HRD News Letter - National HRD| HRD News Letter | January 2007, Vol.22, Issue:10 4| Vol - 22 January...

| HRD News Letter | January 2007, Vol.22, Issue:10 2|


Vol - 22 January 2007 Issue - 10

EditorC. Balaji,

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Board MembersDWARAKANATH P, National President

SANTRUPT MISRA Dr., Immediate Past PresidentANAND NAYAK, Regional President (East)

GOPAL KRISHNA M., Regional President(South)SATISH PRADHAN, Regional President (West)

RAO G P, Regional President (North)VARADARAJAN S. (Raja), National Secretary

ASHOK REDDY B, National TreasurerSATYANARAYANA K, Executive Director

MAHALINGAM S, Co-opted MemberCASMIRA RAJ FR, Co-Opted MemberPANDU NAIK G. Dr., Elected Member

RAVIKANTH REDDY J, Elected MemberSANJEEV BICKCHANDANI, Elected Member

NAGARAJ D R, Nominated MemberVERMA K.K. Dr., Ex-officio member

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This journal is on our Website:www.nationalhrd.org & www.nhrdn.org

N E W S L E T T E RHRD Contents

17 ... Facets for Successful Management - G.V.S. Gurunadh & D. Srinivas

18 ... ICTs And Family Life - Dr T.H.Chowdary

20 ... Appraisals Appraised - S. Balachandran

21 ... Mood management:Successunder our skin

- Poonam Dhanavati22 ... An overview of Empathy In

international Human ResourcesScenario

- Sambit Kumar Mishra23 ... Behavioural Finance-the Buzz

Word Of Bulls And Bears - L. Shankari

24 ........... Tune Your Track TowardsThe Path Of Success

............................................ - Deepa S25 ... Retention Strategies At

Corporate Level For Bpo's - Shireesha Devraj, Vishwanath

26 ... Five occasions when you mustcommunicate face to face

- Sunder Ramachandran27 ... Outstanding Leaders: The Need

of the Hour - L.K.Jena28 ... Stress Among Call Centre

Executives: An Empirical Study - Dr. Zafrul Allam

29 ... Exit Interview: Objective &Modus-operandi

- Debabrata Dash32 ... CRM - Six Steps From Customer

Service - P. Sugunakar Reddy and T. Vijaya

CENTRAL INDIA MANAGEMENT CONCLAVE"24 & 25th February 2007

Nagpur Chapter is organizing two days long conclave on 24th & 25th February07. Papers are invited from all NHRDN members, non-members,academicians and students, on all functional areas of management. The sailentfeature of this conclave is on day one, the activity will be in-house with thepresentation of papers and on day two it will be outdoor activity by the side ofa natural Dam site, 40 kms away from Nagpur, in which the various activitiesplanned also include various management games which may give practicalinsight on various management techniques. Further details can be obtainedfrom Prof Shyam Shukla Corporate Relations Manager, Central Institute ofBusiness Management Research & Development NagpurM-9372335153 [email protected]

Features

5 ......... President’s Message5 ......... Editorial31 ....... Book Review - Break Free33 ....... Chapter News34 ....... Cartoon Corner

Column

6 ..... Ring out the Old, Ring in the New:New Year Resolutions of a Manager

- Madan Srinivasan

Lead Feature

8 ..... Changing Role of HR Managerin the Corporate World

........... - Dr. A.Chandramohan,K.Vasanthi Kumari, S.G.Ashwani

Case Study

30 ... 'Saamp Bhi Marjaye, Lathi Bhi NaToote' - R. Dharmarao

Articles

7..... India's Higher Education & Economy............................. - Col. V R K Prasad10 ... HR Strategy: Focus and Integration................... - Eshwar Kumar Mittapalli12 ... Talent Management

- B. Mathews and B. Saritha13 ... Talent Retention: Key Strategies

- Tapomoy Deb14 .............. Competency Mapping

- Catch Word In Corporates.................... - Dr. A.Vinayagamoorthy,

S. Suja and L Shankari16 ................ Spiritual Intelligence

- Naachimuthu, K.P, & Rekha, K.N


Editorial

Non-monetary rewards

Bob Nelson a famous motivational speakerand author, once said "You get what youreward."

I couldn't agree more with him. There isnothing more satisfying than a simple wordof praise from your manager. While manytypes of rewards and recognition have directcosts associated with them, there are otherswhich may be less tangible, but still veryeffective. These "non-monetary" rewardsinclude formal and informalacknowledgement, assignment of moreenjoyable job duties, opportunities fortraining, and an increased role in decision-making. This ar ticle focuses on non-

From

National President’s Deskmonetary rewards, and as we will see, thesetypes of rewards can be very meaningful toemployees and so, very motivating forperformance improvement.

To achieve desired goals, reward systemsshould be closely aligned to organizationalstrategies.

Non-monetary recognition can be verymotivating, helping to build feelings ofconfidence and satisfaction. It can also leadto increased employee retention

To be really effective, the managers shouldget to know different employees' likes anddislikes. Research indicates that the typeof recognition employees appreciate mostis to be recognized by people they workdirectly for. The number one choice forrecognition is sincere praise given in a timelymanner with specific examples.

Being chosen to work on a task team toaccomplish a company initiative ismotivating because it helps employees gainnew skills and experiences, demonstratestrust in their abilities, and adds variety to anindividual's work. Individual DevelopmentPlans help identify strong candidates fordevelopmental opportunities.

Hence, I would advise all to make creativeuse of personalized non-monetary rewardsreinforces positive behaviors and improvesemployee retention and performance. Thesetypes of recognition can be inexpensive togive, but priceless to receive

I wish all the readers and Fellowprofessionals a Happy and Prosperous2007.

P. Dwarakanath

What do we deal with day in and day out, inour organisations and in our communities,by and large? With notably exceptionalsituations, the list includes: problems,tiredness, burn-out, anger, depression,frustration, emotional and physical violence,competition, adversity, greed…How aboutthe new year beginning on a positive note?

Behavioral sciences have dealt extensivelywith matters as above; maybe rightly so. But,there is the other side to human life, as inthe list of six core virtues stated in theCharacter Strengths and Virtues handbook:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity,curiosity, open-mindedness, love oflearning, perspective

2. Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity,vitality

3. Humanity: love, kindness, socialintelligence

4. Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership

5. Temperance: forgiveness and mercy,humility and modesty, prudence, self-regulation

6. Transcendence: appreciation of beautyand excellence, gratitude, hope, humor,spirituality

(at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_Psychology. On December 23,2006)

A branch of psychology called PositivePsychology has been making rapid stridesand inroads into studying the conditions andprocesses that contribute to the flourishingor optimal functioning of people, groups andinstitutions (Gable and Haidt, 2005; abstract;p.103). A growing number of psychologistsare continuously developing theories andpractices that involved human happinesspositivity to the predominantly negativityengaging the attention of scholars andpractitioners.

In their seminal paper that introduced thespecial issue of American Psychologistdevoted to Positive Psychology, Selgmanand Csikszentmihalyi (2000; p. 10) wrote: Ifpsychologists wish to improve the humancondition, it is not enough to help those whosuffer. The majority of "normal" people alsoneed examples and advice to reach a richerand more fulfilling existence. This is whyearly investigators…were interested inexploring spiritual ecstasy, play, creativity,and peak experiences.

Scolars like William James, Carl Jung, CarlRogers, Abraham Maslow, Martin Seligman,Albert Bandura, Mihali Csikszentmihalyi,Shelly Gable, Jonathan Haidt, and so onhave been at Positive Psychology for severalyears. Gable and Haidt (2005) called for amovement on Positive Psychology todevelop because the advances inpsychology have come "at the cost ofunderstanding what is right with people." (p.105). They note that "…despite the

phi losophical ,historical, andt h e o r e t i c a lunderpinningsthat led to thec u r r e n timbalance inp s y c h o l o g y[ t o w a r dnegativity], webelieve that thereis little empiricaljustification for our predominantly negativeview of human nature and the humancondition. (p. 107).

Developments such as appreciative inquiry,whole system involvement, holism etc. aredirectly or indirectly related to what PositivePsychology has been calling for.

Through this editorial, I strongly urgestudents, researchers, teachers, scholars,practitioners and my fellow HR professionalsto join this movement! Being positive doesno harm; in fact it empowers, it elevates, itengulfs.

References:

Gable, S.L. & Haidt, J. (2005). What (andWhy) Is Positive Psychology? Review ofGeneral Psychology, 9(2), 103-110.

Seligman, M.E.P & Csikszentmihalyi, M.(2000). Positive Psychology: An Introduction,American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.

C. Balaji


Ring out the Old, Ring in the New:New Year Resolutions of a Manager

Madan Srinivasan

It's that time again when we greet eachother 'Happy New Year'! It starts from the

last week of December and is said & heardfor at least the first couple of weeks inJanuary. The more exuberant & enthusiasticof us may continue with the greeting waybeyond, if only for the merry smiles & oodlesof warmth it brings. It is quite remarkable tothink of how on a single day, every placeand everyone across the globe join in therejoicing of a momentous occasion thatinterestingly has no astronomical or othersignificance and a purely arbitrary daybestowed upon us by the Romans. Thus,another year in the Gregorian calendarbecomes history, making way for yet another- a fresh beginning all over again.

While the season brings many traditions thathave been handed to us from generation togeneration, one that probably has impactedeach one of us, some year or the other, isthe making of New Year Resolutions. Indeed,as the curtains fall on one period of 365 daysof our lives in this planet, the time seemsripe to get into a mood of introspection - toreflect upon the year gone by, considerwhat's worked/not worked in our personal/professional lives, hits & misses, joys &sorrows and chalk out a broad plan for notonly the coming year, but also the nearfuture.

According to the online Wikipedia, a NewYear's Resolution is a commitment that anindividual makes to a project or a habit, oftena lifestyle change that is generallyinterpreted as advantageous. The namecomes from the fact that these commitmentsnormally go into effect on Jan 1 and remainuntil the set goal has been achieved.

Many New Year Resolutions involvemaintaining peak vitality, fitness orappearance. For example, one person's goalmight be to reduce or eliminate intake ofalcohol or smoking. A student may makeone of staying attentive in class or completeher assignments. It can also be eatingmoderately or going on a fitness regime.Then, there are those that involve societyas a whole, e.g. making donations to thepoor, become more environmentallyresponsible.

Alas, for most of us, the intentions to carrythem out definitely exist, but they gounachieved and are often 'broken' fairlyshortly after they are set, depending on howmuch of a challenge and 'stretch' you haveset for yourself.

In business parlance, a New Year Resolutioncan be considered as an example of therolling forecast or a method of planning. Bythis method, you establish plans for yourselfat regular short or medium term timeintervals, while having a rough long termplan. Most organizations conduct theirbusiness planning processes and finalize& cascade the final annual strategies &plans to employees in Q4 of the year. Theseprovide key inputs into individual objectivesetting. Years of practice has enabled theorganizations to perfect this into a fine art,so we do not need to delve too much intothis.

What we probably do not do a good job of isto set a personal commitment on behavior/habit change that would improve oureffectiveness as managers & leaders. Yes,we do have developmental tools & processeslike the 360 degree feedback, careermanagement resources that guide & supportus in taking such commitments. But like NewYear Resolutions, it becomes an uphill taskto stay focused on them throughout the year,especially as one has to juggle severalconflicting priorities and stay in a perpetualstate of stress & anxiety, caused by manyfactors like speed-to-market, tight budgets/resources, war for talent.

Ask yourself, when was the last time youwere 100% stress free and felt as free asa bird?

But, surely as managers who are beginningthe year 2007, there are some things wecan do to increase our productivity whilelowering stress and reflect a year down withsatisfaction about the progress we've madeon them and how we are already beginningto feel the benefits coming in. Here are fivepotential New Year Resolutions forManagers. The good news is you don't haveto do all of them. Choose the ones that fitfor you. And let me know how it goes.

Madan Srinivasan, President, Organization Capabilty Pepsi Co India Holding Pvt Ltd., Guraon. He can be reached at:[email protected]

No.1: Define Daily Goals

Many managers leave at the end of the dayfeeling like they've been running in place --the to-do list is as long as it was at the startof the day -- maybe even longer. One of thereasons managers feel stressed is that thereis no end to the work they can do -- and it'snever all done.

Counteract the endless to-do list by creatingdaily goals. Spend 20 minutes each Fridayafternoon reviewing your activities anddeliverables for the next week. Create a planfor the week and identify what you want toaccomplish each day. Leave yourself someslack, because you know something willcome up.

Cross off the items as you get them done. Ifyou finish before the end of the day, youcan declare success or choose to start atask slated for the next day. Either way, you'llleave with a feeling of accomplishment.

No. 2: Build a Personal MeasurementProgram

Many people think they know where theyspend their time during the workday; mostof them are surprised at what the datashows. Make a daily log with half-hourincrements. Track your activities for twoweeks. Discover for yourself where youspend your maximum time. Do not besurprised if you are spending 50-60% ofyour time in Category C items like locatingdata, files and papers, catering to ad-hocrequests, responding to irrelevant emails,etc.

If you do care about spending time on high-value activities, organize yourself in such away that you can make it a reality.Continuously monitoring yourself will giveyou some hard data on where the hours go.You can also capture how you experienceyour day by asking yourself:

� On a scale of 0-9, how would you rateyour satisfaction at the end of each day?

� On a scale of 0-4, rate how much valueyou receive for the time you spend ineach meeting.

Column


There are no good or bad results from thistracking -- this information can help you seepatterns and make decisions aboutallocating a scarce resource -- you.

No. 3: Invest in You

You are the most effective management toolyou have. Your investment in yourself willpay off for your employer and the peopleyou work with. There are several learning &development resources that can helpbroaden your options for responding tomanagement challenges.

Choose one area that you want to exploreor where you want to catch up on the latestthinking in the industry. Remember, youdon't have to learn something new for aworkshop to be worthwhile. It can also meandeveloping networks which you can leverageas a sounding board, information source,etc.

No. 4: Create Time for Reflection

Several of us are 'dynamos' at the workplace- goal-oriented and always in motion, givingus little reflection time at work. If we were tothink every day for a few minutes how ouractions & decisions had played out, how theday was going and what might we do

differently, we can enrich ourselves andimprove our productivity. Taking time toreflect isn't selfish and or a waste of time;it's where we integrate our experiences,extract lessons and develop newhypotheses for action.

No. 5: Revitalize Your Support Network

Managers often feel stuck in the middle: Theteam is saying, "We can't do it all," and theboss is saying, "Do more with less." Othermanagers may have different priorities, andit may feel like they are pulling in yet anotherdirection. Even though managers spend allday with people, managers can feel isolated.This becomes easier by developing asupport network.

A visual way of doing this is to sketch adiagram of your support network. Placeyourself in the center of the page. Place thepeople and organizations that you can callon for support at the appropriate relativedistance from you. When you've finishedyour diagram, examine your supportnetwork. Do you have people who will helpyou work through problems when you'restuck, help you generate ideas or listenwhen you need to talk? Do you have peopleat work and outside of work who you can

talk to about professional issues? Look forsupport that generates positive action aswell as identifying the problems. Somemanagers find problem-solving supportoutside the company in professionalassociations or online communities.

At the beginning of every airplane trip, theflight attendants remind each one of us todon our own oxygen mask before assistingothers. These suggested New Year'sresolutions are like that. When you invest inyour own effectiveness, you'll be better ableto support the people who are counting onyou at work.

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New!Happy New Year!

�HHHHH

India's HigherEducation & Economy

Col. V R K Prasad

As India is marching towards becominga major global economic force (third

largest in a couple of decades from now(Goldmann Sachs) with an impressivegrowth rate of 8% and the business housesare spreading their tentacles, but thesustenance of the growth apparently seemsdifficult though not impossible due to itsinadequate human capital management. AWorld Bank report says India "is the best ofthe world - it is the worst of the world - andthe gaps are growing" India's top technologycolleges set global standards. Yet "many ifnot most children finish government primaryschools incapable of simple arithmetic. Yes,the education state of the country is a causefor concern. Only one third who enter schoolcomplete secondary education rightly sobecause, any unannounced visitor shall seeless than half the teachers in governmentschools, at any given time. A billion plus (1.5)nation finds only 11% of its relevant agegroup (17 - 23 years) population enteringcolleges / universities quite naturally the

literacy rate is hovering at 59.5% - a poormatch to any developing nation. Thegraduating youth is relatively unemployabledue to lack of required skills. The less saidthe better about the higher education whichwitnessed a lowered growth rate in 2000 -05 compared to the last few decades, bothin enrolments and number of institutions.With close to 18000 colleges and 348universities India almost figures at the topin terms of higher educational institutions.Despite spending Rs.10 lakhs / PA perstudent in IIT / IIMs less than 5% end updoing what they are best trained to do withmany of them heading westward(140000every year). India ranks very poorly in termsof turning out Ph Ds -16500/annumcompared to 45000 in US and the irony is,large part of them are of Asian originparticularly of India and China. A roughestimate puts the teaching stream at a lowof 4% from a 37.67 million graduates andpost graduates of the country. As thecountry's economy is looking up with

Colonel VRK Prasad is Dean, Icfai School of HRD and he can be reached at [email protected]

meteoric rise in telecom, IT, BPO andpharma industries there is a yawning gapbetween demand and supply - yes, of qualitymanpower which comes only from qualityhigher educational institutions. Highereducation which generates knowledgeencourages analytical thinking,encompasses imparting of relevant anddiverse skills needed by the businessenterprise, has become a critical need of thehour. At present only .37% of our GDP isgoing towards higher education which is threetimes lower than what it is in developedcountries and public expenditure per studentat $ 406 is among the lowest in the worldcompared to China ($2728), Indonesia ($666), Brazil ($3986) and even Malaysia ($625). While private players like, ICFAI, MAHE,AMITY,SYMBIOSIS, etc are playing a stellarrole in contributing their mite to the cause ofhigher education a lot still needs to be donein this regard, only then we can confidentlysay that the route to becoming a major globaleconomy is well laid and clear. �HHHHH


Changing Role ofHR Manager in the

Corporate WorldINTRODUCTION

HR manager can play a role inenvironmental scanning i.e. identifying andanalyzing external opportunities and threatsthat may be crucial to the company'ssuccess. Similarly HR manager is animportant key person to develop competitiveintelligence that may be useful in thestrategic planning process. He participatesin the strategy formulation process bysupplying information regarding thecompany's internal strengths andweaknesses. The strengths andweaknesses of a company's humanresources can have a determining effect onthe viability of the firm's strategic options.

HR managers are strategic partners inbusiness operations. They play importantroles to meet the challenges of anorganisation. Strategic and competent HRmanager need change in their mindset fromseeing themselves relationship managersparticularly to utilize full human resources.Strategic HR managers need a change intheir mindset from seeing themselves asrelationship managers to resourcemanagers knowing how to utilize the fullpotential of their human resources.

The new breed of HR managers needs tounderstand and know how to measure themonetary impact of their actions, so as tobe able to demonstrate the value addedcontributions of their functions. HRprofessionals become strategic partnerswhen they participate in the process ofdefining business strategy, when they ask

questions that move strategy to action andwhen they design HR practices that alignwith the business strategy. By fulfilling thisrole, HR professionals increase the capacityof a business to execute its strategies. Thusthis article focuses on roles of the HRmanager to meet organizational challenges.

Now a days HR manager is expected toinvolve himself in business planning andstrategies to understand the businessrequirements and the HR strategies to theemerging business realities. HR managerhas to understand the Change ManagementProgrammes to bring in culturaltransformation. He has to promote theachieve ownership of HR practices bybusiness heads to improve credibility of thepolicies and programmes for theorganizational success. In view of changingtrends and practices, it is clear that HRmanager has to reorient himself beforeattempting to address the organizationalchallenges. A broad review of global HumanResource Development shows that HRmanagers have been continuouslyparticipating in planning process. Therefore,Human Resources managers have to playthe strategic and systematic roles at differentlevel in the changing corporate world. Humanresource manager has to perform differentroles based on the changing trends,practices, of Human Resource Management.The roles will be different from organizationto organization both in nature and structureof the organization. However, the importanttraditional roles and changing roles can bepresented in the following box 1.1 and 1.2.

Dr. A.Chandramohan, K.Vasanthi Kumari, S.G.Ashwani

Dr. A Chandra Mohan is Professor, SRM School of Management, SRM University, Chennai. E-mail: [email protected],Ms. K Vasanthi Kumari is Lecturer, SRM School of Management, SRM University, Chennai. Email: [email protected],Ms. S G Ashwani is II MBA student, SRM School of Management, SRM University, Chennai. Email: [email protected]

Lead Feature

Box 1.1 Traditional Roles of HR Manager

1. Counselor Role

2. Mediator Role

3. Trouble shooter Role

4. Spokesman Role

5. Changing agent Role

6. Communicator Role

7. Teaching Role

8. Role of Professional Attitude

9. Role OF Fair treatment

Box 1.2 Changing Roles of HR Manager

1. Role makers rather than role takers.2. Integrate the policy.3. Practice changing business strategies.4. Versatile people in HRD.5. Learning individuals.6. Ready to handle responsibilities.7. Have highly applied behavioural

science.8. Global competitors.9. Global net-workers.10. Innovative leaders.

In today's changing competitive corporateworld, maintaining a competitive advantageby becoming a low cost leader or adifferentiator puts a heavy premium on havinga highly committed or competent workforce.Competitive advantage lies not just indifferentiating a product or service or inbecoming the low cost leader but in alsobeing able to tap the company's special skillsor core competencies and rapidly respondto customer's needs and competitor's moves.In other words competitive advantage lies inmanagement's ability to consolidatecorporate-wide technologies and productionskills into competencies that empowerindividual businesses to adapt quickly tochanging opportunities.

In a growing number of organizations humanresources are now viewed as a source ofcompetitive advantage. There is greaterrecognition that distinctive competenciesare obtained through highly developedemployee skills, distinctive organizationalcultures, management processes andsystems. This is in contrast to the traditionalemphasis on transferable resources suchas equipment. Increasingly it is beingrecognized that competitive advantage canbe obtained with a high quality workforcethat enables organizations to compete onthe basis of market responsiveness, productand service quality, differentiated productsand technological innovation.

In a nutshell, a strategic perspective of HRMthat requires simultaneous consideration ofboth external and internal requirement leadsto superior performance of the firm. Thisperformance advantage is achieved by:

� Marshalling resources that support thebusiness strategy and implementation.

� Utilizing the full potential of the humanresources to the firm's advantage.

� Capital to complement and augment thehuman resources based advantage.

Traditionally viewed as a powerful marketingtool to manage customer perception,'branding' is being increasingly used by HRdepartments as a tool to recruit new people


and establish its position in the organization.This is a reflection of the changing role ofHR-from a recruiting entity to a businesspartner, internal consultant, operational aswell as an administrative expert. In addition,there is also a continuous effort to establishstrong partnerships with both internal andexternal customers.

ACCENTURE INITIATIVE

Accenture has tied up with XLRI,Jamshedpur, to cater to its internal HRneeds. It has launched an HR trainingacademy where recent graduates seekingcareers in HR can access specialised skillsthat the IT and ITES sectors would require.In fact, the first batch of 34 professionals isundergoing training at the organisation. Atthe end of the 24-month programme, theparticipants will receive the `Accenture andXLRI Cer tification in Human CapitalManagement.' During the programme, thecandidates will go through both face-to-faceand virtual lessons. Though the facultymainly comprises professors from XLRI, topmanagement executives of Accenture, fromIndia, and other locations, will also coachthe candidates on various aspects of HR.

THE NEED FOR HR BRANDING

A brand is a product, service or concept thatis publicly distinguished from other products,services or concepts, so that it can be easilycommunicated and helps in establishing aunique identity. It is a promise to thecustomers that a specific level of value,quality and service will be received. Themost important point to be noted is that'building a brand' is a corporate strategicissue and not a short-term tactical activity.

The past few years have seen dramaticchanges in its perception or outlook bycorporate leaders. From just being lookedas a support function, HR today is viewedas a key player in driving corporate successand customer satisfaction. "In today'sknowledge driven economy, HR plays astrategic role in bringing in the right kind ofpeople into the organization.

ACHIEVING BRAND SUCCESSTHROUGH EMPLOYEES

A brand is an external manifestation ofseveral internal processes of a company.

There are few companies like TataConsultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, IBM,Cadence, HP, Sun Microsystems, Wipro,Daksh, Satyam, Tata telecom, I-Flexsolutions, Texas Instruments, PolarisSoftware and Birlasoft, who havesuccessfully established their HR brandsboth in India and abroad. According toSinha, among the Indian companies Wiproand Infosys would be the leaders inbranding. In case of MNCs, it is Microsoft,IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP and Accenture, whichare the leaders.

Experts state that to reach out to all levelsof employees, the HR team has to performthe role of a facilitator instead of enforcer.Effective communication (listening andpromoting) and educating the employeesabout their capabilities and potentialcontributions can help strengthen the HRbrand.

According to Kartikeyan, the HR managerneeds to take three steps to embed the HRbrand. First is the strong internal anchoringof HR. "HR members must have a pride intheir profession and must not be limited toactivities like staffing, training, andcompensation. The HR policies andprogrammes have to be framed in such amanner that they reinforce and promote the'brand behavior' and people thinkthemselves as a 'brand'. This needs to befollowed by each employee of theorganization.

The HR has to use PR as a major skill tomake its brand visibility. Besides,communicating it in board meetings,organization's newsletter and intranets, theHR team also has to devise differentemployee-friendly schemes. According toZarir Batliwala, head of human resourcesfor HP India, to gauge the real experienceof the employees and make an impact ofbeing there, the intranet acts as a great tool.

HUMAN RESOUCE MANAGERS ATINFOSYS

The CEO of Infosys says that their machinesare human beings. Computers and softwareare tools in their hands, their finance andtheir employees and their employees are �HHHHH

their human resource. In essence, all theresource of his company is humanresources.

In addition he says that all employeesmanage their human resources and dothers' human resources. Thus, all themanagers are human resources managersas managing their team members is theirresponsibility.

HUMAN RESOUCE MANAGERS INSATYAM

Human resources Manager, Satyamcomputers, proudly says, he performs morecritical functions of:

� Resource Match

� Resources Allocation

� Employees Development

� Employee Retention

Though all the software managers managetheir team members, the HR managersperform more critical specialist function ofHRM.

CONCLUSION

Though still at a nascent step, marketanalysts point out that this trend is expectedto catch up very fast in times to come. Thiswill see a lot of activity in the HR arena,with companies coming up with innovativebranding exercises. For this, the HRmanager needs to have a goodunderstanding of the business and it futurecourse, so that he can work out his policiesand branding exercise accordingly.

Talking about future success stories MartinAppel, vice president for human resourcesat IBM India Limited says, "Organizationswhich invest in hiring the best anddeveloping their skills, can provide a highperformance culture that will be thefrontrunner. HR plays an important role inpartnering, supporting and sometimesleading the business in these areas." It won'tbe easy, but ongoing communication, andactually meeting the organization's real andexpressed needs, will help HR earnrespect."

ATTENTION ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORSAll article contributors are once again requested to limit

their articles to 1,000 word count.Please send only soft copies of articles and photographs

with the full address and contact numbers through e-mail to: [email protected] and [email protected]


HR Strategy: Focus andIntegration

Eshwar Kumar Mittapalli

The term Strategy has derived from theGreek word, "strategos", which means

the art of general. Strategy is more used inMilitaries, the military generalship andprocess of setting the war objectives andachieving them is called as strategy. Later,Strategy has been adopted by theIndustries, Business and Management. Thetop-level management of a Businessorganization, will set a long-term objectiveor a direction for business (which is alsocalled as mission and vision) to directthemselves and their teams through thisprocess they have to follow cer tainguidelines throughout the organization(Which is also called as Business Policy)and the top-level management will decideon how the available scare resources areutilized properly to achieve the desiredobjectives (called as resources allocation).

Business Strategy includes three importantcomponents, Long - term objective (Missionand Vision), Business Policy and Resourcesallocation, taking of these three decisions,is called as setting the strategy or strategyformulation. Over a period of time, the firmwill implement them and execute themthrough out the organization, which is calledas strategy implementation, and theeffectiveness of strategy and its successrate is measured, which is called as strategyevaluation. If the desired results areachieved the company will continue toimplement the same strategy when theenvironmental changes, competition,technology, international sphere have nochange, else it will modify them andimplement a more effective strategy to reachthe desired results.

Though the Business strategy has gainedwide acceptance across the industries, thecompanies, especially the new-agebusinesses and knowledge companies havebeen focusing on functional level strategieslike HR strategy, Marketing Strategy andFinance Strategy. This article enlightens thereaders to understand what a HR Strategyis and its importance.

Can a human resources strategy helps?

Human Resources strategy is a newemerging concept in the business world.Though the concept of strategy hassuccessfully applied to various business

Eshwar Kumar Mittapalli, is a Faculty member in ICFAI National College, Warnagal, You can reach him at [email protected]

functions and levels, the application ofstrategy to Human resources has failedbecause of ever demanding change. Theenvironmental changes like globalization,technological changes, legal, regulatory,mergers and acquisitions, etc., have notmade the consistency of application ofstrategy concept to human resources. Asthe corporate strategy aims at two majorfunctions, focus on Business objectives andintegration with the business units andfunctions likewise, Human resources alsoadopt the focus and integration concepts fordeveloping an HR Strategy. To define onwhat to focus and with whom to integratethe following four principles strategydevelopment process has to be considered:

1. Framework2. Statement3. Analysis and4. Planning

Framework:

For developing a HR Strategy the firmshould adopt a logical framework forunderstanding and defining the Strategy.The most often used framework for HRStrategy is strategy formulation frameworkwhich is a rationalist's perspectives. Theapproach for developing HR strategy startswith "What we do must be relevant to ourcorporate objectives"? This question helpsthe HR personnel know the purpose oforganization and their purpose of existencein the system. In developing any corporatestrategy based on the strategic formulationframework addresses three key strategicdecisions.

1. Where are we now?2. Where do we want to be?3. How do we get there?

In formulating an HR Strategy, the followingtwo Human Resources functions should beadded to the above framework.

1. What kinds of people skills will beneeded to manage and sustain theorganization in the future to meet strategicbusiness objectives?

2. What human resources programmesand initiatives will be needed to dealeffectively with the external pressures anddemands affecting the organization?

As focus figures strongly in the strategicprocess the need to clarify areas of strategichuman resources responsibility is brokendown into four key dimensions.

� Culture� Organization� People and� Systems

Considering the above corporate strategyframework, HR functional dimension andstrategic human resources responsibilitieswe can define HR Strategy as

"A co-ordinated set of actions aimed atintegrating an organization's culture,organization, people and systems".

Statement: HR Mission

Mission statement is a statement whichanswers the questions what we are? Wherewe would like to reach? How we would liketo do the business? And how we are goingto service our stakeholders. This missionstatement is an organization direction. Thequestion how we are going to serve ourstakeholders describe what organization isgoing to give for the financial, man powerand mind-power services offered to thecompany. In majority of the Missionstatements the company will add thestatements like "we provide the proper workculture and facilities to the employees andtake proper safety measures of work". But,is this the just objective for the entire HumanResources or does this serve the purposeof HR policies and objectives and futurefocus?

The human resources function has to beclear as to where the organization is tryingto go and then consider the implications forits own activities. In this context, Americanwriter George Ordiorne refers to the drivingforces of the business as a means ofproviding human resource direction.Consequently, if the organization is"technology driven", the need to recruit,develop, compensate and retainappropriately qualified engineers andscientists will be the driving strategy of thehuman resources function.

Alternatively, other organizations see themethod of distribution as the driving force.These are frequently sales organizations,


and they often rely on door-to-door salesrepresentatives with high levels ofmotivation, enthusiasm and persistence toachieve success. The recruitment of part-time staff or amateurs is vital, as is the needto train them quickly. Apart fromcommission-based incentive schemes littleprovision is made for high staff benefits orfor security. So the human resourcesfunction in this type of organization is againable to take its lead from the underlyingbusiness strategy.

The Human Resources Mission statementshould answer the simple questions like;

� "What is the people contribution of ourbusiness?"

� "Why does our function exist?"

� "Who are our customers?"

� "What do our customers buy?" (Not tobe confused with what you are selling.)

� "What needs to happen in order for ourfunction to be judged effective?"

Answering the above questions specificallyconsidering the current and future issuesof Organization, Human Resources, Careerdevelopment and Competences help indefining an appropriate Human ResourcesStrategy.

Analysis:

Conducting a rigorous SWOT analysis(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities andthreats) clarifies the current status of thefunction, the organization and its externaloperating environment. This is a processthat should be undertaken on a regular basisin order to redefine the function's missionstatement and to provide a quantitative andqualitative human resource input to thestrategic planning process. Like most goodtechniques, the SWOT analysis is simpleto understand, apply and convert intopositive action.

Given the complexity of forces now affectingorganizations, it is particularly important tomonitor the external environment. Byappointing an individual or a group ofmanagers the HR should monitor theinternal and external environment and toresearch the possible organizationalimplications. Line managers should be co-opted into this process as it helps togenerate new issues, understanding,ownership and commitment to anysubsequent human resource activities. Theneed to assess the future demands fromthe external environment and theorganization is vital. However, the processalso involves a lot of internal analysis. Forexample, do you have the right skills? Hasyour team got management credibility? Onwhat matters does the organization consultyou? Having completed this status reportthe human resources function is then able

Surely the real cost of informationtechnology investment is not the hardwarebut the costs of training people to use iteffectively. How many IT systems suffer fromserious under capacity because ofinadequate training? Yet somehow this kindof debate only ever happens in a smallselect group of companies. The objective oftrying to develop a human resourcesstrategy is to put human resource issuessuch as this on the boardroom agenda. Inexamining these four dimensions it ispossible to develop a series of strategiccontinuums which do in fact generate aseries of options in terms of human resourceactivities. This merely provides some of themore obvious options, whereas an individualcompany analysis, set against the corporateobjectives, will generate significantly more.Clearly some key choices have to be made.

Once line management and the humanresources function have followed throughthis process it is then possible to set somebroad human resources objectives. Thesebroad objectives then need to be brokendown into the specialist areas such asremuneration, recruitment, appraisal andtraining and development.

The recruitment choices may be whetherthe organization promotes only from withinwhether it goes to the external market. Doesthe organization have narrow or wide careerpaths? In the compensation area, does theorganization promote high or low basesalaries, few incentives or many incentives?Does the organization afford limited or highemployment security? By following throughthis particular approach, each specialistfunction is required to set operationalobjectives which are consistent with thehuman resources mission statement andobjectives and ultimately the corporatestrategy. It should also ensure thatremuneration programmes are consistentwith career planning and developmentactivities and so on.

Conclusion:

One of the major responsibilities of the top-level management is to highlight thecorporate mission, vision, objectives,values, principles and culture throughout theorganization. To inculcate this in the teams,the company will orient the new employeesthrough training programmes and tocontinue the same the companies willcirculate internal newsletters throughout theorganization. When these teams come tothe execution of their roles, responsibilitiesand duties and taking the decisions (Long-term or short-term) much more gaps will befound between the functional level strategyand the corporate strategy. The HR Strategyis also not exempt from the above. The HRstrategy should focus on the BusinessObjectives and HR Objectives and it shouldintegrate with the Culture, Organization,People and System.

to engage in the next step of strategyformulation.

Planning:

The need to generate some strategic humanresource options and then to make strategicchoices is how the rationalist frameworkprogresses. Yet it poses a structuring issue.How do we develop, shape and order ouroptions and choices? This can be resolvedby focusing on our four dimensions: culture,organization, people and systems.

Classic personnel activity has tended tocover the areas of people and organization,but even in these areas its actions haveoften lacked integration so that we tend toalter remuneration structures withoutreference to organization structure or peoplecapability. The result is often a lack of co-ordination and direction. Culture is aninteresting, and to some people,controversial inclusion.

Organization culture - its measurement,monitoring and management - provides thepotential to enhance organizationalperformance. While the difficulties andacademic arguments over whether or notculture can be changed remain, the fact isthat more and more chief executives arereceptive to the concept of corporate cultureas a possible source of competitiveadvantage. Schein has argued thatcorporate culture is something that needsto be understood and managed as a keyaspect of human resources. Legge hastermed the use of culture by personnelpeople to gain power a "deviant innovation".She sees this use of culture as an attemptby the human resources professional tochange the basis on which organizationalsuccess and the human resourcesfunction's contribution to it are evaluated.This requires the human resourcesprofessional to act as a link betweenindividual and corporate values.

What is also interesting in this area is thetraditional suspicion and sometimes hostilitydisplayed by our profession towardsdiagnostic tools, such as attitude ororganization climate surveys. This ispuzzling, for such devices provide a majoropportunity for the function to make asignificant contribution to the functioning ofthe organization in a quantitative form.

On the other hand, many human resourcesfunctions have not had very much to sayabout systems, outside traditional areassuch as appraisal or managementdevelopment. Few human resourcesfunctions have an input on systems suchas those involving major informationtechnology investments. Typically, thereaction from the IT professional might be:"What would they know about it?" The factis we probably know a whole lot more thanany of the other functions including finance. �HHHHH


Talent Management

B. Mathews and B. Saritha

"To put it simply and starkly, if you don'tget the people process right you will neverfulfill the potential of your business."

- Larry Bossidy.

In the competitive scenario to attaincompetitive advantage in every aspect whatwe need is how different we are from ourcompetitors and what are our corecompetencies. In our knowledge basedeconomy value is the product of knowledgeand information. In the new day contextcompanies cannot generate profits withoutideas, skills and talent of knowledge workersand companies have to bet on people butnot on technologies certainly not on capital.

To survive in the knowledge based economyover the long run, organizations mustbecome focused and be capable ofmanaging employees as their most criticalresources hence workers now require moreeducation and skills than ever before, aspositions have become more knowledgebased and information intensive. And with thebusiness going global and of cutthroatcompetition there is a need to develop anddeploy people who can articulate the passionand vision of the organization and maketeams with the energy to perform at muchhigher levels. Hence talent plays a vital role.

Definition of Talent Management

"The capacity to learn + capacity to think +capacity to relate + capacity to actaccordingly * values of the organization iscalled as talent"

"Talent management implies recognizingperson's inherent skills, traits, personalityand offering him a matching job".

While there are no Magic formulae tomanage talent, the trick is to locate it andencourage it. Talent management isbeneficial to both the organization and theemployees.

Features of talent management

� Talent management is of identifying,realizing and guiding untapped potentialin people.

� It means nurturing and developing thosepeople identified of having ability andpotential and it should form part of anyorganizations recruitment and retentionstrategy.

B.Mathews, Asst. Prof in management, St. Mary's college of Engineering and Technology, Hyd. Can be reached at: [email protected], IT recruiter, IT Global Services, Hyderabad. Can be reached at: [email protected]

� It involves individual and organizationaldevelopment in response to a changingand complex operating environment. Itincludes the creation and maintenanceof supportive people orientedorganizational culture.

� Talent Management is a consciousdeliberate approach undertaken toattract, develop and retain people withthe aptitude and abilities to meet currentand future organizational needs.

Every person has a unique talent that suitsa particular job profile any other position willcause him discomfort. A wrong fit will resultin further hiring, retraining and other wastefulactivities. In order to bring harmony in suchsituation the key ingredient is "putting theright people in the right jobs."

Talent management brings together anumber of important human resources andmanagement initiatives. Organizations thatformally decide to manage their talentundertake a strategic analysis of theircurrent HR process. Talent managementapproach adopted and focused on co-coordinating and integrating the following.

� Recruitment: ensuring right people areattracted to the organization.

� Retention: developing andimplementing practices that reward andsupports employees.

� Employee development: ensuringcontinuous formal and informal learningand development.

An important step to be identified in theorganization is the staff or employees thatare critical to the organization. Manyorganizations lost a lot of "organizationsknowledge" in the downsizing exercises afew years ago. The impact of the loss wasnot immediately apparent. However it did nottake long for many companies to realize theirmistake. What more important is to think ofwhether people still seen as anorganizations most valuable assets.Business leaders are quick to say that, butwhen it comes to the real situation they arenot realizing the same consequently theyare worried about retaining them.

For those companies who have the foresightto take more innovative and imaginativeapproaches they will have the opportunity

to gain competitive advantage by creatingniche for human resources. For those whodon't, their future competitiveness willremain even more uncertain.

Now let us discuss in detail some of theimportant aspects which are needed fortalent management.

Attracting talent:

Attracting qualified talent is the critical first stepin the talent management cycle. The improvingeconomy, baby boomers, retirement and otherfactors are creating keen competition for talentthese days. Hence this step has become morecritical than ever before.

Companies have to attract good talent byestablishing their brand identity. As we knowthat we get good customers with a good brand.In the same way companies must develop theirimage in the society by implementing the bestpractices in each and every aspect.

Selecting talent:

Once qualitative people are attracted thenit is very important to choose right candidatefor the right job. What companies have todo is to match the job analysis with humananalysis which gives the real picture of rolefitment. This process must be adopted byevery company in order to have highperformance teams which give competitiveadvantage.

"Any strategy, no matter how smart is deadon arrival unless a company bring it to life withpeople-THE RIGHT PEOPLE"---- Jack Welch.

Retaining talent:

Most companies today would acknowledgethat their human assets are their mostimportant asset. But since companies can'town employees the way they own factoriesor product your success or failure hingeson the quality and duration of the relationshipyou form with your people.

In present scenario people choosecompanies which have congenialatmosphere and prefer change if they don'tget desirable, as it may hinder the growth andsuccess of the company. Hence retention isvital than recruitment. Rewards for highperformance employee welfare opportunityfor individual development, employingpersonal and professional counseling


initiatives enhances QWL, QC- a seasonedtechnique helps in retention of employees.

In order to retain talented people, pamperthe talent pool and aspire them withrecognition, status, and good money and alsoencourage them in the quest for knowledge.They have to provide assistance with financialplanning, entrepreneurship andintrapreneurship development programs andsome times part time employment options. Ifthese things are not provided people will findcompanies where all these things areavailable and quit the present organization.

Steps to be taken to gain competitiveadvantage through talent management

Industry academia partnership:

In order to manage the talent, initiatives �HHHHH

must be taken from the route base level ofpeople during their educational process inthe colleges. Organizations must have anMoU with the colleges in developing thetalent according to their requirements andthere by providing training and developmentprograms to the students so that when theygraduate they will readily deliver the servicesto the company.

Faculty development programs:

It is not an end developing the studentsaccording to the requirements. It is equallyimportant to conduct various developmentalprograms continuously to the faculty in theemerging trends and issues by the eminentpersons both from academics and industryso that it furthers research and bettereducation and orientation to the students.

Better HRP:Companies have to take employeesforecasting as serious as they do businessforecasting. This enables to know therequirement and may not fall shortage ofthe talented employees.

Continuous training:Like Motorola and Disney every companyhas to allocate funds for continuous trainingand development programs and ensuringits implementation.

Finally talent management is more than justanother HR process. It requires a holisticand integrated approach;

"Talent is a natural ability, left undevelopedit could reman dormant and hidden for ever."

Talent Retention:Key Strategies

Tapomoy Deb

Today talented professionals areincreasingly mobile, have highly

transferable skills, are Internet literate, wellinformed and above all, sought after.Organizations are constantly struggling tokeep these valuable individuals as the bestway to deliver sustained competitiveadvantage in the knowledge economy.Retention of talent is fundamentally talentcontinuity. In an upturn, the cost of nothaving the right talent could be untoldbillions in lost and missed opportunities andin a downturn the cost could be bankruptcy.Therefore it is crucial for every organizationto retain talented people by developingappropriate talent retention strategy.Following are some of the key talentretention strategy:

1. Knowing key talents: Organizations,especially senior leadership, must findtime to get to know their potential andkey talents by relating to thempersonally.

2. Clearly defining which employeesthe organization wants to keep: Manyorganizations have focused ondetermining which employees theyshould get rid of rather than on whichones they should keep. Manydownsizing packages unfortunatelyresulted in talented people leaving theorganization as they could find otherwork quickly.

3. Communicating talented employeestheir retention plan: Many

Tapomoy Deb is G M - HR with Spentex Industries, New Delhi. E-Mail: [email protected]

organizations have deliberately not toldtalented people that they were specialin many ways for fear of alienating theaverage performers. In the currentscenario, it is easy to retain averageperformers and increasingly difficult toretain talents.

4. Providing recognition: It is crucial tounderstand what drives key talents. Themajor reasons talented people leaveorganizations are lack of recognition,lack of involvement, and poormanagement. Providing recognitionhelps to retain key talent and also yieldsgreat feedback and generates ideas fortalent retention.

5. Providing opportunities fordevelopment and involvement:Providing development opportunities,mentoring programmes and ensuringknowledge transfer within theorganization efficiently and effectivelyhelps talented people to provide anorganization valuable input on creativebusiness opportunities and solutions. Italso enhances their commitment to staywith the organization.

7. Rationalizing culture: Talentedemployees appreciate performanceoriented, ethics driven, autonomyseeking and supportive of great placeto work practices.

8. Providing intrapreneurialopportunities: By allowing talents to

run a business inside a larger business,an organization can gain commitmentand ownership of results whilesimultaneously developing people.People who see oppor tunities forownership and personal developmentare much likely to stay with theorganization.

9. Challenging Jobs: Top talents likechallenges and risks, otherwiseboredom will set in and they will belooking for something more interestingelsewhere. It is very challenging fororganizations to design work that waybut they cannot do it then talents arenot expected to stay.

10. Providing resources: Talents must begiven the tools they need to do their jobseffectively. Of course, expenses are tobe carefully watched but expensecutting should not cause the bestpeople to wish they were somewhereelse, and then they soon will be.

Organizations need to clearly identify,develop, involve and recognize key people.It is not limited to the favoured few butfocusing on those people whose skill setsare crucial and rarely available andprospective to organization. Thoseorganizations that are able to create adynamic, a new human resource model willretain the high knowledge talent needed tosucceed in a globally competitiveenvironment. �HHHHH


Competency Mapping- Catch Word In

CorporatesDr. A.Vinayagamoorthy, S. Suja and L Shankari

Abstract

[A Competency HRM model is developedby the researchers with regard to Functionalcompetency of thirty middle level managersof a leading organization, manufacturing ofPower Steering Gears, and the acceptabilityof the model was tested by the pilot studyconducted by them].

Introduction:

During the LPG era, the competencymovement has been gaining momentum inthe HR area. Talented people are today'sscarce strategic resource, it has becomeincreasingly difficult attract, motivate andretain the best in the market place.Competency mapping place a key role inintegrating the human resource system byproviding vital information required to linkrules and individuals.

In this context, the researchers decided toconduct a pilot study at a leadingorganization, manufacturing of PowerSteering Gears.

A Conceptual Model of IndividualCompetence

Following are the steps involved in thecompetency mapping

Step 1: Identification and Classification ofthe Competencies

The proposed model used the following toolsfor identification of competencies.

1. Job analysis interview

2. Focus groups

3. Questionnaire

4. Job description

5. Direct observation methods

6. Training programmes

From this initial list, the competencies areclassified into two, they are

Personal Competencies

Professional Competencies can bemotivational, intellectual, social andemotional. Professional competency can beorganizational, management and functional.

Step 2: Developing the contents of thecompetency profiles

A competency profile may describe anindividual, a position, a group of positionsor a whole organization.

The proposed model profiles both thetargeted and existing profiles

Step 3: Competency profiling in competencymapping

Competency mapping identifies anindividuals strength and weakness, helpshim/her understand them better and showshim/her where career development effortsneed to the directed.

Self-assessment

A self-assessment instrument is an efficientmeans of evaluating skills in that therespondent answers direct questions abouttheir competencies and assessment.

The instrument is in the form of aquestionnaire where the candidates simplyindicate their level of ability in eachcompetency on a four level verbal scalenamely unfamiliar, familiar, competent, expert.

Degree of Importance: in the profile of a highlevel manager, the competency "developinga vision" might be relatively more importantthat "Communicating in writing" even if bothare selected for the people. This aspect isknown as identification of the degree ofimportance.

This model uses the verbal scaleVirtual

EssentialDesirable

These points in the scale carry theweightage 3,2,1 respectively.

Assignment of required level: theassignment of required level for that positionwas done to present bias that might occurwhen assigning desired and observedweights together.

Assignment of observed level: The superiorsdid the assigning of the observed level laterto present the influence of the required levelon the mapping

Integrate the collected date:

The self-assessment sheets and theobserved level marked by the superiorswere integrated. In case of huge differenceboth the parties were asked to givebehavioural indicates to support their claims

Three key steps in using the competencyinformation 1. Translate the data 2. Conducta gap analysis 3. Interpret the profiles.

HOW TO MEASURE GAPS

If the purpose of the gap analysis's toidentify training needs, then a one-to -onecomparison of the individual's level ofmastery on specific competencies with thedesired or required level of mastery willprovide an indication of the competencies,which will require attention. Anycompetencies where a candidate's rating isbelow what is required would be flagged forfollow-up. This may mean formal training,on- the- job experience or mentoring.

Dr. A.Vinayagamoorthy, Reader, Periyar University E-Mail: [email protected]. S. Suja, Ph.D., Scholars, Periyar University E-Mail: [email protected], Faculty, Sona School Of Management. Salem.; [email protected]

Levels of Profiles

Who or what isbeing described

Individual

Target

A profile of the competencies anindividual should exhibit afterparticipating in a training anddevelopment program. Might Bereferred to as the Training andDevelopment DesiredOutcomes Profile.

Existing

In a staffing context, acompetency profile is derived for,each individual competing for thejob. This might be referred to ascandidate Profiles or ApplicantProfiles. Upon hiring an individual,his or her competency profile,could be called an EmployeeProfile or an Incumbent Profile


Group ofindividuals.

Position

Group ofpositions

Organization

A new team is being formed in theorganization. This group ofindividuals will conduct strategicplanning and policy review. Theprofile describing thecompetencies desired of the newteam members could be referredto as the Strategic Planningand Policy Review Team Profile.

As part of the process ofstaffing a vacancy in theorganization, one can develop aPosition Profile. This describes theideal competencies for someonein that position.

A new business line requires thatyour organization build a seniorIT management group. Bycombining generic managementcompetencies with specificknowledge competencies that areassociated with IT, you develop anIT Management Profile to recruitor develop staff for this particulargroup.

With an eye to the future, one candevelop a profile to describe the keycompetencies expected to supportorganizational performance fiveyears in the future. This might becalled a 5-Year OrganizationalOutlook Profile.

There is a high performing teamin the organization, against whichwe can benchmark all others.The profile describing the,competencies currently exhibited,by this group of individuals mightsimply be referred to as the TeamProfile.

To re-classify a position in theorganization a Position Profileprovides an accurate descriptive,picture of the competenciescurrently required in that position.

Your organization seeks toflatten its hierarchy. One,approach is to identify a group of,positions or levels that sharebasic competencies. By profiling,these positions, the levels thatrequire the same fundamentalcompetencies can be combined.

To profile the keycompetencies that are currentlyexhibited by all individuals of theorganization a self-assessmentmay be done. This is a snapshotof the organization as a Profile ofthe Organization Today.

PERSON JOB MATCH

To find the perfect fit for the job the followinganalysis method is very beneficial. For e.g.,two candidates are competing for a position.Candidate A exceeds requirements on twoof the four competencies and falls below onthe other two. Candidate B falls below on allfour competencies.

Process 1:

The sum of all gaps of candidate A (+or-)=20+10+20+20=70

The sum of all gaps of candidate B (+or-)=10+30+10+10=60

According to this process, candidate Bwould be better fit for the position.

Process2:

The sum of all negative gaps of candidateA= 20+20=40

The sum of all negative gaps of candidateB= 10+30+10+10=60

According to this process, candidate Awould be better fit for the position.

Key Steps In Creating the Contents ofCompetency Profile

The application of competency profiling atthe recruitment stage can help to reducecost. Firstly, if advertisement for a vacantposition contains some indication of therequired competencies, the no. of unsuitableapplications can be reduced. Alsocompetency profiling can help to reduce thelikelihood of costly recruitment errors andany subsequent business errors made bythe recruit.

Conclusion:

Competency mapping is not rocket science,but it can be as explosive in terms ofreenergizing employees and building adynamic organization. Competency modelare not ends in themselves. They are meansto an end a set of standards to drive humanresource processes. Competency basedHRM have the capacity to actually driveorganizational change rather simplyenabling change to take place.

Step

Consider the level

Consider the role

Consider the stage oforganizationaldevelopment

Consider otherrelevant contextualvariables

Identify relevantprofessionalcompetencycategories andcompetency clusters

Select personalcompetencies

Collect additionalsupportinginformation

Review, customize,finalize

Description

Consider the amount of responsibility, authority andaccountability required to perform the work. The hierarchicallevels in the organization will be the guiding light.

Consider the major/minor activities/ responsibilities relating tothe profile being developed.

Consider the organization's life cycle and its current stage ofdevelopment

Consider other contextual variables that are likely to influencethe identification and selection of competencies for inclusion inthe profile being developed. The relevance of particularcontextual variables is driven by the profile's intended purposeand application.

From the Competency Listing, developed in the first step, identifythe competency categories of greatest relevance to the profile.From within each of these categories, identify the competencyclusters of greatest relevance-this is the profile's first cut.

From within each of the competency clusters select the personalcompetencies of greatest relevance to the profile.

In order to verify/substantiate the competencies selected to thispoint, gather additional supporting information from sources suchas an expert panel or surveys.

Based on the information gathered at the previous step, reviewand tailor the profile, adding any additional competencies and/orinformation deemed to be important - this is the profile's final cut.

�HHHHH

OUR MINDThe mind is our best friend or ourworst enemy as it depends on ourthinking. Jesus said, “The kingdom ofGod is within you.” Milton said, “Themind is its own place. It can make aheaven of hell and a hell of heaven.”Positive thinking brings happinessand purposeful thinking brings powerand success.

- Prof. I V Chalapathi RaoIn Ancient Wisdom-Modern Insights


Spiritual Intelligence

Naachimuthu, K.P, & Rekha, K.N

INTRODUCTION

'To be taught is nothing- everything isinside waiting to be awakened'

- Paracelsus

Individuals require a wide variety of skills,knowledge or ability to perform a task. It isgenerally referred as the "Intelligence".Although it is hard to define Intelligence, itcan be described as, the individuals' overallability to adapt, adjust, learn and carry outabstract thinking, etc. As more researchersstarted focusing on specific aspects ofintelligence they classified intelligence in tovarious types such as Academic / cognitiveintelligence, mechanical / motor intelligence,emotional intelligence (interpersonalintelligence & intrapersonal intelligence),social intelligence, etc. To complement allthe other types of intelligence, SpiritualIntelligence (SI) is classified as another type,which deals with truly humane aspects andfills the gap of how to make a man, acomplete 'being'.

HUMAN BEING - A MIXTURE OF THREEELEMENTS

Human beings are product of three elementsviz. Thinking, Feeling and Being. Thinking hasmore to do with IQ/ Cognitive Intelligence andit helps an individual to analyze, adapt tosituations, make wise decisions and actaccordingly. Feeling is more related toemotions/EQ. It refers to the individuals'ability to understand the emotions of oneselfand others and handling it more effectively.Though these two (IQ & EQ) are morefocused on external environment, SQ is morefocused on inner development and it helpsin giving individuals how to make a valueaddition to it.

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE

The term 'Spiritual' or 'Spirituality' refers tothe subtler element of one's inner self. It hasnothing to do with religion. A person is saidto be exercising spirituality, when he or sheis able to see one's own self in others. Whenthis spirituality is practiced a harmless,happy and harmonious living communitycan be developed in this earth. The term'Spiritual Intelligence' can be described as'the intelligence with which we address andsolve problems of meaning and value, theintelligence with which we can place ouractions and our lives in a wider, richer,meaning-giving context, the intelligence withwhich we can assess that one course ofaction or one life- path is more meaningfulthan other.' (Danah Zohar & Ian Marshal)

Spiritual Intelligence is a transformativeintelligence that makes an individual wholeand gives him / her ones own integrity(Zohar, 2000). Spiritual intelligence can bedescribed as a deep self-awareness inwhich one becomes more and more awareof the dimensions of self, not simply as abody, but as a mind-body and spirit. Whenwe employ our spiritual intelligence, wereach the extraordinary place in which ourmind no longer produces data of the typewanted or needed and the need for intuitionbecomes accelerated. As conscious beings,we are aware of our thought images andfeelings as they arise in our consciousness;yet our complex and not so complexprocessing of information in the brain leadsto an inner experience. This inner experiencerepresents the essence of spiritualintelligence.

QUALITIES OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY:

� Love, compassion and service: Loveand compassion are often associatedwith the beginning of a true spiritual life.Love dissolves confusion and fear andelicits kindness, openness and respect.Unless we love and trust ourselves, wecannot love others. Compassion goesbeyond a personal form of love to a loveof all creation.

� Honesty and authenticity: No longerlying to ourselves and others about whatwe are doing and what the

Naachimuthu, K.P, Faculty member, Sona School of Management, Salem. E-mail : [email protected], K.N, Academic Associate, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. E-mail : [email protected]

consequences are. To live as we reallyare without delusion about the reality ofthe past, the present, our selfhood andbehaviors.

� Physical, emotional, mental andspiritual clarity: Physical clarity has todo with attention to the body's healthand real needs. Mental and emotionalclarity have to do with awareness,discernment and lucidity. Spiritual clarityhas to do with wholeness, simplicity andsensitivity.

� Responsibility and discipline:Becoming accountable for ourselveswithout feeling excessively responsiblefor others. Dependable and creativecompletion of our responsibilities and adisciplined approach to personal growth.

� Serenity: A state of equanimity, innertranquility and peacefulness in the faceof challenge and change.

� Personal freedom: Letting go ofattachments and living questions andproblems into answers andopportunities without drama, escape, oravoidance.

� Tolerance and patience: The ability toembrace self and 'the other' in spite ofperceived weakness or difference. Toeven move beyond tolerance toacceptance and celebration ofdifference and diversity. Patience meansto take events and experiences as theycome without complaint or expectation.It also means all things have a naturaltime and place to be.

� Faith, trust, and inner security: Theability to live without anxiety or doubt.An inner security free of fear anddeprivation.

� Wisdom and understanding: Deepinsight, possible at any age, expressedthrough everyday action.

� Gratitude, humility and willingness:Gratitude is the recognition of the littlemiracles that occur everyday. Humilityis the ability to move beyond arroganceand grandiosity toward an honestacceptance of ourselves with all ourperceived limitations and faults.

� Hope, happiness, joy, and humor:

Being

Thinking Feeling (EQ)

HumanBeing


Hope and happiness are states of wellbeing and contentment emanating froma deep feeling of inner wealth irrespectiveof outer events or experiences. Joy andhumor spring from a warm heart and asense of the 'cosmic game'.

� Connection with the earth, nature andeveryday life: Even though we may findgreat inspiration in sacred systems ortranscendent experiences, werecognize the sacredness of dailyactivities, other people, other life forms,inanimate matter, and nature. "It's nogood being an angel if you're no earthlyuse."

� living in the present moment: Theability to live in the present ratherescaping to the past or the future. Theability to constantly 'let go'.

� A sense of wonder, mystery, andreverence: A direct experience of thecosmos which is unitive, inclusive, andexpansive. A sense of being aware ofthe profound interconnectedness of allcreation.

� A sense of purpose and place inspace and time: A sense of the uniqueand necessary place and personalcontribution of each individual being inthe world. "Where does my deepgladness meet the world's deep need?"

SPIRITUALITY AT WORK PLACE

Spirituality or being spiritual is a way ofexpressing ones' true self or the humane

nature, such as respect, regard, empathyor compassion for other being. The practicesof mindfulness and character developmentthat are so much a part of SI can be atremendous asset to people in all aspectsof life. So individuals can bring thisspirituality in to workplace as a part of theirown character. How one approaches,communicate and build positive relationshipwith peers, sub-ordinates, top managementand customers is both a practical, emotionaland also spiritual way of approach.

The integration of Spirituality or SpiritualIntelligence in work place follows sevenprinciples, which when inhibited into anorganization makes the employees moreeffective, productive and efficient (personally& professionally). They are:

1. Creativity: It refers to conscious effortsto see the things differently, breaking outof habits and out-dated beliefs to findnew ways of thinking, doing and being.

2. Communication: It refers to ones abilityto be assertive, frank and straightforwardin sharing information or ideas. Simplyto say it is the integrity and candor inone's way of behavior or communication.

3. Respect: It refers to the true regard andacceptance of others as oneself and italso includes the ability to appreciatediversity/ differences and learning to usethese differences for mutual benefit.

4. Vision: It refers to the ability to see theunseen, imagine the unimaginable. This

version, when not followed by propermission remains only as dream. So forgrowth, development or expansion oneshould be willing to dream about makingimpossible, possible.

5. Partnership: It refers to the ability toaccept, appreciate and implement theviews of others, if it is beneficial to alarger extent/ larger community and atthe same time it also involves the abilityto challenge the views, when it is notfeasible. Thus partnership is a balanced,fair and unbiased way of being andworking together.

6. Energy: It refers to the ability of anindividual to diffuse or spread positiveforces in the environment he lives/works, so that everyone feels respected,cared for and are motivated todemonstrate the same.

7. Flexibility: It refers to the ability to adjustand adapt to changes in situations,people etc. Resistance to change orbeing more rigid will make one's mindmore narrowed or stagnated and willprevent further development/ progress.

CONCLUSION

Spiritual Quotient/Spiritual Intelligence thushold the hope for fulfillment and it helps indeveloping or empowering oneself andothers. SQ also helps people in building ahealthy and harmonious community andmakes the world a better place to live in.

�HHHHH

Facets for SuccessfulManagement

G.V.S. Gurunadh & D. Srinivas

Introduction

An effective manager pays attention to manyfacets of management, leadership andlearning within organizations. So, it's difficultto take the topic of "management success"We suggest seven management successskills without which we don't believe you canbe a successful manager.

The most important issue in managementsuccess is being a person that others wantto follow. Every action you take during yourcareer in an organization helps determinewhether people will one day want to followyou.

A successful manager, one whomothers want to follow:

� Builds effective and responsiveinterpersonal relationships. Reportingstaff members, colleagues andexecutives respect his or her ability todemonstrate caring, collaboration,respect, trust and attentiveness.

� Communicates effectively in person,print and email., Listening and two-wayfeedback characterize his or herinteraction with others.

� Builds the team and enables other staffto collaborate more effectively with eachother. People feel they have becomemore - more effective, more creative,

G.V.S. Gurunadh is Director - HR, Capital IQ Information Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd, he can be reached at [email protected] is Faculty of Human Resources Management in Alluri Institute of Management Sciences, Affiliated to Kakatiya University,Hunter Road, Warangal, He can be reached at [email protected]

more productive - in the presence of ateam builder.

� Understands the financial aspects of thebusiness and sets goals and measuresand documents staff progress andsuccess.

� Knows how to create an environmentin which people experience positivemorale and recognition and employeesare motivated to work hard for thesuccess of the business.

� Leads by example and providesrecognition when others do the same.

� Helps people grow and develop theirskills and capabilities through educationand on-the-job learning. �HHHHH


ICTs And Family Life

Dr T.H.Chowdary

The old order chngeth yielding place tothe new

Lest one good custom should corruptthe whole world

- Poet Laureate of UK; Lord Tennyson

The Bhagawad Geeta says,

Kallah kalayataam aham

I am time that causes change.

Since the evolution of the cosmos and lifeon the planet, earth there have beenchanges in the species that inhabit this earthand the way that human beings formedcommunities, nations and states andgovernments. What happens over time isthe development of technology . Inventionsmake life less arduous and increasinglymore comfortable for human beings . Asintelligence and knowledge grow, there willbe less and less manual work and drudgeryand more and more work is done bymachines. In the information age the worldis knit together by the global informationinfrastructure (GII) of optical fiber cables,terrestrial and satellite microwave radiocommunications systems. During the last200 years the world trade was mostly ingoods, in things physical which are surplusand produced inexpensively in one countryand are required in other countries acrossOceans and land masses. Nations hadconcerted together international tradeorganizations like the UNCTAD to facilitateless and less painful and expensive meansof trade of goods. Now in the informationage more of brain work and less ofmechanical work is required. Machinesbecome more and more intelligent and evenstart learning. But to make machines do thework which our mind does and make themlearn as humans learn, fabulous of brainwork is required. This brain wok is calledservices, Whether they be for design orconsultation medical prescription ortransaction; banking; insurance; education;entrainment; design; planning; collection andprocess of information and so on. Just as inproduction of goods there are competitiveadvantages for certain countries and globaltrade assures the availability of goods

everywhere at least expense, so does tradein services help the storage and exchangeof information and knowledge for the modernservices economy.

2. The services economy is informationand knowledge- dependent. In developedcountries services sector contributes 65 to75% of the GDP. In Inida, it is 55%. Peoplecan gat the best advantage out of the newinformation & communications technologieswhich are the foundation for the knowledgeeconomy only if they are educated andskilled in the use of knowledge machinesand systems; that is, computers and theInternet. We find that along with urbanizationwhich has been happening inexorably allover the world, human beings are wantingmore and more creature comforts. Insteadof commuting in public transport peoplehave their own vehicles; homes are air-conditioned and are with all types ofinformation & entertainment equipments likecolour TV, microwave oven, refrigerator,alarm systems and so on. And if this levelof life is to be sustained, it is not sufficient ifone person works. Both husband the wifeare having to work to get a family incomesufficient to sustain the new style of living.Education and medicine and health servicesare becoming expensive. This is anotherreason why both have to work. If both ofthem go for work, then they cannot havemany children. So we see that where wifeand husband are working, such familieshave one or at best two children. It is notonly the difficulty and expense in upbringingof the children that is, lading to small familiesbut the cost of education is another reason.When once both wife & husband work, whowill look after the child or children? In therural homes we have grandmothers anduncles and aunts who could look after thechildren. But in cities where housing is verycostly, we cannot have joint families. Theold will have to be increasingly consignedto senior citizen homes. So the infants areleft in Crèches or more affluent ones engageNanis at home while both go for work. Asthe infant grows he/she is put in a pre-primary school . Then the more affluent startputting them in hostels .This means that thechildren are not having parental care since

infancy. When both of them come home,from work they are so tired that they havehardly any time or energy to converse withthe children and instruct them in ethical andmoral life through tales and stories. Whateducation the children have is left to theschools. That means the parents and familyhave abdicated the responsibility to bringup the child to build character into them toinstill aspiration into him, outsourced if atall if they are forthcoming. These tasks areto tutors, coaches, teachers, for a fat fee.

3. When children who grow from infancyin the care of schools and hostels and whenthey grow up they are sent to the USA, whatfamily affection will be there? If the youngturn to the parents and say, you neverbrought us up, you never cared for us; ofcourse, you paid money for all our schooling.So we owe you money and nothing else.Therefore the educated who go to the USAand other countries discharge their filialresponsibility by sending money to theparents to buy a home / flat in a city andperhaps, equip it with all conveniencesincluding a PC and a telephone so that overIP telephony they could inexpensivelyconverse with the old in a flat in Hyderabadand the young working in the USA orelsewhere. Yes. There is one need of theparents for the young working men andwomen in the USA. When the child is to bedelivered , it is very costly in the USA tohave hospital care. And also one cannotafford to engage a Nany to look after theinfant. So the mother is called to the US atthe time of delivery of the baby and for afew months therefore to look after the baby.Then she is sent back. Thereafter the adviceby the young to the parents is, "you are old;you are becoming older; you can't travel andtherefore you need not have to come here;you can live comfortably in the flat we havefinanced". And then on Father's Day andMother's Day the working young in the USwill call to wish the Mother and the Father.So instead of our traditional value of "Mathrudevobhava, pitru devobhava" every and allthe time, these are remembered only onthe Mothers Day & Fathers Day as in theUS.

Dr. T H Chowdary is the former Charman of VSNL and presently Advisor to TCS and Satyam Computer Services and can be reached at:[email protected];[email protected]


4. Of late, India ias placing very high valueon women's education. We have come torealize that an educated mother only canbring up achieving children . Yes. That is, ifa mother is educated, morality and ethicsand family affections are there. But nototherwise. Now in order to promote girls'education especially in the professionalcourses, the State of Andhra Pradesh hasreserved one third of the seats to girls inengineering and medial and suchprofessional colleges. These who becomeengineers and computer professionals havebecome a new class of Indians. To this classcan be added non-professionals that is,B.Sc B.com, B.A educated girls who arealso now-a-days required in large numbersby the BPO, Call center and KPObusinesses. Thus, we find tens of thousandsof girls being employed . They are newlyliberated, they have had no moral or ethicalinstruction either in the home or in the schoolor in the college. Money- independence self-will and equality with men are what thesecherish. They don't want to marry early.

5. Once I was addressing students in anEngineering college in Guntur . About 40%of the students are girls. At the end I placedbefore them the great opportunities thateducated young especially, in informationtechnology, and bio- technology are havingin countries across the globe. At the end ofthe meeting, some parents met with meand castigated me " you people havespoiled our state; you are asking us to sendgirls to school. Now they have only one aim,to go to America. They don't want to marry.They say, we are too young. There is nowtension in the homes. We have invested alot in their education, some sold awayproperties and gold; now these girls breakup all relations just to get a job in the USAor in other cities like, Bangalore, Mumbai ,Delhi. The family relationships are breakingdown and we elders are worried whom theywill marry and what will happen to themarriage, whether there will be anyaffections survive".

6. The change is coming about very fastand most undesirably in the ICT (Information& Communication Technology) sector. Thesoftware, BPO, call center and KPOcompanies like Infosys, Satyam Computersalready have between 25%- 45 % ofemployees, girl graduates . They are paidas much as boys and that too quite heavily.In the third year itself, they are it is notuncommon that they get Rs. 500,000 peryear and above. These girls are flush withindependence as well as money. They areaway from the homes and they live inworking women's hostels. Many have their

own transport finance companies and banksare competing with one another to giveloans. Boys and girls who very freelyaddress some times very outrageously andgirls are too eager to exert their liberty andfreedom and newly -gained independenceboth financially and from family. Many ofthem do not want to marry for long. Theiraim is somehow to go to the USA. If thereare marriages, these girls prefer those whoare already in USA or foreign employment.Marriage for them is not a bond between anyoung boy and girl but a means of going tothe US. Some of them get on to the Internetand cultivate acquaintances, thenfriendships and almost marriage bondsthrough "chatting" on the Internet. Parentsmay with utmost care fix up marriage but bythe time these people land in the US , theyare eager to pick up the Internet spouse andsay good bye to the marriage that wasarranged in India. There are numerouscases I have come across .

7. I make it a point during lunch time to sitin the cafeteria, observe people and alsotalk to the boys and girls. Some of thembecome very good friends. There are caseswhen they come and give me invitation formarriage. I go very happily and even counselthem what is meant by marriage and howthey should behave. Soon after marriage thegirl tells me, "Sir, I have divorced that guy".

I: Why had you divorced him so soon?How could you discover the marriage hasto breakup ?

She: It is very easy . He is notcompatible. I don't want to be so everdirected or dominated by him.

8. So to these people, marriage meansnothing. In our tradition marriage isindissoluble. It is not for the young man andthe girl to indulge in only pleasure. It is toraise children who would be great, healthy,proper citizens. That is the biological functionof the marriage according to our traditionalunderstanding and education. But theseprofessionals don't have any such view.Marriage in India is a unique phenomenon,a unique samskara. When the Purohitperforms the marriage, just observe whatthey are reciting. Bharata Varsha, all therivers, all the mountains, etc". That invocationis to make the newly -weds aware of the greatheritage and then they take the oath or thepromise that Rama and Sita made when theygot married. The ceremony lasts for two tothree hours and like nowhere else in theworld. This is to instruct the newly weds withlots of people present as witness that theyare entering into an indissoluble relationshipfor the sake of the world, humanity. The

educated, young, lacking moral and ethicaleducation and our history, think that theuseless ceremonies are foisted upon themby their ignorant and country parents.

9. There is another work situation whichis telling very badly upon marriage andfamily life. The young are living in a flat. Theboy is a software professional. He goes tooffice in the day. The wife is working in aBPO company. She goes to the companyin the night. Now where is the marriage,where is the family, where is the time forthem to bring up children? This type ofunnatural living has its inexorable effect ofbroken marriages and health hazards.

10. Yes. We are aware of increasingdeterioration of marriage and family in thenew services economy in the country but isthere anything that could be done in orderto enable both the people to work but atthe same time, nurture and bring up childrenand care for parents. This would involvesacrifice. There are girls who are very welleducated, qualified coming up from greatenlightened and cultured families. Thesegirls decide that until their children comeup to the age of 8 or 9, they don't go towork. They choose to have children onlyafter three years of marriage; after that theywill have one or two children. They will bringthem up staying at home; put them to schooland when they are between 8 or 10 yearsgo for work again. So during the periodwhen at home, I give education, I impartculture and instill values. What is the use ofa life when the family members don't haveaffection, don't have bondings. This isculture. This is in consonance with Indiantradition and at the same time is not inconflict with the new life style that serviceseconomy and globalisation are bringingabout. Richness by way of wealth andpossessions of all sorts and creationscomfor ts cannot make people happy.Happiness is a state of mind; contentmentgives happiness comparing with those whoare less fortunate and poor instead ofcomparing with the wealthy people iswisdom. Our wisdom says that the richestman in the world is one who has got thefewest wants and desires. Running after torealise the wants is what causes misery.Therefore we can have modernity andtechnology; change with family life andhumanity and humanism, if we are broughtup in the light of our ancient wisdom in thisland. The literature like in Mahabharata,Raymayana and Bhagawata and further inthe Upanishads can make us PoornaPurushas with modern knowledge, withscience technology, and all of these withoutdisruption of family. �HHHHH

QUOTABLE QUOTES”The times are changing, the world is transient and only they live who live for others. The rest are more dead than alive.” “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached” - Swami Vivekananda


Appraisals Appraised

S. Balachandran

Annual Appraisals of employees is aregular annual ritual in practically every

organisation, world over. The Appraisalseason is one of anxieties (as to likelyoutcomes) for most employees andopportunity to innovate 'games' (to influencethe outcomes) for some. Over the last fiftyyears or more, organisations have beenaware of the inadequacies of the systemsadopted. Several attempts have been madeto improve the credibility of the systems andthe fairness of the outcomes. MBOs, KPAs,360 degree appraisals, Balanced ScoreCards and now CRMs (Capability MaturityModels) have been developed and tried, buthave not lasted too long. The reason issimple. None of these address the implicitweakness in the appraisal systems. Thesituation is similar to the fact that cardiacby-pass surgeries do not address the realproblems of cardiac patients, viz., their lifestyles, and therefore do not cure.

Appraisals are usually used to decide onincrements and promotions. Naturally, asmall section of employees will benefit morethan the majority of them. Someorganizations insist that not more than about10% or 15% should be appraised as betterthan the rest of them. It is inevitable that themajority will be unhappy and attack thesystem as manipulative, biased, unfair, etc.Those who are aware of the procedures orcriteria for decision making will attempt tomanipulate data appropriately. Superiors willbe compared on grounds of leniency /strictness, concern (or lack of it) for theirsubordinates, biases towards cer tainfunctions / qualifications / communities, etc,generating pressures of trust and mistrust.Middle managers have problems acceptingresponsibility and providing rationale for thedecisions or passing the buck elsewhere.Overall, the atmosphere will be vitiated.

When one or two individuals in a team arepicked out for distinguished performance,the team spirit (e'sprit de corps) is animmediate and unavoidable casualty.

Appraisals have been designed as aids forthe development of people. Assuming thatemployees develop (acquire or sharpenskills) at and through work, organiasationsowe it to their employees to provideopportunities for such development.Appraisals are designed to be themechanisms to identify the strengths andthe weaknesses of individuals. Theconsequence of identifying a deficiency hasto be to eliminate that deficiency. When suchidentification is understood as intended tohelp the appraised employee become better,the appraisal becomes non-threatening andcomparisons with others irrelevant. Incontrast, when appraisals are used todistribute rewards, the consequence ofidentifying a deficiency, is a publicannouncement as to who is better thanwhom as well as a permanent loss (ofremuneration or position) and therefore,threatening, generating a response ofdefensiveness and denial.

Appraisals, when used as tools in theprocess of helping individuals to develop,have to be a continuous process,highlighting deficiencies as and when theybecome manifest, so that correctivemeasures do not wait. There is no reasonto delay decisions on correction till the endof the year. Doctors, who examine patientsthroughout the year do not pronounce thediagnosis in a bunch at the end of the year.They begin treatment as soon as thediagnosis is made.

The process for development of people inorganisations, postulates that employeesare interested to develop in terms of skills

S. Balachandran, Management Consultant at Mumbai. E-Mail: [email protected]

and perspectives and attain increasinglyhigher levels of exper tise, and to berecognized as such for higher levels ofresponsibility or for consultation.Development is learning. Learning is doneby self. Others can help in the process oflearning. They cannot teach, in the sensethey have no control in the process oflearning. The appraisal, which is an analysisof the present state and the further progressrequired to be made, is therefore mosteffective when done by self. Self appraisalfails when it is part of the reward system,because then there is an attempt to showthat one is not less than another.

The philosophy behind appraisals asinstruments for development therefore,demands that the appraisal be done by theemployee himself, and the senior shouldhelp in the self appraisal, with his own inputsfrom observation at work. The timing of theappraisal is to be determined by theemployee concerned and that is when hefeels the need for help. The superior has toadjust his priorities accordingly. That is whenthe superior gets to be perceived as helpfuland supportive. The direction of thediscussions is based on the employee'sanalysis of his work, the rationale for thesame, his appraisal as to how he is doingand what he need s to do to improve, hisplan to so improve, the help that he needsfrom the senior to go about this improvementplan and so on. The discussion thenbecomes satisfying to the employee and heembarks on a journey of learning with thefull support of the senior. The employee -superior relationship gets stronger. .

This a very brief statement of the conceptof how appraisals can be converted fromthe threats that they now are, to powerfulinstruments of HRD �HHHHH

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Mood Management:Success under our skin

The aim of writing this article is to learnhow to better manage the inner

organisation as a means for more effectiveleadership of the external organization anddevelop a practical self management planso that one can get the best out of oneselfand others too. As we are going throughrapid, delicate changing times, there is nosuch day when we can say: 'Yes' today is afine day, nothing came up, no problems, nocircumstances, no situations, no stressesand no conflicts. Each and every daysomething or the other comes up and duringsuch times, if we are not aware of what ishappening within us and try to justify thewrong then probably it would be difficult tosurvive in the long run. Hence managing selfis the key to managing a larger organization.

New and different capabilities are requiredto be effective in this changing environment.These are not just the technical skills butthey are the self-managing skills likeintuition, flexibility, clear focus, tolerance andmanaging ones's mood. Moods canenhance or damage every aspect of ourwork. When we are in a bad mood it isdifficult to be positive or confident, and thesmallest obstacle can throw us off. Whenwe are in a good mood everything flows andwe feel and act more confidently andeffectively. Moods often seem to have a lifeof their own and come and go for noapparent reason.

Mood Management is being able to handleour feelings so they are relevant to thecurrent situation and that the reaction isappropriate. According to Daniel Goleman's

Emotional Intelligence, Mood Managementcan be defined as: "to handle emotions inappropriate manners". Persons proficient inthis domain are better able to shake offnegative emotions like gloom, anxiety, andirritability. These people are ones who haveless difficulty bouncing back afterexperiencing life's ups and downs.

So what can we do to manage thesepowerful, transient states of mind?

� We must be aware of what is happeningmentally and physically throughout theday so that we can recognize ourdifferent moods.

� Taking responsibility of our own moodand stop blaming others orcircumstances.

� Taking personal responsibility of ourstate of mind and emotions.

� Thereby learning to communicatebetter.

Normally, we will experience warning signsas our mood changes, such as fluctuationsin energy levels. The more we understandour patterns, the better we can prepare. Forexample, I sometimes feel a dip in energymidafternoon followed by a mooddownswing. Consequently, I know this is abad time to talk to clients and a good timeto do administrative tasks. While somemoods have a physical cause and aredifficult to control, many can be managed.

The key to mood management lies inhandling our moment to- momentawareness, by using a fundamental

psychological strategy called cognitiveshifting. Cognitive shifting is like having aremote control for our mind, which enablesus to move readily among different statesto optimize our performance. It worksthrough the use of focus phrases that targetour moods. For example, when we are in arestless, tense mood, we start to have tensethoughts. Those thoughts, in turn, aggravateour mood, which creates a vicious cycle thatcan sabotage our performance. To stop it,we need a focus on a phrase or reminderthat will interrupt the negative mood andreplace it with a more positive state of mind.So when we are feeling tense or stressed,we should take deep breaths, say thesewords to our self, and take notice of howthey bring our mind back on track byactivating more beneficial feelings andphysical states: "I give myself permissionto feel good." While it might sound strange,that phrase was carefully chosen to addressour unconscious mind and help break thedeep-rooted scripts that run internally. It isa powerful reminder that shifts our attentionfrom unhelpful, unconscious, and habitualthoughts to helpful, conscious, andintentional ones. The next step is to "let goof our worries and feel peaceful in our mind."This is our natural mood of relaxedalertness, the foundation for excellentperformance. When we are in a peaceful,relaxed mood we are more resilient,focused, and productive. We also are betterable to listen, motivate, and lead others.

In a nutshell to manage mood one should

� Recognize the warning signs.

Poonam Dhanavati

Ms. Poonam Dhanavati is Officer- H R, Bharti Airtel Limited, Bhubaneswar. She can be reached on her e-mail: [email protected]

�HHHHH

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An overview of EmpathyIn international Human

Resources ScenarioSambit Kumar Mishra

Empathy is the term used to describe theability to be able to view a situation or

problem from another's point of view. Incross-cultural interactions, this means beingable to imagine or experience somethingfrom another's frame of reference orworldview.

Empathy is not to be confused withsympathy, although the difference betweenthe two may appear to be subtle. In showingsympathy, you attempt to understandanother by imagining how you would feel ifyou were in the other person's position. Ifthis person is from your own culture andhometown and is someone with whom youhave a lot in common, then what you feelmay infact be a close approximation to whatthe other actually is feeling. However, whencommunicating with someone from anotherculture, sympathy, which is based on anassumption of similarity, is an ethnocentricapproach. It is ethnocentric because youhave not changed your cultural frame ofreference but have simply assumed otherswill be similar to your own. Another importantdifference is the purpose that drives the two.The purpose of sympathy is to find commonground, shared experiences, and a form ofagreement. The purpose of empathy, on theother hand, is not about agreeing withpeople; it is about trying to fully understandsomeone else's perspective, bothemotionally and intellectually.

Is empathy a skill, a behaviour, an attitude,or a trait? A certain level of empathy can bedeveloped as a skill and requires attaininga high level of sensitivity to nonverbalbehaviour. It also requires an attitude ofrespect for self and others and an openmind. Empathy is also a trait in that it formsa natural part some peoples' behaviour. Itis clear that some people are able toempathize well while others are not. DanielGoleman (1996) suggests that empathy asa trait is developed in young children from

around the age of two and a half years. It isoften the result of how a child is raised.Children whose parents pointed out, whiledisciplining them, the distress theirmisbehaviour had caused someone elsetended to display more empathetic abilitythan those whose parents did not initiatesuch training. A child's ability to empathizeis also shaped by seeing how others reactin response to someone else's distress.Over time children develop their ownrepertoire of empathic responses.

I suspect that people in group-orientedcultures where extended families are thenorm are, in general, more empathetic sincefrom their earliest years they are madeaware of the effect their actions can haveon other members of the group. It wouldmake an interesting study to see if this isthe case.

To check your own response, listen toyourself advising people. If your suggestiontends to be along the lines of "If I were inyour position I'd…" or "What I think youshould is this…," then you are giving advicebased on the assumption that their world issimilar to your own. However, statementssuch as "I wonder what they really thinkabout…" or "From your point of view it mustappear completely different" are approachesthat indicate you are adopting an empatheticapproach and are trying to understand thereality inside someone else's head insteadof merely projecting your own.

A key element of empathy is the ability tosee things from different perspectives. If youwant to develop your own empathetic ability,the key is to direct the focus of your attentionaway from yourself and toward the otherperson, and to listen without projecting yourunderstanding of a situation into the otherperson's description of it. Try this exerciseto see yourself from another perspective.Remember back to a time when you had adisagreement or argument with a friend or

work colleague. As you recall the situation,what you said, and how you felt when yousaid it, imagine that you have become theother person listening to you. It usually helpsto physically move to where the other personwas sitting relative to you and to adopt hisposture and body language. Listen toyourself from the other person's perspectiveand see if it affects your previous perceptionof the dispute.

I tested this technique a few years ago inrelation to a long and frustrating telephonesales conversation I had had the previousmonth and which had left me angry andannoyed at the caller's constant questions.First I played the scenario through from myperspective, which actually started to getme wound up all over again. I then got upand sat in a chair facing where I had justbeen and imagined listening to myself at theother end of the phone. I then imaginedasking one of the questions I remember theother caller had asked. Again, from hisperspective, I listened to my response. Allof a sudden I realized in a flash of insightthat he had no choice but to respond as hedid because I, not wanting to be drawn intoanything, was defensive, indirect, andevasive in my replies. The more I listenedto myself, the more I started to appreciatehow confusing my responses must havebeen; was I interested in the product or not?My indirectness had given him no clues atall, so he had little option but to keep askingme questions.

Those people who are confident of theirability to empathize with others tend to bemore relaxed and less defensive whenmeeting people for the first time. As a result,the meeting is easier and less stressful forthe other person, too. To make others morecomfortable around you should be thegeneral aim of cross-cultural sojourners whoare trying to understand and integrate intoanother culture.

Sambit Kumar Mishra is Visiting Faculty at Kushabhau Thakre Vishwavidyalaya, RAIPUR. E-MAIL: [email protected]

�HHHHH

SORRYWe could not publish the subscription and Advertisement tariff for the NHRD Quarterly Journal on the NHRDPortal by 15th December 2006 as announced in the December issue of HRD Newsletter due to certainreasons beyond our control. The inability is sincerely regretted - Publisher


Behavioural Finance-the BuzzWord Of Bulls And Bears

L. Shankari

Abstract

This article makes a modest attempt tointroduce the emerging field "BehavioralFinance" to the academia and corporateworld especially the InvestmentProfessionals. The author outlines its origin,the five Ws and one H of Behavioral Finance,the distinction between standard finance andbehavioral finance and behavioral finance asa multidisciplinary approach. The author alsoappeals to the academia to explore the areasin this upcoming field for doctoral thesis, asthere have been few doctoral dissertationsacross the world.

INTRODUCTION

Recently,(on 30th November,2006), the authoraccidentally hit upon this new word/ field whenshe was browsing on the net to downloadcertain material for her paper presentation onInternational Finance at one of the leadingcolleges in Tamil Nadu.The very word madeher so inquisitive to delve deep in to thesubject as she has been contemplating onchoosing a topic for her doctoral thesis thatwould combine HR and Finance. Eureka! Thisword/field she thought was God sent. Thismade her write an "Intro" of this field to otherresearch scholars, academia and financialexperts of corporate arena. Thanks to thepioneers of B.F- the Noble prize AwardWinners David Kahnman and Vernon Smithfor their work in Experimental economics andPsychology in the area of decision-making.

L. Shankari, Faculty, Sona School Of Management. Salem. E-Mail: [email protected]

What is Behavioral Finance?

"Behavioral Finance attempts to explain andincrease understanding of the reasoningpatterns of investors, including theemotional processes involved and thedegree to which they influence the decision-making process. Essentially, behaviouralfinance attempts to explain the what, why,and how of finance and investing from ahuman perspective."

Richard and Simon

In other words, behavioral finance is ascience that tries to logically reason out andimprove the decisions of the investors. Itdoes take in to account the cognitive biasesand emotional factors that predominatelyinfluence the judgment process of bothnovices and expert investors. Thaler definesbehavioral finance as follows:

"Behavioral finance is a scientific enterprisetrying to understand how markets work….Behavioral models… rely on actual behaviorfound in the lab, tested in the lab, and beingtrue."

Origin

The following table depicts how behavioralfinance has gradually evolved from 1960sonwards and how it has become aninteresting and innovative field that hasthrown open doors for further research.

5Ws and one H of Behavioral Finance

The What: B.F deals with the cognitiveprocess and the emotional aspects thatgovern the the decisions

Of all investors.

The Who: Academia, Research scholars,Investment Professionals.

The Where: Elaborate research studies havebeen published in leading academicjournals, dissertations, books.

The Why: This field has overcome standardFinance shortcomings.

The When: In 1960s, The field began to takeits roots, started spreading its twigs andleaves, branches in1970s, 80s, 90s and2000s.

The How: The Behaviour of investors havebeen analyzed using research methods inPsychology and Finance.

B.F -An interdisciplinary approach

B.F has drawn its principles and practicefrom a variety of disciplines such asPsychology, Socialogy, and SocialPsychology, Finance, BehaviouralEconomics and Behavioral Accounting.

Standard Finance and BehavioralFinance -different spectrums

�HHHHH

YEAR

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000

2001

2002

AUTHORS

Scott Bauman, Paulslovic Jamesstoner…

John W Payne,Lawrence Oster,David Dreman..

Daniel Kahn man andco..,Loren Corotto..

Robert Haughen,Richard Geist..

Roben Shiller, Andrei Shleifer..

Joachim Goldberg,Earl…

Hersh shefrin…

TITLE OF THE THESIS/BOOK

Investment experience with less popular stocks, Valueas a determiner of subjective probability, Effects ofgeneral values…. on group decisions,,,

The role of the basic risk dimensions, Application ofthe Risky shift phenomenon to security selection andportfolio management, Psychology and the Stockmarket Investment strategy beyond random walk..

Judgment under uncertainty.., Psychological basisunderlying common stock movements..

Inefficient Stock Markets…The psychology ofInvesting…

Irrational Exuberance, Inefficient Markets…

Behavioral Finance, Stock-Market Behavioral Finance,Stock Market Psychology…

Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioralfinance…

S T A N D A R DFINANCE

Single disciplinaryperspective

Acceptability andvalidity is very high

Focus on all aspectsof business

B H A V I O U R A LFINANCE

Mult i -discipl inaryperspective

Acceptability andvalidity not very highas it is an emergingfield.

Emphasis is oninvestors' decision-making process.

Conclusion:

Days are not far off, for. Behavioral financewill become the core discipline andacademia and financial experts would bevying with each other to recruit peoplespecialized in this field.


Tune Your Track TowardsThe Path Of Success

Deepa S

Deepa S works as Executive - HR with Videocon Industries Bangalore and she can be reached at [email protected]

To begin with I like to state the saying"People are different but only those who

make the Difference Succeed". Potentialsand Skills are very important in one's careerand development and of course everyonepossesses it but the creative and strategicapproach towards presenting one's Potentialand Skills becomes the ultimate parameterfor one's success and result of efficiency. Arealistic example: A candidate havingexcellent knowledge but fails in the interviewif he doesn't present himself confidently andeffectively within the limited span of time asper the set parameters of the interviewer. Soindividual should be open to mould andchange as per the required situations toreach the objective.

"Tune and Shift gears as per the givencriteria to meet the Destination"

In order to succeed in our career andprofessional life I would like to highlight the"Concept of S" in a different mode as to adaptand experience the results in a positive andchallenging way. We know that Hardworkingno longer vital but Smart Working is requiredand according to me Strategic Thinking andCreative approach are two essential gearsrequired for Smart Working and to develop thatyou have to practice the Concept of S in reality.

The 'S' Engine to Gear Your Track…..

Stability

Stabilize your thinkingand start working onset parameters in acreative way byvisualizing theoutcomes in reality andprove the adversities.Always revert to the

things at initial stage so as to achieve theobjective successfully."Stabilize your style of work throughVisualization"

Synergy

Increase yourcapabilities based onthe theory of Synergywhere in yourpotentials are equal tomore than oneindividual. When your

motto and competency increases you startmaking the difference and to achieve thatstart analyzing your own SWOT analysisand built strategies based on that.

"Synergize your Competencies based onyour Strengths"

Sustenance

Sustenance refers tothe ultimate support.Your contributions tothe team andorganization shouldbe designed in sucha way that it marks inthe minds of the

people about your maximum commitmentand involvement in deriving the issues andachieving the tasks.

"Support and Contribute more resultsthan expected"

Systematization

Systematic refers tostep by step procedures.Extend your workingstyle in amethodological andcategorize your

priorities as to not compromise the systemspecifications. Systematic working alwaysincreases the productivity and paves pathfor new developments. It helps to redesignthe constraints and converts into theachievable tasks.

"Systemize your methods to rebuilt theconstraints"

Strategize

Strategy and tacticsbridge the gap betweenends and means. Alwaysdepend on targeting ofdesigning different

strategies for different mission as to achievethe same and direct your decisions basedon the set directions inspite of obstructions.Learn to attack the challenges in a desiredfocus.

"A strategic decision always ends inaccomplishments"

Synchronize

Synchronize refers tomove or happen at thesame time or speed. It isalways true that oneaction is correlated to theother so try to

synchronize your thoughts and actionstowards the common goal of your job targetsand keep track of associating things and youwill find better way of doing things in reality.

"Synchronize your thoughts and actionsin a focused way"

Spontaneity

Spontaneity refers toimpulse andimmediate response.Try to work at timesout of box as to bringout your creativityand spontaneousr e a c t i o n .

Spontaneous nature always helps you tomake wonders and to develop this startworking on your right brain activities. Italways highlights your extraordinarypersonality.

"Spontaneity leads to amazing results"

�HHHHH


Retention StrategiesAt Corporate Level For Bpo's

Shireesha Devraj, Vishwanath

Retention of Key employees is critical tothe long-term health and success of any

organization. It is a known fact that retainingyour best employees ensures customersatisfaction, increased product sales, satisfiedcolleagues and reporting staff, effectivesuccession planning and deeply imbeddedorganizational knowledge and learning.

Employee retention matters as organizationalissues such as training time and investment;lost knowledge; insecure employees and acostly candidate search are involved. Hencefailing to retain a key employee is a costlyproposition for an organization. Variousestimates suggest that losing a middlemanager in most organizations costs up tofive times of his salary.

Business process outsourcing is theleveraging of technology vendors to provideand manage a company's critical and/or non-critical enterprise applications. Through thebusiness transformation process of service-oriented transformation, which leverages thetechnologies and standards of service-oriented architecture, companies canincreasingly leverage third party companiesthat act as business service providers. ...

The BPOs in India face an enormouschallenge in reducing attrition rate and thisbeing a nascent industry needs to drawparallels, examples from other industrypractices as well as develop innovativeEmployee Relation Initiatives as highlightedbelow. This has been classified into threegroups

1. The Corporate level 2. Managerial/supervisory level3. Employee Recognition Initiatives

Corporate Level Retention strategies:-

Relevance of Retention Strategies in theIndian BPO Industry vis-à-vis otherindustries is very critical to its existence forthe following reasons -

� To bring stability in business andincrease customer service process.

� Staff/employee satisfaction translatesdirectly into money quite quickly in theBPO industry compared to otherindustries.

� To reduce the pressure on the recruitingprocess.

Shireesha Devraj,Human Resource Manager,Spectrasoft Technologies. Inc, can be reached at Email : [email protected]. K Vishwanath is Dy Manager - IT (SAP) with Reliance Retail, Mumbai and his e-mail is [email protected]

� Recent acquisition deals both domestic& overseas by BPOs make it even morecritical to stabilize their back endoperations to service new customers.

A satisfied employee knows clearly what isexpected from him every day at work.Changing expectations keeps people on theedge and creates unhealthy stress. Thiscreates insecurity and makes the employeefeel unsuccessful. An employee'sdeliverables at work must be communicatedto him clearly and thoroughly. The quality ofthe supervision an employee receives iscritical to employee retention. Frequentemployee complaints center on these areas.

The ability of the employee to speak his orher mind freely within the organization isanother key factor. Have meetings or dinneronce a month, to share the company's vision,the industry's growth and where they seethemselves in this scheme of things. Talentand skill utilization is another environmentalfactor your key employees seek in yourworkplace. You just need to know their skills,talent and experience, and take the time totap into it. The perception of fairness andequitable treatment is important.

A common complaint or lament during an exitinterview is that the employee never feltsenior managers knew he/she existed. Seniormanagers refer to the president of a smallcompany or a department or division headin a larger company. They have to take timeto meet with new employees to learn abouttheir talents, abilities and skills. Meet witheach employee periodically. They will havemore useful information and keep theirfingers on the pulse of organization. It's acritical tool to help employees feel welcomed,acknowledged and loyal. The SeniorManagers to be involved in the recruitmentprocess if the Recruitment team hasidentified potential and cultural fit candidates.

Involve the advisors or team leaders in theinterviewing panels. In Companypresentations to potential candidatesencourage the employees to share theirexperiences. Your staff members must feelrewarded, recognized and appreciated.Frequently saying thank you goes a longway. Monetary rewards, bonuses and giftsmake the thank you even more appreciated.Understandable raises, tied to

accomplishments and achievements help toretain staff. Select the right people in thefirst place through behavior-based testingand competency screening.

Work-life balance policies would have apositive impact on:

1. Attracting high caliber recruits

2. Retaining skilled employees

3. Reduce recruitment costs

4. Improve employee morale

5. Maintain a competitive edge

6. Listen to employees' ideas; neverridicule them.

7. Offer performance feedback and praisegood efforts and results.

8. Implement organizational culturemeasurement tools like AdversityQuotient (AQ).

Recognize and celebrate their success.

9. Staff adequately so over time isminimized for those who don't want itand people don't wear themselves out.

10. Get them involved in social causes andfund drives like Tsunami Disaster Relief.Provide a meaning or a cause to theirlives.

11. Nurture and celebrate organizationtraditions.

12. Communicate goals, roles andresponsibilities so that people knowwhat is expected of them and feel a partof the crowd.

Conclusion

The Organization should champion andshepherd effective human resourcemanagement practices at both the strategicand day-to-day levels. That is, to be effective,human resource management practicesmust be grounded in two ways. First, theymust reflect company wide commitments asto how it will manage and relate to itsemployees. Secondly, HR must implementthese commitments so that the ideals of theenterprise and deeds of its agents arecongruent. HR to play a key role in thedevelopment and execution of the BusinessStrategy of an Organization It should evolvefrom a transactional suppor t role topartnering in the organization's businessstrategy. �HHHHH


Five occasions when you mustcommunicate face to face

Sunder Ramachandran

Technology has made communicationsimple for most of us. Today most

clients, colleagues and stakeholders are justa phone call or email away. While these toolsscore high on convenience and speed, theylack the warmth and emotion that only faceto face communication can provide.

While speed of communication is critical,there are some occasions where you mustrevive the forgotten art of face to facecommunication.

Appreciating employees - Don't replacethe pat on the back with the 'Thank you'and 'Good job' e-mails

Criticising or providing feedback - A faceto face meeting gives you the opportunityto put your point across while beingsensitive and diplomatic at the same time

Assigning a new responsibility - Thereis a great risk of the message gettingdiluted when a responsibility getsdelegated through an e-mail or phone call

Damage control with Clients - An apologymail would not suffice in a sensitive issuelike failing to meet a client commitment.

Resolving conflicts - Only 7% of aninteraction's meaning is derived from thewords themselves. So trying to resolve aconflict over phone or e-mail is a bad idea.

Appreciating employees

In the words of Helen Keller "We are allwalking with a signboard on our foreheadwhich reads - Appreciate me". It seems wehave replaced the pat on the back with the'Thank you' and 'Good job' e-mails. There isnothing that motivates an employee morethan seeing their boss walk up to them inperson and appreciate them in front ofeveryone.

Walk up to your colleague's cabin and thankthem for the great report that they sent orthe presentation that they made recently. Iremember one of my ex bosses who usedto call all the team members to his cabinjust to say thanks and pat our back. Theteam immediately took a liking for him asmost people expect a warning or feedback

Sunder Ramachandran is Managing Partner at W.C.H Solutions, New Delhi. He can be reached at [email protected]

when the boss invites them to their cabin.

"It's difficult to build rapport over an email; Iwould feel much better if my bossappreciates me in person" says Ashokkrishnan a C.A with Nestle.

Criticising or providing feedback

When you provide feedback over an e-mailor phone call, the receiver may have acompletely different perception about therelevance of that message. This effect isamplified when you are not communicatingface to face. The reader or listener may thinkthat you are cold and indifferent and that'swhy you avoid meeting them in person todiscuss the issue. A face to face meetinggives you the opportunity to put your pointacross while being sensitive and diplomaticat the same time.

"I have noticed that employees often use e-mails to avoid confronting the real issue. Ifan employee fails to meet the target, I wouldprefer if they just tell me in person ratherthan offer an explanation over an e-mail"says Vidhanshu Bansal a Director with PixelWebtech.

Assigning a new responsibility

There is a great risk of the message gettingdiluted when a responsibility gets delegatedthrough an e-mail or phone call. Don't besurprised if your employees don't show youa sense of ownership and do not completetasks on time if you are not communicatingface to face. Nonverbal communication,such as tone of voice, facial gestures, andeye contact help individuals understand theimportance of a task and the need tocomplete it on time.

"We rely on conference calls, videoconferencing and online meetings but I havelearnt in my experience that there's nothingmore impactful than meeting the team inperson" says Delhi based Ashu Gosh, aManager with Aviar I.T Consulting

Damage control with Clients

If you haven't provided the product orservice the client expects, you are puttingthe relationship with the client at stake. An

apology mail would not suffice in a sensitiveissue like this. Go to the client's office ifpossible without them having to call you andoffer an explanation and reassure them ofthe confidence that they demonstrated whenthey gave you business. Your client's wouldbe pleasantly surprised that you took thetime to come and meet them even whenthings went wrong.

"I used to interact with on almost a daily basiswith a client over emails without ever figuringout whether the person was male or female.When a report I was supposed to send gotdelayed, I made a rude comment about afemale colleague which offended the clientwho also happened to be a lady" saysDeepak M.L a Manager with a leading BPO.

Resolving conflicts

Workplace conflicts are common in mostorganisations and the lack of interpersonalcommunication only worsens the situation.It's important to remember that 55% ofmeaning in an interaction comes from facialand body language and 38% comes fromvocal inflection. Only 7% of an interaction'smeaning is derived from the wordsthemselves. So trying to resolve a conflictover an e-mail or phone call is often a badidea.

"An employee complained about a colleagueand copied the senior management on themail. I was surprised to see that mailtranslating into a flood of mails providing andseeking explanation. The person who sentthe original mail was just one floor abovethe person who was at the receiving end. Ihad to sit down with both the employees inperson to resolve the conflict." SaysKailasam R a manager with LufthansaAirlines.

Your communication style says a lot aboutyou as a professional. In the words of RalphWaldo Emerson "You are always underexamination by people around you, awardingor denying you very high prizes when youleast think of it." So leave the comfort of yourcubicle and build trustworthy relationships bycommunicating face to face. �HHHHH


Outstanding Leaders:The Need of the Hour

L.K.Jena

Your life shouldn't end up with being a leader;it should begin with it."

Executive Summary:

Emphasis on management has created animpression that leadership has perhaps norole to play in industry. Traditional mindassociates leadership with the military andpolitical models and finds it irrelevant to theindustrial or business world. Nothing can befar from reality than this notion.Management, with all its refinements stillremains only a tool and never can be asubstitute for leadership. People, the mostvaluable resource of any organization, canonly be "led" in to giving of their best. Theycannot be managed into such performances.On the other side of the coin, today theorganization needs what they preach.Whatever the leaders and best ones insociety do, the commoners follow. This isthe kind of leadership advocated throughoutin the scriptures. The visionary leader mustalso be a missionary, extremely practical,intensively dynamic and capable oftranslating dreams of the organization intoreality. This article is the quintessence ofleadership and provides an opportunity tochew the euphoria of becoming an effectiveleader and unravel one's innate qualities.

Elucidation:

In every human activity a leader is neededto guide. A head of a family is the mostcommon leader. On the quality of the leader,depends the progress, happiness andfortunes of the family.

In all walks of life, be it in the schools,colleges, factories, in public life, a leader isa must. If these leaders are good, then theypromote unity, harmony, strength, prosperityand happiness in society.

* Eminent Contributions:

Several definitions have been put forwardfor leadership. In essence, however, theseall agree that leadership is the activity ofinfluencing people to strive willingly for groupobjectives. There is one more generalagreement that Leaders are not necessarilyborn, they can be trained.

Several studies have contributed to thecontemporary knowledge on thedynamics of leadership. Morenoteworthy among these have been:

a) Hawthorn studies which concluded thatproductivity was more a function ofattitude of workers towards each otherand the attention they received from themanagement rather than any facilitiesthat the management may provide toimprove their working conditions per se.

b) Michigan Studies which identifiedleadership styles on the basis of leaderorientation i.e. Employee Oriented andProduction Oriented emphasizing theneed for balancing the two to obtainoptimum results.

Each of these studies has made usefulcontribution to the understanding of thephenomenon of Leadership. It is howeverno exaggeration to suggest that thephenomenon remains less than fullyunderstood even till date.

And right now, we hope readers would agreewith us that the success or failure of anyorganization, company or institution, inter-alia, depends on the kind of a leader it has.

* Emergence of Authority:

The authority base of a Leader variesboth on account of personal andorganizational factors. Basically thereare three different sources of authority:

(a) Traditional Authority i.e. the authorityborn out of one's position in theorganization. It is also known aslegitimate power.

(b) Authority born out of functional ortechnical expertise such as that of aspecialist or an authority on the subject.It is also called expert power.

(c) Authority derived out of skill in managingpeople including those professionallymore qualified than oneself. This is thetrue Leadership Authority.

* Effigy of a Leader:

Having accepted that leadership qualitiesand abilities can be developed throughdiligence, it is necessary to provide apractical guide to leadership developmentprocesses. Before this, it is necessary forthe potential leader to identify his source ofauthority and then deliberately proceed toacquire the skills and develop the attributes,which will fit him for the leadership role,which he or she aspires. Those who draw

L.K.Jena is faculty at HAL Management Academy, Bangalore. e-mail : [email protected];[email protected]

their authority from professional expertisein their sphere of activity, if they persist withthe preoccupation of technical excellenceand are not prepared to delegate can at bestand up as highly proficient managers.Leadership skills come out of his functionalmobility and the ability to hire and utilize manmore able than oneself in order to createand channelise energy, which after all is thepurpose of all leadership.

It is necessary for potential leaders todevelop characteristics of behaviour whichare valued most by subordinates. Theseinclude ability to listen, show consideration,display trustworthiness and constancy aswell as predictability of behaviour, toleranceand inter-personal skills including ability tocommunicate effectively.

Leadership bestows authority and brings inits wake responsibility. A good leaderensures success by fulfilling hisresponsibility fully. "Captain's Innings" is notunfamiliar to the cricket loving Indian people.In the business and Industrial environment,a leader must ensure that:

� Objectives exist and are clear� Organizational structure is sound and

well understood� Executive responsibility is backed by

authority� Conformity is discouraged� Innovation is promoted� Information flows freely in the

organization� Happiness is promoted� Restrictions minimized� Praise dispensed where deserved

* Enlighten others….Must be anunending Journey:

Managers in business both big and smallspend between 60 to 90% of their timedealing with people. Management of peoplemust therefore be their primary concern ifthey wish to use this most valuable andproductive resource placed at their disposal,to its full potential. Leaders must identify theirown behaviour patterns, value judgments andutilize their identified strengths to weld theirwork force into winning teams. They mustcreate energy through motivation and thendirect it through leadership to produceexcellence in all their endeavors. �HHHHH


Stress Among Call CentreExecutives: An Empirical Study

Dr. Zafrul Allam

Abstract

The business process outsourcing (BPO)industry, dominated in India by the callcentre segment. The present study is aimedat ascertaining the levels of stress amongcall centre executives. The sample consistedof 50 call centre executives located atHyderabad. The self made questionnairewas administered to gather theinformations.The obtained data wereanalyzed by using simple percentagemethod. The findings revealed thatphysiological symptoms viz; tensionheadaches, weakness and eye problem andpsychological symptoms i.e; irritability,feeling tense and poor eating habits wasfound more among call centre executives.This study will give insight to call centremanagement to work on certain aspects ofstress to minimize it for better performance.

WHAT IS CALL CENTER?

Call centers are central locations for high -volume calls where customer's and othertelephone call are handled by anorganization, sometimes with computerautomation. Call centers are used as mail-order catalog centers, telemarketing callcenters, help sesks and generally largeorganizations that use the telephone to sellor service products and services. Diverseranges of business use call centers tointeract with their customers. Exampleincludes utility companies, mail ordercatalogue firms and customer support forcomputer hardware and software.

It is like any other office environment wherepeople work, talk on phones and work withcomputers. The key differences is that in acall center there are huge numbers of teamsof people who primarily handle a never -ending flow of customer calls. These callcenters have existed for decades but haveonly really mushroomed in the last five yearsor so. The boom has been fuelled byadvances in technology and shifts towardsa 24 hour society allowing us to call at anyhour of the night or day.

Types of calls are often divided intooutbound and inbound. Inbound call centerhandles calls from customers and isresponsible for either retaining existingcustomers trough appropriate solutions to

their problems and queries or convertingenquiries into sales and thereby creatingnew clients Example include customer care,post -sales services, technical support, pre-sales enquiries etc.Whereas, outbound callcenter is responsible for calling customersfor the purpose of telemarketing, collection,pre-sales etc.

STRESS

The concept of stress was first introducedin the life science by Hans Selye in1936.Stress, concept borrowed from thenatural science, derived from Latin word'String ere' which means to draw tight. Stresswas popularly used in the seventeenthcentury to mean hardship, strain, adversityor affliction .It was used in the eighteenthcentury and nineteen centuries to denoteforce, pressure, strain or strong effort withreference to an object or person. Inengineering and physics, the term impliesan external force or pressure exerted onsomething with the intention to distort andbeing resisted by the person or object onwhich it is exerted. In psychophysiology,stress refers to some stimulus resulting ina detectable strain that cannot beaccommodated by the organism and whichultimately results in impaired health orbehavior. The main objective of this studyis to identify the physical as well aspsychological symptoms of stress of callcentre executives.

Methodology

The respondents of the present study were50 call center executive with a range of age18-31 years selected at Hyderabad. A Self-made questionnaire was administered to therespondents. The scale consisted ofbiographical variables and physiological andpsychological symptoms of stress. Keepingin view the objectives of present studysimple percentage statistical method usedto analyze the data.The questionnaire wasadministered to 50 call center executive.Each respondent was contacted personallyand requested to fill the questionnairewithout leaving any item and out of tenphysiological and psychological symptomsof stress you give respond to five mostimportant stress. They were assured ofconfidentiality in their responses. The

Dr. Zafrul Allam is a Faculty Member, Centre for Organizational Development, Hyderabad Email: [email protected]

respondents were allowed to take their owntime to complete the questionnaires. Theresponses were scored and put to statisticalanalyses for results.

Results and Discussion

Results indicate that Tension headaches,Weakness and Eye problem (physiological)and Irritability, Feeling tense and poor eatinghabits (psychological) were found moreamong them. The results may be attributedthat most of the executives who joined thecall center as younger age are not seeingthe long term goal and seeing only shortbenefits and have euphoric feeling ofexcitements, enthusiasm and pride.However , long hours of work, permanentnight shifts, irate customer, suddentechnology changes, routine work,demanding customers, keenly monitoring, illtreatment by management, time pressure,presuure to complete calls, change in policy/procedure`, threat of outsourcing /consolidation, lack of training ,job insecurity,lesser number of holidays, missing socialpartying , unable to balance work- family life,attendance policy, inability to take breaks andpressure to sell services and products arethe major source of stress among call centerexecutives. Results also suggested thatattrition rate is approximately 30-40% in callcenter and multiple personality disorders arethe results of stress.

Conclusions

In spite of various hazards, in India callcenter segments are booming and largenumbers of people are joining it, mostly withjust a graduation or technical diplomacourses. Most of the call centers have trainingcentre and other recreations facilities, butstress is inevitable in day to day life and canoccur at anytime or any moment.Management should continuous put effortsto prevent such kind stress by periodicreviews and made strategies to prevent theexecutives from stress.Moreover, it is verydifficult to reduce absolute stress fromexecutives but can be minimize by role shifts,work design, proper training related to stress,and job enrichment, management supportsto their personal life and moral support. Everystudy has certain limitations, but has avenuesfor further future research. �HHHHH


Exit Interview:Objective & Modus-operandi

Debabrata Dash

Exit Interview is an appropriate & befittingmedium through which useful

information can be captured from theoutgoing employees.These information cansubsequently used for OrganisationalDevelopment purpose.For industries wherethe employee turnover rate is very high,interventions can be taken for employeeretention after a systematic analysis of ExitInterview Report generated based on theresponse of the employee.

All activities related to Exit Interview canbe divided to six phases.

1. Framing of Questionnaire

2. Intimation to the respective employeeto attend the interview on scheduleddate, time & place

3. Conduct of the Interview

4. Storing of the relevant information

5. Subsequent Analysis of the response& appraising the analysis to theManagement

6. Suitable intervention for employeeretention

Employee separation can be attributedto the following factors:-

A. Superannuation

B. Voluntary Retirement

C. Resignation

D. Termination

For the first three cases,it is absolutelydesirable to go for an exit interview.Beforedesigning the questionnaire for theinterview,it is essential to consider thefollowing factors:-

i) The cause for the separation

ii) The tenure of service of the outgoingemployee

iii) The grade of the outgoing employee, hisfunctional area & expertise

iv) Analysis of the performance reports ofthe concerned employee

Before conducting the interview, theconcerned HR person must have a clearunderstanding of all the above so that hecan frame more relevant questions .Theemployee can be asked to respond to aseries of questions and simultaneously his/her response can be recorded.

For a senior person leaving the organizationon account of superannuation, focussshould be given on

1. His/her perception about theorganization

2. Thrust Areas needing the attention ofManagement

3. Areas of improvement

4. Specific suggestions if any for growth& business excellence

5. Unfulfilled assignments

6. Learning Experiences

7. Consent to be associated with theorganization as a trainer/mentor/counselor/advisor/consultant (given achance)

8. Final word of advice

But, compared to the above pattern, focussshould be shifted to other points if theemployee is leaving on account ofresignation or VR.Here, HR must try thelevel best to capture the root cause forleaving. In such cases, questions should bebased on the following:-

1. Reason for leaving

2. Impression about the organization

3. Significant Contribution

4. Difficulty faced (if any)

5. How the organization could have beenserved your interest so that you wouldnot have thought for leaving theorganization?

6. Willingness to the join the company ata later stage (given a chance)

The duration of the interview should not belong enough & it must be conducted before

Mr. Debabrata Dash works with Corporate HR, Nalco, Bhubaneshwar and he can be reached at e-mail: [email protected]

the final day of leaving so that employeeconcerned is not in a hurry .Whileconducting the interview, the HR managermust create the conducive environment inwhich the employee will feel free to conveyhis frank opinion.One of the big role for HRhere is to express the concern of managementfor losing the particular employee.Theemployee must get a feel of it.

After the conduct of the interview, theresponse of the outgoing employee may bethoroughly analyzed. A comprehensivedatabase is quite helpful in storing theresponses of Exit Interview. Multiplequerries can be run utilizing the database.Ifthe management wants to know particularinformation pertaining to the profile of peopleleaving,it can be instantly provided.Afterstoring all the required information, it isdesirable to generate a comprehensivereport which is presented to theManagement for perusal & appropriateaction.

Using the Exit Interview analysis reports,HRcan suggest many developmentalinterventions to the Management forimplementation. These include design ofreward & recognisation schemes to theperformers, review of compensationpackage & introducing various motivationalschemes to enhance the sense ofbelongingness for the organization. Theorganization may go for many non-monetarybenefits like initiating a culture buildingprocess by building an environment of trust,mutual respect & open communication,interactions through informal get-together tostrenghthen interpersonal relationship.These interventions will improve the climateof the organization in which employees willbe committed to contribute for theorganization.

Losing an experienced employee is alwaysan irreparable loss for any organization.Hiring a suitable substitute is equallytough.However if the committed HR teamwork diligently for employee retention,it willbe a tremendous achievement !The ExitInterview may appear to be a simple HRactivity but it has a big role to play. �HHHHH


'Saamp Bhi Marjaye,Lathi Bhi Na Toote'

R. Dharmarao

It was 2001. The Management received aletter containing a charter of demands

from a Union, which was not recognized.The charter included a hike of 25% in thesalaries of employees, introduction of supplyof two uniforms every year, conveyanceallowance of Rs.200/- p.m., introduction ofincentive bonus, house rent allowance,education allowance for their children, etc.The Management was shocked to see thecontents of this letter as they were stillstabilizing.

It is a small village in Andhra Pradesh. Thereexists a dairy. It produces about 30,000 lts.of pasteurized milk daily and supplies tovarious towns, some at a distance of over250 kms. There were two supplies - one inthe early morning and the other in theevening. The production started only sixyears back and the Management was tryingto stabilize their production with someessential facilities. Luckily, their milk becamepopular for its quality and regular delivery.Milk producers in and around the villagewere also benefited due to the regular andprompt payments made by the Company.To attract more milk producers, theManagement started introducing someinnovative and better schemes than theircompetitors. Introduction of insuranceschemes for cows and buffaloes, insurancefor milk producers against snake bite andsudden death, distribution of stainless steelcans, etc. to the highest milk producers weresome of the schemes. Dairy managementis very complicated and difficult comparedto some other businesses. The peculiarityof the milk industry is that demand for milkduring summer will be very high, but thesupply will be less as the animals cannotgive much milk. Similarly, the milk supplywill be very high during winter months, butthe demand will be less.

First, when the milk is received at the factoryfrom milk producers, the milk has to betested by grading to see whether it can be

R. Dharma Rao, Head, HR, ICBM. He can be reached at: [email protected]

processed or not. Then samples will betaken to decide the price of the milk to bepaid to the milk producers depending uponthe fat content. After chilling the same, itwill be sent to pasteurization. During thistime, it will be standardized by removing theextra fat and then sent to the packingmachine. Here the milk will come out insachets and will be sent to cold storage. Aftercounting and conducting other formalities, thesachets will be distributed to various placesfor sale. In addition to this, the factory shouldhave an ice bank tank where the water ischilled. Another equipment which isessentially needed for the dairy is, a boilerto send hot water to the pasteurization plant.In addition to all these, a generator has to bemaintained due to erratic power supply to thevillage. To save some cost, they purchaseda second hand generator which used to givelot of problems and its maintenance cost wasvery high. Very recently, to supply still betterquality of milk, they purchased ahomogenizer at a very high cost. The industrywas in infant stage and struggling to stabilizethe production. If for any reason, the qualityof milk became bad, the consequenceswould be disastrous.

Within this short period of its existence, theworkers were slowly influenced by sometrade union leaders, affiliated to left parties.The workers started wearing black badges,adopted work to rule and started demandingfrom the Management to recognize theUnion. Some four or five workers wereparticipating actively in these affairs andstarted intimidating other colleagues tofollow them. On a particular month, they allrefused to take their payment unless theirdemands were met. The Management withgood intentions discussed in depth all theabove problems with the employees andcould succeed. The employees receivedtheir salaries after three days.

Further, Management thought that theyshould take immediate steps to improve

their industrial relations by improvingcommunication system, explaining to theworker groups regarding financial positionof the company and the unethical schemesbeing introduced by the competitors,recognizing the employees as partners ofthe company, formation of Joint Committeeswith representatives of the Managementand workers for implementation of certainwelfare schemes, introduction of asuggestion box scheme for increasing theproductivity and to reduce costs, andinitiated a Welfare Fund for the benefit ofthe workers. In a span of six months, theworkers were motivated to concentrate onthe production and did not indulge in anti-management activities.

However, the unrecognized union sent aletter to the Management giving a charterof demands. The CEO thought that heshould discuss with the leaders of the tradeunion to make them understand on therealities as they had already introducedsome welfare schemes for the benefit of theworkers. But at the same time he alsothought that why their internal mattersshould be discussed with some outsideparties. This might give them a wrong signalthat they received some recognition. He wasin a fix. By looking at the letter again andagain, the CEO noticed that they used thesame logo of their Company in their letter-head. He got a clue and wanted to takeaction against them legally.

A lawyer's notice was sent to the Union forusing the logo in their letter-head which wasregistered under Trade and MerchandiseMarks Act of 1958 and Trade Marks Act of1999. The lawyer also mentioned in thatletter to pay a compensation of Rs.3,00,000/- towards the use of logo without permissionand authority. There was no reference at allin that letter on the charter of demands. TheUnion neither paid any money nor took anyinterest in the affairs of the workers sincethen.

Case Study - 13

�HHHHH

SERVICE AND SACRIFICESwami Vivekananda preached nothing but the gospel of service and sacrifice. Throuout the history of the world, you findgrest men making great sacrifices and the mass of mankind enjoy the benefits. If you want to give up everything for your ownsalvation, it is nothing great. If you forego your own salvation for the good of the world, you are then God. Think of that.

- Prof. I V Chalapathi Rao in Ancient Wisdom - Modern Insights


This is one of the best books I haveread in recent times. The book is

unique in many respects. The book isdedicated to one of his studentsManjunath who gave up his life fightingmalpractices of fuel adulteration by oilmafia. Whenever Manjunath met histeacher, he used to repeatedly ask aquestion, “Sir, tell me what this life is ifwe have nothing to die for?” Unlike hiscolleagues who joined multinationals, hetook up a job with Indian Oil Corporationto supervise the filling stations inLakhimpur – Kheri division of UttarPradesh. He took up his job very seriouslyas one man missionary and sealed threefilling stations for mixing kerosene withpetrol and diesel. The reward: Six bulletsthat rob the song of his life.

The story of the little girl in Kolkata in thefirst chapter is touching. A foreignerrequested the author to take him to a slum.As they entered the slum, children flockedaround with begging hands. One tall girlraised her hand above those of others. Theforeigner passed a loaf of bread to thegirl's hand and he expected the girl to runaway with the loaf. But to his utteramazement, he saw the girl tear the loafinto many pieces giving each child a pieceand kept for herself a small piece.According to the author this is his bestleadership story. This is how real leadersliberate themselves and others fromsuffering. This little girl of Kolkata teachesall of us that if you are not part of aproblem, you can never be a part of thesolution.

Another parable in the first chapter wherea CEO hires cannibals to do a job withclear cut instructions that they should notdevour people while they are on the job isalso very fascinating. One day a cannibalate a low level employee and the wholeorganization was in turbulence. Onenquiry with the leader of the cannibals,the CEO came to know that the cannibalswere eating senior managers at the rateof one manager every day and no onenoticed but the moment a junior employee

Book Review Break FreeDebashis ChatterjeePublished by Penguin Books 2006

141 Pages - Price Rs.150/-

Reviewed by K Satyanarayana, Executive Director,

National HRD Network

was missing, every one noticed. Thesubstance of the parable is that the topdoes not contribute much.

In chapter two, the author asks thereaders to study about themselves firstbefore studying the world. According tohim knowledge of others is wisdom butknowledge about self is enlightenment. Inthis chapter he quotes extensively greatleaders like Gandhi, Albert Einstein,Narayana Murthy, Peter Senge, FranzKafka and others. The author dealt verywell the subject of ‘swadharma’ – the lawof the self.

Chapter three opens with a beautifulsurmise that life can be an extraordinaryadventure and one could become a greatleader when one wants to make adifference and not merely pursue a career.His saying to a friend that we must firstwalk our walk and talk our talk is very aptand different than what we normally hearthat we must walk our talk. The way heexplained about Einstein breaking freeand shaping the scientific thinking andhow he himself found his bliss in teachingand writing after quitting the medicalcollege are finest illustrations ofinspiration.

Chapter four is about spirit of service,which is defined as small work done withgreat love. The illustration of MotherTeresa the Nobel Laureate with apacemaker in her heart carrying theauthore's brief case which he hadforgotten in her room, climbing down thestair case is really touching.

In chapter five the author coins a newword workship which is defined to meanwork as worship and the executioncompass which drives work towards itshighest purpose. In chapter six, whiledealing with the basic needs of the heart,he says that the leadership in thetwentieth century was about control andcommand while in the twenty first centuryit is going to be about truth and love. Hequotes Narayana Murthy once againsaying how Infosys realized very early that

aiming forpublic goodwill result inprivate good.In chapterseven therevival ofRourkela SteelPlant throughe f f e c t i v ecommunicationis dealt at length. The Eskimo huntersturning into drunkards is very interesting.Dealing with leadership discovery inchapter eight, the author quoted excellentexamples from the lives of NelsonMandela and Verghese Kurien.

In chapter nine dealing with the power ofdreams, the reply of Gandhi to a historyprofessor who expressed a doubt that ifwinning freedom was possible withoutviolence is really captivating. Gandhi told,“Professor, your job is to teach history andmy job is to create it.” The author hasquoted extensively from the life of JRDTata, Henry Ford and Alexander the great.Chapter ten deals with change and thereare nine beautiful stories in chaptereleven. These fascinating and touchingstories are from the lives of great leaders.Finally in chapter twelve, he deals withthe four types of yoga namely Gnana yogawith sun as its symbol, karma yoga withtree as its symbol, bhakti yoga with lotusas its symbol and Mukti yoga with swanas its symbol.

It is a difficult book to review as every wordis golden. I must remember that it is areview and it will not be proper on my partto reproduce the whole book.

This is basically a self help and aninspirational book worth reading by everyyoung person of this country. One canclearly see the passion of the author andhis concern for public good. Everyeducational institute can have multiplecopies of this great book for reading byits students and teachers. I complimentDr. Debashis Chatterjee for writing sucha classic.

Prof. Debashis Chatterjee is Head, Centre for Leadership & Human Values, I.I.M. Lucknow. E-mail : [email protected]


CRM - Six StepsFrom Customer Service

P. Sugunakar Reddy and T. Vijaya

CRM encompasses the capabilities,methodologies that support an enterprise inmanaging the customer relationships. Thegeneral purpose of CRM is to enableorganizations to better manage theircustomers through the introduction of reliablesystems, processes and procedures.

One of the ongoing challenges, that thebusiness are facing today are optimizingcustomer satisfaction & developingCustomer Relationship Management.

There are six steps to make the customerservice effective.

I) Importance of a clear customerexperience strategy.

II) Selecting the Correct PeopleIII) Developing, Motivating and Managing

your PeopleIV) Establishing Effective Service Delivery

ProcessesV) Building in Continuous ImprovementVI) Ensuring Managers are the key change

- agents

I) The importance of a clear CustomerExperience Strategy.

To establish a good strategy certain keypractices required are:

� Understand the overall organizationalvision and mission.

� Define the organization customerservice direction slogan and values.

� Ensure customer service is defined asa key responsibility for the business/department.

� Share the customer experience strategyvia a comprehensive communicationprogram.

� Ensure that this strategy does notconflict with other business strategies.

� As consultants, it is amazing how oftenwe hear organizations say, "Improvingcustomer service is a priority, and weare also introducing stringent cost -cutting measures".

II) Selecting the Correct People:

It's really head to teach an elephant todance.

When recruiting employees to providecustomer service, the process often tendsto concentrate more on functional

expertise, technical competence andknowledge rather than interpersonal skills.However, lack of right attitude candrastically impact client satisfaction levels.Therefore in selecting the right people,

1. Define the critical job requirements.2. Develop scenario based interviews/

assignment centers to screen andselect candidates.

3. Involve multiple team members in hiringprocess.

4. Ensure evaluation is based on objective,not the subjective "be like me" criteria.

III) Developing, Motivating andManaging Your People:

Even though you have hired the rightpeople, there is still a need to reorientthem into organizations customerrelationship culture and define keycommunication skills. In call centers andtechnical support departments, there isa tendency to rely on technical/functionalskills and neglect interpersonal skillsdevelopment. This can result in providingacceptable material service, the moretangible aspect, yet unacceptablepersonal service, and the competitivedifferentiator.

To build customer relationship culture,it is important to:

1. Provide training in key areas requiredto deliver exceptional personal service.

2. Reinforce their skills using on goingcoaching & feed back.

3. Measure current performance levels.4. Reward performance using a

combination of monetary and non-monetary recognition.

IV) Establishing Effective ServiceDelivery Processes:

Effective processes and proceduresprovide the foundation for smoothing orinhibiting the material service elementof the customer interaction. The criticalelements in ensuring a positive materialcustomer experience are:

a. Mapping the service delivery processes.b. Evaluating critical success points in the

process.c. Defining service standards and

objectives for these essential points.

P. Sugunakar Reddy and T. Vijaya, faculty of business management, Vaagdevi P.G. College, and can be reached [email protected]; [email protected]

d. Establishing service deliveryprocedures to optimize material service.

e. Creating service legal agreements tosmooth internal service delivery.

V) Building in Continuous Improvement:

No matter how effective the servicedelivery processes, or well trained theservice deliverers, things go wrong.Products have faults. Customers getfrustrated. The organizations that buildaround managing the customerexperience are able to resolve theseissues effectively. This process is known,as "recovery" is an important differentiatorin building customer loyalty. In order torecover effectively, it is necessary to:

� Actively seek customer feedback andcomplaints; you cannot improve if youdon't know what went wrong in the firstplace.

� Train staffs how to handle customercomplaints effectively, using the correctmix of empathizing, apologizing andresolution.

� Make sure the real problem is solved.� Focus on proactive (prevention) as well

as reactive (cure) problem solving.

VI) Ensuring Managers are the keychange - agents:

As consultants, we observe that seniormanagement often has the vision,intention and commitment to introducea comprehensive, customer relationshipmanagement system, but the 'make orbreak' element is in involving middlemanagement in change process, andempowering them to be the key changeagents.

To do this it is important to:

� Engage the management team earlyand often in the process.

� Involve management members inarticulating customer experience strategy.

� Use managers as facilitators whenrolling out interpersonal skills training.

� Reward managers on establishing,monitoring and updating servicedelivery processes.

� Ensure managers are able to act as anexample to their teams. �HHHHH


AGRAOn 24th November 2006 a meeting was heldat BMAS Engineering College Agra. Aninteractive session on “Ethics inManagement” was conducted by Dr.A.K.Gupta, Principal BMAS EngineeringCollege Agra. Chapter President Col (Dr)C.K.Singh introduced the speaker to theaudience. Dr. Gupta gave due emphasis onintegration of Indian Ethos and ValueSystem which to some extent are beingeroded in view of the fast changing valuesand ethics in our cultural and socialenvironment in view of the mad race formaterial prosperity that too at any cost Healso reminded the management fraternityand industrialists for exercising due cautionquoting Mahatma gandhi’s words that since‘there is enough for the men’s need not formen’s greed’ hence ‘Knowledge withoutcharacter and business without morality’may lead to ward’s disastrousconsequences NHRDN memento waspresented to the speaker by studentmember Miss Rupali Singh.

NHRDN Agra chapter has also been activewith the health, hygine, education,sustainable livelihood and education. On 11thNovember a medical camp was organizedat the village Pingri under the supervision ofDr. Arvind Jain along with the team of doctorsfor the better quality of life and to raise theirecomomic standard. NHRDN members andmanagement students motivated to use theirlearning of management for raising the qualityof life in rural area.

BANGALOREDayananda Sagar Business ManagementSchool was abuzz with verve on the 28th ofOctober 2006. NHRD Bangalore conductedthe annual HR student project extravaganzaTRIADS 2006 there in which colleges in andaround Bangalore nominated summerprojects of their students.

The first round consisted of the projectsynopses being judged byMr.N.Seetharaman (Sr.DGM HRD, BEL),Mr.Vithal Acharya (Manager HR, HCLTechnologies) and Mr.Vivek Subramanian(Sr.Manager, OTD, ORACLE India). Tenshortlisted entries were invited to make thepresentation on the D day. These werefunneled to five entries by Mr.Krishna Setlur(VP HR, Samsung India), Mr.Nagendra Rao(VP HR, AVIVA), Mr.Rajasekhar Kaza (VP

Chapter NewsHR, JPM Chase India) and Ms.ShabariMadappa (Sr.Manager HR, TexasInstruments) after a three hour gruellingquestion and answer session.

Concurrently, a session on CareerManagement was anchored by Dr.PallabBandyopadhyay (CPO, CambridgeSolutions) followed by a very interactivepanel discussion moderated by Dr.GopalMahapatra (Director OTD, ORACLE India)which included Dr.Subhash Sharma (DeanIBA) and Dr.Ranganathan (PrincipalDSBMS). The panel presented theircontrasting views on the transition thatstudents of business face while moving tothe corporates.

The final round of presentations were judgedby a panel that consisted of Mr.SudheeshVenkatesh (VP HR TESCO), Mr.GeorgeSelvam (Prime Servant 5SEprises) andMr.Raj Malenta (VP HR, Kennametal Widia).

A team consisting of students from IIMBthen made a guest presentation to theaudience on a model that they constructedconsidering their experiences duringinternship.

Prize distribution followed with the honoursbeing won by Ms.Neha Sinha (ChristCollege), Ms.Hannah Shobitha (XIME) andMs.Aparna Nandakumar (IBA). St.Joseph'scollege won for the second time, the RollingShield for the best Academic Institution.Mr.P.N.Sarangi of Tata Steel won the RollingShield for the best Corporate Guide &M.Vinayak Bhat of Christ College won theRolling Shield for the best Academic Guide.The Rolling Shield for the best Corporatewas not awarded to anybody this time.

A team consisting of Mr.DT (Subhash)Devare, Dr.Gopal Mahapatra,Mr.Gopalakrishna Gubbi, Mr.Kubera, Mr.SVRaghunandan, Ms. Yashoda, Mr.S.NagaSiddharth and others ably supported bystudents from DSBMS pulled off the secondedition of TRIADS.

-S.Naga Siddharth (HCL Technologies)

HOSURHosur Chapter arranged a Session on "HRChallenges" by Mr. Ramchandra Rao,Senior Vice President, Hinduja Group on 19Dec 06 and the meeting was attended bymore than 60 members. Prof. P.JanakiRamudu welcomed the gathering and VicePresident Mr. . Sathya Parsa introduced thespeaker of the day.

Mr. Rao said that HR is facing manychallenges today. Acquiring and retainingtalent is one of the major challenges facingthe industries. While most of us feel thatsituation will only get worse, Mr. Rao feelsotherwise. Through a very lucid and logicalpresentation, he convinced the audiencethat there is no dearth of people in India;one only needs to go to the right places,identify gold lying in rocks, polish it and putit to use. He quoted example after exampleof how good people have been hired fromslums and made to speak English withforeign accent. The talk was very absorbingas Ram kept on throwing small tit-bitsinvolving common sense. The talk wasfollowed by incisive questions and brilliantanswers Even though the session wasscheduled for an hour, it went on for morethan 1.5 hours.

About the Speaker: Mr. Rao obrained hisMBA in Personnel Management & IndustrialRelations from XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1980.He started his career with Indian AluminumCompany, Ltd. (Indal) with whom he wasassociated for over 5 years. He then joinedBlow Plast Ltd and spent over 13 years withthem. Prior to taking up his currentassignment. Mr. Rao was working withWockhardt Ltd. as Vice President - HumanResources, A memento was presented tothe speaker on behalf of the Chapter.

While delivering the 'summing up and voteof Thanks', Chapter President Bring Bhoonreiterated the benefits of net working andhow we can utilize the opportunity. Hethanked the speaker for sparing time toaddress the members.

HYDERABADWelcome to New Members

Permanent Members

A P GAS POWER CORPORATION

Represented by

Venkateswara Reddy D, Vice President(F&A)

Raja Mogili A DR, Company Secretary

Life Membership

Vijay Bhashker C, Sec & Correspondent,Madanapalle Instt of Tech

Mir Ashfaq Zaheer, Chairman, RussellsSpoken English

Kaiser Shaker, C E O, Stargates

Sandeep Ranjan, Regional Manager, IndianSchool of Business

Babu Vittal, DGM - HR, JDA


NAGPURThis is a well known fact that biggest assetsfor an IT/ITES industry are it's people. It ispeople who matters for a company to startand grow and mark its presence. Quality ofpeople is the biggest parameter to benchmarkthe potential of a region for logicaldevelopment and growth especially in contextof IT. IT as an industry will have Human Assetsas an quintessence part of its success story.

With much publicized figures and predictionsfrom Gartner and many others available it isclear that opportunities are going to beimmense what will matter for this industry tosustain this rate of growth is supply of skilledpeople. Future destinations for growth wouldnot only restrict to metro cities but extend toTier-2 cities. Tier -2 cities as a place for ITdestination could be zeroed only if theypasses the resource availability litmus test.

Similar scenario exists in Nagpur as in otherTier -2 cities. Many of these cities have beeneducation hub for past many decades.Candidates across India, find Tier-2 citiesin their radar as one of the preferred pacefor quality education with relatively lessexpense sheet. The ecosystem in thesecities has become very favorable forincreasing number of engineering graduatespassing out every year but the emphasisremained confined to education industry andthis huge pool of talent generated migratedto other metro destinations. With graduatesin multiples of thousands passing out everyyear and critical mass of experienced ITprofessionals in thousands available, thestage is all set for Tier-2 cities to witnessthe IT revolution similar to other destinations.

There is no second thought about thecapabilities of Talent in these regions. The

passion and extra ordinary will to achievetechnological breakthroughs always helpscompanies in this region to deliver bestservices to its esteemed clients. What isrequired is only the opportunity and platformfor Talent to contribute and grow. There isalso a sense of high degree of satisfactionfor people because of getting the best ofwork-life balance. Professionals areappreciating the quality time for family andpersonal endeavors apart from work, thismakes Tier-2 cities more lucrative place towork and enjoy life. Proper opportunitiescoupled with innovative HR practices wouldeasily transform talent of these regions tobecome better Human Assets fororganizations.

The trend is Cleary visible with increasingnumber of blue chip companies showinginterest in Tier-2 cities talent andencouraging initiatives by organizations likeNASSCOM and NHRD would provideimpetus to the growth and make destinationTier-2 cities as basket full of opportunitiesfor HR.

Monthly Meeting

LECTURE ON "INDIAN WISDOM INMANAGEMENT" On 02 Dec 06, NHRDN

Nagpur Chapter in association withPriyadarshini Engineering College Nagpurorganized a lecture by Dr. SV Gole, arenowned professor of IndustrialEngineering of RKNEC Nagpur. Dr. Golespoke on Indian wisdom in modernmanagement. He interrelated themanagement with various teachings fromBhagwad Geeta, which gives one the trueguidelines to manage one self and theorganization in efficient manner along withmeeting the social obligations. Prof.Shantanu Kulkarni, Secy Nagpur Chapterintroduced the speaker.

WARANGALNHRDN, Warangal Chapter and Departmentof HRM co organized an evening on 18thNovember 2006 at university arts and sciencecollege seminar hall on the theme "HR IS ASTRATEGIC PARTNER IN THE BUSINESSGROWTH OF AN ORGANIZATION" Theresource person was Mr. G.V.S.GURUNADH,Director HR-Capital IQ Information Systems(I) Ltd.

The Talked emphasized on the changing roleof HR functions, Strategies, and prominenceas it is vital from the point human capitalmanagement and ROI for the organizationalgrowth as they are the business drivers, whoquantify in monetary terms, who defines thestrategies and the industry ultimately getsbenefits from the HR.

The Talk was presided by the Warangalchapter president Dr Banda Prakash, Director,Alluri institute of management sciences,affiliated to Kakatiya University Warangal

Mr. T.Moses Christopher, Principal Alluriinstitute of management sciences, affiliatedto Kakatiya University Warangal gave theopening address regarding the HR Strategies,Followed by Prof G.Sreenivas Reddy, PrincipalUniversity Arts and science college, KakatiyaUniversity Warangal, who emphasized on theimportance of human capital in the growth ofthe organization.

The talk had an overwhelming response,which was interactive in nature. The Dean ofthe Commerce and Business managementDepartment Prof G.V.Bhavani Prasad,businessmen, academicians, students formvarious college, executives from various walksattended.

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CARTOON CORNER BY COL DEOGIRIKAR, INDORE

HYDERABAD CHAPTER PROGRAMMESJanuary 2007

04-01-07 - 6.30 pm Ravi Prakash K, Sr. Consultant, HRD Global Consultant, will speak onHRD Network "HR Branding Strategies"

11-01-07 - 6.30 pm Raghavendra Rao G, VP & Head Global Operation, BHRIGUS SoftwareHotel Tureeya Grand India Ltd., will speak on "Service Excellence-HR Challenges & Strategies "Opp: Life Style

18-01-07 - 6.30 pm Ravindra Varma P V S, Asst. GM - HR, Matrix Laboratories - HR QUIZHRD Network

25-01-07 - 6.30 pm Mr. Umesh Mani, Managing Director, Edge Solutions, will speak onHRD Network "Customer Partenerships"

February 2007

01-02-07 - 6.30 pm Dr. A K Sukla, Professor of Community Medicine, Shadon Medical CollegeHRD Network will speak on "Strategy for Stress management and prevention of chronic

diseases".

08-02-07 - 6.30 pm Mr. Saumen Chekraborty, CFO, Dr. Reddy's Labs, will speak onHotel Tureeya Grand "Passion as Differentiator".

15-02-07 - 6.30 pm Y. Satyanarayana, Dy.Commissioner (Legal), Commissioner of CommercialHRD Network Taxes, will speak on "Empowering Belief - The key to enriched life"

22-02-07 - 6.30 pm Col V R K Prasad, Dean ICFAI School of HRD, Will speak on “Z Theory”HRD Network

HRD News Letter - National HRD| HRD News Letter | January 2007, Vol.22, Issue:10 4| Vol - 22 January...

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