HR · a serious look at their HR data analytics for better alignment with business strategy. In ‘Winning the Game- Applications of Gamification in Human Resources’, the author

IIM Shillong HR Magazine Issue 14 | New Year Issue

HR

Marketing

Editorial

Faculty Advisors

Prof. Rohit Dwivedi

Prof. Sonia Nongmaithem

Team usHR

Apoorvaa P

Lokesh Malviya

Romita Choudhury

Savitha B

Tanya Beniwal

Karthick Sharma K

Kodali Ramya

Neha Ladha

Ramnath R

Sonal Barwa

Dear Readers,Happy New Year! We are excited to present to you the latest issue of TogetHR, complete with a unique set of articles and a lot of other engaging contents, now at your fingertips.

In the Cover Story, ‘HR tending towards Marketing’, we take a peek at a unique dimension of HR- looking at employees as customers and as part of the value creation and delivery process of business. The article highlights how looking at employees this way leads to competitive advantage and long term benefits.

The Concoction section brings to you a blend of articles from various domains. ‘Harnessing Analytics in Human Resource Management’ urges organisations to take a serious look at their HR data analytics for better alignment with business strategy. In ‘Winning the Game- Applications of Gamification in Human Resources’, the author opens up a new world about the application of gamification in the domain of human resources, which seems to offer a lot of promise. In the article, ‘Employee engagement in the education sector - The challenges and measures to address the issue’, the author brings into focus the issue of handling employee engagement in the rarely discussed education sector where the usual approach might not always work due to varying dynamics. The ‘Article of the Issue’ on ‘Grievance Handling: A hope for Better Employee Relations’, highlights the importance of establishing proper grievance handling mechanisms in organisations to manage the business efficaciously in the long run. The article, ‘Evaluation of recruitment testing indicators as a source of sustainable competitive advantage’, discusses the ways in which organisations could improve the effectiveness of their recruitment procedures by taking a serious look at their existing methods and improving the same.

The Corporate Nuggets section covers one of the most sought after companies in the FMCG sector in India, HUL. Discover the defining principles on which they operate and the various HR policies that they follow to attract and retain top talent.

The Conflux section of this edition brings to you an engaging discussion with Prof. P K Mishra, Ex-Chairman of Ordnance Factories Board and a visiting faculty at IIM Shillong. A person with rich experience in the HR domain, he shares his views on sustainable management, future of HR and a lot more.

The Campus Buzz section covers the exciting Facebook contest ‘Syndicat Puzzle’, we had conducted in November that invoked enthusiastic participation from students across various campuses.

And in this issue of TogetHR, we bring to you a brand new ‘Contest with the Best’. Turn to page 25 to check out what we have in store for you and of course, the winner will take home a cash prize of Rs.500 and a Certificate of Appreciation.

We at usHR are always eager to engage with our readers and would love to hear more from you. Send in your feedback to [email protected]. You can also find us online at Facebook, Wordpress and LinkedIn!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/usHR-HR-Club-of-IIM-Shillong/133001346734609Blog: http://www.iims-ushr.in/LinkedIn: http://in.linkedin.com/in/ushriims

Happy Reading!!!

Team usHR

HR

Tending

Towards

Marketing

Campus Buzz

Contest With The Best

Contents New Year Issue

Disclaimer: The views presented are the opinion/work of the individual author and The HR Club of IIM Shillong bears no responsibility whatsoever.

Cover Story

Conflux

Concoction

Corporate Nuggets

11

04

06

09

14

17

20

22

HR Tending Towards MarketingRomita Choudhury| IIM Shillong

This piece of writing gives a whole new direction to HR. Moreover, it presents a completely new stream of customers!!! Run through it to find the answer…

Excerpts of InterviewMr. Pradeep MishraDirector (Management Studies)IEM, Kolkata

Harnessing Analytics in Human Resource Management Mallikarjun Kulkarni | MDI, Gurgaon

Winning the Game Applications of Gamification in Human Resources Abhimanyu Roy | IMT, Ghaziabad

Employee Engagement in the Education SectorSupriya Srinivasa Madhavan | IIM Kozhikode

‘Grievance Handling’ - A Hope for Better Employee RelationsAnkita Singh | IMI, New Delhi

Evaluation of Recruitment Testing Indicators as a Source of Sustainable Competitive AdvantageSandip Gokulakrishnan | TAPMI, Manipal

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Syndicat Puzzle

Grievance Redressal

24

25

4TogetHR | HR Magazine of IIM Shillong

Conflux

CORPO

RATEcornerSir, according to you how has the Indian education system transformed in recent years?

There is a shift in the business management education in recent years. Indian Business management system is largely influenced by the industries. Major contribution is from the service sector and therefore our management education is sub divided into 4 major categories – Financial Management, Marketing Management, Systems Management and HR Management. Most of the education institutions are focusing on Inclusive growth and Sustainable Development. So, over time, the education system is evolving where new areas are being detected. It has transformed from theory based to application oriented studies. So the education system has shifted towards better industry-education interface today.

Can you please share with us your experience in this field?

I started my career as a science teacher and migrated into Indian Forest Services. From there, I appeared for Civil Services and joined ordnance factory service. While retiring, I got a chance to interact with the ex-director of IIM Shillong, Prof. Ashok Dutta. He felt that I should become a teacher as I would be able to give first-hand information about industries to students while teaching. Slowly and gradually I felt that whatever I was teaching, half of it I had practiced already. It became easy for me to relate the classes with

the practical side of work and found that it came naturally to me. I started teaching at IISWBM (Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management). Apart from this, I used to teach at St. Xavier’s, Kolkata and IIM Shillong. I taught not just students, but also teachers, at Loreto Convent,

Scottish Church and I continue to do the same at IISWBM. At the beginning of my career as a teacher I was not very hopeful, but now I enjoy this phase because people like my style of teaching. I always try to give real time examples from the industry to my students.

There is a lot of emphasis on sustainable management these days. Can you please shed some light on what Sustainable management is and its significance?

In early 1970s there was a movement started by diplomats, leaders, bureaucrats, intellectuals and industry experts known as “Club of Rome”. It highlighted the fact that if we continue to consume resources at the same pace, the world would become an awful place to live.

Schumacher, an internationally influential economic thinker from UK, emphasized on appropriate technology. According to him,

‘HR should add value to the organization and should inspire others

to do the same’

Mr. Pradeep MishraDirector (Management Studies)IEM, Kolkata


Conflux

with automation of many areas such as recruitment, training, retirement etc., analytics is becoming more important than ever.

Take the example of Infosys. Most of the HR personnel use analytics there. Using this tool, they can predict the future course of action by analyzing the past and present data. They can also predict the changes in the result by varying the data. These tools helps in improving the performance, productivity and profitability of the company. It is an important asset for the company and when aligned with business, it will prove beneficial in the long run.

What is your advice to budding management students?

Change has not yet been adopted either by the students or by the teaching community. Students who are looking forward to build their career in the HR stream should develop ethical values and conduct so that people start trusting and relying on them. He/she must be able to take up challenges and resolve issues. One must be thorough with new developments in this field and should also keep track of the labor laws. The education system should be changed from theoretical to application based approach because that will be beneficial to students when they enter the corporate world. They will deal with organizational behavior and organization development on a real time basis. So value based practical education is the need of the hour.

technology should be user friendly, ecologically beneficial and suitable to the community in a way to generate employment.

This gave rise to the concept of sustainable development. It is comprised of 3 areas – Social, Economic and Environmental. If an industry wants to sustain its business, it should not only look at the top of the pyramid but should also consider the bottom of the pyramid i.e. it should not only be involved in money making but should also consider the well-being of the society. The focus on the bottom of the pyramid will lead to more profit in the long run. Many industries have realized this. ITC is one such example.

Can you please highlight the scope and opportunities in the field of HR?

Over a period of time, HR has evolved drastically in a way that no other domain has evolved. Functions of HR are generally administrative but one must be able to measure them quantitatively and be able to convert them into monetary units. HR should add value to the organization and should inspire others to do the same. HR personnel should have the right set of competencies such as decisive thinking, courage to take up challenges, commitment, confidence etc. and if one is lacking in them, he/she should be trained to generate these skills.

HR score card, HR matrices and HR audit are the new developments in this area. These days HR personnel are considered as capacity builders and are involved in making strategies, selection of executive directors and chairman of an organization. This field has a very bright future.

HR Analytics is a popular term nowadays. Should HR and analytics go hand in hand?

With data being widely available and accessible, analytics comes into play. In Human Resources,

Conco c tion


Introduction

Human Resources create a significant impact across every department of an organization whose employees are its most valuable and expensive assets. But how many companies realize this fact and how many companies know enough about their workforce in order to optimize their operations and align their workforce to their business strategy? How do companies identify and understand the performance drivers of their workforce?

Organizations still find it difficult to understand their potential workforce and manage it effectively. Every company is buried under huge piles of employee, performance and HR related data. Companies have been collecting information about demographics, education, performance,

location and several other factors about its employees over the past several years. But are these companies using this data effectively and scientifically while making people decisions that affect the overall strategy? Questions regarding recruitment decisions, retaining employees, identifying the right talent for career development and leadership pipelining etc. still haunt these organizations.

Growth in software technologies over the last 5 years has made companies gather invaluable granular data related to their workforce. This enables organizations to easily get into Workforce Analytics. This is one area which provides the Human Resource Department a huge opportunity to show how its systems and processes impact business outcomes. Workforce Analytics can be defined as a demonstration of the direct impact

HarnessingAnalytics in

Human Resource Management

Conco c tion


of workforce data on making more economic and reliable decisions that aligns the various HR processes to the business strategy. Showing the actual relationship between the workforce and business outcomes of an organization through HR analytics will make terms like “Strategic Partner” a reality. Talent analytics gives companies a quantifiable advice on how to propel business through its human resources and take charge of a vital part of the company’s financial health. Talent Analytics plays a crucial role in addressing the following issues:

Employee Retention – What contributes to retention and engagement?

Performance – What are the factors that foster performance?

Leadership Pipeline – What are the parameters that influence the identification of leaders in the organization?

Candidate Pipeline – How is the quality of the employees and how can the company attract and retain better talent?

Analytics plays a predominant role in analyzing and deriving patterns regarding future trends so as to align the workforce with the emerging needs and future business requirements.

How to go about it?

The practical road map for conducting HR analytics can be determined through the following six step model by connecting the HR strategy to business outcomes.

Determining the critical outcomes which need to be focused on

Identify the owners of the data related to outcomes and form a cross functional team

Determine how the data is being captured in the organization. This includes frequency of measurement, level of measurement, owners of each measurement etc.

Conduct an objective analysis of the above data

Customize the HR initiatives and place in the context of the organization

Re-measure and adjust the ROI wherever necessary

The role of Big Data is significant when it comes to applying logic and science in making decisions regarding selection and alignment of the workforce. Analytics helps in connecting the processes like recruitment, leadership development, performance management, etc. and analyzing these processes separately to show the ROI for these processes. These key business drivers should then be combined into a single focused plan on business strategy.

HR analytics can benefit the company in many ways, provided the right data is collected and the collected data is effectively used. Technologies like Big Data have proved to be of significant importance in the field of data processing and

Conco c tion


analyzing. Organizations can use HR analytics in the following areas:

Forward looking workforce planning

Managing talent acquisition

Diversity effectiveness

Talent potential and progression

Proactive retention

HR analytics can be effective as it enables improved decision making, increase in profitability, improvement in planning and forecasting, providing predictive modeling capabilities etc.

Best Practices in the Industry

The following best practices provide the base for insightful information to business demands:

Relying on a single source of truth – HR departments have to deliver detailed, accurate and timely information

Challenging assumptions

Taking on business challenges

Leveraging standard industry benchmarks to identify areas of improvement

Being prepared in fast moving business climates

Linking information to business outcomes

Companies like IBM, Sysco etc have enhanced their HR analytics in order to exactly understand how to ensure the highest productivity, top management retention, engagement and replicating their successes. Harrah’s entertainment

is famous for implementing analytics to select clients and customers with high profit potential and to modify the pricing and promotion policies for certain market segments. Google’s “people analytics team” has been crucial in handling the people perspective decisions, thus contributing to the highly efficient workforce established in the company.

Hexaware, one of the global vendors in HR IT industries, has many success stories in its HR domain with proven expertise of HR analytics, HR warehouses and data warehousing solutions. Sonova Group, the leading provider of innovative healthcare solutions uses “SuccessFactors” workforce analysis in order to combine financial and talent data and produce up-to-date and accurate information which is used by senior management across the globe to compare against KPIs such as bench strengths, business costs, efficiency etc.

Hence, it becomes quite obvious that in order to ensure that the companies extract the best out of their employees and ensure that the alignment of their workforce is along the business strategy of the organization, more stress must be laid on talent analytics and the right technologies and systems are to be kept in place in order to collect, interpret, analyze and evaluate the workforce data. Also, dealing with analytics requires necessary skills in data analysis, statistics, problem solving and visualization and companies must ensure that the right people have to be sought after in order to deal with analytics more efficiently.

Mallikarjun Kulkarni, MDI Gurgaon

Conco c tion


In 2012, Ford of Canada had a problem-despite having adequate training, their on-ground sales representatives did not have complete knowledge about the technology options and financing plans available for each vehicle. Ford was losing prospective customers and although all the requisite information was available on their training website, their employees just did not use the site enough.

Ford took the route less travelled to solve this problem. They teamed up with a radical new tech start-up called Bunchball to redesign their existing website. But unlike standard website renovations, they added levels of tasks that employees needed to perform. These tasks included trivia challenges such as knowing a vehicle’s features to matching the correct component picture to the model in which it was available. Completing each task would earn the employee a badge, which he/she can showcase in a publicly viewable gallery on their profile. Finally, it allowed users to exhibit their personalities by creating their own virtual garages. Does this sound familiar? You would not be amiss if you matched these to Farmville and other popular Facebook social games. Welcome to gamification!

Gamification is the application of gaming concepts to non-gaming environments. Coined in 2002 by programmer Nicholas Pelling, the term has gained a cult status in the last few

years, even inspiring a course at Wharton School of Business. In 2007, Bunchball became the first company to offer gamification consulting as a service. Among their clients are global giants such as Ford and NBC. All this points to gamification being the “next big thing” in the management world and as with all concepts that are given that title, it begs the question – Does it work?

The first week after the Ford’s new website went online, it saw over 100,000 unique visits. Employee actions on the website increased 60% and

the average employee doubled the time that they spent on the portal. How did all of this help the bottom-line? In 2012, Ford’s sales for full-size trucks in Canada crossed 100,000 for the first time. This is the segment in which the most feature rich vehicles survive and

those with comprehensive financing plans thrive. In effect, gamification had landed a success story.

After establishing gamification as a viable method to improve performance, the next question is-

How does it work?Gamification is based on the natural human tendencies of competition, showcasing one’s personality and need for status in a social context. In a gamified environment, as a player accomplishes tasks, he/she is given rewards based on their performance. These rewards may include points, badges etc. Making these rewards visible on a leader board feeds into their need

Winning the GameApplications of Gamification in

Human Resources

Conco c tion


for competition and status. At the same time, creation of personalized variants of rewards allows them to fulfill their need for self-expression. These are the same principles which companies like Zynga have used to create popular games such as CityVille. The only difference here is the shift in environment to a business organization.

What can it do?Gamification in human resources has uses beyond training. Just ask Marriott. Marriott wanted to grow in markets outside the United States. At the same time, they wanted to attract young men and women towards a career in hospitality management. They achieved this by remodeling their recruitment system based on gamification principles in 2011.

Instead of a standard FAQ page detailing the kinds of responsibilities that an employee would need to tackle, Marriott gave interested recruits hands-on experience by designing a simulation game much like The Sims. At My Marriott Hotel TM, players handle all the responsibilities of a standard hotel kitchen while earning rewards that help them understand the nitty-gritty of the industry. The game, available on Facebook, LinkedIn as well as online job portals like Monster.com, has been a massive success with over 25,000 new people joining their various recruitment portals just one week after its launch. For Marriott, as an organization this has translated into shoring up its recruitment needs for expansion activities (estimated at nearly 50,000 a year) and providing them with employees who already have basic understanding of Marriott’s operations prior to the commencement of their training, which is a huge advantage.

Among the many other platforms that enable an

organization to use gamification for improving their performance, one that deserves special mention is Salesforce’s new performance management system-work.com. Internet companies like Facebook and Spotify use work.com as a way to promote transparency across the organization and gain peer feedback. Work.com uses peer reviews to recognize the contribution made by an employee and transmit the same throughout the organization. They award badges based on recognition of the employee’s work by his/her colleagues. Work.com employs both personal recognition and status aspects of gamification to raise morale and motivate the employees of the organization. Many of its clients reported an over 40% increase in feedback once they started to use the platform as well as

more efficient and accurate annual appraisals.

The Future?Over the past decade, a new generation of workers has entered organizations. They are the ones who have grown up with Nintendo and PlayStation. Socialization now takes place over virtual

platforms and recognition is as simple as getting another person to click a button on a website. Managing this new generation requires blending classical management theory with modern technology. This is where gamification becomes invaluable. This new wave of the future has been embraced by large organizations like Adobe and SAP who are assiduously developing new tools and platforms to integrate gamification into the workplace. A report by Gartner Consulting states that nearly 70% of all Global 2000 companies will use gamification in some form or the other by 2015. Gamification is here to stay and to flourish in today’s environment we must embrace it.

Abhimanyu Roy, IMT Ghaziabad

Cover Stor y

HR

Tending

Towards

Marketing


Cover Stor y

Gone are the days when profit used to be the one and only goal of any organization. Today the big word is nothing but EMPLOYEES. They are the sole stakeholders who can take the organization to heights. Therefore, organizations have started giving them utmost importance and respect.

Human Resource, the prized possession, has become highly necessary to be managed properly. The HR methodologies have become obsolete and are unable to give the desired results. Moreover, the fast changing needs and aspirations of the new generation employees have added to the complexity. Thus, the need of the hour is a new direction. Yes, the HR leaders have to start thinking in a unique way to satisfy this demand. They have to step in the role of marketing manager of a highly complex product consisting of the employees on one hand and the organizational culture on the other.

The first and foremost responsibility is to attract and retain the internal customers or the employees. In a competitive market scenario, it

has become very difficult to attract good talent. But, more than that what has become highly difficult is the retention of the good talent. Every organization wants the best people to be working for it and tries its best to attract them from its rivals. This has increased the burden on these newly turned HR-Marketing managers.

The next important task is to concentrate on Employer Branding. This represents the reputation and is that crucial part of the company which creates image in the eyes of the prospective employee. This can be developed by concentrating on the key areas and competitive advantages of the organization. A proper strategy laid down can increase the employer branding of any organization to the desired amount.

Performance appraisal management is also an important segment. For this, communication is extremely important. Firstly, the goal and objective for each employee has to be well-defined prior to their work. Secondly, the roles they need to play should be clearly understood


Cover Stor y

and accepted. Finally, the entire process should result in successful outputs, that is, it should be result oriented. This system helps keeping a check on the employee interests and grievances in an effective way.

This new role of the HR managers has paved way for a new set of needs and demands. The need of the hour is to concentrate on employees and treat them like consumers, which will help in the overall development of the organization. The approach to be taken is ‘Employee first, Customer second’. This means that employees have emerged over time into customers. They are nothing but the new age customers.

All the employees of an organization are equally responsible for customer satisfaction. Whether it be the ones who directly deal with the customers or the ones who are responsible for the back-end job, everyone is a part of the entire process of a product or service and so is responsible for the satisfaction of the customer. So, this new approach holds more importance.

Moreover, being a very customer centric approach, it has a strategic advantage and competitive advantage. Integrating internal and external objectives will be efficiently done through this. Training and communicating the employees will be much easier and successful then, which would help them better serve the customers. This will result in better management of both internal and external audience.

This new approach will result in better management of the new age customers. This will lead to strong feedback system minimizing the amount of risks and maximizing the amount of return. It will lead to efficient process installation taking into account all types of dependencies on the process. Finally, this will result in better employee relations and will motivate the employees to thrive for organizational success which will in turn increase the organizational satisfaction, loyalty and commitment.

Conco c tion


While it is easy to say that a happy set of employees will contribute to a good top line and/or to a bottom line, keeping them happy has never been that easy. This is not something that has popped into boardroom discussions all of a sudden, but the new fancy jargon used for this aspect of HRM is ‘Employee Engagement’. While it is generally related to productivity and in turn, profits, there is a sector where profits are not defined by their financials, but largely in terms of the quality of service rendered and the skilled and employable human resources created - the education sector.

The employee engagement scores among the higher secondary schools and universities across the countries from the USA to UK and Malaysia have been found low throughout. Having disengaged or under engaged teachers imparting education to students would not just be an internal HR issue of educational institutions, but also a social concern, especially in a country like India which has 11 million students in the age group of 17-23, which is only 11% of the population in that age group.

Analysing this issue through the lens of organizational behavior - structure, power relations and employee engagement, might be able to help discern and better understand some of the underlying issues, which is what this article attempts to do. These organizations usually have a hierarchical hybrid structure. While there is a definite hierarchy based on seniority (tenure) and qualification, there are fewer levels and the organization is relatively flatter. The levels are also

Employee Engagement in the Education Sector

The challenges and measures to address the issue

Employee engagement scores in different sectors in the USA

Conco c tion


divisional, based on the areas taught and hence a hybrid structure.

Some of the issues which can demotivate employees in these organizations are as follows:

Goal setting in terms of the curriculum is decided by the associated board in the case of schools or internal committees in the case of colleges. However, understanding and approach towards satisfying them is left to the employee and therefore very subjective

Misalignment between organizational goals and contribution of individual departments to it, especially in colleges and universities

There aren’t commonly recognized, definitely structured performance appraisal systems (amount of research work versus quality of teaching) and in case of private institutions, the compensation systems aren’t uniform and designed to suit the constraints of the management

The management controls the overall budget and hence retains the authority to decide on development

projects - largely influencing the tools and methods of teaching and the use of better technologies in the process

The culture which determines the freedom an employee gets, work environment and system of recognition is microscopic in nature - making measuring employee engagement tedious

While most of these are typical to educational institutions and cannot be altered much (like the goal setting and goal achievement process or microscopic organizational culture) there are also advantages unique to the profession of teaching. In colleges, employees get a good amount of flexibility to choose subjects and methods of teaching. The overall output is never in quantifiable terms like sales revenue or operating profit; also, if meritorious students are taken in, the performance of the organization will be consistently good, students requiring lesser assistance and motivation.

So the big question is how can these employees be better engaged? What are the intrinsic issues that can be addressed and the possible extrinsic measures?

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Bennet Simonton, the author of ‘Leading people to be highly motivated and committed’ says that employees, immaterial of the sector cannot be ‘kept’ happy for they should feel happy from within and so the propelling force should be internal. However, the work environment can largely influence them to feel happy and hence be more productive. It is at this stage that the various engagement programmes of organizations operate.

Specific to higher educational institutions, the employee is driven by either or both of the following to assume the role of a teacher -basic social needs (salary and security) and passion for the job. Both ways, he/she is highly motivated initially. It is the organization which causes the disengagement through top-down approaches, says Simonton. Correspondingly, the most disengaged employees tend to be new recruits (because of the impact of immediate top-down effect), highly educated people (specific to the context of higher secondary education) and people who are paid the least.

Hence, the first steps towards achieving this starts with having a healthy work environment, where an employee is assigned work on the basis of his/her interest, rather than subjects which have to be taught, which in turn points to a well-organized recruitment system. Clear communication of the goals to be achieved and regular performance appraisals, by

analyzing the trend of student performance, individual inspections and participation in other programmes like workshops, certifications and training should be implemented. A common standard for the respective boards for employee compensation in higher secondary schools is another basic requisite. Employee recognition by encouraging to participate (in) or conduct conferences, appreciation on publishing of research work apart from institution sponsored faculty interaction programmes and holiday trips are also recommended as extrinsic measures.

For a nation that will have the largest workforce by 2020, the Indian educational sector is reeling under the weight of several issues ranging from poor infrastructure to corrupt bureaucracy and inefficient regulatory bodies. There is however, ample scope for development and measures are already being taken. In such a scenario, looking at the quality of teaching and the needs of this community that nurtures and builds a strong workforce for the future from the framework of organizational behavior is therefore an earnest attempt to understand this social issue pragmatically in the hopes to see a better tomorrow.

Supriya Srinivasa Madhavan, IIM K

Conco c tion


“Peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”

–Ronald Reagan

Grievance is defined as any discontent or dissatisfaction or suffering or grief or wrong or hardship that an employee thinks, believes, perceives or feels. Grievance and Discipline are serious words to apply to the basic method of seeing fair play in the relationship between employees and the employing organization.

In an employment relationship (refer to chart), if grievances remain unaddressed they can have much graver implications for the organization. Firms should have grievance handling mechanisms in place so that individual grievances do not get into collective disputes. In case of collective disputes we have to partner with Trade Unions, which enter into the realm of collective bargaining.

In an employment relationship the Employer seeks adjustment through the process of discipline and the employee through the “Grievance Process”.

Types of Grievances

Data Grievance – Lack of information, Misinformation, Interpretation

Interest Grievance – Substantive, Procedural, Psychological

Structural Grievance – Role Definition, Time Constraint, Unequal Power/Resource

Value Grievance – Culture, Group, Individual

Relationship Grievance – Strong Emotion, Communication Problem, Prejudices

‘Grievance Handling’A Hope for Better Employee

Relations...

Conco c tion


Grievance Redressal Mechanism

Today employees must have the Right to present his/her grievance to the Employer, to obtain a redressal within a specified time period with a provision to appeal. Guidelines include:

Individual dealing with grievance must differentiate Facts from Perception

Grievance can be classified into- Imaginary, Partially True and Genuine

All grievances need to be heard with empathy and not sympathy

Individuals processing the grievance should not promise what cannot be delivered

Experience indicates that not more than 10% of grievances can be resolved immediately and not more than 10% of the grievances can be resolved in near future and the balance 80% of grievances cannot be resolved and the person must live with it.

Presently in most of the organizations, there is an existing established Grievance Redressal Mechanism, and the persons investigating and replying to the grievance are from management and not a committee consisting of equal representation of Management and Workmen.

Amendment to Industrial Dispute Act in 2010

As per the amendment, Chapter 2 B called Grievance Redressal Machinery is incorporated in the Act. It is now mandatory for every employer who employs 20 or more workmen to have one or more Grievance Redressal Machinery. Committees should have equal representation of workmen and employer, with chairmanship on a rotating basis. It is mandatory to have a female member in the committee. This committee has to resolve the grievance within one month and if the workman is not satisfied with the committee he/she may appeal to the Employer. This act shall not apply to workmen for whom there is an established Grievance Redressal Mechanism in the concerned establishment.

However, organizations have not been proactive in adhering to the act. In the case of Maruti IR disaster in 2011, Maruti could have completely avoided the accident, if it would have honored its deal that it made with the disgruntled workers in 2011 of forming a statutory ‘Grievance Redressal Committee’ and ‘Labor Welfare Committee’ at its Manesar plant. The company is now concentrating on maintaining relationship with workers, maximizing communications and following regulations to avoid repetition

Conco c tion


Ankita Singh, IMI New Delhi

of the episode. Maruti has finally established the ‘Grievance Redressal Committee’ and ‘Labor Welfare Committee’, and apart from that it has started the initiative ‘Samadhan’ that involves interacting with the employees directly.

Challenges that plague Grievance Redressal

Challenges can arise from 3 aspects i.e. Enterprise Level, Legal and Adjudication Level

Enterprise LevelBiasCompetenciesCredibilityFearsInadequate Systems

Legal LevelTime/DelaysLegislative Bottle necksEnforcement

Adjudication LevelAdversarialTime- appealsCostInimical to HR

Most grievances of employees are on issues relating to their workplace and / or on the behavior of their bosses/ peers/ subordinates and this need to be addressed. Quite often the employee also desires that the grievance is kept confidential and he/she is not victimized for bringing up the grievance. The United Nations various agencies like UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNOPS, UN Secretariat have appointed an OMBUDSMAN and mediation service to whom individual employees can send their grievance for being investigated and action taken. In all interactions, an ombudsman acts with strict confidentiality and impartiality. Some of the Indian companies also have a well laid out grievance redressal mechanism, but not

necessarily have an ombudsman.

Industry Examples

TATA CHEMICALS - The grievance handling system “We Care” at TATA Chemicals handles grievances of not only the workmen of the company but also of the nearby farmers and community stakeholders. Grievances, written (drop box, emails, forms) or oral (personnel, IR dept.), are recorded in the grievance Register. A regular follow-up for closure allows timely resolution of all grievances. Apart from this the organization has many a formal (Open House, Town Hall, ‘HR Clinic’) and informal (HR daily round, one to one interaction) interactions with the employees.

ADITYA BIRLA GROUP - Renukoot/Renusagar plant of Aditya Birla Group follows the mantra “anticipate and tackle before grievance arises”. The grievance portal, referred to as “CART” – Collaborate, Alleviate, and Resolve Together, is modern and flexible. It registers the grievances and status is updated at each stage of proceedings. Other than this, booths have also been set up to help workers.

Conclusion

In today’s dynamic world to run a fair, successful and productive workplace, it is critically important for organization to have a Grievance Redressal Mechanism to resolve grievances fairly, responsibly and expeditiously for all employees. After all relationship building is the key to successful employment relationships.

Conco c tion


Conco c tion

The recruitment division of the Human Resource department of any organisation is pivotal in helping align structural and functional elements, which are in turn increasingly crucial to achieving strategic growth. A well-researched and structured recruitment programme can be a source of great competitive advantage to the firm, and help it achieve strategic leverage in terms of the scope and scale of its business as well as non- economic interactions. This article aims at providing a snapshot of the different testing methods followed in the recruitment process and describe at a glance, ascertained degrees of predictive validity to permutations and combinations of the same. Ascertaining the correct combination of methods from the wide pool available can be a source of great competitive benefit to the firm, in terms of overall efficacy of the programme as well as subsequent cost savings. Primary research has been done in the field by SACS Consulting Group, among others. The book, “Personnel Selection Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology” by Robertson and Smith has also been an invaluable reference point for many of the ideas expressed in this article.

the factors that make up a good recruitment programme. A good recruitment programme must be structured well, have a clearly defined and uniform measurement criteria, and must follow the highest levels of legal and statutory compliance. Recruitment specialists must understand that for a prospective employee, the initial recruitment process is the first glimpse into the company’s working style and culture, both of which can have far reaching effects in terms of enhancing the business and societal image of the firm. A successful recruitment programme can be directly correlated to the number of successful placements made, number of applicants, time taken up for filling the position and overall costs involved.

The first step which must be taken prior to assigning testing methods is to conduct a thorough competency analysis for the vacant job role. By understanding Real World Outcomes (RWOs) of successful job completion, one can identify the correct blend of skills, knowledge and behavioural traits necessary for success in the field. Such analysis is necessary to accord appropriately grouped testing methods in relation to hierarchy levels and job expectations. For e.g., a senior manager in an automobile plant will require a higher degree of behavioural competencies (which may be tested through psychographic testing indicators) than a line worker, who will require a higher degree of technical competencies (which may be tested

Evaluation of Recruitment Testing Indicators as a Source of Sustainable

Competitive AdvantageBefore delving into the plethora of testing methods available, it is important to understand some of

Conco c tion


through skill testing indicators).

Research conducted in the subject clearly marks out two distinct groups among various testing methods currently in existence. Inefficient predictors (deemed to be so on the basis of their low validity levels) include age, graphology or handwriting prediction, education levels and work experience. Such findings are central to current performance management philosophies which stresses on individual risk-return analysis and direct measurable output rather than factoring in external environmental variables such as experience in the company, seniority with respect to age, etc.

On the other hand, the most efficient predictors include cognitive ability testing and psychographic testing indicators. Interviews are widely recognised as inferior to direct testing, particularly if the interview is not structured well. Behavioural event interviewing, which focuses on past actions of the employees in various job roles have also been found to be highly effective. Depending on hierarchy levels and differing competency expectations, work sample testing and skill testing are also deemed highly predictable. Personality testing such as the BIG 5 Model is found to be accurate across hierarchy levels and can be a valid screening technique. A general rule would be to consider candidates who have low neuroticism scores and high agreeableness and conscientiousness scores.

A testing phenomenon which has been garnering attention recently is integrity testing, which looks at demonstrated ethical values of the firm and the people it chooses to hire. A high degree of cultural fit may be achieved if positive attitudes with respect to the organisation are identified and appropriate evaluators are constructed based on the same. E.g. the Tata Group could be proactively on the lookout for candidates who exhibit a high degree of organisational citizenship

behaviour. A combination of cognitive ability testing and integrity testing has been found to have the highest possible validity levels across all indicators. This may be because both these tests radically examine two very fundamentally different areas of the human brain, thereby providing a comprehensive and robust outlook into the psyche of the test subject.

The most important aspect to be kept in mind while evaluating testing methods is to make appropriate modifications with respect to organization specific structures and hierarchy levels. A through and comprehensive interview structuring programme needs to be carried out based on the results of the competency analysis carried out previously.

Evaluating testing indicators focusses on structural efficiencies above everything else. Companies which allocate testing methods randomly are generally observed to achieve cumulative validity levels of 0.35 to 0.40. In contrast, companies who adopt a structured, measurable and competency linked testing indicator assessment methods are observed to achieve cumulative validity levels of around 0.70. This difference is the statistical equivalent of intangible as well as tangible competitive advantage to the firm, measured as sustainability and cost savings through various organizational levels, among other things. Any organisation which actively looks at such research with an open mindset and proactively encourages such administration indicators, is bound to reap substantial rewards in the long run.

Sandip Gokulakrishnan, TAPMI Manipal

22

Corporate Nuggets

TogetHR | HR Magazine of IIM Shillong

Do you want to join an organization in which every step you take towards achieving the company’s goals is recognized? Then HUL is the right place for you. The company motivates its employees to perform better by recognizing their achievements regularly. It has a reward system which comprises of numerous rewards awarded monthly, on the spot and quarterly. Some of the rewards the company confers to its employees are: Star of the Month award, Customer Delight award, Star of the Quarter award, Thinking Out of the Box award, etc. In addition, HUL releases a book called the Achievement – Talk Book which gives the employees public recognition amongst his/her peers in the organization. This book is definitely an excellent channel for instilling confidence and encouraging best performance from employees.

In this section, Corporate Nuggets, we bring to you the various HR practices followed by organizations from all around the world. This time around we analyze the India’s largest fast moving consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). HUL was ranked the No.1 Employer of Choice for students in the annual Nielsen B-School Survey. In the survey, HUL retained the ‘Dream Employer’ status for the 3rd year running and continues to be the top company considered for application by B-School students.

RECOGNITION

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED

HUL has uniquely positioned itself as a “Leadership Factory”. It assigns huge responsibilities and jobs to its employees early in their careers, which gives them a rich exposure across various functions. The company uses a model called the “70-20-10” philosophy for its workforce. According to this model, 70 percent of the learning at HUL happens on duty, 20 percent through mentoring and 10 percent through training and classroom learning. HUL offers multiple online sources for learning. These include forums like online quarterly webcasts, e – learning courses, etc. Also, the company invites industry stalwarts to take regular guest sessions on best practices.

LEARNING

Corporate Nuggets


Are you curious and inquisitive? Is optimism in your faith? And, do you want to make a difference? Then this talent-rich, employee-friendly organization is the right place for you.

Stay tuned for the next issue where we shall discuss yet another organization for its outstanding HR practices.

HUL’s philosophy of building leaders within has enabled it to establish sound procedures and practices which help in identifying the talent early and building their skills. Unilever Future Leader’s Program (UFLP): This program helps fresh managerial recruits in gaining cross – functional knowledge and experience. They get both rural and international exposure within 12 to 15 months of their joining and prepares them for greater responsibilities very early in their careers.Leadership Differentiation Tool (LDT): This tool maps the performance of an employee and gives a 360 degree feedback from superiors, peer groups and subordinates in order to get a holistic review and evaluation of the employee.

TALENT

MANAGEMENT

The company’s corporate purpose states that to succeed requires “the highest standards of corporate behavior towards everyone it works with, the communities it touches, and the environment on which it has an impact.”Always working with integrity: Conducting its operations with integrity and respect for the many people, organizations and environments its business touches has always been at the heart of the company’s corporate responsibility.Positive impact: The company aims to make a positive impact through its brands, its commercial operations and relationships, voluntary contributions, and through various other ways in which it engages with society. Continuous commitment: The company is also committed to continuously improving the way it manages the environmental impacts and is working towards its longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business.Setting out our aspirations: HUL’s corporate purpose sets out its aspirations in running its business. It’s underpinned by the company’s Code of business principles which describes the operational standards that everyone at Unilever follows. The code also supports its approach to governance and corporate responsibility.Working with others: Its Business partner code, aligned to its own Code of business principles, comprises ten principles covering business integrity and responsibilities relating to employees, consumers and the environment.

PURPOSE&

PRINCIPLESThe four pillars of their vision set out the long term direction for the company – where it wants to go and how it is going to get there: The company works to create a better future everyday; It helps people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others; The company will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world; It will develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling its size while reducing its environmental impact

VISION

Campus Buzz


Anniversaries are the days that commemorate the occurrence of a special event be it a wedding, inauguration of a new shop or offices or formation of our very own HR club. As a part of second anniversary of usHR Club, team decided to launch an inter-college event called ‘Syndicat Puzzle’. In this puzzle words related to union were hidden vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Participants had to identify all the words and had to choose one amongst them thereby explaining its meaning in the most creative manner. A certain thing can be called creative if it brings quality to the work. Creativity is something innate which reflects one’s power of imagination and keen sense of perception.

The idea behind this puzzle was to bring out the child in everyone again and made them recollect their memories when we all struggled to solve such

puzzles in our local/national dailies. The enthusiasm and the spirit with which we received the responses were beyond our expectations. We could imagine the buzz it must have created among the premier B-schools. Submissions of the participants were so enthralling that it was tough for us to narrow in on the winner. It was not the matter of victory or defeat, as winning isn’t everything, but to decide the best among the good ones was the challenge. After evaluation the club decided to glorify Phani Himaja of IIM-Indore as the winner. With the maximum correct answers, she explained the concept of ‘Strike in Indian context’ so well that the team was quite impressed with the deliverable. And she was awarded with Rs. 1500 and e-certificate as promised earlier. We would be coming up with more intriguing events in the future that would test the reader’s acumen and sharpen his/her intellectual sensitivity towards HR.

Syndicat Puzzle


Contest

Contest With the Best

GRIEVANCE REDRESSALUse all your THINKING HATS to solve the below given issue.

The best entry will win the prize money.

Last date for sending the answers for Contest: Jan 21st, 2014Email ID: [email protected] Subject of the email: TogetHRContest14_CollegeName_Name of Person

RULESThis event is open to individual participation onlyThere is no single right answer to the problem- the entry would be judged based on the clarity of thought and concepts, practicality of the approach and justifications provided by the participantWe are not looking for complete solutions- a reasonable approach and course of action would sufficeThe deliverable should be in the format of a word document (doc/docx) not exceeding 200 words,

Font: ‘Times New Roman’, Font size: 12, Line Spacing: 1.5 The winning entry will be published in the next issue of TogetHR

For any queries visit our Facebook page- ‘usHR- HR club of IIM Shillong’ or drop a mail at [email protected]

ABC Ltd., is a flourishing company operating in the Indian apparel industry. Mr. Ravi is the manager of the exports division and around 10 employees worked under him. Ms. Sheila and Ms. Anita are two high performing employees who report directly to Ravi. Sheila and Ravi live in the same apartment and it is a common sight to see Ravi giving a ride to Sheila in his car in the mornings and evenings. Many employees had also seen them hanging out frequently in the cafeteria. In the recent annual review, Sheila seemed to have received a higher bonus than Anita. Though the bonus figures were not discussed openly by employees, most of the employees knew the approximate figure that others in the division received. Anita filed a complaint with the HR division of ABC Ltd., alleging favoritism by Ravi and stated that Ravi and Sheila might be involved in a romantic relationship. She alleged that in spite of performing as good as Sheila, she was given an unfair deal in the annual bonus because of this. As the HR manager responsible for addressing employee grievances, what will be your course of action? Make appropriate assumptions.

‘The caselet given above is purely fictitious. Any resemblance whatsoever to real organisations, persons or situations is purely coincidental’


Contest

Announcement of Results

The prize for “Article of the Issue” has been awarded to Ankita Singh from IMI, New Delhi for her Article “Grievance Handling: A Hope for Better Employee Relations”. She is awarded a cash prize of INR 1000 and Certificate of Appreciation

All other authors whose articles are published in this issue shall also receive Certificate of Appreciation

The prize for “Contest with the Best” of SEP - OCT 2013 Issue has been awarded to Pranav Sukhija from NMIMS, Bangalore. He is awarded with a cash prize of INR 500 and a Certificate of Appreciation

Last Contest Answers: Appraisal, Bonus, Culture, Development, Compensation, Deregulation, Empowerment, Interview, Intrapreneurship, Leadership, Onboarding, Payroll, Recruitment, Salary, Staffing, Trainee, Union, Volunteerism

Call for Articles & ParticipationTeam usHR invites articles from B-Schools all across India. We are looking for original articles related to field of Human Resources. References should be cited wherever necessary. The best article will be featured as the “Article of the Issue” and would be awarded cash prize of INR 1000Contest Winner of every issue gets a prize money worth INR 500 along with a certificate of appreciationArticle should not have been published anywhere earlier• The Article should have a single author• Kindly email your article with the file name and the subject as <Title of Article> _<Institute Name>_<Author’s name> by Jan 21st, 2014 [email protected] must be sent in Microsoft Word Document (doc/docx), Font: Times New Roman, Font Size: 12, Line spacing: 1.5. The size of the article should be between 700-1000 words. The cover page of the article should only contain the Title of the Article, the Author’s Name and the Institute’s NameResults of this issue contest and selected artilces shall be announced in the next issue of TogetHRFor other updates, check our Facebook page – “usHR-HR Club of IIM Shil-long”. The issue details can be checked on our blog www.iims-ushr.in

Published by usHR, HR Club of IIM Shillongwww.iims-ushr.in

Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management ShillongMayurbhanj Complex, Nongthymmai

Shillong - 793014email: [email protected]

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c Team usHR, IIM Shillong

Documents

HR · a serious look at their HR data analytics for better alignment with business strategy. In ‘Winning the Game- Applications of Gamification in Human Resources’, the author