Advantages And Disadvantages Of Rail Transportation

Railway is important and most widely used means of transportation to carry people and heavy materials. Main advantages and disadvantages of railway transport can be described as follows:

Merits Or Advantages Or Benefits Of Rail Transport

1. Safe And Reliable 

Rail transportation is least affected by adverse weather and there is lower chance of accidents and breakdown. So, it is safe and reliable mode of transport as compared to road transportation.

2. High Speed

Higher speed is another key benefit of railway transport. It ensures quick movement of passengers and goods because it is more faster than road and water transport.

3. Suitable For Bulky Items

Rail is suitable for transporting heavy and bulky items because of its large carrying capacity.

4. Cheaper Transport

Railway is economical than other forms of transportation. It is cheap and comfortable for carrying people and materials.
advantages disadvantages railway transport
5. Suitable For Long Distance

Railway transport is suitable for the movement of people and goods for long distance because of its cheapness and comfort. 

6. Regular Service

Railways follow strict time schedule and fixed route to provide transport facility. So, it provides regular service as compared to other means of transport.


Demerits/Disadvantages Or Drawbacks Of Railway Transport

1. Lacks Door To Door Service

Railway transport cannot provide door to door service because of fix routes and stations.

      Also Read:

2. Unsuitable For Short Distance

Railway is suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods to the long distance. It is uneconomical to transport small loads over short distances.

3. Huge Investment

Railways need huge amount of investment because of high construction, operating, maintenance and overhead costs. 

4. Lack Of Flexibility

Rail transport has fixed routes,stations and strict schedule. So, it is less flexible than other means of transport.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Road Transportation

Road transportation is most commonly used mean of transport for travelling and carrying people and goods from one place to another. Main advantages and disadvantages of road transport can be highlighted as follows:

Merits Or Advantages Or Benefits Of Road Transport

1. Small Investment

It requires less investment to operate road transportation. constructing the road needs low capital than laying the railway track. Automobiles (such as trucks, tempo, bus etc) can be purchased at low cost as compared to ships, trains and airplanes.

2. Door To Door Services

Water transport, railway transport and air transport cannot provide door to door service. It is possible only through road transportation. 

3. Flexibility

It is another notable advantage of road transportation. It is more flexible than other modes of transportation because there is no fix way and schedule and can be operated at any time through different routes.

4. Cheaper

It is a cheaper mean of transporting people and goods to short distance. 

5. Suitable For Perishable Goods

It is suitable for transporting perishable goods such as milk, fruits, vegetables, fish etc. safely from producers to final consumers.

6. Service In Rural Areas

It can provide transportation service in the rural areas where other forms of transport (rail, water and air transport) cannot be operated. 

Disadvantages Or Drawbacks Of Road Transportation

1. High Risk

Road transportation involves very high risk of accidents. So, it is not as safe as other modes of transportation.

2. Slow Speed

It is slower than other means of transportation.
advantages disadvantages road transport
3. Not Suitable For Long Distance

Road transportation is not appropriate for long distance travel because it is uncomfortable and costly.

     Also Read:

4, Not Suitable For Heavy Goods

It is not appropriate to carry bulky and heavy items through road transport.

5. Seasonal Nature

It is not reliable during rainy season because of flood and poor road conditions. 

6. Irregular

Road transportation lacks regularity because there is no fix route and schedule.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Group Incentives

Group incentives are reward (may be financial or non-financial) given to the group of employees for their collective effort to meet or exceed predetermined standard. Main advantages and disadvantages of group incentives can be expressed as follows:

Advantages Or Benefits Of Group Incentives

1. Suitable For Interdependent Jobs

Group incentive plan is very suitable when the job is interrelated and the output of individual cannot be measured separately.

2. Equal Share

This plan does not discriminate employees while distributing rewards. All employees get bonus or incentive equally in the same proportion. 

3. Promotes Group Work

It encourages the employees to work together for achieving the common goal. It leads to better performance and higher level of output. 

4. Encourages Team Spirit

Group incentives promotes cooperation and collaboration at the workplace. It helps to develop team spirit while doing the job. 

advantages disadvantages group incentives
5. Cost Reduction

It inspires employees for higher level of performance and increases willingness towards the job. It increases productivity and reduces production costs. 

6. Higher Satisfaction

It helps to increase employees' quality of work life and also increase job satisfaction.

    Also Read: 

Disadvantages Or Drawbacks Of Group Incentives

1.Chance Of Resentment

It gives emphasis on group work and ignores individual's effort. So, high performing employees may not be satisfied with this incentive plan and may lead to resentment. 

2. Chance Of Rejection

It distributes reward equally to all the employees which may not be accepted by hard-working and top-performing employees.

3. Self Deception

Group incentive may create the problem of self-deception among the employees.

4. Decrease Performance

Group Incentive focuses on team work which may lead to decrease in the performance of individual employee.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Individual Incentives

Individual incentives are financial or non-financial rewards given to individual workers on the basis of performance standards like quantity, quality, attendance etc. 

Advantages Or Benefits Of Individual Incentives

1. Helps To Inspire Employees

Individual incentives motivate the employees to do their best and inspires them to learn from top performers.

2. Increased Productivity

Employees are motivated to exceed the given target. It helps to increase productivity.

3. Job Satisfaction

Individual incentives help to achieve higher level of job satisfaction among employees.

4. Cost Minimization

It helps to increase employees performance which leads to decrease idle time and increase productivity. Increased productivity helps to reduce production costs.


5. Low Staff Turnover

It helps to retain top performing employees in the organization. It results in low employee turnover.

6. Healthy Competition

It creates healthy competition among the employees at the workplace. 
advantages disadvantages individual incentives
7. Clarity

Individual incentives can be structured and applied easily. It is easy to determine outcomes and tracking employees performance.

     Also Read: 

Disadvantages Or Drawbacks Of Individual Incentives

1. Lack Of Team

It inspires individual employees for better performance. So, it lacks team work at the work station. 

2. Decreased Quality

Employees may be motivated to increase output and focus on the quantity only. It may reduce the quality of the product.

3. High Employee Turnover

Individual incentive plan discourages low performing employees. So, they may decide to leave the organization which results in high employee turnover.

4. Chance Of Conflict

There will be a chance of conflict between employees' individual goals and organizational goals which leads to mistrust between management and employees. 

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Performance Appraisal

What Is Performance Appraisal ?

Performance appraisal is a technique of  evaluating the strength and weakness of employees'  performance in the organization. It helps the management to identify the area of improvement and to determine the training and development need to boost their performance.

Main advantages and disadvantages of performance appraisal can be expressed as follows:

Advantages Or Benefits Of Performance Appraisal

1. Performance Report

Performance appraisal helps the management to assess employee's job performance by providing past report. 

2. Determining Training Need

It provides detailed information regarding skill, knowledge and past performance report of employees. So, it helps to determine training and development programs to enhance future performance.

3. Guidance

It helps the employees to review their mistakes and guides to correct them in order to avoid possible errors in the future. 

advantages-disadvantages-performance appraisal

4. Corrective Action

Performance appraisal identifies the deficiency of workers. So, appropriate corrective actions may be initiated in time.

   Also Read: 

5. Motivation

It helps to determine rewards and compensation scheme on the basis of performance. So, employees are motivated for better performance.

6. Better Communication

It help to establish better two way communication in the organization.


7. Proper Pay Structure

It helps the organization to set proper pay structure of each individual on the basis of their performance.


Disadvantages Or Limitations Of Performance Appraisal

1. Time Consuming Process

It is a lengthy process of evaluating employees' excellence. It takes more time especially in the large organizations with many subordinates.

2. Stressful Process

It is a stressful process of rating employee's performance.

3. Potential Of Inaccuracy

There is a chance of inaccuracy due to wrong document and irrelevant records of appraisal period.

4. Biased

Rating of appraisal's outcome may be biased because of different interpretation of management and employees.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Off The Job Training

What Is Off The Job Training ?

Off the job training is conducted outside the company or workplace. In this method, trainees learn through lectures, case studies, conferences, demonstration, modeling, computer, role play etc. 

Benefits Or Advantages Of Off The Job Training

The main advantages of off the job training can be described as follows:

1. Effective Method

Off the job training is well organized and conducted by experts and specialists which makes the training program more effective.

2. High Productivity

It is conducted out side the organization or workstation and trainees are not involved in the production process. Only trained and skilled workers are placed at the work place. So, productivity will be higher.

3. Minimize Errors

Under this method, newly appointed employees are trained outside the production area and skilled and trained manpower perform the job. So, it lowers the production errors.
advantages and disadvantages of off the job training
4. Economical

In this method, a large number of employees can be participated and orientation can be provided at a time. It helps to reduce training costs. So, it is a cost effective method.

5. No Disturbance 

Trainees are not allowed to work in the actual work place. So, production process will not be disturbed and existing employees can do their jobs smoothly.


Disadvantages Or Drawbacks Of Off The Job Training

Some of the major drawbacks of off the job training are as follows:

1. More Expensive

This method of training may be very expensive due to extra space, accommodation and transportation costs and experts' fees etc.

2. Less Effective

Off the job training is less effective than on the job training method because it is conducted outside the working environment. Employees need extra induction training to handle their job.

3. Dissatisfaction

Training is conducted artificially outside the work place. So, employees cannot learn properly in this training method. Dissatisfaction may arise among the employees.

   Also Read: 

4. No Production

Trainees cannot take part in the production process. So, potential output and time is lost in this method of training.