Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

1.    In every organization, the personnel department is plays a critical role in smooth functioning of all other departments. So, a personnel department should first of all think of itself as a research group. The research I am thinking of, is a questioning of personnel techniques, a re-examining of accepted procedures. It is searching for facts and anticipating future developments. It is thinking about your job and exploring new ways of carrying it out.

2.    Further, a personnel department should equip itself with the knowledge and experience which will enable it to advise top management on personnel policies and, when appropriate, to draw management's attention to the employee relations implications of contemplated courses of action.

3.    Moreover, personnel people should work closely with line management in developing guidelines and procedures which will help the operating people carry out their responsibilities in the employee relations area.  Such guides will put the specialized skills which personnel people have at the disposal of the line managers without removing the essential day-to-day contact they should have with their own people.

4.    Lastly, the personnel department should perform a review or survey function.  Are personnel policies and programs being administered correctly?  Are there particular problems which make modifications necessary?  Are the programs accomplishing what they were intended to accomplish? Should changes be made to strengthen them?  These are some important questions that a review function can help answer.