Page 59 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Notes
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Case Study Job Description of an Assistant

ased on his view of what is happening in Fortune Financial Services Limited (FFSL),
Robin Singh, the Branch Manager of Delhi office, concluded that one of the first
Bthings he had to attend involved developing job descriptions for his online trading
assistants.
The daily turnover of the FFSL's Branch in the Connaught Circus area has been going up
steadily in recent times, thanks to the stock market boom. In Jan 2003, it had reached an all-
time high of 10 crore. To encash the opportunities presented by the boom, FFSL had
recruited 5 additional assistants - all young graduates with over two years' experience in
stock operations - taking the total number of trading assistants to 12. Two supervisors had
also been appointed about six months back to oversee trading arrangements and back-
office operations. The branch allows trading in stocks belonging to Bombay Stock Exchange
and National Stock Exchange. Each assistant had to look after the requirements of more
than 50 clients on a daily basis.
In recent times, FFSL faced a number of problems on settlement days, especially when
there is a sustained rise or fall in stock prices. The major ones included the following:
1. Clients exceeded their limits with active cooperation from trading assistants/
supervisors

2. Clients issued cheques which bounced back later on
3. Delivery slips not handed over in case of dematerialised stocks
4. Clients simply disappeared for a while, whenever they took a long position in a
particular scrip - only to surface when the price is up.
Robin Singh brought these problems to the notice of management and suggested the
following steps:

1. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of trading assistants and supervisors
2. Assess the net worth of a client carefully before enrolling him as a member: set
trading limits clearly and circulate these to assistants daily

3. On the settlement day, ask the clients to pay or square up.
4. Collect amounts from clients on a daily basis whenever they exceeded limits
5. Make the entire group responsible, whenever the assistants allowed clients to exceed
limits.
Questions
1. What should be the format and final form of the trading assistant's job description?
2. Is it advisable to specify rules and regulations in the body of the job description or
should these be kept separately?
3. How would you have conducted the job analysis in the above case?

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