Challenge for HR - National HRD Network

Transcription

| HRD News Letter | December 2007, Vol.23, Issue:9
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Conference Color Photographs
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11th National Conference
Kolkata played host to the The 11th National
Conference of the National HRD Network
that was held from November 29 th to
December 1st, 2007 at the ITC Sonar. The
theme of the Conference was “India’s
Century: The Challenge for Indian
Business Leadership.” Mr Sar thak
Behuria, Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation
was the Conference Chairman. 725
delegates attended the Conference
including 100 students from various
Management Institutes from all over the
country.
impact that macro economic, political and
social-cultural trends would have on shaping
the future environment for business.
Ms Madhabi Puri-Buch, Executive Director
of ICICI Bank, addressed the delegates on
“The Challenge of Diversity” and
emphasised the need for corporates to look
beyond traditional sources of talent supply
to build more inclusive and diverse groups
of employees.
The highlight of the first day’s proceedings
was the address by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam,
former President of India. Dr Kalam spoke
about his Vision for India, the need for
compassionate and creative leaders, the
special role that youth has in shaping the
destiny of the country and the need to build
appropriate management structures and
systems for effective execution. He had a
special word for the students present at the
Conference. Dr Kalam’s session was
followed by a module on “The Empolyee of
the Future” with Dr (Ms) Sujaya Banerjee,
Chief Learning Officer of the Essar Group
speaking on “The New Employee Profile”
and Mr Pratik Kumar, Executive Vice
Preident, Group HR, Wipro Corporation,
speaking on “The New Employment
Contract.”
The Conference kicked off on the morning
of November 29th with an impactful audio
visual on the theme of the Conference, the
recitation of the Code of Professional
Conduct of the National HRD Network
followed by the Jan Gan Man. The
traditional lamp lighting ceremony followed.
with the lamp lit by Mr Sarthak Behuria,
Chairman Indian Oil and Conference
Chairman, Mr Y C Deveshwar, Chairman
of ITC, Mr Nandan Nilekani, Co Chairman
of Infosys, Mr Aquil Busrai, Executive
Director HR of IBM and
National
President, National HRD Network, Mr
Sourav Daspatnaik, Director HR &
Strategy of the Apeejay Surrendra Group
and President of the Kolkata Chapter of
the National HJRD Network, Mr B
Santhanam, Chief Executive of St Gobain
and Chairman of the HR & IR Sub
Committee of the CII and Dr A K Balyan,
HR Director ONGC and President of the
National Institute of Personnel
Management.
Day I concluded with the Conference
Dinner hosted by Mr Sarthak Behuria.
Day 2, November 30 th , began with an
address by Mr Debu Bhattachar ya,
Managing Director of Hindalco and Vice
Chairman of Novelis, who spoke about the
“Challenge of Overseas Acquisitions” on the
context of the acquisition of Novelis by the
Aditya Birla Group earlier this year. He
shared his insights and learnings from the
acquisition process with the delegates. His
session was followed by a Panel Discussion
on the Global Survey on Talent Retention
conducted by Summit HR, USA. The
session was anchored by Mr Ranjan Sinha,
CEO of Summit HR USA. He shared the
findings of the Research Study and the
implications for talent retention arising from
this Study.
In his address as Chairman of the
Conference Mr Sarthak Behuria spoke on
“The Role of Industry in National Building”,
Mr Y C Deveshwar delivered the Inaugural
Address on the theme “Creating a More
Secure and Sustainable Future” and Mr
Nandan Nilekani as the Key Note Speaker
spoke on “Vision 2025” and the rolw that
“ideas” will play in shaping the future.
The Inaugural Session was followed by a
module on “The Emerging Environment for
Business” that was moderatedby Mr
Govind Ethiraj, Editor in Chief of UTV
News. Speakers at this session included
Prof Amitav Bose of the Indian Institute of
Management, Calcutta, Prof (Ms) Nandini
Sundar from the Delhi School of
Economics, Mr Baijayant Panda, Member
of Parliament and Mr Ramesh Vangal,
Chairman of the Katra Group of
Companies. This session explored the
This session was followed by a very
interesting Panel Discussion on “The HR
Challenge of Building a World Class
Enterprise” brilliantly moderated by Dr
Santrupt Misra, Director of the Aditya Birla
Corporation. Panelists included Mr G K
Agarwal, HR Director of NTPC, Mr Rajeev
Dubey, President HR and Corporate
Services of Mahindra & Mahindra, Mr Steve
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Correa, HR Director of Vodafone Essar,
Mr Udai Upendra, Managing Director of
The HR Company and Mr T V Mohandas
Pai, Director HR of Infosys. The Panel
explored what world class organizations
really are, how they are built and what
are the HR challenges that need to be
addressed in this process.
The afternoon session on day 2 dealt with
the Sunrise Sectors of Media and Modern
Retail with the delegates addressed by Mr
Rajdeep Sardesai, Managing Editor of
CNN IBN and Mr Bijou Kurien, President
of the Lifestyle Division of Reliance Retail.
The opportunities opening up in these
sectors, the impact they would have on
the business environment and the new
challenges arising form the opening of
these sectors were discussed.
Mr K V Kamath, Managing Director and
Chief Executive of ICICI Bank addressed
the delegates on the theme “Building a
World Class Enterprise” and emphasized
the need of focusing not only on human
capital but on speed capital and innovation
as well. This session was followd by a
Panel Discussion on “Entrepreneurship”
moderated by Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani,
CEO of Naukri. The other panelists were
Mr Sanjeev Agarwal of Helion Ventures,
Mr Mohan Reddy of Infotech Enterprises
and Mr R Sashikant of Subiksha. What
inspired them to take the road less
traveled, the unique challenges of building
entrepreneurial organizations and the HR
role in such organizations were discussed.
Day 3 started with an address by Ms
Poonam Barua on the “Role of Women in
Providing Leadship to Business and
Industry in the Future.” This was followed
by Mr B Muthuraman, Managing Director
of Tata Steel, addressing the delegates on
“Building the Indian MNC.” Mr Muthuraman
spoke about the experience of the Tata
Group in acquiring enterprises across the
globe and how important it was to allow
the manmagements of these enterprises
to continue managing their enterprises
within the overall policy and values
framework of the Tata Group.
Two sessions on the “HR Implications of
Mergers and Acquisitions” and the “HR
Challenge of Managing Across Borders”
followed. These session were addressed
by Mr Marcus Banfield, Chief Executive
of Typhoo Tea which has recently been
acquired by the Apeejay Surrendra Group
and Mr Inder Walia, Group HR Director of
the Bharti Group who spoke about his
learnings whilst managing the HR
responsibility at Arcelor Mittal.
Prof Peter Cappelli of The Wharton
School, who directed the Research Study
jointly undertaken by The Wharton School
and the National HRD Network, on “The
DNA of Business Leadership,” presented
the findings of the Study and released the
preliminary report of the Study to Mr Aquil
Busrai, National President and to Mr Vivek
Paranjpe, HR Advisor of Reliance
Industries. Reliance Industries had
sponsored the Research Study in which
over 100 Chief Executives of Indian
corporations participated.
Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Mr R
Vidyasagar and Prof Premrajan of XLRI
presented the salient features of
CompMode to the delegates.
A unique feature of the Conference was the
session on social entrepreneurship which
aimed to enable delegates learn from the
experience of social entrepreneurs working
in the non-corporate sector. Speakers
included Mr Vishal Talreja of the Dream a
Dream Foundation and Gargi Banerjee of
Pragya. These sessions were truly
exhilarating.
The Valedictor y Session brought the
curtains down on the National Conference.
Mr S K Roongta, Chairman of SAIL
delivered the Valedictory Address and Prof
Jitendra Singh, Dean and Shaw Professor
of the Nanyang Business School, Singapore
and Paul Steinberg Professor of
Management at Wharton was the Chief
Guest. He spoke on “How will we make this
India’s Century.”
The Eastern Region of the National HRD
Network honoured four
social
entrepereneurs for their unique service to
society and for choosing the road less
traveled. They were Mr Vishal Talreja of
Dream a Dream Foundation, Ms Gargi
Banerjee and Mr Sunil Pillai of Pragya and
Sr Cyril Mooney of the Rainbox Education
Project working with street children in
Kolkata. Mr Roongta presented the “Most
Promising Chapter Award “ to the Nagpur
Chapter and the “Best Chapter Award” to
the Delhi Chapter.
The curtains came down on the 11th
National Conference at 6.30 pm on
Saturday, December 1st, 2007. We now look
forward to the 12th National Conference to
be held in Chennai in 2008. The delegates
carried away with them “saplings” as
mementoes that they will plant and nurture
and as these saplings grow they will serve
as a reminder of the Conference and in the
process help in a small way in greening
our environment. The baton has now been
passed on from Kolkata to Chennai.
UDAIPUR DECLARATION - November 3, 2007
Second International Dialogue on “Economics of Non-violence: Cultural Values & Ethics” was held at
Pragya Shikar, Mahapragya Vihar, Bhuwana, Udaipur, during November 1-3, 2007.
The dialogue concluded:
1. The present day Economics
emphasises largely materialistic
development; in its place, it is necessary
to develop a new economic concept
which is based on balanced cultural,
social, spiritual and material
development in society.
2. In order to keep social, political and
economic aspects of life free from
problems, it is necessary to connect
development with the element of
"transformation of consciousness” so
that greed, selfishness, impertinence,
etc. can be curbed and minimized.
3. A new concept of Relative Economics
is being developed so that people at
large can be benefited by the economic
development and ultimately the chasm
of disparity between the rich and the
poor, between rural and urban areas,
between different regions of a country
and communities is reduced through a
process of inclusive development of all.
4. The "Corporate Social Responsibility”
should be borne by big business houses
and industrial groups so that none
should remain bereft of basic needs.
Government should also perform its role
of social responsibility.
5. The elements of non-violence,
compassion, sensitiveness etc. should
be strongly cultivated in the
consciousness of people so that
violence, cruelty, callousness etc. in
human relations and behaviour may be
curbed and consequently, a new society
infused with amity, cooperation and
peace may be constructed.
6. Without controlling tendencies of
individual
accumulation
and
consumerism, it would not be possible
to curb acts of violence, killings, crimes,
terrorism etc.; keeping this in view, the
consciousness of non-possessiveness
or limitation of wants needs to be
developed and the trend of voluntary
"visarjana” (sharing with others) needs
to be emphasized. Giving & caring for
others is a must for building a happy
and congenial social order.
7. "Roti" (i.e. bread), Ahimsa, Spirituality
and Morality—all these four dimensions
are to be considered simultaneously
with respect to their development and
for that the technique of “Training-inNon-violence” should be administered.
The entitlements for the poor should be
stressed in this regards, so that their
concerns are properly taken care of
regarding food, shelter, education,
health and other basic needs of life.
8. Making a total change in the system of
education, the technique of "emotional
control” should be included in
curriculum from the very beginning so
that inspite of the growth of intellectual
and economic competence, it can be
put under control through the
consciousness of Viveka (prudence) &
children start imbibing the noble spirit
of truth and non-violence from the early
stage in life.
9. To save the individual as well as society
from the dreadful consequences of the
lopsided material prosperity, giving rise
to the internal restlessness, tension,
conflict, environmental pollution etc., a
paradigm shift in the development
requires to be developed so that peace,
true happiness, relaxed life and
conservation of environment is
guaranteed for all human beings.
10. The Relative Economics should be
centred round "human being” and not
"matter”.
11. Economic rationality needs to be
extended to include cultural and ethical
rationality. In fact, there should be
complete convergence between
economics, culture and ethics for
building a sustainable society. The
necessary details should be worked out
in this regard through further surveys
and studies by exper ts in their
respective fields.
Ashok Bapna
Convener
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Articles
Features
Vol - 23
December 2007
Issue - 9
3-7,18-20,57 & 58 ......... 11th National
Editor
C. Balaji,
506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24,
Leela Nagar, Ameerpet, Hyderabad - 500 016.
Email - [email protected]
21 ...... Thinking
'Integrated Space' -TQM and
HRM
Conference
27,32-35 .. Udaipur International Conference
Publisher, Printer, Owner and place of
Publication with address
K. Satyanarayana
Hon. Executive Director
On behalf of National HRD Network
506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24,
Leela Nagar, Ameerpet, Hyderabad - 500 016.
Mobile: 94406-65375
Tel: +91 (40) 2374-2429, Fax: +91 (40) 2375-3191,
Res.: +91 (40) 2711-2212 Email: [email protected]
Office Administration
V. Mayan
Mobile: 094901-18810 e-mail: [email protected]
Organizations
10 ......................... President’s Message
12 ....................................... Editorial
51,53-55 ............... Chapter Photographs
45 ............................. Fascinating Facts
49 ... Resolutions for Managers-Monster Article
52 ................. HR Competency Certification
50, 56 ........................... Chapter News
56 ............................... Cartoon Corner
–– M. Sreenivas
For Advertising in HRD News Letter
Please Contact:
K. Satyanarayana
Executive Director, National HRD Network
Mobile: 94406-65375 Email: [email protected]
Column
14 ....................... Artist and the Audience
–– Madan Srinivasan
Board Members
AQUIL BUSRAI, National President
DWARAKANATH P, Immediate Past President
ANAND NAYAK, Regional President (East)
GOPAL KRISHNA M., Regional President(South)
SATISH PRADHAN, Regional President (West)
RAO G P, Regional President (North)
VARADARAJAN S. (Raja), National Secretary
ASHOK REDDY B, National Treasurer
SATYANARAYANA K, Executive Director
SANTHANAM B, Co-opted Member
CASMIRA RAJ FR, Co-Opted Member
HARI HARAN IYER, Elected Member
PRAVEEN KUMAR K, Elected Member
RAMCHANDER M, Elected Member
NAGARAJ D R, Nominated Member
VERMA K.K. Dr., Ex-officio member
16 ................ Educating Facts and Factoids
–– Thothathri Raman
Case Study
46 ...............
24 .......... HR Managers & a Green Industry ?
–– Capt A Nagaraj Subbarao
26 ... The Fundamentals of
Effective Employee
Satisfaction Mapping
–– Hari Nair, Abhishek Gavane
28 .......
7 Steps to Implement Balanced Score
Card Concept
–– A Ajaya Shankar Gupta
36 ............... Facelift To Human Resourcees
9 ................. Chatur Knowledge Networking
11 ................ Suryadatta Group of Institutes
13 .......................................... Crisp
15 ................ Sona Koyo Steering Systems
17 ........ Alphastars Tap New Age Foundation
25 ...................... Globarena Technologies
30,31 .... Asia Pacific Institute of Management
48 ................................. Monster Jobs
Proof Reading
Araman Shahi
Plant Manager, Radiant Consumer Appliances
Mobile: 99512-23782
Email:[email protected]
22 ............... Learning and Failure in Human
by Jaipur Chapter
Advertisements
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Consulting Editor, Business India, New Delhi
Mobile: 098112-97249 Email: [email protected]
–– P. Vijayan
Accounting- Liabilities Approach
–– L.Shankari
38 ........... Knowledge Manager and Tools for
Excellence
–– Dr. Gunmala Suri
39 ............ Defying the Workplace Difficulties:
Dealing with Boss
–– Mr.L.K.Jena
40 ............
Virtual Teams - Challenge for HR
–– B. Sivarama Krishna & Perni Srinivasa Rao
42 ....... Quality Function Deployment (Qfd): An
Alternative Context
–– Sumathi Annamalai
43 ............... Holistic Assessments - A Three
Dimensional View
–– G Ravi Kumar
44 ............ Employee Commitment A Way To
Bosco, What Is The Solution?
Renaissance Management
–– R. Dharmarao
–– P Gowri Kusuma
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President's Message
with the values, culture, processes and
the core business of each individual
organization. While an accounting
group might focus on integrity,
confidentiality and obligations to its
clients, a baby food or toy manufacturer
might emphasize safety of its product.
Most organisations will, however,
define expected behaviour around
financial and personal integrity.
ETHICS AT WORKPLACE
The single most important
business imperative
A
ll seemed to be going well for this
22,000 strong, over $110 bln
revenue, blue chip organisation. But
then suddenly, everything started
crumbling - overnight - Stock price fell
to near zero, senior management went
behind bars and it seemed that all
'energy' had been sapped out of this
once giant organisation. What went
wrong ? Simple, top leaders had
crossed that thin distinguishing line of
ethics. This story has been repeated
often and with one certainty - world
does not forgive any institution that
mistakenly believes of escaping
consequences after infringing ethical
standards. Maintaining high ethics is
becoming a single most important
business imperative.
Workplace ethics is a set of ideal and
principle that an organisation commits
to and ensures that all its constituents
adhere unfailingly. This then becomes
a set of formal or informal standards
of conduct that guides behaviour at
workplace. These standards are partly
based on core values such as honesty,
respect, and trust often reinforced or
demonstrated by the actions of
organizational leaders and co-workers.
If embedded strongly into the DNA of
the organisation, they can help guide
high-performance organizations
through the stormiest of ups and
downs.
While there are certain values that are
essential to furthering ethical actions,
there is no one magical 'code of
conduct' document that applies to all
businesses. Ethical guidelines will vary
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An organization culture that
encourages employees to raise issues
and show courage in confronting
unethical or illegal practices without
fear of personal consequences builds
faith in its uprightness and prevents any
suspicious activities from going
unnoticed. Progressive organisations
provide a forum to employees to safely
report violation of law or organisation
norms. Given many names like "Speak
up", "Whistle Blowing" etc they
uniformly ensure confidentiality. Some
organisations
also
appoint
independent, external ombudsman.
Organizations that maintain strong
ethical practices invariably attract
higher degree of employee loyalty,
tending to attract better talent and have
higher retention record. A study by
Hudson Institute found that 55 percent
of employees who describe their
workplace environment as ethical are
more likely to stay with the same
organization for a longer period.
Ethical failures are rooted in leadership
failure. Leading to lack of a corporate
culture in which ethical concerns have
not been given due importance or,
worst still, where these have been
compromised for some immediate
business gains. Most often under the
mistaken
belief,
that
these
infringements will be covered up and
will not be unearthed.
A standard of ethical behaviour has to
be set and displayed at the top most
level in the organisations. Employees
are perceptible enough to distinguish
stated ethical aims and those actually
practiced by the organisation leaders.
How these leaders 'walk-the-talk'
decides how much adherence to ethical
standards gets permeated in the
organisation.
Corporate leaders have a professional
obligation to build and foster a valuesbased culture that nurtures high ethical
standards. Only by instilling these
values, will they be able to ensure long
term sustainability of the organisation.
Thus it is by their own conduct that they
demonstrate the extent of their
commitment. In Indian scenario, some
large and reputed organisations have
had close brush with ethical violations.
In most cases where these
organisations have been exposed the
negative impact has been immediate
and lasting. Though in a few cases,
unfortunately, by their mega growth
some organisations have even
managed to gain legitimacy and
obliterate their past reputation.
Increasing number of companies, in the
last decade, have adopted and
enforced codes of ethics and on-going
educational programs to help combat
ethical breaches. Clearly employees
have an inherent desire to work in a
clean work environment and if they are
made aware of the organisations
commitment and also the processes of
escalation they would rather resort to
compliance than turn away from
reporting an infringement. Educating
the workforce therefore is critical, if a
culture of high ethical standard is to be
evolved.
Organizations known for non ethical
practices not only find themselves in
legal entangle sinking millions of funds,
but also face challenges in
recruitments, employee productivity
and loyalty. Ethics matter in business
because all internal and external
stakeholders stand to gain when
individuals, organizations and
employees seek to do what is right. A
clean image attracts both customers
and investors. Though it does not
appear on the balance sheet, good
corporate ethics are huge assets to any
organization.
Conduct of senior management and
direct supervisors, coupled with
positive reinforcement for ethical
behaviour, are major factors for
promoting ethical standard amongst
the workforce. Zero tolerance policy
towards infringement further reinforces
the seriousness of intent. At the end of
the day, it all boils down to sincere
intent. If the intent is really to be ethical,
people will sense it. Even value it.
- Aquil Busrai
Suryadatta Colour Add
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Editorial
I
have a couple of points to write about
in this editorial. Firstly, the number
of ar ticles that we receive for
publication appears to have reduced. I
am told that one possible reason for
this is the 'stringent' criteria we apply not to accept articles that do not seem
to be original. Now, there is nothing
'stringent' about this! We simply cannot
accept materials that are possibly
plagiarized! I have no doubt at all that
there are so many people who have
thoughts and practices of theirs to
share about. I am re-appealing to such
people to kindly share these with the
fellow professionals. The HRD
Newsletter was started as an organ of
the National HRD Network, whose
purpose is to learn from each other.
And the Newsletter is a platform for
that.
The second point that I wish to touch
upon is based on written material that
I came across in the recent past materials about the role of
conversations in organizational
change, many of which can be found
in www.laurieford.com. I want to refer
to the paper titled "Resistance and the
background conversations of change"
co-authored by Jeffrey Ford, Laurie
Ford and Randall Mc Namara (Journal
of
Organisational
Change
Management, Vol 15, No 2, 2002, pp.
105-121.). In this paper, the authors
take a post-modernst, constructivist
perspective and consider that there is
no singular, objective reality of
phenomena, but is "interpreted,
constructed, or enacted through social
interactions'. Proceeding from this
premise, the authors consider that
resistance to change is to be found in
the constructed social reality: there is
a conversation in the social system that
is at the 'background' of change efforts.
Attempts at change that ignore to alter
this background conversation are not
likely to succeed. The authors identified
three such resistance-to-change
backgrounds: complacent, resigned
and cynical. These three are created
and sustained by three different sets
of conversations. The authors propose
'reinvention' as a way of dealing with
these background conversations:
reinvention "is not about changing what
is, but undoing what is and creating
something new." Readers who are
interested to delve deeper into this
matter will benefit hugely from going
through this paper, and others the
website I had mentioned above.
- C. Balaji
Best Chapter Award 2006-07 - Delhi Chapter
The Delhi Chapter of NHRDN established during 1985-86 has been attaining a multi-fold growth in size, contribution to the profession
and service to members. During the period 2006-07, the membership of the Chapter has grown considerably including the growth of
Life membership to 1500 plus, which is commendable.
Besides organizing regular monthly/special meets with outstanding speakers, the Chapter has organized a number of special events
during the year. The Chapter successfully organized the 10th National Conference which became the biggest conference in terms of
revenue and profits in the history of NHRDN. The Chapter has shown innovation in the way they have organized a couple of very
interactive sessions : 'HR in action' which is organized on the lines of a Town Hall where any participant in the event is free to share
his/her thoughts on HR with the rest of the group. Recently, the chapter has launched its mega web project (web 2.0) with some
unprecedented and path breaking work. Chapter also hosted board meets and contributed significantly to the national activities etc.
The Delhi Chapter has created a benchmark by holding regular Annual General Body Meetings and leadership renewal. AGM
immediately after close of accounts, duly audited in record time. Their annual secretary report is a masterpiece and exemplary work
of corporate governance. The Chapter has a clear succession plan with young talent contributing and taking charge. The Code of
Conduct is consistently institutionalized and has been making highest funds contribution to the Head Quarter. The Chapter has been
making contribution beyond to the non-profit organizations. Delhi chapter has also been supporting the National and Regional level
activities of NHRDN.
In recognition of the outstanding achievements made during 2006-07, the National HRD Network takes pride in conferring the Best
Chapter Award 2006-07 on the Delhi Chapter.
Most Promising Chapter Award 2006-07 - Nagpur Chapter
Nagpur Chapter of NHRDN has been attaining a multi-fold growth in size, contribution to the profession & service to members.
During the period 2006-07, the membership of Chapter has grown considerably including the growth of Life Membership to 68,
which is commendable in smaller non-metros. Besides maintaining a continuous momentum in organizing the regular meetings, the
Chapter has organized 2 special events in this year.
Nagpur Chapter has also been the frontrunner for the share of membership made to the Headquarters. In recognition to the noteworthy
achievements made during 2006-07 amongst the non-metro Chapters, the National HRD Network takes pride in conferring the Most
Promising Chapter Award 2006-07 on the Nagpur Chapter.
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Crisp Color Add
13 |
The Artist and the Audience
n
lum
o
C
– Madan Srinivasan
I
nsight happens by serendipity and
sometimes in the unlikeliest of places. This
time, the setting was the International
Children's Festival recently hosted by Delhi.
Held every year for the past seven years,
the festival brings together students of the
Ryan group of schools from various
countries to promote cultural exchange and
understanding.
As we walked into National Bal Bhavan, the
sight of groups of students and teachers of
different nationalities conversing and
laughing with one another fascinated us. The
feeling continued as we trooped into the
auditorium for the cultural show. That
evening, students from two countries Estonia and Slovania were putting up
performances.
The Trio of Piglets from Estonia was a
delightful play of three piglets played by
blonde girls in the age group of 8 - 12
supported by a quartet of musicians. The
simplicity of the script and the spontaneous
exuberance of the girls as they pranced
about on stage and shouted their names in
quick succession (Neff Neff, Niff Niff and
Nuff Nuff) had the audience in splits and
endeared them in a matter of moments. At
the end, the audience roared in applause.
A choreography item, Mikroorganisms from
Slovania used the ballet dance form to
render an artistic interpretation of the
beginning of life in the universe. Starting on
a slow tempo, the late-teen boys and girls
started crossing each other in long and
staccato strides in studied indifference. As
the music stepped up, they writhed and
convulsed to a crescendo that would have
demanded a high level of raw physical
strength, stamina and flexibility. The
spectators went through a multitude of
emotions ranging from awe and shock to
confusion and admiration before settling for
a big round of clapping.
"Which performance was better?" Maybe it
is a wrong question to ask because both
performances were creative in their own way
and done with loads of passion and energy.
The piglets scored on their use of humor
and simplicity; the organisms on their
extremely well choreographed moves and
haunting music score.
Let's reframe the question "Which
performance did the audience like better?"
If one had asked this particular audience a group largely comprised of children and
teens - to make a choice, my surmise would
have been Advantage Piglets.
At the internal level, the artist and the
audience are drawn together by the internal
customer-vendor relationship. Of the several
types that exist, we'll explore one that's close
to our hearts - the HR professional as the
artist and the employees as the audience.
In the artistic world, there will always be the
creative license to interpret a theme or topic
in a completely whacky manner. What's of
essence is the artist-audience relationship.
If the artist is fickle, the interplay between
these two is even more so. One can safely
venture that for an artist to be 'successful'
(let's put it 'commercially successful'), he/
she needs to know the audience well. How
else can one explain how an artist recently
received Rs. 6 lakhs for a painting on a
2.5'X2' canvas that bore a striking
resemblance to red blobs on a yellow sky?
For the HR professional to be successful as
an artist, she needs to firstly understand the
needs, desires and aspirations of the
audience. She needs to do market
segmentation of her audience because the
workforce in today's organization is
heterogeneous - blue collar, white collar,
knowledge worker, managers and leaders and no ONE size can fit them all. This is done
through a process of exploration and discovery
- two-way dialog, employee connect, pulse
surveys - just like the artist uses his keen
sense of observation of nature and the world
around him to get ideas for his art.
Is there an artist-audience relationship in
the corporate world too - at our workplace
where performance and results count, not
merely creative ideas; where consistency
and stability is valued more than
eccentricity? One can say that this
relationship exists in a slightly different form
and at two levels - external and internal.
The consolidated insights serve as the muse
that inspires the HR professional to create
a set of programs and initiatives that offer a
relevant value proposition to the employees,
just as the artist translates his imaginative
and creative intent into a repertoire of work
- painting, sculpture, prose and poems, etc.
In the former, the ar tist is the savvy
marketing professional and the audience is
the target consumer. The marketer knows
that his offering - product or service - is not
always markedly differentiated from
competition in today's business
environment, hence he applies his 4 P's of
Marketing to 'paint' an attractive value
proposition that appeals to the mind and
heart of the consumer and get deeply
entrenched into her mind space. He also
tries to influence repeat behavior through
loyalty programs etc.
The marketer is granted the creative license
to the extent that his ar t (marketing
communications, ads) brings revenue or
profits. Thus, it is not creativity for its own
sake; the art of marketing is to bring in the
moolah. Haven't we heard the debate on
what truly constitutes real good advertising/
copywriting and what does not? Opinion
may be divided on whether winning a
prestigious award can classify an ad as
effective, but the final say belongs to the
audience - the consumer.
Madan Srinivasan is based at Gurgaon. He can be reached at: [email protected]
14 |
The impact of the HR offerings depends
largely on how well they have been received
by the employees and would be measured
by metrics like higher retention, greater
employee satisfaction and engagement,
improved performance, etc, but the greatest
satisfaction that a HR person will experience
is when her audience loves the HR program
or initiative.
The inherent nature of the HR professionalemployees relationship may not be fickle in
the sense of the artist-audience pairing; but
it definitely comes under a lot of scrutiny in
today's job market, where the talent pool both prospective and those inside - are
continuously assessing their current
organization's offerings with respect to their
own needs & aspirations and those in other
organizations. This is where the HR person
- the Artist comes in and creates and
sustains a compelling proposition that fires
the imagination of its audience.
Whether it is the savvy marketer or the
empathetic HR person, they are out to woo
their audience! Hurrah for the artist and the
audience!
H
u
Sona Steering Colour Add
15 |
Educating Facts and Factoids
n
lum
o
C
– Thothathri Raman
I
ndia on the fast lane, "India is the next
super power" "India is no pushover"
…..a lot is being said and written about
India. Everyone from TiE-the US based
powerful NRI club-to our very own
NHRDN has been mounting national and
international debate to discuss on what
it means to be in India now, a happening
country….. Well there are facts and there
are factoids according to Jug Suraya, the
inimitable columnist with a sharp wit. He
wrote in Times of India the other day that
by repeating endlessly what is not a fact
one could create an impression that it is
so. India may be all that and more but let
us not get mixed up about the context and
timeline and end up exhausting all the
accolades before time and be left with
only expletives for a job not done. If one
only could look at the pathetic state of
preparedness of the all important human
resource to make the magic of India Inc
happen, one could easily see what is fact
and what is not .
The Indian Labour Report 2007 says that
"about 90 % of employment opportunities
require vocational skills, but 90 % of our
college and higher education output has
only bookish knowledge".
A similar study conducted by Infosys, the
IT major, concludes that close to 30 % of
the candidates they interviewed were not
employable. Coming from an employer of
repute who almost exclusively recruit
computer specialists or qualified
engineers or MBAs, this is quite a telling
comment on the state of affairs. The
software association Nasscom holds a
similar view about the quality of the
passouts from our higher education
institutions about their employability
quotient. Being unemployed is no curse
as there is still hope of landing a job, but
to be "unemployable" a curse worse than
that of the devil's own. The institutions
and the system that has created these
can offer no excuse for continuing with
this sort of affair any more. But who is in
a hurry to change things on the ground?
None and ironically by the factoids that
are being trotted out of India being a world
beater much ahead of times, one is only
adding to the laxity and worse, complicity
to continuing with the inevitable.
Not that the employers who are fighting
with each other to offer tantalizing
packages in our business school
campuses are not aware of the ability of
our "blue-eyed MBAs" performing in live
work situations. But it is equally an open
secret that blue eyed are few and
increasingly rare and what is being offered
in the campus today may be justified in
some cases but in most it could be
construed as wage inflation necessitated
by lack of supply, a dangerous situation
to be in where you not only end up with a
substandard talent but also pay more than
what you would want to pay for it.
Quantity and quality
The much touted Goldman Sachs study
of Brazil, Russia, India and China
(identified as BRIC countries) is being
quoted by the factoid hunters tirelessly
to say that India can very well emerge as
the third largest economy in the world in
2040 and the largest economy in 2050.
India has the potential to grow the fastest
among the four BRIC countries over the
next 30 to 50 years
Such a massive growth however require
a comprehensive development and
planning strategy that would primarily aim
at providing an appropriate talent pool
and leadership talent in the country which
can only happen through the education
process. As a result higher education has
become a focus of attention in the country.
According to the Indian HRD ministry 30
new central universities would be created
in the 11th plan period which is about to
commence, of which 16 are to be set up
in areas which don't have a central
university. The rest 14 are to be model
universities of world class infrastructure.,
each of these 16 universities would cost
around Rs 1,000 crores a piece. There
are plans for seven IIMs, 10 National
Institute of Technology, five Indian Institute
of Science, Education and Research, 20
IIITs and two schools of architecture.
There will also be 330 new colleges in
educationally backward districts. Well, the
numbers are impressive enough, never
mind that it will not add up to much as
together these institutions will not add
more than 20 per cent additional capacity
of seats.
The National Knowledge Commission
headed by a die-hard dreamer, Sam
Pitroda has recommended the
establishment of 1500 new universities to
bring at least 15 per cent of school pass
outs to get a graduate degree.
The numbers are fine and by repeating
these in time and again one could even
create a factoid that India will have met
the magic numbers needed to fuel the
manpower needs of the industry. But fact
is, such massive outturn in university
education would require a lot more nerve
than what we have at present. A steely
resolve is needed to pull out all stops to
put together a higher education system
which not only could fund itself on a
massive scale using government, private
and international sources, but also spruce
the bottomline quality so that the curse
of unemployable graduates will be ended
once and for all. This would require a
drastic rethink and greater participation
by professionals in the education process
than what we see at present. Time to
mount a national action plan on what we
can do to create capacity with quality than
waste time waxing eloquent on factoids.
Join me in sending in your opinion as to
how professionals could establish
institutions and companies to provide
quality education.
Write to [email protected]
A.Thothathri Raman, Consulting Editor Business India magazine. E-mail: [email protected]
16 |
H
u
Alfastar Colour Add
17 |
SESSION WISE SUMMARY OF 11TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF
NHRD NETWORK AT KOLKATA 29TH NOV 1ST DECEMBER 07.
Report by : Sourav Das Patnaik
Kolkata played host to the The 11th National Conference of the National HRD Network that was held from November 29th to December 1st,
2007 at the ITC Sonar. The theme of the Conference was “India’s Century: The Challenge for Indian Business Leadership.” Mr. Sarthak
Behuria, Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation was the Conference Chairman. 725 delegates attended the Conference including 100 students
from various Management Institutes from all over the country.
The Conference kicked off on the morning of November 29th with an impactful audio visual on the theme of the Conference, the recitation
of the Code of Professional Conduct of the National HRD Network followed by the Jan Gan Man. The traditional lamp lighting ceremony
followed with the lamp lit by Mr. Sarthak Behuria, Chairman Indian Oil and Conference Chairman, Mr. Y C Deveshwar, Chairman of ITC, Mr.
Nandan Nilekani, Co Chairman of Infosys, Mr. Aquil Busrai, Executive Director HR of IBM and National President, National HRD Network,
Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik, Director HR & Strategy of the Apeejay Surrendra Group and President of the Kolkata Chapter of the National
HJRD Network, Mr B Santhanam, Chief Executive of St Gobain and Chairman of the HR & IR Sub Committee of the CII and Dr A K Balyan,
HR Director ONGC and President of the National Institute of Personnel Management.
DAY -1
Highlights of Speech
INAUGRAL SESSION Speaker
"The Role of Industry in Nation Building" - India at 60 years, If one looks back at the last 60 years it
has been a difficult journey with major developments and progress made in self reliance in agriculture
and industry and at the same time there remains great challenges ahead. The issues of inclusive
growth, rural as well as urban infrastructure, lagging of agriculture sector, low efficiencies in farm
and non-farm sector, simplification of labour laws. He pointed out that manufacturing sector would
be the core sector if India has to achieve a double-digit growth.
Mr. Sarthak Behuria-Chairman
Indian Oil Corporation Limited and
Chairman of the Conference.
Mr. Y. C. Deveshwar, Chairman,
ITC Limited, Chief Guest
Delivered the Inaugural Address on the theme "Creating a More Secure and Sustainable Future". In
his speech he highlighted the HRD role to develop ignited and brilliant mind. He also highlighted the
need to build and augment the National and Social capital of the country. In his speech he highlighted
the need of sustainable growth, the issue of urban and rural employment and raising of the power of
income. He highlighted India has 6,40,000 villages out of which 60% has got over 1000 people, 35%
having 1000 to 5000 people and 0.75% villages have over 1000 people. He highlighted the fact that
there is a large population of landless labourers, which needs to be suitably employed, and productivity
issues are addressed. The low productivity and farming sector is cause of concern and hence the
living condition and standard of rural people need to be enhanced. He also highlighted the need of
CSR integrated with business module like ITC e chaupal /chaupal sagar as well as CSR initiatives
which are de-linked to business. He felt the need of Government's initiatives for CSR_____.
Mr. Nandan Nilekani,
Co-Chairman, Infosys
The Key Note Speaker spoke on "Vision 2025 and highlighted the ideas which will play the role in
shaping the future of the country. In his speech he spoke about the four ideas: -1. Ideas which
become main stream 2.Ideas in execution. 3. Ideas, which are debated and implied. 4. Ideas of
future.He spoke about the population burden vs. human capital akin to liability vs. asset. India is yet
to reap the benefits from its demographic profile and felt rapid urbanization in India as well as
technology, which can make difference to our life. He emphasized the issue of Opportunity vs.
Rights, Higher Education, need for creation of jobs. He felt that idea is to think about the Indian
context with clear solution are required for the following areas 1. Environment 2. High growth with
low carbon 3. Health 4. Cost of Social Security
Mr. Aquil Busrai, Executive
Director, Human Resources, IBM
India
He welcomed all the delegates and pointed out the people power as great differentiators within the
corporate and country at large. He also highlighted HRD has come up as a business partner but
needs to ensure that quality of talent and ability to use the talent as catalyst in transformation
process.
Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik, Director,
HRD & Strategy, Apeejay
Surrendra Group
He welcomed all the dignitaries and the audience at the dais to the 11th National Conference held at
Kolkata. He highlighted it is a unique time in the country's history whereby growth rate has rapidly
increased and at the same time grappling with basic issues. He felt HRD has played a pivotal role in
achieving goal and ensure all citizens live in social and economic dignity.
Post Lunch Session
Module-1 The Emerging Business Environment
Panel Discussion with Moderator:
Mr. Govind EthirajPanelists: Mr.
Baijaynta Jay Panda, Mr. Ramesh
Vangal, Prof (Ms) Nandini Sundar,
Prof Amitava Bose.
A module followed the Inaugural Session on "The Emerging Environment for Business" that was
moderated by Mr. Govind Ethiraj, Editor in Chief of UTV News. This session explored the impact that
macro economic, political and social-cultural trends would have on shaping the future environment
for business.
Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch,
Executive Director, ICICI Bank
She addressed the delegates on "The Challenge of Diversity" and emphasized the need for corporates
to look beyond traditional sources of talent supply to build more inclusive and diverse groups of
employees.
18 |
Special Address
Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam,
former President of India
The highlight of the first day's proceedings was the address by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President
of India. Dr Kalam spoke about his Vision for India, the need for compassionate and creative leaders,
the special role that youth has in shaping the destiny of the country and the need to build appropriate
management structures and systems for effective execution. He had a special word for the students
present at the Conference
Module-2 The Employee of the Future
Dr Kalam's session was followed by a module on "The Employee of the Future" with Dr (Ms) Sujaya Banerjee, Chief Learning Officer of
the Essar Group speaking on "The New Employee Profile" and Mr Pratik Kumar, Executive Vice President, Group HR, Wipro Corporation,
speaking on "The New Employment Contract."
Day 1 concluded with a dinner hosted by Mr. Sarthak Behuria, Chairman, India Oil
Day 2 Module-3
Mr.
Debu
Bhattacharya,
Managing Director, Hindalco and
Vice Chairman, Novelis
He spoke about the "Challenge of Overseas Acquisitions" on the context of the acquisition of
Novelis by the Aditya Birla Group earlier this year. He shared his insights and learning's from the
acquisition process with the delegates.
Panel Discussions on Global
Survey on Talent Retention
conducted by Summit HR- Ranjan
Sinha, Summit HR, USA
Mr. Ranjan Sinha, CEO of Summit HR USA, anchored the session. He shared the findings of the
Research Study and the implications for talent retention arising from this Study.
This session was followed by a very interesting Panel Discussion on "The HR Challenge of Building a World Class Enterprise" brilliantly
moderated by Dr Santrupt Misra, Director of the Adyta Burlap Corporation. Panelists included Mr. G K Agarwal, Executive Director(HRD)
of NTPC, Mr. Rajeev Dubey, President, HR and Corporate Services of Mahindra & Mahindra, Mr Steve Correa, HR Director of Vodafone
Essar, Mr Udai Upendra, Managing Director of The HR Company and Mr T V Mohandas Pai, Director HR of Infosys. The Panel explored
what world class organizations really are, how they are built and what are the HR challenges that need to be addressed in this process.
The Audience was enthralled with the quality of discussions and was fully involved from start to finish.
Post Lunch Session
Module-4: The New world of
Retail and MediaMr. Rajdeep
Sardesai, Managing Director, CNN
IBN andMr. Bijou Kurien,
President, Lifestyle Division,
Reliance Retail
Next Session
Mr K V Kamath, Managing
Director and Chief Executive of
ICICI Bank
Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai spoke of the Media and the need for the media to be responsive as well as
responsible. He highlighted thru his experiences the trends and how Indian Media has come of age.
He sounded a word of caution for the media to maintain standards and purity. Mr. Bijou Kurien spoke
on the Sunrise Sectors Modern Retail The opportunities opening up in this sector, the impact they
would have on the business environment and the new challenges arising form the opening of these
sectors were discussed.
He addressed the delegates on the theme "Building a World Class Enterprise" and emphasized the
need of focusing not only on human capital but on speed capital and innovation as well. Mr. Kamath
highlighted that HRD was a unique capital in the sense that it can draw infinite competitive advantage
with proper leveraging of right opportunities.
Module-5: EntrepreneurshipThis session was followed by a Panel Discussion on "Entrepreneurship" moderated by Mr. Sanjeev
Bikhchandani, CEO of Naukri. The other panelists were Mr. Sanjeev Agarwal of Helion Ventures, Mr. Mohan Reddy of Infotech Enterprises
and Mr. R Sashikant of Subiksha. What inspired them to take the road less traveled; the unique challenges of building entrepreneurial
organizations and the HR role in such organizations were discussed.
Day 2 session concluded by a grand Dinner by NHRD Network for all delegates and speakers
Day 3
Ms. Poonam Barua
She spoke on the "Role of Women in providing Leadership to Business and Industry in the future"
Next Session
Module 6: Building the Indian MNC
Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing
Director, Tata Steel
He addressed the delegates on "Building the Indian MNC." Mr. Muthuraman spoke about the
experience of the Tata Group in acquiring enterprises across the globe and how important it was to
allow the managements of these enterprises to continue managing their enterprises within the overall
policy and values framework of the Tata Group.
Two sessions on the "HR Implications of Mergers and Acquisitions" and the "HR Challenge of Managing Across Borders" followed.
These session were addressed by Mr. Marcus Banfield, Chief Executive of Typhoo Tea which has recently been acquired by the Apeejay
Surrendra Group and Mr. Inder Walia, Group HR Director of the Bharti Group who spoke about his learnings whilst managing the HR
responsibility at Arcelor Mittal.
Module-7: The DNA of Indian
Business Leadership.Prof Peter
Cappelli, Wharton School
Spoke on "The DNA of Business Leadership," presented the findings of the Study and released the
preliminary report of the Study to Mr. Aquil Busrai, National President and to Mr Vivek Paranjpe, HR
Advisor of Reliance Industries. Reliance Industries had sponsored the Research Study in which
over 100 Chief Executives of Indian corporations participated.
Next session was presented by Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Mr R Vidyasagar and Prof Premrajan of XLRI presented the salient features
of CompMode to the delegates.
19 |
Module 8: Leadership Learning
from the Non Corporate SectorMr.
Vishal Talreja, Dream Foundation
and Ms. Gargi Banerjee, Pragya
Spoke on social entrepreneurship, which aimed to enable delegates, learn from the experience of
social entrepreneurs working in the non-corporate sector. Delegated enjoyed this session very
much.
The Valedictory Session brought the curtains down on the National Conference. Mr S K Roongta, Chairman of SAIL delivered the
Valedictory Address. In his speech Mr. Roongta highlighted the need for equitable growth, need for social harmony and need for
corporates to embrace more responsibility. He highlighted that there exists large disparity in the Indian context. Failure to do so would
result in social unrest and disharmony.
Prof Jitendra Singh, Dean and Shaw Professor of the Nanyang Business School, Singapore and Paul Steinberg Professor of Management
at Wharton was the Chief Guest. He spoke on "How will we make this India's Century." He kept the audience highly involved with his
comparisons of China and India from past to present.
The Eastern Region of the National HRD Network honoured four social entrepreneurs for their unique service to society and for
choosing the road less traveled.
l
Mr. Vishal Talreja of Dream a Dream Foundation,
l
Ms Gargi Banerjee and Mr Sunil Pillai of Pragya and
l
Sister Cyril Mooney of the Rainbox Education Project working with street children in Kolkata.
Mr. Roongta presented the "Most Promising Chapter Award " to the Nagpur Chapter and the "Best Chapter Award" to the Delhi Chapter.
The student Volunteers were presented with certificates and felicitated by Mr. Aquil Busrai, National President, NHRD Network and Mr.
Sourav Daspatnaik, President, Kolkata Chapter.
The curtains came down on the 11th National Conference at 6.30 pm on Saturday, December 1st, 2007. We now look forward to the 12th
National Conference to be held in Chennai in 2008. The delegates carried away with them "saplings" as mementoes that they will plant
and nurture and as these saplings grow they will serve as a reminder of the Conference and in the process help in a small way in
greening our environment. The baton has now been passed on from Kolkata to Chennai.
We look forward to all Members and delegates at Chennai.
11th National HRD Network Concluded with cocktails and Music.
Carried from Page 21
Thinking 'Integrated Space' TQM and HRM
fits all approach to reward and recognition
is antitheses to the TQM philosophy of
understanding customer needs and wantssegment wise- and the current movement
in the world is to delivering mass
customization with an
elevating and unique experience .How
many of us HR professionals are able to
deliver 'employee experiences', mass
customize our responses to employee
needs and yet keep employee costs under
control? No more do we have the luxury
of anchors like 'either', 'neither', 'or ' . It is
the age of AND.
Let us shift gears and move to the
emphasis placed by a company/
organization in ensuring that it has a robust
pipeline of interesting and useful products/
services to meet customer needs of today,
tomorrow and the day after. In fact, many
companies are mandating that a certain
percentage of their revenue should be
generated from launched products/
services in recent years eg 3M(obviously
this focus will differ based on the
20 |
Technology,Market and customer t life
cycles).
When one looks at the products and
services, we HR professionals offer, the
story is starkly different. We prefer to hold
on to dated policies and practices and tend
to come up with new policies, which are
actually patches stuck on old polices. New
policies and programmes happen only when
the assumptions behind existing ones are
questioned. For example, how relevant is a
Pension benefit to the largely emerging Gen
Y workforce of today and tomorrow? How
relevant is the process of continuing to give
long service awards of watches/suitcases
to employees? We seem to be frozen in a
time warp, and the line leaders are also wary
of breaking from the past..
Lastly, how many of us are aware of the TQM
concept of fool proofing or in the Japanese
language called Pokayoke. The principle is
that , even an uniniated customer, should
not make a major mistake while using a
product/service. The earliest example of this
is the visual control of a ' King " and a "
Queen" on the doors of comfort rooms in
hotels, airports etc. This is a brilliant
example of how to design error proof. In a
similar vein, how many of us take the pains
of designing forms, policies, systems, that
are well thought through for all major
eventualities and would result in minimal
come backs from the customers of the
same. We lose a lot of good will from our
internal customers because we have not
idiot proofed new initiatives/supplemental
ones.
In conclusion, TQM constructs,
philosophies, techniques, systems offer
tremendous inspirational points for HR
professionals to retool ourselves and the
attitudes/belief systems of the leaders of
those organizations, we are associated
with.
TQM emphasizes the 'whole', 'total'
,'whole system'and hence represents the
best view of the need to lead a Total
Quality Life , in simultaneity with being a
Total Quality led HR professional.
H
u
Thinking 'Integrated Space'
-TQM and HRM
– P. Vijayan
M
ost often, TQM is rarely seen as an
important and integral element of an
organisation's Human Resource Strategy,
policies, thought processes. Most often,
TQM is on the agenda of Manufacturing,
Operations, and Supply Chain and at times,
finds its rightful place, along side Business
Excellence. HR professionals tend to
possess very little appreciation of this
important body of knowledge and, hence,
are not at the table, regarding their
organisation's Quality Strategy and
integrating with the People strategies and
approaches.
My experiences, over time, has confirmedtime and again- that breakthroughs in
thinking, frameworks and in the end superior
performance of a process, system,
company, industry, country happens when
two disciplines meet each other creating
new and unique ' space". As an eg,
Employer Branding is an important example
of the coalescing of Brand Management,
Communications and HR. Another example
is the inter disciplinary breakthrough of IT
and Medicine, where many many years
back, Medical transcription became an India
advantage- much before the 'formal
outsourcing wave' became aware to most
of us.
I intend exploring the space where TQM
interacts with HR process/system/practice
and would like to share what new
possibilities could emerge. I would be
exploring a couple of linkages of a TQM
process/principle/philosophy with a HR
process/system/practice. This by no means
is exhaustive but should inspire you, the
readers, to deep dive and explore more
insights for common good of TQM and HR
professionals.
Let us kick off the exploration with Talent
Attraction, a major challenge for India Inc
and even the world.
What does TQM postulate on a parallel
process like Customer acquisition? Isn't
customer acquisition and potential
employee acquisition fundamentally
representing the same'process' and could
learn from each other? Do we, HR
professionals in the recruitment and
selection vertical, understand potential
employee characteristics, availability pools,
substitutable skills etc, as well as the
organization and the Marketing/Sales
professionals understand the end customer/
intermediate customers? How much
research do we do to test the effectiveness
of our talent acquisition strategies- in terms
of efficiency, effectiveness and reinforcing
the employer brand? Is our potential
employee search focused on the right
segments of availability? Do we know,
globally, the demand supply flows of skillscurrent and likely into near future? While
Product Development and Marketing
professionals use advanced TQM based like
Quality Focus Deployment, Taguchi
experiments etc, why are HR professionals
not giving more care to understanding the
potential employer better- in terms of
psychographic profiles, motivation to work
and rewards etc? Are we in sync with
changing demographics and the values of
the emerging work force?
Let us look at the selection process a bit
more closely. Most of us, HR professionals,
tend to give search assignments and we are
psychologically happier when the search
firm generates quantity- a number of CV's.
We believe that gives us the widest choice
and hence would lead to a better shortlist
for initiating the testing processes. This most
often is not true at all. When you study the
TQM principles, it is clear that more is not
necessarily good. That is why TQM treats
inventory, excess production, warehouses
as waste. Inventory hides inefficiencies in
the supply chain in terms of demand
forecasting, placing timely, the right orders
with vendors and the latter's capability to
deliver right numbers of first time right
quality. Infact, Vendor Performance
Improvement programmes almost always
are accompanied with dramatic reduction
in inventories, warehouses and even the
ratio of vendors to components. Then, why
are HR professionals, and even Line
Managers, insisting on number of cv's? Why
do we not transfer accountability to the
search partner to do the funneling in from
many to a few and we spend more time on
the few candidates??? Seems elementary,
however not experienced in practice.
TQM has at its corner stone, the satisfaction
of the customer. Whatever is done in an
organization- big or small- has to result in
customer satisfaction/delight, leading to
loyalty which in turn leads to the
organization succeeding more, vis a vis
other stakeholders. In the same vein, very
few organizations have the courage to
measure employee satisfaction and even
fewer who are ready to see employee
satisfaction as one of the most important
indicators of organisational success,
alongside customer and financial success.
Many companies conduct employee
satisfaction studies but the action planning
of the outcomes are weak and sporadic.
There is a tendency of many organization's
to believe that employee satisfaction
improvement is the baby of the HRD
department while on the other hand, the
entire organization -rightfully so- is involved
in enhancing satisfaction of the external
customer. How can not so satisfied
employees continue to add value towards
enhancing customer satisfaction?
Staying with employee satisfaction, I have
observed that there is a gap between what
the senior leaders of a company wants/feels
is necessar y to improve employee
satisfaction and the 'real' need of the
employee. There is still the tendency for
thinking on ' we exactly know what the
employees want and what we should give/
not give." For egg, if the employee
satisfaction scores around reward and
recognition are low, the typical responses
would be from the following set of
diagnostics- market benchmarking tells us
that we are paying one of the highest and/
or employees will never be happy with
whatever salary and benefits that we offer
etc. The 'real' voice may not be around
quantum of reward but around the process,
criteria, 'employee experiencies' in terms of
his/her voices are being factored into Policy
and programmes. The point I am trying to
make is that we, HR professionals tend to
over simplify when not appropriate and
complicate when not needed. The one size
Contd.. On page 20
P. Vijayan, he can be reached at E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]
21 |
Learning and Failure in
Human Organizations
– M. Sreenivas
Introduction:
It looks at the role of learning in
organizational behavior in terms of response
to identified problems viewed from the
perspective of action research. If normal
action entails making decisions, obstacles
stopping decision makers provide a learning
opportunity. The reflection that results from
identifying a problem facilitates the learning.
Different learning strategies invoke the
difference between simple and complex
feedback systems with implications at the
personal, as well as, organizational levels.
Development of new systems therefore
requires consideration of how, and where,
learning is likely to take place so that
adaptation in the light of problems becomes
possible.
Learning in Action:
The continuous accumulation of knowledge
and skills is conducted through the process
of learning; a relatively permanent change
in attitudes and behavior that results from
practice. Action researchers focus on the
results of action, which is viewed as
decisions and learning.
Ø Learning is the process of detecting and
correcting error, where error is any
feature of knowledge or knowing, that
makes action ineffective. It is crucial to
theories of action.
Ø Dealing with errors results in learning,
as action implies a problem with
previous perceptions.
Ø Learning is the act of repunctuating
continuous experience.
Ø Understanding of learning is
fundamentally associated with detection,
diagnosis and correction of errors.
Ø Learning often star ts with the
experience of an event or stimulus,
which the individual reflects upon in
trying to make sense of it.
Ø Reflection enables practitioners to deal
with troublesome divergent situations of
practice that do not conform to normal
expectations and procedures.
Ø Learning takes place when a mistake or
mismatch is acknowledged, its producers
are identified, and it is corrected.
Ø It was better to do the right thing wrong
than the wrong thing right as the former
led to learning while the latter simply
reinforced an error.
Ø Detection and correction of errors equates
with learning and provides the core activity
of any organization or system. Individuals
engaged in that activity in an
organizational capacity, become agents
of organizational action and learning.
l
Maximize winning and minimize losing
l
Utilize defensive norms in order to
minimize negative feelings
Emphasize intellectual rationality and
objectivity and minimize emotions.
The value of single-loop feedback is in
the immediate response that enables
the system to maintain unadjusted
performance levels and optimize their
performance in the short-term through
progression and Control the present
towards an optimized (and fixed) goal.
Computing technology is particularly
amenable to implementing single-loop
simplification, which aims to offer a
satisfying alternative to radical change.
Learning is limited to satisfying and the
replication of previous successes and
trends as control parameters.
A double-loop procedure enables an
organization to question the underlying
goals, objectives and policies (Figure 1).
Learning is dynamic and recognizes the
need to alter performance norms rather
than purely focus on maximizing them.
It enables utilization of new ideas,
exploitation of emerging opportunities
and reflection about past performance.
It enables the evaluation of
organizational assumptions in order to
improve capabilities.
The values focus on:
Helping to produce valid information as
basis for action
Making free and informed choices
Combining commitment with constant
monitoring of the implementation and
preparedness to change.
l
Ø
Comparing Learning Strategies
Organizations do not produce the behavior
that leads to learning as this is done by
individuals acting as agents of the
organization. Surprise or unfulfilled
expectations lead to interruption of ongoing
activities as part of the need to find an
explanation. The move from error detection
to error correction entails learning, as the
sources of error must be discovered prior
to action.
Ø
Ø
Ø
When the process allows an organization
to maintain its current policies, the
organization employs a basic, thermostatlike single-loop learning procedure.
l
Ø Single-loop feedback is essential for
focusing on operational effectiveness,
norms and performance issues.
l
Ø Simple learning becomes concentrated
on the adjustment of parameters to
correct performance without examining
the assumptions and theories that
underlie performance deviations.
l
Ø The approach relies on the assumption
of rationality as the model strives for the
most satisfactory solution.
l
Ø The four basic values shared by people
operating in the mode are to:
m
l
Achieve their purposes through
controlling the environment
Stimulus from
Environment
Governing
Variables
Actions
m
m
Consequences
Single Loop Feedback
Double Loop Feedback
Figure 1: Interpretation of Double-Loop Feedback and Learning
M. Sreenivas, Assistant Professor, Alluri Institute of Management Sciences, Hunter Road, Hanamkonda - 506001.
E-mail: [email protected].
22 |
Outputs to
Environment
Acceptance of the inevitability of change leads
to realization that goals are not stable and
strategies need to be continuously invented,
shaped and modified. The key emphasis is
on responsiveness. Monitoring environmental
feedback contributes to the determination of
the need to redefine rules and norms in order
to cope with change and bring about
adaptation and self-organization that are
critical to the survival of any open system.
This facilitates a bi-directional exploration
capable of spotting opportunities, and
actively monitoring the gap between
dynamic objectives and a fast altering
present. Such true learning occurs not when
a problem is identified or a solution
proposed, but when the solution is
implemented and performs against the
standard. It requires the active interaction
of problem, solution and expected results
¾ a far greater challenge for developers.
Selection:
Many organizations apply single-loop learning
procedures by focusing on the status quo and
correcting serious deviations. Application of
double-loop learning under these conditions
will only occur as a result of:
Ø An external crisis in the environment
Ø A revolution from within; or, an internal
crisis precipitated by management.
The delay in establishing organizational
response frames in response to crisis
situation serves to escalate the crisis. Even
following prolonged success is likely to give
rise to the 'stuck ness problem', where
success leads to failure as organizations get
trapped by the patterns that created success
in the past.
Management is faced with multiple problems
they need to address which enable them to
ignore and suppress certain dilemmas. But,
at some point when the system becomes
better established, ignored problems will
catch up with participants.
Implications for Computer Systems:
Ø Computers typically rely on single-loop
feedback.
Ø Computational techniques may be used
to supplant human decision makers when
the contextual system is relatively closed.
Ø Relatively closed systems are good at
ignoring the impact of the numerous
environmental factors and avoiding the
focus on human involvement within the
system.
Ø Potential inabilities of humans to
disaggregate
situations
into
components and to analyze them place
severe limitations on the application of
computational techniques to open
systems.
l
Open systems, such as complex
ambulance dispatch systems or air
traffic control systems, with their
inherent imperfections and unknown
factors, need to rely on more judgmental
approaches and hence the process
cannot be programmed explicitly.
Ø Rule based analytical approaches
cannot deal as an experienced operator
with the small minority of difficult cases
- i.e. the exact situations that are likely
to generate reflection in humans. Such
approaches wrongly reduce the
influence of the operator.
Ø Over reliance on technology often
results in ignoring the need for doubleloop learning and the ability to intervene.
Ø Design, in systems involving reflection
and experience, should come from the
individual people outwards.
l
Human ability and limitations need to
be understood and designed into the
system as part of the learning process.
l
This offers the opportunity to work to
the strengths of current resources, using
the enabling technology to magnify
these assets while taking care not to
magnify the limitations so as to cripple
the system.
Ø Information Technology must be seen
as part of the whole and adjusted to.
Ø With very little time for feedback,
learning, and correcting, the
arrangement of information needs to be
accompanied by training and
experience in dealing with feedback and
recovering from disaster.
Ø As safety critical, mission critical and
security critical systems become more
common; reflection and learning
considerations are likely to become
more important.
Ø The following implications should
therefore be addressed whenever new
systems are designed:
l
The Need for learning arises from the
requirement to adjust knowledge in light
of observed deviations. This should be
built into systems to allow for double
feedback loops.
l
The process that is utilized in building
new systems should likewise allow for
learning to take place prior to
implementation so that users and
operators are not forced to conduct all
the learning in 'real-time' while working
on the new system.
l
Learning often comes down to whether
the willingness to learn and to dedicate
resources to addressing a mismatch
exists.
l
From an economic perspective, it makes
sense to facilitate learning early on and
to allocate resources to the task to
reduce the need for 'emergency
learning' imposing a new working
environment is likely to lead to a variety
of adjustment problems.
l
Involvement can alleviate some of the
tensions while providing an early
opportunity to experience some of the
implications.
Ø Organizational ability to learn results
from individual learning.
Ø Operators and users need training in
how to reflect and learn effectively
(rather than encouraged to hide and
disconfirm and conform).
Ø The culture and perceived openness of
an organization dictate the type of
defensive routines those are likely to be
adopted.
Ø To facilitate learning, an organizational
attitude that is more open towards
mismatches and challenges is required.
Ø Reflection is the key to learning in
practice. The ability to reflect is a key
skill that may enable professionals to
deal with challenges and improve. H
u
K. Satyanarayana, Executive Director NHRD Network addresses Managers of Essar, Vizag on the topic "Are you an effective Manager?" on 3rd December 2007.
23 |
HR Managers &
a Green Industry ?
– Capt A Nagaraj Subbarao
T
hat we are destroying our delicate eco
system is a truth that cannot be refuted.
Only the most callous would ignore the fact
that our consumption patterns have gone
so far overboard that the ecological system
that we dwell in and to a larger extent the
earth as such cannot sustain our greed
anymore.
a socially and environmentally responsible
way.
The world over, arable land is being
destroyed, forests are being denuded and
animals driven to extinction.
A few likely scenarios would be:
There has been a volatile and long-standing
debate about whether it is a corporation's
duty to become more sustainable and
socially responsible beyond complying with
the law, or whether its sole duty is to legally
maximize profit, no matter the long-term
societal cost. Ultimately, the assessment
drives home the point that there is little
choice: either corporations become more
sustainable and responsible, or the quality
of life on Earth-and corporations' bottom
lines-will inevitably decline. Ecosystem
deterioration will intensify many of the risks
and costs of doing business: it will make
key resources and ecosystem services,
such as fresh water and climate regulation,
less available; it will heighten regulatory
oversight; it will alter customer and investor
preferences; and it will jeopardize the
availability of capital and insurance.
While the business sector must become
more responsible and lead the drive to make
society sustainable, without the right
incentives and pressures, corporations will
not do this quickly enough. Consumers,
citizens, and employees must support
corporate leaders who step up to the
challenge, and punish those who do not.
Such basic actions as deciding which bank
to have a savings account in, which shoes
to buy, which companies to work for, and
which political efforts and candidates to
support will help reshape the market. But to
succeed, these incremental efforts will need
to be supported by aggressive actions by
NGOs, policymakers, and savvy business
leaders-actions that will make all
corporations recognize that their long-term
financial success depends not just on
pursuing the bottom line, but on doing so in
How can the HR Manager contribute?
Though most green industries have
environmental engineers, it would be the
task of the HR Manager, to facilitate, the
process.
l
Every ton of recycled paper saves 380
gallons of oil.
Think Quest, 2006
Paper and its use is one area where we
can make a definite difference. Try and
create a paperless office by reducing
memo's and files. Use technology and
archive files in a soft format. If paper has to
be used use recycled paper, though in the
short term, it would affect your bottom line.
l
Every 20 minutes, the world adds
another 3,500 human lives but loses one
or more entire species of animal or plant
life-- at least 27,000 species per year.
Overpopulation.org, 2006
Counsel employee's against having large
families. Create incentives for people with
only one child.
l
We are consuming the ear th's
resources 20% faster than they can be
sustained.
Scripps Howard News Service, 2006
Cut the number of vehicles that your
company uses. Plan better and use pool
cars, to save on fuel. It could significantly
add to your bottom line as well, by saving
on resources. Discourage employees
traveling large distances to work.
l
The energy saved by recycling one,
aluminum can, will operate a TV set for
3 hours.
ThinkQuest, 2006
Think and use recycled items. Basic things
like waste bins and paper can be made of
recycled board or paper.
l
1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can
contaminate 20 acres of a lake, making
the fish unfit to eat.
Computer TakeBack, 18 Aug 2005
What industry, in most areas, does not do
today is to segregate garbage. Garbage
disposal is a key to pollution and can be
easily done with a little discipline. It would
also show clearly, as to what kind of garbage
is being generated and then probably
suggest a mechanism to cut this down.
l
If everyone in the world consumed like
the average U.S. citizen, we would need
at least four more planet Earths.
Purchasing Power: World Watch Paper
166
Remember that in many areas our earth is
non renewable, if we continue to consume
at the frenetic pace that we do today. Despite
our individual purchasing power and
increased aspirations remember that this is
a world that belongs to our future as well
and we need to preserve it for our children.
One area where different resources are
used widely is in the field of training and
development. On occasions a mass of
people are moved great distances to impart
training to them, utilizing resources like
transport and accommodation and the
logistics of moving such a mass of people.
This can be dealt with by the HR Manager
by using web based training, where the
training material can be delivered to the
trainee, at his/her door step. The idea is not
simplistic but can be looked at very
seriously.
This is an area in India, which HR has not
focused on. HR could play a major role in
facilitating a greener industry and work with
design and environmental engineer's in
deploying technology where consumption of
resources is reduced and the production
process is a closed loop, where generated
waste is recycled.
H
Capt.A.Nagaraj Subbarao is Chief Officer, Vanoord India, Bangalore and E-Maila; [email protected]
24 |
u
Globarena Add
25 |
The Fundamentals of
Effective Employee
Satisfaction Mapping
– Hari Nair, Abhishek Gavane
T
elecom, IT, ITES / BPO, FMCG, finance,
automotive, pharma, retail, heavy
machinery, petroleum and now even the most
prestigious power sector, irrespective of the
industry domain you and your employer
belong to, Millennium India is facing the
highest employee turnover ever in the history
of machine revolution. Employees are geared
up to join any industry whether they have
the related exposure in the past or not. The
30-35% score for ITES and Telecom, 15-20%
for automotive and 5-10% now for oil and
power sectors, the attrition has snatched
away the sleep out of the eyes of HR
managers and CEOs.
So, what next? Of course the HR heads and
the plant managers need to take a call
before they end up with all their top talent
drained away by their next door competitor.
Employees are getting sensitive and thinskinned day by day. The trigger for the
decision of hopping is as basic it could ever
be. Tick off your subordinate even in an
obvious tone; and be ready for a job posting
to be done the very next day. The condition
is even worse with the young generation.
They start looking for a change on bad odour
in the washroom or get irate on the security
guard at the main gate who asked for
frisking! Yet it's factual. We have in our
organisation recorded roughly 12% of left
employees quoting frisking as a factor during
their exit interviews.
Now how to get into the gravity of "What
Employees Want"? There are three different
ways that we follow at Sona:
1. EMPLOYEE
SATISFACTION
SURVEYS: A proactive traditional method
to map the satisfaction of employees on predetermined parameters mentioned in the
survey sheet. At Sona the survey sheets
are revised every year with fresh parameters
based on the proposals from employees.
The sampling process is based on the
Control Grouping with Randomized Block
Design of the non-conventional human
characteristics. To know more and get into
the process specifications, you may get in
touch with the authors.
2. STAY INTERVIEWS: Yet again a
proactive tool, but vir tually a nonconventional one. SI rises above the
fundamental weakness of the ESS, the
responses being on limited parameters. SI
is an open one-to-one conversation with the
new employees, ideally in the range of 18
to 36 months of service at Sona. The voice
is captured on blank sheet, later used for
Language Processing to identify the
parameters.
3. EXIT INTERVIEWS: Exits are the
reactive tool that comes into action after the
employee has put in his papers. The longestablished means to get into the insights
of why employees are parting. Although
Exits turn out to be a major malfunction
when employees wish to save their goodwill
with the employer and articulate fancy words
in praise of the company, thus hiding out
the real cause of their detachment.
Dedicated and faithful employees are the
most significant factor in becoming an
employer of choice, but it's no bolt from the
blue that companies and organizations face
significant challenges in mapping the levels
of energy and engagement in their
workforces. Factors such as a booming
SENSEX of Indian economy is thus creating
an environment where proficient employees
who are discontented in their present
situations can easily find a new place to
"hang their hats." In fact in a study done by
our 2007-08 internship batch students
illustrate that only 21% of Indian employees
feel fully committed to their employers and
only 12% of them agree that their employers
are wholly committed to them. It's not at all
surprising; still, the level of commitment amid
employees and employers is directly linked
to the level of satisfaction at a place where
they are spending more than half of their lives.
The human psychology specialists lit a
spark of hope to the HR Managers. It is
vitally impor tant to make out that all
employees normally give signals or hints,
those which need to be captured at the
precise time. This means that attrition can
be predicted through survey measurement.
This gives employers an imperative window
of opportunity to foresee and address talent
loss within specific departments so as to
change the environment that is causing
employees to leave. When two people get
into a relation, let's say the marriage, trust
and consideration of the needs and opinions
of each other are being considered as prime
traits that keep the commitment strong. At
work, these qualities can be even more
important than the value of monetary
compensation and rewards - in fact,
emotional rewards can actually have a larger
impact than monetary rewards on overall
employee satisfaction. You need to actually
trace this satisfaction level.
Employee Satisfaction Surveys provide
clear data picture for problem solving. If the
ES Surveys are effectively monitored, they
can actually identify critical problem areas
and can help to devise the most optimal path
to solutions. This information provides a road
map and priority list for dealing with
problems in all areas. However the priority
in which problems are solved is not always
decided by the ones employees feel worst
about. Yet, ranking the issues puts some
reason into the system of designing a PDCA
plan for attacking employee problems. Also,
the ES survey results provide a snapshot
of employee attitude. Starting from this point
the company can later identify, in an
objective and scientific way, whether the
company is making growth or slipping back.
While monitoring a survey is not the only
method of providing this benchmark, the
information gained provides a background
with which to interpret other essential data
such as attrition information.
The following are few benefits of an
Employee Satisfaction mapping process:
1. Employee's standpoint: Organizations
attain a truthful sight of current policies and
a more obvious perspective of issues that
are of top priority to employees than others,
such as welfare measures, career
development, and compensation benefits.
2. Increased Employee Loyalty: By
quantifying and analyzing employee attitudes
and opinions, enterprises can identify
problem areas and solutions to create a
supportive work environment encouraging a
motivated and loyal workforce.
3. Training Needs Assessment:
Employee Satisfaction Surveys aid in
developing individual goals and career
potential. With more insight into their opinions
and attitudes, management can establish
professional development initiatives.
4. Improved Customer Service:
Because motivated employees are critical
to improved organizational initiatives, such
as increasing customer satisfaction,
enterprises that value and strive for greater
employee satisfaction ultimately create
higher customer satisfaction.
To conclude, wide-ranging Employee
Satisfaction processes can be keys to a
more motivated and loyal workforce leading
to increased customer satisfaction and
overall profitability of an enterprise.
H
u
Mr. Hari Nair, is Asst. VP - H R at Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd, Gurgaon [email protected] or [email protected]
Mr. Abhishek Gavane, is Senior Executive - HR Strategy, Gurgaon, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]
26 |
PR
OLOGUE
PROLOGUE
relationship between Economics and Jain
thinking, based on non-violence, nonpossessiveness, peace and prosperity for
all.
In a world plagued by failures and
frustrations on several fronts such as
Economics, Politics, Governance,
Judiciary, Corporate Social Responsibility,
etc., it was felt that an International
Dialogue should be organized to elicit the
views of eminent thinkers and experts so
that a better world may be created in due
course of time in which there may be
greater emphasis on peace, culture and
ethical values. Such Second International
Dialogue was held at Udaipur on
November 1-3, 2007 under the kind
patronage of Acharya Shri Mahapragyaji,
who has given innovative ideas on the
Background
The first dialogue on “Economics of Nonviolence and the Vision of a Sustainable
World” was organized at New Delhi on
December 5-7, 2005 under the auspices
of Acharya Mahapragya and one session
of the conference was addressed by the
then President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan on
December 6, 2007. In the conference,
scholars from various parts of the world
put their heads together to develop a new
and deep insight into the problems of
rampant violence and poverty and devise
practical and workable solutions in order
to establish a sustainable world order.
The Second International Dialogue which
was held at Mahapragya Vihar, Bhuwana,
Udaipur from November 1-3, 2007 was in
continuation of the first one and touched
upon the various issues related to ethics,
culture and non-violence in the context
of an alternative model of economics
which has been designated as ‘Relative
Economics’ by Acharya Shri Mahapragya.
Before the organisation of the Second
International Dialogue, a curtain-raiser
symposium was held on October 12, 2007
at IILM Academy of Higher Learning,
Jaipur with Dr. Ashok Bapna, Director,
IILM in the chair, where Prof. V.S. Vyas,
In the vast gathering attended by people
from home and abroad, particularly, from
USA, UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, Singapore,
etc., there was free and frank exchange of
views, on the theme of conference, and
there was unanimity on one fundamental
issue – that is the ‘Eradication of Violence
and Corruption’ should be the top-priority of
all nations, and for this an alternative model
of development should be devised, adopted
and implemented vigorously in this new age
of turbulence and torture prevailing in
different parts of the world.
Acharya Shri Mahapragyaji pleaded for the
view that Modern Economics should change
its emphasis from Absolute Economics to
Relative Economics so that the disparities
and divides between the rich and the poor,
between the urban and the rural, between
different regions of a country, between
backward and forward communities,
between males and females, between
Shri L.N. Nathuramka, Dr. S.L. Gandhi, Prof.
Dayanand Bhargava, Shri S.R. Bhandari
and Dr. Vivek Bhandari expressed their
views on ‘Economics of Non-violence:
Cultural Values and Ethics’.
There was a consensus among scholars
both at the curtain raiser symposium and
later at the conference at Udaipur that
humanity is at crossroads today. With
enormous achievements in the domains of
knowledge, politics, diplomacy, economics,
culture, science and technology, human
beings are surrounded by the threats and
problems of terrorism, insecurity in their
lives, deep frustrations and lurking fears of
even ultimate destruction of mankind in case
the nuclear arsenal falls in the hands of
unscrupulous extremists and hard-headed
fundamentalists, who do not respect
‘swadharma’ or ‘adhyatma’ or ‘selfrealization’ at all.
There is a growing feeling amongst the right
thinking persons today that something is
gravely missing in the lives of all human
beings today. That sole missing factor is
ignorance about ethical norms, ethical
conduct, ethical behaviour and ethical
principles. Ethics can be regarded as the
first step towards the path of ‘spirituality’.
One need not go into deep philosophical
precepts to understand the ground realities
literate and illiterate people and in several
other possible forms, are reduced, and
finally removed altogether.
Yuvacharya Mahasharman gave a novel
idea, related with non-violence, when he
suggested that non-violence should
enter not only in the domain of
Economics, but should become an
essential part of politics, governance,
judiciary, and even war, etc. so that finally
there is a total transformation of human
society, but for this work, extensive and
intensive studies and surveys would be
needed to give a concrete shape to this
new world order. It was agreed that an
International Centre for Studies in Nonviolence, Peace, Ethics and Culture
should undertake this onerous task of
social reconstruction for the future, based
on Jain Philosophy, and more such
international dialogues should explore in
depth, the feasibility of such vital
changes for the betterment of mankind
and lasting peace in the world.
Ashok Bapna
Convener
and rules of basic moral values and moral
behaviour, because normally everybody,
men & women, old & young, literate &
illiterate, rich & poor, rural and urban, can
understand ‘what is right and what is
wrong’, ‘what is just and what is unjust’,
what is dharma and what is adharma’ on
the basis of the prevailing good social
conduct and behaviour and his/her
philosophical and religious beliefs.
Today, we find that modern globalised
world has given rise to more problems
than it has solved. The society is always
in a state of fundamental disequilibrium
due to the pursuit of self-interest by some
groups in society.
The time is now ripe to introduce ethical
norms in resolving problems in various
fields, more particularly, in the economic
domain, which affects directly and
profusely lives of the teeming millions of
the people across the world. Ethics
propels and promotes economic activity
and economic activity reactivates and
refines ethical modules & models.
Therefore, convergence and confluence
of Ethics and Economics alone can save
humanity from impending disaster in
human affairs. That is the message of Jain
thinking, which has, of course, been
shared by other religious as well.
27 |
7 Steps to Implement Balanced
Score Card Concept
A Ajaya Shankar Gupta
BSC Concept:
The Balanced Score Card is a
multidimensional framework that gives top
managers a fast but comprehensive view
of the business. The BSC allows CEO's to
look at the business from four important
perspectives:
1. Financial Perspective- To satisfy
shareholders, what financial objectives
must we accomplish.?
2. Customer Perspective-To achieve
Financial objectives, what customer
needs must we serve? General mission
statement on customer service to be
translated into specific measures that
reflect the factors that really matter to
customers, like lead time measures,
quality measures, performance and
service measures etc.
3. Internal Process Perspective- To satisfy
shareholders and customers in which
internal processes must we excel? The
internal measures for BSC should stem
from business processes that have the
greatest impact on customer
satisfaction like process capability, cycle
time, quality, productivity, cost, etc.
4. Learning and Growth Perspective- To
achieve our goals, how must our
organisation learn and innovate?
Intense global competition requires that
companies
make
continual
improvements to their existing products,
processes and have the ability to
introduce entirely new products with
expanded capabilities.
Though the concept initially was talking
about 4 perspectives stated above, the
organisations started having 5th / 6th
perspective depending on their focus/
strategy. Some companies have taken
Safety, Corporate Social Responsibilty etc.
as fifth perspective.
Implementation:
Step 1: Training and getting executive
commitment:
For the successful implementation of any
Concept the minimum requirement is the
Clear Understanding of the Concept and Top
Management Commitment & Drive. If there
is no proper understanding of the concept,
it is implemented in wrong way and also it
sends wrong signals.
Many companies by modifying their PMS
to cover Financial and Non Financial
Measures claim that they have implemented
BSC. People should understand that BSC
is much above PMS and PMS is by product
of BSC implementation or you can say BSC
Methodology can be used to develop PMS.
A Core Group consisting of Senior
Executives from all Departments/ Functions
to be formed with MD as Chairman and
Strategy Officer/ TQM Head as Project
Manager(full time initially for 1 year).This
Team has to prepare the detailed plan.
Step 2: Strategy Map Finalisation
There is fixed structure to present Financial
information/ Balance Sheet, but there is no
such structure to present Strategy. This
concept has provided a structure to present
the strategy in one page as a Strategy Map.
What ever Methodology Company adopts
to develop Strategy, but it has to validate it
by putting them into BSC perspectives and
establish Cause and Effect relation among
these Strategies. In this process company
has to identify new strategies (The author
has conducted more than 25 workshops on
BSC in which more than 100 teams
formulated strategy by doing SWOT analysis
and taking into account the different
Stakeholders requirements etc, but every
team had to identify few more strategies and
drop few strategies to Balance it and
Prepare Strategy Map)
Step 3: MDs Balanced Score Card
Preparation
The Strategies are mostly stated in the
words/statements and the meaning/ intent
of the strategy are not translated into
operational language. Different Executives/
Employees interpret it in their own way,
which may lead to miss alignment. Hence
the Strategy has to be translated into
operational language as Strategic
Measures/ Key Performance Measures.
These SMs/KPMs should become the
parameters in CEOs BSC. For each SM/
KPM the organisation has to identify the
Targets, Comparisons/Benchmark and the
process owner.
To achieve the targets the organisation has
to identify the initiatives.
Step 4: SBU and Deptl. BSC preparation
For the successful implementation of
Strategy, every SBU /Department has to
align their Strategies/ Processes in line with
corporate BSC.
Step 5: Individual
preparation
Score
Cards
Once the Departmental BSCs' are prepared
the Individual Score Cards (ISCs) of
executives/officers in each department are
to be prepared in line with individuals
responsibilities/activities.
Step 6: Gap Analysis and Stretching
Targets
The targets in BSCs/Individual Score Cards
are to be fixed in a logical/ systematic
manner. Many times it is a GOLY process
(Growth Over Last Year - Production Target
at 5% higher than last year/ Cost Target 2
% reduction over last year etc.). The author
suggests for GAP Analysis process to
stretch the targets. In this process one has
to analyse different gaps like Gap Over
Standard, Gap Over Internal Best
Performance, Gap over Benchmark, Gap
over Customer requirement etc and stretch
the target around these gaps.
Step 7: Review Process
The effectiveness/ real benefit of BSC is
achieved through efficient review process.
The review process helps in fine tuning the
SMs/KPMs and initiating corrective actions/
new initiatives. The author rates the BSCs/
ISCs quality at 40% to 50% in first go and
the quality will improve to 60% after 3/ 4
reviews and finally to 80% at the end of the
annual review.
The daily, monthly and Quarterly review
systems are to be integrated with BSCs/ISCs.
Organisations can use BSC Softwares
deveoped in line with BSC methodology.
A.Ajaya Shankar Gupta is a freelance consultant based at Hyderabad. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
28 |
A Sample BSC of a HR Department in Mines:
MD's
Measure
BSC
Perspective
Strategy
Financial
Perspective
Improve profitability ROCE
Customer
Perspective
Increase Turnover
Total Turnover
Increase Exports
Total Exports
Increase Customer Customer
Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Index
Improve Quality
Avg. Alumina
Compliance
content in Ore
HR Departmental
Measure
UOM
Target
Bench- New HR
Initiative
mark
Profit per employee
Rs/ Emp/ Yr
XX
X1X1
Savings through
Improvement Projects
Rs Lakhs
YY
Y1Y1
Turnover per employee
Rs/ Emp/ Yr
ZZ
Z1Z1
Internal Customer
Satisfaction Index
%
80%
90%
Special Training to
Sampling Team
Mandays/
Emp./Yr
3
NA
Availability of Skilled
Manpower in QC Dept.
%
95%
100%
Starting
Quality
Improvement
Projects
Oversize in
Despatches
Internal
Processes
Perspective
Improve Process
Capability
Variance in
Alumina level
Variance in
Undersize level
Enhance Overall
Equipment
Efficiency
OEE of Plant
Availability of Skilled
Manpower in Operation
& Maintenance Dept.
%
95%
100%
Reduce the
Production Cost
Avg. Cost of
Production
Wage Cost as
Percentage of Turnover
%
C
C1
Men on Roll
No of
Persons
M
NA
Compliance to Statutory
Training
%
Employee Satisfaction
Index
%
70
75
Employees Recognised
under different Rewards
and Recognition
Schemes
%
Employee Grievances
Nos
Implementation of JDC
Meeting Points
%
Executives
Covered in
Competency
Mapping
Executives Covered in
Competency Mapping
Training on
TPM
Implementation
of VRS
Inventory Value
Learning
and Growth
Perspective
Improve safety
standards
Accident
Frequency
Rate
Implement CRM
Number of
Customer
Meets
Organised
Improve Employee
Satisfaction
Employee
Satisfaction
Index
Enhance employee
skills andDevelop
multi-skilled
employees
Increase
Employees
Participation in
Continuous
Improvement
Revise the
Rewards
Scheme
0
0
%
70
100
Employees Job rotation
%
5
10
Training
Provided
Training Provided
Mandays/
Emp./Yr
6
8
Employees
Involved in
Improvement
Initiatives
Training Effectiveness
Index
%
Employees Involved in
Improvement Initiatives
%
40
80
Quality Circles Active
Nos
25
120
Quality Improvement
Projects
Nos
15
45
Implementation
of
Competency
Maping
Implementing
Kirpatrix
Model Level3
Methodology
H
u
29 |
Centre Spread National HR
Sumit 2008
30 |
Centre Spread National HR
Sumit 2008
31 |
Second International Dialogue on
“Economics of Non-violence: Cultural Values & Ethics”
November 1-3, 2007, Udaipur, Rajasthan (India)
R E P O RT
A three-day International Dialogue on
“Economics of Non-violence: Cultural Values
& Ethics” was organized by IILM Academy
of Higher Learning, Jaipur in collaboration
with ICCR, SID, NHRD Network and
Acharya Mahapragya Chaturmas Vyastha
Samiti at Mahapragya Vihar, Bhuwana,
Udaipur from November 1-3, 2007. The
following is the summary report of the
conference.
The Second International Dialogue on
“Economics of Non-violence: Cultural Values
& Ethics” was inaugurated on November 1,
2007 at 9:30 a.m. at Mahapragya Vihar by
Shri S.K. Singh, Governor of Rajasthan in
the presence of Acharya Shri Mahapragya
and Yuvacharya Mahasharman and
participants and guests from India and
abroad. Going into the rootcause of the
issue of violence, Shri Singh said that the
system of production and distribution of
wealth has evolved over the centuries and
its original purpose was to produce good
human beings and sufficient agricultural
wealth. Though the scenario has changed
in the present times even now we can enrich
our economy by providing good education
and ensuring good health. The more love
and Ahimsa and joy there is in the family
unit, and respect for women in society, the
more economically productive that society
is likely to be. Calm contemplation and
calmer non-violence calculation and the
teachings of Mahavira, Budha and Gandhi
are very relevant today. We need to pay heed
to the message given by Gandhi about the
philosophy of truth and non-violence, or nondamage and non-hurt, and therefore, nonmurder and non-hatred. That alone is the
recipe for fruitful productivity, which creates
joy and not merely greed in the fractioning
of societies.
Dr. Singh emphasized that economics is not
an end in itself, but a means for building
peace and a base on which may be
developed a more satisfying life for peoples
and individuals.
Speaking on the occasion Acharya Shri
Mahapragya said that just as violence and
possessiveness go together, similarly, nonviolence and non-possessiveness are
concomitant, the non-possessiveness being
the cause and the non-violence its outcome.
Acharya Shri said that present-day
economics too is centered more around the
prosperity of an individual rather than that
32 |
of the society. He advocated that the
principle that ‘the minimum basic needs of
the entire society should be fulfilled first’ can
serve as a great fundamental principle of
economic system. He said we can conceive
the idea of ‘relativistic economics’ or the
‘relativistic system of economics’ in which
there would be scope for growth of business
and industry, but at the same time the
system for providing everyone the primary
needs of life. Only then can we prevent the
reactionary violence that erupts due to the
dearth of bread for all human beings.
Prof. Muni Mahendra Kumar said that nonviolence and economics may seem to be
incongruous at the surface, but without the
association of non-violence, cultural values
and ethics with economics, we cannot have
a sustainable and hunger-free society. He
said Acharya Shri Mahapragyaji’s Ahmisa
Yatra is a constructive step in this direction
and is bringing about change in the
consciousness of the people.
In the beginning, while welcoming the
guests and introducing the subject Prof.
Ashok Bapna, Convener of the conference,
said that the presence of several
international delegates in the conference
was an evidence of the concerns of the
world society about the prevalent violence
and the need for non-violent economic
growth.
The keynote speaker Prof. L.N. Nathuramka
said that to ameliorate the situation the four
basic principles of Jain philosophy can form
the basis of an alternative system of
economics. These principles are:
1. Man to be at the center,
2. Preservation of Environment,
3. Decentralization and,
4. Self Restraint.
These principles with inclusive growth will
eliminate violence automatically.
On this occasion, Dr. Ponna Wignaraja from
Sri Lanka, Sister B.K. Jayanti from London
and Prof. Michaela Hynie from Canada also
expressed their views.
Dr. Wignaraja said that cultural values
applicable to conflict resolution /
transformation in a multicultural,
multireligious and multi-ethnic societies
show that political and economic democracy
must go head in hand. Prof. Michaela Hynie
discussed the different cultural concepts of
peace from the perspective of psychology.
Sister Jayanti said while money is absolutely
essential, it is heartening to note that
corporations all over the world are becoming
aware of their social responsibility. She
emphasized the need for environmental
protection. She said spirituality was the
answer to all our problems.
Prof. Marcia Rioux from Canada pointed out
that the influence of economic globalization
in the subordination of social justice;
equality, basic rights and human dignity to
the narrow constraints of economics are
quite evident in the modern societies.
During the open discussion that followed a
large number of pertinent questions were
asked and a lively interaction was
generated. Prof. Udai Pareek, Prof.
Dayanand Bhargava, Prof. Ezra Zubrow, Dr.
Arun Chaturvedi, Manish Tiwari and several
other scholars par ticipated in the
discussion.
Summing up the discussion, Dr. Ved
Prakash, Consultant, IILM said that we need
to bring about a quick shift in our economic
system, policy and perception and think in
terms of happiness for all human beings.
The International Dialogue on the
“Economics of Non-Violence: Cultural
Values and Ethics”, continued on the second
day in the Prangan of Acharya Shri
Mahapragya, Vihar, Udaipur. The first
session of the day was on Cultural Values,
Ethics and Peace which began with the
blessings of H.H. Acharya Mahapragya. He
expressed the need for intellectual and
spiritual consciousness for human and
related economic development. He
suggested that Non-Violence is an effective
medicine for deadly prevailing disease of
consumerism.
Dr. Ashok Bapna, Chaiman of ICENS and
Director of IILM Academy of Higher
Learning, Jaipur, presented the theme of the
conference and welcomed the guests. He
told that values identify our deeds and acts.
He stressed on the fact that values are
required to become good human beings.
Prof. A. K Sinha of IILM Academy of Higher
Learning introduced the speakers of the
session.
Prof. Dayanand Bhargava said that giving
and sharing and caring are the whole
essence of qualitative life. He reiterated what
was said by Acharya Shri Mahapragya that
“Man Can Change” and become a better
human being.
Mr. N.K. Singhi of Indian Economic Service,
while speaking on the theme, said that there
is a need for incorporating religion in
economic development and the principles
of Jainism of non-possessiveness and
compassion should be included in the
concept of economic development. He also
stated that there is a need for research as
to why Jains are more developed
economically. One factor that he identified
was their adherence to Mahavira’s principles
of Jain Culture.
A copy of the translation of the book written
by H.H. Acharya Mahapragya, titled
“Philosophical Foundation of Jainism” was
presented by Prof. M.P. Lele. Prof. Lele also
narrated the basic contents of Jain
Philosophy highlighting the virtues of
Ahimsa, Anekant and Aparigraha.
Prof. Prem Suman Jain also presented a
book “ Bhagwati Aradhna” to Acharya Shri.
In the end of this session, H.H. Acharya
Mahapragya gave his blessings by giving
the eight fundamentals of Non-violence,
Peace and Relative Economics. He said that
there is a need for training in Non-Violence,
mere intellectual deliberation would not be
enough to provide the solution.
In the next session, Prof. Ashish Bose, an
eminent demographer and Advisor to the
Prime Minister wished for more participation
of political leaders in such conferences so
that issues concerning development provide
practical solutions.
Sister B.K. Jayanti, in her key presentation,
told that there is a need for value education
in schools. For this, they have started a
project named “Touch the Light”. She also
emphasized the need of Holistic
Development and for that they have started
“Sampurna Gram Vikas Project” with the
objective of imparting education and all
round development.
Professor Michaela Hynie, York University,
Canada, stressed on the need for research
in the domain of peace. She talked about
peace in terms of never-ending and
multidimensional aspect starting from within
and flowing outside. She gave a definition
of peace in terms of Non-Violence, absence
of war or conflict, central positive values and
inner harmony.
Professor Ezra Zubrow, renowned
Anthropologist from USA, spoke about two
views of cultural values, one as an individual
or as private right and the other as a group
or community right. He also said that in many
countries ethnic groups dominate the
cultural heritage of their regions, which
becomes the major cause of conflict.
Prof. Arun Chaturvedi, while speaking on
the theme of the session expressed that the
position and place of peace studies in Indian
Universities are ignored to a great extent.
He said that there is a need for peace
studies for greater development and peace
action should become an essential part of
education. He stressed that Non-violence
and peace will start by inculcating emotions
and feeling of understanding in society.
The theme of the next session was
“Corporate social responsibility and Ethics
– Dialogue with Acharya Mahapragyaji”.
While speaking on the theme, Mr. Anupam
Martin, from Singapore, spoke about ethical
consumerism, decentralized economy,
sustainable growth and explained the
concepts with examples. He defined success,
not only as attaining power and money, but
also as happiness, appreciation by the critics
and the ability to appreciate beauty.
Prof. Ezra Zubrow, from USA, explained the
principle of Equity, and suggested that
companies should understand the concept
of Corporate Social Responsibility and not
as Corporate Social Charity.
This was followed by an interactive open
discussion on the theme. Summing up the
discussion, Dr. Ved Prakash, Consultant,
IILM Academy of Higher Learning said
cultural values and ethics can act as a bridge
for materialism and spiritualism. The vote
of thanks was presented by Dr. Y.S. Kothari.
After this, Dr. G.L. Jain conducted a session
on Preksha meditation. In the slide show,
he explained the steps of meditation and
the advantages of practising it. It was
followed by a 30-minute practical session.
In the end, a short film produced by IILM
Academy, Jaipur entitled “Towards a Nonviolent Model of Development” was shown.
The programme was coordinated by Mr.
Sudhir Upadhyay and Mr. Rustam Bora,
Faculty, IILM Academy and was compered
by Sunil Devjani and Amoli Mehrotra,
students of IILM Academy, Jaipur.
The International Dialogue on the
“Economics of Non-Violence: Cultural
Values and Ethics”, concluded on its third
day in the Prangan of Acharya Shri
Mahapragya Vihar, Udaipur.
The first session of the day began with a
Business session chaired by Prof. Muni
Mahendra Kumarji. The session began with
a Presentation on “Poverty Reduction and
its impact on Non-violence” by Mr. B.Raj
Bhandari from Geneva. He defined poverty
not only in economic terms but also in terms
of Non economic factors like denial of
services like health, education,
infrastructure and medical facilities etc.
While throwing light on world poverty
reduction he said that only certain counties
like China have succeeded in achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He
also tried to relate poverty reduction with
economic development. On speaking in the
context of India he said in absolute terms,
pover ty has been reduced but the
distribution of people below poverty line in
different states is not proper. He also related
poverty with globalization which has resulted
in increasing our needs and also resulted
in increasing violence in society. He said that
globalization has not increased poverty, but
it has increased inequality in income
distribution. He also wished that the
conference would make substantial
contribution towards reduction in violence.
The session was followed by open
discussion by the panelists.
On this occasion, a ten point Udaipur
declaration was proposed based on new
Non-violent economic concept on balanced
spiritual and material development, new
concept of relative economics, corporate
social responsibility, change in education
system including Spritualism, Morality,
development & society, emotional control for
saving the society from conflicts, tensions,
protection of environmental pollution. The
detailed ten points, which were proposed,
are enclosed with the report.
In the valedictory session, Prof. Ashish
Bose, an eminent demographer and Advisor
to the Prime Minister, said that the
conference has helped the students of IILM
Academy of Higher Learning, Jaipur in
becoming value added managers. He
identified two problems that are present in
the world as Fundamentalism and
Corruption. The solution to these problems
lies in Non-violent economics as a new
model of economics.
The chief guest of the valedictory session,
Mr. Gulab Chand Kataria, Home Minister,
Government of Rajasthan, said that in India
Ahimsa is in our culture. He identified the
root cause of violence in our society as
growing disparity between the rich and the
poor. The solution to the problem is that
those who are rich should spend a part of
their income in reducing poverty.
The conference was formally concluded with
the blessings of Acharya Mahapragya. He
expressed the need for practicing
spiritualism in our life. He said that one
should work with inner-consciousness and
one should curtail needs. He stressed the
need for training in Non-violence for
intellectual and spiritual consciousness for
human and related economic development.
He suggested that Non-Violence is essential
in the making of a good human being.
The valedictory session was compered by
Sunil Devjani and Amoli Mehrotra, students
of IILM Academy, Jaipur.
33 |
Glimpses of Udaipur
34 |
Glimpses of Udaipur
35 |
Facelift To Human Resourcees
Accounting- Liabilities Approach
– L.Shankari
FACELIFT TO HUMAN RESOURCEES
ACCOUNTING- LIABILITIES APPROACH
Abstract
In the 21st century, HR has undergone
paradigm shift and new and sensitive issues
such as competency mapping, emotional
intelligence, and talent management have
been dominating the current scenario.
Despite HR's renaissance, HR researchers
have not still convinced the accounting
professionals and researchers that
spectrum of issues can be recorded in
finanancial statements adopting accounting
principles. There is still a bone of contention
regarding Human resources accounting
models propounded by the researchers
based on the assets approach due to the
fact that measurement of human resources
continue to pose a challenge. Moreover,
these models do not meet the some of the
accounting parameters set by the
accounting professionals. In this context,
Professors Herman A. Theeke and Mt
Pleasant of USA have made an innovative
attempt to record HR based on liabilities
approach. This article details HR accounting
using three methods i.e. Demand deposits
liabilities method, lease method and
contingency liability method. The
researchers are of the opinion that
contingent liability method might be
accepted by the accounting professionals.
Shankari Parivallal, Faculty, Sona school
of Management, Salem.
Introduction
For a few months I have been just reading,
browsing through different spectrums of
accounting such as Environmental
Accounting,HR Accounting and Forensic
Accounting that are emerging as new areas
in the field of accounting. All of a sudden I
started to show keen interest in reading
research articles related to HR accounting.
All these fascinated me a lot. One fine day,
I accidentally came across an article which
showcased a different approach to include
HR in accounting records i.e. based on
liabilities approach. That made my thinking
hat to probe in to the details; the result is
culminated in this article.
In today's cut throat competitive scenario,
success embraces those organizations
whose employees perform excellently. There
is no second opinion about this. But how
many organizations are prepared to
incorporate HR in to their accounting
records and statements. The answer is very
few because the accounting professionals
have not still identified the acceptable
method of recording HR.
Flash back of HR accounting research
Research in HR accounting has started as
early as 1960s and continued in to the 21st
century but no concrete methods have been
designed by the researchers.Cascio(2000),
a psychologist not an Accounting
professional has done extensive research
in this area and is of the opinion that the
Historical cost model developed by
Brummet,Flamholtz and Pyle, Replacement
cost Method initiated by Flamholtz and
Present value of future earnings approach
propounded by Lev and Schwartz all have
failed to consider the output of HR but solely
stressed on the input , that is, the investment
in HR.It is he who pioneered in viewing HR
through expenses lens. He suggests this
model to measure the economic effects of
employees'behaviour.The assets models
have been rejected on the ground that HR
does not fit into accounting definition of
asset. In accounting parlance, an asset is
the one that must generate income streams
and be owned and controlled by the
organization. Though assets models meet
the first part of the definition, it does not
satisfy the second part that is ownership as
HR can not be owned by organizations.
Employees can leave the organizations at
any time by giving due notice. The professor
Herman A. Theeke criticized the assets
models of HR remarking that they do not
satisfy one of the accounting parameters
namely the ownership parameter. His friend
immediately quipped, why don't you find out
an alternate method for this? This remark
kept on ringing in to his ears and this made
him and his friend to infuse new thinking in
recording HR in accounting records. The
professor who advocates the liabilities
approach hit upon this flash of thought when
he was contemplating on demand deposits
of the bank. he met his bank officials and
had a discussion with the accounting
treatment of demand deposits. That gave
him a cue with regard to inclusion of HR in
L. Shankari, Faculty,Sona school of management, Saelm.
36 |
accounts. This reminds me of the
computation of ratio (ratio Analysis)ROI /
return on capital employed. In this capital
employed can be found out by using assets
method or liabilities method. The same
principle is followed even in case of valuation
of shares and incase of mergers /
amalgamations purchase consideration is
computed using assets method/liabilities
method. If the approach is quite logical and
does not defy accounting principles why not
consider it in case of HR also.
Before delving deep in to the details of the
research let us consider the meaning and
definition for the term liability in accounts.
The utterance of the very word results in
frowning/sulking on one's face but
remember it is not such a negative word/
untouchable word. It means any obligation/
promise made/created and satisfied/fulfilled
by the business organization.. Making and
meeting the obligations is the base on which
the business is built strongly. To business
people, therefore, the liability from such
obligations is not good or bad - it is just a
fact and a necessary way of life . (Herman
A. Theeke and Mt Pleasant of USA) This
forms the basis of HR accounting methods.
There are 3 methods; they are 1.Demand
deposit liability method 2.Lease method
3.Contigent liability method.
Demand deposit liability method
The primar y functions of a bank are
accepting deposits and advancing loans. In
case of deposits there are 2 major types:
demand deposits and time deposits. Current
account and savings deposit fall under the
category of demand deposits and they are
called so as the bank has to return the
deposits as and when demanded by the
depositors. Since they have to be repaid/
returned to the depositors they are treated
as the liabilities in banks. Interest on
deposits is treated as an expense and
shown in the income statement. Though the
deposits are considered as debts, the bank
is permitted to use the same in revenue
generating activities that is used for
advancing loans. The same approach can
be used in case of human capital-it can be
considered as the employee loan advanced
to the organization. This creates 2 types of
accounts-borrowed human capital, a liability
and unassigned human assets account.
Entry to be made in the books is
Unassigned human assets a/c
Dr
To Borrowed human capital a/c
When employees are posted to the
production process, the entry is
Employed human capital a/c Dr
To Unassigned human assets/c
When the organization downsizes the
number of employees one has to pass a
reverse entry. The human capital is shown
as a liability and the unassigned and
employed human assets appear as assets
in the balance sheet.
The demand deposits and human capital
are similar in respect of ownership
parameter as both are not owned by the
organization. But both can be used in
revenue generating activities. Both differ in
the following aspects. The initial amount of
demand deposit is returned and the DD is
easily recorded in financial statements in
terms of rupees. But the measurement of
HR could be difficult to compute, moreover,
at the time when the employees leave the
organizations one has to take in to account
the earning potential of the employees,
health and pension benefits etc and it is a
very tough and complex process to
determine the repayment value of the
human capital .As far as this method is
concerned, accounting professionals may
not find this approach a viable one as this
method also suffers from the following
limitation, that is ,difficulty in expressing HR
in terms of monetary values. The basic
accounting rule is that only those
transactions which are capable of being
measured in financial terms can find place
in accounting records.
Lease method
In case of lease method, there are 2 parties
invoved, one is called the lessor (owner) and
the other one is known as the lessee
(Tenant/Hirer). It is an agreement whereby
lessee gets the right to use lessor's asset.
The lease agreement makes the borrower
to enter in to a liability legally in the form of
periodic payments and the return of the
asset in a specified condition at the end of
the lease period. Sometimes the specified
condition might be stated as, "The asset
must be returned in its original condition,
Carried from Page 38
with allowances for normal wear." For
example, with auto leases some mileage
amount could be stated and appearance,
damage to the paint and glass may be
specified. The arrangement about the
condition of the returned asset is significant
to the lessor because it helps him determine
how much he must charge to make a profit
on the asset leased. The value of the asset
at the end of the lease period is called the
residual value. If the residual value is zero
then the lessor had received enough
amounts from the lessee to buy a new one.
If there is some residual value then the
payments received should only have
compensated the lessor for the reduction in
value.
In case, the lessee wants to make
improvement in the asset, the cost will be
borne by the lessee which he could recover
from the owner during the lease period itself/
before the expiry of it. Claims cannot be
enforced after the expiry of the lease period.
But if the agreement does not permit such
improvement and contains a condition that
it should be returned in original condition
that might result in liability on the part of the
lessee. Most of the lessees claim that they
can not claim ownership over the asset and
some times can not even sublease the
asset. Most of the companies prefer using
lease method because they can use the
asset without paying the full cash price of
the asset.
Accountants are of the opinion that lease
involves future payments for a specified
period and it is mandatory for the
organizations (lessees) to disclose the same
in the financial statements but generally
lessees do not do it. Not reporting this
information in the balance sheet might result
in overstatement of return on assets or
understatement of liability which is against
the accounting convention of disclosure and
materiality.
In case of human capital, one can not claim
ownership over them as in the case of lease.
Residual value of the human capital can
never be equal to zero but can be more or
less than the human capital borrowed.
Residual value is real but determination is
a difficult process. Even this method would
be discounted by the accounting
professionals due to this reason.
Contingent liability method
In accounting language, contingent liability
is an anticipated liability that may or may not
become real and it depends on the occurance
of a particular event. Accountants classify the
possibility making such payments:
l
l
l
Probable-The future event is likely to
happen.
Reasonably possible-the chance of
occurance of the event is more than
remote but less than likely.
Remote-the chance of the occurance of
the event is almost negligible.
"The accounting standards say a liability
should be recorded and charged to expense
if two conditions are satisfied: There is
information that makes it probable that a
liability has been incurred; and the amount
of the loss can be reasonably estimated.
For example, a wrongful death suit of an
employee has been filed against your
company and you know that your policies
and practices for safety were not safe
enough such that you would have difficulty
defending against the suit, then you will
need to estimate the total value of that
employee, which will include the employee's
earning potential, the value of lost emotional
relationships and guidance, and report that
as a liability. The so called Best HR
practices" are crafted in such a manner to
shift the contingent liability from a
classification of probable to remote. The
method for determining the amount of
human capital loaned to the company and
the method for calculating the borrowed
human capital liability account will be
determined by accounting convention The
imputed amount of human capital that the
employee loans the employer could be used
to calculate the potential amount of the
contingent liability in many cases. Proper
HR programs for recruitment, training,
safety, compensation, adaptation,
termination and benefit administration are
not prevalent in the organization, the
classification of the contingent liability
moves from remote to probable. Better HRM
practices are designed to move the
contingent liability toward the remote or zero
probability. In the absence of excellent HR
management programs, an accountant
should be forced to establish and report
some contingent liability.
H
u
Knowledge Manager and Tools for Excellence
Internet and its tools have had a significant
influence in the way business is done
through out the world. It ahs brought
inefficiency, proper utilization of resources,
quick and better decision making. It has
opened new ways for the business to reach
the customer which is significantly cheaper,
but it ahs also shifted the balance of power
in the hands of customers, as these tools
give them the ability to interact, have
information, instantly to the customer.
times choices have to be made from among
the least worst of the options available.
These tools give minority, though how small
in number an equal footing, which
theoretically should lead to a better world
and better decision making. But we have to
also live by the fact that every individual can
not possess complete knowledge, some
The answer lies in the ability of human race
to transform it self to the next level, the level
of objective thinking. So these are not tools
for freedom or for spreading anarchism.
They are simply tools how we use and
H
respond to.
u
37 |
Knowledge Manager and
Tools for Excellence or
Wikipedia, Blog, Social book marking, IM, RSS and Podcasting:
Are they tools of freedom or anarchy for Managers?
Dr. Gunmala Suri
A
fter the invention of the transistor, the
world has moved at a very fast pace.
We humans have discovered more about
our self's in the past half a century, than we
did in the thousand years of our existence
on this planet. Computers today play a far
more critical role in our life's, and internet
or the world wide web (a network of
computers on the world wide scale) is
playing even a more critical role.
Life today runs on 1 and 0. Bits running at
the speed of light, from one computer to
another, from one memor y device to
another, an endless run that seems to
stretch to infinity. The various sciences now
seem to be combining more frequently than
ever before. The concept of quantum
computers, at least in theory makes
redundant today's security algorithms. The
task that seemed impossible yesterday
would become a child's play for these
machines to solve. A single desktop
quantum computer would pack in more
power than the power of many
supercomputers combined.
The internet today is no longer a
combination of computers; it has taken a
life of its own. Scores of coders are writing
applications that are changing our life
dramatically. Programs today enable us to
access information from remote locations,
applications that are getting more and more
artificially intelligent. The world is getting
more and more wired and interconnected.
Knowledge and information sharing
applications are making us share
information and question the very
foundations of the so called modern world.
Keeping the context in mind we will try to
understand the concept of some of the latest
knowledge and information sharing
applications and how are they shaping
applications are making us share
information and question the very
foundations of the so called modern world.
Keeping the context in mind we will try to
understand the concept of some of the latest
knowledge and information sharing
applications and how are they shaping the
future our civilization and making us
question the fundamentals themselves.
Before we discuss it is impor tant to
understand what these terms are, they
techniques, algorithms, software's or a
combination.
Wikipedia: Wikipedia is the world's newest,
largest, most varied, most participatory, and
most controversial encyclopedia. It is
composed and edited entirely by volunteer
netizens Wikipedia was co creator by Larry
Sanger, a professional epistemologist. The
site's massive archive, including 380,000
ar ticles in English alone, puts even
Britannica to shame.
Blog: A weblog, which is usually shortened
to blog, is a type of website where entries
are made (such as in a journal or diary,
displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Blogging indirectly star ted when Tim
Berners-Lee at CERN begins keeping a list
of all new sites as they come online.
Social book keeping: The general idea
behind social bookmarks is that rather than
saving a bookmark for a web page in a
browser such as Internet Explorer, users
instead save the bookmark to a publicly
accessible web site. Other people can then
see your bookmark and ideally be exposed
to something that you wouldn't otherwise
encounter.
IM: Instant messaging or IM is a form of realtime communication between two or more
people based on typed text. The text is
conveyed via computers connected over a
network such as the Internet.
RSS: Defined in XML, the Rich Site
Summary (RSS) format (aka "Really Simple
Syndication"), previously known as the RDF
Site Summar y, has quietly become a
dominant format for distributing news
headlines on the Web.
Podcasting: describes the process of using
audio files to deliver syndicated website
content to a digital audience in podcasting,
you create audio files that are available on
your website, which people can then
download to their iPods or MP3 players.
"Podcasts" are delivered through RSS (Rich
Site Summar y) feeds. A podcast is
distinguished by its ability to be downloaded
automatically using software capable of
reading RSS or Atom feeds. Before we try
to analyze the impact of these applications
a few examples would be worth studying:
a) In India, blogger Gaurav Sabnis quit his
job at IBM after his posts exposing the false
claims of a management school, IIPM, led
to management of IIPM threatening to burn
their IBM laptops as a sign of protest against
him.
b) Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas
Mavericks, was recently fined during the
2006 NBA playoffs for criticizing NBA
officials on the court and in his blog.
c) Blogs were an important source of news
during the December 2004 Tsumani such
as Medecins Sans Frontieres, which used
SMS text messaging to report from affected
areas in Sri Lanka and Southern India.
After gaining an understanding of what the
various terms stand for, it becomes clear
that they are software tools that are a part
of the internet itself. But are they leading to
freedom or a state of anarchism, is the
question that comes to our mind. As is clear
the tools above give individual a power to
put forth his view, and to be counted in the
real sense. They have more freedom to
express, shares information, distribute it,
have access to information on the go,
leading to a world where the concept of
dynamic information becomes real.
There is a natural tendency for individuals
and groups to shield the world from points
that are in opposition to their own. The
contradiction is that those who try so hard
to silence the voices opposing them wish
to, at the same time, maintain their freedom
to speak for their own causes.
If we take into account the basic premises
on which the structure of globalization
stands, the idea of "free flow", whether of
capital, labor, intellect, and then it can be
safely assumed that this should apply to
internet and its tools also. But in case of
globalization the concept of nation states
still stands, meaning that the government
is still the enabling force.
The internet instead has its roots in various
places, though indirectly in hands of US
government, but still it is a medium over
which no single individual, or government can
stake its claim. This singular fact and the
various tools make internet a dark place in
the eyes of the government. Here an
individual has equal power to that of the
government, and the various tools help
spread the information with the speed of light.
Dr Gunmala Suri, University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh, [email protected]
38 |
Contd.. On page 37
Defying the Workplace
Difficulties:
Dealing with Boss
It takes all kinds to make the world and it takes
all kinds of bosses to make up the workplace.
I
felt bringing to the notice of the readers
about the interaction with my friends
working across India & Abroad working for
MNCs and software firms. Other than our
routine yak much of our sensitive yet
grueling chat clusters around work place
and the people with whom working.
Astonishingly I found most of them are
weary, frustrated, unhappy, and demotivated
when discussion hinges on their professional
caretaker. Let me share their feelings here:
interaction with our boss leaves us cold. He's
a bully, intrusive, controlling, picky and petty.
He takes credit for our work, never provides
positive feedback and misses each meeting
he schedules with us. One of my expatriate
friend say's, He's a bad boss, bad to the bone.
importantly, jeopardize the careers of those
working under him.
Solution lies in Solving the Situation:
From Secrets to Winning at Office Politics
by Marie G. McIntyre, Ph.D says whatever
it may be but the more effectively you can
manage your boss, the more pleasant your
days are likely to be. 1st and foremost let's
see if any of these underlying statements
might apply to our relations with our
professional caretaker:
l
l
l
2 Sides of the Same Coin:
Discussing with my software HR colleagues;
conceited yet deterministically they
reiterates, the main reason organizations
have some toxic managers are because
they tolerate the behaviors from them.
Should HR worry about bad bosses? A
million dollar question and most of them
says: Absolutely. Bad bosses destroy
employee morale and hurt your workplace.
While browsing a front page column article
reflected in Careers-The Hindu June 06
Edition, surprisingly I found a similar write
up where the author is trying to aware the
readers to exercise a few traits you will be
able to think of ways to deal with
them(bosses). Let's know a few tips who
are they and how they be handled.
Hues & Colors of white collar Clan Boss:
It has been heard about those bosses who
bullies, the one who is a dictator or the one
who lives in an ivory tower in grand isolation
cut from his/her subordinates. There are
bosses who are perfectionists and expect
others to be the same. Then there are those
who are inexperienced, ineffective and bad
communicators. Some tend to be abusive
or manipulative while others micromanage.
Hope with this I am trying to unearth a brief
sketch of this spectacular clan in front of
you using all types of vocabulary. But after
all the essence of my discussion is having
an insecure boss can do more damage to
one's career than anything else. With such
a boss the feeling of insecurity will affect
the organization's growth and, more
l
l
l
I tend to get into power struggles and
control battles with my boss.
I resent the fact that my boss has the
power to direct my activities.
I sometimes intentionally fail to do
something that my boss asks or
expects.
I tend to feel somewhat anxious when I
am with my boss.
I am very hesitant about expressing
disagreement to my boss.
I often keep my ideas and opinions to
myself instead of sharing them with my
boss.
Mclntyre says, If you see yourself in any of
these descriptions, you may need to do a
better job of managing your boss. Let's
consider these suggestions for improving
that relationship:
1. Accept the fact that your boss has been
given the power to direct your activities. This
is true even if you are much smarter than
he is, even if you should have been given
her job, even if he is the most obnoxious
loudmouth on the planet. You are stuck with
this boss for the immediate future, so
becoming rebellious will only make a bad
situation worse. Accepting reality and
working to increase your influence will
produce better results.
2. Don't expect perfection. Managers are
people, not androids, so they have an
endless variety of quirks and eccentricities
and odd little habits. Recognize your boss'
hot buttons and for heaven's sake don't push
them! There's a name for people who annoy
their managers on purpose - masochists. If
you have a wonderful boss who is a pleasure
to work with, celebrate! Be grateful every
day for as long as it lasts. If not, lower your
expectations.
Mr.L.K.Jena
3. Study your boss' management style and
figure out what makes her happy. Look for
clues that tell you how he/she likes work
done or how he/she prefers to get
information. If you're not sure what your
boss expects from you, in terms of results,
work habits, communication style, or
anything else, then don't try to guess - ask!.
Any reasonable manager will gladly answer
these questions and, in fact, will be pleased
and surprised by your interest.
4. Try to make your boss look good.
Produce quality results, meet deadlines,
stay within your budget, respond to people
quickly. Find problems that need solving
and address them. Contribute new ideas
and suggestions. Share useful information
with your boss. And your own political power
will grow when your manager tells
everybody how wonderful you are!
5. Never, never, never complain to others
about your boss - especially to people
outside your depar tment or to your
employees (if you are a manager).
Strategizing with trusted peers about how
to handle your manager's more challenging
peculiarities is one thing - kind of like a group
therapy session - but trumpeting your
unhappiness far and wide will only get you
in trouble.
6. Give your boss a sincere compliment
from time to time. Managers hear lots of
complaints, but few employees ever bother
to give their boss a kind word. Unless your
manager resembles Adolph Hitler, you can
surely find some quality worth praising.
Mention it at some appropriate point. But
let's be clear - paying a sincere compliment
is not the same as groveling or sucking up.
Concluding Remarks:
No one is perfect, and everyone is entitled
to a bad day now and then. But if one has a
difficult boss, he/she may feel like having to
walk on eggshells every day to prevent
problems. The tension of waiting for
something to go wrong can sap the belief in
one's own abilities -- and combined with the
symptoms of mental illness, it can make
every workday feel like a waking nightmare.
I anticipate reader's facing similar dilemma
can give a second thought through those
doable advices and getting themselves in
WIN-WIN.
H
u
Mr. L.K. Jena is currently working as Personnel Officer with HAL Management Academy, the corporate learning center of Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore. He can be reached at:[email protected]
39 |
Virtual Teams
- Challenge for HR
B. Sivarama Krishna & Perni Srinivasa Rao
"We can't solve problems
by using the same kind of
thinking we used when we
created them."
- Albert Einstein
G
lobalization of the organizations and
telecommunications revolution has
enabled employees performing their job in
different shifts and different time zones team
up to achieve the goals. The development
of faster communication systems, more
powerful processors, and a new family of
software has allowed organizations to enter
the era of virtual connection1 enabling
organizations to enter the era of virtual
teams. Virtual teams allow organizations to
build effective teams that might not
otherwise be possible to work together due
to constraints like time and travel cost
restrictions, involving high costs of
manpower, requirement of experts in the
field, etc. Process Outsourcing has further
given the boost to Virtual teams with teams
from various companies work as teams to
deliver the results.
Virtual teams allow corporate entities to
continue the work of a team 24 hours a day
by crossing the traditional time barriers.
Virtual teams enhance the availability of
resources, the problems that can be
associated with gaining access to experts
or people with domain knowledge. This has
created a new challenge to HR in
comprehending and fostering virtual teams
towards achieving the organizational goals.
Responsibility lies with HR in helping the
virtual teams deliver the results.
Virtual team is defined as "Teams that
operate across space, time, and
organizational boundaries, communicating
with each other only through electronic
technology". 2 'A group of people
geographically different brought together by
a common goal that uses communication
technology to achieve common goal.'3
Vir tual teamwork is opposite to the
traditional teamwork lies in the large cross
boundary co-operation, high flexibility of
work with links strengthened by webs of
communication technology. Team members
have complementar y skills and are
committed for the common purpose, have
interdependent performance goals, and
share an approach to work for which they
hold themselves mutually accountable.
Knowledge, skills and experience are most
vital for virtual teams. Virtual teams are also
called as Geographically Dispersed Team
(GDT).
Virtual teams are not a phenomenon but
rather a permanent off shoot of the creation
of technology that supports them. As the
technology expands, the role of virtual team
will increase. New technologies and
electronic commerce are here to stay and
are changing the work environment virtually
in some cases. As forces of change, new
technologies are a double edge sword that
can be used to improve job performance or
to create stress. On the positive side, the
modern technologies are revolutionizing the
jobs and are designed in a way that work
gets done and on the otherside these teams
are creating stress where employees have
to work defying the biological clock. Virtual
offices are mobile plat forms of computer,
and the telecommunications services allow
mobile workforce members to conduct
business vir tually anywhere, anytime
globally. This is known as law of telecosm the idea that as computer networks expand,
distances become irrelevant. 4
Organizations are looking at various ways
to leverage the strengths of virtual teams.
AT&T has adapted Virtual Resources where
there are no staffs dedicated to particular
customers but employees would float from
one account to another as needed.5
There are always Myths which are
associated with the concepts and realities
of Virtual teams are as given
Challenges to HR are in terms of
l
As the case of any team-based
organizations, Human Resource
professionals are expected to provide
leadership in forming and nurturing
virtual teams.
l
Virtual team members require high
degree of training on communication,
since it's the key for efficiency and
effectiveness of the team. Since the
team members may involve people from
Myths
Reality
Virtual teams are not as
affective as traditional
teams
Virtual teams can be effective and has more advantages
than traditional teams in terms of harnessing skills, time,
technology and people.
Team dynamics in both
traditional and virtual teams
are same
Virtual teams have different team dynamics due to the
nature of the team formation and the group of people
associated with the team
It is difficult to create trust
among the team members
who cannot see one to one
Trust can be developed in the team since communication
and interaction is of high focus. Trust is of high focus by
nature in virtual teams
Accountability is difficult
Out-of-sight does not mean unaccountable. Achieving the
goals is the prime criteria. Virtual team works on completion
of tasks as per the time span and there is complete
monitoring of the schedules
Traditional teams are
preferable over vir tual
teams
Corporations worldwide have to leverage on the economies
of scale and competitive advantage which is difficult in the
traditional teams and hence virtual teams are to stay
There is no difference in
roles between traditional
teams and virtual teams
Nature of roles of team leader and member are different
like disciplined interaction, communication, etc. The skills
required by team leader are different to that of traditional
teams
B. Sivarama Krishna, General Manager - HR, Frontline Group of Companies, Ahmedabad, email [email protected]
Perni Srinivasa Rao, AGM - HR & Admin, IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Limited, Hyderabad, Email [email protected]
40 |
across the cultures there might be
issues of cross-cultural communication.
l
Teams must be trained to adapt to the
new teams or assignments, whenever
new teams are formed so as to ensure
continual continuity. For example an
organization serving various clients can
ask the employee to switch between the
teams to achieve the adhered
schedules.
l
Right kind of empowerment to the teams
to deliver the goals.
l
To resolve the cultural boundaries, solve
conflicts, interpret outside influences
and decide on consensus method with
virtual team approach.
l
l
To operate cultural differences, which
range from unique communication style
to complex value systems, complicated
by language barriers can be worked out
with virtual team.
Finally, employees are under
tremendous stress to deliver, adhere to
schedules, adapt to the changes in the
teams, learn new technologies, may
involve wide traveling, work at odd hours
(defying the biological clock), etc.
Addressing the issues HR need to
optimize the human resources to attain
the organizational goals.
HR cannot use the same yardstick to what
it has been using for traditional teams. HR
needs to strategize to address the
challenges. It has to be proactive and be
ready to embrace the challenge rather than
wait for the situation to arise and react to it.
Success of virtual teams depends on
1. Building trust: People can be trusted in
a virtual environment.
2. Ground rules and norms are important
for teams to establish. They are useful
in determining how team members
interact and what kind of behavior is
accepted.
3. Adequate resources to be made
available to foster the performance, if
not it hinders the performance and
questions the existence of virtual teams
itself
4. Collaboration culture needs to be
brought in as the virtual team functions
autonomously and the roles are
independent.
5. Agreeing on goals and schedules,
project specific and performance
metrics enables single platform for
discussion and deliverables.
6. Encouraging participation especially
during the meetings, as certain members
may be reluctant to participate. Different
personality types due to change in
cultures and language will naturally
'speak up' in different ways, and ensure
there are team members but not lurkers.
Carried from Page 42 Quality Function Deployment (QFD): An
Selecting the potential competencies
be devised. The Performance metrics for
each individual employee in line with the
The HR Department uses suitable tests
department's objective which will be in line
and interview techniques to evaluate
with the organization's vision has to be
whether the potential competencies are as
developed. This performance metrics will
per the requirement and would fulfill the
vary according to the levels and functional
needs of the internal customers. Ensuring
area. The performance metric system will
this is very important. Though it takes lot
be devised with full support from the internal
of time and effort, it will help to deploy the
customers.
needed competencies fulfilling the needs
Communicate
of the internal customers.
Induction and Socialization
The process of induction and socialization
would help the HR Department to provide
the human resources as needed by all the
internal customers. The cultural shocks
can be avoided and it prepares the human
resources to adapt to the organization's
culture and value system. Ultimately the
customers have to be satisfied and all the
activities of the HR department would
focus on that.
Decide the performance metrics for
different levels /functions
A system to monitor whether the needs of
the internal customers are fulfilled has to
The performance metrics designed has to
be communicated clearly to the human
resources scattered in various departments.
Only if this is done properly, the needs of
the internal customers will be met. The
system for evaluating the performance
metrics, what metrics they have, who would
evaluate them, what rewards would they get,
etc., has to be communicated clearly.
Evaluate, Provide feedback and Skill
Development
Periodically evaluating the performance and
providing feedback has to be undertaken
by the HR department. The performance
management system must be in place to
provide regular feedback to the employee
7. Providing a private space can be
created to allow members to share
thoughts outside the scope of
assignment and such measures
minimize coordination problems and
promote social exchanges among
members.
8. Coaching or helping team members to
adapt to the new environment and be
part of the team
9. Rewards and recognition shall be
followed at every milestone being
achieved, which reinforces the virtual
teams.
10. Continuous Communication is vital for
the success
Virtual teams are effective and they achieve
the difficult tasks that have been hitherto
difficult to handle. Sun Microsystems
developed a new electronic customer
ordered system with a vir tual team
composed of 15 engineers from three
different companies from three different
countries.6
Virtual teams may look futuristic today, they
will probably common form of work in the
organizations in the years to come. There
is tremendous oppor tunity for HR
professionals to strategically position their
organization towards sustained competetive
advantage and also positioning the firm for
virutal team success.
H
u
Alternative Context
for improvement. Not only that, decisions
regarding advancement in his/her career
has to be taken at the appropriate time
and evaluating the performance would
help. Apart from all this, HR department
has to constantly be on the vigil to satisfy
the needs of the internal customers. The
system of evaluation would help to identify
the need fulfilled, the gap existing and the
remedial measures (skill development) to
be taken to further satisfy the internal
customers of the HR Department.
Conclusion
Thus the existing functions of the HR
Department can be looked from the
Quality Function deployment dimension.
Ultimately, it is the quality of human
resources that matter for the effective
operation of the organization. An
organization has to give high priority to the
quality of human resources who get inside
the organization because they are the one
who determine the quality of other
components in the organization. In other
words, the quality has to start from human
resources.
H
u
41 |
Quality Function Deployment
(QFD): An Alternative Context
– Sumathi Annamalai
What is QFD?
l
QFD is used to translate customer
requirements to engineering specifications.
It is a link between customers - design
engineers - competitors - manufacturing.
There was a time when individuals could
order a pair of shoes directly from the
cobbler. The Cobbler by measuring the foot
himself and personally handling all aspects
of manufacturing could assure the customer
would be satisfied. The increase in the
distance between producers and users is
the problem that concerns Yoji Akao, one of
the founders of Quality Function
Deployment. QFD links the needs of the
customer with marketing, design,
development, engineering, manufacturing,
and service functions. It can be used for
service and software products, as well.
Benefits of QFD
l
Improved communication and sharing
of information while developing a new
product.
l
Creation of an informational base which
is valuable for repeated cycles of
product improvement
l
Product success in the marketplace,
due to the precise targeting of key
customer requirements
l
l
Reduced overall design cycle time,
mainly due to a reduction in timeconsuming design changes.
Reduced overall cost due to reducing
design changes, which are not only time
consuming but very costly, especially
those which occur at a late stage.
Reduced product cost by eliminating
redundant features and over-design.
Application of QFD in HR Department
Can we apply the concept of QFD in the
area of Human Resource Management?
This article focuses on the applicability of
QFD approach in identifying, procuring,
retaining and evaluating the human
resources in an organization. An attempt is
made to apply all the functions generally
performed by the HR Department, from the
QFD perspective. This helps in viewing the
HR department as a resource provider and
facilitator for all the other departments, who
are the internal customers.
Quality is the back bone of QFD concept
and quality without human resource is
impossible in an organization. Hence the HR
Department has to take care of the quality
of the human resources procured, deployed,
utilized and managed in the entire
organization.
Four - phase QFD Model for HRM
Planning
Define and
Determine
customer needs
Determine the
competencies
required
Analyze the
labour market
Identify the
source of
recruitment
Determining
the metrics
Deployment
Selecting the
potentials
competencies
Induction and
Socialization
Deployment to
the internal
customers
Evaluating
and
Controlling
Decide the
performance
metrics for
different levels /
functions
Evaluate the
human resources
at their
individual levels
Design the
Performance
Evaluation
System
Provide
feedback for
Improvement
Communicate to
the human
resources
Skill
Development
Planning:
The QFD for human Resource Management
starts with planning function. This planning
has to undergo the following sequence.
Define and Determine customer needs
Who are the customers for HR Department?
Deployment of human resources has to be
specific to the customer needs. All the
departments which depend on the HR
Department for its human resources are its
customers. Specifically they are all internal
customers. The need for human resources
varies according to the department and the
levels. Hence the customer needs have to
be studied carefully before designing a
system
Determine the competencies required
Based on the needs, the competencies
demanded by the internal customers have
to be determined in a clear-cut manner.
Once when these competencies are welldesigned, the HR Department will be able
to satisfy the needs of its internal customers.
The companies adopt competency mapping
to determine the specific requirements of
their customers. The customer has to be
involved in determining the required
competencies since it is they who are
utilizing the resources and the HR
department would just be facilitators.
Analyze the labour market
A consolidated report comprising of the
competencies needed versus the various
sources available for procuring has to be
prepared. The demand and supply position
for such competencies, the problems
associated with their procurement, legal
proceedings, etc have to be dealt at this stage.
Identify the source of recruitment
After analyzing all the sources, the right
source to procure the competencies has to
be determined. The sources can be
colleges,
universities,
competing
companies, from the labour market, even
internal from own concerns. Hence this
systematic approach of meeting the needs
of the customers would eradicate the
problems arising of mismatch later.
Contd.. On page 41
Sumathi Annamalai is Assistant Professor, PARK Global School of Business Excellence, Chenna. E-Mail: [email protected]
42 |
Holistic Assessments
- A Three Dimensional View
– G Ravi Kumar
I
ts been quite sometime that I wrote an
article on assessment. My last article for
NHRD magazine was the one of B-learning
titled "Welcome to B-learning!".
Out of the blue, this picture (see Figure 1)
virtually flashed in front of me. The impulse
generated inspired me to write an article on
it. How is that! Here we go…
Like I discussed about a new jargon called
"B-learning" in my previous article, this time
I have come up with another one named
"3DAC". It stands for 3 dimensional
assessment cube (See Figure 1).
human being basically possesses seven
types of intelligence components. They are
linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical,
spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligence. The degree of
intelligence on each component may vary
within and among individuals. The aggregate
composition determines the overall
"cognitive ability" of an individual. Also, the
dominant trait(s) would determine the
field(s) in which an individual would excel
(e.g. If a person has interpersonal
intelligence as a dominant trait, it means that
he can be a good marketing guy or a
teacher). This should give you an idea about
Cognitive Abilities. If you are curious to know
more about this, there are abundant
resources available on the net for your
reference.
Now, to Skills…
3 dimensional assessment cube
Abilities and Skills - complement each other
Before I explain about "3DAC", let me first
give you some dope on Abilities and Skills.
If you analyze, the implied meaning of the
word "Abilities" translates to "Cognitive
Abilities". There are many schools of
thoughts on this subject and several
definitions / connotations that exist for this
word. According to me, one of the notable
ones is the seminal work by Dr.Howard
Gardner called "Theor y of Multiple
Intelligences". According to him, every
A Skill by definition "is something you learn
or acquire over a period of time". Again Skills
can be two types viz. Hard and Soft. Hard
Skills pertain to something that a person can
perform or demonstrate. Examples of such
skills are driving a Car, flying an Aeroplane,
assembling/Troubleshooting PCs, etc.
Soft Skills have more to do with behavioral
traits of a person. Attitude, inter-personal
skills can be cited as examples for this. Of
course, in a way soft skills can be
considered as a sub-set of Cognitive
Abilities. But you can treat it as a discipline
too. Since hard skills are tangible, it is easy
to demonstrate and assess. On the contrary,
soft skills are more often than not dormant
and also human behavioral patterns are very
erratic and circumstance dependent (e.g.
the way an individual behaves when he is
calm is different from when he is under
pressure or disturbed). Hence a soft skill is
a grey area and hence assessments here
are very subjective and often debatable,
sometimes contentious too.
Holistic Assessments - The 3DAC way
Finally, let us look at ways by which we can
assess abilities and skills that we discussed
till now.
A couple of well known tests for assessing
cognitive abilities is CAT3 and CogAT. You
can check their official websites for more
information about these tests.
There are several personality test batteries
available for Soft Skills assessments or
behavioral assessments. Some of the noted
ones are 16PF, FIRO-B and DISC based
tests.
Hard Skills would mean anything from
driving a car to flying a space shuttle. Here,
the context is Software or Programming
Skills assessments. Again here, we have
Objective assessments and Performance
based assessments. In objective
assessments candidates are tested more
on concepts per taining to software
programming. Some of the renowned
players in objective assessments are
Brainbench, MeasureUp, QuestionMark and
Professional Aptitude Council (PAC). The
latter is the most effective, but the most
challenging kind of assessments. Prominent
companies in this area of assessments are
SkillCheck
and
DevSquare
(www.devsquare.com).
H
u
G. Ravi Kumar is an IT professional based at Bangalore. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Fundamentals of Non-violence,
Peace and Relative Economics
- Acharya Mahaprajna
1. That activity cannot attain success,
which is devoid of the process of
transformation of consciousness.
2. The
system
for
controlling
possessiveness or individual
ownership cannot attain success
because it lacks in the technique
of transformation of consciousness.
3. The mission of non-violence can
become successful only when it is
infused with consciousness of
spirituality or consciousness of
emotion.
consciousness
and
spiritual
consciousness are developed in a
balanced manner.
4. If only intellectual consciousness is
developed and if only economic
development takes place, then bread
cannot go together with non-violence
and peace.
7. Stopping the reactive violence is
possible only when the disease of
consumerism that grows with the
economic development is treated and
consciousness of self-restraint
reaches the higher level.
5. If mere consciousness of spirituality is
developed, then both Ahimsa and
bread cannot go together.
6. Ahimsa, peace and bread can go
together only when intellectual
consciousness,
economic
8. The solution to this problem is Training
in Non-violence; mere intellectual
deliberation would not be enough to
provide the solution for human
problems.
43 |
Employee Commitment
A Way To Renaissance
Management
– P Gowri Kusuma
A new revolution:
What employees hear is that "people are
our most important asset," what they see is
that people are the most expendable asset
--- Gary Hamel & C.K..Prahalad (competing
for the future -Harvard Business Review,
July/August 1994)
The renaissance is about re-discovering the
values - energy, innovation and
responsiveness. An organization can
achieve these values by allowing itself to
EXCEL in every aspect. Here the acronym
EXCEL refers to
E---Empowerment
X---eXperience
C---Customer focus
E--- Enterprise
L----Leadership
Renaissance is about the rise of the
individual and developments in learning. The
same factors apply to renaissance in
organizations - individuality will be an
increasing exception within a work force and
learning will be a key process.
Employee commitment is key factor of
renaissance. Employee commitment
embraces both motivation and selfmotivation or empowerment.
Key questions to check employee
commitment:
Organizations reflect the societies and
markets in which they operate. As these
evolve, so should organizations. The
situation in which many organizations find
themselves might be called the consistency/
inconsistency dilemma.
CONSISTENCY
Control
Integration
Centralization
Roles
Function-led
consequent need to balance more
successfully the forces of integration and
diversity, consistency and inconsistency,
control and autonomy?
INCONSISTENCY
Autonomy
Diversity
Localization
Individuals
Customer-led
1. Are your employees directly involved in
the important decisions that affect their
jobs?
2. Have they the knowledge to do their jobs
properly?
3. Is two-way communication between
management and your workforce as
effective as possible?
4. Are your people excited about their
futures within your organizations?
5. When formulating a new strategy, do
you consider the needs of your people?
Ten don'ts of employee commitment:
Every dimension of this dilemma requires
an organization to find its own place in
response to the market conditions it faces
and its strategic response.
1. Don't forget that your employees are
human beings with feelings.
Monday morning', - Ricardo Semler
The organizations will need to examine
closely the basis of the relationship that they
have with the individual's who work for them.
The impact of change driven by technology
will almost undoubtedly require continuous
development from a workforce and as
organizations change and development
there will be a far higher degree of mobility
between jobs. It means your current
organization will be actively helping you get
a job in your next one.
Organizations need to examine other hidden
clauses that are often not aired. These
expectations will include the following:
l
l
l
All the above will make people inspired and
proud of the organization for which they
work.
Organizations are therefore facing a number
of related drivers for change to which they
must respond if they are to survive.
l
They have to respond to an increasingly
competitive and uncertain market place
with brilliant positioning achieved led by
innovation and responsiveness.
l
They have to find a way of balancing
the opposing forces for consistency and
inconsistency if they are to maximize
their impact in their market places.
2. Don't ignore people - listen to their
options.
3. Don't be racist
Organizations are no longer able to tell
people what to do - people have to do what
the market tells them rather what a particular
part of the organization expects and predicts
what sort of people are needed to work in
organization? For a start, they are unlikely
to be blindly complaint, working to tightly
defined role specifications and job
descriptions. The need for integrated
diversity makes impossible Taylor's vision
and instead requires a very different sort of
individual who is prepared to commit a lot
more of him or herself to work.
4. Don't automatically blame the workers
What are organizations doing to cope better
with these levels of change and the
'The single hardest thing to do is to make
people interested in coming to work on
5. Don't underestimate people's potential
6. Don't be secretive
7. Don't rely on your position for authority
8. Don't believe there is one rule of 'us'
and another for 'them'
9. Don't break the link in people's minds
between reward and effort.
10. Don't forget the equation: Performance
= Ability * Effort (motivation)
A new relationship:
Being treated with fairness, individuals
need to feel that their views and opinions
have been heard.
Feeling fulfilled and motivated about the
current job, as well as being prepared
for the next one.
Being trusted and respected working in
an environment in which the individual
can express him or herself without fear
or threat.
The cleverest organization will not try to
resist this tide of change but will find the
value and potential in it. They will be those
organizations that realize that an increasing
individual contribution gives them powerful
strategic options. It builds responsiveness
to market conditions and taps into a
reservoir of creativity and energy and this
contribution allows for true strategic
differentiation.
H
Mrs. P Gowri Kusuma is Faculty at Bharat P G College, Hyderabad E-Mail: [email protected]
44 |
u
Fascinating Facts
– K. Satyanarayana
189. Battle For Civil
Birmingham In 1963
Rights
In
Birmingham in the state of Alabama was
the most segregated city In U.S in the year
1963. Dr. Martin Luther King, the civil rights
leader of U.S. was unable to cajole more
than 20 adults to volunteer into his no holds
barred campaign of civil disobedience on
the lines of Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for
Indian independence. It was mostly children
as young as 6 years old that marched,
picketed, jammed the jails and juvenile halls,
shut down the city's shopping district and
at last broke the back of the segregation in
the city. Around 2,000 children of 1963, now
in their 50s are celebrating the 40th
anniversary of the epochal battle they fought
in the civil rights movement. For the children
of the protests, now grown up, looking back
remains a source of pride. Most of them feel
that their children and grand children do not
understand or appreciate enough the
sacrifices of so long ago to get where we
are today. Most of the elders did not take
part in the movement for fear of losing their
jobs but the children had their strong
reasons for taking active part. One lady
recalled, "I wanted to know why I could not
ride the train, why I could not see a duck in
a park, why I cannot drink water from a
fountain, why I cannot try an outfit before
buying it or why I could not eat from a lunch
counter."
(Source: The New York Times,
May 2, 2003)
190. Graduate Students Reject The Idea
Of A Union At Yale University
The group of graduate students under the
leadership of Ms. Anita M Seth, seeking to
unionize 2,100 graduate students at Yale
University faced a stinging defeat with 594
votes against and 651 in favor. Labor experts
said that this vote would send signals
nationwide that graduate teaching and
research assistants would not necessarily
flock to join unions. In a similar vote during
2002 at Cornell University, graduate
students voted 1,351 against and 580 in
favor of unionizing. The reasons given by
those opposing are that the union leaders
are too aggressive, its leadership too
undemocratic and some said they had
developed negative feelings about
unionization because Yale's main unions
had engaged in so many strikes and fights
with the university affecting the reputation
of the institution and also the quality of
education. Several graduate students voiced
fears that if GESO became their union, it
would be dominated by Yale's two other
union locals, which helped finance the drive
for unionization drive. Those locals represent
2,900 clerical workers and 1,200 cleaning,
dining hall and maintenance workers and
are par t of the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Employees Union. Yale,
Columbia and Brown Universities are
seeking to over turn a two-year old labor
board ruling that graduate students at
Private Universities had the right to unionize.
This vote and vote at Cornell last October
supports their contention.
May 2, 2003)
If similar fair polls are held at Indian
Universities, most of the students may
oppose unions in educational institutions
including teaching hospitals.
191. Nestle Closes Its 104 Year Old First
U.S. Factory In Fulton, New York State
Way back in 1899, leading citizens of Fulton,
north of Syracuse in New York State raised
$2,700 (no mean sum at that time) to buy a
chunk of land that Nestle could use as a
site for their chocolate factory. The incentive
and the fact that there were so many cows
around proved irresistible to Nestle. Over
the next century, it grew to cover more than
30 acres. But on May 2, 2003, the company
closed its plant, the chocolate works, as the
locals call it, the birthplace of Nestle's quik,
the home of the crunch bar, the maker of
mountains of morsels for chocolate-chip
cookies.
Despite all the incentives offered by the city
or state or anyone else, the company would
not change its mind and is not even prepared
to discuss it with any one. 467 employees
are losing their jobs including the mayor's
wife, daughter and son-in-law. The average
age of the plant's workers is 52 and the
average tenure is 27 years. It is a heartbreak
for the community as it is worried that if
Nestle with more than $50 million
investment in the last decade won't stay in
Fulton, who will? Fulton was one city that
missed the great depression according to a
1936 headline in The New York Sun. But
during the last 50 years many big factories
were closed. In 1952, a big woolen mill was
closed, putting 1,500 out of work. Later on
paper plants, gun works, brewing factories,
bottle manufacturers, can factories were all
closed one after another. The final blow
came when Nestle sold its bulk chocolate
business to Cargill. Rather than spend a
fortune renovating the Fulton plant, the
company decided to move most of the
production to another underutilized but
younger plant in Wisconsin and a fraction
of the Nestle's crunch business is going to
Brazil. There is no fault of the people who
live there or people who worked so hard for
generations. Production workers earning as
much as $20 an hour are finding it difficult
to find jobs at half or one third of that rate.
May 2, 2003)
192. Close Link Between Fat And Cancer
Researchers for the American Cancer
Society after spending 16 years evaluating
900,000 people who were cancer free when
the study began in 1982, concluded that fat
is linked to cancer more convincingly than
ever before and that losing weight could
prevent one out of every six cancer deaths
in U.S. more than 90,000 each year. This
study and earlier studies have found that
excess weight contributes to cancers of the
breast, uterus, colon, rectum, kidney,
esophagus, gall bladder, cervix, ovaries,
multiple myeloma, non-hodgkins lymphoma,
pancreas, liver and in men, the the stomach
and prostrate. The researchers have
however found that there is no link between
fat and cancers of the brain skin and bladder.
April 24, 2003)
K. Satyanarayana, Hon. Executive Director on behalf of National HRD Network. He can be reached at: [email protected]
45 |
Bosco, What Is The Solution?
se
Ca
dy
u
t
S
24
– R. Dharma Rao
O
ne day, in the Hospital of the Company,
John Bosco, Executive Assistant, was
waiting anxiously outside the Labour Room.
He identified the voice of his wife shouting
for help. She was awfully crying. Bosco
immediately rushed inside the labour room.
Mrs.Bosco was admitted into the hospital
for her first delivery two days before. Inside,
two more women were also suffering with
their advanced pains. The Sister-in-Charge
objected Bosco and shouted at him to go
out immediately. Otherwise, she would call
the Security. As he was not going out, she
called a Security Guard who whisked him
away. Bosco rang up Viswanath, Manager
(HR & Administration), his boss, and
informed him in an angry tone that a Sister
insulted him and told him to come down
immediately to the Hospital. Viswanath
reached there and found Bosco sitting on
a sofa in a happy mood. He was blessed
with a son. He received Viswanath with an
unusual and blissful face and gave him the
good news. Viswanath congratulated and
asked him why he was called. Bosco said
that the Sister in Charge created a problem
for him in the labour room and had therefore
called him. After two days, Viswanath
received a letter from Hospital authorities
complaining against Bosco and demanded
a severe action against him with intimation
to them. The hospital staff unanimously
condemned the ugly behaviour of Bosco.
Viswanath went to the Hospital and
explained his difficulty to take any action
against Bosco as his appointment was a
special nature.
In Maharastra, there is an engineering
industry performing excellently well. For the
last over six years, their turnover was very
remarkable, breaking their own previous
records. The CEO decided to improve
further and applied to the Ministry of
Commerce to sanction an export permit for
some of their products, which had a high
demand abroad. After sending the
prescribed application, he started going to
Delhi for follow-up with the concerned
officials. During that time, one of the top
Officials requested the CEO to employ his
only son, John Bosco, who passed MBA.
The CEO said that there was no immediate
vacancy but would accommodate him.
Bosco was employed with a good salary as
an Executive Assistant. He was also allotted
a small bungalow, reasonably furnished. He
was posted in their Head Office under
Viswanath, a strict disciplinarian and
Manager (HR & Adm). Bosco, without any
previous experience, had least interest in
his job. Fur ther, his behaviour was
unbecoming. Viswanath requested the CEO
to transfer him to some other department
as he was wasting his time on Bosco. The
CEO, in his next trip to Delhi, informed the
Official about Bosco's bad conduct and
behaviour. The official gave a detailed
account of his son who was a spoilt child.
He was involved in a bad association and
completed MBA some how or other. He
thought Bosco might change if he was
married. The wedding took place last year.
There was no any remarkable change in
Bosco. The Official therefore requested the
CEO to employ and transform him as a good
person. He also told the CEO to bear with
him and excuse him for any misbehavior.
The CEO narrated all these points to
Viswanath, on whom he had full trust, and
told him further that he promised the official
that Bosco would change himself after
adjusting with Company's culture.
On another occasion, Bosco was found in
his room drinking liquor. Viswanath
telephoned to CEO and informed on this
matter. The CEO suggested closing the door
silently from outside and asking every one
not to go to him until evening. After 6 p.m.,
Viswanath opened the door and found
Bosco in deep sleep. He woke him up and
sent to his house in a car
After managing Bosco for three months,
Viswanath phoned to the CEO and
requested him to listen to him patiently as
he felt that there were some delicacies and
difficulties if he expressed in person. He told
him "Sir, I have lost my fortitude and
tolerance. Not all my counseling sessions
brought any fruits. I silently swallowed many
insults created by Bosco. The discipline that
I impar ted for last several years is
deteriorating due to Bosco. Only one thing I
have gained is an experience on how a
problem employee can generate
innumerable worries to the Management. I
tolerated his late coming, indiscipline in the
office, shabby and ugly dress, misuse of
telephones,
irregular
attendance,
insubordination, etc. Of late, I have not been
getting good sleep. When you introduced
Bosco to me, I accepted him as a challenge
for the progress of our Company. I now admit
that I have failed. Sir, I request you to grant
me one month leave or transfer him to some
other department. Excuse me for reading
this note on phone."
Once there was a party in the Officers' Club.
Bosco, Viswanath and other colleagues
were enjoying with some foreign liquor.
Another person, nearby to Bosco's table,
After listening to Viswanath unwearyingly,
the CEO told him that he had no choice and
Viswanath as an experienced HR
professional should manage Bosco.
H
R. Dharma Rao, Head, HR, ICBM. He can be reached at: [email protected]
46 |
fully drunk and laughing loudly, was noticed.
Bosco asked him to shut up and not to
disturb them. Viswanath and others pacified
Bosco not to interfere with him. When, in
the meanwhile, that person laughed like a
thunder, Bosco went to him and roughly
punched him. In his anger, he took a chair
and lifted it to beat him. Viswanath pulled
him back and all of them went to another
spot. Within a short time, a police jeep came
to the Club. The drunken person was the
son of a Police Officer. The police started
searching for Bosco whom Viswanath
advised him to hide somewhere. The police
then said that if Bosco was not found, the
entire group would be taken to the Police
Station for interrogation. Viswanath,
however, with folded hands tactfully handled
the situation and avoided a grilling by police.
u
Two Great Stories - BOTH TRUE - and worth reading!
STORY NUMBER ONE
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually
owned Chicago. Capone wasn't famous for
anything heroic. He was notorious for
enmeshing the windy city in everything
from bootlegged booze and prostitution to
murder.
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed 'Easy
Eddie.' He was his lawyer for a good
reason. Eddie was very good! In fact,
Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big
Al out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him
very well. Not only was the money big ,
but also, Eddie got special dividends. For
instance, he and his family occupied a
fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all
of the conveniences of the day. The estate
was so large that it filled an entire Chicago
City block.
Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob
and gave little consideration to th atrocity
that went on around him. Eddie did have
one soft spot, however. He had a son that
he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his
young son had clothes, cars, and a good
education. Nothing was withheld. Price
was no object. And, despite his
involvement with organized crime, Eddie
even tried to teach him right from wrong.
Eddie wanted his son to be a better man
than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and
influence, there were two things he couldn't
give his son; he couldn't pass on a good
name or a good example.
One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult
decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify
wrongs he had done. He decided he would
go to the authorities and tell the truth about
Al 'Scarface' Capone, clean up his
tarnished name, and offer his son some
semblance of integrity. To do this, he would
have to testify against The Mob, and he
knew that the cost would be great!
So, he testified. Within the year, Easy
Eddie' life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a
lonely Chicago Street. But, in his eyes, he
had given his son the greatest gift he had
to offer, at the greatest price he could ever
pay. Police removed from his pockets a
rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and
a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem
read:
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.
STORY NUMBER TWO
World War II produced many heroes. One
such man was Lieutenant Commander
Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot
assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in
the South Pacific. One day his entire
squadron was sent on a mission. After he
was airborne, he looked at his fuel gage and
realized that someone had forgotten to top
off his fuel tank. He would not have enough
fuel to complete his mission and get back
to his ship. His flight leader told him to return
to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out
of formation and headed back to the fleet.
As he was returning to the mother ship he
saw something that turned his blood cold: a
squadron of Japanese aircraft were
speeding their way toward the American
fleet. The American fighters were gone on
a sor tie, and the fleet was all but
defenseless. He couldn't reach his
squadron and bring the back in time to save
the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the
approaching danger.
There was only one thing to do. He must
somehow divert them from the fleet. Laying
aside all thoughts of personal safety, he
dove into the formation of Japanese planes.
Wing-mounted 50 calibers blazed as he
charged in, attacking one surprised enemy
plane and then another. Butch wove in
and out of the now broken formation and
fired at as many planes as possible until
all his ammunition was finally spent.
Undaunted, he continued the assault. He
dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or
tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy
planes as possible and rendering them
unfit to fly.
Finally, the exasperated Japanese
squadron took off in another direction.
Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his
tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.
Upon arrival, he reported in and related
the event surrounding his return. The film
from th gun-camera mounted on his plane
told the tale. It showed the extent of
Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet.
He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy
aircraft.
This took place on February 20, 1942, and
for that action Butch became the Navy's
first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval
Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of
Honour
A year later Butch was killed in aerial
combat at the age of 29.
His home town would not allow the
memory of this WW II hero to fade, and
today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named
in tribute to the courage of this great man.
So, the next time you find yourself at
O'Hare International, give some thought
to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his
statue and his Medal of Honour. It's
located between Terminals 1 and 2.
SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES
HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?
Butch O'Hare was 'Easy Eddie's' son
Contributed by Naren Ayyar, CEO,
Globarena
Does Management know their Staff?
On walking into the factory, the MD noticed
a young guy leaning against the wall, doing
nothing.
He approached the young man and calmly
said to him, "How much do you earn?"
The young man was quite amazed that he
was asked such a personal question, he
replied, none the less, "I earn $ 2 000.00 a
month, Sir. Why?"
Without answering, the MD took out his wallet
and removed $6000.00 cash and gave it to the
young man and said, "Around here I pay people
for working, not for standing around looking
pretty! Here is your 3 months salary, now GET
OUT and don't come back"
The young man turned around and was quickly
out of sight.
Noticing a few onlookers, the MD said in a very
upset manner, "And that applies for
everybody in this company".
He approached one of the onlookers and
asked him, "Who's the young man that I just
fired?"
To which an amazing reply came of, "He was
the pizza delivery man, Sir...!"
Contributed by Naren Ayyar CEO of
Globarena Technologies, Hyderabad
47 |
Monster Jobs
48 |
Monster
Article
49 |
HR Thought Leaders’ Symposium by Delhi Chapter
T
he “success” of any business relies on
its execution. Organizations, in the
past, looked up to functions like sales,
marketing, R&D, etc, to foster the growth
of the company, but today, they are also
looking at HR for the same. It is the creative
thoughts, approaches and experiments
that have led the transformation of HR
function from being a time keeping function
to a key strategic contributor to business.
It was NHRDN Delhi Chapter’s November
Special Event on the special theme ‘HR
Thought Leaders’ Symposium’, held on
Friday, November 2, 2007 at PHD
Chamber of Commerce & Industry, New
Delhi. This novel initiative was well
attended by a huge 250+ participants and
good blend of audience from members of
academia, young professionals to many
eminent Chief of HR. Enormous
participation from a diverse audience
clearly showed enthusiasm and high sprit
that prevails in all events of the Delhi
chapter.
The session was convened by N.S. Rajan,
President, Delhi Chapter and Partner
Human capital, Ernst & Young, which
commenced with the welcome note and
recitation of our code of conduct. This was
followed by the presentation “Road Show
to National Conference” by Mr. L
Prabharak, Corporate HR Manager – ITC,
showcasing The 11th National Conference
of the National HRD Network will be held
The Conference will have as its theme
“India’s Century: The Challenge for Indian
Business Leadership”. The focus of the
Conference will be on understanding what
successful Indian industry leaders have
done in the past to transform their
organizations and make them globally
competitive and what they see are the
challenges for Indian business and industry
in the years ahead.
Web Launch – The new 2.0 version is up!
Pankaj Bansal, VP, Delhi Chapter and CEO,
PeopleStrong facilitated the launch of the
Delhi Chapters new website. He unleashed
the new avatar for the website and also
explained how the web-2.0 would integrate
the HR fraternity and add value to all
members.
Web launch was followed by Panel
discussion “Evolution of HR”. With the
presence for eminent HR thought leaders,
it indeed proved as an immense knowledge
creation session for the audience. This had
a positive contribution as a mixture of
experiences, thoughts and learning were
brought forward that indeed enlightened
everyone.
l
Aquil Busrai, Executive Director HR, IBM
India
l
Madhukar
Shukla
(Prof.),
XLRI
God is Merciful
WAQT NAHI
Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine,
after the rain ....
Perhaps you may stumble,
perhaps even fall,
But God’s always ready,
To answer your call ...
He knows every heartache,
sees every tear,
A word from His lips,
can calm every fear ...
Your sorrows may linger,
throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish,
in dawn’s early light ...
The Savior is waiting,
somewhere above,
To give you His grace,
and send you His love...
Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
“God always sends rainbows ....
after the rain ... “
To get out of difficulty, one must
usually go through it!
Har khushi Hai Logon Ke Daman Mein,
Par Ek Hansi Ke Liye Waqt Nahi.
Din Raat Daudti Duniya Mein,
Zindagi Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.
Maa Ki Loree Ka Ehsaas To Hai,
Par Maa Ko Maa Kehne Ka Waqt Nahi.
Saare Rishton Ko To Hum Maar Chuke,
Ab Unhe Dafnane Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.
Saare Naam Mobile Mein Hain,
Par Dosti Ke Lye Waqt Nahi.
Gairon Ki Kya Baat Karen,
Jab Apno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.
Aankhon Me Hai Neend Badee,
Par Sone Ka Waqt Nahi.
Dil Hai Ghamon Se Bhara Hua,
Par Rone Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.
Paison ki Daud Me Aise Daude,
Ki Thakne ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.
Paraye Ehsason Ki Kya Kadr Karein,
Jab Apane Sapno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.
Tu Hi Bata E Zindagi,
Iss Zindagi Ka Kya Hoga,
Ki Har Pal Marne Walon Ko,
Jeene Ke Liye Bhi Waqt Nahi.......
Always keep smiling and be happy.Life
is too small to complain. Naren Ayyar
in Kolkata from November 29-December 1,
2007.
50 |
Jamshedpur
l
P. Dwarakanath, Director - Human
Capital, Max India
l
S. Y. Siddiqui, Executive Director HR,
Maruti Udyog
l
T. V. Rao (Prof.), Chairman, TVRLS
- Eminent participants of the panel
discussion
Many speakers consistently reiterated the
importance of understanding the people. “For
managing attrition understanding people is
very important and People are getting
complex” said T. V. Rao (Prof.), Chairman,
TVRLS “HR lacks to study people’s mind and
what they want” he added.
“HR has to work towards strategy as well
as HR transactions. We need to learn to
strick a balance of the two” Said Madhukar
Shukla (Prof.), XLRI Jamshedpur “HR as a
function is respected more now” he added.
A medley of thoughts was contributed on
certain desirable attributes of HR people
who represent the HR function, like
compassion, confidence and courage. HR
function is about giving, mentoring and
growing its people, being an HR
professional we give life to others.
The program was well received by the
participants and they congratulated Delhi
chapter for its constant innovation and
creating a difference.
The Publisher
HRD Newsletter
I thank you very much for publishing
continuously 24 of my case studies in
our esteemed magazine which are mostly
my own experiences. I started writing
these on the inspiration extended to me
by Mr.S.zarar, principal of my institute, and
Mr.K. Satyanarayana garu, Hon. Executive
Director. Iam also thankful to Dr.Mathew
M.Monippally, IIM Ahmedabad, who had
guided me on how to write correctly the
case studies and their approach.
On the suggestions made by our valuable
readers, if you approve, I wish to give
suggested solutions without claiming that
my solution is the best and wish to start
from case study 11, (from where I
stopped) from next month.
Thanking you,
R.dharma rao
Response from publisher
Thank you for your valuable Case Studies.
You are welcome to give solutions.
Publisher
Delhi
Photographs
51 |
HR Competency Certification: Assessor Development Programme
The four th program of the series of
workshops on National HR Competency
Model was held on 22nd to 24th October
2007 in Mumbai. Dr. Premarajan, Professor
OB & HR, and XLRI Jamshedpur facilitated
these three-day programs. Mr. G P Rao, Vice
President HR, Reliance and Mr. Aquil Busrai
President NHRDN addressed the
participants on the first day and highlighted
the importance of CII, NHRDN and XLRI to
work as a team for developing the HR
Competency Assessor Model. . Mr. Arvind
Agarwal President HR, RPG shared his
experience with the participants.
The competitive pressures in the
environment have radically altered the
context in which Human Resource services
are delivered in Indian Organizations. With
the focus moving towards integrating HR into
strategic planning of the organization, the
challenges before the HR profession have
become even more daunting as neither the
tools/techniques of HR nor the profile of the
professionals who deploy these, have
undergone a Corresponding transformation.
The HR Competency Model captures the
range of competencies required to play the
multiple roles of HR. These have been
organized in terms of Technical vs.
Behavioral and Functional vs. Generic
classification. There are 17 Competencies
and these are classified as shown below:
Functional Technical
Having developed a model consisting of
competencies required transforming the HR
Function; the next critical step is to evolve a
comprehensive mechanism to assess these
competencies. It is imperative for both the
HR professionals as well as their HR
organization, to know where they stand in
terms of the necessary HR competencies
required for organizational effectiveness.
Based on this analysis, competency gaps
will be identified and practical
recommendations will be made so that the
individuals as well as the organizations can
assess their own situation, take corrective
actions and better Prepare to meet the
future challenges that the profession will
face.
Students from Welinker Institute of
Management joined on first day. HR
professionals from Crompton Greaves, RPG
and Reliance joined as Assesses on the 2nd
and 3rd Day of the programme. This special
set of assesses comprising HR executives
and students were put through an extensive
three-day assesses program. Mr.Vivek
Pranjape Advisor, Reliance Industries ltd.
formally closed the program by presenting
certificates to the participants.
A special dinner was hosted for the faculty
and participants and joined by Mr.Arvind
Mehta. The dinner provided a platform to
the participants to interact at an informal
level with senior members from the
committee.
The workshops proved extremely
successful as a step towards the
overarching vision of this association is to
raise the standard of HR profession in India
in the lines of work by the Management
Charter initiative (MCI) or the National
Council for Vocational Qualification (NCVQ)
in the UK and the American Society for
Training and Development (ASTD) or the
Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) with the help of University of
Michigan, in the USA.
For more information on
assessor programs for HR
Competency Model watch
out this space in
forthcoming editions of our
Newsletter.
List of Participants of HR Competency Model – 4th Batch
S.No. Name
Designation
Organization
1.
Mr.Marcel Parker
President - HR
Raymond Ltd
l
HR Planning and Staffing
2.
Mr.Balaji Ganapathy
Asst Mgr-HR
TCS
l
Performance Management
3.
Mr.Vikas Kaul
HR Partner-GBS
IBM
l
Training and Development
4.
Mr.Vijay S Karkare
MD
Cornerstone India Consulting
l
Talent Management
5.
Mr Sanjay Ghanghaw
Sr.Mgr-Corporate
Crompton & Greaves
l
Compensation and Benefit
6.
Mr.Ramesh Kumar
Head HR
NTF India Pvt Ltd
7.
Mr.Avijit Roy
Dy GM
Mahindra & Mahindra
8.
Mr.Deepak A Deshpande
Sr. VP & Head HR
Century communications ltd.
9.
Ms.Rekha Hari
Sr. Manager
Mahindra & Mahindra
10.
Ms.Sonali Gaikwad
HR Manager
L&T Finance Ltd.
l
Managing Culture, Design & Change
l
ER and Labour Laws
l
Building HR Strategy
l
International HRM
11.
Ms.Nisha Verma
HR Manager
Accenture
Functional Behavioral
12.
Mr.Smitha Kumar
HR Manager
Accenture
l
Service Orientation
13.
Ms.Diana Nariman
Asst Manager-HR
GlaxoSmithline Healthcare
l
Personal Credibility
14.
Ms Ujjwala Singh
Sr. Manager
TCS
l
Execution Excellence
15.
Mr. Harish Purandare
HR Manager
ITC Grand Maratha
Generic Behavioral
l
Strategic Thinking & Alignment
l
Change Orientation
l
Networking Management
Globarena Partners with BIMTECH
Insurance & Risk Management program of
Globarena Technologies Hyderabad in
partnership with Birla Inst of Technology &
Management (BIMTECH) was launched on
22 nd November 2207 at Hotel Ramada
Manohar. The inauguration by Shri. N.
Rangachary, IRS, Former Chairman, IRDA.
Generic Technical
l
Business Knowledge
l
Financial Perspective
52 |
Mumbai / Nagapur
Photographs
53 |
Bangalore / Hosur
Photographs
54 |
November at Chennai
The Chennai Chapter had a unique
double-header in November. The first
event was an evening meeting with Mr.
S.V.Nathan, Senior Vice President Human Resources, of Deliotte, on
November 16, 2007, at Hotel Savera.
A packed hall greeted Mr. Nathan, who
was speaking on his experiences in
Talent Management at Deloitte. Over
the past 3 years, Deloitte has moved
from being an 'India story' to being 'The
Deloitte Story', by consciously creating
specific differentiators. Leveraging
both on technology and on globally
available platforms, Deloitte offers over
32,000 courses of various duration for
their employees through their online
university. Though many of the courses
are instructor-led, there are still a variety
of courses available for employees to
be able to customize their learning.
commitment is the Communication Gym
at Deloitte. Building on the premise that
'working out' includes exercising one's
skills, the Communication Gym provides
employees with various tools to develop
those skills at a pace set by individuals.
While trainers are available to help, there
is no compulsion to use them, or indeed,
to use the Gym at all. But where Deloitte
has been successful is in creating a 'pull'
factor for the Communication Gym - it
Ramachandran, a senior HR
professional and a member of the
Chennai Chapter, presented a memento
to Mr. Nathan.
It was probably the first time that a
Chapter meeting ended with music
from Aerosmith - 'Sweet Taste of India'
was the theme song that Mr. Nathan had
chosen!!
The 60-odd members of the Chapter
who came for the second meeting, on
November 23, found a refreshing
change: instead of having a guest
speaker, the audience was divided into
small groups and each group was tasked
with setting the agenda for the Chapter's
activities in 2008. The ideas that were
thrown up included HR Skill
workshops, Industry Specific success
stories of various HR practices,
Corporate Governance & CSR, Book
is now seen as something that is
personally beneficial and not something
that is being forced upon the individual.
Mr. Nathan answered a wide range of
questions during the interactive session
that followed his presentation. He also
picked the lot for an audience gift, which
went to Mr. Govindaraj Ramachandran
of RR Donnelley. Mr. Kasinath
Deloitte has deliberately chosen this
'Customized Learning' to be the key
differentiator for their employment
experience. Around this has been built
a constant messaging that 'Total
Rewards' at Deloitte includes the best
of opportunities for both working and
learning.
One of the visible manifestations of this
Reviews and ongoing research topics.
The lively debate and ideas that have
emerged from this meeting have
provided significant inputs for the
Chapter to form the calendar of
activities for 2008. On this occasion,
the audience gift went to Mr. Umapathy
from Tata Teleservices.
55 |
Chapter News
BANGALORE
Career Management System'workshop:
The full day workshop on 'Career
Management System' was held in Ista Hotel,
Bangalore on 27th October 2007. Dr.Pallab,
CPO of Cambridge took the session, which
was attended by representatives from IT and
Non-IT organizations. The participants found
the
workshop
valuable
through
understanding the entire Career
Management model from concept to
implementation level. Dr.Gopal Mahapatra
and Gopal Gubbi organized the workshop
for NHRD, Bangalore chapter members.
Monthly Evening Lecture Program
October 25, 2007- 6:30 PM @ Hotel
Chancery
Mr Ravi Dasgupta, Head – Group HR,
Biocon Limited made a presentation on HR
Challenges in the Biotech Industry. He
started from the basics like:
HOUSR
NHRD HOSUR CHAPTER organised
Monthly meet - cum - Talk on 11 Nov 2007
at
Ashok
Leyland
Management
Development Centre. Mr. Halasya
Sundaram, the OD consultant and
behaviour trainer spoke on the subject, "Era
of Change and HR role in it". The saying
goes that the only thing permanent in the
world is change. The change is very
omnipresent in the 21st century and how to
cope with the change, more particularly the
HR professional role in the process is
important. Mr. Sundaram's talk was research
based and he brought out significant
differences in people attitudes and
behaviour prevailing today than in olden
times. He emphasised that it would no longer
be possible for HR managers to manage
and develop human resources in traditional
manner. No 'one size fit all' solution or HR
model can be applied in all situations. On
observation by the Chapter President that
the new generation appears to be team
oriented as compared to the older one, he
opined that appears to be the case, but only
for the duration of the Project.
Mr. KS Sridhar of TITAN Industries
introduced the speaker. Mr. R. Rajaram
Chapter VP proposed a vote of thanks.
A meeting of the Chapter executive
committee followed the talk and it was
unanimously decided to appoint Mr. KS
Sridhar as the Chapter secretary. It was also
56 |
decided to hold the chapter annual meet
during last week of Dec 2007. Prof.
Janakiramudu offered that Alliance
Business Academy, Bangalore would host
this meet.
INDORE
Dr. I. C. Gupta, Director of the Prestige
Institute of Management and Research,
Indore has been unanimously elected as
President for Indore Chapter of NHRD on
28th November 2007 evening. On the
occasion, apart from life members, Shri
Ashim Dutta Gupta Asst. Vice President
NHRD Chapter Indore and Dr. N.K. Totla
treasurer of the Indore chapter and Prof. R.
Jangalwa Secretary were present.
In his maiden speech as President Dr. I. C.
Gupta thanked the members and discussed
about the activities and action plan for the
chapter.
MUMBAI
26th October 2007 was an unforgettable
evening for NHRDN, Mumbai Chapter
Members and Non- Members. Dr.
JAMSHED. J. IRANI ( Director on the Board
- Tata Iron and Steel Limited )was invited to
speak for their Monthly Evening Lecture
Meet as a guest speaker.
Dr. Jamshed J. Irani is a renowned
personality in the Indian Industry. He is a
Director on the Board of Tata Steel, besides
being Director on the Boards of several
Corporates. He is a Council Member of the
Indian Institute of Science ( Banglore),
Member of the Advisory Council of Citigroup
India and a Trustee of the World Wild Fund
for Nature - India ( WWF - India ). Dr J. J.
Irani is one of the most respected, almost
revered, Icons of the Indian Industry.
NAGPUR
PEOPLES' STRATEGY FOR CHANGING
BUSINESS SCENARIO
During November month event Nagpur
Chapter has organized a lecture in
association with Ispat Ltd on topic "Peoples
Strategy for Changing business Scenario"
by Mr. Prabhat Dhadiwal, Managing
Director, Consumer Packaging Services (I)
Ltd, a third party Logistics to Hindustan
Lever Limited. Mr. Prakash Dhadiwal was
welcomed by Mr. Manoj Sharma Vice
President HR Ispat Ltd. Mr. Ramesh S Iyer
Addl Gen. Manager (HR) Sunil Hi Tech
welcomed Mr. Yoginder Kumar Sr. Vice
President (Operations) Ispat Industries Ltd.
Prof Rajiv Khaire of Kavi Kulguru Institute
of Technology & Science Ramtek proposed
the vote of thanks.
Mr. Prabhat Dhadiwal who has been
associated with last 17 years with HLL with
an investment of Rs. 2.5 Crore & above and
involved with the business of processing &
packing of detergents & other consumer
products from 20gms sachets to 500 gms
pouch has brought out that in this time of
changing business scenario, organizations
has to transform their Peoples' Strategy.
Women have to be part of the todays'
business.
CARTOON CORNER
And this is the final slide ladies and
gentlemen. Please spell my name,
Sinha, this way, 'S' for Sincere,
'I' for intelligent, 'N' for net savvy, 'H'
for hotshot and 'A' for assertive, whether
or not you have a offer from a job site...
Dr. Irani gave conceptual inputs on the
subject "AFFIRMATIVE ACTION" . He also
shared his experiences on the subject from
TISCO. The session was very enriching,
lively and was a treat for the HR
professionals. The program was attended
by more than 200 HR and Non - HR
Professionals.
Mr. Rajeev Dubey, President of NHRDN,
Mumbai Chapter, introduced the Guest
Speakr and at the concluding session Mrs.
Sujatha Patel, Exec. Committee Member
proposed the Vote of Thanks.
Mr. Prakash Kunte, Executive Committee
Member, coordinated the program.
Col. P Deogirikar, Indore
[email protected]
Citations of Awards by Eastern Region of National HRD Network
Introduction to Awards
Speaking at the Harvard Commencement
earlier this year, Bill Gates remarked that
he had one big regret...
He said, “I left Harvard with no real
awareness of the awful inequities in the
world - the appalling disparities of health,
and wealth, and opportunity that condemn
millions of people to lives of despair.
1 learned a lot at Harvard about new ideas
in economics and politics. 1 got great
exposure to the advances being made in
the sciences.
But humanity’s greatest advances are not
in its discoveries - but in how those
discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.
Whether through democracy, strong public
education, quality health care, or broad
economic opportunity - reducing inequity is
the highest human achievement. I left
campus knowing little about the millions of
young people cheated out of educational
opportunities…
And 1 knew nothing
about the millions of people living in
unspeakable pover ty and disease in
developing countries.”
Extraordinary stories highlight the massive
social change that is taking place around
the world today. Millions of ordinary people
in the non-profit sector are increasingly
stepping in to solve problems which
governments and bureaucracies have failed
to address. What business entrepreneurs
are to the economy, social entrepreneurs
are to social change. They are the driven,
creative individuals who question the status
quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give
up - and remake the world for the better.
Along with business entrepreneurs, policy
makers, investors, academics, and
journalists, social entrepreneurs and their
innovations are inspiring a new generation
of changemakers to create positive social
change. With determination and innovation,
even a single person can make a surprising
difference.
Today, the Eastern Region of the National
HRD Network is proud to honour a few such
extraordinary individuals, who through their
passion, commitment and concern have
creatively impacted the lives of the
dispossessed to build for them a new world
of dignity and economic independence.
Vishal Talreja
Though the number of literate people in
India has increased over the years, our
country still has the largest number of
uneducated children in the world. The
pitiable conditions of child labour and street
children, coupled with child abuse and
poverty, paint a dismal picture. Data shows
that every second child in the country suffers
from malnutrition, and almost 60,000
children are born with HIV each year! Basic
health care is a distant dream for most of
our people. The condition of India's youth
population is no less pitiable. A large number
of the nation's youth do not have the
privilege of making education, career or
lifestyle choices due to lack of finance and
opportunities.
For most of us these are alarming statistics;
troubling perhaps and worrisome maybe.
But for a group of exceptional people these
facts and figures called for fundamental and
far-reaching change. With belief in the power
to transform lives, and the vision to empower
and integrate vulnerable children within
communities, 'Dream a Dream' was born in
November 1999 when Vishal Talreja quit the
comfortable life of an Investment Banker and
chose the road less travelled.
For encouraging children with HIV and
cancer; for integrating disadvantaged
children within communities and enhancing
public awareness around children's needs
and issues; for contributing to the welfare of
the disabled and the elderly; for creating
awareness on . healthcare, human rights
and environment issues; but most of all, for
having the courage to dream big; the
Eastern Region of the National HRD
Network is proud to honour Vishal Talreja,
co-founder and Director of 'Dream a Dream'.
Gargi Baneriee and Sunil Pillai
The phenomenon of dispossession is
neither new nor uncommon. It prevails in
every state, every society and in every
strata. The fortunate view the dispossessed
with compassion and sometimes extend a
helping hand; others choose not to
acknowledge this dark presence.
Only a handful of people have the ability to
take compassion to a far higher plane; marry
it with committed concern, address the state
of dispossession as a solvable problem and
then proceed to deal with the problem
professionally. They are driven not by the
desire for fame or fortune; they are driven
by the finest spirit that humankind can
demonstrate: the spirit of humanity.
The severe deprivation of the indigenous
communities living in the Indian Himalayas,
the fast depleting natural wealth, the eroding
culture and neglected conservation and
development needs gave birth to the vision
of Pragya. By applying modern, technical
and managerial knowledge to development
issues, Pragya stepped into unchartered
areas, not only inspiring the local people to
address these issues, but also drawing the
world's attention to the problems of the
Himalayan region and its peoples. Pragya's
innovative projects include setting. up cooperatives for Himalayan medicinal plants,
providing electricity in remote villages
through the first-ever Solar Wind Hybrid
system, establishing snow reservoirs to
address the crisis of receding glaciers and
establishing rural museums and education
facilities in remote areas.
For forsaking successful corporate careers
to 'Contribute to the concerns of the
dispossessed Himalayan mountain
communities; for adapting management
systems to create effective grassroots
institutions; for literally moving mountains
to show the world how a committed group
of people can revolutionise mindsets and
lifestyles in the remotest of areas; for making
change happen where it is needed the most;
and for demonstrating the most laudable
entrepreneurial spirit, the Eastern Region
of the National HRD Network is proud to
honour Gargi Banerjee and Sunil Pillai of
Pragya.
Sister Cyril Moonev
Possibly the most beautiful of God's
creations; but also the most abused, the
Indian girl child is fated at conception for
infanticide, abandonment or utter neglect.
Only a small
percentage of girl children are welcomed to
a life that cherishes them and empowers
them to achieve their full potential.
It is to this world that Padma Shri Cyril
Mooney, a Sister of the Institute of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto), brings hope
and faith. Picking them up from pavements
or from poverty stricken homes, she gives
them a life of security, warmth and
happiness; restoring childhood into their
dismal lives.
The lady behind this massive mission of
providing education and shelter to countless
girls of Kolkata has effectively used children
as agents of change - thus transforming the
lives of the underprivileged and enriching
the lives of the privileged. The spirit of
empathy that she has instilled in young
students from schools and colleges
motivated
her to to go a step further - to village
outreach programmes and to slums - to
identify' and teach children who do not go
to school.
For her legionary contribution to making
children agents of change; for her creative
Rainbow Educational Programme to create
an education system that is impactful, child
focused, simple and sustainable; for creating
an army of Barefoot Teachers to provide
appropriate education to the deprived; for
her helping hand in attacking Hidden
Domestic Child Labour; for bringing street
children into the security of school buildings
at night; for her Child to Child programme;
and for many other path-breaking measures
across the country that are transforming and
enriching the lives of our underprivileged
children, the Eastern Region of the National
HRD Network is proud to honour Sister Cyril
Mooney.
57 |
11th National Conference News Coverage
58 |
59 |
60 |

Challenge for HR - National HRD Network

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