ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD admission and fellowship) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersPlanning, hiring, developing, rewarding and keeping people in agricultural organisations, and managing relations with them.
In the exams: agribusiness management PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, human resource management (heavy)
ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) Agri-Business Management
The HRM unit: HRP methods and turnover measures, job analysis products, job enrichment versus enlargement and the job characteristics model, selection validity, training methods and Kirkpatrick levels, appraisal methods and rating errors, job evaluation methods, incentive plans (Halsey, Rowan, Taylor, Scanlon), trade union theories, Walton and McKersie, worker participation forms, Walton's QWL criteria and grievance procedure steps. Motivation theories and their authors also appear under management and OB.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Human Resource Management. Difficulty: 12 easy, 21 medium, 18 hard.
| Compensation, job evaluation and incentives | 8 | |
| Strategic human resource management | 4 | |
| Human resource planning | 4 | |
| Job enlargement, enrichment and rotation | 4 | |
| Recruitment and selection, including e-recruitment | 4 | |
| Induction and training | 4 | |
| Trade unions and collective bargaining | 4 | |
| Job analysis, job description and job specification | 3 | |
| Career planning | 3 | |
| Performance appraisal | 3 | |
| Quality of work life | 3 | |
| Grievance handling | 3 | |
| Transfers, promotions and separation | 2 | |
| Worker participation in management | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A job specification describes:
A. The minimum qualifications, skills and personal attributes needed to do the job
The specification is about the person required. Duties and conditions belong in the job description; relative worth comes from job evaluation.
A cooperative advertises a collection-centre clerk post requiring a master's degree, although the duties need only secondary education and basic numeracy. The main HR risk is that the specification:
A. Narrows the applicant pool, raises pay expectations and may indirectly discriminate without job-related justification
Over-specification excludes capable applicants, increases turnover of over-qualified staff, and in many jurisdictions can amount to indirect discrimination if it disproportionately excludes a group without justification. Task identity and job evaluation are unrelated here.
A milk-collection team is given authority to schedule its own shifts, run its own quality tests and settle farmer complaints. This is an example of:
A. Vertical job loading (enrichment)
Planning and control responsibilities are vertical loading. Enlargement would add more similar tasks; rotation would move members among jobs; simplification reduces tasks.
Phillips extended the Kirkpatrick model by adding a fifth level, which is:
A. Return on investment
Phillips's fifth level converts results to money and compares them with costs (ROI). Satisfaction is Kirkpatrick's level 1.
Training costs for 25 packhouse supervisors are: trainer and materials 150,000; venue 90,000; wages of trainees while away 60,000. Each trained supervisor is expected to save 2,000 per month in waste. What are the cost per trainee and the payback period?
C. 12,000 per trainee; 6 months
Total cost = 150,000 + 90,000 + 60,000 = 300,000; per trainee 300,000/25 = 12,000. Monthly saving = 25 × 2,000 = 50,000; payback = 300,000/50,000 = 6 months. 9,600 omits trainees' wages (240,000/25); 150 months divides the total cost by one supervisor's saving (300,000/2,000), ignoring that all 25 supervisors save.
Which job-evaluation methods are analytical (factor-based)?
C. Point method and factor comparison
Point and factor comparison methods break jobs into compensable factors. Ranking and classification judge the whole job.
A Scanlon plan has a base ratio of labour cost to sales value of production of 0.25. This month sales value of production is 800,000 and actual labour cost is 180,000. What is the bonus pool?
D. 20,000
Allowed labour cost = 0.25 × 800,000 = 200,000. Bonus pool = allowed − actual = 200,000 − 180,000 = 20,000. 200,000 is the allowed cost, not the saving; 45,000 is 25% of actual labour cost. Actual cost is below the base, so a bonus is earned.
Walton and McKersie's subprocess in which negotiators solve problems for joint gain is:
C. Integrative bargaining
Integrative bargaining expands the pie; distributive bargaining divides a fixed sum; attitudinal structuring shapes the relationship; intra-organisational bargaining builds consensus within each side.
In a dairy cooperative, farmer-members elect the board while salaried plant employees are not members. What governance issue does this create for worker participation?
D. Member ownership gives employees no voice, so separate participation or bargaining channels for staff are needed
Cooperative ownership belongs to members (farmers), whose interests (high milk prices) can differ from employees' (wages, conditions). Employee participation needs its own mechanisms.
India's model grievance procedure originated from the:
A. Code of Discipline accepted at the Indian Labour Conference in 1958
The Code of Discipline (1958) led to the model grievance procedure. The 1926 Act concerns union registration.
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