ISSN-0974-1720
Features
Vol - 24
March 2009
6 ............................ President’s Message
7 .................... Board Meeting Photographs
8 ......................................... Editorial
11 ............................... Monster Article
25 ........ Book Review by Rajesh Walawalkar
45 ............................. Fascinating Facts
47 to 58 ........ Chapter News /Photographs
48 ................ Quiz Corner / Cartoon Corner
Issue - 12
Editor
C. Balaji,
506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24,
Leela Nagar, Ameerpet, Hyderabad - 500 016.
Email - [email protected]
Advertisements
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]
2 ........................................ Sodexho
3 ...................... Global OD Summit at ISB
5 ............................... Academy of HRD
9 .......... 6th Young HR Managers Conference
10 .................................. Monster Jobs
15 ...................................... Alphastar
17 .......................................... Probe
19 ....................................... S-Global
59 ................................... Global Hunt
Design Advisor
A.Thothathri Raman
Consulting Editor, Business India, New Delhi
Mobile: 098112-97249 Email: [email protected]
Column
12 ............. Human Process Re-engineering
Monthly Feature by Global Hunt
16 ............. Trust — The Act of Transparency
Proof Reading
Araman Shahi
Operations Manager, Radiant Consumer Appliances
Mobile: 99512-23782
Email:[email protected]
Humour Review Department (HRD)
Office Administration
V. Mayan
Mobile: 094901-18810 e-mail: [email protected]
Lead Feature
–– Madan Srinivasan
14 ................... Ayaram Gayaram Dalbadlu
–– Col. P. Deogirikar
13 ..... Your 'Time Pass' Through Gloom Times
–– Rajiv Khurana
For Advertising in HRD News Letter
Case Study
Please Contact:
K. Satyanarayana
Executive Director, National HRD Network
Mobile: 94406-65375 Email: [email protected]
46 ............. "Mr. Sridharan, You Are Wanted"
–– R. Dharma Rao
Articles
NHRDN Leadership Team
AQUIL BUSRAI, National President
DWARAKANATH P, Immediate Past President
MADHUKAR SHUKLA, Regional President (East)
GOPALKRISHNA M., Regional President(South)
SATISH PRADHAN, Regional President (West)
RAJAN N S, Regional President (North)
MURTHY P V R DR., National Secretary
ASHOK REDDY B, National Treasurer
SATYANARAYANA K, Executive Director
18 ........ Hiring Freeze - Is it the Most Effective
Strategy?
–– Rashi Dubey
20 .... Right-training and Right-sizing for Survival
–– Sunder Ramachandran & Sangeeta Singh
lives and Anxieties
–– Dr T.H.Chowdary
24 ................ Pink Slip- An Involuntary Exit
–– Padma Satuluri
26 .................... Fighting Attrition in Retail
–– Dr. Pramod Pathak and Dr. Saumya Singh
27 ....... Academic's Roles Matching With HR
Managers
–– Sharad Chandra
28 ... "Resurrecting Organizations in Turbulent
Times: An Adaptive Challenge"
–– Hari Nair
30 ...... Focus on Strategic Cost Management
rather than Short Term Cost Cutting
––Dr. Barnali Chaklader
31 .................. Scent, Sex Appeal & HRD
–– Dr. M M Monippally
32 .......... Diverse Workforce :: Reasons and
Challenges Ahead
–– Dr. (Major) Shishir Baraskar
34 ....... Systems Implementation: Leveraging
Through Human Capital
–– Dr. P R K Raju and Mr. Antu Das
35 .... HR Learning Perspective; The Monkeys
& the Cap Seller Story
–– Prince Vijai. J,
36 ................. One Step Towards Success
–– B V Sandhya Vani
37 ................. Strategy For Effective Time
Management
––Dr. I Narsis
38 ............ Motivation: the key to excellence
–– Sandhya Mehta
40 ............................... Zero to Heroes
–– S. Deenadayalan
43 ........................ Bottom-up Series - 5
–– Girinarayanan G
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| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
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4
A CADEMY OF H UMAN R ESOURCES D EVELOPMENT
Admission opens
FELLOW PROGRAM 2009-12
ASSOCIATE PROGRAMS 2009-10
Interested candidates or their organizations may start submitting applications. Last date is March 15, 2009
The Fellow (Ph.D Level) & Associate (M.Phil Level) Programs in HR &
OD are designed for working executives, management faculty and
consultants. These programs enhance research aptitude and inquiry
mind in areas of HRD and OD. They also update knowledge and
understanding of the concepts & practices in the HRD, OB & OD
areas, which prepare the students for improving and realigning
organizational and human processes.
THREE MAJOR PHASES:
Phase I
- Preparatory Phase (Contact Classes in A’ bad)
Phase II
- Study & Project Assignment Phase
Phase III
- Thesis Phase
NEED FOR THE PROGRAMS
When organizational experiences are systematically researched and
analyzed, they facilitate organizational change processes viz.
restructuring, right-sizing, process improvement, etc.
Internal
research, process analysis, and HRD audit have become essential for
validating and evaluating the effectiveness of HRD policies, systems
and interventions in organizations. Those programs create the
necessary research skills and knowledge for teaching and in-house
research.
THE ACADEMY OF HRD
The Academy of Human Resources Development is India's premier
institution specializing in HRD for all organizational forms. Founded
in 1990 by the National HRD Network (NHRDN), was registered as
a Trust and a Society. Dr. T.V. Rao, Dr. DM Pestonjee and Dr. Udai
Pareek the then Professors of IIM-A gave the leadership. Its
Governing Board, over the years, had been headed by well known
CEOs/academicians - Mr. M.R.R. Nair, Dr. Anji Reddy, Dr. Udai
Pareek and currently Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal. Academy’s activities
consist of running high quality MDPs, Conferences, Seminars and
Conclaves of practitioners, research and publication, collaborative
diploma programs and consultancy.
TITLES AWARDED
After completion of all the requirements of Fellow program &
Associate Program, the student will be awarded the title of ‘Fellow,
Academy of Human Resources Development’ and ‘Associate,
Academy of Human Resources Development’ respectively.
Prospectus cum application form can be obtained by paying Rs. 1000/-.
For more information, visit www.academyofhrd.org or contact
Prof.Hardik Shah - 9275703499, Phone: (079) 29096184/29297325/29086075
E-mail: [email protected],[email protected]
National HRD Network
I am pleased to announce that Mohit Gandhi has accepted the offer to join National HRD Network as
Executive Director. He will be based in Delhi and will join on February 23, 2009. His initial focus would be
to organize programmes and events for the Network and assist Region and Chapter leaders of the Network
in similar efforts undertaken by them. He will report to the National President and will be de facto
member of the Board of National HRD Network.
Mohit, who has an MBA degree, has over 10 years of experience with leading institutions and private
sector companies in the areas of strategic planning, marketing, and corporate communications, with
specialization in the human resource. He has worked with India’s apex industry association - the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - as the Director responsible for Human Resources and Industrial
Relations national committees, and helped build “Brand CII” through his contribution. At CII, Mohit
successfully influenced policy making through effective consensus building among various stakeholders.
After CII, Mohit had a brief stint with Satyam Computer as part of their Global Marketing and
Communications managerial team.
Please join me in welcoming Mohit to the National HRD Network team and wishing him a successful
career with the Network. He can be reached at [email protected].
AQUIL BUSRAI, National President
Mohit Gandhi joins
National HRD Network
as Executive Director
Delhi Chapter Crosses Membership Strength of 2000
Delhi Chapter has crossed the Membership Strength of 2000 and the occasion was celebrated
by Delhi Chapter at Gurgaon on 21st February 2009 in the presence of all the Board Members.
A giant cake was cut to mark the occasion.
We congratulate Delhi Chapter on its spectacular performance and crossing one more
milestone.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
5
President's Message
function to a strategic partner to business.
The moot question is whether HR has
adapted to technological advances sufficient
enough and thereby managed to eke out
extra time that could be spent partnering
with business.
HR function has been a late entrant into the
area of making technology work to its
benefit. Technology can provide HR
professionals scope to dramatically improve
and automate processes and at the same
time, streamline delivery services, besides
reducing cost of such activities. Decision
making process and employee satisfaction
can improve substantially as the workplace
embraces higher level of technology. In
many organisations, HR services delivery
has been adversely impacted due to
ineffective use of technology.
Smarter HR : Deploying Technology to
Deliver Results
David Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank of
Michigan Business School have highlighted
mastery of HR technology as one of the five
competency domains for HR, along with
strategic contribution, personal credibility,
HR delivery and business knowledge.
According to them, HR professionals must
learn to leverage HR technology to "provide
faster services to their internal clients on a
global scale, reduce the costs per
transaction, provide centralised services and
information that will make it easier to
manage and leverage the total workforce,
and spend more time focusing on making
strategic contributions."
Many will recollect the vintage Personnel
Departments where stacks of files and
reams of forms were stock in trade. The
Personnel Officers were busy processing
forms and maintaining records, submitting
one report or the other almost all day long,
intercepted by meeting with union
representatives or few employees then
again going back to those stack of papers.
Senior managers too were doing nothing
very different, except they had Assistants
to get the reports. Personnel Department
was considered a support function by
business leaders who called the
organisational direction. And those in the
erstwhile Personnel department took pride
in calling their function "grease that oiled
the organisation's wheels". One day folded
into another, predominantly doing
transaction work. How times have changed.
HR function today stands out as a major
strategic partner to business and HR
professionals are shaping organisation's
destiny.
As per Forrester Research, HR
professionals spend nearly 50% of time on
administrative activities. Much of this can
be saved with implementation of HR
Management Systems which would
eliminate routine paper work besides
reducing costs by automating basic HR
activities. It would also facilitate better
decision through accurate and timely
reporting and analysis.
But has HR become smarter? Has it
leveraged technology to make a bigger
impact? And have the HR professionals kept
pace with the times and become technology
savvy? And in doing so, have they freed
themselves from service delivery mode and
become partners to business?
Hackett Group study found that highperforming world-class companies operated
with 16% fewer HR staff than the others
mainly by more efficient use of IT. Selfservice technology contributed to higher
levels of efficiency and productivity and
simultaneous reduction in costs. The study
also established that HR leaders in these
companies had a deep understanding of
technology and made a strong effort to
derive as much value as possible from the
technologies they had deployed.
HR service delivery will continue to assume
a greater importance as businesses combat
challenges of spiraling cost, demands of
global workforce and processes, need for
instant and round the clock information,
flexible and changing organisational
boundaries and of course rising customer
expectations.
One area in which technology has made
quick stride is Recruitment. According to a
recent study, three out of five job seekers
use the Internet for job hunting. 88% of job
seekers read help-wanted advertisement
posted on line, 61% of them have submitted
their resume or applied on line, 42% use on
line job boards to post their resumes. Over
Transaction work or, as it is now esoterically
called, service delivery component, still
continues to remain as critical component
of HR function and it would be mistake to
ignore it as such even though many HR
professionals are striving to evolve their
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
6
90% of job seekers view an organisation's
website to obtain information and post
resumes. Similarly organisations too are
using the Internet in new and creative ways
to attract the talent they need. They are also
using on line application and assessment
tests and reducing hiring cycle time.
Use of Second-Life concept to onboard new
employees and inducting them into
company culture has received favourable
response from tech-savvy generation.
Besides using technology for basic activities
like disseminating information on company
policy, benefit enrollment; organisations are
now using it extensively for talent
Management, skill development, self paced
learning and simulations. It has made
significant
stride
in
improving
communication with employees through
simple yet highly effective techniques like
e-notice boards, interactive chat forums,
sharenets, virtual town hall meetings etc.
Even use of Podcast as means of
disseminating knowledge or information is
fast gaining popularity for its simplicity and
acceptance by younger generation.
Technology is being leveraged to build
employees' skills though 'Touch Point' calls,
or short e-meetings which enables
employees to discuss business and
technical topics with experts in a small group
setting. Use of 'Mail Cast', a five-minute,
flash based tutorials is a creative way of
spreading knowledge, convey policies and
processes and also provide an interactive
learning platform, it provides good pointers
in those few minutes.
Despite current economic challenges,
progressive organisations are continuing to
invest and find value in HR technology
systems. According to a Towers Perrin's
study of HR service delivery and technology,
close to a third of the respondents have
increased their investment in HR-related
technologies, and 55% are maintaining their
technology budgets at 2007 levels. For
organisations to sustain or even increase
their HR-related technology spend in a year
of such economic uncertainty and costcutting is a testament to the importance
companies are placing on managing their
talent and having the right systems and
capabilities in place to do that well.
The human resources function in its journey
of evolution is migrating from an isolated
back office and occasionally bureaucratic
function to one that is viewed as a
competitive
advantage
helping
organisations achieve strategic business
objectives. A little help from technology is
going a long way …
Aquil Busrai
National President
Board Members reciting code of conduct
Dr. Santrupt Mishra and Mr. Aquil Busrai
Mr. N S Rajan, Regional President North, underlying the
importance of media exposure
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
7
Editorial
Dear Fellow Professionals
24 years and have found it useful.
We thank each one of them for
keeping the Newsletter alive.
Hundreds have commented and
made valuable suggestions. We
sincerely thank them for their
commitment to the Newsletter. A
large number of organisations and
people have supported the
Newsletter in the form of
advertisements, news items,
publication and so on. Our deepfelt thanks to all of them.
With this issue, the HRD Newsletter
completes 24 years of being a
platform for learning from one
another. We will sprint to the Silver
Jubilee year from the next issue.
We have come a long way from the
humble beginnings in XLRI. Prof TV
Rao, Rev Fr Abraham, Mr Baburaj
Nair and a whole lot of others were
passionately involved with the
Newsletter in the beginning years.
We salute all the people who
thought of the Newsletter and put
their hearts and souls during those
days. They are the pioneers, and
they laid the solid foundation for the
Newsletter to sustain and grow. We
have had hundreds of people
sharing or wanting to share through
the Newsletter. We thank everyone
of them. Thousands of people have
read the Newsletter during the past
During the next year, we will carry
select articles from the previous
issues that can bring back old
memories. Over time, old gets
forgotten, though it is quite relevant.
This attempt will bring the relevant
articles back into focus.
who have been associated with the
Newsletter in the past. This gives
us an opportunity to 'listen' to what
they have to say, and get us
connected to these veterans.
Please see also the announcement
by the publisher on page 51 related
to silver Jubilee year.
Here's being committed to the next
12 issues being collector's items.
We will also carry views of
contributors, readers, and others
- C Balaji
NHRDN Veteran Chandra is now
ICF certified Executive Coach
Dr. Sripada Chandrasekhar -life member, longtime associate and invitee to the Board of
National HRD Network ( Head of HR for Capgemini India) has added another feather to his
professional cap.
Chandra- as he is popularly known among NHRDN members- has been recently accredited
by the world renowned apex professional body in the field of Coaching -International Coach
Federation(ICF) - as Associate Certified Coach(ACC).
We understand that he is the first career HR manager in India to be certified by this prestigious body
Dr Chandrasekhar-over last 18 months pursued the required course work, practiced hours of Coaching and after
independent assessment by qualified and accredited master coaches of ICF, received this coveted accreditation.
Asked about this achievement, Chandra( with his usual modesty ) said: 'it gives me satisfaction that I am able to
continuously learn new skills and keep myself relevant". Coaching, he said ,needs be fully understood and professionally
practiced in India so that we can help the next generation of Leaders and Executives leap frog their capabilities.
Coaching he said is not giving advice and telling people what to do. It is a helping process that enables people
discover their true and full potential.
Asked if he intends to take to full time professional practice of Executive Coaching, Chandra said that has to wait a
few more years.
Meanwhile those interested in Coaching may write to him at [email protected]
NHRDN wishes Chandra continued success and happy Coaching .
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
8
Contributed By: Sunil Goel,
re
tu t
a
e un
yF H
hl bal
t
n o
Mo y Gl
b
Human Process
Re-engineering
process improvement is usually a grassroots bottom-up approach. Where a single
process reengineering project sweeps
broadly across many functions or the whole
organization, process improvement efforts
are often within single teams or a few
functions. While process reengineering
drives behavior change through structural
change, process improvement does it
through training and shifting "the culture"
(the way we do things around here). And
where process reengineering throws
everything out and starts fresh, process
improvement tries to analyze and
standardize (get everyone consistently
using the agreed upon procedures and
make the process reliable) and improve
upon the existing process.
H
uman Process Re-engineering is a
strategy that can improve the way your
organization delivers robust HR services
and increase employee satisfaction.
What does it mean to re-engineer? In the
tradition of Michael Hammer and James
Champy, authors of Reengineering the
Corporation, Kaufman defines reengineering as "a radical redesigning of
business processes. 'Radical' and
'Business' are the operative words."
Process Improvement
to recruitment. The recruitment process
does not stop once a person is interviewed
and offered a job.
Recruitment must be thought of as a 24hour, seven-day-a-week job. It is no longer
the exclusive responsibility of human
There
are
many
widespread
resources departments. Internal, as well as
misconceptions about the nature of HR
external, recruitment is everyone's job. Not
process re-engineering.
only must we find better matches between
new hires and flattened, downsized
1. HR process re-engineering is not downorganizations; as managers, we must retain
sizing
the best that remains. That task involves
finding and keeping the best employees 2. HR process re-engineering eliminates
irrespective of their sex or ethnic
work, not jobs;
background. In a decade in which
3. HR process re-engineering isNeed
notfor Change
employee involvement is so essential to
"restructuring" - moving boxes around
continuous improvement, it is likely that
an organizational chart;
finding and keeping quality employees will
become increasingly important.
4. HR process re-engineering is not
Process improvement is at the opposite end
of the process management continuum to
reengineering. Where reengineering seeks
radical change through designing whole
new processes (revolutionary), process
improvement looks for incremental, stepby-step, continuous improvements to
existing processes (evolutionary). While
reengineering is implemented top-down,
What HR Process Re-Engineering Is Not
automation;
5. HR process re-engineering is not reengineering a department but rather a
process in an organization.
Reengineering employee recruitment:
retain the best that remains
In this age of greater employee involvement
and fewer employees in a firm's work force,
it is essential for businesses to find and
keep the best people available. To
accomplish this requires a fresh approach
Conclusion:
Human Process Re-engineering is no doubt
a tool or mechanism for the entire HR
department to co-relate with the
organization. It shows a structural path with
synchronized approach towards the
objective and vision of an organization as
a whole. GlobalHunt says that this process
would cut short the unwanted task and
function therefore it certainly speeds up the
entire business process with top most
accuracy.
Mail us at: [email protected], Visit us at:www.globalhunt.in
WORLD FEDERALISM
Contributed by Uthej Kunamneni,
from Dallas, Taxas, USA
The answer to all our problems is a single global government, often referred to as World Federalism. It is a school of thought
advocating the merger of all sovereign states into a single integrated union. All nations must transfer their loyalty to a supernational authority to dismantle the anarchical system of competitive territorial states that produce war. Federalists believe that
people are good, wise and enlightened and that a world government is the answer. We all know peace is better than war. All the
people in the world share the same atmosphere and the same oceans. We must all speak with one voice about climate, about
water, and about poverty. We are one people on one world. You do not see any boundaries from space. We see people every where killing each
other over some imaginary line that we are even unable to see. The earth is whole. We need a government that can hear all of us. Star Trek, the
science fiction visualizes not only such a world government by 2120 but even visualizes the United Federation of Planets...
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
12
ad
Le
e
ur
at
e
F
Your 'Time Pass'
Through Gloom Times
– Rajiv Khurana, CMC, FIMC
A
man was going
into the jungle.
His friend enquired,
"You are going alone
and un-armed, what
will you do if you
meet the Lion?" The man replied, "What can
I do? Whatever shall be done shall be done
by the Lion." Bad times are like that only.
Doom times and Gloom times keep coming
and moving out. Their passage is, however,
quite difficult. In Doom and Gloom times you
have no options. The Lion has.
So what should you, as a thorough bred
professional do if your job accidentally
moves through the tough patches of gloom
times? Here are some not so serious
prescriptions: -
1. Make the not-working network work:
Feel comfortable. You
are not alone. There are
hundreds,
nay,
thousands like you.
Create your own
chapter of ITPA - Indian
Time Pass Association.
Your personal membership could be
temporary but there are millions of others
who have mastered the art of perpetual time
pass. You can add some value to ITPA by
introducing some of the tried and tested
office techniques of time wasting during
peak pressure times.
2. Prove that you are a concerned
parent: It's high time to
brush up your math and
science lessons. Mug up
for the whole year. Your
child will start scolding
you less for making
'homework mistakes'.
The
grade
improvements of your
child can bring in some
family celebrations. You can also use this
gloom time to provide the quality time in
quantity to your children. Bring out the child
in you. You may easily score boundaries if
your young child is bowling. This is a good
recipe' to temporary forget the hostile
bouncers on the corporate pitches.
3. Be futuristic: The excuses
you have been using so far are
quite old and stale. Why not
create some brand new ones.
The bloom times and the boom
times will come sooner or later.
These new excuses can do
wonders for you. Keep this as
one of the conference topics in your next
ITPA convention.
4. Mouse over the
www: No, No, No. Not for
one more experimentation
with dot com. This time for
serious learning. People
like you would be hovering
around the chat rooms. Broaden your global
mindset. Cry on each other's web shoulders.
The tears will expand linkages and provide
the FR [foreign returned] peace of mind.
5. Learn from BinBush: Corporate wars
are similar to real wars.
Just the tools are
different. Decide which
side you are. Simulate
the maneuvers of Bin
Laden. This can help you learn to remain
elusive in the corporate bureaucracy - if ever
in future the Bush like corporate tries to give
you the bombarding signal.
6. Get a slimmer
look: Thin is in. Even
though you have
stopped looking in the
mirror after those unending
corporate
lunches/dinners or
eating the high on
calories high on price so called home like
food served in the star hotels; its time to
dust-off those sneakers and step out to burn
the vast reservoir of un-utilized dormant
energy around your waist. If you want others
to do it for you, this can immediately make
the slimming centers rush
on to the booming path of
recovery.
7. Scan the library: The
air-conditioning in some
libraries is pretty good.
Many people sit there to be seen. Make your
presence felt too. Go through the best-seller
titles of the last five years. Read the preface.
Read the index too. This should be sufficient
to flaunt your label of being a well-read
professional. Don't forget to remember the
names of the authors. The trick is not
knowing what is written but knowing who
has written where.
8. Visit God Men: Gloom
times can be very trying and
testing. Try spirituality. Take the
latest mantra from the holy-godmen. These days they take
extra care on building the
surroundings. The scent of the
people and the place is quite
absorbing. Get inspired by the
pop-Moksha capsule or sit down to work out
your own strategy of getting initiated into
this never failing business enterprise. The
service attachments can be many, if you
can't find a toe-hole for yourself in the main
stream. [Excuse me GOD. Please keep
yourself out of it].
9. Do nothing: Why are
you so hyper. For millions in
India, the gloom time has
always been there. They
have mainly done only one
thing - nothing. Time passes.
This too shall pass. Why bother. Just wait
for the time to pass.
10. Do what I do: If every thing else fails,
get on with the past times
of pseudo-intellectuals
like me. Start writing. It
will give you great
feelings. Write a memoir.
Write about your tryst
with destiny, your
freedom
at
midafternoon, your pride and
prejudice or else about
anything. Don't worry if
readers don't read you. Just write. This is
the best way to build your image. Don't
become money minded. Learn to over look
the peanuts that the newspapers will give
you. Keep the words of Oscar Wilde in mind,
"Writing is the only profession, where no
body ridicules you for not earning."
Mr. Rajiv Khurana is a Delhi based International Mgt. Trainer, Certified Mgt. Consultant, Author, Columnist, Executive & Career
Coach. He can be reached at [email protected].
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
13
Ayaram Gayaram Dalbadlu
– Col. P Deogirikar
The other day I was discussing my retirement when a friend mentioned, "It is really
good to be a politician; there is no question of retirement!" And, while reading the
newspaper that day, I learnt that a major political party was conducting management
sessions for their ministers. These two things induced a chain of thoughts. 'Would
there be a management system in a political party'? 'How do they go for recruitment'?
'Are there any HR systems'? etc. And some interesting possibilities came up. For
starters, the CV of a 'typical' politician should interest you.
Name - Aya Ram Dalbadlu
kindergarten when the teacher punished
me (she made me stand in a corner)
merely because I had not done the home
work. I protested and boycotted the
classes. I have never climbed the school
stairs since then, except those numerous
occasions when I was the chief guest for
school and college functions.
Father's Name - Gaya Ram Dalbadlu
Place - I have no place-loyalty. I belong
to the place from where a parliament ticket
is available.
Objective - To ensure uninterrupted
'power' by continuously occupying
increasingly 'bigger' chairs.
I was conferred with an honorary D Lit last
year for the services rendered to the
society.
Family Background - Our three
generations have been serving the nation.
Grandfather was a freedom fighter and
father a Central Minister. I am the third
generation. Those who know me well call
me a 'freedom fighter' as well, but behind
my back, I wonder why!
Language - Money. That is the language
best known to me. Can read, write, drink,
eat, speak, listen, dream, smell this
language 24x7.
Reference - National VPs of ABC, XYZ,
MNO, PQR parties. They would vouch
very strongly for my honesty, loyalty and
integrity.
All my siblings are in different national
political parties. There has not been a
single day in last 30 years when one of
us has not been in power.
Achievements - I have changed parties
13 times in last 7 years and have
managed to get minister ship 11 times off
this. This percentage (85) of conversion
happens to be a national record.
Most of the 'bhais' in metros and other
important towns would say a good word
to support me.
86 court cases, out of which 32 are
criminal, are pending against me for a
number of years. Despite of such 'active'
career, I am yet to be convicted once.
Strengths - Can speak on a variety of
subjects of national or international
importance for hours together without
having any knowledge about it. Excellent
with 'caste' mathematics and 'voter'
chemistry. Specialty in conspiring riots
and bundhs.
A strong, very well 'trained' fan club.
Weaknesses - None. Many political
parties and media are working very hard
for so many years to find some.
Experience - 19 years hands on, in all
major political parties. Acquainted with the
cultures of all national parties.
Responsibilities - To keep chairs intact
while in power and to topple chairs while
in opposition.
Salary expected - I should be allowed
direct negotiations with property dealers,
contractors, bhais etc.
To the best of my manipulation, the above
information is correct. For any more
details required, my fan clubs are available
in all major towns.
- Aya Ram Dalbadlu
Probable date of joining - With in 2 hours
of defecting from the other party.
Qualifications - I feel values and
convictions are more important than mere
qualifications. I was in the lower
Most challenging period of my career?
Well, for whole 23 days, I was not in any
ministry and that was the most
demanding period...
Col. P Deogirikar is General Manager with Ruchi Group, Indore. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
14
Trust — The Act of
Transparency
n
m
lu
o
C
– Madan Srinivasan
T
‘Transparency’ is a physical attribute of a
material thing that can transmit light rays
so that the objects on the other side may
be distinctly seen. For an organism like an
organization, it means easily understood
and recognized, without guile or
concealment; open; frank; candid. It means
an open and frank way of communication
that builds lasting bonds between the
managers and employees. It means
moving from opaque to translucent to
transparent employee communications.
he last of the tri-series on Trust takes
on the lens of trust as the Act of
Transparency. It looks at what
organizations and HR can do to increase
trust during these uncertain times. To
quickly recap my last two columns, the first
one focused on how we as individuals need
to delve deep within ourselves and learn
to trust ourselves by the Act of Letting Go;
the second one was about the role trust
plays in building strong and lasting human
relationships through Caring and
Collaboration.
more optimistic future, grounded on
realism rather than empty hope. Then,
the vision should be communicated to
its employees in a transparent
manner. This would include
articulating the role of the employees
in the vision and change efforts.
2.
Consider the employees as equal
partners - as someone who are cotravelers with you in this arduous
journey. Ideas should be sought from
them; tough choices and decisions
taken by the organization should be
communicated to them. HR processes
like variable bonus plans, goal setting,
etc requires a review. Personal biases
should be kept in bay. The unique
strengths should be leveraged to the hilt.
The option of down sizing should be
considered only as the last option, not
the first. Even when downsizing seems
inevitable, the whole exercise should be
managed with care and empathy and
include provision of services like
outplacements, counseling, etc.
3.
Provide an enabling work environment,
so that the employees continue to be
inspired by the vision and do not drop
out. When senior members in the
organization lead these conversations
with employees, it creates more impact,
not only because they are closer to the
pulse of the organization; they are also
seen as fair and transparent by the
employees even during these tough
times.
History and literature are replete with
heroes undertaking difficult passages —
Achilles in the Odyssey, Fredo in the Lord
of Rings, Rama. They have at least three
things in common:
Let’s revisit the etymology of Trust assured reliance on the character, ability,
strength, or truth of someone or something
or dependence on something future or
contingent — in the context of what
organizations are experiencing today.
When one does not know how much the
Sensex will plummet to, or which
organization is downsizing its operations,
or suddenly find their life savings worth little
more than the paper they are printed on, it
means the intensity of uncertainty we are
facing today has grown in magnitude. If
there’s little out there that one can truly rely
on, does it mean that trust is slowly losing
its relevance in today’s world?
1.
The die-hard optimist — God bless him! —
would say, ‘Of course not, for there’s not
only a silver lining for every dark cloud, but
the cloud itself is a rain cloud and hence
most welcome.’ We’ll agree with him in
spirit. The rest of the article discusses how
organizations can instill a strong sense of
trust among their employees by an inspired
leadership style - the Act of Transparency.
‘Job security’, which never featured high
in the list of things a prospective candidate
looked for in an organization, is suddenly
being looked at in a different light. More
than any other period in recent times,
employees today want to be reassured of
their company’s commitment to their long
term career development, and the stability
of their jobs. They’d like to be more aware
of the specific actions and decisions
organizations are taking to tide over the
current global economic crisis. In other
words, they’d like their organizations to be
more transparent than they were before.
They had a compelling vision that
they communicated to others
strongly and never lost sight of,
despite
facing
formidable
challenges. Achilles’ objective was
total defeat of the Trojans; for Fredo, it
was the protection of the world and all
he loved from the Dark One; for Rama,
it was the rescue of his wife from the
clutches of a powerful demon king.
2.
They did not win it alone. Achilles
was supported by the Greek army,
Fredo by his fellow Hobbits, Rama by
the Vanara Sena and several others.
In all cases, it was the collective
strength that resulted in victory.
3.
Stand by your conviction through
thick and thin. All the three faced
insurmountable obstacles along the
way, but they persevered right till the
end.
The Act of Transparency in employee
communications means having at least
the above qualities:
1.
In the light of the downturn, the
organization should redefine its
strategic business & people priorities
so as to improve revenue streams and/
or reduce costs. It should then
translate it into an aspirational vision
for the short term and long term, by
when the economic crisis would
hopefully be over. This would paint a
A possible happy consequence is that the
key talent will decide to stay with the
organization and hence their creative
energies and execution skills can be
harnessed towards achieving the vision.
Also importantly, if they are happy
employees, their happiness would rub on
their families, co-workers, etc, which would
in turn mitigate the negative sentiments
prevailing at the workplace today.
In conclusion, Trust —the Act of Letting Go,
Caring
and
Collaborating
and
Transparency — may be our best bet yet
that would help us emerge as winners in
the long run!
Mr. Madan Srinivasan works with HCL Technologies and can be reached at: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
16
Hiring Freeze - Is it the Most
Effective Strategy?
– Rashi Dubey
H
and in turn affecting the organizational
brand adversely. So at what price are you
ready to contain costs? Have you given
enough thought to the various long term
consequences that the organization might
have to face in the future?
ow often do you read - "Cisco India
implements
hiring
freeze",
"Recruitment activities put on hold in
Google", "Hiring freeze policy at Apollo
tyres" or "Patni, Fidelity, 24/7 Customer
freeze recruiting budgets" . But why such
hiring freezes and dramatic recruitment
budget cuts? Is this the only way out during
economy slowdown? Will cutting jobs or
keeping recruitment on hold solve the
business problems? Or on the contrary, will
it prove to be a handicap in company's
growth?
In fact, it is during such times that the
amount and quality of available talent is
greater. If an organization is not recruiting,
it is missing on some exceptional talent.
Apart from this, 'hiring freeze' sends a
wrong message to customers, analysts,
suppliers and people at large that the
company is in trouble which may affect the
stock prices as well.
This is certainly not first or the last
recessionary cycle. The period of high and
low growth, which are referred as economic
cycles are more of a rule rather than an
exception. These cycles tend to occur every
three to six years and last for 6-18 months.
This is one such temporary phase.
So how should businesses manage a
strategic function of the organization in
such trying times so as to achieve a
competitive edge? Some of these are:
Welch-Way
Undoubtedly, times are tough but then
Indian economy is not sustained by exports
alone, there is a huge domestic demand
as well. The large foreign exchange
reserves, high savings rate and a reservoir
of management and entrepreneurial skills
are some of India's strong economic
fundamentals that insulate her from the
global financial meltdown.
There is certainly a case for 20-70-10 rule
given by Jack Welch. This is the right time
of weeding out non-performers by
differentiating employees into various
performance categories of the top 20%,
middle 70%, bottom 10% and filling the
vacant positions with competent and skilled
employees. Cutting jobs to reduce cost and
hiring freeze to contain costs are not the
most appropriate measures as this will not
only put unnecessary pressure on the
existing staff leading to losing out on your
organizational talent/asset but also impact
the brand of the organization when
economy returns to normal. Thus, rightsizing workforce is the way to go.
There's definitely enough merit for
companies to see an opportunity in such
times and gear up to reap greater benefits
when tough gets going. This could be
possible only when there is a right kind of
workforce or exceptional talent available
within the organization. Perhaps resource
freeze could be the easiest solution during
global financial crisis but certainly not the
most appropriate business strategy. More
so for large business establishments
because when there is a hiring freeze
across the board, organizations' growth
gets impacted as some business units
showing a high growth trend, generating
enough revenue have to face the brunt due
to lack of talent availability.
The Road Less Travelled
Times are different so think differently, get
innovative and work out ways to widening
the sourcing pool and minimizing
recruitment costs at the same time.
Simplest of it could be emphasis on
sourcing through referrals and modifying
organizational referral reward policies. For
instance, instead of paying them bonus or
cash prize, make the rewards more
aspirational like dinner with CEO,
organization-wide recognition during
annual award ceremony, providing with
developmental opportunities by sponsoring
them for some professional course or skill
Not only this but there is an adverse impact
on company's repute as well. When the
recruitment budgets are cut drastically, it
leads to understaffing of employees making
the existent staff work longer hours further
impacting the quality of products/services
building workshop which in turn proves
beneficial to the organization as well or a 5
day paid leave.
Since, the number and quality of workforce
available in the market will be high due to
lay-offs by competitive organizations, it'll
be good to look for some such laid off, but
exceptional talent or spotting the ones who
survived the restructuring but their loyalty
towards the organization is at an all time
low. The other ways of increasing the pool
of available candidates could be connecting
with ex-employees and exploring
possibilities of sourcing them or getting
further leads or even sourcing talent
through social networking sites, industry
specific blogs or discussion forums.
Other low cost approaches to contain
recruitment cost could also be hiring
contract/temporary staff to minimize
permanent liabilities. Efficient use of interns
can also prove beneficial. Make interns
accountable for deliverables and give them
work best suited to their competence and
capability.
Tough times require tough measures
Make recruitment policies more stringent
with various levels of ratifications at each
stage. Limit the hiring freeze to preidentified non-key positions only, else
continually add employees in business
units which are experiencing growth and
innovations and release the ones which are
not performing to the organizations'
standards.
Maximize the high-touch, high values-add
functions performed by the internal
recruitment staff and outsource the rest.
This would help in reducing expenses and
retaining core-recruiting staff without
overloading them with increased work.
Also, work out recruitment metrics to
determine the impact of hiring freeze on
organizational cost. This will further help
the organization in deciding the future
course of action.
Concluding Thoughts
Think different and be strategic in your
approach by making sure that you are able
to transform the challenges to the best of
opportunities, else you will always be busy
catching up with your competitors!
Ms. Rashi Dubey is Training & OD Consultant with Talking Heads, Bangalore. E-Mail: [email protected];[email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
18
Right-training and
Right-sizing for Survival
– Sunder Ramachandran & Sangeeta Singh
A
n excellent way to determine the state
of the job market is to count the number
of pages of leading job supplements every
week. More pages mean more work
opportunities and that only translates to a
growing economic climate. But these days,
the reverse is true. Diminishing jobs and
retrenchments, businesses packing up and
the downfall of formidable companies is only
creating more uncertainty and fear in the
country. This, in turn, affects the productivity
and morale of the employee.
Alok Mittal, Managing Director of the VC firm
Canaan Partners feels that "Even in a
downturn scenario, it is important to keep
training going. Apart from its ongoing value
to the business, it is also a strong signal to
the organization that talent development
remains a key agenda. The first step is to
figure out which pieces of training are
optional and which need to be retained.
Second, training needs to be made more
cost efficient - this may involve using more
in-house trainers, reducing off-site trainings
in favor of at-company, and increasing on
the job mentoring. Employees are often
themselves the best source of innovation in
making training more efficient, and it is
useful to solicit their suggestions when
looking to rationalize costs on this front".
This year's World Economic Forum at Davos
was dominated by two important issues- the
dying global economy and business ethics.
The time has come for organizations to think
about the long term benefits of training. This
time is crucial for organizations to invest in
training interventions that will boost
employee morale, administer optimism,
focus on collaboration and develop deep
empathy for each other. This is also the time
to coach leaders on the importance of
honesty and integrity, train leaders to
empower their teams, prepare leaders to
face any eventuality and develop leaders to
work in unity. For this is the time for the
leaders to tell their teams "We will not only
get through this together, but we will shine
together". Imagine how successful an
organization can be where each and every
employee lives by the values of partnership
and collaboration, where there is harmony
and security in every cubicle of the office,
where everyone stands united, lives by and
believes in the importance of ethics and is
enthusiastic to achieve every target that is
placed before them, where everyone trusts
the guidance and direction of their captains
and finally, commits to sincere and hard
work. Imagine a workplace where people
want to stay instead of paying them to
stay…imagine the affect of all this on the
bottom line. The key question that most
leaders are asking is training & development
interventions takes time and money - two
resources that are in short supply at the
It is not new that whenever there is a budget
crunch or as we are experiencing now, a
slowdown, one of the first things we see
happening is training cuts in organisations.
Big mistake for this is the time when all
employees need to sharpen skills, learn to
do more with less, get creative and continue
to commit to sustain the organization. Most
professionals echo that "When the going
was good the company pampered them and
did everything to retain them. Now that the
economy is slow, they want to throw us out.
Isn't that really unfair?"
Why should employees be considered as
disposable commodities when the profit
margins start to diminish? Why are they
considered indispensable and given high
retention bonuses when the organization is
flourishing? Are businesses only concerned
with the bottom line? What happened to
business ethics and a loyal workforce? Were
the Team Building and Behavioral Training
programmes only delivered to employees
for short term gains? What happened to the
nice looking values and mission statements
of companies at their plush receptions?
These are some of the few questions that
most employees are asking currently.
Now is the time to ask some simple
questions like "If the economy was to
stabilize tomorrow, how would I want my
organization to look like? What kind of
values will I want my workforce to live
by?"
Now, more than ever, is the time for
organizations to dive deep into the
ethics of business and review the
importance of human assets and
evolution.
Now is the time for organizations to get
their house in order and focus on
retaining and hiring the right talent.
Now is the time to get employees to
work together and feel a sense of
belonging to the organization.
moment. How do we incorporate a training
strategy in the current economic scenario?
This challenge can be overcome with a little
creativity. Here are some ideas to make this
happen.
Consider informal learning - Often, the most
valuable
learning
takes
place
serendipitously, by random chance. Most
companies, however, focus only on formal
learning programs, losing valuable
opportunities and outcomes. Keeping in
mind, the ever increasing need to ensure
optimum utilization of both time and money,
some organizations are promoting the
culture of informal learning. Informal learning
includes job shadowing, Sharing best
practices, peer to peer learning, mentoring,
stretch assignments and cross team
projects. Here are some ways to initiate this:
Ask for employees to share informally
gathered knowledge with peers in a
formal way.
Support informal communities of
practice. Create others where you see
there are gaps.
Look at what your meetings really offer
from an informal learning perspective.
Find more opportunities for accidental
learning and make it a topic of
conversation.
Regularly share your best informal
learning moments and resources with
your teams.
Structure all these activities by putting them
on a common platform i.e. a corporate blog
or intranet. "The economic situation offers
companies an opportunity to redraw
contours of training towards a more
inclusive, collaborative and participative
model which has employees as key
stakeholders right from conceptualisation to
delivery of training programs" says Kapil
Murdia, Knowledge Management Executive
with an Executive Search firm in Gurgaon.
Meet & Greet
Something as simple as Meet & Greet where
executives of the organization can share a
specific area of expertise with employees
over coffee/tea break is a method of
education.
Lunch & Learn
A forum where employees bring their own
lunch. Time frame could be extended by ½
hour to cover a specific training topic. It is
possible to break down a complete training
Sunder Ramachandran is a Managing Partner and Sangeeta Singh is a Senior Consultant with WCH Training Solutions, New Delhi.
E-Mails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
20
course into manageable chunks to cover off
during lunch periods. Organizations must be
careful though...as that break away is
necessary and so this should not be daily.
This must be communicated as a voluntary
training opportunity and evaluated to
determine impact both on the organization
and its employees.
Jo Verde, Senior Director with Jemm
Consultants,
Canada
feels
that
"Organizations should at all times be looking
at their training strategy and plan but
perhaps redesign of appropriate training into
self paced modules with online testing for
knowledge and performance change.
Another thought is perhaps organizations
might choose to use attendance at a desired
external training course as recognition for
top performers in an organization. This
person could then come back into the
organization and share the knowledge with
others. I have for a long time been a believer
that an excellent test of training
effectiveness from a knowledge standpoint
may be measured by an individual's ability
to train others. Organizations may be
missing out on a tremendous opportunity
here which hits, reduced cost, motivation,
recognition, commitment, skills development
and so on"
Using Web 2.0 & Electronic Learning
conventional phone or mobile systems.
Learning through digital connections and
peer collaboration can be significantly
enhanced by web technologies where
Users/learners are empowered to search,
create, and collaborate in order to learn new
information.
One way many companies have realized
significant training cost savings is through
online learning. Electronic learning accounts
for a smaller part of training today, but that
is changing. Many experts size the online
learning market growth from $2.2 billion to
well over $15 billion. Whether you are talking
Synchronous or Asynchronous online
training, the challenge is to engage the
learner in a style that fits his/her learning
preference. Obviously there are types of
training which lend themselves to online and
others that are better suited to leader led
for any number of reasons. The key is to be
able to plan and implement a training
strategy which incorporates the needs of the
business and cost related issues as well as
the needs of the learners, training
preferences, topics/training objectives etc.
Leveraging the collaborative power of
technology, the need is to leapfrog from
"classroom" to 'web-room", from training to
"mentoring" and 'peer learning' and from
"trainer" to "facilitator". This can be a winwin as not only it enables organisations to
accomplish 'more" by committing less
resources, it also keeps employees involved.
There are several - webinar, podcast,
videoconferencing, learning blogs, or even
"In my experience, unfortunately what I see
is the pendulum swinging all one way or all
the other. The best organizational training
strategy and plan uses a variety of
methodologies from online, to lead led, to
self paced, to tutorials, to lectures, to study
groups and so on. They measure ROI and
learner feedback and are serious about
adjusting their training continually, making
sure that results fit the corporate strategy
and goals and they manage training like
every other area of the business" says Jo
Verde of Jemm Consultants.
A successful general knows that only way
to win a war is to keep "morale of the
soldiers" high by involving them, challenging
them and developing them. The economic
slowdown is triggering right sizing in many
organisations, however it will be in their best
interest if they also look at right training as
a survival strategy.
Statement about Ownership and other particulars about HRD Newsletter, as
required under Rules 8 of the Registration of Newspapers (Central) Rules 1956.
1. Place of Publication : Hyderabad
2. Periodicity of its Publication: Monthly
3. Printer’s Name : K Satyanarayana
Nationality : Indian
Address: 506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24, Leela Nagar,
Ameerpet, Hyderabad — 500 016
4. Publisher’s Name: K Satyanarayana
Nationality: Indian
Address: 506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24, Leela Nagar,
Ameerpet, Hyderabad — 500 016
5. Editor’s Name : Prof C Balaji
Nationality : Indian
Address : 506, Sai Siri Sampada, 7-1-29/23 & 24, Leela Nagar,
Ameerpet, Hyderabad — 500 016
6. Name and Address of Individuals who own the Newspapers and
partners or Shareholders holding more than one percent of the
total capital: National HRD Network registered under the
Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 (Regn No. GUJ/1236/A’bad
dated 6th December 1986) and Bombay Public Trust Act 1950
(Regn No. AR/1175/Ahmedabad dated 6th December 1986)
I, K Satyanarayana, hereby declare that the particulars given above
are true to the best of my knowledge and belief
Sd/K Satyanarayana
Signature of Publisher.
Date:February 18, 2009
Gwalior HRM Summit News
ABV-IIITM, Gwalior in collaboration with Agra Chapter of National HRD Network hosted the first HRM Summit on January 24-25, 2009,
in IIITM, Gwalior with the tagline "Talent Acquisition & Talent Management Trends in Knowledge Economy".
The Program Committee included Prof S.G Deshmukh , Director, ABV-IIITM (Patron), Dr.Santossh Rangnekar and Dr. Manoj Patwardhan
as Coordinators and Mr. Jai Prakash Sharma as secretary.
The summit attracted a galaxy of eminent professionals which included Mr. Aquil Busrai, HR Executive Director HR, IBM & National
President, National HRD Network; Dr. Upinder Dhar, National President, ISTD & Director, Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad;
Dr Sharu Rangnekar, Guru of Indian management; Mr. C.S. Raju, General Manager (HR), Maruti Suzuki; K.K. Jain, Professor, IIM
Indore; Mr. K.K. Muthu, HR Expert, New Delhi; Prof.Uma Shankar Vyanketesh, ITM Gwalior; Col C.K. Singh, President NHRD, Agra
Chapter; Mr. Abhishekh Singhal, Alliance Manager, Planet English; Mr. Madan Srinivasan, HR Director-Transitions, HCL Technologies,
Gurgaon; Mr. Avinash Mishra, GM (P&A) Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Malanpur; Mr. Manmohan Bhutani, VP, Fiserv, New Delhi,
Mr. Rakhee Pundir, HR Consultant, Kritikal Security Scan, New Delhi; Mr. Prithvi Yadav, Director, GHSIMR, Kanpur; Mr. A.K. Verma
(Synergy); Mr. Avnish Tiwari (Innovators) and Mr. V. Swarup (SRF)
The summit was a grand success.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
21
Economic Downturn Professionals' lives and Anxieties
– Dr T.H.Chowdary
A
have changed. How one writes and spells
her/his name also has changed. Instead of
traditional names like Suryanarayana Rao
or
Ramabrahmam,
monosyllabic,
meaningless names like Nitin, Jitin, Sonya,
Tanya, Leenya, Nimesh, Ritesh, Pitesh etc.
have come. Traditional names given by
parents are being shortened and the Inti
Peru (for Telugu people which used to
appear first, now appears last. Hari has
become Harry; Ramulu has become
Remmel; Jaya has become Jay; Syama has
become Sam and so on. Every one is having
a cell phone. Fast food counters and week
end joints had become fashionable. And so
has become dating - young boys and girls
spending time out on week ends without any
inhibitions and the parents not knowing.
These high-paid, de-Indianised boys and
girls are marrying after love at first sight.
Girls are not adjusting to be wives; they want
to be friends, equals. There is friction. Many
a girl has come to me, a father figure to tell
me, "I have divorced the guy". I ask, "So
soon?". "Yes", she says, "because the guy
is trying to boss over me. I get as much pay
as he gets; why should I be subordinate?" I
then realize the truth; Westerners fall in love
before marriage and fall out after marriage.
But Indians fall in love after marriage. DeIndianised education, working for the west
and conversing with them in their language
are reducing the young to be Indians only
in colour and blood, but American/Western
in life-style, marriage, likes and culture.
n specter is
sweeping
across the world,
the specter of
economic downturn and the consequent
sense of insecurity of jobs. Mighty global
companies straddling the world are in
distress and are requiring to be bailed out
by governments. First, it was the financial
companies and banks and then the real
estate and housing and now even the IT
companies that are faltering. These are
sectors which have been employing large
number of people and paying very well. In
India, the IT sector has been the most
sought after for engineers and MBAs and
human resources personnel. During the last
10 years Indian IT & Software companies
have acquired a large number of big
companies in the US and Europe, as their
clients for outsourced business operations.
Andhra Pradesh has, since the later 1990s
with government encouragement and
facilitation, become the most attractive place
for locating IT & Software companies. Over,
200,000 professionals are employed in the
more than 1000 IT & Software and ITES
companies in Hyderabad alone. The number
of engineering colleges had gone up within
a decade from 35 to over 530. About 80 of
them are within a 30 km radius of
Hyderabad. One third of the intake of
engineering colleges has been from girls.
In many a large IT company, girls now
constitute about 40% of the work force. IT
companies are paying very well as they are
competing for the best talents. A few years
ago, a civil engineer could be had for about
Rs. 4000 p/m. The minimum an IT / software
/ECE graduate was getting is not less than
about Rs. 15,000 p/m. Within two to three
years, their salary was going up to about
Rs 40,000/- to Rs.50,000/pm. This applied
both to boys and girls. High incomes with
no family and other responsibilities have led
to a change in the life style. Many have taken
to luxurious life. They went for flats and cars
on easily obtained loans; they went for week
-end parties and late night dinners and
drinks. They had credit cards, they had week
-end excursions and entertainment parties.
3. All this de-Indianised, west, especially
America-aping life styles will have to change
with the slump in the economy all over the
world. IT companies being services-oriented
and closely linked with global companies are
the most visibly affected. Recruitment has
gone down. At the most prosperous period,
campuses were visited and bright students
in the penultimate year of their studies were
recruited. They would be waiting for a year
to finish college education and get a call to
join the company. Many so recruited were
puffed up. They were not caring as to how
they would do in the final year. Now, they
find the calls to join the company are not
coming. Some had rejected certain offers
and are now regretting why they accepted
the offer from A and not from B.
2. Malls have come up, selling expensive
branded goods. The city is glittering and
streets are cluttered with vehicles. The
number of star hotels is proliferating. Eating
out has become fashionable. Conversing
and interacting with Americans and other
foreign clients has changed the language
one uses. Dress has changed. Social mores
4. One spent away the fat salary on himself.
Now either there is a cut in the salary or no
increment or prospect of loss of job. The
luxurious habits that one has acquired are
no more affordable. There is stress to adjust.
Worse; your credit is deflated; the issuer of
the credit card is advising you of the reduced
limit of credit. The equated monthly
installments (EMI) that you contracted from
the one who financed the purchase of your
flat are no longer affordable. These who paid
a few months ago a part of the total to buy a
flat, are now not paying the next installment
and are getting into arrears.
5. It is essential to realise that in a free
enterprise economy, there are cycles of
boom and bust. If one gets addicted to a
life style sustainable only during the boom
period, then when the bust starts, he will
feel miserable. A great virtue which Indian
culture has inculcated in us is to save for
the rainy day, not spend what all one earns,
even if it be ever so little. Frugality and
simple living had always been valued and
inculcated by our tradition and culture and
education. Our extended families were
insurance to look after the not so fortunate
among us. They came to our aid in times of
distress. The first thing that the once very
sought after and very well paid professionals
should realise and re-adjust is learn not to
spend away all the salary and not get
addicted to a luxurious life style.
6. Our education has been denuded of all
ethical and moral instruction. Our great
classical literature our epics and our
Puranas, our Subhashitas (eg: Bhartrihari)
and Sathakas (eg: Vemana, Sumathi)
contain the wisdom that one needs to live a
stress -free life and a life living which one
could be proud of. For the Telugu people
Sumathi and Vemana Sathakas are great
treasures of wisdom accumulated over
thousands of years of living experience.
Similarly, Bhartrihari's Sathakas on vidya
(knowledge) and neethi (ethics) are great
guides for us to lead a stress-free and
achieving life.
7. In the last 15-20 years there has been an
irrational and exuberant stress on acquiring
excellence in examination and not in the
acquisition of knowledge or real intellectual
abilities. History and literature have been
completely relegated as of no consequence.
It is these two subjects that form the
character of a person. The following
observations of Reed Hundt, a distinguished
former Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission (counterpart
of India's Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) in his book, In China's Shadow (The
Crisis of American Entrepreneurship) are
cautionary and educative.
Dr T Hanuman Chowdary is Fellow: Tata Consultancy Services & Satyam Computer Services and Former: I T Advisor: Government of A
P, CMD, VSNL E-Mail: [email protected] & [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
22
"….Business schools (in the USA)
burgeoned in the last half of the twentieth
century. American business schools
graduated nearly forty times as many people
in 2000 as in 1950 - an increase that signified
(and contributed to) the global triumph of
American firms and the American way of
doing business. Business schools, however,
have contributed relatively little to public
policy discussion. The record-breaking
ethical lapses and criminal behavior of the
boom and bust hardly qualified business
education as the source of reform. Business
schools trained a generation of leaders but
discouraged their pupils from considering
social or cultural problems as part of their
domain. Their pupils knew organization,
strategy, and finance. They learned practical
economics. However, at least until after the
Enron and WorldCom scandals, business
schools dedicated almost no attention to
law, ethics, sociology, or any other discipline
that would have created a supple
understanding of culture. The students (in
Business Schools) learnt how to create
business and staff, capital allocation,
recruiting, product development, sales and
marketing. The firms they staffed did not
have a functional method for considering the
legal, technological, and historical patterns
of the United States. Culture existed outside
the firm and the market….."
Students in non-Business Schools are even
less culturised; they have skills to score high
in exams and interviews but have no value
system, no philosophical, intellectual
curiosity and values.
9. These stressful times and testing
situations should make every one introspect.
This should be a great opportunity to learn
the real values in life and the way we should
live. What the young including students,
should do in these times are:
Continuous learning is necessary.
Continuous updating of knowledge is
essential. Acquiring additional
Can you believe it?
Back in early 70’s while
working for a multinational I
learnt one of the most
important lessons of my life. I
was new to Pali Hill and was
not very familiar with the
culture
there.
While
withdrawing cash from my bank one day,
I thanked the gentleman behind the
counter. As I was walking away while
counting the money I heard a choking,
gasping sound. I turned back and looked
at person on the cash counter. He was an
elderly, slim and fair person and his face
was now deep red and tears were rolling
down his cheeks. I thought he was having
a heart attack and in that split second all
sort of thoughts flashed in my mind. On
hurrying to the window I remember
stammering “ are you all right”?. His
reaction left me spellbound. He said, and
qualifications is desirable. Therefore,
instead of wasting time in parties and
other luxury pursuits, one can register
for distance education programs of
various universities and acquire more
qualifications.
Those who have graduated but not got
a job or got one which is temporary or
not good enough, should sign up for
post graduate courses, different from
their graduate studies. Engineers may
take an MBA or Law course; MBA's may
take law or accounting and so on.
Read history, culture, and our own
literature in our mother tongues.
Mahabharata,
Ramayana,
the
Upanishads,
neeti
sathakas,
Gunaadhyas Katha Sarit Sagara (Neeti
Chandirka in Telugu), Sumathi and
Vemana Sethakas. Try to get the poems
and passages by heart. Understand the
meaning and the purport and analyse
the current issues in the light of the
suktis, great words of wisdom that these
literatures contain.
Build up relationships first with all family
members and then with friends. It is
communion with people that gives us
the ability and fortitude to withstand
stresses.
Never mistake physical attraction for
true affection and love. One should
control passions like anger and physical
attraction for the opposite sex.
Exercise and yoga are essential. A
regulated life with invariably good habits
will conduce to mental health which is
much more important than even
physical health.
A rupee earned should be valued more
than Rs. 5 found or made. As Adi
Sankara has said "Ellabhase nija
karmopattham vittam tena vinodaya
chittam - Delight your self with what you
have earned by your own toil.
I am quoting him, “I have been doing this
work on this counter for the last 25 years
and this is the first time someone has said
thank you!”
This was the time when management was
only something of administration and the
business etiquettes lessons were not much
heard of.
In the new millennium we have everything,
management courses, highly trained
professionals, beautiful technologies,
employee development, engagement,
customer driven businesses, but I am afraid
still no thank yous. We have modules that
teach us to be a good team member, a
good leader, a good visionary but I guess
the most basic of all modules to be
prepared is how to be a decent individual.
I wish I knew what it takes to be a good
individual but I think something’s are well
known across the management sphere and
if I may be too generic anybody who uses
Greed and lust will destroy one.
Temporary gains may please but do not
conduce to long term welfare and well
being.
Never sell yourself to be involved in any
wrong-doing.
If a person decides to marry, then the
couple must plan for their life especially
if both are now working. When should
they have children, how many of them,
at what spacing should be planned and
agreed. Should we consign the child into
a kindergarten, a prep school, and
Nursery, then to hostels or should the
mother give up her job until the child is
able to go to school on her own. The
greatest gift that parents can give to
children is time and affection, not
money, not expensive schools, not air
conditioned cars and not star hotel food.
There is no substitute for the mothers'
affection, caressing and caring. The
dining table should become the class
room for transmission of our culture and
our wisdom through story and poem.
The wise have said that three things
form a person; vadi, badi, and gudi, that
is, the mother's lap, school and temple.
All these three have to be very healthy
and all these three must be involved in
forming a person.
10. Finally, I would like you to read and
understand and contemplate on the
contents of the following.
Mahabharata and Ramayana
Upanishads for the Lay Man
Our Culture.
All these are by Sri C Rajagopalachari
Krishnaavatara and Warnings of History
by Kulapati K.M. Munshi.
All these are Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's
publication and are available in good
bookstalls as well as in Bhavans' offices.
emails. Remember people by name, smile
when you pick up a phone, thank an
individual etc etc. It’s just that our
deadlines at work and lifestyle pressures
at home are too much so this set of
information normally takes a backseat in
our minds.
I have learnt that it is always easy to say
thank you to everyone who has ever
worked for you and it is simple too. Talk
about cost effectiveness... it is the best
way of cost cutting. Just thank everyone
for their efforts, down to the lowest in the
hierarchy. I am not saying it makes all the
difference, but it certainly makes some.
Try it.
Ratnakar Misra
NHRDN Coordinator Patna Chapter
PGP Coordinator, Chandragupt Institute
of Management Patna
[email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
23
Pink Slip- An Involuntary Exit
– Padma Satuluri
M
obile phone
g i a n t
Motorola to cut
4000 more jobs
roughly 6% of its
workforce, in the face of economic down turn
and warning demand.
Credit Card Company American Express
India has handed over pink slips to about
200 employees and senior executives who
have been with them for the past 15 to 20
years. Approximately 7000 jobs are being
eliminated companywide which translates
into about 10% of the company's worldwide
workforce to save $1.8 billion in cost in 2009.
A layoff procedure leaves a profound
emotional impact on the work force. It affects
the person being laid off, the remaining work
force and the management alike. The worst
case scenarios are joblessness, home less,
inability to take care of one's family, potential
illness. Suddenly a person does not belong
to a group and is an outsider with loss of
status. There is a temptation to fight coupled
with helplessness, rage, sadness and
frustrating about how to behave in the new
status.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the
country's largest firm, had given pink slips
to 500 non- performers. IBM too had asked
about 700 employees in India to leave, citing
non performance. Patni Computer Systems
had shown the door to 400 employees.
It places strain on the surviving employees
as they feel insecure about their jobs. They
express the feeling of concern and fear with
everyone in the organization.
But the manager or the supervisor needs to
behave "above" to these feelings. Some
times he acknowledges his own pain in
losing trusted colleagues and become
involved in emotional experience with
everyone else. Therefore to get a control
over the situation a manager must maintain
a professional and detached attitude.
Wipro technologies has put about 4-5
percent of its work force about 2,400- 3,000
employees, under the scanner for non
performance.
Many more companies will continue to
layoff. With freeze on hiring, downsizing,
cost cutting, rising efficiencies lay offs have
been a sore reality and recurring
phenomena in the last few months. When
organizations plan to lay off it issues the pink
slip to its employees.
Warning Signals
Pink slip is an American term referring to
being fired from one's job and the person
being fired is said to be pink slipped. It is a
notice of termination- inserted in an
employee's pay envelops. It is pink in color
as it stands out from any other paper in the
envelop. Once the decision to terminate an
employee has been made, a written notice
to that effect should be delivered to the
employee which states the reasons for the
discharge, in order to minimize post
discharge disputes and assist the employer
in the event of litigation. It may be verbally
communicated, through phone, phone mails
messages, traditional mail and most recently
e-mail.
Reasons for pink slip
To face economic and financial crisis
A cost- driven practice
To reach their ambitious target
No projects in hand
You are recently promoted to a position
with less responsibility or entrusted with
a new task with no chance of success.
You were formally informed about all the
business related thing and suddenly you
find the company news from the office
boy or an accountant.
You are asked to perform a "new
company initiative" or "Confidential
research assignment" or new project
that takes away from REAL work and
puts you on something that's either
mildly important or not important at all.
You receive a pay freeze or fee cut
which your boss shows it as a cost
reduction measure.
You are being asked to take some time
off which indicates that in your absence
there is no interruption to work.
You find your success and
accomplishment being glossed over by
your boss and peer group and in turn
disrespecting you.
Your co workers are whispering about
you in a dark corner of the coffee room
and suddenly stop the conversation on
your arrival.
Your office cubical or working space
recently is downsized which hurt your
morale
Your immediate boss or mentor has quit
the job and you find it difficult to get
approval for your plan or project
You are receiving more emails and
memos from your boss which was done
earlier with a dialogue.
You have seen a job posting for your
company that matches your job
description.
Your company recently sold or merged,
in either of the case you find cost cuts.
You notice everyone in your company
hates you, not laughing for your jokes
or not having lunch with you
You currently being 'retrained' or taken
coaching sessions and there is no
identifiable progress in your
performance.
Precautions to be taken by an employee
Here are some tips to increase employee
value and to escape pink slip.
Watch for the warning signals in order to
avoid the shock of viewing it all of a sudden
on your table.
What then is a pink slip?
Its affects on employees
HSBC laid off 193 staff in India after
reviewing the prevailing economic
conditions.
A quick fix approach to market
To retain only the high performers
Massive restructuring of the
organization in case of sale or merger.
A part of disciplinary action
Work harder than you have ever worked
&show your value.
Collect some specific examples of
benefit that your organization will gain
with your work and the unique way that
you accomplish it. Write these and use
them as selling points during your next
performance review.
Identify those roles, projects or activities
that seem to be getting higher level of
attention or involvement from
management. If you are not the part of
such projects try to involve in such
projects or volunteer for extra duties to
support these projects or activities.
Try to reconnect your relationship with
your friends and colleagues and
maintain close relations and extend your
support if necessary.
Join in professional associations and try
to build strong community which will help
later.
Try to manage your finance and do
investments carefully.
Stay away from chronic complainers.
Try to offer support, advice to them and
be friendly and possibly make important
introductions and share job leads.
Spend more time with family and try to
relieve them from tensions.
Ms. Padma satuluri is faculty Member at Magnus School of Business, Hyderabad. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
24
Prepare your resume and get ready for
the interview.
Try to find part time jobs and go for
special coaching classes to update your
skills.
Alternatives to avoid pink slip
Reduce the pay by reducing number of
working hours.
Slash the bonus and other benefits
during this time.
Book Review
– by Rajesh Walawalkar
Title of the Book:
F i n a n c i a l
Intelligence For HR
Professionals
Subtitle of the
Book:
What You Really
Need to Know
About the Numbers
Authors:
Karen Berman, Joe
Knight with John Case
Publishers:
Harvard Business
Massachusetts
Press
There are several alternatives to handling
the pink slips. Only the organization has to
decide its commitment towards employee
welfare and have a long term vision for the
company. The employer has to consider the
following alternatives before giving pink slip.
Boston,
Review
“Without numerical fluency, in the
part of life most of us inhabit, you
are like a one-legged man in an asskicking contest.” Charles T. Munger
Karen and Joe are the founders of the Los
Angeles based Business Literacy Institute;
work with some of the world’s best known
and most respected organizations,
including American Express, General
Electric and Southwest Airlines. John Case
is a successful business book author.
This book was born out of their financial
literacy programmes that they have been
carrying out for the past so many years.
As we all know, business is run by numbers
— therefore everyone on in a company
does better when they understand how
financial success is measured how they
have an impact on the company’s
performance. Authors term this as financial
intelligence.
In 21 st century HR professionals are
expected to become business ally for whom
the essential competency is to understand
business of business. What could be a
better way for this than to develop financial
intelligence? HR people are known to be
focusing on the soft side of the business
when they work with people. To become
business leader HR professionals will have
to focus on the hard facts of the business.
No promotions and transfers.
Counsel the employee to improve their
performance.
Ask the employees to go for long
vacation with out pay.
Encourage the employee to pursue
higher education.
Absorbing extra workload by finding new
alternative projects during this period.
Conduct more training and development
programs for employee development.
Stop all the recreation and fun related
activities.
Communicate the employees about the
present condition and conduct brain
storming exercise for cost cutting.
At the moment there are two important
reasons why everyone associated with
business irrespective their functions need
to develop financial intelligence:
1. Today, the whole world is experiencing
financial turmoil, leading to slowdown of the
all major economies. Some of the fortune
five hundred companies are facing the
threat of bankruptcy. This is not only going
to affect the function of HR but entire
business may get vanished for some of the
leading companies. On this background it
is essential for all in the business to develop
financial intelligence so that they are able
to read some of the warnings in advance.
This would help people across the functions
to work towards their future vis-à-vis
company’s future.
2. Secondly, in India we have witnessed
different financial scams, from Harshad
Mehta to Satyam saga, to name a few. The
world over people are watching and reading
MADOFF scam taking place in United
States. Apart from other things, scamsters
take full advantage of financial illiteracy of
people at large. One of the measures we
need to take is to increase financial literacy
by spreading financial intelligence with the
people across the functions so that it results
increasing checks and balances in the
system itself.
Apart from the above there are many
other benefits for HR professionals for
them to have financial intelligence:
1. This would result in HR to become
strategic in nature than mere tacticians.
2. This would provide HR to have right
tools to understand and evaluate
company performance.
3. FI would certainly help HR to
understand business in better way.
4. Would help to form close relationship
with Finance Department.
5. FI would make HR number driven
decisions.
6. This would help HR to understand bias
in the numbers.
In this light above authors have done a
very good job by covering the following:
Encourage the employees to spend
more time for innovation, product and
process development.
Pink slip is the buzz word in the present
global turmoil and it is unwelcome news that
one is a part of the layoff program. It is the
forward looking thought people develop and
the positive out look can minimize the
damage on the pink slipped employees.
NO
Lay offs has become common feature in the
corporate culture, secured jobs are a passy.
When cost cutting is the mantra, anybody
could be given a pink slip. As it brings an
emotional baggage causes anger, trauma,
and frustration being prepared helps to a
great deal.
Set the context and define Financial
Intelligence (FI)
Explain the peculiarities of Income
Statement (Profit and Loss statement
as called by us in India)
How to understand and read the
Balance Sheet
Why cash flow statement is very
important? Why cash matters and how
to decode the language of cash flow
statement?
Reading absolute numbers is not
enough and therefore we need to do
what is called ratio analysis. How to
form relations in different key numbers?
What do ratios communicate and how
to get vital and actionable information
out of important ratios?
Authors have devoted one full section
on how to calculate return on
investment.
They have very well explained the
relevance of working capital and how
to manage it.
The last section is fully devoted to how
to create financially intelligent
department (and organization).
The book is a must read for every
aspiring manger who really wants to
grow in his/her professional life.
However, being finance and HR
professional I would have loved the
following content as a part of this
impacting book:
Understanding business environment
Ingredients of financial system, what it
contains and its relevance for business.
Basic frame work of economics, macro
& micro economics, national income,
its uses and applications for individual
businesses.
Functions of finance
Planning and control systems for
example how budgets are made and
what are budgetary controls.
In my view above points if included would
make the book comprehensive.
The author is the director of TGIM
Consulting Private Limited and a visiting
faculty to business schools.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
25
Fighting Attrition
in Retail
– Dr. Pramod Pathak and Dr. Saumya Singh
A
employee. Making him work is no easy job
unless the urge comes from within. And for
this urge commitment has to be elicited
without which there can not be the
motivation to perform over and above the
call of duty. Rising competition demands
improved productivity which in turn
emanates from enthusiastic commitment of
every employee. How to achieve this is the
question, retailers are seeking an answer
too. Retailers, like Nordstorm of US seek
the answer in a facilitative culture where
every employee is fully trusted. This brings
unflinching commitment on the part of
employee. Commitment is a give and take
process. You sow what you reap. When a
retailer proves its commitment by looking
after his employees well, employees
develop loyalty to the company. They
improve their skills and work hard for the
company if they feel that the company is
committed to them in the long run and
through thick and thin. This in fact is an
age old lesson and even in Valmiki
Ramayan it is found. When the younger
brother Shatrughna is going to fight demon
Lavanasur Lord Rama tells this to him. He
asks Shatrughna to look after the soldiers
in his army well because such soldiers are
committed to their king and are willing to
lay down even their lives. The chief
executive's role plays a very important part
in building loyalty. In this context the Chief
Executive's philosophy and the company
management's
practices
become
important. A case in point is that of the
South West Airlines. Herbert Kelleher,
former CEO of South West airlines who
made his company the fastest growing and
most profitable airline in the world, built his
company's corporate culture on two
fundamental principles. First is that people
are important and every person can make
a difference. The second principle is that
both the work as well as company culture
should be enjoyable. Like what Maxim
Gorky had said "When work is duty, life is
slavery; when work is pleasure life is joy."
ttrition today is a major challenge for
retail industry. Reducing employee
turnover has thus become a strategic HR
issue as it cuts both ways. It reduces sales
and also increases costs. Sales are lost
because inexperienced employees have to
be taken in as replacement and cost
increase due to the fact that the
organisation has to continuously recruit and
train new employees. Consider an example
of a supermarket chain. When an apparel
department manager leaves the
organisation the top management
promotes the apparel manager from a
smaller store as his replacement and a
junior department manager to occupy the
position of this person. Subsequently, a
working trainee will take this position a new
trainee has to be hired. This is the
cascading effect when someone at senior
level leaves the job. The organisation has
to train two apparel department managers
and one assistant manager as well as hire
and train one trainee. It can be seen that
replacing one apparel manager is much
more costly than the apparent replacement
cost. Retailers, therefore, have to pay
heavy price for attrition. It is for this reason
that the problem is now being considered
at apex level and strategic solutions are
being sought.
Big retailers are trying to build an
atmosphere of mutual commitment in their
firms so that the bond between the
employee and the employer remains
strong. True, the working conditions are
tough and job opportunities to change are
ample. But, commitment can create a loyal
employee. More so, in the turbulent times
which retailers are facing today. The
question that arises is how to build this
'commitment'. Relying on conventional
wisdom that employee behaviour on the job
is influenced by supervision, retailers are
focusing on it. And this is what Global
quality guru Philip Crosby meant when he
said "People don't work for companies, they
work for people." Late Sam Walton, world's
leading retailer, also held similar views.
Certainly, then the first step in developing
commitment is improving the quality of
supervision.
South West Airlines encourages the ideas
of frank expression of ideas and feeling
without making people uncomfortable. The
importance of people at South West Airlines
can be found out in the altruistic value of
the company. The Airlines emphasises that
The modern day employee is both
ambitious and impatient. More so, the retail
its employees must be motivated to help
others. South West Airlines employees
treat each other as family members.
In the absence of dedicated and committed
employees, particularly the front line ones,
customer service is difficult to achieve.
Global Marketing guru Jagdish Seth calls
these employees the front line touch points
which happen to be the most important
employees. They interact most frequently
with the customers and they relate to the
customers in the manner in which they
themselves are managed. Thus, a direct
linkage is there between proper
management of employees, their degree
of commitment to the organisation and the
quality of customer service. Retail
organisations have to keep in mind the fact
that the sales persons are their real brand
ambassadors. For example, in Shopper's
Stop the buyer does not know Raheja, the
owner or even B. S. Nagesh, the MD and
CEO. He only knows the sales person
dealing with him at the shelf. It was with
this in mind that Indian Oil Corporation
Limited asked the authors of this book to
conduct behaviour modification training for
the pump attendants of their extra care
retail outlets of Jharkhand region. The
underlying idea was that for the retail
customer who buys petrol, diesel etc. the
Indian Oil brand is represented by not the
marketing manager of the company, nor
even the distributor who owns the outlet
but the pump attendant who actually
delivers the service.
Some approaches that retailers take to
build mutual commitment are (1)
developing employee skills through
selection and training, (2) empowering
employees, and (3) creating a partnering
relationship with employees. Research
indicates that engaging in these human
resource management practices increases
the employee loyalty. Ordinary people can
achieve extraordinary results if managed
properly. Management needs to
understand the importance of these people
and treat them with extra care. This is the
reason why there has been a shift back to
a more personalised approach to
employees, service award programmes,
and spot recognition.
Dr Pramod Pathak is Associate Professor and Dr Saumya Singh is Assistant Professor at the Department of Management Studies, Indian
School of Mines University, Dhanbad. E-Mails: [email protected];[email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
26
Academic's Roles Matching
With HR Managers
– Sharad Chandra
ACADEMICS, it is being a general
terminolgy used in most of the management
schools, who deals with all student-related
issues's and it is mostly referred as StudentConcern department.
My thought-process on this, made me to
derive a comparison between Academic's
and HR, and started penning-down few
words…………
ACADEMIC'S, the most preferred name in
most of the Business schools, realted to
students, faculties and corporate houses.
ACADEMIC'S role is in management of all
the student-related issues like:Assisting their
concerned Manager - in course
administration, Maintenance of different
portals, Handling all the Exam
administration, evaluation and feedback
processes - exam scheduling; invigilator
scheduling; administering exams; handling
the feedback process, Record keeping,
General administration works.
ACADEMIC'S play a vital role in managing
the different activities imparted to them in
the
Management-schools,
These
management schools are engaged in - The
Full Time Post Graduate Programme in
Management/Doctoral management
program's and Executive-Education
Program's for working professionals.
ACADEMIC Professionals are inturn
benefitted a lot, in the sense, apart from
getting work-experience and salaries, their
involvement makes them imbibe with
different new learning models, covering a
broad-ground with case studies, providing
a multiple-learning opportunities.
ACADEMIC'S coordinate lot of activities
related to Hiring-up of various Faculties for
their Business schools with usage of
sourcing agents like Networking and reading
thru different Prospectus and Brochure's of
the various Business schools and also by
visiting different corporate houses and
interacting with the HR managers/ Finance
managers and Operations managers and
asking them to be a part of their panel, or
be as a visiting faculty, for their various
Executive and Management development
program's.
A comparison can be drawn, between the
roles of an ACADEMIC'S in Management
School with that of an HR in a Corporate
House, where ACADEMIC'S is with students
and faculties,while HR is with employee's.
ACADEMIC'S role in a management school
is mostly described as a replica of HR role
in a corporate-house.
ACADEMIC'S role depict's the role of an
HR manager, their roles are similar in
most of the cases like:
ACADEMIC'S role in attendance of the
students relates to that of HR's role in
same,
ACADEMIC'S role in student's reviews
matching with the HR's role in periodic
reviews
of
their
employee's
(Performance management),
ACADEMIC'S role in conducting and
finalizing the student exams-related
issue's relates to that of HR's Rewards
and recognitions,
ACADEMIC'S role in coordinating in
declaring the exam-results relate's to
HR's role in coordinating /distribution of
confirmation/promotion/Incentiveletter's to their employee's,
Management schools hire these
ACADEMIC'S professionals, from various
educational and industrial background's.
ACADEMIC'S role is diverse, they deal with
all the activities related to student's/
Faculties, they are also involved in
coordinating with Marketing department of
the schools in Brand initiation and Brand
positioning at different center's, they are also
involved in coordinating with Human
Resourceses department in - Man-power
planning, Sourcing/Hiring and conducting
the interviews for the different departments
like General Administration, Accounts,
Business
development/Marketing,
IT&System-Admin and Center-Head's.
ACADEMIC'S role in coordinating/
Hiring of the students and faculties,
matching with HR's role- as that of in
Recruitment process ,
ACADEMIC'S role in coordinating of
student's end of the program relates to
that of HR's exit-interviews for the
employee's.
ACADEMIC'S paly a vital role in coordinating
with the different student committee's and
clubs formed at their campuses. The various
students-Committee's are: Placement
committee, System's and IT , welfare, PR,
Sports, and the various student's Clubs are:
Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations clubs
etc. They help in coordinating and
conducting - Seminar's and Workshop's,
with Hiring of eminent personalities from
industry and academia in delivering lecture's
to their students, inturn providing knowledge
and new insights, to these management
students.
As these ACADEMIC ASSOCIATE'S work
closely with the student fratenity - who are
from diverse backgrounds with their
graduations in diferent streams like
Engineering /Commerce/Science etc and
who are with their fresh thoughts on
management, out-of-box thinkings and their
different-level of mind-sets /innovative
approach, this close association helps
ACADEMIC ASSOCIATE'S to develop a
new ideology, develop new mind-sets and
make them think differently and develop
themselves in every angle.
Their interaction with students, Faculty and
other research candidate's provides them
with New Learning, Knowledge and skills.
It is a win-win approach for Student's as well
as Academic's in - Sharpening their minds
with these knowledge-boosters. This unique
association benefits both.
Students and Academic's are developed in
getting - much-needed practical exposure
to supplement strong theoretical input.
Comprehensive understanding of the
content, organization, assumptions, and
values of a variety of academic areas, with
hands on training on live cases in an
industrial setting, Business skills such as
effective communication, computation,
analytical and critical thinking, managing
information, creativity, and aesthetic
awareness.
This artilce is an indicative of Benchmarking of Academic's with HR and
deriving a sense of HR-belonging, while
working in Academic's in a management
institute.
This novel thought-process was arising in
my mind and I thought, it will be my previlege
to share the same feelings in form of an
article with all…, Hence started writing the
article.
Mr. Sharad Chandra, Academic's - Centaurex Academy of Business Studies, Hyderabad E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
27
Resurrecting Organizations in
Turbulent Times: An Adaptive
Challenge
– Hari Nair
G
lobal Economy and therefore, our
Economy are facing very difficult time.
Financial problems in the west have
resulted in sharp fall of share markets in
India. This, along with the government's
efforts to control inflation has caused
shortage of cash in the market. Economic
conditions in the country have already
resulted in drastic reduction in demand;
most have even cut down even their
production plans.
world is forcing companies to clarify their
values, , develop new strategies and learn
new ways of operating in this situation. But
the greatest challenge is of being worthy
means. The doing of all actions in a
dignified manner so that we can resume
our position fast when conditions are back
to a state of normalcy. We need to do things
in such a way that the Brand Image of the
company do not get disturbed, we can still
attract the best talent in the market….In
such situation we need to change the style
of the working, we need to do more
Adaptive Work.
In the present scenario, companies are
facing the challenge-Adaptive Challenge.
Adaptive challenges are usually fuzzy and
hard to identify clearly. It arises when
fundamental changes in a group's
environment call for the group to rethink
basic goals and strategies to thrive or even
just survive. To adopt any challenge or
challenges one just need to accept the
challenge or challenges and change him
or herself or the organization according to
the needs or may be even demands of such
challenge or challenges. Say to anticipate
change even when things are going right,
to look at the opportunities that represents
change fast, realize fast that fear of the
unknown is natural, not allowing routine
matters to become complacent, keep
renewing one self, surround yourself with
vibes that is positive or get surrounded with
those who are open to change initiatives.
Tomorrow is a six letter word CHANGE.
Change is the only permanent
phenomenon of life. It spurs, motivates,
inspires and catalyses movement. It breaks
from the shackles of mediocrity,
complacence and indecision to explore a
new exciting world of growth and
development. It defines your FUTURE. So
adapt to changes fast.
Adaptive Work is required when our deeply
held beliefs are challenged, when the
values that made us successful become
less relevant. We see adaptive challenge
every day at every level of the workplace---when companies restructure or
reengineer, develop or implement
strategies, or merge business. We see
adaptive challenge when marketing has
difficulty working with operations, when
cross-functional teams do not work well.
a thought before asking employees to
leave. Never forget the H (Human) aspect
in HR and focus on the best utilization of
the R (Resources) all other resources in
the organization.
We need to do lot many exercises while
calculating the impact in long run. "Neither
the bad situation nor the good conditions
lasts long". After a year we may have to
recruit the more number than what we
removed and/or Planning to remove.
Asking employees to leave is not a long
term strategy, what will happen when the
situation will be normal?????? We would
not be able to get good and quality people.
It triggers fight or flight - escape, avoidance,
and getting even worse. So in my opinion
Rightsizing should be done in a stage wise
manner.
The adaptive works which is needed in
such situation are as explained below
in a stage wise manner:
●
We need to relook at the extra cushion
provided to the Employees. It may be
related to the leave structure or may
be because of some retention strategy.
An organization needs to look into the
number of leave days an individual
employee is entitled for. In many
organizations, there is a provision
where balanced leaves get encashed.
This will help in reducing the liability of
the Organization. Leave rules should
be as flexible as possible. Any day can
be called a working day or holiday it is
all a must taking into account the Cost
Imperativeness.
●
The other area which can be given a
thought before asking employees to
quit is to look into the benefits in term
of salary that organization is providing
to the employees. Benefits like House
Rent Allowance, Fixed House Rent
Allowance, Conveyance, Telephone &
Mobile Reimbursement, Performance
Pay, Club Membership, Subsidies
allowed etc. can be reduced.
Performance Pay can be justified by
saying that if an organization is not
making profits, how can you perform
because ultimately it is the Human
BUT THE MOST COMMONLY FACED
ADAPTIVE CHALLENGE IN THE
PRESENT SCENARIO IS:
1. Downsizing in a dignified way
2. Survival in the present situation
We need to handle the above mentioned
challenges in such a way that the operation
of the organization does not get affected,
the motivation level of the employees does
not get lowered instead we need to try to
increase the motivational level of the
employees by using non-monetary tools.
Downsizing is always painful- both for
Employees and for the Employers. There
is a risk of loosing best talents to the
competitors as we need to think that how
the impact can be minimized. Asking
people to leave is not the only solution but
we need to identify the innovative ways
which can save the ability of operating
within a specified system. Targeting the
number of manpower should not be the only
focus because Human Resources are the
most sensitive issues for an organization.
There are several areas which can be given
The most commonly faced adaptive
challenge by the companies in present
scenario is RECESSION/DOWNSIZING/
DOWNTURN/RIGHTSIZING/
SLOWDOWN/LAYOFF. Downsizing is
about reducing the number of employees
on operating payroll and the belief behind
it is that an enterprise should really need
to operate with fewer people. Changes in
Societies,
Markets,
Customers,
Competition and Technology around the
Mr. Hari Nair is with Sona Koyo Steering Systems Limited, Gurgaon as its Vice President - H R. e-mail [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
28
Resources whose contribution and
performance that makes an
organization perform. Promotions and
Increments can be deferred till the
situation comes to normal.
●
●
●
●
We need to look into the organization
thoroughly and should try to find out
the Non-Value added activities and
Resources. Departments as well as
organization needs to take this issue
carefully and accordingly should either
reallocate them or just ask them to
leave.
If organization does not show any
impact by taking above measures then
the last option should be the Manpower
Reduction. The objective of this
manpower reduction is to gain some
profit as organization is not in a position
to even pay salary to their employees.
It should also be done in a step wise
process like
Identify the list of the employees with
whom we do not have many liabilities.
It should be done by taking the concern
of the Department heads.
The practice which is being followed
for the identification of the list is last in
First Out. The person who has joined
last in the department can be the first
one to be moved out.
●
The record for Chronic Absenteeism
can be taken into consideration
because it shows how serious an
employee is towards the responsibility/
work/job assigned to him.
●
Performance and Potential Measures
of the employees can also be taken into
account while downsizing is being
followed in the organization.
Employees need to be rated on certain
parameters by the reporting officer,
non-performers of the departments
needs to be identified and accordingly
the step should be taken.
●
While downsizing, we need to consider
the Deadwoods of the organization.
These are the people who are working
with the organization since the
inception of the organization. They
must have shown the loyalty towards
the organization but priority should be
given to the identified cases in this
category.
This is not enough because when the
above stated measures have taken, the left
out employees must have lost their
motivational level, they will not be that
enthusiastic as they were earlier, they will
not concentrate on their work rather they
would spend their time discussing the
above stated measures. In such situation,
HR needs to be very powerful and effective
they will have to increase the motivational
level of the rest of the people. HR needs to
plan and organize such programs which
can help them reducing their stress
because the left outs are very insecure
about their job. There are certain ideas and
suggestions which can help an organization
to deal with left out employees. Employee
Emotional Engagement, Employee
Engagement and Involvement is what just
works and make the organization going.
They are as below:
●
●
●
●
There are employees who are involved
in the above mentioned process try to
be Safe. They want to maintain Good
Relations with all the employees across
the organization.
●
Risk of Lip Services is there.
●
There
must
be
a
proper
Communication channel, through
which this process should proceed.
●
Employees are ambivalent about their
efforts and sacrifices required of them.
They often look to the senior people to
take problems off their shoulders.
We need to identify the list of the
talented people or need to differentiate
the performers from non performers
and then talk to them on individual
basis and can try to resolve their
problems.
What the Employer should do?
This is the time where we need to
develop the talents from falling out of
company bandwagon because this is
the category which requires extra care
and attention.
●
The management must inform
employees about the current situation
in the company through thee best and
effective
means
called
Communication.
●
Keep employees abreast of the
company's decisions and future plans
through communications at all levels.
Keep the morale and the trust of its
people strength intact.
●
Avoid any change-in service and
employment conditions but if
necessary, give adequate notice to
employees; change in HR policies is
must to make it more vibrant and need
based.
Need to develop people with cross
functional skills because this is the
situation where extra manpower can be
rotated. This will help in making
balance between remaining talents and
deadwoods.
There should be a clear communication
to the employees about all the
measures that we are taking. A person
from senior management needs to take
session for the rest of the employees
which can ensure them. Sessions
pertaining to all these should be taken
on a regular basis.
Attributes of the Adaptive Challenge
As there are two sides of a coin, there are
both Positive as well as Negative aspects
of Adaptive Challenge.
The Positive Attributes include:
●
The ability for employees, departments
and groups within an organization to
collaborate effectively.
●
The ability for all employees at all levels
to network with others outside the
organization, gaining new sources of
information and helpful perspective in
the process.
●
The ability for all employees at all levels
to innovate and Experiment without
fear of "Reprisal".
●
The ability for all employees at all levels
to be more committed to the
responsibility, job assigned to them,
even they are ready for the additional
responsibility.
The Negative Attributes include:
●
●
Credibility issue.
In case of a downturn or slowdown, the
organization impacted should take the
following steps to mitigate the impact of
downturn on its People Strength:
Conclusion:
Without such changes, any company today
would falter. Indeed, getting people to do
adaptive work is the mark of leadership in
a competitive world. In order to make
change happen, executives have to break
a longstanding behavior pattern of their
own as well as they need to change the
minds and hearts of the people around
them. Solutions to the Adaptive Challenges
do not reside in the executive but in the
collective intelligence of employees at all
levels, who need to use one another as
resources, often across boundaries, and
learn their ways to the business. The
organization needs to take step to cope up
with the prevailing situation because these
are the sensitive issues and management
may feel resistance of the employees. In
such situation, rather than protecting
people from outside threats, they should
be allowed to feel the pinch of reality in
order to stimulate them to accept. Instead
of maintaining the norms, management has
to challenge "the way we do business" and
help others distinguish immutable values
from historical practices.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
29
Focus on Strategic Cost Management
rather than Short Term Cost Cutting
– Dr. Barnali Chaklader
E
when their skills should be brushed up and
upgraded in their functional area from
different areas such as finance, marketing,
operation management, information
technology and human resource
management. When it is the right time to
sharpen their existing skills and to add on
newer skills, companies consider training as
an unimportant cash out flow and cut down
on it. The strategic implication of training is
overlooked. Training is extremely important
to get more out of less. Consider the fact
that this measure of cost cutting can
generate more revenues exceeding what
one could save through cost cutting. A
proper cost benefit analysis of all the steps
of cost cutting should be done before
initiating cost cutting measures. Different
training needs should be identified and
ranked. One may find that training need of
soft skill is not really necessary but training
in a particular soft package in IT is needed
for proper inventory management which will
reduce the warehousing charges and
blockage of capital.
conomies
have slowed
down
and
companies have
been looking for ways to cut down on
spending and improve the bottom line.
Whenever the thought of cost cutting comes
to the mind of a company's decision makers,
the people of the organizations get affected.
Two major steps of cost cutting are to
retrench people and to cut down on training
cost. Cost cutting is taken as a step towards
cost management. The important question
here is that are they synonymous? Cost
cutting is a deliberate reduction of resources
without thinking about strategic
consequences. This is done to achieve short
term financial objectives. Firing of a part of
the work force has a great de motivating
and low morale impact on the 'left over'
employees. The fear and insecurity in them
will have an effect on their performance and
mental health. These are some of the
consequences of retrenching people that
cannot be quantified in either the top level
or the bottom level of a financial statement.
Human resource is the main asset of the
organisation. It is a pity that its value cannot
be stated in the balance sheet. But
whenever there is a crisis, the axe of cost
cutting is on them. People need to know how
to cut cost without damaging productivity.
After the employees are fired, the few who
are still retained in the organisation are
expected to do wonders and increase the
wealth of the organisation. The next axe of
cost cutting is on their training needs which
are taken as secondary and unnecessary
expenses. In fact, we need to understand
that this is the time when the employees
need to be trained on new innovative
techniques and concepts. This is the time
Rather than first targeting the human
resources, the companies should consider
cost management techniques which involve
identification of those factors that are critical
to the firm's success. It would be better for
the companies to think and take steps that
will give the benefit in the long run rather
than those steps which focus on short run
financial objectives.
Some of the cost management practices
with a strategic focus can be
Sending employees on sabbatical
during the recession period rather than
retrenching them.
Salary cut of all the employees rather
than retrenching a part the work force
and thus proportionately reducing the
working hours. This will reduce the
overhead cost and also now the fewer
tasks due to less business can be
shared by the work force.
Improve operational control by proper
costing techniques such as activity based
management that accurately analyses
cost by improving the tracing of costs to
products or to individual customers.
Reengineering. It is a process for
creating competitive advantage in which
the firm organizes its operating and
management function, often with the
results that the jobs are modified,
combined or eliminated.
Go for mass customization rather than
uniqueness which will reduce the
marketing and servicing cost.
Implement Just in Time technique
Identify the steps in the value chain that
are not competitive and where costs can
be reduced or which stage in the value
chain can be outsourced. For example,
if servicing is proving expensive to the
firm then will the firm save costs by
outsourcing it?
It is better to keep in mind that overall growth
of the organisation is the proper combination
of four perspectives: financial measures,
customer measures, internal business
processing and learning and innovation. All
these four perspectives combined together
help in achieving the overall objective of the
organisation. It is suggested that rather than
cost cutting cost management should be
focused.
Dr. Barnali Chaklader is Assistant Professor (Acco & Fina.), Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad E-Mail: [email protected]
for 18 Permanent Institutional Membership
and 46 Individual Life Membership. They
plan to do something unique for the
development of professionalism in their area
through NHRD Network. Permission is
granted to start the Chapter and open their
account with Punjab National Bank, Balangir
BALANGIR CHAPTER
BALANGIR CHAPTER IN ORISSA
Mr Biswanath Babu, Life Member of
Bhubaneswar Chapter who recently moved
to Balangir in Orissa state is highly
enthusiastic in starting a Chapter at
Balangir. He invited professionals for a
meeting on 20th February 2009 and 87
participants attended the meeting. After he
briefed them about the advantages of
having a Chapter of National HRD Network,
the participants were highly impressed and
on the spot he received the consent letters
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
The following members Founder office
bearers for the Balangir Chapter:
Mr. Biswanath Babu, Founder President
Chairman and Programme Facilitator,
Centre For Awakening Mind Power, Palace
Line, Balangir, Odisha-767001, Mob
No. 0-94370-49201
30
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Subodh Nayak, Founder Secretary
Sr. Agency Manager, ICICI Prudential, Life
Insurance Co-LTD.Near UCO Bank,
Balangir, Odisha-767001. Mob. No. 099370-12187
Email:
[email protected]
Mr. Motilal Agrawala, Founder Treasurer
Sr. Manager (Accounts), Bijayananda Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd. Nilima Nilayam,
Palace Line, Balangir, Odisha-767001.
Mob. No. 0-94372-56144
Email: [email protected]
Scent, Sex Appeal & HRD
– Dr. M M Monippally
A
short article in a recent issue of The
Economist (December 20, 2008, page
137*) set me thinking about sex appeal,
teaching, training, and developing human
resources. The title, "The scent of a man,"
and the subtitle, "To attract a woman by
wearing scent, a man must first attract
himself," were both rather intriguing. So I
read on. The article is built around the
results of a research project undertaken by
Dr Craig Roberts of the University of
Liverpool and his colleagues.
One of the conclusions of the study was
that changing the body odour with a
deodorant or perfume can improve men's
self-confidence. We've always known this;
so there was no surprise in it. Another
conclusion was that the improvement in
self-confidence can be so high that women
who watch them find them attractive even
when those women don't smell the
fragrance or know that the men are wearing
one. Now this was amazing.
A brief description of the experiment will
help us make sense of this. As in these
kinds of experiments, there were two equal
sets of volunteers - all men. The men in
one set were given an aerosol spray with
fragrance and antimicrobial agents in it.
The others were given an identical looking
aerosol spray with neither fragrance nor
antimicrobial ingredients in it. While the
researchers did not know who was using
genuine aerosols and who was using the
dummy, obviously the volunteers
themselves knew. The ones with the
genuine stuff could smell the fragrance
while spraying themselves; the others knew
that their aerosol contained no fragrance,
because the spray produced no scent at
all nor did it reduce their body odour. None
of the volunteers were told about the
purpose of the experiment. During the
experiment, which went on for a few days,
all volunteers were videoed and
photographed.
Psychological tests showed that the
volunteers who had used the genuine
deodorant had improved their selfconfidence. The improvement was such
that women noticed it. Women who were
shown short silent videos of these men
found the ones wearing the deodorant more
attractive than the ones who had used the
dummy aerosol. When still photographs of
the same men were shown, however, the
women did not show any such preference.
It is obvious that those men's sex appeal
lay not in their looks or indeed in the
fragrance of the deodorant they were
wearing but in their self-confidence that
was signaled by the way they were sitting,
walking, and generally holding themselves.
So those ridiculously exaggerated
deodorant and perfume ads are dead right
after all. Perfumes and deodorants do
enhance your sex appeal although the
credit goes not to the expensive ingredients
in them but to the confidence that is
generated and supported by the fact that
you are wearing a deodorant or using a
mouthwash that is supposed to make you
irresistible.
We know very well that self-confidence
helps us aim higher and reach higher. It
unlocks our potential. What struck me was
that our self-confidence, however
generated, seems to transform the way
others look at us and treat us. I was
reminded of what Eliza Dolittle says in My
Fair Lady, the film adaptation of Bernard
Shaw's play, Pygmalion: "…, the difference
between a lady and a flower girl is not how
she behaves, but how she is treated."
Others may find you sexy. Others may find
you trustworthy. Others may find you
competent. All because you are selfconfident. At least appear to them to be.
You deliver more because others expect
more of you. For me this is the most
interesting takeaway from this experiment
with scent and sex appeal.
While the Economist article went on to
theories of perfume use and the role of
major histocompatibility complex in the way
mammals choose mates, my mind was
churned by a swirl of questions: If selfconfidence is so important, are we doing
everything to enhance it in the young men
and women who train or work with us? Or
are we perhaps doing or saying things that
could possibly dent their self-confidence
and self-esteem? Do we tend to be
hypercritical when we correct them with the
best of intentions? Are our expectations of
them so high that nothing they do pleases
us? Do we keep the bar so high that they
are bound to fail? Do we have no eyes for
anything good they do?
I plead guilty. Recently, I graded a stack of
decision reports written by my students of
management, among the brightest in the
country. I thought I had done my job
meticulously and conscientiously because
I had invested a lot of time to give every
student-writer extensive comments on what
was good and what went wrong where in
their reports. When the anonymous written
feedback from students came, there were
thankfully many positive comments, but
there was one comment that shook me.
"Couldn't you find anything good in my
report?" asked that student.
That question is still nagging me. What
have I done to him or her? It is indeed
difficult to get excited about a paper that
has multiple weaknesses - poor structure,
inadequate data, weak analysis, and errorridden language. Most probably, this
student's paper was one such. But was it
that there was nothing at all good about
the paper? Teacher comments are
supposed to help learners hone their skills.
But my comments seem to have dented
his/her
confidence
in
written
communication.
When a toddler takes a few steps and falls,
we applaud her, we encourage her. We're
delighted that she took a few steps. We
don't ask her why she fell. We focus on her
success. Taking a few steps is, in itself, no
big deal; but for a child who could only lie
on her back for more than a year, this is a
great success. When however, we come
to our young managers, trainees, and
students, we tend to focus on their fall
rather than on the few steps that they have
managed to take successfully. We readily
forget that we were toddlers once.
*If you can't get hold of the print version,
read
the
article
online
at:
www.economist.com/science/Printer
Friendly.cfm?story_id=12811377). The full
research report on the study will appear in
a forthcoming issue of the International
Journal of Cosmetic Science.
Dr. M M Monippally is Professor, Communications Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Email address: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
31
Diverse Workforce: Reasons
and Challenges Ahead
Introduction :
Utility in diversity
has been catching
line since long and
the globally India is
known for it's
diversity having 31
states,
1618
language, 6400 castes, 6 ethnic groups, 29
major festivals. However in new age the
organizations are operating on international
scale and in global market the diversity of
the work force gives them a competitive
edge. The diversity is not the ethnicity but
much broader than that. It is the human
qualities that are different from our own and
outside the group. Which they belong yet
present in other individuals and group.
– Dr. (Major) Shishir Basarkar
In the era of globalization and intense
migration of work force in every area there
is obvious tangible change in work values.
represented as marketing for their product /
service.
The work force diversity had lead to complex
organizational society, different levels of
educational & developmental status as well
as opportunities. This all in turn created a
whole new set of employees expectations.
Today's work force is moving towards.
in diverse work force many beneficiaries are
from group or society of people who are
disadvantaged and to make then part of
work force is a good exercise in social
corporate responsibility
1. Quality of life rather than quantity.
2. Participation rather authority.
3. Individual rather organization.
4. Decentralisation rather centralization
5. Equity & justice for the employees.
6. Diversity in work force.
7. Personal conviction over dogma.
Other Reasons for Changing value
1. Changing ideas of employees.
2. Increasing counterproductive behavior.
3. Alienation from jobs.
4. Reasons to opt for work force diversity :
According to Loden and Rosever in "work
force America : managing employee
diversity as a vital resource.
Diversity defined :
In the field of HRM it is defined as the
"situation that arises when employees differ
from each other in terms of various
characteristics thus becoming more
heterogenous. These diversity dimensions
widely affect the performance, success, inter
personal interactions & motivational level in
organizational environment.
No decision is taken without reason and to
have diverse work force there are also
reasons which motivated companies
whether small or large to opt for work force
diversity.
Diversity not only include the race, grander,
& physical disability but also difference in
age, religion, culture, sexual orientation,
gender identity, economic & social status.
The workforce diversity is to include people
within the organizational work force who are
considered to be.
Work force diversity :
1. Resource requirement :-
Heterogenecity in work force can be in terms
of innumerable variables ranging from country
to country and in the same country from one
part to another. The diversity of work force at
one side add special richness while on other
side poses special challenges as well.
Due to changing working environment the
need for effective work force to handle the
change was felt and companies can not
afford to neglect the present day
requirement and best available talent.
In last few years there is tremendous change
in work force composition in India and young
skilled professionals are replacing old,
experienced workers.
2. Legal requirement :Certain class of people are underprivileged
and to bring them into social mainstream
the Govt. makes their inclusion to govt. and
non govt. organizations as mandatory
requirement and gives certain percentage
of quotas to be fulfilled.
As the longetivity is growing, the number of
old employee are increasing and big firm
utilizes their talent, experience, in new
venture to operate and develop. Diversity
in Indian working context is some what more
peculiar due to differences in regional and
religion's origin, social ethos and cultural
differences certain sections of the society
enjoying preferential treatment, in
workforce, guaranteed by constitution.
3. Marketing strategy : In today's global economy the world has
become small village being represented by
people from all walks of life. Companies
ensure that their services and products are
designed to appeal such diverse customers
base and smart companies hire people from
different groups of population to be
Changing work force structure & work
values:
4. Social responsibility : -
5. Capacity building : In 21st century's business environment the
companies which are having competitive
advantage in the market are having capacity
to solve the problem effectively, rapidly
adapt to new circumstances and readily
identify new opportunities and quickly
capitalize on them. This capacity can be
measured by the range of knowledge. talent,
experience, insight and imagination
available in the organization's work force.
6. Business communication strategy: All companies are eyeing on growing
diversity in the work force around like
partners, customer, vendors etc. The
business which are opting to have
homogenous work force will likely to find
themselves increasingly ineffective in their
reaction to external environment &
communication with it.
Challenges in diversity management :
1. How can diversity be effectively
developed in the organization ?.
2. How can everyone in diverse HR
environment have sufficiently clear
authority & responsibilities ?.
3. How can diversity be brought into
balance?.
4. How can there be guanine democracy
in working environment?
5. How can global information &
communication technologies work to
every one equally ?.
6. How can threat of emerging conflicts be
reduced ?.
7. How can shared values be analyzed and
work upon ?.
8. How can changing Status of woman be
tackled ?.
9. How can organized groupism be stopped
from becoming more powerful ?.
10. How can ethical considerations
become more routinely incorporated
Dr. (Major) Shishir Basarkar is a Major from Indian Army based at Indore. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
32
among diverse HR population in the
organization ?
11. How job can be made sound and
appealing to different types of workers.
12. How can recruitment be effectively
targeted to the underutilised groups of
peoples.
13. How cultural biases be overcome while
interacting different groups.
Consequences of mismanaged diversity : If diversity is mismanaged then it costs
money. efficiency & valuable time of the
organization. It may lead to unhealthy
interpersonal relations among people of
different age, race, gender etc. Diversity
mismanagement means non retention of
talent, knowledge and skills in organization
leading to loss of productivity, increased
complaints & legal actions and increased
HR turnover resulting in lost investments &
training.
Managing workforce Diversity :
Managing diversity is defined as planning
and implementing organizational system
and practices to manage workforce so as to
maximize it's potential advantages and
minimize it's potential disadvantages. In 21st
century the work force diversity
management has become an integral part
of the business specially international,
multinational and global corporations. No
company can afford to unnecessarily
restricts its ability to attract and retain the
very best of employees available.
The golden rule is "Treat others as you want
to be treated".
According to Dr. Santigo Rodriguez, Director
of Diversity for Microsoft "hire people who
are different-knowing and valuing that they
will change the way you do business.
In order to manage diversity effectively
and to its optimum following sets of
actions are very useful :
1. Keep honest relationship with every one
in organization.
2. Give fair treatment to all.
3. Be daring to give negative feedback to
someone who is culturally & ethnically
different.
manager should emphasise on affirmative
actions to acknowledge that diversity works
for every one.
4. Know the motivation level of each
individual.
Benefits of diverse workforce:
5. Keep recognizing each member's
achievement and their liking.
6. Make various committees with diverse
members to ensure fair & equal
treatment.
7. Ensure that opportunities for
advancement in careers are accessible
to every one.
8. Take immediate action against
nonethical actions & activities among
different groups.
9. Keep organizations policies same for
every one and if they affect differently
to different people then change them.
10. When hire a new person orient him /
her to the organizational culture &
unwritten rules there in.
11. Be receptive to criticising feedback from
staff and give them serious views. They
might be constructive in many ways.
12. Whenever possible implement staff's
suggestion for any improvement and
recognize their valuable contribution.
13. Make good efforts to meet affirmative
action goals.
What is more important same treatment
or fair treatment ?
It is a question which comes in every HR
managers mind and many a times fair
treatment is taken synonymous with "same
treatment" but this is not so because with
diverse staff when members have different
skills, educational levels and understanding
level the same treatment concept may create
confusion and high level of misunderstanding
because the 'same' for few may be felt as
unfair. Hence more & more stress is given
on fair treatment which is individualised and
understood by every one in the organization
fairly and equally and along with fair treatment
1. Employees feel more comfortable as
they are getting more and more
acceptance in diverse working
atmosphere.
2. Employees become capable of
challenging their own conventions within
a diverse environment as their
experience is valued.
3. Knowledge of diverse team create
difference for the organization thus
giving it an edge.
4. The organization mirror the market
scenario and work accordingly.
5. Companies become able to anticipate
the market changes.
Conclusion :
The world's two largest democracies India
and united states are also world's most
diverse societies. The demographics and
structures of their diversities differ sustainably
however the diversity in work force is being
adapted by now almost all business whether
small or large. The present global scenario
in business makes diversity in organization
a critical need to have different skills,
knowledge, talent, experience and ideas and
it is imperative for organization to know and
tap the diversity potential.
Because of constant challenging market
requirements & customer's expectations
there is constant pressure for improvement
and that makes inclusion of diversity policies
extremely beneficial. Today the
organizations are making special work path
for female employees to take break & return
and also putting policies for having balanced
gender representation.
It is the need of the day to have diversity in
the organization and to realize its potential
and harness it accordingly if organization
desires to stand in the international market
with competitive advantage.
AGRA CHAPTER
ABV-IIITM, Gwalior in collaboration with Agra Chapter of National HRD Network hosted the first HRM Summit on January 24-25, 2009,
in IIITM, Gwalior with the tagline "Talent Acquisition & Talent Management Trends in Knowledge Economy".
The Program Committee included Prof S.G Deshmukh , Director, ABV-IIITM (Patron), Dr.Santossh Rangnekar and Dr. Manoj Patwardhan
as Coordinators and Mr. Jai Prakash Sharma as secretary.
The summit attracted a galaxy of eminent professionals which included Mr. Aquil Busrai, HR Executive Director HR, IBM & National
President, National HRD Network; Dr. Upender Dhar, National President, ISTD & Director, Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad;
Dr Sharu Rangnekar, Guru of Indian management; Mr. C.S. Raju, General Manager (HR), Maruti Suzuki; K.K. Jain, Professor, IIM
Indore; Mr. K.K. Muthu, HR Expert, New Delhi; Prof.Uma Shankar Vyanketesh, ITM Gwalior; Col C.K. Singh, President NHRD, Agra
Chapter; Mr. Abhishekh Singhal, Alliance Manager, Planet English; Mr. Madan Srinivasan, HR Director-Transitions, HCL Technologies,
Gurgaon; Mr. Avinash Mishra, GM (P&A) Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Malanpur; Mr. Manmohan Bhutani, VP, Fiserv, New Delhi, Mr.
Rakhee Pundir, HR Consultant, Kritikal Security Scan, New Delhi; Mr. Prithvi Yadav, Director, GHSIMR, Kanpur; Mr. A.K. Verma
(Synergy); Mr. Avnish Tiwari (Innovators) and Mr. V. Swarup (SRF)
The summit was a grand success.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
33
Systems Implementation:
Leveraging Through Human Capital
– Dr. P R K Raju and Mr. Antu Das
will ultimately work with the new process.
User training is important as well as critical
to ERP success and having understood
the same company pours in substantial
amount, for imparting training aimed at
introducing, eliminating, modifying, directing,
and guiding processes in such a way that
all individuals and teams are equipped with
the skills, knowledge and competences they
require to undertake in future to handle
demands of the new ERP system.
Introduction:
Competition is the key to survival and a
proper mix of technology with human capital
produces competitive edge. In-order to be
competitive, organizations must improve
and therefore have a business justification
for implementing ERP systems. The
business benefits of ERP include improved
accessibility of information, real-time access
to data across the organization, improved
cycle time orders, decreased financial close
time, reduced operating costs, and lowered
inventory levels. Having understood benefits
of an integrated system, ONGC decided to
re- engineer few of its core business
activities in the late 90's. Some of the major
motivations for streamlining and reengineering business processes are
customer sophistication, deregulation, and
competition on a global level. The challenge
doesn't lie in automating traditional ways of
doing work rather acceptability among the
users emerges as a matter of prime concern.
Resistance to change is common and
inevitable during change processes and
conquering mindset is the biggest challenge.
What technology is capable of and may
result in was the question of later part,
instantly what matters is to change the mind
set of the people.
Technological Transformation:
ONGC has never been late in delivering
business benefits from Information
Technology. As far back in 1996 the
company undertook 'Project KUBER'
wherein it implemented SAP R/ 3, ERP
module in order to support financial
accounting and management accounting
functions. SAP R/ 3 being a third generation
set of highly integrated software modules
perform common business functions based
on multi-national leading practices. Thus
financial accounting modules helps
organizing the activities related to
management accounting along with
creating, maintaining and updating financial
information, for external reporting.
Thereafter in December 1999, the company
started with Project SHRAMIK (System of
Human Resource Automated Management
Information for KAIZEN), where it
redeployed SAP R/ 3 for automating majority
of its HR functions including payroll
administration. HR management, decision
making and workforce development are
among the most strategic areas and the
process involved within is so timeconsuming that it was difficult to use these
data for decision making. Therefore the
automation was an attempt to address key
issues in HRM through comprehensive
process re-engineering and remodeling HR
functions to make it more responsive. The
module supported the activities related to
HR management, payroll, time, benefits
administration and labour management as
well. Among intangible benefits the system
emerged as blessing because it helps
determining gap between current workforce
profiles and future skill sets needs so that
these skill sets can be developed which
mean retaining internal candidates,
acquiring expertise and outsourcing certain
functions. In macro level the system is
capable of short and long-term workforce
development so that human capital can be
recruited, developed, compensated and
Re-engineering Human Capital:
Unlike other organizations, affording
technology was not an issue for the gigantic
organization called ONGC. Whereas,
principle obstacles in introducing change
include the fear among employees that their
jobs are endangered and that years of
experience will account for nothing. To
overcome these apprehensions, managers
constantly communicate their plans and
expectations. As the organization is an
amalgamation of veterans, boomers, xers
and nexters the strategies have to be
carefully crafted. Change agents and HR
champions continuously tried their level best
to convince employees' to understand, reengineering with ERP enables organizations
to be more responsive to volatile markets.
Their job is not at stake rather it is an
opportunity to equipped oneself for the
global competition. The underlying principle
behind this change is to survive through
survival of the organization.
No reengineering effort will succeed without
reeducating and retraining the people who
retained to meet overall objectives of the
organization.
In order to extend further benefit to larger
segment of workforce, company thereafter
implemented SAMPARC (System for
Automated Management of Personnel
Activities, Reimbursements and Claims) a
portal on SAP platform with employee selfservice system (ESS) functionality. It's an
operational- level process which enables
employees in filing of e-application related
to various HR activities and helps them
procuring position, status and placement
information about several processes.
Despite earlier implementations the
company suffered a lack of availability of
real-time information. And so was born Project
ICE (Information for Consolidating and
Efficiency). Other than integrating discrete
domains the system provides a forum for
extended application platform, permits the
integration of Enterprise Services Architecture
(ESA), unified business processes across
technological boundaries, integrate
applications, and access and edit simple
information easily and in a structured manner.
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/
en/88/166016f2841e45b81854febd76f3dd/
content.htmBy January 2005 project KUBER
and SHRAMIK were also integrated with it. In
terms of scope, number of end-users and SAP
modules, project ICE is one of the largest ERP
implementation projects in Asia and company
has been successful in its proper utilization.
Conclusions:
Systems are not weapon for creating
efficient managers or effective organizations
unless accompanied by complementary
assets such as new business processes,
organizational culture, restoring values,
welfare, trainings, far sightedness of the
company, management behavior and so on.
System literacy draws on both technical and
behavioural approaches. The phase wise
implementation reduces financial as well as
cultural risk. In order to reap maximum
benefits out of those systems much before
implementation and using it, ONGC
addresses the strategic issues related to
expected business value from the systems;
provision of appropriate complementary
assets to use technology effectively;
understanding business environment;
reengineering human asset; creating
infrastructure that is flexible enough to
support changing organizational goals and;
designing system that people can control,
understand and use in a socially and
ethically responsible manner.
Dr. P R K Raju is Dy General Manager - HR with ONGC based at Kolkata. E-Mail: [email protected]
Mr. Antu Das, MBA final yr student of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT, Kharagpur. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
34
HR Learning Perspective; The
Monkeys & the Cap Seller Story
– Prince Vijai. J,
INTRODUCTION
Organisations and businesses keep
changing due to the dynamic nature of the
business environment. In order to be a
competent HR champion, we must learn
new skills and acquire knowledge about
emerging techniques. Learning is defined
as the acquisition of skills and knowledge
through study, practice or experience. In
order to predict the behavior of people in
organizations, we must have an
understanding of the way in which people
learn. This article examines various
generations of learning principle through the
well known story of the monkeys and the
cap seller.
THE MONKEYS AND THE CAP SELLER
What's happened in the first generation?
There was a cap seller. He went from town
to town to sell caps. Sometimes he had to
pass the forest. At night he kept his caps
and slept under a tree. In the morning when
he got up, his caps were missing. He looked
here and there, and heard some noise and
he looked up and saw, that the monkeys
had taken his caps. The cap seller threw
stones on the monkeys and the monkeys
threw mangoes to protect themselves from
the cap seller. At last the cap seller became
frustrated and he took his cap and threw it
on the grass. The monkeys also threw the
caps on the grass. The cap seller took all
the caps happily and went back to his town.
What's happened
generation?
What's happened in the next generation?
After many years the cap seller's great grand
son had taken his family responsibility. At
night he too passed the forest, kept his caps
under a tree and didn't sleep, also was being
waited for the monkeys' arrival to take his
caps. But what happened this time, monkeys
didn't come. Next morning, one monkey said
when he was moved away from the tree that
they had made him fool by not taking his
caps. At last the cap seller's great grand son
turned back to his town with a drowsy face.
After few years, the cap seller's son had
taken the same job. He too passed the
forest. At night he also kept his caps and
slept under a tree. At morning he found that
his caps were being missed. He understood
that the monkeys were taken his caps. Now
he knew the strategy to collect the caps from
the monkeys because he had learnt it from
his father's experience. So he did what his
father had done. Lastly he took his cap and
threw it on the grass. But this time one
monkey climbed down the tree, took that
cap, and also gave a slap on his cheek and
said that they too were learned from their
father's experience and he couldn't deceive
us this time as like his father. At last the cap
seller's son had gone to his town with empty
hands.
in
the
fourth
What's happened in the next generation?
Think and develop the rest of the story.
CONCLUSION
We are being lived in the eight generation
according to one research, so our learning
style should be highly different from our
traditional learning pattern. Hence the HR
champions should think innovatively to bring
changes in the organizational development
context, which will yield fruitful results and
provide win-win situation. I conclude that the
principles that govern success remain the
same; not the actions. So old solutions
should not be repeated to deal with old
problems, every solution has expiry date.
Therefore HR champions should be in the
look out for solutions in context with the
latest techniques.
What's happened in the third generation?
After some years from this incident, the cap
seller's grand son had taken his family's
routine job. At night he too passed the forest
and kept his caps under a tree but he didn't
sleep. Early morning monkeys climbed down
to take his caps. This time the cap seller's
grand son took one stick, beaten the
monkeys and said that he too learned from
his father and not to play with him. At last
the monkeys climbed up the tree very sadly.
Prince Vijai. J, is Research Scholar, IRSC, Hyderabad E-Mail: [email protected]
Hyderabad Chapter Programs Calendar - March & April 2009
Sl. No
Date
Time
Venue
Topic
Speaker
1.
05-03-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
Are you ready for 2020: Disruption
that may change the face of HR
Mr. Abhimanyu Jha, Beautiful Mind Group, Partner.
2.
12-03-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
Philanthropy to Corporate
citizen ship – A Journey
Prof. Manas Ranjan Tripathy, ICFAI Business School.
3.
19-03-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
Parivarthan of HR Role
Mr. V. Sunder Rao, former VP HR, Saint Gobain.
4.
26-03-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
The Basic Managerial Skills- Role
of front line Managers
Mr. B. Ekambaram, Manager HR, NCS Sugars Ltd.
5.
02-04-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
Value of training and hire programme
Mr. Vijay, V.P. Winzest Edutech Private Limited,
6.
09-04-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
You make the Difference-The
scope and impact of HR interventions
Dr.Kavitha Gudapati, Orgnizational Psychologist
7.
16-04-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
Management of Meetings
Mr. Dharma Rao, Prof, HOD H R, ICBM
8.
23-04-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
ROI in HRM
Mr. K.Nagesh, Manager, HR, Parker Markwel
9.
30-04-09
6 PM
HRD Hall
World Federalism
Mr. K. Satyanarayana, Executive Director-NHRD
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
35
One Step Towards Success
L
ittle Harry had
managed to
convince
his
teacher that his
absence
from
school on the
previous day was
genuine.
Mrs.
Mehta managed to prepare an elaborate
dinner in spite of the low ration as it was
month ending. Mr. Raj managed to buy two
tickets of the movie on the first day of
release. 'Manage', is the word most
commonly people manage to use in their
daily routine.
existence. Habits sometimes may land us
in problems. Hence, it is always better that
we are flexible with our habits and manage
them according to the situation.
Managing hobbies: Every individual has
something as a personal interest and when
we try to pursue it regularly in our leisure
time it becomes our hobby. So the hobbies
have to be managed properly so that they
do not become the 'once upon a time
activities' of our life. Moreover, hobbies
always enrich and enlighten us with fresh
energy and life. They help us in developing
a world of our own where we can find solace
from the hustle bustle of the competitive life.
Hence, manage to spare some time for
pursuing hobbies.
Managing or management is no more
identified only with professionals but is a
universal activity, as it is also a very common
household word these days. In almost every
context this word is handy. But for what ever
reasons it is used, the importance of
management or managing things, is crystal
clear. Effective and efficient utilization of
available resources to attain a specific target
is nothing but management. The knowledge
of the available resources; the knowledge
of how to acquire these resources and then
the knowledge of utilizing these resources
efficiently are critical. Though Money,
Materials, Machines and Men are the basic
things that are to be managed, management
of men is very crucial and challenging. But,
to successfully manage things around us it
is essential to practice the art of
management right from within ourselves.
Managing Behavior: Immense pleasure is
experienced when people try to follow in our
foot steps towards satisfaction and
fulfillment. Before we study and analyze the
behavior of the people to be managed at
our work place it is very essential and helpful
if we study and assess our own self and
bring about the required changes in
ourselves, so that we set an example to
people at our work. We then can easily
influence and manage the human resources
at work place too.
Managing time: Time management is
'managing the time available at our disposal
effectively'. Or rather, as it is not possible to
manage the availability of time as per our
requirement, I think it is better we think on
how we manage ourselves to the time
available. Forecasting the possible
obstacles and planning the day to day
activities will surely help us in managing
ourselves to time and successfully complete
all our activities of the day with satisfaction.
For a satisfied living, managing one self is
the first and foremost thing to be efficiently
and effectively dealt with. A person who can
manage himself effectively only can succeed
in managing others. As goes the 42nd sloka
of Chapter 3 in Bhagavad-Gita,
Managing energies: Our physical, mental
and spiritual energies should be managed
in most productive way so that we attain our
goals effectively. When we learn to manage
our energies we can also efficiently manage
the time at our disposal because we will be
brisk at our thoughts and actions.
"Indriyani parani adhurinadriyebhyah param
manah Manustu para buddhirho buddeh
partasu saha"
(Sensory organs are more powerful than the
physical body; the mind is more powerful
than the sensory organs; Intellect is more
powerful than the mind. Soul is a distant
witness or observer, which is very delicate
or subtle, yet the most powerful. Hence,
control your mind with the strength of the
soul.).
Managing routine activities: As goes the
moral of an old story "Never trust a person's
intention unless he himself stoops to do the
job", it is always better to see that we
manage to do our personal works ourselves
as far as possible to avoid any delay at
workplace. A person who depends on
somebody to perform his duties will never
do them in time or as intended. Like, driving
our own car or vehicle to the workplace
instead of depending on a driver assures
that we reach our destination in time. If we
stop depending on our family members for
small things which we can manage to do on
our own, it helps to create a sharing and
caring atmosphere at home too.
A person enjoys emotional stability and is a
better decision maker when he can regulate
his mind which is very essential for self
control. Hence, the art of managing 'our self'
and to have self control is necessary before
we manage other men. Through this article
the various facets in the art of managing
oneself is discussed.
Managing habits: Habit Cultivation is both
advantageous and disadvantageous. Habits
should be developed for our healthy
– B V Sandhya Vani
Managing Self Discipline: Discipline is one
of the values which set most of the things
right in our life. Maintain self discipline
before we expect it in somebody else. The
value system that is to be spread across
our workplace should be originating from
within us.
Managing emotions: It is very essential to
manage our emotions as per the situation
and should take care that our personal
emotions do not affect our work
atmosphere. Especially, self sympathy is a
negative emotion which would cause
hindrance to our progress.
Managing Conflict: Intrapersonal conflicts
are as common as decision making in a
person's life. The pros and cons of a
decision are to be weighed and there exists
a conflict when the act to be performed,
clashes with our personal feelings or values.
It is essential to manage these intrapersonal
conflicts effectively to decide on 'to do or
not to do, what to do, where to do, how to
do, who is to do'. Anywhere and everywhere
an internal conflict may arise and we have
to effectively decide on these questions by
resolving this conflict within us.
Managing Stress: Stress is a part of
everybody's life in the modern days. The
competitive environment is creating stress
on everybody. This, on the long run leads
to many disastrous actions. Even school
children are not an exception now. They
undergo stress because of the competition
they are forced to face. The competitive
environment forces the parents and the
teachers to create stress on the students.
Hence, we should learn to manage stress
effectively by practicing Yoga or meditation,
listening to music, spending time on our
hobbies etc which are some of the methods
available for easily reducing stress. By
managing stress, decision making at work
place also is effective.
Thus, every individual to work effectively has
to start practicing the art of managing from
within him and then move on to manage
others. Guiding and leading ourselves
towards positiveness by self assessment
and practicing self control only will help us
to successfully guide and lead others. When
both the managers and the people to be
managed, start managing themselves then
the people management process becomes
very simple. When we are well managed
human beings, we can attain self
satisfaction. Self satisfaction fills us with
positive energy and leads us towards
success. Let us try to practice this art of self
management as one of the steps towards
success.
Ms. B V Sandhya vani is faculty at Alluri Institute of Management Sciences, Hanamkonda. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
36
Strategy For Effective
Time Management
– Dr. I Narsis
O
ne of the important aspects involved
in Organisational Dynamics is
managing time effectively and efficiently.
When the people of working class wanted
to manage their time effectively, the normal
problem faced by them is the stress in
managing time. When the people are
trapped in this stress they will lose in their
effectiveness and because of it the
productivity will also be affected. The real
problem is that they could not understand
and recognize this stress which is within
them. Here I have referred many books and
special journals for the time management
and I would like to present the following ten
steps, as tips to reduce stress and improve
productivity. These following steps are used
as a check list for their effective utilisation
of their time in working spot. These steps
also help them to reduce their stress and
reclaim their personal life. By managing their
time more wisely, they can minimize stress
and improve their quality of life also.
Plan each day
Planning is the primary functional of
Management. Planning your day can help
you accomplish more and feel more in
control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting
the most important tasks at the top. Keep a
schedule of your daily activities to minimize
conflicts and last-minute rushes.
Evaluate how you're spending your time.
This is a key strategy for effective time
management. Keep a diary of everything
you do for three days to determine how
you're spending your time. Look for time that
can be used more wisely. For example,
could you take a bus or train to work and
use the commute to catch up on reading? If
so, you could free up some time to exercise
or spend with family or friends. This strategy
also reduces the stress associated with
queuing and tedious tasks.
Motivation to "get going"
Motivation is very important to success.
Focus on your long term goals: make sure
these are still important to you. Remind
yourself on the benefits you expect. Set
short term targets that you can manage, so
that you get frequent tastes of success. If
you do not feel motivated, then be active in
finding a source of motivation or inspiration.
Ordering your tasks.
Time-consuming but relatively unimportant
tasks can consume a lot of your day.
Prioritizing tasks will ensure that you spend
your time and energy on those that are truly
important to you.
Time tasks
Time management requires you to know
how long something takes. This is easier if
you break a larger project down into smaller
tasks. Often, one or two of these will take
longer than you expect. It may be aspects
of starting and finishing tasks that take
longer than expected. Plan for all stages,
and find out how much time you need to
allocate for each stage.
Cost your time
Work out whether the amount of time you
spend on each aspect of a task is "costeffective". Usually the return decreases after
a certain point. Academic work is hard to
get perfect, as there is not usually a single
right answer. If you gain satisfaction from
the additional study time, that is fine, as long
as you have calculated what you are giving
up in exchange.
Delegate to others
Identify what lies beneath a reluctance to
delegate. For example, do you distrust
others to do the job well? If so, what are the
effects of this on your own time
management, stress levels and personal
efficiency? What would be the benefits to
you and to others if you delegated more?
Could you find a compromise where you
share some tasks in the shorter term?
Ask for help
Recognize your own limits, support services
are set up because it is expected that people
will need help. Asking friends and colleagues
for help can contribute to their own personal
development too. It can build their self
esteem and problem solving skills. It gives
them an opportunity to be helpful, which they
may value.
Basic starting strategy
Use a basic starting strategy such as
brainstorming or writing a list. Start with what
you can do and work from there. Often a
problem arises when we focus too much on
what the end product should be rather than
building from what we already know. Start
small, branch out, the idea will come.
Plan activities out in a logical order
A diary is an essential life tool. Some people
prefer electronic organizers. Check it at least
three times a day. Develop the habit of
writing everything in it to avoid double
booking. Enter all targets. Enter deadlines
on the date of the deadline and the day you
want to start work on that assignment. Write
a list of all the tasks you need to undertake
during the day. Rewrite the list, grouping the
activities by place. Allow sufficient time to
move from one place to another. Write the
locations in your diary.
Conclusion
Time management is about getting more
value out of your time and using it to improve
the quality of your life. It is not just managing
your time; it is managing about one relation
to time. Effective time management is the
basis of good personal and professional
habits. Effective time management requires
us to actively categorize our priorities. This
brings about peace and balance to our life.
It is not necessarily about working hard and
for long hours it is all about how smartly you
finish your work. It is about getting organized
and being aware of what is important to your
work and for your success. It is simply based
on your attitude and the choices you make.
Hence, developing positive attitudes
towards time management improves
techniques and processes effectively for
better results.
"Time is the scarcest resource of the
manager; If it is not managed, nothing else
can be managed."- Peter F. Drucker
When I am getting ready to reason with a
man, I spend one-third of my time thinking
about myself and what I am going to say
and two-thirds about him and what he is
going to say. - Abraham Lincoln
Dr. I Narsis is Professor and Coordinator, Dept. of Commerce. Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli E-Mail: E-mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
37
Motivation:
the key to excellence
"If a man hasn't
discovered
something he will
die for, he is not
fit to live".
- Martin Luther
– Sandhya Mehta
People differ not
only in their ability
to do but also in
what they 'love to
do'. This 'love to do
or will to do' is the motivation and it depends
upon the strength of the motives. Hence
motivation is an internal feeling, which results
in persistent behavior directed towards a
particular goal. People who are motivated are
driven by a desire to achieve the goal that
they perceive as having value to them.
See to it that you do not compartmentalize
and specialize so much within your
organization that individual members are
excluded from contributing to the larger
vision. This apart from bringing down the
stress level of the employees shall improve
the creativity and thinking skills of the
employees in a practical way.
Appreciate them more often even for small
things. Human beings need love and
appreciation. Punishment cannot make a
person's attitude positive. In most of the
organizations the human need for
appreciation is grossly underestimated.
Most of the people starve for appreciation
and it kills both their motivation and
creativity. People should be given an
environment where they can enjoy their
contribution more than their position in the
hierarchy. They should always be caught
doing the right things and be appreciated
for the same there and then and this should
be done as often as is possible. Small doses
of appreciation at regular short intervals are
more effective than waiting for a real great
occasion or for the farewell day to arrive.
Performance is a combination of 'will' and
'skill'. Skill we all possess but what about
'the will'? The will makes all the difference
& that is what motivation is. Since God has
created individual differences in us, we need
'different for different folks' and a same set
of rules cannot apply to all the individuals.
In order to understand our people better we
need to understand their needs well. Once
we understand our employees well; probably
our efforts to understand them and motivate
them will bear fruits. While money motivates
some, for others recognition, advancement
and opportunities for growth may be the
motivator.
HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR TEAM
Foster transparency in official dealings. This
is the least any employee would expect.,
The fastest and the surest way of killing
motivation in people is by showing them that
in the eyes of the management, some are
more equal than them.
Give people the work they love. Giving your
employees the jobs ideally meant for them
shall enable them to derive more job
satisfaction. Sense of accomplishment gives
more joy and happiness. Happiness
motivates them to give their best and to do
still better. Apart from earning an income,
the need to feel wanted and be productive,
to take up challenges, to satisfy one's
creative urge and to be involved in jobs that
we love and enjoy are some other motivating
factors for an individual in a job.
An employee should be given a feeling that
even if there is an inequality somewhere,
he can discuss it very freely with an open
mind. In fact in many organizations the one,
who is getting the feeling of inequality, will
not care to discuss it because of the highheadedness of his superiors; least they may
further spoil his career as a punishment for
pointing out their faults.
When people work to satisfy an inner urge
they may carry on till they succeed,
irrespective of how long it takes.
No one would like to work sincerely for an
organization where inequality prevails and
no organization can afford to get rid of these
inequalities if an employee pointing these
out receives not solace but further wrath.
Such an employee would spend more
energy finding a new job than on
concentrating on the present one.
Take care of their needs well. You cannot
expect to see sense of belongingness in
your people unless you show the same for
them. One common key factor in all
successful companies is the respect, dignity
and love with which they treat their people.
They treat their employees not as pawns
but as esteemed partners.
Keep asking people sincerely, if they are
happy and are finding the environment
impartial, caring and loving.
See how you can reduce stress and
distractions from your people's lives by
reducing their personal work. Organize
centrally the payment of employees' phone,
electricity and other personal bills and other
such issues. Take organization to be a big
family umbrella where people can come
together to mutually help each other in
solving any personal and official problems.
Appraise people justly. Most of the
organizations today talk of teamwork but
assess people only on their individual efforts.
However, the fact remains that whatever you
don't assess or motivate a person for shall
tend to receive the last priority.
Often organizations appraise employees biannually or annually, on one particular day.
This makes employees work sincerely
towards the last few weeks only. People
appraising employees also cannot get rid
of their prejudices and impressions formed
completely in that small period. Man too is
not like a log of wood but more like a flowing
river, he keeps changing.
Appraising a person's performance on daily
or weekly basis not only can give a more
comprehensive picture of the employee's
performance, it can also make people strive
for goals very single working hour of the year
developing a habit of constantly utilizing their
time effectively, in the process. With this
approach the tendency to appraise people
on stray incidents, prejudices and biases too
gets taken care of to a great extent. Hence
let there be formatted diaries and not forms
for appraisals.
The system of instant appreciation for
achievement of goals, innovative ideas,
sense of oneness, or for high level of
commitment to corporate values can keep
the motivation level of employees very high.
Communicate low performance level in
private to the person concerned. Instead of
saying that the other person could not
perform well, say that it is not up to his own
usual standards. Sit with the person. Find
out the reasons for the low performance and
identify ways and means of overcoming the
same and developing strategies for
improvement. Show empathy while doing
so. The person should get the feeling that it
is his performance during a particular time
period that is being evaluated as low and
not his real worth as a person.
Help people in identifying their deepest
desires and how these could be dovetailed
with the needs of the society as well as with
the goals and purposes of the organization
for their mutual fulfillment. Trust that each
of your people is born to do great things,
convince him of the same and ensure that
you facilitate him in doing precisely the
same. Once you know the feelings, desires,
needs and temperament of the individual
people, it becomes much easier to adapt
your strategies accordingly in order to find
the right slot for each one of them and to
inspire them to motivate themselves
effectively.
While building teams assess the qualities,
skills required for accomplishment of tasks
assigned to them. Search for the right kind
Ms. Sandhya Mehta (PhD Scholar) is Asst. Prof. Guru Nanak Institute of Mgt & Technology, Ludhiana. E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
38
of people and build teams in such a way
that a member's weakness in a particular
area gets offset by the other member (s)'
strength in it.
Lead people from front. Find out why you
yourself feel motivated to accomplish the
present goal. Employees should see their
leader as a part of their team, not as a
coward sitting comfortably in his cozy
chamber who is merely passing on difficult
instructions to them without trying to
understand their difficulties or without caring
to provide them the necessary assistance
and infrastructure for carrying out the work.
Develop a culture where people value their
contribution more than their hierarchical
position in the organization. To be truly
motivated one needs constant appreciation
for achievements. A label signifying the
hierarchical status falls too short in providing
the same.
Some practical issues in motivation
A manager may adopt positive or negative
motivators to keep his team motivated but
despite all efforts he may not have a fully
motivated team and hence may not be able
to achieve the desired results. Some of these
issues which he may encounter in his day to
day official dealing with people may be:
More money being offered by the
competitor: This may happen many a
PUNE CHAPTER
Pune22nd November'2008.At a time when news
about employee lay-offs is hitting headlines,
industry experts believe that this situation can
be viewed as a blessing in disguise.Utilising this
period as an opportunity to reasses one's long
term career goals will help smoothen the
journey.Similar opinions and some common HR
concerns during the recesion period were voiced
out by the eminent industry leaders during a day
long conference in Pune as pat of the Annual
HRD conference.A day long annual conference
organised by National Human Resource
Development (NHRD) Pune chapter brought
smiles to the delegate companies and
participants from the HR industry as the panel
comprising of Dr Ganesh Natarajan - CEO
Zensar Technologies and Chairman NASSCOM,
Mr Deepak Ghaisas - Vice- Chairman and
Director ;I-flex solutions ltd, Ms Anooba Kini, HR
Head Future Money and Mr Pradeep Bhargava
- Managing Director - Cummins Generator
Technologies India Ltd. clearly indicated that
good companies which have their value
propositions in place will continue to do well and
tough times do not last but tough people do.
Taking forward the panel discussion Dr.
Natarajan put emphasis on the fact that in trying
times the role of HR becomes all the more crucial
and the most important aspect is to understand,
respect and listen to your work force. Elaborating
further Mr. Pradeep Bhargava of Cummins said
that in past few years people have seen
unexpected growth across all quarters and that
has raised the aspirations of the people.
Employers and employees got pampered and
that is the reason things are looking negative
now, but it is not all that bad.
Ms Annoba Kini Head Human Resources -Future
Money laid more stress on the relationship aspect
times that the competitor firm may offer more
money to an equally qualified employee. In
such a situation, it is the role of the manager
to counsel his subordinates and share with
them the rationale behind the salary
structure and at the same time ensures that
competitive salary along with good work
culture one provided to the employees.
The senior worker who does not wish to
work: The employee who spends a
considerable amount of time in the
organization shall have to be kept motivated
with enriching job assignment wherein he
can contribute and the organization can
benefit from his varied experience. Placing
a senior employee at the same level as a
fresh one in terms of job responsibilities may
be very demotivating for him and hence he
may loose the desire and the will to put in
his/her best efforts.
The worker who complains that "it's only
words" and nothing more: In some
circumstances the worker may feel that
words of appreciation are not sufficient to
keep them motivated because they are
seldom accompanied with money gains.
Under such circumstances, such people
shall have to be identified and their problems
need to be addressed and discussed with
them. Providing opportunities for training,
learning and growth can help under such
cases.
A boss who seldom appreciates: A
subordinate may have a boss who does
doing but ensure that everything goes under
his/her signatures. It can be a frustrating
situation but one can help oneself by staying
self motivated and using one's own goals
as the motivators.
The junior employees employed on
higher salary: Depending on the
organizational needs and requirements at
time a junior 'specialist' may have to be
appointed. He may not have many years to
his credit but may be from a 'highly
specialized' field; hence it may be
organizational compulsion to recruit him on
higher salary. The senior employee under
such circumstances shall have to be
involved in such decisions and should be
made to understand the rationale behind
such decisions.
Conclusion
in trying times and slowdown phase. Taking the
issue of layoffs and salary cuts forward, she said
that all organizations go through this phase but
important aspect is the manner in which HR tackles
the issue of lay-offs and salary cuts. Smart sizing
and not downsizing should be the core of any HR
activity in the times of recession.
Group, IBS, Sadhana Group, Bharatiya
Vidyapeeth and the Vaikunta Group. Participating
Corporate partners were Zensar Technologies,
WNS and Suzlon. The award for the best case
study report went to Bharatiya Vidyapeeth for their
study on effectiveness of Training Programs in
collaboration with Suzlon.
The panel clearly mentioned that HR should play
the role of a strategic partner irrespective of the
size of the company specifically during recession.
Its time to look at opportunities for strengthening
bonds with your employees and recession is more
of an opportunity for the HR in employee relations
than a challenge as being presented currently to
the industry and the academia.
The speakers addressed the forum which
comprised of participants from a diverse group of
Indian and Global corporations on critical HR
issues ranging from the role of HR in current trying
times to Human Resource outsourcing and the
role of Public Private Partnerships in creating
Talent for Corporate India. Over 30 companies
participated in the annual conference from all over
India.
Other distinguished speakers for the annual NHRD
conference were Dr. Uma Ganesh -CEO Global
Talent Track, Ranjan Sinha - CEO and Chairman
Summit HR India, Priti Rao - Global Services and
IT Dell International; Pavan Sriram -AVP Sales Global Talent Metrics, Kavita Kulkarni - Head HR
Pune and Head HR for SI and ES Infosys
Technologies Ltd. and Bhaskar Das - Head HR
Cognizant Technologies Solutions.
The annual conference served as a platform for
exchange of ideas, experiences, insights and
perspectives from the distinguished leaders and
from across corporate India and the academic
world. The theme for the conference NXG - Next
Generation HR was rightly picked up as the
members of NHRD Pune chapter have been
consciously moving beyond looking at just the
immediate challenges that the Indian Industry is
dealing with and instead look at a future that all of
are going to be a part of and see how the HR
professionals can play a more proactive and
impactful role in shaping the future. Highlight of the
annual conference was the award ceremony by
NHRD.
Participating academic institutions were Indira
Self-motivation is the best way to stay
motivated and pursue one's goals. There
shall never be a perfect set of situations or
circumstances hence we should try to keep
our morale high under all set of
circumstances. Think big, dream big, and
prepare yourself to face adversities, have
faith in your capabilities and have faith in
God. Remember, games can't be won
unless they are played, and prayers can't
be answered unless they are prayed.
According the President NHRD Pune Chapter, Ms
Prameela Kalive who is also VP and Global HR
head for Zensar Technologies; "We at the chapter
see an opportunity for us to play a critical role in
bringing together the various stakeholders of
Corporate India - the Industry which will continue
to be the prime mover for growth, the talent
ecosystem which is and will be the backbone for
Industry and the government and public enterprise
which have a great role to play as enablers,
facilitators and catalysts." HR fraternity has a
critical and impactful role to play in partnering with
business in these trying and uncertain times. So
while the flood lights are all focused on the CFOs
and CIOs, the NHRD Pune Chapter came up with
this annual conference to be able to go back to
the Business Leaders and tell them (not ask them)
to wait as this phenomenon is not just about
toplines and bottomlines, its about people who
are core to whatever business the company is
into .So the way top bosses react now in these
times can go a long way in shaping the future of
the organization-from HR perspective there is a
great opportunity in the form of a serious
challenges.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
39
Zero to Heroes
– S. Deenadayalan
responsible for the entire raw material
procurement from abroad as well as India
and taking care the customer dispatches and
maintaining the stores and spares as per
the business requirements as well as in
compliance with the statutory requirements
(i.e. Central Excise, Customs and sales tax
etc..,).
Municipal School to Managers
Recently I got an invitation from Mahesh
Ramalingam,Director and Regional Head of
Talent Acquisition, South Asia, Thomson
Reuters about the 1995 and students of
Municipal Schools in an around
Gummudipoondi - nearly 15 schools - for
acknowledging these Schools contribution
in shaping their careers and I must be
present for the function. I could not make it,
but he shared the success stories of most
of them who started as blue collar workers
in Thapar DuPont, an American Multi
National company. Nearly 250 of them
joined as workers and almost all of them
have become Managers, entrepreneurs and
have broken the myth that college degrees
and professional qualifications are
incidental. Yes all these 250 plus blue collar
beginners have added rubber stamps, but
chose a growth route different from many
others.
About my family
I have brought in a joint family culture where
my father has 6 younger brothers and all
are living together in the same house. My
Father is a Farmer and mother is a Home
Manager and I have one elder sister and
elder brother. Both of them got married. My
brother is an Advocate.
We studied in the municipal school located
in my village till 5th standard. I have
completed my 10th standard in the
Government Boys High school at
Kavaraipettai and it 3 Kms away from my
house and I had to go by walk everyday.
Then I had studied in Government boy's
higher secondary school at Ponneri. It is 15
Kms away from my house. I used to go by
bicycle up to Kavaraipettai railway station
and then catch the train to Ponneri.
Difficult Social Economic back ground
and now spread over globally in different
roles.
My professional career (Joined as Learner)
In view of family situation, poverty or failure
in schools, chose blue collar jobs and by
pure intrinsic drive and the exposure in
DuPont - have become senior leaders in
organizations in India, US, Middle East,
Canada and some are running their own
enterprise. They are in HR, Supply Chain,
Safety, and Production and have no regular
MBA's or Engineering degrees.
After completion of 12th Standard in 1994,
I had to take care of the agriculture along
with my father as he fell sick. It was a very
memorable period in my life. I did not find it
difficulty as I used to spend some time every
day along with my father in the agriculture
field. I am the one who drove the tractor at
the age of 8 years. This could have not been
possible with out my father's support,
motivation and the liberty.
It is just 14 years after passing 12th std,
and today they are heroes. I just picked
some names at random and chose to write
about two of the blue collar beginners - one
who stayed in the same organization (Now
taken over by Sriram Fibres) and another
who resigned.
Though it was the collective decision taken
not to continue the study, but I felt that I
missed something the life by discontinuing
the studies. Over a period of one year, my
parents were also felt in the same way telling
me that we have spoiled life by discontinuing
studies.
A sample of the 250 and the roles played
In the words of Mr Sudhakar - About Me
That was the time, Dec'1995; I had an
opportunity to attend the entrance exam for
the selection of Learners Training Program
conducted by the big MNC called Thapar
DuPont Limited. Who assured the job after
successful completion of two years training?
I got selected in the exam.
I am Sudhakar born and brought in a small
village called Paranambedu, it is 45 Kms
away from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Currently
working as Team Leader -Materials (Supply
Chain) for SRF Limited at Gummudipoondi
Unit.
A call letter came on 2nd Jan'1996 saying
about my two years training program at
NTTF Dharwad (Karnataka) and asking me
At present this unit operates at the turn over
of Rs.250 Crores per Year and I am
to report on 6th Jan'1996 at Madras central
railway station.
As we are living in small village and none of
our family members were aware about
industrial atmosphere and its culture /
background. Initially my parents were
hesitating in sending me to the training
program.
After successful completion of two years
training at NTTF (Dharwad) and PSG
(Coimbatore), I was moved to manufacturing
dept and the training not only provided me
the employment but contextual employability
Challenges faced:First of all it was a great challenge form e to
stay away from my family almost 2 years.
During my on the training program at site, I
was wondering that as to how to prove or
get noticed for my good work among the
200 people.
During the commissioning of the plant in
1998, there was a function at Hotel
Connemara (Chennai) and circular by the
director saying that except 11 trainees all of
them had to come to Hotel for the function
and I am one among the 11 people list.
Though I felt bad for not calling me to the
star hotel, it was a pride that I got noticed.
Then, I moved to take care of MIS, i.e. daily
reports, monthly reports. During that time
there was a pressure in implementing ERP
system and three of us got selected to attend
the training program (conducted by DuPont
Singapore) and taking care of Production
planning module in ERP system called SAP
R3.
In Jan'2001, I got selected for the Shift
Leader position through internal selection
process. This selection has three tier
screening process. Till Sep'2005, I was
taking care of entire shift operation in my
shift and responsible for QCDSM.
Mr. S. Deenadayalan, CEO and Architect - Organizational Capability Centre for Excellence in Organization, Bangalore [email protected],
www.exploreceo.com
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
40
I was told by my teachers that I was one
among the best and brightest student in the
school and was included in all competitions
or any school activity! Made school proud
by scoring 95%+ scores in complex science
subjects during 10th grade and upped the
chances for self, family and teachers of
scoring well and getting into a professional
medical course.
Then I was moved to another challenging
area called Supply Chain. Stepping in to the
non manufacturing…, reporting to a Chief
Manager Supply Chain.
This was really tough time for me to
implement the TQM practice to non
manufacturing, after a struggle of six
months; people started tasting the result of
TQM way daily management. Then in
April'2006, I have promoted as senior
executive from staff.
During Nov'2006, there were frequent review
took place with me by Plant Head on the
daily management, understanding of the
process and my confidence level.
Award received from Mr. Sushil Kapoor
(President & CEO - SRF)
This did come as a shock to my family (as I
had been hiding the fact of my failures during
the term exams) and my father must have
felt like the biggest loser for keeping
ambitions on me.
Some times I was wondering why I am
cornered and tough targets are given. At last
in end of Dec'2006, again Plant Head called
and asked me about the confidence level in
leading the supply and now no looking back.
Since Jan'2007, I am heading the Supply
Chain function. It is really a challenging job
to me. I am also unit coordinator for CSR
activity which I love to do and the
responsibility for statutory approval of new
Projects in addition to the Supply Chin
management.
Added to My education:
Along with my family. (Mrs. Varalakshmi,
Baby Pratheeka and Baby Prasheetha
practice are more obstacles focused for
those who don't have the DNA. The contra
to this theory could be that not with this DNA
have succeeded in the business.
After joining the training program, I have
completed two years course in technical
skills at NTTF and PSG, during the
employment I have completed BBA
(Bachelor of Business administration) and I
am undergoing MBA.
In the words of Mr Mahesh Ramalingam
About my growth
Originally from a small
town called Ponneri near Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, in Bangalore, currently working for
Thomson Reuters as Director and Regional
Head of Talent Acquisition taking care of
TA related activities across South Asia.
I have started my career as learner and
become a blue collar employee in 1998 and
become a staff grade in 2001 and moved to
commercial area in 2005 and become a
senior executive in 2006 and become a
Manager and Head Supply chain in 2007.
My advice to the students of municipal
school students
I always tell people to be present to the
present and aim to achieve great goals in
near future. To do so, every one has to work
hard and hard. The more you work hard and
do challenging job you will enjoy the fruitful
results. Visualize your future and work
towards that!
To have a big building the foundation must
be strong enough! Same like to grow up and
soar to new heights one must have good
attitude and knowledge base!!
I have married in 2005 and have twin
daughters.
If one has read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad
- Robert Kiyosaki with Sharon Lechter, this
article can be connected to our ancient
wisdom and this trait need not be by birth
but by practice. However he challenges of
What changed my life during 11th and 12th
Grade - I do not know even now (or don't
want to reveal now)….I failed miserably,
repeatedly in majority of term exams which
resulted in my failure in the final exam as
well.
Director and Regional
Head
of
Talent
Acquisition, South
Asia,
Thomson
Reuters
Though I have specialized in Talent
Acquisition/ Recruitment for the last 8 years,
I started my career right after my schooling
(1995) as a trainee with DuPont, learning
all aspects of Tool and Die Making including
operating textile machineries like twisters,
looms, etc., Along with this we were taught
basics of management, English, Physics,
Chemistry and what not (!!) with prestigious
institutions like NTTF and PSG.
I should step back and explain why I joined
a non-traditional course/ role like this despite
having a wish/ push to join traditional course
like engineering or medicine!
My father was a visionary and an ambitious
person too……he ensured that me and my
siblings study in a school which would equip
us in English, Hindi and Tamil (our mother
tongue). It is surely visionary from a person
who started his career with the government
as a clerk and grew up in a village especially
during 1980's!
As days passed, shock turned into anger
and I was literally kept aside…..and dumped
and that changed my life.
To keep the anger off - I obliged with all the
work given to me….and in that process I
introspected naturally on what to do to keep
myself away from the house (quite frankly
that's the truth).
That's the time - this opportunity came up
with DuPont who was hiring people for a
Sponsored training program happening
across various states (Karnataka, Kerela
and Andhra) which guaranteed an
employment at the successful completion
of this program, in their factory in a nearby
town called Gummudipoondi.
I immediately jumped upon the opportunity
and applied….there were gruelling tests and
interviews and finally It was a joyous
moment…a moment I had never had in my
life time and I went with pride to inform my
parents that I was successful again and
wanted to pursue my career this
way….expecting an equally positive
reaction.
This was my first experience of coming out
of failure….but this gave a rich experience
to the rest of my career and made me a
seasoned man in the corporate world. These
6 months gave enormous amount of
courage and confidence which keeps me
running even now.
After successful completion of this program
- I was handpicked by the HR at DuPont to
work in the HR Team itself managing Site
Administration, Transport, Library,
Recruitment, Training, etc., and that was a
fortunate (not accidental) start to my career
in HR!
Then I moved on to the IT Industry in the
midst of various challenges the factory was
facing and got a job in Bangalore during
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
41
2000….when the dot com burst
happened….innumerable jobs lost… but
incident I got a job with Oracle….guess
fortunate. It was a challenging time as IT
and ITES recruitment was Greek and Latin.
I slowly learnt the ropes of the same through
the team and by putting efforts beyond what
is required….at-times 24 hours of work
continuously and without week-off for
continuous 4 months.
(traditional titles) to highly value adding
heroes for the Pharma Industry. This is the
sample of success stories of more than 1000
Municipal schools students who have broken
the Educational and functional silos and
many MBA's are reporting to them. All below the age of 30 and in the down trend
time
Appeal to HR fraternity.
HR in the down trend should provide
LADDERSHIP (GROWTH) BY PROACTIVE
LEADERSHIP - AND the word blue collar
will disappear. It is a win-win for business
(in view of company sponsored continuing
education as retention Carrot.).
Post this I worked with great brands of the
IT world like Microsoft, Computer Associates
(now CA), Hewlett-Packard and joined
Reuters, which later became Thomson
Reuters by Thomson's acquisition.
The journey so far has been a real
rollercoaster ride but with enormous
amounts of experience gaining and
knowledge sharing. I have also been
fortunate to grow up the ladder as my mentor
says….."Blue collar to Gold collar
job"…..obviously not without hard work!
Surely, I am a happy man now after seeing
that pride in my father's eyes and I can
confidently say that he was definitely not
wrong and his ambitions were realistic.
And these people are creating wonders and
similarly people who joined DR Reddy Labs
in Yannam near Kakinada in 2001, just after
completing 12th std have all become
Executives in R&D, Quality in Dr.Reddys
and other Pharma companies and most of
them have completed their MSC's. They all
started as blue collar team members
More than 1000 Municipal School
Students have become Managers before
the age of 30
Carried from page 43
Such youths will stay for minimum of five
to seven years and then look to grow with in
or out side the organization. The business
gets replacement at half the cost and the
Country gets best talents with better
understanding of business. It is not
Japanese who can do, but Indians can do
wonders and these 1000 kids all over India
have demonstrated this in the last decade
plus. The beneficiaries of this model are not
only DuPont or Dr Reddys but Pepsis,
Microsoft, Oracle, HCL and many other
Indian companies and global companies.
Passion plus is the trick for this success.
Bottom-up Series - 5
are still in touch with him. "What we do is
not important but how we do is important,
is the big lesson I have learnt" says SV.
Member of Chief General Manager's
Club - A prestigious award
After the inspection assignment, SV took
over the responsibility of an Industrial
Estate Branch in Bangalore, which was in
dark for a long time. Within 3 years he
rebuilt the branch with enormous business
growth through many innovative ideas,
including introduction of an internal
magazine to strengthen the team. The
branch got an award for Customer Service
Excellence and highest business growth
scoring highest mark of 92.9% from the
Corporate Inspection team and created a
record. This paid a rich dividend. Yes SV
was recognized as the best performer and
was made a member of prestigious CHIEF
GENERAL MANAGER`S CLUB and was
promoted as Asst. General Manager. He
was made Regional Head with branches
spread across 7 districts. During his tenure
his region achieved highest growth rate in
business, income, and profit and reduced
the stressed assets by half. His
performance as the Regional Head
enabled him to get recommended for the
best AGM.
Working together
SV says "The only way to achieve the
business goal is to take the people along
with you". He freely communicates with all,
at the same time a good listener and
encourages people to communicate
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
without any inhibition. However, he hates
dishonesty and negative attitude. He
practices YOGA regularly to manage
stress. He also strongly believes in GOD
and takes things philosophically, instead of
taking deep into the heart.
Expectation of HR: It's all about People
Management
SV says his basic expectation of HR's role
is to build Cordial interpersonal
relationships and this should be embedded
in HR practices. HR should facilitate and
support people to own up their role in
Organization for its success. Accepting the
people as they are and strengthen the team
with proper management style is HR
requirement today.
Boss Speaks
R. Karthikeyan, General Manager says "SV
is an epitome of diligence; one who is
focused on the goals set by the
organization and has demonstrated
leadership quality through team building.
A great asset to have"
Colleague Speaks
S. R. Panduranga, AGM at SBI says "SV
has come up in life from scratch undergoing
ordeals and took over the responsibility of
the family at very young age. I found SV
very hardworking, committed accepting
challenges for accomplishment. His
sincerity, hard work and determination
demonstrated in achieving the distinction
in B Com realizing gold medal. I am pleased
to know that his achievements are going
42
to be published in the esteemed journal
~BOTTOM UP~ and I wish him all the best
and Godspeed.
Family Man
SV Says "My elderly mother is with me
blessing daily for all my endeavours. My
wife, fully devoted to devotional music is
my backbone. Her patience and smile are
two factors I wish to inculcate within me".
SV is blessed with two children. His
daughter is a Cost Accountant with MBA is
married and stays in US. His son is a Senior
Software Engineer in a MNC and currently
pursuing MBA at IIM, Bangalore. He says
"Our family is well knitted with strong bond
of love and affection".
Future Plan
SV has a passion towards educational field
and post retirement he would like to share
his experience, and knowledge with
younger generation. Learning a musical
instrument has been his childhood dream
and he hopes to fulfil the same. Increased
participation in societal activities is also in
his mind.
Bottom up
"We want leaders who are credible. We
must believe that their word can be trusted,
that they are personally excited and
enthusiastic about the direction in which
they are headed". So say authors James
Kouzes and Barry Posner.
I am sure SV's success story will inspire
many people and will enable organizations
to create more such leaders.
Bottom-up Series - 5
"What we do is not important but how we
do is important"
S. Vaidyanathan (SV)
This article features a very senior banking
professional. SV currently works as
Assistant General Manager in State Bank
of India (SBI). He is heading the Trade
Finance Cell, which is a specialized outfit
extending International Banking Trade
services to all the branch customers to set
high benchmark for productivity and Turn
Around Time (TAT), efficiency level etc.
I had known SV right from
my childhood. He hails
from a lower middle class
family from one of the
village in Tanjore Dist..
He lost his father when
he was hardly a year old
and both his sisters were
less than 10 years.
Except for his maternal grandfather,
nobody else stood by the side of his
widowed mother. Being born in a Brahmin
family with agricultural land in a tiny village
at Thanjavur Dist. was the only source of
sustenance for the family.
Blessings of Goddess Saraswathi
The village which SV was living did not have
a school and he had to walk miles to reach
his school. SV always stood FIRST in
school, including final examinations of
SSLC. However, the family financial
position did not permit him to continue
college education nor he could look for a
job as he was under 18 years of age. For
his academic performance, the government
awarded him merit scholarship and he
could continue upto Pre-university. SV
records his gratitude to a noble soul, who
extended free boarding and lodging at his
house during his PUC days. Remembering
the old cherished memories, he is still
grateful to the Goddess Saraswathi with
whose blessings; he was standing high all
through his education.
Grandfather- a great godfather
Under the circumstances, by selling few of
the lands and ancestral house, his two
sisters were married. As the agricultural
income was receding, his grandfather took
a job in a shop as a clerk to support family.
This nobleman was the real source of
inspiration and was a godfather to the family
and taught moral values of life. The most
important factor was his physical, emotional,
financial and affectionate blessings.
Sojourn to SBI
SV discontinued his education due to
financial difficulties and moved to
Bangalore. Life was not easy for this village
rustic at the Garden City. He joined a
Printing Press Company for daily wages.
Subsequently found a job in a SSI unit.
Nearly after two years of struggle, he
secured a temporary Clerk job at SBI. It
was the beginning of new era. Since then,
there was no looking back. SV got his
permanent posting as a Clerk at SBI in May
1972.
Winning a Gold Medal: a Gift dedicated
to Grandfather
Though SV discontinued his studies, he did
not forget the promise that he made to his
grandfather. He continued B.Com course
and attended the evening classes after the
regular bank job. Thanks to his hard work,
sincere efforts and his grandfather's
blessings, he competed with regular day
students and stood FIRST in Bangalore
University in Final B.Com. and was
awarded a GOLD MEDAL which was
dedicated to his grandfather.
SV Receiving an award from Smt. Varalakshmi
Gundurao and Late Mr. Gundurao, former Chief
Minister of Karnataka looks on.
Hard work and Sincere efforts will take
you to Top
Having excelled in graduation, his quest for
learning did not stop. SV successfully
completed Law Graduation and also
completed professional examinations,
conducted by Indian Institute of Bankers
(IIB). He secured very high marks and
became a Certified Associate of IIB
(CAIIB). With this, he appeared for the
competitive examinations and got
promoted by Aug. 1978 as an Officer.
Meanwhile, SV pursued his Post
Graduation in Commerce and due to official
pressure, he appeared for both first and
– Girinarayanan G
final M.Com examinations. Hard work and
sincere efforts paid dividend and he passed
out M.Com in FIRST class.
His Mantra of success:
His mantra of success was to build
capabilities and achieve success
consistently. For SV, every assignment at
different branches of SBI was with more
challenges and proved to be a stepping
stone in career. To quote an instance SV
was posted as a Trainer in SBI's Staff
College. This assignment did help in
enhancing his training skills and provided
sufficient opportunities in imparting training
for transfer of knowledge and train many
in transformation of attitude. To quote
another instance, he was posted as a
Branch Manager, which had history of
problems created by the local Trade Union.
Building cordial relationship and being
transparent with the Union helped SV to
achieve a positive result. Needless to say,
the branch after ten years, achieved net
profit for the first time
Planning and Systematic Approach for
achieving result
He was working as a Chief Manager in a
branch which was catering to a giant Public
Sector. This branch had history of frequent
frauds. His planning and systematic
approach enabled to track and have a close
monitoring on all issues and helped the
bank to corner the black sheep and
facilitated the authorities to nab the
criminal. Since then, the branch was devoid
of that stigma and has progressed well.
"What we do is not important but how
we do is important"
SV was away from his family for over 4
years as a Chief Manager (Inspectionmobile duty). He had inspected over 65
branches spread across West Bengal,
Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Travelling
and meeting new people with different
culture taught him Self-discipline and
organising oneself. He treated people with
grace and talked to them with ease to
garner their support for completing the
inspection smoothly with mutual benefits
for the improvement of the branches. Many
branches were happy for his positive
outlook and helpful attitude. The footsteps
he left were so strong that even after 15
years, few colleagues from these branches
Contd.. on page 42
Mr. Girinarayanan G is Head - HR, TACO-Sasken Automotive Electronics Ltd. (TSAE). E-Mail: E-Mail: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
43
Pune Chapter - Learning Styles: Understanding the language of the Learner
Preview
Aural / Auditory Learners:
An effective Training Program depends largely
on the Trainer’s ability to engage his audience,
and understand the various learning styles. The
trainer has to employ different training methods
to cater to the diverse ways in which individuals
assimilate information and acquire knowledge
or learn new skills. Keeping this as a back-drop,
we had Marc Ratcliffe and Aaron Smith
(associated with MRWED International)
provide an insight into the various learning
styles exhibited by people and the learning /
information processing abilities observed
across generations.
Learners who learn by listening. Auditory
learners can be identified because they love to
talk, are attracted to sound (and distracted by
noise), and prefer to hear things rather than read
them. They may read in a “talking” style,
hearing the text as they go and may appear to
daydream whilst “talking” inside their head.
They often enjoy the telephone and listening to
music.
Auditory learners tend to spell phonetically.
They can sometimes have trouble reading,
because they don’t visualize well. They learn
by listening and remember facts when they are
presented in the form of a poem, song or
melody. An auditory learner can be taught best
by using:
Learning Styles
Learning is reflected in the way we respond to
environmental, social, emotional and physical
stimuli, to understand new information.
Learning style is defined as the way that
information is processed. Most people show a
preference for one of the following basic styles:
visual, auditory, kinesthetic. It is common to
combine the primary and secondary learning
styles.
Illustration:
Tactile / Kinesthetic learners:
A question is posed to the audience: What is it
that comes to your mind when you hear the
word “Dog”.
These are learners who often learn by doing.
Kinesthetic learners can be identified because
they move around a lot, tap pens of shift in their
seat. They enjoy games and do not really like
reading. Kinesthetic learners learn best through
movement and manipulation. They like to find
out how things work and are often successful
in the practical aspects of art, design and
carpentry. Additionally, they will remember
most effectively through practice. A Kinesthetic
learners can be taught best by using:
Some people see a picture of the animal, hear a
bark, while others remember the feeling of the
dog’s soft coat. Those who see a picture of a
dog in their mind eye are probably visual, those
who hear the bark are probably auditory and
those who feel the soft fur of a dog are probably
kinesthetic.
This simple analogy suggests that each person’s
interpretation is different, we communicate and
process the information differently. Thus, the
trainer has to consider the audience’s needs and
expectations. He is required to adapt to the
audiences’ learning styles for messages to get
across. A “One size fits all” does not hold true.
Learning is a process of acquiring Knowledge,
Skill-sets and Attitude.
Visual Learners:
Characterized by learners who need to see what
is going on. They like reading and watching
television and enjoy looking at photos, plans
or cartoons. Visual learners learn by watching.
They recall images from the past when trying
to remember. In addition to this, they picture
the way things look in their heads.
Trying different methods of learning may
prevent the students from feeling frustrated and
inadequate when they are not able to work up
to their potential. Experimenting with different
learning styles and environments may improve
the student’s accomplishments and feelings of
achievements.
They would be attracted during learning to
words like “see, look, appear, picture, make
clear, and overview”. They are likely to have
strong spelling and writing. A visual learner can
be taught best by using:
Posters, charts and graphs
Visual displays
Booklets, brochures and handouts
Variety of colors and shapes
Clear layout with headings and plenty of
white space
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
Team activities
Hands-on experience
Role-plays
Note taking
Emotional discussions
Knowing your student’s preferred learning style
can help the trainer maintain interest and
promote reinforcement of new material.
Another consideration is the environment in
which people learn best. While tradition tells
us to have a quiet room, well lit with a straight
back chair, some children learn best in a more
chaotic environment.
Learning — Conceptual Understanding:
Question and answer
Lectures and stories
Audio tapes
Podcasts
Discussion pairs of groups
Voice Modulation: Variety in tone, rate,
pitch and volume
Music or slogans
Generational Learning
Generation — Definition
Birth years within 15 year range, who share
similar experiences, common beliefs and
behavior and self-perceived to be a generation.
Generation Labels:
Before 1945
1945 — 1964
1965 — 1979
1980 — 1995
44
- Silent (Mature)
- Baby Boomers
- Generation X
- Generation Y
– By Marc Ratcliffe & Aaron Smith
1996 — now
- Generation Z
Silent Generation:
This is the group that is considered wise, and
have been the fighters / survivors. Most of the
people in this group have now retired. They are
not generally very adept at learning new
technology.
Average time in which information is processed
to make a decision is 20 — 30 seconds.
Baby Boomers:
This constitutes the largest population, and
exhibits the greatest stability. This is also the
generation where the media had a lot of power
and wide reach. The average time in which
information is processed to make a decision is
10 — 15 seconds.
Generation X:
This is the generation that saw evolution of
technology. This is also the generation that
recognized “Kids as a Market”. This group
income leap-frogged in terms of the income
level, as compared to any other generation. The
average time in which information is processed
to make a decision is 5 - 10 seconds.
Generation Y:
The generation that is the easiest with
technology — they have an ardent need to be
“connected”. They associated brands with
personal identity. The average time in which
information is processed to make a decision is
3 - 5 seconds.
Generation Z:
Aptly labeled as the “.com” kids, they are adept
at multi-tasking and have been instrumental in
inventing a world-wide new language. They
generally exhibit very low attention spans.
Cross-over generations:
It is important to note that the temperament and
learning abilities, values of people belonging
to various generations have been described are
only generalizations. There are several cases of
“Cross-over generations”, where one may not
conform to the norms / constructs. There are a
lot of people who belong to the “Silent
Generation”, but have exhibited traits / learning
abilities comparable to those belonging to
Generation X / Y, and vice versa.
On a parting note…
We need to understand what motivates our
learners, and be flexible to cater to all learners.
It’s also important to create open channels for
communication. It is very likely that there could
be a varied audience, having different learning
styles and belonging to different generations.
It is important for a trainer to conduct a formal
training needs assessment to determine the
underlying training needs, understand the
audience’s background and know their
expectations / outcome of the training. The
trainer is then to reconcile all such variations
by employing different training methods to
deliver the training, and also conduct evaluation
at different stages, to reinforce the concept.
Fascinating Facts
– K. Satyanarayana
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton told
graduating students at pace University that
America must continue to make sacrifices
to ensure a better future. "Future preference
is what in large measure brings this class
here today - families who sacrifice so that
their children can have better opportunities,
people who do a good day's work in order
to build something, to make their job mean
something, people who start businesses in
order to employ and create profit that can
be recycled back into the society and people
who understand that if we do not keep future
in mind, we impoverish the present and we
dishonor our past," she said.
(Source: The New York Times,
May 20, 2003)
sites. He has not yet received federal
approval to open the centers but a privately
financed center has started functioning. Up
to 25, drug users come to this center every
night to shoot heroin or cocaine into their
veins. They are supervised by a registered
nurse, who dispenses fresh needles, swabs,
sterile water to cook the drugs and advise
on how to maintain veins. The injection site,
modeled after similar facilities in Australia,
Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands
is the only one to operate openly in North
America. Its presence is just one sign that
Canada's drug policies are moving in a
direction that diverges sharply from those
in the U.S. - to treat drug addiction more as
a medical issue and less as one of law
enforcement.
(Source: The New York Times,
May 19, 2003)
249. Einstein's Thoughts Are Now On The
Web
252. French Government Controls The
Excesses Of Modern Life
The Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem and the California
Institute of Technology, where the Einstein
Papers Project has its headquarters started
a new web site. It contains digitized images
of some 900 Einstein papers as well as a
searchable list of 43,000 documents in the
archives. Those interested can visit
www.alberteinstein.info (Source: The New
York Times, May 20, 2003)
At the turn of the 20th century France's
infant mortality rate was so high that it
provoked scorn from other European
nations. In 1904, the French Public Health
Act gave the central government authority
to compel local governments to take actions
to improve the birth rate. One important
response was a movement known as
puericulture. Intent on improving prenatal
and maternal health, puericulture advocates
set up clinics all over the country to teach
young mothers how to breastfeed. They also
taught mothers that overfeeding was as bad
as, if not worse than underfeeding. Thus
early in its modern history, the French
government lectured mothers on the medical
value of dietary control. By 1920 not only
child mortality was dropped significantly
through out France, but first cases of child
obesity began to appear. The government
insisted that children should always eat at
set times. Each meal should be moderate.
All the meals of the children should be
supervised by adults. Snacking was
forbidden. Such boundary-setting continues
even today. You will not find Coca-Cola in a
French middle school.
248. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Addresses Students Of Pace University
250. Ten Year Plan To End Homelessness
All across America, major cities such as
Chicago, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis are
adopting and implementing practical plans
to end homelessness in ten years. They are
working in partnership with public agencies,
homeless specialists and community
organizations. All these efforts are based
on one key idea - homelessness is a
solvable problem. Research shows that
permanent housing is more cost-effective
than shelters, jails and other temporary
housing solutions. For more information
please visit www.endhomelessness.org
(Source: The New York Times,
May 19, 2003)
251. Canada's Policy On Drugs - Treat
rather than Punish.
Larry W. Campbell was elected as mayor
of Vancouver on a promise of more
treatment for addicts and regulated injection
In spite of all these the French are eating
more like Americans these days. Betweenmeal snacking, fast food and conveniencefood consumption are up, particularly among
children in big cities. The government is
concerned. The influential institute of
National Health and Medical Research in
Paris has declared childhood obesity an
epidemic.
(Source: The New York Times,
May 20, 2003)
253. North Korea Gives Russia Cheap
Labor
North Korea is now the poorest nation in
Northeast Asia. It provides cheap labor
under tight controls to the Russian Far East,
which is short of labor. 10,000 North
Koreans work in Russia. While Japan, South
Korea and Russia lack workers willing to
do dirty and dangerous jobs, only Russia
has been willing to accept North Koreans
as guest workers. They often work 16-hour
days. All of its neighbors have contingency
plans to block sudden inflow of migrants in
the event of a collapse of the communist
government. The workers realize that they
are the prisoners of the system. The workers
come here on three-year contracts, but their
wages are collected by the North Korean
state companies, that bring them here. A
worker is allowed to retain $100. North
Korea's worker control system is especially
harsh in remote Siberian logging camps,
which according to Amnesty International,
are directly run by North Korea's ruthless
Public Security Service. Escapees
interviewed in Moscow in recent years have
told human rights researchers that the North
Korean camp authorities maintain private
prisons and prevent escapes by rationing
food and punishing would-be escapees with
torture and sometimes execution. During the
Soviet era, most logging in Siberia was done
by prisoners in forced labor camps. (Source:
The New York Times, May 18, 2003)
254. Portable Church Is The Latest From
England
Visitors tested the pews of an inflatable
church in Sandown Park Exhibition Center,
20 miles west of London. It is 47 feet high,
and includes a blow up organ, altar, pulpit,
pews, candles and stained glass windows.
The Church can hold about 60 worshippers.
Its creator, Michael Gill of Innovations UK,
said he recognized its potential for
weddings, christenings and the like. He now
has plans for a mosque and a synagogue.
(Source: The New York Times,
May 16, 2003)
Mr. K. Satyanarayana, Hon. Executive Director, National HRD Network. He can be reached at: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
45
SE
CA
Y
UD
T
S
9
-2
"Mr. Sridharan,
You Are Wanted"
– Prof. R. Dharma Rao
T
his is a case of over 45 years back.
P.Sridharan was an administrative
officer in Malhotra Motors in their branch
office at Salem. Their head office was at
New Delhi. His qualification was B.Com. He
had attended an interview at Delhi six years
back and was selected as accountant since
he had eight years of experience. He had
produced a certificate from a private limited
company which mentioned that he had full
knowledge of accounting procedure with
regard to maintenance of accounts; cash
book, petty cash, bank transactions, bank
reconciliation, ledger postings, trial balance,
profit and loss account, preparation of
balance sheet, etc. He impressed the
interview board with his practical knowledge.
He was short in height, black, but had
attractive eyes. They wanted this person for
their newly opened branch office at Salem.
Their products were pumps and motors.
They wanted to expand their business in
South and opened a branch office at Salem.
Their Salem office had one assistant
administrative officer, a sales officer and an
accountant.
of Rs.10 minimum and Rs.50 maximum
towards a personal fund. The accumulated
amount under this head would remain with
the society as long as he was a member
and would be refunded to the concerned
member if he resigned from the society or
retired from the organization. The society
was paying eight per cent as interest on the
accumulated fund. Non-employees would
not be admitted as members. There was
another person, Das, a Time Checker in the
company, who was working as part time
employee. His main job in the society was
to collect the recovery sheets from their
accounts department, posting of loan
installments and personal funds in the
individual ledgers. Further, he was also
responsible to update the individual pass
books of the members. Their monthly
salaries were Rs.300 to Bodra, Rs.150 to
Sridharan and Rs.50 to Das.
Bodra was now 65 years and was not
keeping good health. He was frequently
falling sick and slowly Sridharan started
managing the affairs of the society and had
gained full knowledge of the rules and
regulations, maintenance of all accounts
including transactions with the bank, etc.
The committee of management authorized
the chairman and secretary to sign all
documents of the society. The signatories
for the cheques were the chairman and
secretary. In the absence of Bodra,
Sridharan used to prepare cheques,
maintain cash book, monthly trial balances,
etc. Bodra, who completely depended on
Sridharan, was signing all papers including
cheques as Secretary prepared by
Sridharan. He gained full confidence of
Bodra. Sometimes, Bodra used to sign two
or three blank cheques whenever he could
not come to office. Sridharan once required
Rs.1000 urgently for his personal purpose.
It was beyond his capability to raise this
much of fund from anywhere. He thought of
taking full advantage of his position. There
was a requirement of Rs.5000 for official
work on that day. He had one blank cheque
signed by the secretary. He wrote Rs.6000
on the cheque and Rs.5000 on the
counterfoil. Since it was signed by Bodra,
the chairman also signed. The chairman was
BP Tiwary, a General Foreman in the
Prior to this, Sridharan was working as head
assistant in a cooperative credit society for
over seven years. Here, Mr.Bodra, was the
Secretary in charge of the office. He was a
retired senior accounts assistant in their
main organization. There were 320
members in the society. The committee of
management appointed him as they all knew
him very well as a sincere, honest and loyal
employee who had put in over 40 years of
service. In the credit society, only Bodra and
Sridharan were full time employees and
were managing the office. The committee
of management was regularly meeting every
month with an agenda to sanction loans to
eligible employee-members, allotment of
shares to those employees who were
admitted as new members, etc. During
those days, each employee-member was
eligible to receive a maximum loan of
Rs.6000 to be recovered in equal 60
installments. A member should possess 10
shares; the value of each was Rs.10, for a
loan of Rs.1000 and should obtain one
signature of an employee-member as
surety. The employee-members should also
contribute compulsorily every month a sum
Mr. R. Dharma Rao, Head, HR, ICBM. He can be reached at: [email protected]
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
46
company, had hardly any time to devote for
the society. He was, however, being elected
as chairman by the general body and this
was his sixth consecutive year. Sridharan
posted in the cash book Rs.5000 as receipt
and kept Rs.1000 for himself. When the
monthly bank statement was received, he
prepared the reconciliation statement and
got it tallied by wrong total. This mistake was
not noticed by any one. Bodra became very
sick and was almost not coming to the
society for months. The chairman had a soft
corner towards Bodra and gave him all
facilities. His absence did not affect much
on the society as Sridharan was managing
it. Gradually, Sridharan gained more
confidence and his wrong withdrawals were
more than Rs.50000 in the past six months.
He closed all the accounts and prepared a
balance sheet by manipulation with wrong
totals on the individual pages of loan ledger
balances. The accounts were audited and
the auditor signed on all documents
including the balance sheet. After the
general body, it was noticed by a few
members that their loan balance shown in
their pass books was not the real one and
the actual balance was much more. When
they confronted Das, he was confused and
could not explain to them properly.
Sridharan, who was observing this
conversation, went out on some pretext and
absconded.
Sridharan was promoted by Malhotra Motors
as assistant administrative officer when the
incumbent had resigned. Here also
Sridharan surreptitiously and fraudulently
managed over two lakh rupees and had
absconded again when his management
came to know on the defalcation of cash.
The management gave an announcement
in the daily papers, with his photograph, that
'he is wanted'.
Q.No.1 In what way, this is related to HR
topic?
Q.No.2.What is the behavioral pattern of
Sridharan?
Q.No.3.How the loan balances of individual
members got inflated?
Q.No.4 Sridharan was a deceit or unethical?
Q.No.5.What is business ethics?
Chapter News
AGRA
"See page No. 33"
BALANGIR
"See page No. 30"
DELHI
"Delhi Chapter Crossed 2,000 Member
Mark, another land mark Achievement."See
also Pages 5, 7, 9, 49 and 52"
have sponsored the meeting and hosted
dinner for the participants..
The NHRD Hosur Chapter, Monthly evening
meeting was held on 30th January 2009 at
the Conference Hall of Titan Industries
Limited, Precision Engineering Division. Mr.
Ramesh Bhaskar Rao, GM-Operations, TTK
Prestige Limited addressed the gathering on
the topic "CEOs perspective of HR".
Mr. Israel Inbaraj introduced the speaker to
the audience.
The NHRD Hosur Chapter Year End
meeting was held on 27th December 2008
at
Ashok
Leyland
Management
Development Centre. Being the annual
dinner meet, there was a large gathering of
members from both industry and academia.
Mr. Bhaskar Rao empathized with the HR
professionals on the difficult role they are
playing to meet the expectations of the
Management and at the same time manage
good relations with work force. He advised
them to act proactively and align their role
to the business perspective and overall goals
of the organization so that they can earn
their rightful place. He also emphasized that
based on his experience in Public Limited
and Private companies and also interaction
with academia, he is confident that HR
people are capable of occupying the top
chair in the organizations provided they
equip with few more skills and able to
present themselves properly.
After Prayer and Welcome address, the
meeting started with Special Cultural
Program by School Children which was very
impressive and entertaining.
The session was very interactive and well
received by the participants especially for
the speaker's empathy with the HR
Profession, he being an operations head.
Then Dr. SK Prasad of New Horizon
Leadership Institute and Lt.Col (Retd.)
Govind Rajulu of SMEI addressed the
gathering on the "ROLE OF MARKETING
IN HR PROFESSION". With their vast
knowledge and practical oriented ideas, they
made the audience especially HR
professionals to think seriously about
aligning their function with the business
goals of the organization. They also
highlighted the need for HR professionals
to develop business sense and make their
work measurable in terms of value and
overall profitability of the organization.
Mr. Alphonse, Chapter President summed
up the proceedings, followed by vote of
thanks by Mr. Nagarajan, Chapter Vice
President and few announcements by
Secretary Mr. Anbarasu.
GWALIOR
"See page No. 21"
HOSUR
Another important aspect of this meeting
was Mr. G Alphonse-Group Manager
Employee Relations of M/s Titan Watches
taking over as the President of the Hosur
Chapter. Mr Rajaram the outgoing president
introduced the new president to the
audience.
Mr Bhalajie, Co-ordinated the arrangements
and anchored the proceedings of this
meeting.
The program ended with National Anthem.
HYDERABAD
Employer Employee Relations - by Surya
Prakash - 5.12.09
The program ended with vote of thanks by
Mr Anbarasu, Secretary of the Chapter and
National Anthem thereafter.
The speaker outlined various factors outlining
the Employer Employee Relation
Supervision, Team Work .Personality,
Analysis, Performance Evaluations,
Feedback , Motivation, Corrective Measures.
The speaker also elucidated the impact of
the various policies on Employer employee
relations . The employee health assessment
questionnaire was administered for all the
audience. Communication is the key for
better employee employer relationship.
M/s Hirezon Technologies (P) Ltd, Chennai
and M/s Terra Tree Properties, Bangalore
Recession its impact on HR -by Col VRK
Prasad - 12.02.09
This was followed by Flute Recital by Mr
Ravindran the treasurer of the Chapter.
The speaker started by sharing that he had
written his first article in HRD News letter in
and had written 60 articles in various books
and journals. The speaker had shared
various definitions of recession on one of
the being A Significant decline in economic
activity spread across the economy, lasting
more than a few months, normally visible in
real GDP growth, real personal income,
employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial
production, and whole-sale retail sales. The
lecture proceeded by indicating the various
implications of recession and the impact on
the job cuts etc. . Cost cutting maintaining
a work life balance, Managing change ,
counseling were few of the challenges faced
by HR. The speaker spoke of innovation as
a key to beating recession and explained
some of best practices adopted by various
organizations.
Positions and Titles - The needed shift in
Paradigms By Chandu Sambasiva Rao 19.02.09
The speaker shared with the audience about
the various organization structures and how
the matrix organizations evolved from the
World wars and even till today we are having
multiple layers and how flatter organizations
are a need of the day. The speaker spoke
of the various types of power Viz: coercive,
reward, legitimate, expert, referent. The
speaker also spoke of Mechanistic and
Organic Organizations. The Speaker
emphasized that the definition of
stakeholders was to narrow and it has to be
broadened. The various flaws in today's
organization were discussed and the
remedies were suggested. The speaker also
suggested that every organization must
have an officer to mange the emotions of
employees. The speaker also emphasized
that we should move well being to wellness
of the society at large.
Welcome to New Members
Life Member
Satya Sesha Sai P - Trainer - ING Vysya
Life Insurance
Srinivasa Rao T, Asst.Manager - HR, TCS
Annual Member
Edward Herald K, Asst.Manager - HR, TCS
Sekhar C, Admin Asst, IAF
Raghu Ram K, Dr, Associate Prof. Kottam
Instt of Advanced studies
Vasu Deva Gridhar S, H R- Executive,
Transgel Industries
JAIPUR
"See page No. 50-51"
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
47
NAGPUR
Quiz Corner
NHRDN NAGPUR CHAPTER EVENT ON
CONVERSATION BY PROF BALAJI C
HR QUIZ – 9
On 27 & 28 Jan 09 NHRDN Nagpur Chapter
in association with Central Institute of Business
Management Research & Development &
NYSS Institute of Business Management
Nagpur organised two days programme by
Prof Balaji C , Editor, NHRDN News Letter
and AVP, Symphony University, Bangalore at
F.W. Taylor Hall at CIBMRD Nagpur.
1.
Day I -SESSION- I ("POWER THROUGH
CONVERSATION") The session was
inaugurated with welcome lecture by Dr.
Amishi Arora, Director, CIBMRD. Prof Balaji
C & Prof Rangarajan Director NYSS were
sharing the dais with Dr. Amishi Arora. Prof
Rangarajan introduced Prof Balaji C to
audience. Prof Balaji C, AVP Symphony
University , Editor, NHRDN News Letter, an
IIM Ahmedabad Alumni, an author of the ebook "Goading to go beyond" opened his
lecture with three orders of conversation i.e,
Order I :How do we know the particular
object, Order II : How that particular object
is known by authorities of the particular field
and Order III : Kinds of Conversation i.e,
6.
2.
3.
4.
5.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Quiz Master:
Mr. P Vijayan,
Director-HR, CHEP India, Mumbai
E-Mail: [email protected]
Answers to Quiz – 8
1. It is the minimum number of hours required to master a diifcult skill. This is based on
primary research done with musicians in a German Orchestra, 2. Thirukkural,
3. Mr Navin Jindal, 4. Parliament House Cafetaria- New Delhi, 5. 1993, 6. Thyrocare
Corporation, 7. Satchidananda, 8. A strike called by a union, without adhering to due
course of law , in terms of notice etc, 9. Workers move from place to place, within the
plant, on roller skates, 10. Mumbai and Ahmedabhad
Committed Conversation, Ownership
Conversation, Assured Conversation, Action
Conversation, Disbelief Conversation
Prof Balaji emphasised that we should
inculcate the habit of committed
conversation in our life to get what ever we
desire or want to achieve. He also brought
it out how to change our belief into de-belief
to make it more pragmatic as per the current
situations. Vote of thanks proposed by Prof
Shyam Shukla.
convened the session along with the volunteer
student members.
Day two -SESSION III :(" COMPETENCY
MANAGEMENT") Prof Vaishali Rahate
facilitated this programme. Prof Balaji took this
session for students . Prof Balaji brought the
competencies which are required by an
organisation. He gave the live example of
competency management at his organisation
i.e., Symphony University Bangalore. He said
the organisational competency can be raised
through training once the need is established.
Day II -Session -II ( "CONVERSATION
THAT STOPS US IN LIFE")
Session started with Vande Matram by the
CIBMRD students of MBA Sem IV. Mr.
Arvind Jain VP-HR Indorama Synthetics (I)
Ltd welcomed all the participants. Mr.
Ramesh Sangare President HRDC, Nagpur
shared the dias with him. Mr. Shyam Laddha
CEO, Vasundhara Dairy & patron Nagpur
Chapter, joined the session subsequently.
Mr. Jain invited Prof Balaji to share his
thoughts. Prof Balaji brought it out his
journey for bringing out the e-book "Goading
to go beyond" . He shared his journey in
publication of his book, when he was
through with the conversation with so many
people, however, nothing materialised. He
could achieve his goal only when he
focussed on committed conversation and
after changing his beliefs into de-beliefs. He
nullified the concept of so much work. He
said this so much can be changed in to so
little by breaking down in to number of lines
& words. He brought it out his way of
success in achieving the target of the life.
Mr. Arvind Jain( VP- HR) Indorama
Synthetics (I) Ltd welcomed Prof Balaji. Mrs.
Vinda Warhadpande Secretary Nagpur
Chapter welcomed the guests. Prof. Shyam
Shukla Executive Director Nagpur Chapter
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
Who said this? "Conventional MBA programmes train the wrong people in the
wrong ways with the wrong consequences'
Who is reported to be the current richest woman ?
Which large global company first used Scenario Planning, to improve their Strategic
Business Planning process?
Who is referred to as the 'Father of Carbon Trading'?
Who is referred to as the ' Grandfather of the Chinese
Internet?
While ISO 14001 refers to Environment Management
standards, what is SA 8000 ?
Meaning of 'Volkswagen', in English?
What is the concept of deskilling?
What is 'Cubicle rage'?
What is the Equator Principle?
SESSION IV : ("CONVERSATION ON
TEACHING FOR WHAT")This session was
meant only for faculties. Prof Nagrajan
facilitated this session. The faculties from
CIBMRD, NYSS and DBM were present at this
occasion. Prof Balaji brought out that we need
to understand what we are teaching and what
for we are teaching. We need to inculcate a
fertile soil first and then put the seed into it.
Dr. Amishi Arora Director CIBMRD & Dr.
Rangarajan, Director NYSS-IMR were present
through out the session.
This kind gesture of Prof. Balaji C has
empowered the student members, faculties &
Nagpur Chapter members , with the power of
conversation.
PUNE
"See page No. 39 and 44"
RANCHI
"See page No. 51"
48
CARTOON CORNER
Col. P Deogirikar, Indore
[email protected]
Sir, three more have resigned
today, also to join our competitor.
Actually, they cannot attract
freshers and we can't retain our
persons. So, we are reduced to
training guys for them. Why don't
we merge and our company work
as their training wing?
Northern Region: An Update
to support the national cause of
developing skills in order to increase
employability in the country.
Representation
for
land
for
establishment of Learning Centre in
Gurgaon has been made to the Haryana
Urban Development Authority, Haryana.
1. CSR initiative with USAID
Delhi Chapter had initiated a dialogue
with USAID to partner with them in light
of “ beyond business” synergies. As
part of this, we received an invitation
to join a CSR Study Tour to the USA
from USAID, supported by the US
Government, starting 16th Feb till the
25th. This program is called IVLP
(International Visitor Leadership
Program). There will be about 10-12
participants (blue chip Indian
organizations and their respective CSR
heads) form India. Pankaj Bansal has
been requested, and has accepted to
join the tour to represent NHRDN
Northern Region. Tour expenses shall
be picked up by People Strong and
local arrangements are being made by
US Government. This is indeed a
prestigious association with a reputed
organization like USAID, and we would
also benefit from the insights and
learnings that Pankaj would be able to
bring back on CSR practices. It is
believed that there would also be future
opportunities of leveraging our
association with USAID and jointly
working on some noble goals.
2. The Learning Centre of National HRD
Network will be a learning organization
Felicitation of change Masters and
thought sharing on Preparing
Organization to move to the next orbit
was the agenda for the January Special
event held on 22nd Jan 09 at NCUI,
August Kranti Marg. More than 350
members and non members were part
of the felicitation of Mr. S K Roongta,
Chairman SAIL, Mr. S K Chaturvedi,
CMD Powergrid and Mr. Manoj Kohli
CEO & JMD, Bharti Airtel Limited.
In order to increase the reach of Delhi
Chapter to NCR an event has been
planned on the 27th Feb 2009 at Noida.
4. Details of the Events organized by
NHRD-N Delhi Chapter
3. Learning Centre - National HRD
Network
1. The idea of learning center is being
conceptualized to provide the local
corporate and business community
with high quality, economical,
customized
research
based
programmes and accreditations. It will
set up a variety of programmes which
will be need based to make the
available workforce highly employable.
3. The institutional plots are available at
Sector 32 & 44, Gurgaon.
2. DELHI scales new heights
Under the dedication, commitment and
inspiring leadership of Saqlain Siddiqui
and his able team, Delhi Chapter has
logged in some remarkable milestones.
Delhi Chapter is the first chapter to have
breached the 2000 membership barrier,
which is clearly a remarkable
achievement. You would also note that
Delhi has contributed the highest sum
of Rs 71 lacs ( as of 31st Dec 2008) .
This is a reflection of the ability to
continue building on the strong base,
and managing to take the special events
to a new level. Kudos to the Delhi team.
N S Rajan, Partner E& Y; More than 225
members were present during the event.
NHRDN Delhi Chapter’s AGM and
Special Event “A Dialogue with HR
Thought leaders” was held on the 30th
April 2008
Special Event on 2nd of July had a
discussion on “ Compensation
Demystified”. Around 250 professionals
participated in the event were Senior
Professional from the Industry Mr. Aquil
Busrai, IBM, Mr. P Dwarakanath, Max,
Mr. Sandeep Chaudhary, Hewitt & Mr.
A Sudhakar, Dabur shared their
thoughts.
Address by Dr Santrupt Mishra on
Independence Day celebration on the
topic “60 years of independence –
Contribution of HR & Way Forward’ on
the 19 th August 2008. Dr. Santrupt
Mishra addressed a well attended
audience of HR heads from the NCR
region. Dr. Santrupt gave a highly
motivating and inspirational speech on
Post Independence – HR Scenario,
which was really well received by all
the participants
The special event on the 15 th
September 08 on High Performance
Leadership was organized. Eminent
personalities like Mr. Vineet Kaul,
Philips, Mr. Amin Saigal, GSK, Mr.
Tony Cockerill, Centre for High
Performance & Mr. Rajan Kalia, Max
New York life shared their thoughts.
More than 200 members participated
in the event.
Global Economic Recession & Counter
Business Strategies was the topic for
panel discussion for the event on 18th
Dec 08. A panel of speakers a CEO,
HR Head & CFO viz. Dr. Sanjeev K
Chaudhry, CEO, SRL, Mr. Inder Walia,
Head HR, Bharti Enterprises & Mr. Ajay
Seth, CFO Maruti Suzuki India Limited
representing different segments of the
corporate shared their thoughts. The
panel discussion was coordinated by Mr.
Coming up next …..
Young Manger’s Conference (YMC’09)
has been planned to be held on the 8th
& 9th of May 2009.
5. Road Map & Future Plans
1. Plan For Contributory Dinner - with
Spouses at the weekend
2. All Women Conference – 1~2 days HR/
FIN/ IT professional. Career
Perspective Women in Management
Hierarchy
3. Campus Connect Initiative- One day
programmeMDI- FMS-IMT-IMI. Moods
and Thoughts of Students. Feedback
to HR Fraternity
4. One Special Monthly Event - Featuring
Dr. Pritam Singh
5. Maruti Suzuki Plant Visit- Saturday (1/
2 day programme) - Select HR Head
with spouses. Quiz on MSIL/ Cricket/
Films followed by Lunch
6. Mega Asia Pacific Conference
(Sept’09) - Lead by Dr. Pritam Singh
7. Membership Enhancement-5000 NOS.
8. Membership Connect- It Software Quick Response and Suggestions
9. Maruti Suzuki Discount to all Members
- On purchase of any Maruti Car.
6. Details of Contribution made by
Delhi Chapter
Total Contribution: Rs. 71, 89,612
Contribution Breakup item wise
1. Membership upto 31.03.2008:
Rs. 16, 69,183.00
2. Membership upto 2008-2009:
Rs. 3, 81,504.00
3. Share of Local/ National Events:
Rs. 51, 38,926.00
We invite each Chapter and Region to submit news about their activities
and achivement for future issues.
| HRD News Letter | March 2009, Vol.24, Issue:12
49
JAIPUR CHAPTER
MDGs 3rd State Level Workshop on 'Maternal Health'
state needs special attention in the
maternal health. Participation of community
& family is required at the same level.
ASHA, ANM, Aganwadi - all these three
functionaries should work together as a
single entity. In the end, he talked about
continuum of care which means care during
pregnancy, birth of child and till a later
stage. He also said that there is lot of scope
of public-private partnership in improved
maternal health.
National HRD Network, Jaipur Chapter &
IILM Academy of Higher Learning, Jaipur
in collaboration with SID and UNICEF
Mr. Yaduvendra Mathur,
Secretary Planning,
Govt. of Rajasthan, while
stating government's
concerns said that IILM
Academy
is
appropriately focusing
on MDGs as far as
measuring the crucial values are involved.
We have lot of qualitative data which can
be analyzed and interpreted in a better way.
Management students and interns can play
an important role in achieving MDGs. He
also said that UN systems has identified
certain districts for conversion in Rajasthan
including Sirohi, Sawai Madhopur, Barmer,
Pratapgarh.
organized a workshop on MDGs Goal 5
"Improve Maternal Health" on 22nd
January, 2009 (Thursday) at Hotel Clarks
Amer, Jaipur. The workshop was presided
over by the Chief guest of the occasion MR.
Aimaduddin Ahmed, Hon'ble Health
Minister, Government of Rajsathan.
Mr. Samuel Mawunganidze, Chief, Unicef
Rajasthan while presenting 'The State of
World Children's Report
2009' said that delivery
timing death has been
reduced drastically over
the years in Rajasthan.
Around 50% of child
mortality reduced in the
state is pre-natal in
nature. This quantum shows that
interventions should be integrated &
coordinated and greater efforts are required
at the govt. level. He further said there is a
need to improve the emergency
transportation, finance schemes, skilled
care, institutional delivery, clean delivery,
warmth and early initation of breast feeding.
This occasion also marked the launch of
"The State of the World's Children Report
-2009" by the Chief Guest in the presence
of Mr. Samuel Mawunganidze, Chief Unicef Rajasthan.
Dr. Ashok Bapna,
President, NHRD, Jaipur
Chapter & Director, IILM
Academy Jaipur, while
welcoming the guest,
said that there is a great
need
to
generate
awareness and action on
the issue of maternal health. He further said
that management students should apply
their theoretical knowledge to field
practices.
Ms
Anuradha
C.
Maharishi from Unicef
Rajasthan,
formally
introduced the subject of
workshop and said that
more focused planning is
required in the area of
maternal health
Mr. Aimaduddin Ahmed,
Hon'ble Health Minister
Rajasthan
while
addressing the house
said health of mother &
child is reflection of the
health of the society. The
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Dr A.S. Dua Assist.
Professor, Dept. of
Preventive & Social
Medicine, SMS Medical
College Jaipur while
presenting his views on
the status of maternal &
child health in Rajasthan
& India said that we have to build the
bridges and road maps to improve maternal
health. There is need to improve the
institutional deliveries, reporting of maternal
health and referral system and the
challenges ahead are regarding
commitment, manpower, MIS.
Dr. M.L. Jain, Director,
Family Welfare, Govt. of
Rajasthan while talking
about interventions on
maternal health in the
state said that the
intervention delays take
place at three levels i.e.
community
level,
transportation and facility. He also talked
about public-private partnership while
emphasizing the accreditation of private
hospitals and hiring of services of the
professionals from the private sectors in the
form of gynecologists, anthesist,
pediatricians.
Dr. Pooja TalikotiAssociate Professor,
Home
Science
Department, University
of Raj. discussing the
millennium development
goal 5: Improve Maternal
Health, she said women
are not taking advantage of ICDS services
and there is need to motivate women to
enhance consumption of folic acid & iron.
Towards the end, she said the data
available at the grassroots level is not
utilized for the decision making process at
the upper strata and therefore there is need
to hire the professionals who can analyze
& interpret this data in a better way.
Ms. Alka Kala, Addl.
Chief Secretary, Women
Empowerment
and
Welfare,
Govt.
of
Rajasthan
while
addressing the house
said Rajasthan is known
as state of initiatives and people in villages
are now becoming aware of the health
programmes administered by the state. In
the end, she said women are a very
important part of healthy family.
Mr.
R.K.
Meena,
Principal Secretary,
Health & Family Welfare
Department
while
discussing
the
perspective of health
department on maternal
and newborn care said
breast feeding should be taken as
important aspect of maternal health.
Rajasthan is the only state which has
launched Gram Swasthya Yojana and where
we have combined health & sanitation
facilities available. Rajasthan has progressed
a lot in health and its going to be a developed
state soon.
Dr. Praneet Kumar,
COO, Fortis-Escorts
Hospital while talking
about the role of private
sector in achieving
MDGs said that by
enhancing the role of
health sector & health education, the
private sector can play a major role in
realizing MDGs. Child marriages, domestic
violence, and discrimination between male
& female partners is the main cause of
maternal death. Towards the end he said,
IT can play a major role
in rural sector in
achieving MDGs.
Dr. R.S. Goyal, Prof. &
Dean, IIHMR said the
factor responsible for
increasing maternal
mortality rate are lack of
pre-natal & post-natal
care, institutional delivery
and lack of skilled birth
attendants.
Dr. Pritam Pal, Director,
Sandhan said that the
role of skilled birth
attendants is very
important because rural
women prefer to deliver a child in the village
itself. There are three important S's for
skilled birth attendants i.e. skills, support
system and self-esteem.
The discussion was
followed
by
an
interesting interactive
session in which querries
were raised by the
participants which was
answered by the learned
speakers. Ms. Shikha
Wadhva, Programme Manager, Unicef
Rajasthan proposed a vote of thanks.
Dr. Anil Agarwal, Project Officer Health,
Unicef Rajasthan talked about the
challenges which are in
the way of achieving
MAPADI,
lack
of
involvement of women in
decision making process,
inaccessibility towards
health facilities and lack
of exposures.
The programme was
compeered by Mr.
Vikramjeet
Singh,
Assistant
Professor
(Management), IILM,
while it was coordinated
by IILM faculty Mr. Sudhir
Upadhyay.
HRD Newsletter is Entering Silver Jubilee Year
Dear Members,
HRD Newsletter is completing 24 years with
this issue and the next issue of April 2009 will
be the first issue in its 25th year — Silver Jubilee
Year.
It is time we pay our gratitude to the founders
of National HRD Network starting with the
Founder President Dr T V Rao, currently
Chairman of T V R L S, Ahmedabad, First
Editor of HRD Newsletter Fr. Abraham,
currently Director, XLRI, Jamshedpur, Dr.
Udai Pareek, our constant guide and
philosopher, signatories to the Memorandum
& Articles of Association Dr. T V Rao, Fr.
Abraham, Dr. K K Verma, Dr. Anil K.
Khandelwal, Dr. D M Pestonjee, Mr. G K
Ghosh, Dr. Kakoli Saha and Mr J K Parikh.
It is also time to thank organizations like XLRI,
Jamshedpur, IIM, Ahmedabad, L & T, Bank of
Baroda, TVS Group, SAIL and many other
organizations who have supported and
nurtured the National HRD Network in its
infant years.
We also need to recollect and remember the
great contributions of our Past National
Presidents Dr T V Rao, Dr. M R R Nair, Dr Udai
Pareek, Mr. V S Mahesh, Mr. Rajesh Vidyasagar,
Mr. Debashish Mitra, Mr. Arvind Pande, Mr.
Arvind N Agrawal, Dr. Santrupt Misra, Mr. P.
Dwarakanath, Past Regional Presidents Mr. G P
Rao, Mr. Marcel Parker and Mr. Anand Nayak.
Past National Secretaries Mr. G P Rao and Mr
S. Varadarajan, Past National Treasurer Dr. Y
R K Reddy and Past Executive Director Mr.
Baburaj Nair.
Members are requested to send write ups
and scanned photographs covering the
journey of the last 24 years to my e-mail
address [email protected] and we will try
to publish them in the course of the next 12
issues during the silver Jubilee year from April
2009 to March 2010.
We seek your kind support and cooperation to
make the silver jubilee year a memorable one.
Publisher
RANCHI CHAPTER NEWS
National HRD Network , Ranchi Chapter in its new initiatives under the President Shri Satyaprakash Patnaik organised an evening
guest lecture on Interaction between Academic Intitutions and Industry in USA at Management Training Institute, Ranchi on January
6, 2009. The Key Speaker was Prof Devender Kumar Das from University of Alaska, USA. National HRD Network , Ranchi Chapter
had the honour of welcoming one of the greatest luminaries in the field of science and engineering. Prof Das has the distinction of
innumerable accolades from all the biggest institutions of the World. Under the banner of National HRD Network, Prof Das interacted
with the technocrats of Jharkhand. Shri Satyaprakash Patnaik, President, NHRD Network Ranchi Chapter and Executive Director
(HRD), SAIL spoken on this occasion about the significance of constant interaction between the researches in the universities and
its application for industries in developing new products and processes. Prof Das elaborated on the wide application of Nanotechnology
in Engineering while interacting with the participants from RDCIS, CET, MTI,SSO of SAIL, MECON, HEC and NIFFT and Shinivas
Bhaskar from NHRDN, Hydreabad. He stressed that major cost reduction initiatives in industrial processes can be effected through
this technology. Nanotechnology is the branch of engineering that deals with things smaller than 100 nanometres.....especially with
the manipulation of individual molecules and it has immense application in medical sciences and industry. At the end of the
programme while offering the vote of thanks Shri Bishwajit Chowdhury, Secretary, NHRD Network stressed at the multiplier function
of modern technological interventions in reversing the economic downturn.
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Dr. Santosh Rangnekar, Dr. Upender Dhar,
Prof. S G Deshmukh, Mr. Aquil Busrai and Mr. Sharu R
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