Patrons

Prof. K.V .Bhanu MurthyDean, Faculty of Commerce & Business

Dr. Ajay Kumar SinghProgramme Coordinator, MHROD

1

Editorial Board:

Abhishek KumarAbhinandanChatterjeeAshish DhamejaMridul GuatamNandita JoshiKangkan

MHROD

Behind the shady headlines of Wall Street turmoil, Commonwealth games, corruption,

scams etc., 2010 has been a tough and eventful year for human resource managers as

the global slowdown has urged a need to revisit issues related to Human Resources like

leadership styles, employee engagement, talent acquisition and management. Jigyasa

2011 endeavours to promote and disseminate knowledge in the complex, multi-

disciplinary field of Human Resource Management and Organizational

Development.

The articles pertain to a large number of fields and range from HR transformation to

leadership styles to employee engagement and talent acquisition. As you leaf through

the pages, the blend of theory, experience, expressions and creativity will serve as a

constant reminder to the intricacies of the field of Human Resources.

Jigyasa seeks to gather the valuable insights of renowned academicians and

practitioners on some burning issues of human resource and aims at emerging as a

knowledge warehouse for existing and emerging HR practitioners.

Jigyasa is an M.H.R.O.D. initiative and the credit for its overwhelming success in the

corporate and academic circle entirely rests with the distinguished authors

participating in the journal.

Jigyasa is an in-house initiative that does not generate any subscription fee or revenue

from any source. We value your invaluable inputs and suggestions and hope that your

journey through Jigyasa would be a pleasure.

We value the incomparable inputs of the contributors for this journal and thank them

for infusing their knowledge and experience into each article of Jigyasa.

Abhishek Kumar

Ashish Dhameja

Team Jigyasa:

Aditi Kashyap,Divya Gupta,Lily Bilung, Neeraj Tripathy, Radhika Singh, Shelly Sarang

Tanu Priya and Vivek Tomar.

To our readers

3

HR Transformation 5

Dave Ulrich

Professor- Ross School of Business,University of Michigan

Wayne Brockbank

Professor- Ross School of Business,University of Michigan

Justin Allen

Principle, The RBL group

Public Sector-Myth v/s Reality 17

V C Agarwal

Former Director, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Leadership: Stepping into the right shoes at the right time 20

Neha Gupta

Researcher- CLIC, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad

Talent Acquisition - Challenge or Fun? 27

Ashish Kumar

Chief Human Resource Officer – PVR Ltd

Management Education for Sustainability 30

V C Agarwal

President –HR, RPG Enterprises

Understanding Dynamics of Human Resource Management and 35

How it can be developed: A Brief Overview

Prof. Gopa Bhardwaj

Professor, University of Delhi

Employee Engagement @reccession.com: Role of HR 39

Anita Santiago

XLRI,Jamshedpur

Charting a Role for Human Resources in Mergers & Acquisitions 42

Dr. Subash Masters

Senior Adviser with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Jigyasa 2011ARTICLES

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The Business Partner Model: Past and Future perspectives 45

Dave Ulrich

Professor- Ross School of Business,University of Michigan

Wayne Brockbank

Professor- Ross School of Business,University of Michigan

Role of Customer Satisfaction in Improving Dealers Profitability 52

Mr. Uday Mishra- Head (Training) with NDPL

INTERVIEWHR In Focus 57

Avadesh Dixit

Global Head-HR, CMC Ltd

5

1HR TransformationDave Ulrich, Justin Allen

Wayne Brockbank

An instructional article by Dave Ulrich, Justin Allen, and Wayne Brockbank, it explores the why, what, how, and

who of an HR transformation process. It describes why the HR strategy of an organization needs to keep pace

with today's mercurial business environment, why the co-operation of the stakeholders – line managers,

employees, customers, advisors- is essential for the transformation to yield results, and finally how to actualize the

transformation.

Phase 2: Define the outcomes. (What are the

markets, economic uncertainty, and technological outcomes of transformation?)

advances, leaders must both adapt their HR leaders with business leaders define the

organizations and help their employees respond to outcomes of HR transformation as the capabilities of

change. To build both organization capabilities and a firm.

individual competencies, HR departments, practices,

and professionals must be transformed to respond to Phase 3: Redesign HR. (How do we do HR

the challenge of change. In this article, and in more transformation?)

detail in our book HR Transformation (Ulrich et.al, HR leaders redesign their HR department,

2009), we synthesize and summarize the lessons we reengineer their HR practices, and upgrade their HR

have learnt about HR transformation. We have learnt professionals.

these lessons by working with thoughtful and

innovative HR executives and from over twenty years Phase 4: Engage line managers and others. (Who

of research on and writing about the HR profession. should be part of the HR transformation?)

We begin by defining HR Transformation and then HR leaders work with line managers, employees, and

propose a four-phase model to ensure that HR drives advisors to frame and deliver transformation.

business success and avoids the common pitfalls of Figure 1.1.Model for HR Transformation.

such efforts. This model (see Figure 1.1) addresses

four simple questions about HR transformation:

Phase 1: Build the business case. (Why do

transformation?)

HR leaders must know business context and build a

case for change.

As the pace of change increases in global

1This work draws heavily from the book HR Transformation by Dave Ulrich, Justin Allen, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger, and Mark Nyman, published by McGraw Hill.

This model captures both the theory (ideas, led by line managers and enabled by HR.

rationale, and approaches) and the practices (tools, Ultimately, a successful HR transformation increases

processes, and actions) for creating a successful HR the value HR adds to the business. This is a simple

transformation. Transformation theory draws from statement and one that is easy to gloss over, but it

change literatures found in sociology, psychology, reflects an approach to transformation that is not

anthropology, organization development, systems always practiced. Simply stated, we propose that the

theory, high-performing teams, and economics. biggest challenge for HR professionals today is to

Transformation theory in practice comes as we have help their respective organizations succeed, and an

applied these ideas in dozens of organizations. effective HR transformation will ensure just that.

Theory without practice is conjecture and is usually

irrelevant. Practice without theory is idiosyncratic Phase 1: Business Context

and isolated. We aim to combine theory and practice When people understand the 'why' of change they

so that those charged with and affected by HR are more likely to accept the 'what'. A broad range of

transformation can make sustainable progress. change specialists teach this simple principle, from

HR Transformation Defined the most academic of cognitive psychologists and

change theorists to the most popular of self-help A true HR transformation is an integrated, aligned,

gurus. It is true not only in personal change (exercise, innovative, and business-focused approach to

weight loss, anger management) but also in HR redefine how HR work is done within an organization

transformation. For personal change, when we fully so that it helps the organization deliver promises

grasp why we should change a personal behavior, we made to employees, customers, investors, and other

are more likely to change what we do. The context of stakeholders. This work begins by being very clear

a business setting captures the “why” of HR about the rationale for doing HR transformation. The

transformation. When HR transformation connects rationale for HR transformation is too often from

to the context of the business, it is more likely to be inside the company (say, when a senior business

sustained because it responds to real needs. This leader complains about HR practices, structure, or

means linking HR efforts not only to the business people), whereas the rationale should come from

strategy but also to the environmental factors that outside the company.

frame the strategy.

Therefore, as the first step to any transformation, HR Therefore, HR should begin from the outside in. We

leaders must clarify the business context. Next, they should be at least as worried about the outcomes of

must be clear about the intended outcomes (or our activities as about the activities themselves. So,

organization capabilities) of the transformation. we ask people to add two simple words to the biggest

With outcomes in mind, leaders must align HR to challenge at work: “so that . . .” The “so that” query

deliver the outcomes by redesigning the HR shifts focus on what we do to what we deliver, from

organization, revamping HR processes, and the activities we perform to the value that these

refocus ing HR people . F ina l ly, t rue HR activities create.

transformations ensure that long-term initiatives are

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JIGYASA 2011

7

Hence, an HR transformation should begin with a primarily from inside the business. Ultimately, HR

clear understanding of the business context because transformation is not about doing HR; it is about

the setting in which you do business offers the building business success.

rationale for the HR transformation you will do. Basic Phase 2: Outcomes

supply-demand logic asserts that if supply is high for

any given product or service but demand is zero, then HR transformation is not a single event—it's a new

its value is zero. If what we do on the inside does not pattern of thought and behaviour. As discussed

create value on the outside, in the ability of the above, the rationale for the transformation comes

company to attract, serve, and retain customers and from general business conditions and the ability to

investors, its value is zero. increase value to specific stakeholders. Once

b u s i n e s s l e a d e rs a c k n o w l e d ge t h at H R While we are staunch advocates of aligning HR with

transformation will help them respond to business business strategy, we recommend that HR leaders

challenges, they will inevitably want to know how to not only look at the business strategy but also look

measure the impact of the transformation.through the strategy to see and understand the

business conditions or external realities that shape it. We suggest that HR transformation has two types of

Traditional strategy is like a mirror where HR can outcomes. First, the stakeholder expectations should

reflect its investment. We recommend looking be realized. HR transformation should play a

through the mirror (strategy) to external customers significant part in determining stakeholder results.

and investors to fully understand the antecedents of Second, HR transformation can be tracked by the

the strategy. Understanding and linking HR with capabilities an organization creates.

these contextual constituents helps HR not just Stakeholder Outcomes:To address the first outcome

implement the strategy but play a key role in defining type, we recommend you pick the stakeholders you

it. By focusing on the business context, HR can avoid are most worried about and then discuss and define

the common mistake of seeking to implement the outcomes that will be most important for them.

internally focused ideas and concepts that come These outcomes should be operationally defined,

across as solutions looking for problems. measured, and tracked over time to quantify the

When HR professionals start by thinking about the progress of your HR transformation.

outcomes of their work as defined by the business With stakeholders' outcomes identified, divide 100

context, they change their conversations with line points among the possible stakeholders. Your team

managers and are able to better justify why an HR should come to a shared perspective on weighting

transformation should occur.which stakeholders (employees, line managers,

Consequently, for change to lead to sustained customers, regulators, investors, or communities)

transformation, we believe that when the presenting matter most and will be most affected by the

problem for HR transformation comes from the transformation.

context of the business and from the expectations of For the stakeholders who matter most, agree upon

key stakeholders, then the case for transformation is measures that are reliable, accurate, transparent,

stronger than if the presenting problem originates

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

JIGYASA 2011

8

and easy to collect for each key stakeholder. As

outlined in Table 1.1, your team should select the two

or three key indicators that will track progress of the

transformation.

Finally, identify how will you collect the data so that

you can benchmark where you are now and track

where you are going in the future.

Table 1

Stakeholders Possible measures

Employees • Greater competence for present and future jobs

• Increased retention of talented employees

Leaders & leadership • Measure of backup talent (number of qualified people for key jobs)

• Able to “export” top talent to the rest of the company

Customers • More customer share of targeted customers (share of wallet)

• Willingness to recommend firm to others

Regulators • Give the firm voice in defining regulations

• Perceive the firm as one that abides by laws and regulations

Analysts/Investors • Higher Price to Earnings (market to book) value

• Trust quality of leadership to make the right decisions about

strategy, people, customers, and operations

• Community Manage environment responsibly (reduces carbon

footprint)

• Gives back to the community (philanthropy) in terms of money and

time

As you follow these steps, you can begin to see the

impact of your HR transformation in terms of

outcomes as seen by the stakeholders you serve.

Capabilities as Outcomes: While stakeholder

measures track the outcomes of HR transformation

as seen by the recipients of the transformation, we

believe that the HR transformation should also

change the fundamental identity, culture, or image

of the company. We refer to this outcome of HR

transformation as defining and building capabilities.

Capabilities shape the way people think about

organizations.

These capabilities also become the identity of the

firm, the deliverables of HR practices, and the keys to

implement business strategy, and senior leaders

must be clear about the two or three “most critical”

capabilities the firm must have in order to execute

the strategy. Then, they can and should be

monitored by measuring and tracking them. There is

no magic list of desired or ideal capabilities; however,

the following capabilities and their measures seem

to be inherent in well-managed firms:

Capability Description

Leadership We are good at building leaders that generate confidence in the future.

Strategic Unity We are good at creating a shared agenda around our strategy

Customer Connectivity We are good at fostering enduring relationships of trust with target

customers

Corporate Social We are good at establishing a strong reputation for sustainability,Responsibility philanthropy, and employability in our industry and community

Shared Mindset We are good at ensuring customers and employees have a consistent

and positive experience of our firm identity

Collaboration We are good at working together across boundaries to ensure leverage

and efficiency

Learning We are good at generating, generalizing, and implementing ideas with

impact

Innovation We are good at doing something new in both content and process

Talent We are good at attracting, motivating, developing, and retaining

talented and committed people

Speed We are good at making important changes rapidly

Efficiency We are good at reducing the costs of our business practices

Accountability We are good at creating and enforcing standards that lead to high

performance and execution

9

The two to three most critical capabilities represent

the outcomes of the HR transformation. They are the

deliverables of HR and they lead to the outcomes for

each stakeholder. In focusing on capabilities as

outcomes, the HR transformation team should do a

capability audit where they identify which

capabilities are most critical to their organization's

future success given business conditions and

business strategy. With those prioritized capabilities,

scorecards can be created to track baseline and

progress in the critical capabilities. By focusing on

both stakeholder and organization capability

outcomes, the result of the HR transformation can be

defined and tracked.

Phase 3: HR Redesign

The first two phases of HR transformation answer the

questions Why (business context) and what

(outcomes of HR transformation). The third phase

addresses How to do the transformation. This phase

has three components, each of which is a way of

defining what we mean by HR:

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

a) The HR function or department may need to be

redesigned.

b) HR practices may be transformed to be more

effectively or more fully aligned, integrated, and

innovative.

c) HR professionals may be upgraded to possess

the competencies required to do their work.

(a) Redesign the HR Department: Transforming an

HR department requires building an HR organization

that reflects both the business organization and the

HR strategy. We have found three overriding

organization design principles: first, make the HR

organization follow the logic and structure of the

business organization. Second, make the HR

organization follow the flow of any professional

service organization. Third, differentiate between

transactional and transformational HR work.

centralized (to drive efficiency and control) and

decentralized (to drive effectiveness and flexibility).

A company whose portfolio strategy is based on a

holding company configuration consists of multiple

business units who are independent of each other

(bottom right of Figure 1.2). In such cases, HR logic

and processes are likewise to be found in the

business units. At the other extreme is a corporation

that consists of a single business (top left). In this

case, the corporation and the business unit are the

same. Thus corporate HR and business unit HR are

likewise the same. The relatively more complicated

portfolio configurations are alternative levels of

diversification that range from unrelated to highly

related (top right of Figure 1.2). Care must be taken to

ensure that HR strategies and practices are

customized to fit the logic of business requirements.

The second organization design principle for HR is

that of any professional service firm: making

knowledge productive. Knowledge represents the

collective information and insights of the profession.

Productivity occurs when these insights become

standards for how to work with clients and when

these insights help clients reach their goals. HR rests

on a body of knowledge about how people and

organizations operate. These insights become

productive when clients of the HR department use

that knowledge to improve their effectiveness and

efficiency. The stakeholders described in above

should be able to reach their goals more smoothly

because of the way the HR department is organized,

its work processes, and how it operates on a day-to-

day basis. Strategic HR work done well makes

achieving business results easier for business

leaders.

A third design principle for successful HR

transformation is differentiating and managing both

strategic and transactional work effectively. Defining

what work is strategic and what is transactional is not

a simple task, but it is paramount in transformation.

A common mistake of HR transformation is to make

administrative HR changes without addressing more

strategic issues. Clarifying the business context

(phase 1) and identifying key capabilities (phase 2)

creates the context for knowing what HR work in your

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JIGYASA 2011

business is or should be strategic. Once this is done,

the process involves evaluating each and every HR

output and determining how the output contributes

to the business. Unless strategic work and

transactional work are separated, neither gets done

well.

Building on these three design principles, the

evolving HR organization can have five distinct and at

times overlapping sets of responsibilities. These five

responsibilities represent channels or ways of doing

HR work, as outlined in Figure 1.3. The critical issue is

to identify the flow of work for each of the five

channels in the HR organization, and upgrade each

channel to deliver the outcomes from Phase 2.

Additionally, awareness of all five channels is helpful

11

in identifying both current and future HR outputs to

ensure all outputs are included in your analysis. At

times, some try to transform the HR department by

focusing on one channel. For example, putting in a

new HR information system (Channel 1 in the figure)

can increase the efficiency of doing HR

administrative work, but this is not a complete HR

transformation unless the other roles are also

redesigned (as specified in the third design

principle).

(b) Revamp HR Practices: People talk about the work

of HR as activities, systems, processes, decisions, or

initiatives. We have chosen to talk about the work of

HR as a set of HR practices because a practice is

something that

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

is continually being learned (we practice a musical

instrument or sports). A practice is also an activity

within a profession (the practice of law), and the

concept of best practice defines an activity that

delivers an outcome better than some other activity.

Transforming HR could mean changing as many as

120 separate HR practices. In The HR Value

Proposition (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005), we

synthesized this vast array of HR work into four

domains that represent the flows or processes

central to organization success.

• What happens to the organization's

key asset—its people—including how people move

in, through, up, and out of the organization. Proper

attention to people flow ensures the availability and

development of the talent the organization needs to

accomplish its strategy.

• What links

people to work—the standards and measures,

financial and nonfinancial rewards, and feedback

that reflect stakeholder interests. Proper attention to

this flow promotes accountability for performance

by defining, noting, and rewarding it—and penalizing

its absence.

• Flow of information: What information do people

need to do their work and how do they get the

requisite information. Information can flow up,

down, or laterally. It can flow from the outside in or

from the inside out. Proper attention to information

flow ensures that people know what is happening

and why, and can apply themselves to what needs

doing to create value.

• Flow of work: Who does work, how work is done,

where work is done, and how work is supported

through business and operating processes to

combine individual efforts into organizational

Flow of people:

Flow of performance management:

outputs. Proper attention to work flow provides the

governance, accountability, and physical setting that

ensure high-quality results.

Transformation of HR practices requires recognizing

emerging trends in each category and the revision of

HR practices to be consistent with those trends. It is

tempting in the field of HR today to separate and

isolate these four streams. For example, a company

might invest in talent management (hiring,

promoting, retaining people), without expending the

time, effort, and resources necessary to ensure that

people have both the internal and external

information required for high levels of commitment

and performance. HR transformation is incomplete

unless alignment, integration, and innovation occur

for all four categories of HR processes. In our

workshops with HR leaders and professionals, we

find that only the best companies identify the

synergies they might capture by working more

closely together. For example, in a recent conference

at British Airways, functional experts from across the

four domains found a number of ways that staffing

(people), compensation and benefits (performance),

and organizational development (work) could very

fruitfully collaborate. Narrow definitions of HR work

result in narrow scopes of HR transformation.

c) Refocus HR People: Ultimately, HR transformation

depends on the quality of HR professionals. Given

the challenges of understanding the full business

context (phase 1), defining important business

related outcomes (phase 2), and redesigning the HR

department and state-of-the-art HR practices (phase

3), the bar has been raised for HR professionals. What

it took to succeed in HR in the past has changed with

the emerging challenges that we address in this

article. By following the four steps outlined below,

leaders can learn to build the competencies of HR

JIGYASA 2011

12

professionals. For more information, see HR Competencies (Ulrich et. al., 2008)

13

Step 1: Articulate a theory and set a standard. In the last 20 years we have

regularly assessed the competencies that make HR

successful through the Human Resource conducted

in 2007; we have identified the competencies

required of HR professionals based on data from just

over 10,000 people around the world. Our findings

are summarized in Figure 1.4. Ultimately, successful

HR professionals must demonstrate all competencies

outlined in the model, and in particular, they must be

credible activists and strategic architects.

Step 2: Assess individuals and organizations.

Establish a methodology for determining how well

individual HR professionals do or do not meet the

required standards. It is important to receive

feedback from a variety of different sources, and

consequently, 360-degree feedback processes tend

to provide helpful data at a minimal cost. Other

assessment methods include self-assessments,

psychometric testing, intense behavioural based

assessments, and job performance assessments.

Step 3: Invest in talent improvement. After a gap has

been identified—both for each individual and for the

department as a whole—the next step is investment.

Investing in HR professionals means allocating time

and resources to upgrading their skills. We have

found three approaches to developing HR

professionals: job experience, training experience,

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

and life experience. Whether creating a

comprehensive HR development program or simply

helping one HR professional improve, it is critical to

ensure that investment includes activities in all three

categories.

Step 4: Follow up and track competence. The final

step in any talent improvement model is measuring

and following up. Measurement means tracking the

quality of the HR professionals and of the

investments to develop the HR professionals. We

have worked with a number of companies that have

consistently done HR 360-degree reviews to track the

quality of their HR professionals. Having a baseline of

HR performance and then regularly benchmarking

against that baseline allows HR leaders to present

progress to their business leaders. Additionally, it is

important to test the extent to which HR investments

yield results outlined in Phase 2. Actively measuring

the impact of investments in HR people against the

stated outcomes of the transformation will ensure

alignment and create continued emphasis on the

right results.

Phase 4: Accountability

A successful process of HR transformation involves

the right people at the right time in the right way. We

call this phase 4, but it is a critical feature of all

phases. The importance of involvement in successful

change management is well established. We know

from decades of social-psychological research that

people are more likely to be committed to activities

or decisions in which they are involved. This has

part icular ly important—and not ent irely

obvious—implications for HR leaders and

professionals engaged in transformation. If HR

professionals plan the transformation in a vacuum,

others whose perspectives are needed during

planning or whose commitment is needed during

implementation are apt to resist the changes

required of them; they will be less likely to support

the more controversial or difficult elements of the

plan, and they certainly will be less supportive or

helpful as problems or challenges arise in the course

of implementation.

Four groups of stakeholders should be involved with

the HR transformation: HR, Line Managers,

Customers and Investors, and External Consultants.

HR leaders and professionals: HR's role is to design

the process and enable the implementation of the

transformation. HR transformation depends on the

quality of HR professionals and their relationships

with line managers. If they cannot respond to the

increased expectations raised by transformation,

they will quickly lose credibility and be relegated to

second-tier status. Four roles are important to this

process: the chief HR officer (CHRO), the HR

leadership team, and the head of HR, and HR

professionals.

Line managers: Line Managers must make sure the

transformation aligns to business goals and work

with HR to implement the transformation. Line

managers are ultimately accountable for ensuring

that the organization has the right talent and right

organization in place to deliver expectations to

customers, shareholders, and communities. They

have the responsibility to provide a clear business

focus for the transformation, to ensure that the

transformation team has access to both external and

internal information, to ensure that the right people

are involved in the transformation process, and to

require clear and measurable results from the

transformation. Numerous efforts like the war for

talent, balanced scorecards, and “top company” lists

have prescribed how line managers can better

manage their people and organizations. The stated

JIGYASA 2011

14

outcomes of the HR transformation will articulate

what line managers can expect from investments in

HR. A true HR transformation will reinforce the line

managers' ownership and responsibility for

delivering the right organization and talent to meet

stakeholder needs.

External customers and investors: HR Leaders and

Line Manager must seek the guidance of external

customers and investors throughout the HR

transformation to ensure relevance. Often HR

transformation comes from and is driven by an

internal logic. Frequently logic, language, and

practices of HR focus on employees' needs. As an

alternative, as stated above, HR must be built from

the outside in and should focus on its impact on

external stakeholders who matter to the company.

We build on the basic economic principle that

ultimately anything we do on the inside of a company

must create value for those on the outside, or what

we do is irrelevant. Organizations exist not to fulfill

their own purposes but to fulfill the purposes for

which society allows them to exist. The clear

understanding of business realities so essential for

real HR transformation is generally rooted in the

expectations and experiences of customers and

investors.

Consultants and advisers: We recommend the

judicious and targeted use of outside consultants as

partners in advancing the HR transformation. As

consultants and educators, we have seen clients who

employ the services of consultants effectively and

also those who do not. Those who have successfully

engaged external consultants,hire them with the

specific request to offer frameworks and insights

developed and proven over time, and point out

potholes those others have stumbled into. If

focused, our experience suggests that consultants

can add value in a number of specific ways and at a

number of specific points in the process.

With c lear ro le def in i t ion and r igorous

accountability, an HR Transformation can and will be

successful as each player plays the specific role they

are called to fill.

Conclusion

As depicted above, a true HR transformation is an

integrated, aligned, innovative, and business-

focused approach to redefine how HR work is done

within an organization so that it helps the

organization deliver promises made to customers,

investors, and other stakeholders.

Ultimately, a successful HR transformation increases

the value HR adds to the business. As leaders

complete the four phases of HR Transformation, HR

professionals become full partners in helping a

business move forward. HR can help organizations

get the maximum value from their people and their

organization while ensuring that they treat them as

individuals with unique needs, aspirations, and

dreams. What a privilege to be able to be HR

professionals who can achieve goals that improve

both the world of business and the world of people.

15

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

DAVE ULRICH

Dave Ulrich is a Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group a consulting firm focused on helping

organizations and leaders deliver value. He studies how organizations build capabilities of leadership, speed, learning, accountability, and talent

through leveraging human resources. He has helped generate award winning data bases that assess alignment between strategies, organization

capabilities, HR practices, HR competencies, and customer and investor results.

He has published over 175 articles and book chapters and 23 books. He edited Human Resource Management 1990-1999, served on editorial board

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JIGYASA 2011

of 4 Journals, on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller, and Board of Trustees at Southern Virginia University, and is a Fellow in the National

Academy of Human Resources.

Honours include:

• Ranked #1 most influential international thought leader in Human Resource by HR Magazine.

• Listed in Thinkers 50 as a management thought leader

• Named by Fast Company as one of the 10 most innovative and creative thinkers of 2005

• Listed in Forbes as one of the “world's top five” business coaches

• Society for Human Resource Management award for Professional Excellence for lifetime contributions

He has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200.

WAYNE BROCKBANK

Dr. Wayne Brockbank is a Clinical Professor of Business at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. His teaching focuses on

strategic human resource management, strategy and implementation, and international business. At the University of Michigan's Executive

Education Centre, Professor Brockbank is Director of the Centre for Strategic Human Resource Leadership. He is the Faculty Director of the Strategic

Human Resource Planning Program and the Advanced Human Resource Executive Program. He is the Co-Director of the Human Resource Executive

Program.

Professor Brockbank completed his Ph.D. at UCLA where he specialized in business policy and strategy, organization theory, and international

business. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Organizational Behaviour from Brigham Young University. He is the Director of the

Michigan Human Resource Executive Programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and India as well as the Michigan Global Program in

Management Development in India.

JUSTIN ALLEN

Justin is a Principle with The RBL Group and the Head of Operations for RBL's Leadership Practice. He is dedicated to advancing the fields of

Leadership and Strategic HR by connecting leaders with practical tools, leading edge theory, and opportunities to learn from each other.

Justin began his career as an international researcher in labour statistics and holds a master's degree in business management and organizational

behaviour. Justin came to RBL from GE where he was consistently rated 'top talent'. In his tenure at GE, Justin worked as an HR Manager in a diverse

business unit where he oversaw performance management, leadership development, staffing, communications, and union relations.

Justin works with HR leaders in the top companies in the world, including P&G, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Unilever, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority,

Wal-Mart, J&J, Pfizer, and Nokia.

17

PUBLIC SECTOR: MYTH V/S REALITYVC Agarwal, Former Director-

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

The Indian economy has witnessed a significant growth during the past decades. Most of this growth has been

attributed to the private corporate sector; while the public sector fought hard to maintain its standing in the eyes

of the newer generation. Little knowledge about the public sector has led to misconceptions which in turn have led

to several irrational comparisons between the two sectors in terms of efficiency and the work culture and the newer

generation of managers choosing private sector over public sector. This little knowledge has thus become

dangerous. For a developing country like India, it is imperative that the public sector flourish so that the

country's socio-economic goals are met. The need of the hour is to make the younger generation realize the

importance of the public sector so that the most microscopic of the progress made and effort put in this sector

contributes towards the greater good of the nation.

Public Sector: The Inception

During the pre-independence era there was almost

no public sector, with only the Railways, the Post and

Telegraphs, the Port Trust and the Ordinance

factories and a few Government managed

undertakings like the Government salt factories,

quinine factories etc making up “the Public Sector”. It

was only after India's liberation that it saw the

dominance of the public sector, the rationale being

to realize economic self-reliance for the good of the

country. The passage of Industrial Policy Resolution

of 1956 and adoption of socialist pattern of society

led to a deliberate enlargement of our public sector.

The Need for Public Sector in India

In the wake of independence, India met with many

socio-economic challenges. Such challenges

demanded well thought out and systematic

planning. India was by and large an agrarian economy

with a weak industrial base, low level of savings,

inadequate investment and lack of infrastructural

facilities. Inequalities in terms of income and levels of

employment, regional imbalances in economic

development and lack of trained manpower

prevailed.

The private sector at that time did not have the

necessary resources, the managerial and scientific

skill. Consequently, the State's intervention in all the

sectors of the economy became inevitable,

prevention of concentration of power in a few hands

being one of the important reasons. Considering the

type and range of problems faced, it became a

pragmatic compulsion to use the public sector as an

instrument for self-reliant economic growth, with

the objectives of:

1. Ensuring the rapid economic development and

industrialization of the country and creating

necessary infrastructure for economic

development.

2. Promoting redistribution of income and wealth.

3. Creating employment opportunities

4. Promoting import substitutions: - saving and

earning foreign exchange for the economy.

From the time India became independent, there was

a huge requirement of capital, trained manpower

and technology. Therefore, it became imperative for

the nation to build a strong and effective public

sector to produce trained manpower and develop

technologies.

The Growth of Public Sector

Public sector enterprises in India have grown from

only five enterprises post independence and with an

investment of ` 0.3 bn in the year 1951 to 249

enterprises as on Mar 31, 2010. Aggregate

investment in Central PSUs has been increasing over

the years. Total investment, including equity plus

long-term loans of Central PSUs went up from `

5,135.32 bn in FY09 to ` 5799.20 bn in FY10, growing

12.93%.The Central Public Sector Enterprises

(CPSUs) makes invaluable contribution to the

country's planned development and to Government

revenues, besides earning profits, increasing internal

resource generation and creating wealth for the

shareholders.

During FY10, net profit of profit making Central PSUs

stood at ` 1084.35 bn compared with ` 984.88 bn in

the previous year. The increased profits are being

channelled into planned investment as PSEs have

proposed to contribute from internal resources for

planned investments. Overall profit of all Central

PSUs stood at ` 925.93 bn during FY10 and dividend

declared by such Central PSUs stood at ` 332.23 bn.

The CPSEs earned foreign exchange equal ̀ 777.45 bn

during the year compared with ̀ 742.06 bn in FY09.

Besides increased profitability, CPSE stocks have led

the growth of the Sensex by registering year-on-year

growth. In one single year, the listed PSEs, to talling

48, including banks, created an additional wealth in

terms of increasing market capitalization. The market

capitalization of the listed PSEs has also increased,

reflecting the increased confidence of investors.

Is Private Sector Better than Public Sector? - Myth

Busted

There are certain prevalent misconceptions

pertaining to the public sector.

1.

opinion that the private sectors are more efficient

from the operational point of view.

The comparisons are not always objective and are

frequently confined to some successful private

undertakings, ignoring the numerous failures and

bankruptcies. While making such comparisons

one should take into account the social

implications of the two types of ventures.

The parameter to judge should be the

performance of the company; whether in the

public sector or in the private. There are good

companies and bad companies both in the private

and the public domain. For instance the TATA's are

in the private sector and very well respected.

Their systems and procedures are very

professional. There functioning is not much

different in comparison to any of the successful

public sector companies. Similarly, in the public

sector, there are examples of good companies like

IOC, ONGC, NTPC, BHEL and many more. The

point to be taken into account is whether the

working of the organization is professional or not.

Ownership, per se, does not decide whether an

enterprise will be good or bad.

Many people are found to hold the general

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JIGYASA 2011

2. It is claimed that the profit motive acts effectively

in the private sector while in the public sector,

where the profit accrues to government; this

motive fails to inspire either the managers or the

workers.

This may have been true of the private sector

when there was a link between ownership and

management. With the rise of large private sector

concerns, however, and the inevitable dichotomy

between ownership and management, this is no

longer valid. If at all, the motivational factor works

in favor of the public sector since a successful

public undertaking benefits the nation rather

than enriching a few individuals for whom they

work.

The Public Sector: An Agent of Development

The public sector is vital from the logic of

development. If development is pictured as a no-

holds barred race in which the strong has an

advantage, the private sector development which

operates through market forces can have a case.

If, on the other hand, equity is regarded as an

inalienable feature of development, and if social

good, and not the motive for profit maximization,

is to prevail, it is the public sector that has the

upper hand.

For a developing country like India the social

imperative of the public sector is even stronger.

The problems faced by developing economies can

be tackled only by deliberate planning for social

good, where profit plays only a secondary role. It

is important to understand that the Indian

economy faces a shortage of vital resources,

capital, foreign exchange and even skilled and

trained manpower. Under such conditions, if the

economy was run with a view to make profits, the

developmental activity would accommodate

solely to those with high purchasing power,

leaving little or nothing for the masses.

The poverty amelioration that we see today in the

country is in large measure due to the wealth

created by the public sector. The Corporate too is

chipping in through various Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to improve the

quality of living for the less fortunate.

The Public Sector has contributed significantly to the

cause of the nation and the present generation

should realize that for the sake of generations

which are yet to come, it is imperative for the

public sector to succeed. It is also essential for the

young Indian managers to realize that they should

contribute and participate in the development of

India, whether it is in public sector or the private.

19

V.C. Agarwal

He was previously Director (HR) Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Mr. V.C. Agarwal

(Electrical) from IIT-Roorkee

is presently President HR RPG Enterprise. He has completed his B.Tech

VC Agarwal, Former Director-Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

20

Leadership: stepping into the right shoes at the right timeNeha Gupta

Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad

An absorbing article introducing the constituents of the right amalgam of leadership styles which a manager

needs to excel in the art of leadership. The part played by emotional intelligence in achieving this goal is

highlighted using a detailed case study of the exceptional comeback of SBI as a major market player under the

leadership of Mr. O.P. Bhatt.

Peter Drucker, Father of modern management

distinguished between a manager and a leader with

his renowned quote. With the distinction becoming

more relevant in times of accelerated change and

increased complexity, 'leadership' is an imperative

for any progressive organization. The print, web and

visual media are replete with stories of leaders who

catapulted their organizations from gallows of death

to spectacular heights. This article aims to further

reflect on an individual's leadership style and

importance of managing emotions of self and others.

INTRODUCTION

If one were to list down the decade's five most

popularly used (or rather abused) management

jargons, undoubtedly 'Leadership' would figure

amongst the chartbusters with perhaps 'Innovation',

'Entrepreneurship ' , 'Change' and 'Soc ia l

Responsibility.' Notwithstanding the overuse of

these terms in management conclaves, leadership is

the sounding board for any organization to stay

competitive in the global arena. Moreover, every

initiative to unleash innovation, entrepreneurship,

change or social responsibility is spearheaded by a

leader. But a leader can work wonders if he employs

the appropriate leadership style to steer the

emotions of organizational members.

Daniel Goleman in his celebrated article Leadership

That Gets Result (2000) identified six leadership

styles namely Commanding, Visionary, Affiliative,

Democratic, Pacesetting, and Coaching. Every style

is associated with various elements of four domains

of emotional intelligence i.e. Self awareness, Self-

management, Social awareness, Relationship

management in different combinations. Emotional

intelligence refers to the capacity for recognizing

one's own feelings and those of others, for

motivating oneself, and for managing emotions in

ourselves and in our relationships. The art of

leadership requires an ability to tune into the

emotional and cognitive needs of people by using the

leadership style apt for a particular situation/

audience. Given the vast gamut of dynamic and

volatile emotions, a leader has to be adept at

switching gears from one style to another or

employing a combination of styles to achieve the

desired results. Understanding the powerful role of

emotions in the workplace sets the best leaders

apart from the rest - not just in tangibles such as

better profit margins and lower attrition, but also in

Management is doing the things right Leadership is doing the right things.

-Peter Ducker

important intangibles, such as higher morale,

motivation, and employee engagement. Thus,

driving the collective emotions in a positive direction

and clearing the smog, created by toxic emotions

remains the primordial emotional task of the leader

(Goleman, 2011).

The recent research in the field of leadership

(Ramnarayan and Gupta, forthcoming) suggests that

the most effective leaders use an assemblage of

distinct leadership styles in varying degrees and at

appropriate times. Interestingly, the studies contend

that these styles can be learnt and imbibed into our

personality over a period of time with a conscious

effort at honing our leadership skills. Well, the

revelation about the ability to learn leadership styles

is heartening for all the organizations spending big

bucks on LDPs (Leadership Development Programs)

or SILPs (Stepping into Leadership Programs).

LEADERSHIP STYLES: A PRIMER

According to Primal Leadership (2002), every

leadership style is blessed with a set of positive

attributes and distinct areas of emphasis (Refer

Figure 1). A close look at the characteristic behaviors

and focus areas of six leadership styles does not only

facilitate self-assessment of individual style, but also

deepens the understanding of styles displayed by

people around us. It helps us in managing our peers

and subordinates better in addition to establishing

effective working relationship with our superiors.

21

Coaching increases:

Competence, Innovation

Commanding increases: Control,

Execution

Democratic increases:

Involvement, Committment

6 LEADERSHIP STYLES

Affiliative increases: Trust,

Closeness

Pace setting increases: Result,

Ambition

Visionary increases: Direction,

Hope

Step 1: Articulate a theory and set a standard. In the last 20 years we have

Neha Gupta, Indian School of Business

Commanding (Immediate tasks, Chain of command,

Obedience, Execution and Problem solving)

- Gives clear directives, specifies expectations

and areas of responsibility.

- Forceful and strong in taking initiatives and

generating impact.

- Expects guidelines to be followed exactly, top-

down decision making.

- Loyal to superior's decisions and expects

compliance from subordinates.

- Good at controlling emotions when difficult

decisions need to be executed.

Affiliative (Well-being of people, Relationships,

Openness, Team spirit and harmony)

- Creates harmony in team and forges strong

emotional bonds.

- Nurtures personal relationship and strives to

keep people happy.

- Shares her/his emotions openly and

encourages the same.

- Senses the feelings, needs and perspectives of

others.

- Skilled at resolving conflicts between people.

Democratic (Group processes, Participation,

Involvement, Dialogue, Psychological ownership of

task)

- Facilitates participatory decision making.

- Encourages subordinates to take part in

defining goals and fosters team spirit.

- Gives priority to communication and

collaboration over meeting targets.

- Delegates responsibility; asks and listens to

employees.

- Prefers rewarding the team rather than

recognizing individual contributors.

Visionary (The future, Inspiration, shared vision,

larger picture, Passion to achieve shared objective)

- Articulates where we are going as a team.

- In the process, inspires others to visualize a

common goal and the larger purpose of

work/life.

- Encourages people to take calculated risks to

achieve larger goals without any fear of failure.

- Shares with people their roles in the growth of

the organization.

- Initiates changes and drives new campaigns

when necessary to achieve impact.

Pace Setting (The goal, High work pace, Efficiency

and quality, Best professional solution, excellence)

- Sets high standards of performance for both

herself/himself and team.

- Very ambitious and goal-oriented. Displays and

expects excellence in performance.

- Places quality of results ahead of employee

satisfaction.

- Often possesses maximum knowledge about

the tasks. Does not tolerate poor work.

- Leads the way in handling new tasks.

Coaching (Building of competencies, Creativity,

Independence and flexibility, Future challenges)

- Develops people and acts as a coach/counselor

rather than a superior.

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JIGYASA 2011

- Helps people in building and achieving long

term development plan.

- Intimately understands every person's

strengths and areas of improvement.

- Provides regular feedback and guidance to help

people achieve their goals.

- Good at spotting development potential in

other people.

Five Steps towards Learning Leadership Skills

Primal Leadership (2004) shares a five step process

for learning and improving our leadership skills. In

each of these steps, listening skills and empathy plays

an instrumental role. We should be open to not only

listening to ourselves but also recognize the spoken

and unspoken feedback/signalsfrom multiple

stakeholders. As a leader, empathy is the route to

active listening and establishing a heightened

emotional connection with employees. As Harvay

Mackay once said, “"You learn when you listen. You

earn when you listen - not just money, but respect."

The five steps towards leadership are:

Step 1: Identify one's ideal self

Draw a picture of the person one aspires to be by

discovering and listening to one's core values and

beliefs. Reflect on questions like: What's important

to me? What am I passionate about? What does my

"gut" say to me? What are my aspirations?

Step 2: Identify the real self

Draw an image of the real person by discovering how

one appears to others, regardless of one's self-

image. Listening to one's self (self awareness) and

others as well as coaching and 360-degree feedback

from peers, subordinates, supervisors, customers

etc. are useful tools.

Step 3: Create a plan to develop strengths and

reduce gaps

Compare one's ideal self to one's real self to identify

strengths (where one is as capable in areas as

aspired) and gaps (where one isn't as effective as

desired).

Step 4: Experiment with oneself–behaviorally,

emotionally and cognitively

Experiment with one self to inculcate new skills and

achieve desirable changes. These behavioral,

emotional and cognitive experiments should be

according to the plan in step 3.

Step 5: Develop a support system

Develop trust and relationships that provide support

during the learning process. It should take place

concurrently with steps 1 through 4.

DIFFERENT SHADES OF LEADERSHIP

India, an emerging economy which is gaining

prominence in the global marketplace, has

witnessed a wide array of leaders like Narayan

Murthy, Nitish Kumar, Ratan Tata, Kiran Mazumdar

Shaw, Mamta Banerjee etc., each displaying a

different shade of leadership. From the pre-

independence era, when a democratic Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi called for Swadeshi movement

to the recent victory of Indian Cricket team led by

pace-setter Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2011 World

Cup, the adeptness of leaders in the primal task of

driving emotions in the right direction sets them

apart. Even the accounts of JRD Tata, the socialist

visionary who championed the cause of his

employees, Mamta Banerjee who swept through

West Bengal assembly elections, and Pullela

Gopichand who coached Saina Nehwal to world

ranking 3 in badminton narrate a similar story.

23

Neha Gupta, Indian School of Business

Hence, it's not just the assemblage of different

leadership styles but the ability to use them

effectively to steer the emotions of various

stakeholders that determines the success of a leader.

The spectacular turnaround of State Bank of India

establishes the importance of different leadership

styles.

Leadership @ SBI: Drawing People to Drive and

Deliver Results

The transformation of the State Bank of India (SBI),

India's largest public sector bank under the

stewardship of Mr. O.P. Bhatt (2009), has been

nothing short of a dream ride. Post-liberalization,

with the advent of private and multinational banks in

the nation, the country's oldest bank with over

200,000 employees and 16,000 branches started

losing its customers and its numerouno position due

to lack of customer orientation, outdated technology

and inefficient business processes. These problems

were compounded with the leadership pool - top

management at SBI had become an ageing group. In

the early 2000s, the tech-savvy private banks

provided higher quality of customer service which

surpassed the public sector banks. The front line staff

was de-motivated as the dwindling number of

customers grew unabated. The bank's growth rate

was slower as compared to the competitors. The

leadership at SBI could feel a sense of urgency to

'perform or perish' but the employees at this iconic

organization failed to perceive the impending crisis.

In 2006, Mr. O.P. Bhatt, a lifetime SBI-insider was

appointed as the new Chairman. A conclave was

organized by the Chairman inviting the top

management of all the branches across the country.

The agenda of the conclave was how to communicate

the need for change. The top management team led

by Bhatt began to brainstorm, explore and generate

ideas for initiating the transformation process. The

first and foremost initiative was to communicate the

need for change in the organization spanning all

levels of employees across every branch. In this

regard, 'Parivartan' (meaning 'Change') program was

launched within the organization. Key employees at

every level were identified and educated about the

urgency to adapt to the changing banking landscape

through a training program. The bank provided

training to enable the selected employees to don the

role of the messengers of change in their respective

branches. They set a challenging target of 100 days to

reach out to all the employees and to their own

surprise, met it too. Interestingly, after a long time,

the organizational members were joined by a shared

vision and were enthused to change the destiny of

the bank. After establishing a 'sense of urgency'

among employees and 'building a powerful guiding

coalition' to facilitate change, the Chairman

embarked on the job of articulating the new vision of

SBI.

O.P Bhatt set upon the transformation journey by

redefining the vision of SBI. In continuation of the

first initiative and as a part of the transformation

exercise, the change team worked actively to

energize, empower and sustain the momentum of

change among employees. The Chairman, along with

the organizational members began a co-creation

exercise to evolve the new vision statement for the

bank by using participative approach. The vision, the

fundamental elements of an organization's identity

are often vague in the minds of the employees. SBI

was not an exception. It was difficult to find a soul on

SBI's payroll who knew the vision, word by word. No

wonder, employees were not ashamed of their

ignorance because the vision statement was very

long and confusing. It was a complex, verbose

statement, indist inct from several other

24

JIGYASA 2011

organizations. Interestingly, it made no reference to

'customers.' The leadership wanted to rearticulate

the vision of SBI to enable employees to internalize it.

The leadership team gradually built awareness about

the need to redefine the vision statement.

Unlike the common practice of developing the vision

in consultation with only top management, Bhatt

decided to engage 2,00,000 employees at SBI. Even

though, it was a herculean task to involve the entire

workforce, they didn't shy away from it. An external

consultant in addition to internal change agents was

appointed to facilitate the co-creation exercise to

reformulate the vision. The aim was to provide an

opportunity to every organizational member to think

about the challenges encountering SBI and see their

role in shaping the bank's future.

As a first step, the change facilitators were sent for

training programs to initiate the process of

envisioning. They were trained to encourage

discussions among employees about the bank and its

vision at tea time, lunch hour, etc. A series of five

posters were created. They were sent to 16, 000

offices one after another, every week. The leadership

team led by the Chairman ensured that each branch

displayed a set of posters in places accessible only to

employees. The posters consisted of statements like:

“Today we are India's largest bank. How do we

become India's best?”; “State Bank of India has got

140 million customers. How do you make each

customer feel that s/he is the most important?” The

posters generated intrigue and triggered informal

discussions amongst employees. With persistent

efforts of change agents, the employees started

talking about it, thinking about it, and debating about

it. In the process, they unconsciously began thinking

about the bank. The unintended benefit of the

exercise was that employees were being brought

together by a common thought.

In the sixth week, every SBI employee received a

letter from the Chairman with a questionnaire. The

questionnaire had 10 multiple choice questions,

each with three choices to select from. They were

given 10 days to fill the questionnaire and send it

back. The questions included: “What is SBI's biggest

challenge?”,“What can give SBI the winning edge?”,

“What should SBI be famous for?”, and so on. The

whole process garnered phenomenal response from

141,000 employees, which became the input for

developing the final vision. The results were

tabulated by the consultants and further a sample of

200 was selected to discuss and include their opinion

in a meaningful manner.

Bhatt shared with beaming pride, “As a result, the

new vision: My SBI, My customer first, My SBI: First

in customer satisfaction was articulated where 90

percent of the employees were able to see their

contribution.”And the rest is history with SBI's

unshakeable supremacy in the Indian banking

industry and a seemingly permanent seat in the

Fortune 500 list.

CONCLUDING NOTE

The journey of SBI highlights the importance of

establishing an emotional connection with the

employees while shifting gears from one style to

another. O.P. Bhatt, a lifetime SBI-insider had risen

through the ranks during his long association with

SBI. He was indeed adept at donning an appropriate

leadership style that was coherent with the occasion

and the emotions of the people. He not only

successfully led the humongous workforce over

200,000 in the same direction but managed to

engage everyone's energy towards a unified larger

purpose. He was a visionary in unraveling the

25

Neha Gupta, Indian School of Business

manifest potential of the century old bank and its

loyal employees. He could envisage the declining

bank as the top Indian bank at a time when

technologically sophisticated and customer oriented

private banks were making inroads into the banking

sector. But, the visionary Bhatt was not only aware of

his real & ideal self, but could also discern the bank's

aspiration-reality gap.

With the realization of 'employee engagement' as his

key strength, Bhatt was willing to try out the novel

approach of co-creating the vision of SBI. He was an

achiever who displayed the shades of a pace-

setterby setting a formidable deadline of 100 days to

reach out to the entire employee base. He wanted to

harness the collective resources of organizational

members in achieving the larger goal instead of

confining it to the mahogany boardrooms. Bhatt

comfortably donned the democratic role when he

sought inputs from over 2,00,000 employees across

the nation in rearticulating the vision. Selection and

training of change agents to facilitate discussions

about bank's future and vision among employees

during lunch, teas breaks etc. was akin to a

behavioral experiment. The learning and

development initiatives undertaken to equip the

change agents with conceptual frameworks and

emotional intelligence created a reliable support

system for Bhatt and employees at large. After

establishing the psychological safety net of a capable

change management team, he became a co-learner

in the process.

During the transformation journey, he commanded,

coached and empathized with the change team in

particular and employees in general to sustain the

momentum of change at SBI. With sheer 'Grit, Guts &

Gumption' as noted by Rajesh Chakrabarti (2010),

O.P. Bhatt averted the decline of the bank. The

transformation of SBI is a living story of a leader

stepping into the right shoes at the right time to tune

into the emotional and cognitive needs of all the

employees. Thomas Jefferson's quotation on

leadership beautifully sums up the idea conveyed in

this article.

In matters of style, swim with the current;

In matters of principle, stands like a rock.

- Thomas Jefferson

26

References

Bhatt, O.P. (2009): Inaugural Key Note Address on “Transformation & Growth of State Bank of India” during Global OD Summit, Indian School of

Business, Hyderabad, August, 19-22, 2009.

Chakrabarti, R. (2010): “Grits, Guts and Gumption- Driving Change in a State Owned Giant”, Penguin Publishers, India.

Goleman, D. (2000): “Leadership that Gets Results”, 'Harvard Business Review', pp 1-13.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., Mckee, A. (2002): “Primal Leadership: Realizing The Power Of Emotional Intelligence”, Harvard Business School Press, USA.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., Mckee, A. (2004): “Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence”, Harvard Business School Press, USA.

Ramnarayan, S. and Gupta, N. (forthcoming), “Leadership Style Inventory” in Organization Development: Accelerating Learning and Transformation

by S. Ramnarayan and TV Rao (Eds.), Sage Publication, New Delhi.

Neha Gupta

Neha Gupta, Researcher at Centre for Leadership, Innovation, and Change (CLIC) at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad holds a MBA in HR and

B.E. in E&C.She has co-authored chapters in the forthcoming book 'Organization Development: Accelerating Transformation and Learning' edited by

S. Ramnarayan and T.V. Rao, which includes contributions from eminent OD practitioners like Udai Pareek, and Marvin Weisbord. She has published

articles, book reviews in leading HR magazines like Human Capital, NHRD Newsletter. (neha_gupta@isb.edu)

JIGYASA 2011

27

Talent Acquisition - Challenge or Fun?Ashish Kumar

PVR Ltd

Talent acquisition is a major problem that companies are facing these days. They have to concentrate first on

recruiting the right talent and in the right amount for performing a specific job. Secondly, the job specifications

that the company gives should not be more than what is actually needed by the company, because if that

happens, the employer and the employee, both will be disappointed in each other. Ashish Kumar explains

companies also need to understand the labour market, so as to ensure that they are covering a large part of the

market and getting the best talent available. Once, the hiring is done, the retention of good talent must be ensured

by the HR managers.

Talent Acquisition nowadays is one of the toughest

elements of the HR deliverables for any HR Manager

& his team involved in recruitments. There are

tremendous pressures of hiring the right and the best

talent available in the market. Things look more

difficult when you are in a fast growing environment;

as most of the companies are on expansion

&diversification of their respective businesses. My

own personal experiences with recruiting have been

great fun and a valuable learning experience and I

have always been able to motivate my recruiters to

hire the best talent. Chasing high number targets &

time lines can be fun but it is a challenge as well. It's a

fact that good talent is very difficult to hunt and

sometimes even a nightmare. I would like to quote a

classical example of hiring an executive secretary for

my Country Manager in one my assignments, where

the position and profile looked very simple but

eventually it turned out to be a very difficult position

to fill .

The most commonly faced challenge is meeting the

time lines or the TATs (Turn Around Time) for closing a

particular position. To minimize the stress of the HR

recruiters, we need to have the following in place:

Having a Plan:

A good recruitment plan helps organizations to

assess future manpower needs, plan the channels of

sourcing, develop promotion and career

development policies, anticipate and avoid

redundancies, develop a workforce to meet changing

requirements, control manpower costs whilst

ensuring salaries remain competitive and assess

future requirements for capital equipment,

technology etc.

Proper Profiling of the position:

Drawing up the person-specification allows the

organisation to profile the ideal person to fill the job.

It is very important that the skills, aptitudes and

knowledge included in the specifications are related

precisely to the needs of the job; if they are inflated

beyond those necessary for effective job

performance, the risk is that someone will be

employed on the basis of false hopes and aspirations,

and both the employer and the employee will end up

disappointed in each other. The very process of

writing a job and person specification should help the

employer to develop and implement a policy of equal

opportunity in the recruitment & selection of

employees.

Judicious Use of the Hiring channels:

Based on the various vacancies, the HR recruiter has

to use all the possible channels of sourcing the

resumes. Some of the channels could be:

• Internal Promotions, Transfers & Re-hires

• Press Advertisements / Job Portals

• Employee referrals

• Direct walk-ins

• Educational Institutions & Coaching Institutes

• Placement Consultants/ Employment Exchanges

• Outsourcing the complete recruitment function

Understanding of Labour Market:

Recruiters need to keep abreast of changes in the

labour market to ensure that their recruitment

efforts are not wasted or directed at too small a pool

of labour. Skill shortages may occur unexpectedly

and recruitment and training processes need to be

kept flexible. It is a good idea for any organization to

plan its labour force requirements, matching

available supply against forecast demand.

Robust Selection Process:

Recruiting people who are a misfit for the

organization can lead to increased labour turnover,

increased costs for the organisation and lowering of

morale in the existing workforce. Hence, it becomes

extremely important for the HR managers to develop

and follow a stringent selection process which may

include employee profiling to be conducted by

professional organizations like Gallup or Thomas;

based on preferences & the requirements of the

organization.

Employer Branding:

The organization has to create its impact on the

potential population from where the hiring has to be

done as the applicants today have numerous choices

and their awareness level is quite high. An effective

website can prove helpful apart from impressive

advertisements. The employers also need to

encourage a good 'work-life balance' within the

organisation by giving consideration to more flexible

ways of working through job-sharing, part-time

working, flexi-time, working from home etc.

Remember, the word of mouth; which are your own

existing employees can have a deep impact in

attracting the best talent. In times of changing labour

markets, organisations need to adapt their

recruitment and retention policies to allow them to

compete more effectively for staff, particularly those

with skills that are in short supply.

Recruiters' certification:

All HR team members engaged in recruitments

should be given formal training through a structured

Interview skill workshop and on the job exposure

before he/she is certified to conduct the interviews

and get completely involved in the hiring process.

The recruiter has to be proficient in handling the

office peers and HODs on the one hand and the hiring

consultants on the other; who may simply try to

throw their weight and influence the selection

process. The recruiter has to be completely un-

biased & professional while in action for the selection

process.

Recruiters' Score card & Incentives:

Recruitment at times can get very monotonous;

hence the recruiters may tend to lose their focus and

may slow down in their service delivery. To keep

them motivated, there needs to be a score card

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JIGYASA 2011

which finally culminates in getting variable incentives

for the better recruiters. This would create positive

competition within the team & quality of work will

definitely show an upward trend.

I am very confident that if the above suggestions are

implemented by any Head of HR or HR managers for

acquisition of good quality talent from the scarce

pool in the market, there would be minimal

challenges to encounter. The employers also have

the legal responsibility to ensure that no unlawful

discrimination occurs in the recruitment and

selection process on the grounds of sex, race,

29

Mr. Ashish Kumar

He is designated as Chief HR Officer at PVR Limited, Gurgaon (India). He brings with him a vast total work experience of 21 years, where he got the

blended experience of both IR & HR domains. He has successfully handled gamut of HR functions like Talent Acquisition, Employee Engagement,

Implementation of Best HR Policies & Practices, Training & Development, Change Management, Developing focused HR teams, HR automation, & has

handled registered Employee Unions.He has an expertise on Start-up & setting up companies; the most prominent example here is Convergys India

where his contributions have been recognized. He also had a brief stint with HR Consultancy company; Hewitt Associates. He has been associated

with various project based assignments like Recruitment and setting up HR systems in Thailand, Singapore etc. He has undergone numerous

Management Development programs across the globe (which includes Harvard Business School &Gallup GMP programs). He has also closely worked

on ISO, Six Sigma & Green Belt quality certifications. He is also a certified coach of Gallup on their developmental tools 'Clifton Strengths Finder'.

He is a visiting faculty in some premier business schools of our country, which includes MHROD-Delhi School of Economics. He also visits FMS-Delhi

and few more business schools of India for Guest Lectures, Orientation and various sessions for guiding the students.

Ashish Kumar, PVR Ltd

30

MANAGEMENT EDUCATION FOR

SUSTAINABILITYVC Agarwal, RPG Enterprise

India's economy is a booming one. Article highlights about our high resources and also on the talent to utilise

those resources in the right direction to produce the desired outputs. It points out that we as HR managers, have

to stay relevant, to sustain our growth. Writer helps us to understand the managers generated by the universities

have less of practical knowledge, due to which they face many problems when they first enter the industry. It

highlights the difference between what the industries need and what the academia produces.

THE BOOMING INDIAN ECONOMY

'Young @ 60' the new India is really making its

presence felt in the Global conscience. With India's

GDP touching 1 trillion US $, it is now the 10th largest

economy in the world in terms of GDP. India is one of

only three countries that makes supercomputers

(after US and Japan), one of six countries that

launches satellites. The Bombay stock exchange lists

more than 6,000 companies, only the NYSE has more.

By volume of pharmaceuticals produced, the Indian

pharmaceutical industry is the world's second largest

after China. India has the second largest community

of software developers and has the second largest

network of paved highways, after the U.S. India is the

world's largest producer of milk, and among the top

five producers of sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, spices,

rubber, silk, and fish. One hundred of the Fortune 500

companies have R&D facilities in India.

The Indian population living abroad is also making

waves. About two million people of Indian origin live

in the USA and Indian-born Americans are among the

most affluent and best educated of the recent

immigrant groups in the U.S. 30% of the R&D

researchers in American pharmaceutical companies

are Indian Americans. Nearly 49% of the high-tech

start- ups in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. are

owned by Indians or Indian-Americans. There are

over 700 companies in Silicon Valley owned by

Indian-Americans. India sends more students to U.S.

colleges than any country in the world.

STILL A LONG WAY TO GO

In the face of such tremendous growth, India seems

to struggle in many fronts. Agricultural production

for instance has remained almost stagnant for last

couple of years. Quality of infrastructure still remains

poor, with many areas being devoid of good

transport links and developed communication

channels, and sufficient power supplies. Increasing

pollution has made the 'Environmental Cost of

Growth' high. We are also in a paradox of skill

shortage and increasing unemployment at the same

time. More than 35% population is still below the

poverty line. Although India is home to 20% of world

population, India's share in the world output is still

less than 5% (against 14% of China) and that in world

export is less than 1%. The success of IT sector has

showed the not so good performance in

manufacturing sector.

THE SLEW OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGEMENT

GRADUATES

So in this high octane environment, what is there for

young management graduates? One thing is sure –

they all are at the right place at the right time. The

corporate India is at hiring spree and continuously

looking for the right, trainable people. India

produces about 4 lakh engineers every year and as

per industry sources 50% of them are trainable. IT

and Service sector has a target of recruiting about

1.75 lakhs of these students, virtually leaving nothing

for the other sectors. While this is not a happy

situation for the recruiters, it is welcomed as far as

the students are concerned. There are more and

more overseas posting opportunities during campus

selections from the management and technical

institutes. There would be more opportunities as

Indian retail is coming of age and set to generate

$430 billion from the current $328 billion with the

entry of big players such as Bharti-Wal-Mart and

Reliance and some other foreign players. According

to the reports, more than U.S. $30 billion investment

is in the pipelines in this sector. This exponential

growth is expected to generate 18 million jobs,

thereby becoming the second-largest employment-

generating sector after agriculture.

In the present scenario, there are six relevant issues,

which need to be considered by the students as well

management institutes:

1. STAYING RELEVANT FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Salary and number of jobs that are offered cannot be

the means to an end for pursuing management

study. The challenge is to be relevant in the years to

come. All management students have to be future

generators of sustainable value for business and

society at large and work for an inclusive and

sustainable global economy. In a churning global

marketplace, understanding the fundamental

connections between business, the environment,

and society has become essential. The roles and

responsibilities of business as a global force are

becoming more urgent and complex, and concepts

related to societal responsibility and sustainability

are gaining recognition as essential elements in

business management. Sustainability means

providing for today keeping an eye on the capability

to provide for tomorrow. That is where management

education is so very important and relevant.

The globalisation is here not only to stay but to gain

momentum. The most important sign of economic

globalization is the emergence of global companies

who build their strengths not on size, but on the

effective allocation of capital, technology,

production, management and other elements on a

worldwide basis. In fact, management authors are

already talking of borderless world, where in the next

global stage, national boundaries do not matter.

2. THE MYTH V/S REALITY OF MANAGEMENT

EDUCATION

There are some myths about management education

in India. The courses in two years duration are often

considered to be the panacea of all real life

management problems. Fresh graduates out of

management institutes often try to analyse real life

problems with the knowledge acquired within the

four walls of the class rooms. That is why at the

beginning of their career, they find the real world so

unreal. The truth is that the real world is much more

complex and a lot of factors influence the decision,

which is incomprehensible in a classroom situation.

That is why certain degree of flexibility in unlearning

and re-conceptualisation is important.

It has now been proved beyond doubt that at

different stages in professional life, wholly different

types of management education becomes essential.

• At the onset of careers, managers must be

functionally competent.

31

VC Agarwal, RPG Enterprise

• As they take on more responsibility, they must

have a grasp of context and strategy.

• As they rise higher in the ranks, they must

develop the leadership skills needed to

understand and influence people.

• As they become CEOs and other top executives,

they must develop the reflective skills to

understand what they wish to accomplish.

This brings us to the fundamental question of what is

the purpose of management.

3. THE PURPOSE OF MANAGEMENT: CUSTOMER

FIRST

In our over enthusiasm to jargonize and implement

the state-of-the-art technologies, sometimes the

basic purpose of management takes a back seat. As a

practicing manager, one must always believe that the

Management Bottom Line is to serve customers. Yet

if one looks through most management books, most

of the time the word customer will not be

mentioned. This is astonishing because serving

customers in order to earn profit is the crux of every

business organization.

There are some simple but worthy rules in any

business:

• Every business is an accumulation of the

decisions it makes. Allow your paying customers

(the ones who ultimately pay your salary) to be

the reason for your existence by catering to their

needs.

• One-size-fits-all does not work. Different

situations require different managerial

approaches.

• Admitting mistakes early is good. Facing errors,

apologizing for them, and rectifying them, does

not make one look foolish or small. Instead, it

makes one look like a very good manager.

• Serve your customers well and your customers

will serve you well.

4. QUALITIES OF GOOD MANAGERS

Based on the above premise, some good qualities

that managers need to possess in order to succeed in

life are:

• Good managers keep their organizations on track

by ensuring that everything that's being done is

ethically geared towards providing what

customers want.

• A good manager is responsible for reducing

ambiguity, keeping costs down, and motivating

others to do the same.

• Good managers regularly take educated risks and

exercise good judgment. These risks include trying

new things, successfully adjusting to constant

change, developing subordinates and improving

their own skill.

• Importantly good managers aren't afraid of letting

other people shine, in fact they encourage it.

To become competent in management, two sets of

distinct, yet general skills are needed viz. the

general management skills and the specific

management skills:

i) General Management Skills include:

o Conceptual Skills - the ability to comprehend

complex situations

o Interpersonal Skills - the ability to work with,

understand and motivate other people

o Political Skills - the ability to network as well as gain

allies and gather power

o Technical Skills - the ability to understand and

apply specialized knowledge or expertise

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JIGYASA 2011

ii) Specific Management Skills involve:

o Exercising Good Judgment - the ability to plan and

prepare for the future, respond to change, be held

accountable, and stay focused on objectives

o Organizing and Coordinating - the ability to

organize tasks and interdependent relationships

o Handling Information - using and communicating

information

o Fostering Personal Growth and Development - for

both the manager and his or her employees

o Handling Conflict - understanding the need for,

and potential destructive force of, conflict

5. MANAGERS AS ENTREPRENEURS

To be successful, every manager needs to be an

entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs differ from capitalists in

that they are not necessarily owners of capital. Some

public companies with diverse stock ownership have

emerged as multinationals or global companies

through technological, management, and system

innovation in fierce global competition.

But are entrepreneurs trained or born? The answer is

somewhat obvious: if they are born, then what's the

use of management education? It's true that talents

are critical to entrepreneurs, educationists and

scientists, but talents will come to nothing if they are

not managed effectively.

Besides education, it is imperative that the

entrepreneurs need to have certain basic qualities.

• The first quality is a high IQ (intelligence

quotient). Without a high IQ, nobody can

become an entrepreneur.

• The second quality is a high EQ (emotional

quotient). A high EQ can help an entrepreneur

not only become a charismatic leader and unite

the individuals as a cohesive team, but to also

establish a harmonious relationship with the

external environment and win the market

competition.

• The last quality is a high SQ (spiritual quotient). It

explains the spirit behind starting a new venture

or winning the fiercest of competitions requiring

courage and daring; seizing rare business

opportunities; managing the crisis. Lacking a high

SQ and becoming an entrepreneur is all but

impossible.

6. THE CHANGING ROLE OF HR MANAGERS

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving

with the change in competitive market environment

and the broad realization that Human Resource

Management must play a more strategic role in the

success of an organization. Organizations that do not

put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talent

may find themselves in dire consequences, as their

competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic

employment of their human resources. As

mentioned by Dave Ulrich, an original thought leader

in the field of HR - with the increase in competition,

locally or globally, organizations must become more

adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to

succeed. And within this change in environment, the

HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic

partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a

change mentor within the organization.

Today's HR must be a business driven function with a

thorough understanding of the organization's big

picture and be able to influence key decisions and

policies. In general, the focus of today's HR Manager

is on strategic personnel retention and talent

development. A HR manager needs to be mindful

and may employ a 'Think Global, Act Local' approach

33

VC Agarwal, RPG Enterprise

in most circumstances. In order to effectively

manage workplace diversity, Cox (1993) suggests

that a HR Manager needs to change from an

ethnocentric view ("our way is the best way") to a

culturally relative perspective ("let's take the best of

a variety of ways").

34

V.C. Agarwal

He is presently President HR RPG Enterprise. He was previously Director (HR) Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. He has completed his B.Tech (Electrical) from

IIT-Roorkee.

JIGYASA 2011

35

Understanding Dynamics of Human Resource Management

and how it can be developed: A Brief OverviewProf. Gopa Bhardwaj, University of Delhi

Prof. Bhardwaj talks about the various dynamics of Human Resource Management and the various processes.

She emphasises that Human Resource Management is not a singular process but has many different

approaches. A must read to have real insights about the intricacies of the subject.

The key to gaining the competitive advantage in a

saturated market is to use existing resources more

efficiently and creatively. All businesses have three

principle resources; capital, natural, and human

resources. Organizations realize the fact that

employees are the only resources that cannot be

copied by competitors; they make the difference and

distinguish successful organizations from less

successful organizations. Therefore, they deserve to

be treated as a true asset and nurtured to deliver

exceptional results for the organizations.

HRM is a fundamental activity which refers to the

management of work and people towards desired

end. There are myriad of variations in ideologies,

styles and managerial resources engaged. The

relative success regarding the performance of

various models is contingent on their contexts and

the performance is relative to other investments

such as new products and new technologies,

advertising campaigns, property acquisitions etc.

HRM refuses to be any one thing there are three

major sub domains of knowledge which are bursting

at their banks. This covers the sub functions of HR

policy and practice and can be further divided into

two subgroups:

The largest group of sub functions is managing

individuals and small groups and includes such areas

as, recruitment, selection, induction, training and

development, performance management, and

remuneration and very well supported by research in

behaviourial sciences including psychology. A smaller

group of sub functions concerned with work

organization and employee voice is more inclined

towards industrial sociology and industrial relations.

HRM cannot be taken as a singular process. It has

many types with different approaches. Some of the

significant types are:

Strategic HRM (SHRM): It focuses on the overall HR

strategies adopted by business units and their

performance is measured. It is focused on systemic

questions and issues of serious consequences mainly

referring to the best fit equations. For example the

General Managers and not only the HR specialist

should be involved in identifying the competitive

possibilities. Theory and research on Industrial

Psychology, Industrial Relation and Organizational

Behaviour are of special helping this regard. Such

notions as social contracting form a foundational

base for the same.

International HRM (IHRM): It is less concerned with

theories and more to do with organizations

operating across national boundaries. It focuses on

socio political contexts of different countries

Analytical HRM: The basic purpose is not to identify

the 'best practice' in 'excellent companies' but first of

all to identify and explain what happens in the

practice. Here are some of the issues and dynamics

related to analytical HRM:

# Privileges explanations over prescriptions

# Build theory and gather empirical data

# Account for manager's actual behaviour across

different jobs, people, companies, industries,

and societies

# Help educators and practitioners understand

theory and develop analytical skill which can be

adopted in specific situations and do not leave

them flat footed when they move to a new

environment

# Analyse weakness of a decontextualized

propagation of 'best practices' model. Review the

relationship between contextual variables and

HR practice

# S o m e t h i n g ' s w o r k w e l l u n d e r s o m e

circumstances and not under others

# Understanding the goals of HRM within wider

context of goals and politics of firms

# Signifies the plurality of the meaning of

organizational effectiveness. It supports the

commercial purpose and organizational needs

for social legitimacy.

# Organizational culture, psychological contracting

and social exchange are integrated in the scope

HRM.

# It is concerned with assessing outcome,

examines mutuality, interaction, offers a

narrative account about how people experience

work and contribute towards the public policy

debate .

High involvement management (HIM): It is widely

seen as a central element of 'soft' human resource

management discourse and practice (Marchington-

2001) and as the foundation of 'best practice' people

management (Boxall and Purcell2003). Typically, HIM

'best practice' is seen as entailing: job security; job

enrichment; empowerment/autonomy; self-

m a n a g e d w o r k t e a m s ; o p e n t w o w a y

communication; extensive skill development;

reduced status differences; as well as reward

practices that relate pay to employee skills or

competencies and to group or organisational

performance.

All variants of HRM like Hard (Based on performance)

and soft (Based on welfare) are ultimately concerned

with the effective management of people so that

organisations achieve their objectives and goals. The

new workplace culture, which is built around the

promotion of individualism (evidenced by the

increasing emphasis and adoption of practices such

as performance-based pay), must surely conflict with

the implementation of practices such as team-

working and quality circles that are collective ways of

working.

No figures have been offered as to what constitutes

an “ideal” balance between human concerns and

material concerns the market seeks specialist

knowledge and skills at the executive end and sheer

muscle at the other. These are not only problems of

recruitment but also retention, and any remediation

should take into account that the problem of an

unbalanced workforce needs rigorous redress by

focusing on its multiple dimensions, not just those

which are immediately obvious.

Cultural contexts

Dr Stephanie Jones (2008) researched the impact of

cultural contexts and questioned the effectiveness of

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JIGYASA 2011

training on business service skills, including

negotiation skills, conflict resolution, collaboration

and everyday communication with customers

generally. Her findings were disturbing She found

that configuration of bureaucracy dominated more

than anything. “The customer is always right – if my

boss says so.” was the routine approach

The role of education and values

Why do education, training and specialist courses not

seem to satisfactorily overcome the problems faced

by HR professionals?

Dr Simadi (2006) observed that when recruits first

join a company, their value structures are already

firmly in place, and little thought is given to spending

time to balance those values for the first time in such

a way that personal values and work values combine

harmoniously. Trainers only identify with one set of

values. However there are not set and fixed rules

dominating behaviours. There are no easy answers to

the question of why behaviours can be so diverse.

However, it is clear that for some who are about to

enter the labour market, education has thus far not

served them well.

The value system needs to be re-cast as an

interconnected web in which values held by the

employee and those held by the employer come

together to generate conviction, commitment and

collaboration. It is probable that the young cannot

automatically make these connections and so value

discussions should be an integral part of the training

forums that take place. Training and education must

be sensitive to needs, and appropriate to the

conditions each must be relevant, correctly aimed at

the level of its students, and encourage gradual

acquisition of knowledge and skills practiced in a

supportive environment, where mistakes are never

fatal.

The HR profession can play a productive role if it

helps to build knowledge-based work systems which

will allow all people to utilise their skills at work and

not just the elite 'knowledge workers' to flourish. HR

practitioners also need to broaden their own skills

base by collaborating with educators and becoming

involved in curriculum development.

The need for employee voice

There are a number of logical reasons why employee

voice is needed. First, ifit is accepted that employees

are important stakeholders, then exploring their

views on HRM makes empirically testing of some of

the assumptions and relationships in HRM more

accurate. For example, while there is some support

available to suggest soft HRM does indeed achieve its

aim of improving employee well-being. However

some also give a counter view in denying the role of

the research findings as is often the case with much

of the HRM literature, the data are almost entirely

gathered through interviews with a small number of

managers, rather than through more systematic

measurement: they may therefore simply reflect

managerial rhetoric or managerial beliefs about

what has happened or what should happen.

Ethics and human resource management (HRM) are

not usually considered in tandem. For critics of HRM,

the existence of an ethical HR manager is about as

likely as a visit from Mary Poppins, and any discussion

of ethics and human resource management is

administered with more than a spoonful of cynicism

Arguably, a more useful approach is to explore the

ethical dimensions of specific aspects of the

principles and practices of strategic human resource

37

Gopa Bhardwaj, University of Delhi

Professor. Gopa Bhardwaj

She is one of the senior faculty member at Deptt of Psychology, University of Delhi. She was previously Dean at Faculty of Arts, DU; Ex-Director- Centre

for Professional Development in Education (UGC/ASC), Ex. HOD, Deptt. of Psychology, DU

management. In this way we can explore the ethical

implications of say, a long hours work culture, or of

flexible labour, or the ethical issues associated with

dismissals, downsizing and redundancy, as well as

with performance management and reward

practices.

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JIGYASA 2011

39

Employee Engagement@reccession.com: Role of HRAnita Santiago, XLRI Jamshedpur

Employee engagement is an emerging issue that is central to the human resource department of any

organization. The author here revisits the idea in a candid manner to bring out the essence of effective employee

engagement and comes up with a few tips to promote the same in an organization. The ideas of engaging

employee within the organization lead to tackling of issue which in long run may affect the productivity of a

company. This article is an edifying piece of work for emerging HR practitioners.

'Employee Engagement' the buzzword that caught

the Indian Corporate by storm in the past few years is

a powerful employee retention tool. The explosive

boom in the Indian economy during the millennium,

pre recession, triggered high turnover rates in

Organisations, forcing them to wake up and take note

of the fact that it is only an engaged employee who is

intellectually and emotionally bound with the

organization, who feels passionate about its goals

and is committed towards its values, thus she/he

goes the extra mile beyond the basic job.

But then came the recession and many employers

backtracked to the traditional measures of cost

cutting like retrenchment of staff, heavy increment

cuts, recruitment freezes etc without realizing that

though these measures do result in short term cost

saving, they might actually boomerang in the long

run in terms of a stained organization image as well

as low employee morale. Employees may not leave

the organization due to paucity of other employment

options but there definitely will be a sharp decline in

their level of engagement with the organization. The

failed mass retrenchment of employees by Jet

Airways which resulted in one of the worst corporate

fiascos, is one such example.

So, the big question now before Employers is

practicing employee engagement in tough times.

Below are some few very practical tips on how this

can be done, without ample investment in cost but

resulting in long time gain:

a) Employee Engagement as a top HR agenda:

Economic downturns are a time when employees

need to rally together to increase all round efficacy of

the organisation. Employee with high engagement

levels tend to trust and believe in leadership, as a

consequence allowing them to embrace immense

organisational changes, Hence this is the time to

move employee engagement to the top of the HR

agenda.

b) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate:

Communication usually dissipates when the going

gets rough. It is essential not to fall into this trap and

keep people informed of company direction and

goals. Periodical addresses by Business leaders, On-

line communications, including discussion boards

and monthly / weekly blogs by company personnel

including senior management related to updates on

business issue, monthly E-In-house magazines,

Active soliciting of employee feedback by inviting

employees to ask questions and responding, regular

Online employee opinion and satisfaction surveys,

are cost effective measures to ensure that people

know what is going on, on a day to day basis. For e.g.

the CEO of Sun Microsystems, interacts with Sun

employees through WSUN, a forum on Sun's

intranet, for keeping employees updated on business

direction as well as encouraging them to give their

feedback/opinions on various issues. Of course, HR

should take the front seat and be one of the main

drivers of active, positive, two way communications

in organisations, especially during these tough times.

c) Empower Employees: It is essential during an

economic downturn for leadership to be open to

listening to employee ideas or solutions.

Empowering employees with more decision-making

authority, makes it a lot easier for employees to

determine, how to execute the directives passed

down from upper management handle more work

demands without becoming unduly stressed. In

other words, the more control employees have over

their jobs, the more engaged they would be,

benefitting the organization in the long run. Again HR

needs to be an active strategic business partner in

this extremely sensitive area.

d) Fun@work: It is no longer disputed, that fun at

work is an essential ingredient for healthy work life.

Interestingly there are many suggestions by bright

HR personnel on how this can be done inexpensively.

Encourage departmental get togethers, if meeting

out is expensive, managers can encourage

employees by inviting them to their homes. Talk

about the employees pet peeves and avoid

recession/layoff talks during this time. Have happy

hours on Fridays with snacks and games. Appoint

'Fun Officers' turn by turn who can help in keeping

the employees distressed on a day to day basis. Plan

for contributory lunches and dinners. Take

suggestions from employees themselves for low cost

fun activities.

e) Employee recognition programs: Tight budgets

do not necessarily mean that Employee award

programs need to take a backseat. A lot can be done

even with little money and an open mind.

Recognition Certificates and trophies do not cost

much but acknowledge employees for a job well

done. For eg: One company came up with an award

called “Extra Miler Award' for employees who good

examples in going the extra mile and beyond job

demands for no extra incentives.

f) Training on a shoestring budget: Training is one

of the essential functions that get frozen during

difficult times. However employees look for

opportunities to learn new skills and leverage their

talents. Here's where HR can look out for low cost

training measures like in house training programmes

using internal faculty. A good idea would also be to

tap upcoming training consultants and freelance

trainers who can provide low cost budget training

options.

g) Innovative Cost cutting schemes: Well thought

out cost cutting schemes, not only help in cost saving

but at the same time keep employees motivated. For

e.g. Employers can offer employees unpaid leave for

a certain period of time say from three months to a

year or so, wherein employees can feel free to fulfil

their educational aspirations like short term

management courses etc, with the assurance that

they will continue to be employees of the company

and that their job will not be at stake. This would

work well with employees who have always wanted

to develop themselves further, but weren't able to do

so due to various work pressures. Some companies

like Wipro have already started such schemes.

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JIGYASA 2011

h) Employee Appraisals: One of the weakest links

especially in Indian corporate, this would be the apt

time to shape up. If at all, after all efforts, its

absolutely essential to cut down on staff, it would be

a lot less demoralizing if they are let go due to

performance issues rather than recession issues. But

since this is treading on sensitive ground,

organization should be careful about the message

that gets across to employees especially key talent.

All in all Employers should remember that even

recessions do come to an end. The manner in which

employees are treated during bad times will reflect

on their engagement levels when times get better.

Needless to say HR Departments have got a lot on

their plate as drivers of employee engagement

during this economic downturn.

41

Anita Santiago

She is 1989 batch PM&IR student from XLRI, Jamshedpur. She has over 16 years of work experience in Bharat Earth Movers and NDPL.

Anita Santiago, XLRI Jamshedpur

42

Charting a Role for Human Resources

in Mergers & AcquisitionsDr. Subash Masters, Senior Adviser with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Mergers and Acquisitions of companies are not always fruitful and can lead to talent being driven away and

brain-drain if not handled effectively, taking into account the cultural issues among the employees. Dr. Subhas

Masters, Senior Adviser with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, talks about the significance of the role of HR

professional and challenges faced by them during the integration of two companies.

We have seen over the last few years in India that

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have become one

of the favoured routes for Organisational Expansion.

So big ticket acquisitions by Tata's, Reliance, Bharti,

Vedanta Group, Vodaphone, Hindalco – all have gone

ahead with this sort of mode in India as well as

abroad. Mergers and Acquisitions are entered into

for faster Organisational growth, but this is

assumptive, it cannot be sure that the result will be as

thought of while planning for it. Many researchers on

this subject suggest that close to 60 to 65% of failed

M&A are possibly on account of “people issues” that

were not expected, or understood, or catered for or

even contemplated. For every eight failures, it

seems, there is a case where both Organisations

emerge stronger (for example in the merger between

Fiat and Chrysler after the latter emerged from filing

for bankruptcy). In most cases, the success factor is

where people in each organization show that they

value the other, and actively work towards bringing

out the best values in each.

M&As are supposed to be meticulously thought of

and planned, later executed by a selected team

(internal and external support members) but this is

all primarily based on a list of presumptions where

cost savings or market synergies appear right at the

top of all considerations; rarely are the “people” and

cultural issues taken into account.

To most Industry watchers there clearly appears to

be a growing trend in M&As, most financial analysts

predicts that this prospect may continue over the

next decade or so, therefore it is necessary for HR

Professionals to look at how they can assist in the

success of an acquisition.

In supporting and advising an M&A activity, the HR

Team has a golden opportunity to make an

assessment (before taking forward the M&A

proceedings) of the possible “people issues” and

thereby try to see that both organizations have an

understanding of the issues, their implications and

also work out a strategy for addressing the issues, in

advance.

Once there is a decision based on certain agreed

principles, the Leadership of both organizations –

specially of the Firm considering the “merger or

takeover' should have a People Strategy worked out

and this needs to include proper and transparent

communication to employees, even the possibility in

future (or present) layoffs which may take place. It

will need to address the process and how the

different cultures should be merged. Quite often a

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and

threats) analysis is done, while many Organisations

depend on external Consultants for a brief culture

survey to be undertaken in both companies to

discover what the cultural differences are,

preparation of a plan for execution and finally

executing the M&A.

Because of the nature of these M&As, organisations

may have the benefit of successes and failures and

thus realise that some cultural differences are

obvious (e.g. one culture values teams and bottom-

up innovation, the other favours command-and-

control tactics) but others may be subtle (e.g. how

and whether individuals and teams are rewarded for

innovations). Will acquiring a company, or merging

with it, destroy the properties or drive away the

talent that made it worth having? If the real purpose

of the merger is to acquire another company's assets,

in terms of a particular product or brand, its units or

patents, etc., that should be acknowledged with

sincerity. If employees are befooled at first by

pleasant words, they will react more strongly later,

only making resistance more difficult to handle.

One of the most troubling set of questions for HR

Leadership is will the acquiring of a company, or

merging with it, destroy the strengths or drive away

the talent that made it worth having? Can a simple

partnership, alliance, or even stock ownership

without integration provide more benefits than

combining the two companies? Therefore it would

be worth the while for Leaders to address some of

these worrying questions ….

• Are there other possibilities to the merger

• Is there a communication strategy planned to

keep employees and customers of the organisation

being taken over, being informed?

• How will HR Policies of each organisation be

addressed? Important issues will hover around

Salary; Perquisites; Promotions; Incentives;

Performance and maybe even retiral benefits.

• What and How will the “taking over”

organisation address these issues within their own

organisation?

• Would each aspect of HR be kept separate? If so,

for how long and what is the mode of a common

platform.

• Are the cultures for the two organizations

compatible? Is there a plan for merging the cultures?

Will one be dominant, and, if so, how will people

operating under the other culture be brought on

board?

• What are each organization's key strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?

• What is the time frame for a phased manner of

merger, going ahead?

• What about future Branding?

Many organisations use the assistance and expertise

of an outside agency to support the M&A Team and

list these difficult questions along with possible

responses. Sticky issues are raised as early as

possible.

By knowing what makes mergers succeed, especially

by keeping an eye on people (and the soft) issues as

well as the financials, and using appropriate tools,

companies can make mergers work. The job of the

HR Leadership is to quickly develop a strategy for

helping the company to achieve the synergies it

needs, develop the HR game plan for leading the

process, with focus on getting the people on the

positive side. It helps to have achievable goals, with

stretch targets, and concrete milestones (supported

by good, valid measures) for implementation.

43

Dr. Subash Masters, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

If M&A within Indian shores are difficult then cross

border M&As are all the more painful and difficult to

handle. Research into companies who have gone

ahead with such cross border mergers point that the

failure rates are as high as 70% with very few

enhancing shareholder value. The two challenging

areas are (a) organisation culture and (b) employee

communication. It seems this is substantiated by a

survey of Fortune 500 CFO's where it was revealed

that close to 45% of failures were attributed to

“unexpected post deal people problems” and these

ranged from corporate governance to employee

welfare measures to customer satisfaction.

Some suggestions in ensuring successful

integration:

• HR Leadership to be an integral part of Top

Management considering the M&A

• Hr to evaluate cultural considerations at the

earliest, preferably at pre-merger stage.

• HR to define possible cultural risks; possible

m e a n s o f a d d re s s i n g t h e m ; i n p u t s fo r

Communication Plan

• HR to devise a cohesive Communication Plan

addressing all issues – with focus on the people

issues and their impact to both organisations

• Prepare People Integration Plan involving

o Change Management

o Combined Leadership

o Team Building and Team Working

o Collaborative Teams on Products, Services,

Customers

o Handling Finance and Personnel Establishment

matters

o Shared Mission, Vision and Values Workshops to

disseminate to all employees

Improve Communication to inculcate Trust;

Transparency of Policies across both the

organisations

44

References:

Leonard, Bill (HR Magazine) April 1999:

Pande, Amit and Krishnan, Sandeep (IIM – A): Knotted Forever

Finkelstein, Sydney - Professor at Tuck School of Business: Cross Border M&A

Will this Marriage Work

Dr. Subash Masters

An Alumni of XLRI (1974) he has close to four decades of Industry and Consulting experience. His industry experience spans reputed Institutions -

Tata Steel, NTPC (under the Ministry of Power), the Ministry of Science & Technology, CMC Ltd. He possesses an Associate Degree in Counselling

Psychology (USA) and a PhD in Management. His PhD Thesis was on “Institutional Transformation” based on his long personal experience on the

Orissa Power Sector Reform Programme.

His Consulting experience encompasses stints as Adviser with a number of Corporates; with DFID (Govt of UK); followed by Arthur Andersen; Ernst &

Young, Hewitt Associates, he is currently Senior Adviser with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

He has been closely associated with large integrated assignments on Institutional Transformation and Sectoral Reforms, Institutional Capacity

Building, Leadership Capability Development across India (in the Government and PSU space); the United Arab Emirates; the Sultanate of Oman; the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Uganda and UAE. He has travelled on work related aspects to the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and

Indonesia.

JIGYASA 2011

45

THE BUSINESS PARTNER MODEL:

PAST AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVESDave Ulrich

The RBL Group

Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

Wayne Brockbank

The RBL Group

Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

The informal business partner model has existed for well over 100 years when effective staff support functions,

including HR, have contributed to business results. Formal business model has been in discussion for the past 15

years. Given the emerging importance of HR as a contributor to business success, the authors have reflected upon

the learning of past and challenges of future for HR managers in the context of business partner model. The

future for HR is filled with both challenges and opportunities. Learning from the past and exciting challenges of

21st century will help HR in growing and adding value to the business.

LOOKING BACK: LESSONS LEARNED

Since we have been instrumental in defining the

business partner model and since there have been

some discussions about it in recent HR media, we

would like to review nine learnings about HR in the

business partner role.

First, the business partner model is not unique to HR;

all staff functions are trying to find ways to deliver

more value to either top line growth or to bottom line

profitability. Information systems, finance, legal,

marketing, R&D, and HR are all under scrutiny and

pressure to create greater value for their companies.

This is especially true of transaction and

administrative work that can be standardized,

automated, or outsourced.

Second, the intent of the business partner model is to

help HR professionals to integrate more thoroughly

into business processes and to align their day-to-day

work with business outcomes. We have talked about

focusing more on deliverables (what the business

requires to win) than doables' (what HR activities

occur). Instead of measuring process (e.g. how many

leaders received 40 hours of training), business

partners are encouraged to measure results (e.g. the

impact of the training on business performance).

Third, being a business partner may be achieved in

many HR job categories. HR professionals often work

in one of the four positions in a company.

1. Corporate HR: As business partners, corporate

HR professionals define corporate wide initiatives,

represent the company to external stakeholders,

meet the unique demands of senior (and visible)

leaders, leverage cross unit synergy, and govern the

HR function.

2. Embedded HR: As business partners, embedded

HR professionals work as HR generalists within

organization units (business, function, or

geographic). They collaborate with line leaders to

help shape the business strategy, conduct

organizational diagnoses to determine which

capabilities are most critical, and design and deliver

HR practices to accomplish strategy.

3. HR specialists: As business partners, HR

specialists work in centers of expertise where they

provide technical insights on HR issues such as

staffing, leadership development, rewards,

communication, organization development,

benefits, and so forth.

4. Service centers: As business partners, HR

professionals who work in service centers add value

by building or managing technology based e-HR

systems, processing benefit claims and payrolls and

answering employee queries. These individuals may

work inside or outside the company.

Sometimes, one of these roles is uniquely defined as

“business partnering” when, in fact, each of the

above roles is a partner to the business as they work

to create value for employees, customers,

shareholders, communities, and management..

Fourth, business success is more dependent today

than ever on “softer” organizational agendas such as:

Talent: HR professionals are centrally involved in

providing the right people with the right skills in the

right job at the right time. The “war” for talent rages

and will likely continue in an increasingly global

knowledge economy.

Organization capabilities: HR professionals partner

with line managers to identify and create

organization capabilities such as speed to market,

innovation, leadership, collaboration, fast change,

and culture management.

Effective HR professionals not only work with

business leaders to draft strategies but also focus and

collaborate on how to make strategies happen

through talent and organization issues.

Fifth, as talent and organization issues increase in

business relevance, HR professionals may help

respond by being architects, designers, and

facilitators. Just as senior line managers turn to

senior staff specialists in marketing, finance and IT to

frame the intellectual agenda and processes for

these activities, so likewise do they turn to

competent and business focused HR professionals to

provide intellectual and process leadership for

people and organizational issues. Effective HR

business partners are those who respond to these

general management challenges. And because of

the changing nature of business, the requirements of

business partner model are more pressing than ever

before.

Sixth, there is concern that some HR professionals

cannot perform the work of a business partner and

cannot link their day to day work to business results.

Our research shows that the HR profession as a

whole is quickly moving to add greater value through

a more strategic focus. We have shown that high

performing HR professionals have greater business

knowledge than low performing HR professionals.

Thus, the business partner model is empirically

supported.

As is true for all support functions, it is undoubtedly

the case that some HR professionals may never

become business partners. They are mired in the past

administrative HR roles where conceptually or

practically they cannot connect their work to

business results. Other HR professionals are natural

business partners, seeking first and foremost to

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JIGYASA 2011

deliver business value through the work that they do.

Most are somewhere in between. A decade ago

there was a clamor to “get to the table” and to

become part of the business. Today, many effective

HR professionals are already at the table and they

need to know what to do when they are there. Being

at the table poses a new set of challenges in language

and logic of being an HR professional.

Seventh, being a business partner requires HR

professionals to have new knowledge and skills.

Traditional HR skills have focused on administrative

issues such as policy setting and administration,

union negotiation, and managing employee

transactions. Today, the business partner model

requires HR professionals to also connect their work

directly to the business. Our research indicates that

as HR professionals acquire the skills and knowledge

necessary to be business partners, they add

significant value to financial and customer business

results. Likewise our research shows that those that

do not make the transition in knowledge and skills

are less likely to have business impact. When HR

professionals are business partners, business success

follows.

Eighth, the inevitable failures in the application of the

business partner model may be due to several

factors:

1. As indicated above, some HR professionals will

probably never be able to adapt to the full business

partner role. Asking HR professionals who have

focused on policies and transactions to do talent and

organization audits and massive change efforts may

be too great a shift for some.

2. Some may not make the shift to business

partners because of personal interests and

aspirations that deter them from engaging in the

business partner role.

3. Some HR professionals may desire to be business

partners but simply do not how to proceed. Such

individuals need to understand the frameworks,

logic, knowledge, and skills that are necessary for

them to grow into the business partner role. BAE

Systems recently undertook a serious commitment

to enhance the competencies of its' HR

professionals. As a result of the developmental

program, HR's perceived impact on business

performance increased dramatically (the percent of

line managers rating HR as 4 or 5 in business

effectiveness increased 120 %.)

4. A particular firm's business conditions may not

require talent and organization as keys to success.

There may be some cases where an organization's

success does not depend on individual abilities or

organizational capabilities. For example, a company

may have a monopoly, may be protected from

competitive pressures and may find that business

performance is dictated primarily by the

maintenance of the monopolistic protection. In

addition, our empirical work together with our

colleagues, Alejandro Sioli and Arthur Yeung, shows

that HR is most closely associated with business

performance under conditions of high change and

has substantially less influence under conditions of

low change.

5. Some line managers have trouble either

accepting the importance of talent and organization

and/or accepting HR professionals as significant

contributors to these agendas. However, research by

a number of consulting firms shows that senior level

executives are increasingly focusing on issues such as

strategy execution, leadership, talent, and change …

all HR agendas.

Ninth, there are really few other options. When

someone said to us that the business partner model

was not working, we asked, “What would you

47

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank

suggest?” Two responses were forthcoming. First,

“Some HR professionals do not know the business

well enough to be able to function as business

partners.” Second, “Some HR professionals are too

enmeshed in transactional administrative work to be

able to function as business partners.” Both of these

problems have direct and obvious solutions.

The reality is that the HR professionals must evolve

into being the best thinkers in the company about the

human and organization side of the business. The

nature of business is dramatically changing. Changes

are occurring in virtually every element of the social,

political, and economic environments that impact

business. Under such conditions, the human side of

the business emerges as a key source of competitive

advantage. Therefore, HR specialists in the logic,

research, and processes of human and organization

optimization become central to business success.

LOOKING FORWARD: CHALLENGES AHEAD

As we look forward, we need clear thinking, effective

practices, and insightful research. There are many

excellent thinkers who continue to examine how HR

professionals can deliver value to the business. Even

within the last decade, the business partner model

has evolved. Many of the critics of the model look at

today's problems through yesterday's solutions and

wonder why they don't work. This is like trying to run

today's software on yesterday's computers. Of

course, it won't work. The HR business partner

model in the 1990's has changed in recent years to

adapt to today's business challenges.

Our firm, the RBL Group, in conjunction with the

University of Michigan and a variety of HR

professional associations from around the world, has

studied the competencies and agendas of HR

professionals as business partners for over twenty

years. During this time we have gathered data from

over 45,000 participants. We recently completed

the fifth round of this on-going global study of HR

professionals. In this iteration, over 10,000

participants provided a clear picture of what

business leaders expect from their HR business

partners. Our analysis of the data has focused on

three questions:

• What are the competencies of HR professionals?

• What HR competencies are most closely

associated with individual performance?

• W h at co m p eten c ies d i f ferent iate H R

professionals in high performing firms from those in

low performing firms?

Based on this work and our in-depth experience with

hundreds of companies, we are comfortable in

projecting five trends that will continue to evolve the

HR field and how it delivers value to business.

First, over the last twenty years, we have both

anecdotally and empirically seen steady progress in

the HR field as it has moved toward greater strategic

understanding and relevance. We anticipate that

this progress with continue. They will continue to

increase their knowledge of their companies' wealth

creating activities, and of critical external realities

such as customers' requirements, supplier relations,

competitive market structures, domestic and

international regulatory issues, globalization, and

the requirements of capital markets. With this

foundation in business knowledge, they will bring to

strategy discussions their personal visions for the

future of the business.

Second, companies will continue to require fewer HR

professionals to do transactional administrative

work. Newly emerging information and

communication technologies will continue to be

applied to improve the efficiency of HR

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JIGYASA 2011

administrative work such as payroll, benefits

administration, entry level staffing and employee

record keeping. Some HR activities will be

centralized to reduce redundancies, to optimize

natural synergies, and to leverage economies of

scale. As companies continually grapple with the

challenges of focusing on the most important wealth

creating activities of the firm, it will undoubtedly be

the case that some nice-to-have but strategically

unnecessary HR activities will be eliminated.

Third, as business partners, HR professionals will

increase the trend of being more focused on key

external constituents. Our recent research shows

that HR departments that focus on external as well as

internal stake holders are more significantly

associated with business performance. HR

professionals will increasingly focus their work on

creating value for external customers.

HR professionals will likewise become more attuned

to the requirements of capital markets. The recent

burgeoning research in finance and economics on

“intangible assets” is emphasizing the increasing

importance of human capital assets and HR practices

that create and sustain those assets. Empirical

evidence has clearly shown the investment,

community is accounting for practices such as

succession planning, leadership development,

corporate culture, and executive compensation as

considerations in buy or sells decisions. Companies

that are able to create a credible leadership brand are

more likely to enjoy P/E ratios above than that of

their competitors. As business partners, effective HR

professionals play a central role in defining, creating,

and sustaining the leadership brand that is valued by

the capital markets.

As HR professionals account for customer and owner

requirements in the design and delivery of

organizational capability and related HR practices,

they will do so with greater awareness of

competitors. They will recognize that forward

looking and innovative HR practices have relatively

little value unless they create greater value than their

dominant competitors do.

A final emerging trend in HR's external focus is the

role of HR in representing companies to their

communities and in accounting for community

requirements in their companies' value proposition.

For the first time in our twenty years of empirical

research in HR practices, we have found a substantial

increase in HR's role relative to social and political

stakeholders from local communities. Concerns over

global warming, air and water pollution, local

employment regulations, ethical treatment of

indigenous populations, endangered species, and

land utilization have move up the list of corporate

priorities. HR departments are increasingly given the

mandate to work with local communities in

addressing these complex, difficult, and important

issues.

Fourth, as HR professionals become more effective

as business partners, they will become more

balanced in their approaches to work. In the most

recent round of our competency research, we found

that effective HR professionals function in six roles.

These are as follows:

1. Credible activists earn a reputation for business

value through their consistent delivery and proactive

stance on business and HR issues.

2. Strategy architects contr ibute to the

development and execution of business strategies,

and design and delivery of HR practices and

structure.

3. Culture and change stewards identify and

49

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank

facilitate important culture and other changes that

improve organizations' ability to compete and grow.

4. Talent managers and organizational designers

understand, diagnose, audit, and improve both

talent and organization.

5. Operational executors do the operational work of

HR both effectively and cost-efficiently through

information systems and through standardized HR

policies.

6. Business allies demonstrate a firm grasp of

business knowledge on how the organization

functions internally and externally to make money.

Our analyses show that credible activists has primary

impact on personal and business results and that the

next three above roles have roughly equal impact on

business performance. Therefore, HR professionals

must ensure that they have a balanced approach to

their business contributions.

Fifth, as business partners, HR professionals (as in

other key functional areas) will be expected to the

greatest extent possible to base their activities on

solid empirical research. This expectation exists for

finance, marketing, R&D, and manufacturing. It is

also the case for HR. The challenge is that some

research can be misinterpreted by the media and

others as has been the case for a recent well

publicized set of research findings by Roffey Park

Institute. This research has been used to support the

conjecture that the business partner model has

failed when this is neither the finding nor the claim of

the research as clarified by authors of this report in a

recent letter to the publication in question.

The research is based on a survey of 479

predominately UK managers from private sector,

public sector, not-for-profit organizations, and

consultancies. One hundred sixty one people

answered a specific open ended question about the

effectiveness of the business partner model. Of

these 161 people, an encouraging 46% reported that

HR business partnering was proving successful in

their organizations and 27% either did not know or

felt it was too early to tell. This leaves just 42 people

(26% of the 161 people and 8% of the 479 people)

who said the model was not working well – mostly

attributed to the implementation rather than the

fault of the model per se. Consequently, headlines

suggesting HR business partnering is failing based on

these findings is inaccurate and does the HR field no

great service.

In the future, the HR profession will conduct research

that focuses on HR issues that are associated with

business results. Research will continue to be done in

rigorous and relevant ways. Since best HR practices

are emerging from all parts of the world, HR research

will increasingly be done on a global scale.

Information will be gathered from large numbers of

participants from companies of various sizes and

industries. Research will focus on the practices and

competencies that result in individual and company

performance. The reported conclusions will stick

close to the empirical data on which they are based.

The research will also report what we still have yet to

learn as well as what we have learned.

BY WAY OF SUMMARY

Many HR professionals are doing exceptional HR

work. From ING in Hong Kong, to ICICI and TATA in

India, ADIA in the United Arab Emirates, to MTN in

South Africa, to DHL and BAE Systems in the UK and

to Textron, GE and United Technologies in the United

States and in thousands of other companies around

the world, HR professionals are making enormous

progress towards delivering value as business

partners. In the future, the ways in which HR serve as

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JIGYASA 2011

business partners will continue to morph. The bar

has been raised on HR and some HR professionals will

and others will not make the grade. There are

emerging business issues where HR can and will

contribute value. The future for HR is filled with both

challenges and opportunities. As we look to the

future, HR professionals as business partners will

continue to deliver value and help businesses

manage the enormously difficult and exciting

challenges of the 21st century.

51

DAVE ULRICH

Dave Ulrich is a Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group a consulting firm focused on helping

organizations and leaders deliver value. He studies how organizations build capabilities of leadership, speed, learning, accountability, and talent

through leveraging human resources. He has helped generate award winning data bases that assess alignment between strategies, organization

capabilities, HR practices, HR competencies, and customer and investor results.

He has published over 175 articles and book chapters and 23 books. He edited Human Resource Management 1990-1999, served on editorial board

of 4 Journals, on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller, and Board of Trustees at Southern Virginia University, and is a Fellow in the National

Academy of Human Resources. He has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200.

WAYNE BROCKBANK

Dr. Wayne Brockbank is a Clinical Professor of Business at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. His teaching focuses on strategic

human resource management, strategy and implementation, and international business. At the University of Michigan's Executive Education Centre,

Professor Brockbank is Director of the Centre for Strategic Human Resource Leadership. He is the Faculty Director of the Strategic Human Resource

Planning Program and the Advanced Human Resource Executive Program. He is the Co-Director of the Human Resource Executive Program.

Professor Brockbank completed his Ph.D. at UCLA where he specialized in business policy and strategy, organization theory, and international

business. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Organizational Behaviour from Brigham Young University. He is the Director of the Michigan

Human Resource Executive Programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and India as well as the Michigan Global Program in

Management Development in India.

Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank

52

Role of Customer Satisfaction in

Improving Dealers Profitability

Mr. Uday Mishra, Head (Training) with NDPL

Customers play a significant role in generating revenues in any organization. The writer talks about the

different types of customers helping us understand the various categories of customers, measurement of customer

satisfaction, and how they determine the profitability of organisations.

There is no denying from the fact that the revenue of

an organization comes from its customers, and there

are only two ways to improve revenue figures:

repeated customers and new customers. The Forum

Company estimates that new customer acquisition is

five times costlier than pleasing an existing customer.

It further estimates that bringing a new customer to

the same level of profitability might cost sixteen

times as the existing customer. Over a period of time,

a highly satisfied customer buys more, buys other

new products / services of the organization, and

costs less to serve. Xerox has found that repeat

purchase intention was six times higher among

“totally satisfied” customers in comparison to those

who were just “satisfied”. In one study, Toyota found

that 75% of their satisfied customers intended to buy

Toyota again. Moreover, two other advantages

through satisfied customers are almost priceless:

getting product / service related improvement or

breakthrough ideas; and, free advertising through

referrals. Cost saving and additional revenues

combine to produce a steady increasing stream of

profits over the customers' relationship, e.g., it has

been found that if a credit card user leaves after 1st

year the company loses $21, but gains $100 if the

customer exits after 5 years. Case studies of several

global organizations, e.g., Chrysler, Saturn, Lexus,

Honda, Nike, Electrolux, IBM, GE, MBNA, Wal-Mart,

British Airways, Hertz, Marriott, etc. are testimony to

the organizational success and growth based on core

philosophy of customer satisfaction. In 1994, Saturn

(of General Motors) invited all Saturn owners to a

weekend party at its Tennessee headquarters to

celebrate its fifth anniversary. It expected 1000

owners to show up. But satisfaction among Saturn

owners was so high that 28,000 Saturn owners came

to the plant from all over the country as a testimony

to their satisfaction. Customer oriented approaches

made Saturn one of the best performer in market and

money earner for GM.

Thus an organization would be wise to measure

customer satisfaction so as to manage it effectively.

Some organizations treat logging of customer

complaint akin to measurement of customer

satisfaction. TARP Study (conducted in USA) found

that 95% of dissatisfied customers never

complained. Moreover, complaint handling is a

reactive approach. In today's intense competitive

environment, organizations have to be proactive and

faster than its competitors to understand its

customers' needs & expectations and find ways and

means to meet them to keep customer satisfied.

Hence, measuring, tracking and managing customer

satisfaction in a structured manner has become

paramount for survival and growth of the

organizations. At this juncture, let us pause, and, ask

one question – “who is customer?” Traditionally, say

till late 1980s in India, the buyer (and, at most, End

User too) of any product / service was deemed to be

customer. The enhanced awareness about marketing

and TQM concepts since mid 1990s in India has

stretched the definition of customer to include (i)

Distribution Channel members (distributors, dealers,

C&F agent, retailer, etc.), and (ii) Functions /

Departments of organization contributing to the

value-chain of the organization. The figure below

depicts transition of the traditional terminologies to

the latest management thinking of customer and

partnership approach towards stakeholders of the

53

Suppliers / Vendors Deptt. / Functions Buyers Distribution Channel

Partners Internal Customer Customers / Partners Customers / Partners

Distribution is a critical component of business since

it provides the vital link between the organization

and the buyer / end user. Discrepancy in production

(organization / marketer uses scale of economy) and

usage (consumer has limited consumption capacity)

has necessitated its existence in some form or other

(the fizzling out of dot-com era also points towards

this fact). Industrialization, mass marketing and

market growth have fuelled the increase in size and

power-equation of distribution channel, especially

since the marketer can not match the mammoth

capital requirement necessary for minimizing the

distance between the production / service facility

and the consumption place. McCarthy's “5P Concept

of Marketing Mix” placed further emphasis on

distribution channel and in last few decades,

management of distribution facilitators like

distributor, dealer, retailer, etc. has become key

success factor in almost all industries. In many

industries, especially FMCG and Consumer-durable

industries, there are increasing evidences that the

brand ladder (favorite brand at the top and

remaining brands in descending order of preference)

is disappearing, and is being replaced with a

customer perception of brand parity (many brands

are equivalent and customer selects one of them on

any particular occasion due to transient / immediate

reasons e.g. location, price, promotion, incentive,

ambience, personal appeasement, etc.). In general,

given an organization's financial constraint the pull

(through branding activities and communication) in

the market place cannot be created beyond a point

and the organizations have to find best ways to

create and sustain the push (strong advocacy by

dealers / retailers of the product to customers). This

assumes greater significance when we appreciate

that a dissatisfied dealer / retailer can have a

negative rub-off effect (image erosion, purchase

delay, switching to competitor brand, bad word-of-

mouth, etc.) on the end user / buyer and in his / her

particular community as well. The state of

satisfaction among channel members would have

Uday Mishra, NDPL

just opposite and salutary effect, thus leading to

mutual benefits and profitability. Partnership-cum-

customer approach with distribution channel

members is the solution where dealers / retailers are

treated as (i) partners in growth, and as (ii) customers

who facilitate them revenue generation. Core

principle / philosophy being that their satisfaction is

sacrosanct.

Few illustrations of such evolved approach with

dealers/retailers are: P&G assigning its managers to

work along with Wal-Mart team to reduce joint cost

and improve joint profitability; Kraft helping its

retailers improve their profitability using

comprehensive and insightful customer related data

specific to particular geo area. Understanding the

nuances of higher-end competition for its luxury

cars, Toyota and Nissan while launching their luxury

cars (Lexus and Infiniti) came out with programmes

for their sales team and dealers to ensure that

everybody involved with the product understand the

need for extreme customer focus in luxury car

market. They have empowered their dealers to take

any action necessary to keep its customers pleased.

Efforts have led to Lexus being top ranker in JD Power

Customer Satisfaction Survey ever since 1992, and

adding to profitability of both Lexus and its dealers.

Even the organizations like IBM, Caterpillar,

McDonald's, Hewlett-Packard, etc. which enjoy a

high referral power (perceived to be highly respected

organizations among consumers and in public; thus,

dealers inclined to be associated with them) in their

favour, believe in such partnership-cum-customer

approach with their distribution channel members.

In the business of manufacturing and marketing, the

distribution channel has become increasingly critical

to the success of organization. Philip McVey

comments - “The middleman is not a hired link in

chain forged by a manufacturer, but rather an

independent market, the focus of a large group of

customers for whom he buys.”Consequently,

measuring and managing satisfaction of dealers and

retailers needs to be given due priority by the

management of manufacturer / supplier

organization. In recent times most of the progressive

minded organizations have started measuring

satisfaction of its end users and buyers. Such

satisfaction measurement takes into account various

dimensions that affect customer's satisfaction, e.g.,

satisfaction with product quality, service aspects,

commercial aspects, dealership / retailer interface,

company representative interface, etc. But time has

come when channel members, too, are treated as

customers, and their satisfaction with the supplier

organization need to be measured, monitored and

effectively managed.

So question arises, if such effort is required, which

dimensions need to be addressed. The main

elements in the “trade-relations mix” are: price

policies, conditions of sale, territorial rights and

specific services to be performed by each party.

Structure and format of relationship with channel

members is another important dimension which

affect mutual satisfaction and profitability. Exclusive

distribution tends to enhance the product image and

allow higher mark ups but requires greater

partnership between the seller and the reseller. For a

deeper reach and in cases where “location

convenience” is critical, the seller chooses multi-

brand distributors (could be selective or intensive

distribution), although in such channel the seller

loses some control over the display arrangements,

the accompanying service levels, and the pricing. It is

vital to formulate relationship structure in view of

service output levels desired by the end users, e.g.

Lot size, Waiting time, spatial convenience, Product

variety, Service backup, etc. A very soft but

potentially highly conflicting element in the

54

JIGYASA 2011

manufacturer-dealer relationship could be goal

incompatibility. The dealer is an independent

business entity seeking to maximize its profits. The

multi-brand dealer may concentrate on the buyer

that buys most, not necessarily the manufacturer's

products. Furthermore, the dealer might not master

the technical details of the company's products or

handle its promotion materials effectively. Conflicts

of any kind, be it vertical channel conflict, horizontal

channel conflict or multi-channel conflict, hurts

performance and profitability of the manufacturer

and the dealer / retailer.

Any issue leading to conflict or below-expected

performance or debilitated value-chain need to be

identified and addressed by the organization /

supplier. Satisfaction measurement provides a

robust and dynamic framework in achieving this

objective. With customer & partnership approach

better working framework can be reached leading to

higher satisfaction and mutual profitability. The

Table:1 below illustrates typical broad dimensions

(factors) that determine dealer satisfaction. Column

2 and 3 shows some of the attributes related to

Delivery and Personnel dimensions that have bearing

upon dealer satisfaction. The table is illustrative only,

and need to be adapted in context of the particular

industry / product / organization.

55

Table: 1

Broad dimensions /

factors

Micro detailing of Dimensions

• Order processing

• Delivery

• Product quality

• Advertising & Branding

• P r o m o t i o n a l &

m e r c h a n d i z i n g

support

• Information sharing

• Payment / credit terms

• Incentive schemes

• Complaint resolution

Personnel

Attributes: Delivery related Attributes: Personnel related

• T i m e t a k e n t o m a k e

deliveries

• A d e q u a c y o f a d va n c e

information about likely

short shipment

• A d e q u a c y o f a d va n c e

information about delayed

deliveries

• Reasons given for delayed

deliveries

• Adequacy of the information

on likely delivery time / date

• Level of follow-up you have

to do for delayed deliveries

• Handling of any logistical

issues

• Promptness in delivery of

bulk orders

• Adequacy of visits of sales personnel

• Range of issues discussed with

representative

• Representative's attitude to resolve

your issues / problems

• G e n e r a l a t t i t u d e o f t h e

representative towards you

• Adequacy of knowledge about

product / services

• Ability to train front staff of channel

about product features

• Adequacy of knowledge about

company's trade related policies

• Quality of interaction

Uday Mishra, NDPL

Mr. Uday Mishra

He is currently Head (Training) with NDPL, a Tata Power & Delhi Government joint venture into power distribution for north & north-west Delhi areas.

Earlier, he has been Corporate Quality Head and Head (Business Excellence) at NDPL where he is working since January 2006. An engineer and PGDM

by qualifications, he carries a rich experience of 19+ years in the domains of marketing, PMS, quality, strategic HR and business consulting.

The “Service-Profit Chain” propounded by Dr. James

Hesket advocates about necessity of achieving

satisfaction on various points across the value-chain,

e.g. employee, channel, servicing and consumers;

and stresses that such approach only would lead to

either profits or value to various constituents of the

value-chain. In India, not many organizations have

evolved to such approach. If the success stories of

leading multinational organizations following the

approach are any indication, it is high time that

Indian organizations too start focusing on customer-

cum-partnership approach for their channel

members. It would be a win-win situation both for

organization (supplier / manufacturer) and the

channel member (C&F / dealer / retailer).

56

JIGYASA 2011

57

Jigyasa in Conversation with Global Head-HR, CMC Ltd

Interview

HR In FOCUS

Avadesh Dixit, CMC Ltd

1. How has HR evolved through your career?

Ans: HR is continuously becoming more strategic

and critical function in any type of organisation.

There is significant shift in the way the whole

function is viewed. The organizations have started to

realise that the real competitive advantage can

primarily be created through people. I see great and

exciting career for all those who opted to be in HR.

2. How do you think HR is evolving as a strategic

function?

Ans: Increasingly, HR function is actively taking part

in strategy formulation as well as execution. Over a

period of years, I have seen many HR professionals

moving into strategic positions including a prominent

chair at the board level. As mentioned earlier, real

source of competitive advantage can only be created

through people practices. Technology and processes

can still be replicated but it is tough to replicate

people practices. There is no strategy that can be

successfully executed if it does not keep people at

the centre of everything that the organisation does.

3. Do you see any kind of impact on employment

trends due to what is happening in America?

Ans: I have been talking to a lot of my colleagues in

the industry and remain convinced that the

employment scenario in India remains upbeat at

least for near to medium term. I don't see any

immediate concern with respect to demand for

skilled professionals. In fact the issue is inability to

find the kind of people that we are looking for. There

is employability issue rather than demand for labour.

4. Do you thing the quality of engineering

graduates recruited in the it industry are

satisfactory?

Ans: There is still a gap between what industry wants

and what the academia produces. The good news is

that both the partners acknowledge this and are

willing to address the issue. There has been constant

endeavour from industry as well as academia to

bridge this gap. Both the industry and academia

have a huge responsibility to create employability for

lakhs of graduates that are leaving campuses and

other institutions. We have an issue of qualified

supply rather than demand as whole.

5. How has CMC evolved from being a

government organization to being a private

enterprise? What role has HR played in this

transition?

Ans: Even when CMC was a government

organisation, it was known for its progressive HR

policies. To that extent, HR transformation, though

complex, has been easy for us. HR has also been

primarily focusing on three dimensions:

• Creating Performance driven culture.

• Introducing robust HR systems.

• Creating world class HR policies and Processes.

There have been various initiatives that have been

launched to address all the above areas.

HR has been closely involved with the business in

creating required eco system for the company to

move into international geographies and to move

towards desired business mix.

6. How much weight age is given to behavioral

competencies in CMC, as compared to technical

competencies?

Ans: In CMC, we attach significant importance to

behavioural attributes of the individual. Normally

hard targets and soft aspects of behaviour will be

given equal weight age. The importance of

behavioural and leadership attributes increases as

the person moves into higher roles.

7. Based on your experience are there any

specif ic competencies that you feel HR

professionals should acquire to become successful?

Ans: I believe that there are certain competencies

that every HR professional should strive for. These

include ability to create impact and influence,

developing sharp business acumen, and looking at

creative ways to address problems at hand. HR

professionals should also acquire sufficient

knowledge and experience to manage issues around

international HR and diversity of all types.

8. What is the role of social media (examples:

LinkedIn, Facebook) in some of the HR practices like

hiring etc.?

Ans: In our industry, a lot of young and technology

savvy graduates are being hired year after year.

These professionals are very well networked and

belong to a generation which is highly connected to

social media platforms. Every company has started to

understand the social needs of these Gen-Y

employees and accordingly are making attempt to

engage this workforce through social media

platforms.

Some organisations have started creating blogs

inside the organisation which allow people to discuss

issues and give suggestions and that too in real time.

Social media also helps to reach out to a large

number of potential employees who are hooked on

to one platform or the other. This trend is here to stay

and will possibly define the way we engage with

employees.

9. What do you think lies ahead for HR in India?

Ans: I personally believe that HR function in India is

transforming itself into a critical and hard to ignore

function. It is going to remain very core to every

organisation. Hence it's important that HR

professionals elevate their competencies to match

the expectations that their businesses will have from

them. For us to be truly elevated to business

function, we must understand business.

58

Avadesh Dixit

He is presently the Global Head-HR of CMC ltd.(Tata Group) which employees more than 8000 engineers.

(SHRM, USA) with over 11 years of managerial experience. After acquiring a Master's degree in HR & OD from MHROD, Delhi School of Economics,

University of Delhi in 1999, he worked with Calcom Vision Lt for one year, following which he worked with TCS, North India and TCS, UK for a period of

eight years. In addition to being a 360 degree HR professional, he has successfully managed key change initiatives in the organisations that he has

worked in. His global roll-out of the Associate Satisfaction Survey across 60 locations around the world has been recognised as a Best Practice in the

Tata Group.

He is a certified Global Professional in HR

JIGYASA 2011

Jigyasa

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