality, these proportions can be interpreted as the distance between these two factors. Using these proportions as probabilities, ordinates for each proportion can be obtained from any normal distribution table and they are symbolically represented as Z values. Under normal distribution Z values have a symmetric pattern around zero. It is also known
Attitude TotalPositive
Negative Neutral
Job Type
Businessman
Count
121(132)
113(106) 10(6) 244% within Job Type
49.6(54.1)
46.3(43.4) 4.1(2.5) 100.0
Blue Collar Employees
Count
32(34)
15(14) 3(2) 50% within Job Type
64(68)
30(28) 6 (4) 100.0
White Collar Employees
Count
23(25)
34(32) 1(1) 58% within Job Type 39.7(43.1) 58.6(55.2) 1.7(1.7) 100.0
OthersCount 19(19) 17(25) 12(4) 48% within Job Type 39.6(39.6) 35.4(52.1) 25(8.3) 100.0
TotalCount 195(210) 179(177) 26(13) 400% within Job Type 48.8(52.5) 44.8(44.2) 6.4(3.3) 100.0
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that if the proportion is less than 0.5 the corresponding Z value has negative sign and conversely, if the proportion is more than 0.5 the Z value has a positive sign. Table 5 represents the summarized Z values.
Table 4: Observed proportions preferring factor X (column of the table) to factor Y (row of the table)
Table 5: Summarized Z values corresponding to Table 4
It is observed from Table 5 that the factors influencing attitudes towards cashless medium of transactions are appearing in the order as safety, trustworthiness, network, consciousness, orthodox beliefs, simplicity, ubiquity and privacy. This ranking explicitly shows that consumers prefer digital medium of transactions if they feel it is safe. The second factor whose case-v scale value is very close to safety is trustworthiness. Preference for going cashless will become fortified if the various operators can win the trust of the consumers while using their mode of payments. Network is also an important factor after safety and trustworthiness as the wireless networking system in India till today is city-based. People are made aware to go for cashless transactions but they remain unaware about most of the services provided by different operators. Technology has changed the outlook of the consumers but regarding financial transactions people are reluctant and afraid of using digital payment system. Even the so called educated class of people feels comfortable and assured while they handle cash instead of handling numbers in electronic form. Consumers' orthodox beliefs curb their openness of accepting cashless payment modes. The difference in technology and operating formats adopted by various
Simplicity 0.5 0.61 0.39 0.47 0.1 0.67 -0.28 -Total 2.76 2.21 1.4 -0.52 -2.2 2.4 -3.59 -1.91Mean(Z) 0.35 0.28 0.18 -0.07 -0.28 0.3 -0.45 -0.24Case-V Scale Value( Changing the base value by adding 0.45 with each value)
0.8 0.73 0.63 0.38 0.17 0.75 0 0.21
RANK 1st 3rd 4th 5th 7th 2nd 8th 6th
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operators also creates a negative impact on the attitude of the consumers for going cashless. After demonetization the ubiquity of cashless payment system is claimed by the government but the reality is far from the claim. So, the consumers' experience in making petty payments becomes a stumbling block on the way of people to flow their preference in favour of digital payment media. Privacy in digital payment mode is less likely to influence the attitude of the people. This means that people are not that much concerned regarding the privacy or secrecy of information used in digitized transaction system. Still the hope persists as the 4G network is spreading very fast and every month there is almost seven million additions to the existing number of mobile subscribers. If a large percentage of these people connect their bank account to the net banking or use their mobile phone as wallet for petty payments the cashless payment system will become a reality very soon. Hence, the factors identified in the study should be carefully nurtured by the policy makers and various operators in the digital arena before dreaming a cashless India.
Conclusion
Hence, a valid question resonates after demonetization – will the scrapping of currency notes and the ongoing cash curbing policies of the government be a decisive factor in making India a truly cashless economy? A temporal increase in the use of digital modes of payment consequent to the shortage of cash as a result of demonetization may not portray the true picture of the people's move towards digital payment mode: rather the actual shift is visible only after the cash crunch eases. This is because there are still a number of hurdles to convert India from cash based economy to cashless economy. One of these is positive attitude of the consumers towards electronic mode of transactions. The present study shows that the attitude of the consumers both before and after demonetization remains unaltered. Thus, the immediate hike of cashless transactions after demonetization may be considered as a fad instead of a trend. As the study shows the positive attitude of consumers towards cashless transactions may be increased if the factors identified are considered with special emphasis. Age, sex and occupation have significant role to play in influencing the consumers to develop attitude towards cashless payment systems. Among the eight factors identified four factors such as safety, trustworthiness, network and consciousness appeared very strong to influence consumers' attitude towards digital mode of transaction. The remaining four factors are close to each other and are less likely to influence attitude of the customers towards going cashless. Unless looking at the depth of the issue, a single step of demonetization cannot remove the shyness of the whole economy as the hurdles are waiting in queue. So, the destinations are far from the imagined distance and no magical solution can erase this overnight. Demonetization as a boost to create India a digitized economy had given us a sudden flash of falling meteorite but building cashless India is beyond the actual reach and it
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appears to be only building castles in the air.
References
1. Banerjee, P. and Sayyed, V. (2017), A study on impact of demonetization on e-commerce industry, International Journal of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Technology, Vol. 2, pp 66 - 72.
2. Biswas, D and Biswas, A. (2014), Perceived risks in online shopping; do signals matter more on the web? Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 18, Issue 3, pp 30 - 45.
3. Chandani, S. and Khare, A. (2017), A study on impact of demonetization on online shopping, International Journal of Humanities, Arts, Medicine and Science, Vol. 5, Issue 3, pp 55 -60.
4. Kaur, M. (2017), Demonetization: impact on cashless payment system, Journal of Engineering, Science and Management, Vol. 4, Issue 3, pp 680-685.
5. Kumar, G. (2017), Influence of demonetization on consumer's buying behavior towards online shopping – with special reference to Ghaziabad city, Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Vol. 3, Issue 3, pp 173 -180.
6. Kumudha, A. and Lakshmi, K. S. (2016), Digital marketing: will the trend increase in the post demonetization period, Journal of Research in Business and Management. Vol. 4, Issue 10, pp 94-97.
7. Muthulakshmi, E. K. and Kalaimani, G. (2017), Impact of demonetization on Indian economy, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp 50 -54.
8. Pasumarthy, P. B. (2017), Effect of demonetization on e-commerce, Review of Research, Vol. 6, Issue 4, pp 1-7.
9. Raju, D. V and Chaturya, V. S. K. (2016), Demonetization and cashless economy, International Journal of Academic Research, Vol.3, Issue 12(4), pp 101 - 104.
10. Uke, L. (2017), Demonitization and its effects in India, SSRG International Journal of Economics and Management Studies,Vol 4, Issue 2, pp 18 -23.
Annexure
Questionnaire (Please put √ at the appropriate places)
1. Name :2. Address:3. Age : Below 30years
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30-45 years46-60 yearsAbove 60 years
4. Sex : Male Female5. Present Status : Businessman
Blue collar employeesWhite collar employeesOthers
6. Do you have mobile banking or internet banking? Yes No
7. For which of the following purposes you use mobile banking or internet banking?
The word is going through a period of rapid and wrenching changes. With the ever changing environment, the visage of marketing has changed too. In the past 60 years, marketing has moved from being product centric (marketing 1.0) to being customer centric (marketing 2.0). Today we see marketing is transforming once again in response to the new dynamics in the environment. The latest incarnation in this domain is Marketing 3.0, where we see companies expanding their focus from profitability to contribute to humankind issues. Marketing 3.0 is a stage where companies shift from consumer centricity to human centricity and where profitability is balanced with corporate responsibility towards the society. They create real value that aligns with social good and thereby contribute to the social welfare of the society.
Now the question arises, do the customers acknowledge the vision and values of a company and does it in any manner influence their buying behaviour. The research findings are based on a survey of 200 consumers in Siliguri and adjoining areas.
Study revealed that consumers have better a perception for firms that work for good cause but a meagre section of customers are willing to bear the expense of paying extra for good cause when they have reasonably priced alternatives.
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INTRODUCTION:Current market scenario is marked by innumerable products of similar quality and services. In their ever increasing need to differentiate themselves and their product, few companies are making uses of different marketing strategies.
Differentiating your company through the image of care and compassion to society is a strategy to be highly rewarded. In this scenario, Marketing 3.0 is a means to demonstrate a corporate social commitment. Basically this concept runs through how a product and its company are sensitive to social and economic issues that are a concern to everyone. Diseases become pandemics, poverty increases and environmental destruction is underway. Company practising 3.0 provides answer and hope to people confronting such issues and thereby touch consumers at higher level.
The point is to attract consumer wanting to make a difference in society through their purchasing. Consumers nowadays demand more responsible actions from corporate. They are asking the corporate to be at least partially motivated by helping others and not to act completely out of self-interest.
Under these given circumstances, the paper intends to study the perception of consumers towards marketing 3.0, in Indian context and its relevance in their buying behaviour and thereby analyse their results for academic consideration.
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AGE OF MARKETING 3.0
Marketing 3.0 is a sophisticated form of consumer-centric era where consumers demand more collaborative, cultural and spiritual marketing approach.
Shift to Values-driven marketing:
In marketing 3.0 the corporate needs to address the consumers as a whole human being with mind, heart and spirit. Previously the product was positioned uniquely in the mind of consumers. Thus, the marketers of Volvo automobiles were successful in planting the idea in the mind of automobile buyers that Volvo offered the most safety of any cars.
But later it was recognised that the emotional component of human psyche was neglected but marketers like Honard Schultz of Starbucks succeeded to target the hearts of consumers. The need of the hour is to address the spirit of the consumer or what Stephen Covey calls 'unlock the soul's code'.
In marketing 3.0, marketers target consumers mind and spirit simultaneously to touch their hearts. Marketing is redefined as a triangle of brand positioning and differentiation positioning will trigger the mind to consider the buying decision. A brand requires authentic differentiation for the human spirit to confirm the decision. Finally the heart will lead the consumer to act and make the buying decision. For example, Timberland has positioned itself as 'the good outdoor inspired footwear and Apparel Company'. The company supports its positioning with a solid differentiation. It is well known for its 'path of service' the community voluntary service programme. This programme is an integral part of corporate DNA that makes the brand different and authentic. To target the spirit it includes mission as a tagline.
Cocacola is another good example which came up with 'open happiness' campaign in 2009 which turned out to be a massive hit because the consumers strongly believed in the brand's mission of happiness.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
Marketing 3.0 revolves around the good deeds that are embedded in a corporate culture and how they practice it while manufacturing products and services for example the body shop is doing a value based business around the globe and does not practice animal testing unlike other popular brands like L'Oreal in the same niche and in this process the products are highly priced in compared to their competitors.
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But how relevant is this concept of social deeds in products in Indian context or rather what the consumers' outlook towards it is. Being aware of the importance of consumer in this role the situation calls for an in-depth study particularly in Siliguri on the perception of consumers about the social good deeds of a corporation when it comes to purchase of a particular product.
Further availability literature corroborates that the attitude and perception of consumer are vital to the success of 3.0. In this paper, a meagre attempt has been made to study the issues and analyse the same with existing literature.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
In the context of issues mentioned above, this paper makes an attempt to study into the perception of consumers towards Marketing 3.0 and its relevance in Indian context, particularly in and around Siliguri. The research questions are:
· Are the consumers in Siliguri aware of the concept - Marketing 3.0?
· What is their perception towards Marketing 3.0?
· The extent to which they are willing to pay extra to support the good practices in organizations that is a general concern to all?
The objectives of the study involve:
· Finding the answers to the questions mentioned above.
· Examining whether the positive outlook of customers is counter balanced with their willingness to pay extra for supporting issues that concern everyone, while making their purchase decisions.
METHODOLOGY:
Case Study is the basic method of work; however the canvas is made broader in order to transform it into an interdisciplinary study based on literature survey and field investigation. Under literature survey issues like CSR, Cause Related Marketing (particularly in USA), Marketing 3.0, consumer behaviour has been considerably studied. The basic aim of the study was to build a theoretical framework in the light of which findings from field investigation could be analysed and evaluated. For the purpose of the study primary data has been collected from customer in the shopping Malls particularly in and around Siliguri which is well known as the gateway to the North East with a heterogeneous population composition. The survey was conducted during 2nd week of April till 1st week of May 2017. 240 questionnaires have been distributed to the customers for the purpose of collection of data out of which 200 filled in questionnaires were scrutinized for evaluation.
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FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION:
Source: survey, N=2001. Do you agree that CSR create a positive image for a company?
The graph shows that majority of consumers think that CSR creates a positive image for a company and helps in building a positive outlook among the customers.
2. Do you think that an organization should consider social & economic issues that concern everyone?
It is evident that majority of the customers consider the social and economic issues that concern everyone.
3. Are you willing to pay extra for a product or service associated with a social cause?
It is clear that while majority of the customers prefer companies who practice Marketing 3.0, yet they are not willing to pay extra for it.
4. Are you aware of the concept of Cause Related Marketing?
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Only 38% of the total sample is aware of the concept of cause related marketing which implies that such efforts of the marketers go unnoticed by majority of the consumers
5. On a scale of 1 to 5, how would the CSR activities of a company affect you purchasing behavior?
Majority of the customers claim that CSR activities of the company affect their purchasing behaviour.
6. Would you consider Classmate to be 1st choice while purchasing a notebook over other brands who do not consider Social Issues?
Majority of the customers would prefer buying Classmate notebooks for its contribution to rural education and eco friendly paper quality.
7. L'Oreal practice animal testing and it is fairly priced. The Body shop offers wide range of ecofriendly, cruelty free (against animal testing) products & is highly priced.Which one would you prefer?
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It is evident that despite the noble causes of The Body Shop, customers prefer the comparatively low priced Loreal products.
8. Do you feel content after buying a Socially Responsible Product?
It is evident that majority of the customers feel content and proud to be a part of the socially responsible activities of the companies by purchasing their products.
LIMITATIONS:
The findings of the study are based on a field work done in the retail markets of Siliguri and adjourning areas which covers limited period of 3 weeks from 2nd week of April till 1st week of May 2017. Any changes might have occurred by this time. Those changes remain outside the scope of the study. The study is based on a limited sample of customers, so the results obtained from the study cannot be generalised.
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSIONS:
This study aimed at analysing customers' perception towards marketing 3.0 and its relevance in their purchase decision. Data collected during the study reveals that a major section of the consumers has a positive outlook towards companies practicing value driven Marketing 3.0 and they acknowledge the noble cause the company stands for. But only a meagre section of the entire population is willing to bear the expense of paying extra for the good cause. The perception might take some time to change. A comprehensive study is required taking a large sample for drawing a precise conclusion related to this issue. The following recommendations are proposed:
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· The marketers need to educate the customers about their cause and the efforts
· Their marketing campaigns should bind the customers emotionally and touch the human spirit of the consumers
· They should show how they are bringing in the change through marketing 3.0 by presenting reports and videos to prove that they are actually making the world a better place.
REFERENCES:
1. Valentina Alcheva, Yunggang Cai, Lingyan Zhao, 'Cause Related Marketing: How does a CRM strategy shape consumer perception, attitude and behaviour?'' Master thesis, kristianstad University 2009.
2. Angelidis,J.P. & Ibrahim, N.A. (1993) 'Social demand and corporate strategy: a corporate social responsibility model', Review of Business, 15(1), (summer/fall), 7-10. [Google Scholar].
3. Barone, M.J., Miyazaki, A.D. & Taylor, K.A. (2000) 'The influence of cause related marketing on consumer choice: does one good turn deserve another?',Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28, 248-262.
4. Philip kotler, 'Marketing 3.0 - From Product to Customer to the human Spirit''.
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Title Issues and Challenges of Social Recruiting: An Indian Perspective
Siliguri Institute of Technology, Siligurihttp://www.ejsit.org
SITJM
Dr. Parul SaxenaAssistant ProfessorSchool of Business Studies, Sharda UniversityE-mail id: [email protected]
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Abstract
With leveraging of technology, the mechanics of employee engagement and employer branding are fast changing. The statistics are fascinating-one out of every nine people of the world on Facebook, and with over 700 billion minutes spent every month on this application, and other social media applications such as twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., it has become essential for the business organizations to make their presence felt on these platforms and to interact with larger groups and to provide an environment for free and transparent mode of interaction. Indian organizations are now actively exploring these new landscapes for various HR functions such as communication, collaboration, hiring and branding. The growth in the use of social media sites is phenomenal. Companies and recruiters, therefore, need to be where candidates are in order to engage them in the recruitment process. This involves engaging with talent across a wide range of social networking platforms. Thus, this study is undertaken to study the use of social media primarily in Hiring. The research paper aims to study the usage of social media in recruiting and understand the issues and challenges associated with it. The research paper further aims to capture the readiness of the employer in specific industries to use social media. Social media sites are proliferating and changing rapidly and thus play a key role in the evaluation of individuals. In this paper we examine how recruiters and companies are working in order to take full advantage of the hiring solutions it can offer. It also examines the impact social media is having on the recruitment industry. It focuses on how companies and recruitment professionals are taking advantage of the social media landscape to solve talent issues. We will not only look at the impact social media has on recruitment but also its future prospects.
Key words: recruiting, hiring, social media, Facebook, LinkedIn, social profiling
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Introduction
Today, with the advent of social media, hiring managers and recruiters find that they need to be more proactive in their approach, by engaging with talent across a wide range of social networking platforms. Essentially, companies and recruiters need to be where their candidates are in order to engage them in the recruitment process. There was an 82% increase in the time spent on social media sites from December 2008 to December 2009. (The Nielson Company, 2010). More than half of UK job seekers use social media sites in their job search, Including Facebook (18%) and LinkedIn (31%). (Simply Hired, 2010). One issue for recruiters in particular is that often the best candidates, who advertise themselves online via social media sites, tend to want to be found rather than having to actually apply for jobs. It is the role of recruiters, therefore, to become experts in using social networking technology to ensure that they are effective in finding the right candidates; while at the same time staying ahead of competitors, who are trying to do the same.
Social Media
Social Media refers to the internet based applications that allow users to generate and share content. These applications provide a platform to interact a, communicate and engage with each other. It also allows its users to express their opinion, feelings and deliberate on the current social, economic and political issues. Social media include social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus etc. The below table (Table1) presents presents the social network penetration in India. As of the fourth quarter of 2016, the most popular social network were YouTube and Facebook with and 33 percent penetration rate each. WhatsApp was ranked third with 28 percent reach. India ranks second among countries with the most Facebook users, accounting for 11 percent of global Facebook audiences in April 2017. January 2017 data puts the active social networking penetration in India at only 14 percent of the population - one of the lowest rates worldwide.
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LinkedInThe latest statistics indicate that there are over 20 million professionals on LinkedIn across Europe and the network has over 85 million members worldwide. Between June and December 2010, one million people signed up within the UK taking the country total to five million users overall.3Site demographics reveal that 38% earn more than £50,000 per year and 31% earn between £30,000 and £50,000 per year (Quantcast, 2010). 25% of FTSE 100 companies hire through LinkedIn and there are around 700,000 LinkedIn networking groups. IT, financial services and media, are the main sectors recruiting through LinkedIn. Only between 10% and 20% of LinkedIn members are actively looking for work.LinkedIn is very open about its ambition to continue to support, rather than replace, the recruitment industry. Its latest product 'Talent Advantage' is designed for recruiters who seek to get the most out of LinkedIn's functionality, providing subscribers with a personal dashboard and improved search capability. It has also recently announced a new CV template service and releases relevant job seeking data such as 'most popular CV buzz words' used by LinkedIn users.FacebookFacebook has more than 500 million users, of which 50% log into the site every day. Around 33% of all internet users visit Facebook at least once per month. The UK, Italy, France and Germany are the highest represented European countries on Facebook. Although companies are engaging with Facebook for hiring purposes, they do it significantly less than via the other popular social media channels. The reality is that if Facebook could persuade more people to use the site in a professional way, it could start to compete with sites such as LinkedIn for professional demographic. Although Facebook has over 400 million more users than LinkedIn, recent statistics (based on age) show that Facebook and LinkedIn have roughly the same number of professional members. Within the last 12 months the site has begun to evolve into a place in which to conduct business and establish professional connections. Large organizations, including many major consumer brands, are using 'fan pages' to market products and services to consumers, as well as to drive traffic to the careers pages on traditional websites. The new 'resume' style profile also allows potential candidates to promote their experience and skills within these forums. Earlier this year Facebook also launched 'Work for Us', an app which allows companies to post jobs and receive applications via FacebookTwitterBetween December 2009 and December 2010 Twitter has added 100 million people, doubling its user base. It claims that more that 95 million tweets are now sent every day. Its European market grew 106% between June 2009 and June 2010 and has an overall global market penetration of 7.4% of all internet users (Twitter blog, 2010). The Netherlands, UK and Ireland feature in the top 20 countries for adoption of internet users (ComScore, 2010). Europe and the USA have the most Twitter users accessing the site via
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Smartphones. Mobile users increased by 62% between 2008 and 2009 and 16% of all new users to Twitter now start on mobile Twitter is also gaining traction as a job search and hiring tool. Studies highlight that many employers, large and small, value Twitter as a source of information about candidates. Spin-off sites such as twitjobsearch.com and search tools such as 'Tweet Deck' assist employers and recruiters trying to tap into the Twittersphere to source candidates or plug into the conversations people are having about their organizations and industries. Similar to text messages, hiring managers have had some success in 'tweeting' jobs and getting an immediate response. In the main it is IT and professional service companies that are using Twitter for recruitment. Big names include Accenture, Microsoft and E&Y. There are, however, a handful of major retail and consumer brands also setting up Twitter career portals. For example, Burger King, PepsiCo and Primark use the site to advertise jobs. It is worth noting however those roles tend to be at the graduate and service level up to middle management. They also tend to be roles that would be of interest to most Twitter users – namely marketing and niche IT opportunities.
Social Recruiting
Social recruiting refers to the process of hiring candidates through social media. The term Social Recruiting was coined in 2008 and is defined as leveraging social media sites and software in order to recruit and hire people. It is the art of using social touch points and metrics to attract and recruit new employees. Not only does it include social media platforms but it can also incorporate social media with real-life, face-to-face networking events. Combing social media platforms with traditional recruiting strategies is the best way to define social recruiting. Companies and recruiters who leverage social recruiting to attract, communicate with, and hire talent have found success through channels such as LinkedIn Recruiter, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Rather than just broadcasting messages, the most successful recruiters focus on utilizing the “social” nature of these channels to communicate with candidates. Some specific social recruiting strategies include:
· Tapping into your corporate social graph to leverage referrals from your employees' networks.
· Allowing candidates to easily apply to jobs using their existing social profiles
· Engaging candidates directly via Twitter DM, Facebook Messenger, and InMail.
· Adding a careers tab to your company Facebook page.
· Marketing your job postings like a targeted Facebook ad campaign.
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Objectives
The study is undertaken with the following objectives:
· To study the use of social media in recruiting in current Indian Context
· To capture the readiness of the organizations to use social media in recruiting
· To understand the issues and challenges associated with the use of social media in recruiting
Research Methodology:
This research paper is a conceptual paper based on the analysis of various reports and research papers. The paper takes its source from various reports and research papers published from 2012-16. Further, data has also been extracted from the various websites and news articles.
Findings & Analysis:
Finding #1 Use of social media in recruiting in Indian Context
A number of checks are now conducted during the recruitment process to ensure that candidates are suitable for hire. With such a vast amount of data available through social media websites, employers may be tempted to use some of the information available as part of the screening process. A survey conducted by Wipro Consulting Services in 2012 quizzed employers and job seekers on using social media when making new hires. And it was clearly reflected that some employers have proven their willingness to use at least one form of social media in the recruitment process. Although 39% of hiring managers do not, as a rule, make use of any of these sites when looking to bring in new staff, 64% say they have viewed a job seeker's professional social network profile at some point for this purpose. Use of personal social media by employers in this context is much rarer, with only one in ten saying they review these profiles as a matter of course during the recruitment process. The report further states that, 70% of employers also say that Facebook and Twitter are generally the preserve of an individual's personal life, and therefore not a particularly helpful tool in the recruitment process. However, half of all businesses surveyed admit that they would be willing to run the names of candidates through personal social media websites if they felt it helpful.
Finding # Industry readiness to use Social Media in recruiting
The Hiring function of organizations appeared equipped to use social media with 60 percent using such platforms, 74 percent willing to use social media
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and 44 percent capable of implementing social media platforms.
Social media readiness in Hiring
Source: Social Media Report, WIPRO, Feb,2012
Finding # Social media Readiness in Hiring by Industry
It is not surprising that in the industry that spawned the social media frenzy, social media is very acceptable for use in Hiring and the capabilities to implement it also exist. IT & ITES organizations were most equipped and likely to use social media. Similarly, Telecom employees appeared open to using these tools in Hiring and indicated that two-third of their processes used social media, though their capabilities were moderate. Manufacturing enterprises too reported moderate use of social media but they were more open to using these tools (almost three-fourth favored its use) and two-thirds of their resources could implement such tools ─ quite high for a sector that otherwise does not use IT as much, or have just begun to use it. While just half of BFSI respondents agreed that social media was being used, over three-fourth of them were agreeable to its use even though they had moderate capabilities. In a sector that has rigid processes and has to take into account regulatory dictates in many operational processes, this willingness to use social media in HR is encouraging.
Source: Social Media Report, WIPRO, Feb,2012
Finding # 3 Issues and Challenges of use of Social Media in Recruiting
Social recruiting is gaining wider popularity among organizations as a tool for hiring. The presence of huge talent pool at a mere click make these
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networks extremely lucrative for hiring. The vast pool of candidates makes for a good reservoir. The sharing of posts, comments and various activities by prospective candidate may help the recruiting specialists to make a wise decision. The use of social recruiting is applauded and appreciated for the following reasons:
· Accessibility: Social media networking sites provides greater accessibility to a pool of qualified candidates. It also targets passive candidates who may not be looking for an immediate change but might be interested in future opportunities.
· Facilitates – in depth Filtering of the candidates: It involves the process of scrutinizing the application provided by candidate in depth- the employer is able to know the likes, dislikes, preferences and other aspects of candidates' personality.
· Employer Branding: Organizations use social media network to advertise on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Posting of company's success story and employee testimonials boos the image of the company.
Provide a platform for interaction and engagement: Important company information can be posted on profiles maintained on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Information related to job vacancies can be circulated through these networks.
Issues and Challenges of Social Recruiting in Indian Context:
· Limited use of Data Analytics: Though companies' have started exploring social networking sites for hiring purpose, they lack the capability and resources to capture and analyse the data thoroughly. There is a lack of specialised recruitment teams need to drive data-based hiring by educating themselves on best practices, tools and techniques, as well as selecting the metrics that really matter.
· Lack of standardisation of screening: Employers are often using social media websites to examine the detailed public information about the job candidates, but the reliability and validity of these screenings, has so far not been established as, there is lack of standardisation, in terms of
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information posted by candidates on these sites.
· May result in prejudiced/ biased decision: There is some evidence that social media assessment can be associated with standardized ethnic group differences that negatively impacts people from a certain caste, religion, or creed.
· No proper Legislation governing the use of social media in screening: There is also no clarity as to how the applicants take the employers move to assess their social web pages to make a sound hiring decision. Some of the applicants may feel that their privacy may be violated, they had been unjustly treated and their reactions towards an organisation engaged in such efforts were termed negative
· Use of Fake Identities by Candidates: Social recruiting is based on the assumption that the posted content and information is accurate and truly reflects the potential candidate. And, this pose as the biggest challenge for recruiters to distinguish fake accounts from the real ones.
PROS and CONS of Social Recruiting
Source: The impact of social media in Recruitment, A Report- Nigel Wright 2011
PROS
CONS
Cost effective –
social media hiring is low
cost and often free.
Lacks diversity – 83% of LinkedIn users are
Caucasian (Quantcast, 2010).
Lack of control – managing brand outposts
is tricky and inevitably negative content will
slip through the net.
Fast –
there are many examples of
employers using sites such as LinkedIn to
make ‘quick’ hires.
Time consuming – too much information
for companies who want to conduct a
detailed and robust search. This is where
recruiters can help.
Employer branding and retention – there is a
plethora of social media tools online for
companies to promote the employer brand
effectively to prospective hires and current
employees.
Discrimination – personal information could
lead to employers being influenced by
factors like race, religious views and age.
Transparency – how reliable is candidate
information online?
Limited – ultimately the candidate can
decide what information they are willing to
share.
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Conclusion:
With the advent of social media, the world of work and jobs has changed forever. Social media is here to stay and employers can gain a significant advantage by adopting hiring methods that have a social media element. Social media, however, isn't for everyone. Social Recruiting is a promising tool if used with caution. It can reap great benefits where an attempt to invest in people's social networking, thereby reaping social currency. As we have seen in this paper, there are a number of limitations associated with its use within a recruitment context. Although, as an employer, some quick gains can be achieved; using this method exclusively for recruitment, particularly at the executive level, misses out the relationship building and the robust selection and assessment of individuals, which, if overlooked, undermine the process overall. No one is more aware and engaged in social media than a recruitment consultant – the advantages are obvious. Rather than recognizing social media as a recruitment solution (where the recruiter becomes obsolete) employers are instead realizing that they need to work more closely with the experts in order to get their hiring right first time – not making the mistake of investing a significant amount of time and resource into social media and not getting a return on their investment. There is no doubt that social media has improved the recruitment process by making it more open and democratic; increasing the visible talent pool from which to engage and recruit. Having an intimate knowledge of someone's capabilities or knowing who the best person for a role is, however, can only be gained through personal knowledge of an individual and of a particular industry sector. It is unlikely therefore, that social media will replace the traditional recruitment methods in the near future but it can act as an aid to the existing recruiting practices.
Recommendations:
Having set out the core findings of this report, a number of recommendations have been formulated to assist businesses in formulating and applying social media to the recruitment process.
Consider a targeted approach: Employers must ensure they follow the paths beaten by job seekers they would most like to recruit. With so many candidates unlikely to take much notice of job offers promoted through personal social media, it is worth asking whether this would be a wasted investment.
Leverage social media to reinforce messages around corporate values: Using social media to investigate a prospective employer is now commonplace for many job seekers. As the information being sought usually relates to business culture and operations, job seekers are most likely to turn to professional social networks for this research. Employers should
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ensure that all information displayed on corporate social media profiles is presented in a format that is informative, concise and easy to follow.
Make intelligent and well-informed decisions: Personal social media profiles provide a window into only one side of an individual's life and do not often reveal much of relevance to their professional abilities.
Having a mix of traditional recruiting and social recruiting: The best way of resolving concerns that do arise is usually through established processes, such as interviews and assessment exercises. This also avoids any scenario in which a job seeker feels information is unfairly applied during the recruitment process. Be selective when using any information obtained from personal social media sites in making a judgement on a job.
Gain/ Hire Technical Expertise: Organizations should have the technical expertise to conduct well thought out validity studies (e.g. analysis of gaps in LinkedIn profile may predict a less stable candidature)
Well documented Assessment: Organizations that wish to use assessment of social media for selection purpose should have internal, well conducted and well documented evidence of social media assessment predicting job performance.
Future Prospects: Progress in information technology and communication is happening at a rapid pace, organizations are having difficulty accessing the talented employees for hiring and recruitment purpose. At, this juncture, Social recruiting has presented itself as a promising tool. Future research directions may require researchers to probe deeper into social media strategies that an organization can adopt to enjoy the benefits.
References:
Books:
· Bikramjit Rishi, Subir Bandyopadhyay, Contemporary Issues in Social Media Marketing, Routlege,2017
· Richard N. Landers, Gordon B. Schmidt, Social Media in Employee Selection and Recruitment: Theory, Practice, and Current Challenges, Springer 2016
Research papers:
· Rajput Himanshu, Kumar Devender, Social Recruiting: Trends, opportunities and Challenges in India, Pacific Review International, Volume 7, Issue 4, October2014
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Report
· Pareek Anupam, Jindal Prathik Rajiv, Nair Santhi, Social Media Impact and Relevance in Managing Human Resources in India, Wipro, 2012
· Wright Nigel The impact of social media in Recruitment, A Report- 2011
Websites
· Statistics of Social Media in recruiting in 2017 retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/284436/india-social-network-penetration/
· W h a t i s s o c i a l r e c r u i t i n g r e t r i e v e d f r o m https://www.smartrecruiters.com/resources/glossary/social-recruiting/
