NHRDN Journal - January 2017 - National · PDF fileDLF City, Phase IV, ... going change process. ... Aligning: All core HR processes like recruitment and selection, employee training,

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Insights and Perspectives

ROLE OF HR

JOURNAL QUARTERLY

Volume 10 Issue 1| January 2017

Key Contributors

STAKEHOLDERS

Amit Sharma

Anindya Kumar Shee

Dileep Ranjekar

Dr. Farida Virani

Dr. KB Akhilesh

Ghandi Doss L S

H N Shrinivas

Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen

Jays Chandy

K R Shyam Sundar

Kalpana Bansal

Lakshmi Lingam

Marcel Parker

Naveen Khajanchi

P Vijayakumar

Prashant Khambaswadkar

Prashant Sude

R Vidyasagar

Rajasekhar Kaza

Rema Mohan

S Deenadayalan

Sowmya R

Varun Ramchandruni

Vasant Ayappan

Vikas Shinde

MANAGING

Managing Stakeholders

Role of HR

Insights and Perspectives

Volume 10 | Issue 1 | January 2017

NHRD Network JournalManaging Stakeholders : Role of HR

Volume 10 Issue 1 January 2017| |

NHRD Network Board MembersNational President Mr K Ramkumar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank Ltd and

President ICICI Foundation

Immediate Past President Mr Rajeev Dubey, Group President (HR & Corporate Services) &CEO (After-Market Sector) at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Regional Presidents

East Mr Suresh Tripathi, Vice President Human Resource Management, Tata Steel

North Mr Pankaj Bansal, CO- Founder and CEO, PeopleStrong

South Ms Hema Ravichandar, Strategic HR Advisor

West Dr Ritu Anand, Dy Global Head HR, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

National Secretary Mr SV Nathan, Sr Director and Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte Haskinsand Sells

National Treasurer Mr Nishchae Suri, Head People & Change & Partner - Management Consulting, KPMG

Director General Mr Kamal Singh

Executive Director Mr Dhananjay Singh

Email: [email protected]

Editorial Team HN Shrinivas, CEO-Vocational Skill Development at TISS, Mumbai.

(Guest Editor for this issue)

Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Managing Editor

Leadership Architect & Career Coach, HR PLUS


Dr Arvind N Agrawal, Managing Partner, Lead Associates

Publisher, Printer, Owner Mr Kamal Singh, Director General, NHRDN

and Place of Publication On behalf of National HRD Network

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About the Journal

The National HRD Network publishes a semi-academic quarterly journal where in each issue is dedicated

to a theme.

The Journal publishes primarily three categories of articles:

� Conceptual and research based.

� Contributions from thought leaders including a limited number of reprints with due permission.

� Organisational experiences in HR interventions / mechanisms.

About this issue

The theme of the current Issue is �Managing Stakeholders - Role of HR�.

Editorial Board Members

Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Managing Editor, is a Leadership Architect, Career Coach, Change and

Transition Specialist with thirty years of successful professional experience in managing entire gamut of

Human Resources Management with proven expertise in managing multicultural globally distributed

knowledge professionals. He has rich experience in companies like Citrix, Dell Perot, Cambridge

Solutions, Sasken and ALIT. He is a doctoral fellow in HRD from XLRI, a product of NTL, USA and provides

HR consulting with many large Indian and MNCs and start-ups in the area of Leadership coaching,

Organisation development, Long-term capability building, Strategic change and Organisation alignment.

Dr Arvind N Agrawal is Managing Partner at Lead Associates. He was the President and Chief Executive of

Corporate Development & Human Resources and Member of Management Board of RPG Enterprises. He

held senior positions in Escorts and Modi Xerox. He was the past National President of National HRD

Network. Dr Agrawal is an IIM, Ahmedabad and an IIT, Kharagpur alumni, and also holds a Ph.D. from

IIT, Mumbai.

NHRD firmly believes in and respects IPR and we appeal to the contributors

and readers to strictly honour the same.

For any further clarifications, please contact:

The Managing Editor

Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Leadership Architect and Career Coach, HR PLUSnd thSri Nrusimhadri, Flat No 303, Third Floor, No 12, 2 Main, 7 Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore-560070


Contents

S. No. Title of Article Author Page No.

Editorial Note

About The Guest Editor

01

04

Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay

HN Shrinivas

Articles

1. HR and CSR � Natural Allies 07 Dr. Farida Virani

2. Co-creating Business Value 11Dr. KB Akhilesh with Stakeholders

3. Management of Stakeholders What Should HR�s Role be? 21Marcel Parker

4. Delivering the Brand Promise � The Role of HR 26Sowmya R

5. Effective Corporate Social Responsibility 32 Dileep Ranjekar

6. Understanding the Role of HR in 35Anindya Kumar Shee Amit Sharma Stakeholder Management

7. Is Cocreation the Future? 44Rajasekhar Kaza P Vijayakumar

8. HR and Trade Unions Are They Incompatible? No! 48K R Shyam Sundar 9. Larger Purpose of Human Resources 53S Deenadayalan Professionals

10. Educational institutions- A Key Stake Holder in Business? 61Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen

11. Sense & Sensibility in HR 64R Vidyasagar

12. Sustainable Development Goals and Corporate 67Lakshmi Lingam Social Responsibility: Time to get Counted Varun Ramchandruni

13. Human Resources An Agent of Social Convergence 73H N Shrinivas

Contents

S. No. Title of Article Author Page No.

14. HR in Wonderland! 79Kalpana Bansal

15. Sustainable Organisation and Sustaining 83Ghandi Doss L S Organic Relationship through Social Entrepreneurship

Case Study

16. HR Transformation 86Vikas Shinde The Sahyadri Farms Story Prashant Khambaswadkar

17. Cultural Fit for Leadership Roles in Family 90Naveen Khajanchi Businesses 18. Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast � 94Vasant Ayappan A Case on Taj Work Culture

19. Mentoring as an Accelerator to 99Rema Mohan Bridge the Literacy Gap in Education

20. Upholding the True Spirit 103Prashant Sude of CSR Engagement

Book Review

21. Book Review HR from the Outside In 107 Jays Chandy

Dear Readers

You must be wondering why did we choose to dedicate our current issue on

�Managing Stakeholders: Role of HR�? The reasons are manifold. First, as

professionals we need to think who is our focal customer? Is our HR team�s

only agenda is satisfying the internal stakeholders? Or is it going beyond

that to build a more responsible role and support our organizations to build a

sustainable business strategy? Needless to say our primary focus is on

employees, but we are now traversing through a time where our role need to

get expanded to reinforce our professional identity that are more close to

business. We need to understand the reality that in 21st century

organisations do not exist to only make management and employees

satisfied, its charter is to make customers, shareholders, vendors and the

community, virtually all stakeholders satisfied and engaged.

John Elkington, an author, advisor and serial entrepreneur first talked about Triple bottom Line as a

measure of success framework for organizations. Triple bottom line (TBL) is an accounting

framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological) and financial. Many organizations

today have adopted the TBL framework to evaluate their performance. For organizations today this

means a complete different approach for carrying out business. This also means in addition to

economic considerations of continuous growth at market place and generating profit, organizations

need to be held accountable for their impacts on larger society (community) and the environment. This

approach also entails that organizations should also assess social and environmental risks and

opportunities while making their business decisions. As aptly put by some experts, this organizational

performance is often described as simultaneous delivery of positive results for people, planet and

profit. It is in this context, who other than an HR function can play a pivotal role in bringing about this

change in organizations?

The HR function is critical to achieving organizational success in such an environment where every

aspect of doing business need to be embedded across the organization at all levels, through an on-

going change process. As HR professionals, our primary expertise being organizational process

interventions with a focus on managing change and culture stewardship, we must take a leading role in

developing and implementing a sustainable business strategy in organizations. In order to implement

such strategy, HR function must be ready to interact and influence all the organizational stakeholders

(both internal and external) to help implement such strategies by working collaboratively with these

stakeholders, namely

a. Employees (individually, in teams/work-groups and trade unions)

b. Customers

c. Vendors and Suppliers

d. Investors (Board)

e. Community (local as well as global)

However one thing is sure. The way HR impact internal stakeholders are essentially different from the

way they impact their external stakeholders. According to a study done by University of Michigan, four

obstacles stand in the way of achieving this stakeholder management. These are described below

1. Knowledge: Though HR professionals have greater knowledge of HR processes and internal

business they do need to acquire knowledge of external realities(i.e. customers, competitors,

Editorial Note

01NHRD Network Journal January 2017 |

capital markets, industry trends etc.). Research indicates that in the current business

environment today, high-performing HR teams cannot succeed in achieving their results without

this knowledge.

2. Skill Set: Skill set that is required for HR professionals to impact internal customers, including

line managers and employees, is substantially different from the skill set that is required to

impact external customers and investors.

3. Unit of Analysis: HR professionals tend to focus on the optimisation of individual talent in

organization. This focus may lead to remove their focus away from the external macro

environment, which ultimately determines institutional success or failure.

4) Expectations: For many years, HR teams have kept their focus limited to internal operations of

the organization. This has perpetuated legitimacy of HR role in engaging only internal

stakeholders in the minds of senior leaders, who in turn expect HR teams to maintain this internal

focus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

According to a report by SHRM foundation, the HR function can use its skills, knowledge and tools in

three main ways to help organizations support sustainable business strategy. These are

1) Partnering: HR leaders can play a vital role in helping articulate the organization�s social

mission. It can support this process at the executive leadership level by contributing stakeholder

perspectives and employee interests.

2) Engaging: HR professionals can engage both internal and external stakeholders to identify the

ways in which the organization can contribute to the social and environmental vitality of those

most affected by organization�s actions by building partnerships with external governmental

and non-governmental organizations that are mandated to work on these issues.

3) Aligning: All core HR processes like recruitment

and selection, employee training, development and compensation,

managerial support and communication, and organizational climate creation could be aligned to

support sustainable business strategy.

As researchers like Connolly, Conlon and Deutsch have aptly stated:�� individuals become involved

with an organisation (as owners, managers, employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, etc.)

for a variety of different reasons and these reasons will be reflected in a variety of different

evaluations. It appears somewhat arbitrary to label one of these perspectives a priority as the

‘correct’ one”

Therefore, it is likely that HR function today need to play a much broader role in order to bring a balance

between the expectations of divergent stakeholder groups so that they evaluate HR function�s

effectiveness more holistically. It may not be out of the way to mention that HR guru Jeffrey Pfeffer had

many years ago challenged HRM practitioners to think about the social impacts of their HRM systems,

in addition to pay and economic stability.

I hope I have rightfully put across my views justifying the importance of dedicating this issue on

�Managing Stakeholder: Role of HR�. It is in this context, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to

Mr HN Shrinivas, an accomplished HR leader in his own right who took upon the responsibilities of

guest editing this issue. He worked in right earnest to find contributors for this issue both from

corporate and academic world to share their experiences and reflect on their thoughts and actions. I

am sure our readers will like this issue. As always, I believe that our esteemed readers which include


HR professionals, academicians, students and line managers will not only gain interesting insights but

also will develop their own perspective on this important issue.

In line with our continuous endeavour of touching upon contemporary HR issues, I am happy to inform

you that the April, 2017 issue will be dedicated to the theme of “Dilemmas in HR: Present and

Future” guest edited by Dr Joseph George. This will be followed by (July, 2017) another interesting

issue on “HR Analytics” which will be guest edited by Ramesh Soundararajan.

Wish you all a belated happy 2017. Enjoy reading the issue.

Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay

Managing Editor


About The Guest Editor

04

Mr HN Shrinivas has served the Tata Group for 29 years of which 27 years at Taj

Hotels. He lead HR at Taj Hotels to several global recognitions like Gallup global

best workplace award, Hewitt best employer award and JRD QV award. After

retiring as Senior VP and Global Head �Human Resources from Taj hotels in

March, 2014, he handled an assignment with Tata sons, as Advisor- Vocational

skills initiative, a major CSR initiative of the Tata Group till April, 2015. Currently he

is working as CEO-Vocational Skill Development at TISS, Mumbai.

He has provided leadership for the rehabilitation of 26/11 terror victim families in

Mumbai which has won international acclaim and has become a Harvard Case

study. He can be reached at [email protected].

HN Shrinivas

NHRD Network Journal January 2017 |

Guest Editorial

n the journey of human progress, people across the world are connected inextricably influencing the nature Iand pace of evolution of collective human consciousness. In a globally integrated economy today the country barriers and boundaries are thinning significantly and we see clearly the emergence of �Global citizen" who have more things in common, than ever. With the advancements in technology and its ever speedier application for production and distribution of goods and services, the boundary walls created historically, are becoming more and more redundant, and the actions of one country and any one interest group affects the other, and the need to define synergies and lasting relationships for better understanding and peaceful co-existence is felt today more than ever before.

Even within business organizations these larger interdependencies, are obvious, and Company boards are considering establishing better and better understanding and building relationships with multiple stakeholders who contribute to the organization directly and indirectly expecting value in return from the organization. Thus, multi stake holder value creation has emerged as a major company agenda and the boards of companies are getting mandated to put plans and programs to address this more comprehensively.

This issue of HRD journal addresses this interesting facet of business and the mandates that are emerging for HR leaders in this context.

In my article, (HN Shrinivas) I have traced the journey of HR function in the last century or so, and presented the spectacle (with examples demonstrated) that, from humble beginnings as labour law compliance inspectors, how the HR function has emerged today, to play the most critical role of galvanizing and energising human talent and establishing values and culture that ensures long term sustainability of business.

Dileep Ranjekar, who is at the helm of Azim Premji Foundation, highlights, that corporate social responsibility is all about, business leaders, being responsible citizens, and the understanding of societal concerns that HR has to demonstrate to build this culture. In this context, the basic pillars of a good CSR program are aptly elucidated by him.

Amit Sharma and Anindya Kumar Shee has focused on a new dimension of looking at HRM and it�s stakeholder management in organizations. Working on inputs from critical theorists, they have focused on HR as a socially construed phenomenon to support the power tussle between multiple stakeholders as against mainstream literatures and much accepted view of a pluralist (multiple purposes and goals) and collectivist (employees as a group or groups) work place. Drawing upon their experiences they have proposed an interesting model which would be of interest to both practitioner as well as theorists.

Marcel Parker, another HR veteran, looks at HR role in stake holder management, and defines what is just and how it is different from being fair. He also tasks the HR function with understanding the changing needs of multiple stakeholders, through effective communication forums and putting plans to meet them.

Prof Laxmi Lingam and Varun Ramchandruni, have underlined the role of Corporates, and the HR function in particular, in planning and delivering CSR program, understanding the Nation�s larger Social concerns. They also touch upon significant advancements in understanding the theme of corporate sustainability (CS) across the world, with millenium Goals, and triple bottom line reporting, and the progress achieved thus far in defining a framework for organizational compliance in this key area.

Dr. Ghandi Doss, highlights, the role of HR in understanding the social entrepreneurship and its valuable contribution society.

Dr. Farida, has lucidly narrated with examples, how this theme, CSR/CS, is gaining Importance in today's organisations and the changing role for HR.

Raj Kaza, and Dr. P Vijayakumar, have presented a view, where HR leaders should reexplore the �H� in HR highlighting the importance of reviving the human factors within organisations and Society and build the necessary bridges for amicable understanding among all interest groups.

Mr. R Vidyasagar with his rich experience as HR Leader in both Indian & Multi National Companies has


highlighted the role of HR in creating value to multi generation work force in a technology driven environment; He urges Hr function to strengthen their key role as employee champions.

Ms. Kalpana Bansal, a practicing HR professional, highlighting the complex role of HR in today�s turbulent, changing world has underlined the importance of aligning purpose and strategy to shared values and HR deliverables.

Prof. Shyam Sundar has examined the industrial relations dimension and the HR Leaders capabilities in building lasting relationships with trade unions and employees.

Prof. Tareen with his rich experience as Vice Chancellor of the central universities strongly feels that HR Leaders have to facilitate rewarding and mutually beneficial relationships between educational institutes and businesses.

Dr. Akhilesh, alludes to the green concept of HR and the tranformational role of HR leaders today in protecting external environment, nature, socio-cultural, and economic. Thus identify and build lasting relationships with multiple stake holders.

Mr. S Deenadayalan have spoken about the larger purpose of HR and have very convincingly highlighted the role of HR as a catalyst in building strong relationships with multiple stakeholders i.e., employees,customers and community highlighting on social value creation.

Ms. Sowmya has traced the role of HR in delivering brand promise in a competitive market environment with examples and case studies.

We have a few interesting case studies which highlight the role of HR in creating value and building relationships with a variety of stakeholders;

Mr. Vasant Ayappan a former Taj veteran interestingly brings out how building service culture as a central pillar for delivering business strategy and the role loyal employees play in creating and building service excellence.

Mr. Prashant Khambaswadkar and Mr. Vikas Shinde have presented a path breaking case of an Agricultural Co-operative company being run profitably, somewhat similar to the National Dairy Development Board-NDDB-Amul Model and the role of HR in enabling it. This company Sahyadri farms, has gained visibility, at the national level as a unique experiment, building synergies between farmers, and The Market, and run a sustainable enterprise.

Mr. Naveen Khajanchi, a leading executive coach, highlights the importance of proper selection, recruitment of senior leaders, with the right cultural fit in family run businesses. as central mandate for such HR leaders.

Ms. Rema Mohan, VP CSR, National Stock Exchange, has given a brilliant example of successfully deploying HR Skills of Coaching and Mentoring in CSR projects, for the benefit of the needy sections of society.

Mr. Prashant Sude, Project manager and senior Fellow, TISS, has highlighted the emerging professional

rigour required for delivering CSR Projects and the supportive role TATA Institute of Social Sciences is playing

in this direction. Incidentally TISS-NCSR Hub works with more than 45 to 50 Public/Private Sector

companies guiding, supporting and helping them in implementing CSR Programs & Projects speedily and effectively by deploying contemporary tools and techniques.

In conclusion, there is clearly a transformation gathering momentum and moving with speed, in the Role of an HR Leader in today�s Organization. It is that of a credible employee champion, change catalyst, relationship builder with key communities and society, besides addressing shareholder concerns. These relationships with multiple stakeholders i.e., shareholders, employees, Trade unions, customers, vendors, community, society and government calls for certain leadership versatility of people management. These are great times where HR Leaders can seize the opportunity and build bridges of empathy, understanding and mutually beneficial and lasting relationships. It is in this exciting journey, HR leaders can realise a sense fulfilment and also would have made a strong enough case for their place in the board room. I am sure you will find these articles insightful and interesting.


HN ShrinivasCEO - Vocational Skill Development at TISSMumbai

HR and CSR � Natural Allies

Through her professional journey of two decades and more, she has worn many

hats in her career - Director, faculty, researcher, corporate trainer and strategist.

Consequently, she has a unique ability to manage and navigate complex

challenges with reasonable calm and ease. Her professional expertise includes

teaching various subjects related to Applied Behavioural Sciences, Organizational

Behavior and Human Resources Management. She heads the Skills Development

Vertical at the Universal Group of Companies.

She is a Certified Mediator a Master Trainer for the International Conciliation and

Arbitration Board (ICAB). She is a research enthusiast with a number of national /

international, newspaper articles and a book to her credit. Recently she was to be

invited to be the Session Chair as well as present a paper at a Global Academic

Leadership Conference organized at the Harvard University Boston � USA.

Dr. Farida Virani

About the Author


hilanthropy and CSR were never new concepts for the Indian companies but the inclusion of the CSR Pmandate under the Companies Act, 2013 was an attempt to supplement the government�s efforts of

equitably delivering the benefits of growth and to engage the corporate world with the country�s development

agenda. Literature review and the various definitions of CSR reveal, �It is a holistic and integrated approach

entwined with the core business strategy for addressing social and environmental impacts of businesses. It

addresses the well-being of all stakeholders and not just the company�s shareholders�.Interestingly, in the past

CSR in India tended to focus on what was done with profits after they were made. This overpowered the

'sustainability' angle of business which dealt with the ethical issues and the social - environmental impact of

the business. Now with the combination of regulatory and societal pressure companies are forced to pursue

their CSR activities with a sustainability angle in a more professional manner.

As the business environment gets increasingly complex and stakeholders become vocal about their

expectations, good CSR practices can only bring in greater benefits, some of which are as follows;

� Communities provide the social license to operate.

� Increase employee and customer retention while enhancing relationships with customers, suppliers and

networks

� Enhance corporate reputation while differentiating positively from competitors

� Generate innovation and learning and enhance influence

� Provide access to investment and funding opportunities

� Generate positive publicity and media opportunities due to media interest in ethical business activities

Example: IBM, created the IBM Corporate Service Corps program, an international employee volunteerism

service corps and engagement program. IBM�s Corporate Service Corps program enables employees to share

their professional skills with a company in a developing country. So far, IBM has sent over 2,500 participants,

on over 250 teams, to more than 30 countries around the world. While the regular staff turnover rate is reported

around 12 percent per year, the rate for employees in the IBM Corporate Service Corps is less than 1 percent.

IBM�s Corporate Service Corps program promotes interlinked values and outcomes for social, business, and

economic development while cultivating effective global managers and combined outcomes and business

development. A report mentions, since the program�s launch in 2008, IBM cites a $600 million return on its $200

million investment.

The author agrees to the quote, �CSR without HR is pure PR�. In order for CSR not to succumb to being a pure

PR activity, it is obvious that the function of HR need to play a crucial role. The Human Resource Department of

a company has the capability to play a significant role in the creation of their company�s sustainability culture

(Harmon, Fairfield & Wirtenberg, 2010; Wirtenberg, Harmon, Russell, & Fairfield, 2007). Touted as the �keepers

of culture� in organizations, they possess the knowledge and skills to enforce the organization�s mission, vision

and values. It is the only department that is professionally trained to change the attitudes and behaviors of the

executives, managers, and employees by modifying their many human resource systems to reinforce a strong,

values-driven sustainability oriented organizational culture. Globally, HR leaders are responsible for

developing and implementing incentive and appraisal systems that reflect sustainability as well as hiring

personnel that embody these values.

The HR professionals have the power encourage deep relationships and build soulful organizations. These

companies act as a magnet for individuals who long to be part of something bigger than them-selves: a

compelling mission that is more than just a document, it is a palpable shared passion with the other people who work

there. PR Leap (2007) notes, when CSRis embedded in mainstream business strategy; it becomes a mechanism for

unlocking human capital, by helping enhance corporate reputation and build pride and shared values.

HR and CSR � Natural Allies


An interesting CSR Competency Framework has been developed by the Department of Trade and Industry

(DTI) UK. The Competency Framework is based on research commissioned by the DTI and the Corporate

Responsibility Group entitled �Changing Manager Mindsets�, a report on the development of professional

skills for the practice of corporate social responsibility. The Framework consists of a set of sixcore

characteristics;

1. Understanding Society - Understanding the role of each player in society � government, business, trade

unions, non-governmental organizations and civil society.

2. Building Capacity - Building capacity and external partnerships and creating strategic networks and

alliances.

3. Questioning Business as Usual - Being open to new ideas, challenging others to adopt new ways of

thinking and questioning business as usual

4. Stakeholder Relations - Identifying stakeholders, building relations with internal and external

stakeholders, engaging in consultation and balancing demands.

5. Strategic View - Taking a strategic view of the business environment.

6. Harnessing Diversity - Respecting diversity and adjusting approaches to different situations.

In organizations where a healthy nexus between HR and CSR persists, the HR professional is able to give

sensible inputs to the marketing teams for ambitious yet responsible marketing campaigns and urge the

product development teams to assess the impact of the product designs on the environment and the society.

Ex: HUL�s innovative rural marketing plan for distribution of products to inaccessible rural markets using

unconventional transport like bullock carts, tractors and bicycles came after its active engagement with rural

India through its CSR activities. The HR professionals are able to successfully contribute towards building

internal and external partnerships and create strategic networks and alliances thereby empowering staff and

putting systems in place for assessing the social and environmental impact of suppliers. By applying the

characteristic of �questioning business as usual� the HR department can help measure the business impact,

not just financially, but over a range of social and environmental concerns including the assessment of

reputational risk as well as stimulate a shift in thinking from financial gain/loss to business integrity. The HR

department is instrumental in strengthening stakeholder relations enhance communication with stakeholders

on a regular basis, deepening relationships and understand the pulse across and outside the business with

vendors, suppliers and communities.

While making a leap from mere awareness to leadership in CSR and Sustainability, the HR professional

develops many competencies like; adaptability, empathy, developing others, influencing without power, open

mindedness, integrity, political awareness, self-development and learning, building partnerships,

understanding and measurement of impact, multiple stakeholder dialogue, understanding human rights ,

comprehending sustainability from a local and global perspective , engaging in consultation and balancing

demands of the business while creating an organization with a soul .The HR professional then truly arrives as a

�Strategic Business Partner� and rightfully take his/her place in the Boardroom.

Bibliography

Coro Strandberg 2005, �Recruiting CSR-Competent Leaders�

http://corostrandberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ceo-csr-criteria-in-recruitment-and-succession-

planning.pdf

CSR Academy � The competency framework

http://www.nmiconsulting.co.uk/docs/Competency_Framework_FINAL.pdf

Ellen Weinreb 2015, The ROI of CSR: How one company generated a $600 million return

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/roi-csr-how-one-company-generated-600-million-return


From Cinderella to CSR, People Management Magazine,

http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/9263a-2003-08.aspx

Futurescape - https://www.futurescape.in/india-best-companies-for-csr-2015/

Handbook on Corporate Social Responsibility in India. www.pwc.in

Inyang, Awa, Enuoh, 2011, CSR-HRM Nexus: Defining the Role Engagement of the Human Resources

Professionals

http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol._2_No._5_[Special_Issue__March_2011]/15.pdf

Liebowitz , 2010, The Role of HR in Achieving a Sustainability Culture, Journal of Sustainable Development

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/8542


Professor K.B. Akhilesh is a Senior Professor of Human Resource Management,

Organizational Behaviour and Technology Management in the Department of

Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He is the

President of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Rae Bareli and also a

Member of Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak. He is an

Honorary Dean at SVYASA (Yoga University) and co-ordinator for M.Tech program

for Technology Management at Defense Institute of Advanced Technology. He is a

member of Academy of Management USA, National Institute of Personnel

Management, National HRD Network and National Board of Accreditation, AICTE.

He was honored for his lifetime contributions to HR by NIPM.

Professor Akhilesh completed his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science with a gold stmedal, Master of Social Work (I Rank) and Graduation in Science.

His specific research interest include Collective Intelligence at the team level,

Family Business performance, Expertise Transfer, Team design for virtual work and

product development, Vocational Skill development, Organizational development

and Change Management.

K B Akhilesh

Co-creating Business Value with Stakeholders

About the Author


bstract: The Human Resources department has always been viewed as a nexus between the employees Aand the higher officials of an organisation. The role of the Human Resources department has been defined

and refined with every single day. A pool of researches have been conducted on the importance of the HR

department and its core responsibilities, but there still remains a huge gap in acknowledging the need for a

fresh and a more advanced outlook towards the Human Resources department in any organisation. This paper

tries to address the need of the hour, the need for the HR department to go from being address as HR to GHRM

(Green Human Resources Management). The necessity for a shift in focus from the traditional needs to a more

environment friendly and sustainability oriented HRM department. The entire profession that calls for a drastic

transition, can only be carried out with the help of new stakeholders. This paper will focus on the changes that

can be encouraged or installed in any organisation with the help of different stakeholders.

Introduction

Traditionally the role of the HR department was more staff oriented where they looked after wage management

and healthcare benefits of the employees , this was the first ever function carried out by the Human Resources

department. This traditional function took a step forward when the company realised that the employees need

security and quality of life. The HR department then found itself learning a new set of skills and improving the

existing ones. This new realisation for the need of social security, safeguarding of human rights that protect the

employees, the need for provident funds and different legal formalities led the HR to interact with the

government. From functioning within the organisation to creating a link between the organisation and the

government was a huge change that the HR departments all over the world experienced. The first phase that

the Human Resources witnessed was the traditional stakeholder and economical approach. This Phase 1one

quickly shifted to phase to two which required creating a legal framework to ensure social security security.

The horizon of this traditional role was broadened as each slice of new function was added to the existing stalk

of responsibilities. With wage and healthcare management the need to increase productivity was addressed

over the years. Researches and studies suggested that in order to experience increased productivity it was

important to ensure employee satisfaction by reducing stress and offering benefits and reward to the

employees. This led to the expansion of the role of the HR department from staff function oriented to employee

well beings and satisfaction oriented. This marked the shift in the core function of the Human Resources

department. Redesigning and refined the HRM role is crucial as the workforce changes every years and so do

their needs. The real challenge HR faces today is to keep raising the bar for themselves with every passing day

in order to come up with new and advanced ideas to merge old responsibilities with new ones that are in sync

with the needs of the organisation, its employees, the society, the stakeholders and the environment. The third

phase that the HR is now slowly shifting into is the need for a creating a sustainable organisations. Reacting to

the present day problems which were created by the activities of the organisation or others.

Sustainability plays a major role in ensuring the wellbeing of the society and the environment. Sustainability is

defined as the need to use the existing resources in such a way that the present and the future generations both

can reap the benefits of natures wholesome bounty. The demand for a clean climate, sustainability in terms of

available resources and the need for social reforms have increased and the focus of the organisations have also

been shifted. This calls for a different way of doing business that is not only profit driven but also takes

accountability of its effects on the society and the environment. This approach is also known as the �triple

bottom line�, the triple bottom line walks hand in hand with people, planet and profits (Elkington, 1994) �

As discussed above the Human Resources department previously focused only on the employees,

management and the owners of the organisation but this was the scenario of the past the future calls for a more

elaborate extension of the organisational family that included the customers, stakeholders, retired employees

and most importantly the society and the environment. Social lawfulness of an organisation calls for inculcated

important aspects of sustainability such as environmental stewardship, workplace awareness and duties,

safeguarding human rights and encouraging organisational citizenship ( Elaine Cohen. et.al, 2004).

Co-creating Business Value with Stakeholders


This paper intends to guide organisations and their HR teams to understand why it is important to shed the old

Human Resources customs and put on a new one which believes in extending its much needed services not

only to internal organisational members but to its external members as well. The need to involve and indulge in

spending quality time working on collaborating with new stakeholders, this engagement has the potential to

bring about a vast variety of changing in how the organisations function today as well as the role they play in

making the society and environment a better place. This paper would discuss why HR can change the market

of Sustainability from the organisation points of view as well as discuss some skills that can be used in order to

create a sustainable environment for the organisation and everyone involved with it.

Stakeholders: The Stalk of New Ideas

Innovative and Strategic planning conducted by firms today is concentrating on the potential a stakeholder can

bring to the innovative table. A large number of firms are collaborating with stakeholders that have common

interests with that of the organisation. Let�s look at the trade system of any given country, the fact that the entire

system of import and export exists is proof enough to quote that no organisation can be reach the highest level

of innovation and strategic enlightenment without creating a close association with new stakeholders. This

association has to go beyond the set of traditional stakeholders that already have mergers with organisations.

The emphasis on a diverse workforce to create the maximum level of productivity has been practised by

leading firms for that past few years now. This diversity of thought, ideas, background and understanding of the

world, sure does bring a number of complexities, but these complexities can be tackled when we compare the

competencies these settings bring about. The same thumb rule of any productive and innovative organisation

an be applied to the entire stakeholder concept, “The more the Diversity, the more will be the range of

application and feedback.” The most accomplished and knowledgeable people we know today are not only

great readers and thinker, but they are people who have seen the world and studied different cultures. These

people are rich in information as they have had first hadn't experiences and information from different people,

these ethnographical experiences help an individual grow and absorb the surroundings and its needed in a new

and altered fashion. Let�s apply the same concept to an organisation, the individual in the above context acting

as a large firm. Any firm needs to understand the people it is surrounded by before trying to understand their

problems. The concept of self sufficiency is hard to pull off when different organisations are constantly

competing with each other. For instance, An organisation who has just set up their sustainable world camp can

collaborate with the media as a stakeholder and use the power of media to connect with prospective

customers. Would an extensive reach be possible for an organisation depending only on internal factors and

traditional stakeholders? The answer is no. Hence, collaborations and alliances with a large variety or let say a

diverse bunch of stakeholders is key.

We all are aware of how a machine operators, different parts are linked together to the an ultimate task. Small

level goals are unique to each part but the ultimate goal is to achieve one task. In the same manner the

organisation is a machine and the stakeholders play different parts that bring to life a common a ultimate goal

upheld by the organisation. Just life a machine needs oiling to function well, different groups of stakeholders

need timely briefing and meetings in order to keep everything functioning smoothly. After identifying the

potential stakeholders, the next step is to manage them. The process of management has always been a

tedious one, but once that task is accomplished the results are always satisfying.

Delineating existing Capabilities: An organisation should clearly be aware of the resources they own and

resources they are seeking. This makes sit easy to understand what they expect from the stakeholders and

how to get it.

Absorbing: The art of absorption is very crucial, the stakeholders will give ideas and new innovative methods

of connecting to a larger market, but the final decision and the plan has to be executed by the HR department

itself. Hence, an open mindset and the ability to soak in information is important.


Technology and Stakeholders

Stakeholders can prove beneficial when organisations trying to understand the existing technological market

and what technologies are new and latest. Information that was only limited previously can be obtained by

organisation, courtesy stakeholder relations.

Market Situation

In the same manner market situation can be understood and analysed with the help of stakeholders who have

a keen knowledge about the market situation and how the market functions. Once all these factors are in place,

the process of co-creation starts.

Process of Co-Creation

Co-Creation is a process and can only be achieved after a systematic analysis on the part of the organisation.

In order to merge Co-Creation and Sustainability the organisation needs to closely scrutinise the potential

stakeholders.

Learning: Learning refers to the firm�s propensity to monitor information and different functions of their

multiple stakeholders. In order to kick start any initiative it is very important to make sure that the organisation

is doing their homework well. The process of learning is a crucial part of cocreation. Learning creates the

necessary foundation for the organisation to make further decisions. The influences of these potential

stakeholders, their market value and the market reach and influence of these stakeholders is vital. Before

commencing the idea of �The construct of a Sustainable Society� the organisation should try to learn by close

involvement with their stakeholders about the issues that society is facing today. Before trying to develop a

new educational system the organisation needs to understand how their education institutes function, this can

be carried out by sending a few employees to work for an NGO that promotes and supports child education. In

a similar manner to learn about sustainable environment and create a framework of solutions the organisation

needs to learn and comprehend the entire system of creating a sustainable change, this can be only be done

when one understand the real issues the environment faces today. Companies can send their employees to

work with NGO�s and give them a chance to learn and grasp the concept of how one can create a sustainable

society.

Learning is not a one way path, it requires all the parties involved to find a common goal, the company also

needs to brief and interact with these stakeholders and discuss future projects and their exchange ideas with

each other to make sure everyone is not he same page and the process of learning and brainstorming takes

place smoothly. Another such example could be when companies merge with the government and treat the

government as prospective stakeholder. Discussing future plans of supporting and funding educational

institutes along with local communities would help the organisation gain necessary information from the

government about these communities and the functioning of the educational system. After learning and

understand it is now time to connect.

Connect : The process of learning is never complete with connecting to the discovered problems. The process

of finding a connecting with the existing societal and environmental problems is the main challenge. A close

understanding of the problems is needed in order to come up with a good and viable solution. Connecting can

also be about creating a personal and close relation with the problems that the society is facing today. Only

after this link is created a connection can be formed. And the team can work on developing a solution. After the

connect has been created it is time to execute the final step i.e Co- Creation.

Co-Creation : After mapping the stakeholders and understand their internal and external constituencies. A co-

creative group can be formed, this group should consist of people who are closely related and understand the

problem from different angles. E.g. Environmental law firms, the government, environmental NGO�s etc ,all

these people understand environmental issues closely and then come up with new solutions. The same can be

applied while solving societal issues like girl child education, construct of public toilets, gender equality etc.

Co-creation is a long and tedious process, but the results that come out co-creation are always of high value

base. Co-creation is an amalgamation of a diverse set of stakeholders that bring different set of views to the


same plate. A set of guidelines and set of groove meetings can establish and ensure maintenance of

stakeholder relationships with each other and the company. Interactions between different stakeholders create

awareness, and awareness creates a stir of knowledge and knowledge is the key to any co-creative idea.

Sustainability as A Successful Business Strategy

Mother Earth is facing serious environmental issues today, from global warming to the drop in the number of

forests and trees on the face of the planet today. Environmental issues have been a rise and so has the

awareness to keep things in check. Various companies on a large scale use many resources available to us

today and hence it is necessary for these organisations to make sure that these resources are being used

effectively and no wastage is done. Environmentalists and the media have been a major contributor in creating

awareness about environmental issues among people. The people who are also potential customers of many

organisations now realise the importance of practicing sustainability and support these causes. Sustainability

is not solely about saving the environment, but its also about managing resources well and taking required

measures to recycle these resources if possible. This decision of catering to environmental and societal needs

is likely to pay of in a number of palpable ways (Orlitzky, M et. al , 2003). Studies show that organisations who

walk the sustainability path see a drastic improvement in their market reputation, productivity, employee

retention and engagement, cost effectiveness, innovation (Fairfield, et.al 2011). Sustainability is a process, in

order to get this process started one needs to review their company policies, structure and the existing

business model. New business strategies need to be chalked out alongside identifying who the real

stakeholders are. New business strategies require the involvement of the stakeholders, they are defined those

people who are effected by the activities of the organisation and have an effect on them. The financial pillars of

the organisation along with the employees, customers, retired employees, future recruits, the society and the

environment are the stakeholders of any organisation.

The stakeholders and the organisation have to function as a team as the decisions of one affects the other and

vice versa. The benefits of emerging with external stakeholders are immense, it gives the organisation a sense

of implementation and how to go about it. One of the major stakeholders that can prove to be beneficial in

gearing up the sustainability process are the Non Governmental Organisations ( NGOs). NGO�s that support

causes like �GO GREEN�, �SAVE MOTHER EARTH� and many more. Alliances like these are extremely

important while making new sustainable company policies, the organisation and the HRM team and build

policies that are in sync with the motto of their respective alliances. Organisational transparency is the key to a

sustainable approach and is exhibited in the fact that a growing number of organisations are preparing and

submitting the annual sustainability report. HRM team is the key binder here as they deal with the human force

in any organisation. The HR department can create a more productive and sustainability satisfied environment

with the help of this work force and in the process creating long term results.

The core function of the HR department is to look after employee satisfaction, appraisals, wellbeing, help them

achieve targets, training and development along with other roles like managing change and promoting cultural

stewardship. These functions are key when trying to create a more sustainable environment in any

organisation. The question that now stands is how?, amalgamation of sustainability and appraisals, rewards

for new and creative ways in imbibing a sustainable outlook. Managing the entire change that occurs when

policies change and take a more sustainable outline. These skills are unique to the HR department and hence

they play a crucial and paramount while walking on the path of a Greener approach. Sustainability can be

administered in two specific branches 1. Recreate business values 2. Sustainability as the main ingredient of

the HR department.

Recreating Business Values

Sustainability cannot just be implemented in an organisation it has to be a planned process and what better

than recreating the core VALUE SYSTEM or motto of the organisation and tailor it to embrace and promote

sustainability.

Strategic Lane: Strategic sustainability is adopted by many organisations in form of providing sustainable

benefits to the environment and society via their products. The most recent example is a campaign started by


SONATA watches, Sonata is selling watches that have an emergency alert button when a woman feels she is in

danger. This strategic move is in favour of the society and this helps create a more responsible and aware

company reputation.

� Lush: Mark Constantine and Liz Weir, a beauty therapist founded LUSH Ltd in the year 1995. This

company was formed in the value system of responsibility to the environment and the society. After

21years Lush still operates on the same lines. Recyclable paper is used to wrap the study products. They

have upheld their core motto of No Animal Testing, No Chemicals. Lush purchases their organic raw

materials from small villages all over the world, thus support them and creating jobs.

� Coca Cola: Coca Cola started a sustainable project to support water stewardship that protects local

water bodies.

� The Body Shop: The Body Shop was founded by Anita Roddick in 1976. The Body Shop like Lush Ltd,

took on the sustainable path by creating cruelty free and natural products (Dame Anita Roddick 2011).

Defence Lane: Defence Sustainability is used by tobacco and liquor manufacturing companies by providing a

disclaimed on the packaging about the serious health hazards that smoking and drinking can lead too.

Sustainability as the Main Ingredient of HR Ethics and Policies

Along with the organisational foundation, the HR department also needs to reevaluate the values they hold

most high. This very foundation needs to be all about Green HR Department. Male to Female employment ratio

has been one of the major issues our society is facing today along with pay disparity. The HR policies can be

built on the foundation of equity, equal ratio of male to female recruits and equal remuneration to all genders.

Another step that an organisation can take to ensure societal benefits and wellbeing is by providing the

differently abled and third gender of the society with suitable jobs. Just like the Maslow�s pyramid of needs,

Carroll developed the pyramid of social responsibilities. The pyramid consist of four layers of social

responsibility and the order in which it needs to be achieved in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Carroll’s Pyramid of Social Responsibility.

Economical Legal Responsibility: The second functions calls for the organisation to be legally responsible

and to be in sync with the law of the country they operate in.

Ethical Responsibility: The third responsibility is all about being in harmony with the environment and the

society and to ensure no harm is caused because of company activities.

Discretional Responsibility: The fourth responsibility is to actively involve company activities for the benefit

of the society.


Responsibility: The first

responsibility of any

organisation is to make sure

their company is doing

economically well and the

stakeholders are

receiving their returns

in term of profit.

Tools that can be used by the HR Department on the Way of Creating a Sustainable

Organisation

The process of a Sustainable organisation seeds from that HR department, the HR department initiates this

process by creating mergers with NGO�s and other stakeholders. After these mergers are creating the HR

department should start brainstorming with their external and internal stakeholders for ideas and creative ways

to promote sustainability. Another most important aspect of sustainability is to create a sync between the HR

department and all the organisational activities so sustainability can be initiated at each and every level from

the horizontal to the vertical layers.

So this brings us to three major tools can can be bifurcated into other categories.

1. Mergers

2. Brainstorming

3. Sync

The catch doesn't just lie with the HR department, in order to make any idea successful in an organisation the

involvement of the workforce is paramount. In order to guarantee a sustainable workforce, the existing

workforce needs to undergo training and development and the future recruits need to be drawn towards the

organisation for its sustainable approach and according the future workforce needs to be selected. Finding a

sustainability compatible match is very important in order to ensure a perfect fit. Many companies also try to

encourage a more environmentally drawn work force by fusing sustainability in their selection process

(Erdogan, B., Bauer, T., & Taylor, 2012).

Another important aspect after selection is training the new and existing workforce to work more efficiently

towards creating a more sustainable and Green environment. Price water house Coopers are a company that

sends their a team of employees to countries where volunteers are needed in order to fight the battle against

HIV/ AIDS (Pless, N., Maak, T, 2011). Rewards in the form of monetary and non monetary methods should be

provided to encourage participating in sustainability driven programmes. �Charity begins at Home�, this

proverb rightly fits the situation and the organisation should first create making a change in their very own

company. Creating a more sustainable climate in the organisation is necessary, use of one cup for each

individual instead of using paper cups, encouraging employees to use the public or company transport as

compared to personal vehicles in order to cut down on pollution, waste segregation, transparency among all

levels. All these steps can lead to creating a sustainable environment in the organisation encouraging the

employees to do the same at home and in public, this creates a chain of sustainable activities that is likely to

pass from one person to another thus creating a RIPPLE EFFECT. In order to create a more friendly and

sustainable environment, communication is necessary. The freedom to ask questions and encourage good

and correct wrong behaviour is important. Effective communication systems also lead to increased trust in the

management along side creating a more inviting climate for new ideas. The process is assessed necessary

tools are created, ideas are implemented, now it is time to closely understand the possible effects of the

embedding policies. It is important assessing the impact on its employees and the society. Any plan that has

ever been outlined for any given purpose always needs to be analysed for its possible effects. Closely

analysing sustainable policies and plans and it effects is important for the employee well being and

satisfaction, as mentioned above Charity starts at home and the duty of any organisation is to look after the

best interest of their manpower. Another aspect that needs to be considered is if the policies that have been

created and transparent enough and ensure equal opportunities for all levels in the organisation to voice their

opinions and report grievances. With the help and support of HRM leadership, policies, plans and sustainable

programmes the road that lead to sustainability will always be a smooth one. Leadership plays a very important

role while envisioning sustainability, the need to lead is seen in all situations. In order to make a move as huge

as creating a sustainable organisation one needs a strong leader to guide and communicate to the people

involved in the process. Strong leadership builds faith and trust and encourages.


SUSTAINABILITY

GREEN GROUPS

COMPANYCALUES

WORK LIFEBALANCE

HR POLICIES

EMPLOYEEPARICIPATION

VOLUNTEERINGPROGRAMMERS

GENDEREQUALITY

TRANSPRENCY

Setting Priorities

Organisation cannot just come up with a set of policies, plans and programmes they need to set priorities,

conduct adequate research and ask important questions based on the results.

1. Discussing vital aspects of the organisations sustainable strategy?

2. Role of HR in this entire process?

3. Understanding the risks and benefits of a sustainable organisation?

4. Tools necessary for the same?

5. How to go about development and training programs?

6. Does the organisation have the right kind of leadership talent present? If yes, how will the organisation use

leadership to promote sustainable policies?

7. Are employees in sync with the idea of sustainability?

8. The rewards that can be provided for their roles in creating a sustainable environment?

9. How to create emerges with all stakeholders ? And their response to this crucial step?

10. The impact of stakeholders and the workforce?

After these questions have been addressed a strategic plan needs to be created and implemented accordingly.

Figure 2. The Sustainability Chart

Tips to Practice Sustainability at Organisational and Societal Level

Calculating Carbon Footprints and creating a �Sustainability Rank Board� to keep track of how each employee

performed at the end of the month. Mergers with animal protection NGO�s and conducting Tree Plantation

drives every year, undertaking Rain Water Harvesting and using the same water to use for organisational

purposes. These plans can be carried out by creating Green Groups and conducting awareness camps and

also encouraging customer participating. These activities carried by by employees will be reflected in the Rank

Board and the employee with the highest rank should be rewarded in order to reinforce this behaviour.

Team work will encourage oneness in the organisation, Built loyalty and increase employee satisfaction along

side promotion employee citizenship. This also guarantees employee retention. The present approach

towards sustainability is more reactive, it�s more of a compensation to a sin that has been committed. The

organisations today are at the third layer of Carroll�s Pyramid, which is more ethically driven than being co-

creative. Lets look at this example to understand this phenomenon clearly. Person A unknowingly spoilt Person

B�s favourite book, in order to compensate for the mistake Person A purchases a better and costlier book for

Person B. Person A reacted to the mistake committed by him and hence replace it with a better gift. This is

where the HR Department has reached today. �I messed up the environment and hence I will work towards

creating a more sustainable environment in order to make up for the sin that I committed.�

Being reactive is a very positive step in the right direction, the today sees HR as reactive the tomorrow requires

a more proactive approach and the future calls for Co-creating new societies, new system of education, new

legal systems etc. What does one do when they don't like a particular aspect of their lives, they construct a new

set of values and rules and abide by the same in order to see a better version of themselves.


19

Green Schools

Green Schools are the need of the future, the HR department needs to take up a co-creative approach and

merger with government and remodel the entire educational system. This system should be more green where

the future workforce is trained to love, live and construct green societies. Sustainability is not just about

tackling present issues, it is about being prepared for future ones. Green Schools and Green Colleges would

not only ensure preparedness for future environmental issues but also foster the very need of Green Talent. The

HR departments should start school funding initiatives that envision the promise of a Green Future.

Conducting blood donation camps and other social service practices is not enough on the part of the

organisations today. The HR department along with their skills need to start forming alliances with the

government and other legal firms in order to fund and encourage new thinkers and the R&D units to come up

with new technologies that promise transparency. Transparent communication is the best form of

communication, it builds trust and strengths relationships. Ensuring a sustainable present and future requires a

true a pure relation between the people, the society and the environment. Prevention is better than cure and

hence it is better to prevent any future harm by manifesting the idea of sustainability as a social norm. The

Human Resources Department has to realise that it is not about the present but also about the future. Creating

links between the organisation, the government and the society ensures that work is being carried out in a legal

manner.

Co-Creation Compliments Sustainability

Its is time to let the creative juices flow and the HR departments need to put their thinking caps on and

understand how it is not about being defensive or about being reactive or proactive but it is all about being Co-

Creative. Co-creation takes place when different people with a variety of experts come together can create a

new and advanced product. The HR department can work on these lines to create a space where the

organisation is not just making amends in the society or the environment ,but it is creating a new society and

thus promising a better environment. Support the local communities and providing free education for these

children after the idea of Green Schools is being introduced can work in the favour of the organisation itself.

These organisations with the help of their HR department will be investing in themselves by creating a future

Green Workforce for themselves. Another important fact that one should not overlook is technology. With each

passing day new technologies are born, imagine the advancements that will be made 20 years down the line.

Co-creation teams should be set up by the HR department that ensure manufacturing of clean technologies

and also those that promise complete transparency. Its all about strong leadership and influences here is

paramount. The power to influences a crowd is seen in great speaks and politicians. The new task for the HRM

is to learn the ART OF INFLUENCING. The power to influence and pave the way for a true sustainable

organisation and society lies with the HR departments.

The Profession In Transition

With the help the HR department and the extended support of the stakeholders, an organisation can create an

idea organisation which maximises profits as well as contributes to the development of the society and

creating a sustainable environment. Sustainability is not a one time journey, sustainability requires the HR

department to update and repudiate their existing sustainable policies, according to the changing needs of the

environment and the society. Green Careers, Green Groups, Green Organisations and Green Talent as all

familiar words today. The key is to walk shoulder to shoulder with the needs of the society and the ideas of

protecting the people and the environment. Any sustainability programme can be a success when the

organisation find itself really understanding the problems the environment is facing today. Co-creation, Green

School and Colleges is the discretional phase four that the HR department has to enter. Communication with

the society and sharing information is very important before staring such an initiative. Each and every HRM

practitioner needs to realise that its not just about letting the people know that the organisation exists but its all

about making the presence of the organisation and the strong HRM minds associated with felt. This strong

initiative should bring about compliance from the society towards these organisations.


20

Conclusion

Stakeholders and Sustainability is an indispensable need of the current hour, many organisations need to

realise that they are using the resources available in the nature and hence it is their responsibility to protect the

environment and its people. Diversity of stakeholders is the key to the goodwill and image of the organisation.

The higher the stakes that competitive the selection process and the better and skilled the work force.

Partnership with the employees, customers, NGO�s, retired employees are extremely vital. The support of the

external and internal stakeholders creates a broadened horizon for the organisation to expand. Channelling the

skills and knowledge of the HR department is the key to achieve an sustainable organisation. Along with

sustainability taking care of community service by sponsoring water and construct of schools and toilets can

also prove beneficial to the image and market value of the organisation. The HR department needs to transform

and rebuilt its very foundation to keep abreast the changing needs of the society. The future calls for an HR

team that looks after the management, employees, society, environment and its internal and external

stakeholders. It also calls for a HR department that not only helps but creates the society of the future.

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Marcel R Parker holds an Honours Degree in Economics from St. Stephen�s

College Delhi and a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

A veteran HR practitioner Marcel has Headed HR for Xerox, Royal Dutch/Shell

Group in India, SAP and The Raymond Group amongst others and has been an

integral part of building Quess Corp for the last few years. He is a Certified

Leadership Coach and mentors HR students, leadership teams and practicing

professionals. Very actively associated with the NHRD Network as Regional

President of the NHRD Network and served on the Board for several years he was

the Program Director of the SHRL Journey Program 2015,NHRD�s prestigious

learning program for young HR professionals.Marcel R Parker

Management of StakeholdersWat Should HR�s Role be?

About the Author

21

Chief Mentor-Quess Corp. Ltd


s a HR leader - manager stakeholder management is a key aspect of the role. Ideally, it is a conscious, Aplanned and focused activity associated with clear actions and outcomes, but more often than not, it is an

unconscious and unplanned aspect of managing projects on a daily basis. Notwithstanding the potential

benefits of effective stakeholder management, it is estimated that about 80% of the time is wasted on

managing stakeholders. In fact, poor stakeholder management and ineffectual communication are two of the

key reasons why change often fails. Managing stakeholders effectively is not just about forward momentum, it

is also about scale and helping to push and promote change in every corner of the organization

Stakeholder management is the process of managing the expectation of anyone who has an interest in a

project or will be affected by it and is a key leadership tool. When there is a conscious and structured

approached, stakeholder management secures the ownership and accountability necessary for delivering

changes. It is a way of aligning multiple teams with a single vision and providing a thread of relevance to the

strategic aims of the organization with fairness

Fairness is one word that goes hand in hand with justice and one of my earliest bosses drilled this down to me

that only if you are fair you can be firm, but let us not confuse between �fairness� and �justice.�

Fairness and justice are different concepts. Justice is concerned with morality� what you must do to conform

to the ideal of morality. But it is not necessary that you do what is commendable to do. For example, we ensure

that contract labourers are paid minimum wage. That is justice. But it is not necessary that we have to ensure

that they get better than that over the years.

Fairness on the other hand brings in the �factor of control.�If you give more than minimum wages to contract

labourers the control lies with you. When we reimburse medical expenses of an old or ex-employee over and

above his entitlement, we are being fair, and we have taken a position based on what is in our control.

But there is another factor which complicates the matter and that is The Rule of Law and the Rule of Life

�Organisations are social institutions created for specific purpose such as making money, they are also

communities of people who interact with each other and build relationships.� It makes them democratic

institutions.

People have duties to one�s family, one�s community. This is called the �rule of life.� In contrast the

administrators have duties which reflect higher and universal ideals. This is called the �rule of law.� It is said that

democracy emerges from the contradiction between the two

So the theme that emerges is that if we want to be seen as practising fairness, we have to balance between rule

of law and rule of life, or in other words, between rationality and emotionality. That is the way we can be seen as

fair and win trust. And trust is won by four actions [a] straight talk, [b] empathetic listening, [c] making a

commitment and [d] being reliable which help HR in establishing credibility and determines its role in managing

stakeholders

In the day to day corporate life there are numerous dilemmas posed to the HR manager, mainly in the arena of

performance and commensurate rewards. But the solution, to my mind, lies in the same strategy � win the trust

of our stakeholders.

Human resources projects affect far more than the employees of the company or their managers. Virtually

every business and individual to which the company has a connection, even people in the surrounding

community, are stakeholders in HR projects. Primary stakeholders are direct beneficiaries, such as employees

Management of StakeholdersWhat Should HR�s Role be?


who receive a raise because HR revised the company's compensation structure. Indirect or secondary

stakeholders derive benefits from HR projects, such as a neighboring business that profits from a company

hiring more staff.

The goal of almost any HR project is to improve workforce productivity so it has a positive effect on the

company's profitability. For a privately held business, the owner is the beneficiary of increased profitability. If

the organization is publicly traded, the shareholders are stakeholders because, as the company's profitability

increases, so does the value of its stock. Likewise, for an HR project that's incomplete or that fails to meet its

goals, the reverse effect has an impact on the business owners.

Many HR projects improve work processes, provide workplace structure or enhance the skills of the

company's workforce. Employees may be primary beneficiaries, or they are stakeholders by indirect means.

For example, if HR implements job skills training, employees are primary stakeholders because the training has

a direct impact on their abilities, productivity and, in some cases, their confidence and earning capacity.

Improved job skills also can affect an employee's marketability should he decide to leave the company for

another job

HR projects to support a new business provide employment opportunities for the surrounding community.

New business could mean HR projects such as mass recruiting events. In communities suffering from high

unemployment rates, the primary stakeholders might be the unemployed or underemployed workers in the

community who now have increased opportunities for work. Indirect stakeholders are other businesses in the

community; they have a stake in whether the new business will succeed. Competitors are stakeholders

because their success or demise might depend on a new company's success. An HR project such as a mass

lay off could have a significant impact on surrounding businesses.

Customers and clients of the business are primary stakeholders in such HR projects as recruiting engineers for

researching and developing a new product line. The company ultimately benefits from the ability to provide

better products and services to its clients; customers are also stakeholders because they reap the benefits of

qualified employees.

A few key principles of stakeholder engagement will help us get a better feel of what HR�s role should be in

managing them-none of these are rocket science and yet if deployed well can be very effective in HR�s role.

1. Communication

Before aiming to engage and influence stakeholders, it�s crucial to first seek to understand so as to ensure

the intended message is understood and the desired response achieved.

2. Consult, early and often

Ask the right questions so as to gain useful information and ideas. To engage their support, ask

stakeholders for their advice and listen to how they feel.

3. We often forget the H in HRD

Operate with an awareness of human feelings/potential personal agendas. Accept that humans do not

always behave in a rational, reasonable, consistent or predictable way.

4. Planning

A more deliberate approach to stakeholder engagement is encouraged. Careful planning and investment

of time in this area has significant payoff.


5. Relationships are key

Commit energy and time to building high-level relationships � this engenders trust. Seek out networking

opportunities.

6. Simple, but not easy

Effective stakeholder engagement requires subtle skills such as being empathetic. Engage, interact, listen

� show you care.

7. Just part of managing risk

Stakeholders can be treated as a category of (and/or a mitigation of) risk and opportunities that have

probabilities and impacts.

8. Compromise

Find the best compromise across a set of stakeholders� diverging priorities. Assess the relative importance

of stakeholders to establish a weighted hierarchy.

9. Defining what success will look like

Examine the value of the project to the stakeholder. Ask what their success criteria are. Seek to clarify

expectations - perception of success is influenced by the who, what and how?

10. Taking ownership / responsibility

Good project governance is key to any project. It�s the responsibility of everyone to maintain an ongoing

dialogue with stakeholders and defining who does what

HR�s Stakeholders are not constant but situation based and Stake holders keep shifting. depending upon

the priority being addressed and a wonderful example shared by a respected HR thought-leader illustrates

this point.

When the Paging Business became obsolete, Motorola decided to sell the Paging Manufacture as well as

Paging services business and there were very few willing to buy a sunset business. The HR Team identified

one buyer whom they agreed to sell the business for Re1, but on their terms.- A) they would not sack any of

employees they acquire in next 12 months and b) if they sacked any before 24 months they would pay them

separation benefit that Motorola would have paid which was more than double of required norm. Here they

dealt with three stakeholders a) Employees themselves whose interest HR was protecting b) the buyer who

had no interest to protect and 3) the Management which was caught between a rock and a hard place as they

could not deny the HR Head the right to protect the employees� interest nor could they afford to For the factory

they arranged training for alternate career for ALL associates. -thus creating two major stakeholders a)

Employees and b) Management to give funds. You will observe here that the Stakeholders appeared in different

forms at different stages, Dealing with anyone of them had repercussions on dealing with others.

For HR leaders one has to acknowledge that Business needs require HR to be a Business Partner and certain

difficult and tough calls have to be taken in that role. How do you prepare for the long haul and deliver ? There

are no quick fixes in such matters and building on some of the principles enunciated earlier we must

acknowledge that people dynamics are fluid and changing �we should not be tied down by our biases and

notions

Another distinguished HR thought-leader shared with me that he considered speed and response is the

essence in a changing world by getting to the basics and grassroots �superficial words may not take one far.

In summation, if we take a view that Corporates in the private sector have three primary stakeholders:

� the customers

� the shareholders

� the employees


Within the organization their spokespersons and champions are usually the following functions (in the same

order as above):

� Marketing

� Finance

� HR

While the differing (and sometimes contradictory) demands of the three primary stakeholders can sometimes

create tension within the organization, it can be a positive tension if its resolution is constructively handled. One

could draw a parallel with the three arms of the defence forces,[currently very topical in our country] which may

compete for primacy and resources but which work together to frame a credible defence strategy and face the

enemy unitedly.

So whilst there are no complex solutions offered for managing stakeholders and what HR�s role should be ,if

trust and credibility are established early, some simple ways of balancing firmness with fairness will ensure

success for the enterprise and the management of stakeholders.


Sowmya heads VEncompass - a Vertebrand Group Company, lending special

focus on internal brand alignment. With more than two decades of industry

experience, Sowmya is a gold medallist in Civil Engineering from Osmania

University, holds a Master Degree in Environmental Engineering from West Virginia

University, a PG Diploma in Human Resource Management from Symbiosis, Pune,

a Strategic HRM certification from TMTC and an Organisation Analysis

certification from Stanford Univ. Sowmya is currently pursuing her doctoral

studies in Internal Brand Alignment from Symbiosis International University.

Sowmya

About the Author

Delivering the Brand Promise � The Role of HR


ew entrants & intense competition continue to create the need for improving the brand presence of Norganisations as well as fine tuning their brand focus. However, there is always a gap between the external

market dynamics and the internal people-management systems.

This article aims at emphasising on the need for organisations to adopt an inside-out approach to branding, by

building and nurturing an organisation culture in which employees live the brand and hence continuously

deliver the brand promise.

When customers find that the marketing stance of a company is totally different from the product/service

experience, then it can spell trouble.

Why does this happen? What�s happening inside a company that creates visible cracks for the customer to

see?

Let�s take a peek inside:

Typically the Marketing function rules the roost in an organisation. They have a clear goal to reach � attract the

customer & convert her to a buyer�.

The Sales function is running a perennial race, to ring the cash registers.

The Customer Support function most times frantically tries to keep pace by responding to customer enquiries.

Their goal? Resolve the query

What are the other functions saying/thinking/doing? Let�s tune in a bit more�

R&D is pouring over the next innovation; Design is labouring over the new product features; Manufacturing is

caught up with productivity and quality; Logistics says Expedite the order; Warehouse Operations thinks stock

it right; Product Management goes on Perfecting the Product Mix; Vendor Management obsesses about

Tapping the right Sources; While, HR is busy with Getting & Keeping Talent

The daily demands of running the business are top-of-mind for everyone, and so each function, each individual

follows their own goal. Do these multiple goals always align with the Brand Promise? Not necessarily!

For example IT can very well follow its goal by providing endless rows and columns, tables, and forms to fill out.

But if it does not support a marketing stance of say quick payment and check out, complete disappointment

would result at the point of purchase.

Customer Service can excel in resolving queries but if it is not coached by design on the technicalities of the

latest product features, they can only pile up irate customers.

Very soon, Customers tire of receiving mixed messages and the overall brand experience may fall terribly short

of expectations.

According to a Forbes Study, fewer than 50% of employees believe in their company�s brand idea, and even

less are actually equipped to deliver to on it.

What leads to this gap between the external market dynamics and the internal people-management systems?

Traditional people management systems tend to box people by internally focussing on enhancing and

rewarding productivity. However, the connect with the market is better established by externally focussing on

the customer and his experience with the brand.

Hence, there is a constant need for repackaging not just the brand but also the people behind the brand!

It is important therefore, to facilitate an organisation culture in which employees live the brand, solve problems,

make decisions, champion the brand internally and deliver a branded customer experience externally.

Delivering the Brand Promise � The Role of HR


So then, how do you get each and every one in your organisation live the brand? How do you get the functional

and emotional experiences promised to a customer by a brand, permeate the functional and emotional values

espoused by employees across departments/functions and levels.

The answer lies in building an organisational culture that engages employees and motivates them to

continuously deliver on the brand promise.

Who will do it?

If it is about nurturing a culture that encompasses all internal stakeholders then the onus is at best a shared

responsibility across all functions.

The customer-facing functions that have hitherto focussed on the world-outside would need to quickly assume

responsibility of the world-inside.

The core and support functions that have perfected the science of managing the world-inside would now need

to step into the shoes of the customer and embrace the world-outside.

So then, all functions would need to assume a two-fold, outside-in responsibility. They would need to address

the internal as well as external stakeholders through systems & practices that govern the two environments of

an organisation.

What does this mean?

The marketing function needs to not only enhance the brand positioning for the target group of customers, but

also attract the internal customer / employee towards investing time and effort in nurturing the brand.

HR shall not only establish and manage internal strategies and operations but also leverage on the same to

establish the brand image amongst potential employees, orient existing employees towards the brand-cause

and ensure that they are continuously geared for enhancing the strength of customer relationships and

improving customer brand experiences.

Similarly, corporate communications shall manage the brand perspectives of both employees and customers

alike. The supplier management function shall focus on facilitating quality management of the organisational

offerings as well as aligning the suppliers to the brand promise.

The leadership of the organisation would therefore develop and implement strategies that support both the

external as well as internal brand image of the organisation and bring about a synergy between the two

elements.

What is the role of HR?

A sure-fire way to nurture a Brand Aligned Culture, would be to develop a 3-pronged alignment focus inside

your company that understands and develops people as individuals, functional-team members and as

organisational citizens.

Individual Alignment is all about creating a felt need to live the brand. Since cultures are built top-down, it

would make sense to start from the top. Is the leadership aligned? Are they committed to the brand cause?

Do they act as brand champions? Do the individual employees understand how they can contribute to the

brand promise, irrespective of whether they are in customer facing roles or support roles?

It would be good to devise systems that help employees discover their strengths, blind spots and preferences

that support the brand values and those that don�t. The next step would be to evolve action plans that can help

them leverage their strengths and mitigate their blind spots for better alignment. Build brand champions and

brand loyalists from within.

Functional Alignment

is all about identifying the critical work processes of each function and how they connect up to other functions

in delivering the brand promise.


Develop function blueprints that enhancing the contribution of each function in enhancing the brand

experience for the customer.

Work closely with the function teams to co-create the blueprints so as to establish ownership. Support the

functions in reviewing progress and results.

Organisational Alignment

is about ensuring that the organisation�s culture is defined by the desired brand promise.

Deep dive into the performance management framework and ensure brand-centric measurement of

performance & potential. Ensure that functional & behavioural performance parameters are aligned to the

functional & emotional promise of the brand.

Work on the competency mapping system to identify and nurture brand supporting competencies throughout

the employee life cycle. Fashion your Recruitment as well as Learning & Development Systems around the

brand values. Design engagement initiatives that celebrate the brand. Fashion your communication to serve as

constant reminders of brand values and desired brand behaviours.

Ensure that every system, process and policy in the organisation supports the brand cause.

So then�is it a one-time activity? Can we have a one-size-fits-all strategy? Not a chance! It is a dynamic

process that keeps evolving with your market, with your people, with your brand.

Just think about it as a journey, not a destination. So measure your progress at every milestone and explore

forks and detours that enhance your connect to the brand.

It is important to think of it as a movement that builds brand champions and helps the brand promise gather its

strength and momentum from its core - the inside.

So then, how can the consumer experience the brand promise as a continuum right from the time she views

your advertisement to the point when she purchases your product/service?

And if there are cracks, do we patch them up from the outside or prevent them from the inside?

The answer lies in nurturing a brand-aligned culture.

End Note:

It�s time to challenge the convention of branding being dealt with in the gap between customer, marketing and

sales. It is time to bridge yet another gap, which when addressed, can add strength to the delivery of a brand

promise - the gap between the people of an organisation and the brand.

Delivering brand promise is now an inside-out game. So, HR is definitely a key-player!

Case in PointBackground

Company B is part of the USD 6 billion XYZ group and a subsidiary of ABC. Over its 80+ years of existence,

Company B has lived its vision as India's dominant and most respected service provider. With well-established

quality management processes, the organisation has endeavoured to build customer trust and confidence

through the products manufactured, marketed and serviced by it.

With its 4 regional offices, 20 branches equipped with warehousing facilities, a widespread distribution

network Company B enjoyed a formidable presence in the Indian market.

Company B had embarked on a mission to strengthen the market share as well as mind share of the brand.

Moving away from a department / function based structure; Company B had introduced verticals under 2

broad categories, viz., Traditional Business and Emerging Business. This transition had been initiated in order

to fully exploit the potential of emerging businesses as well as improve the bottom line focus.


Brand Plans

Company B wanted to fully exploit the potential of emerging businesses as well as improve the bottom line

focus. This in turn would help expand as well as enrich the �Company B� brand connect and fine tune their

brand focus

Brand Pangs

Though the Organization had introduced a new organogram to facilitate achievement of the Brand objectives,

the internal stakeholders of Company B were yet to align themselves to these objectives.

Brand Need

While the revised organisation structure was vital for improving the alignment to the brand objectives, it was

imperative to facilitate this transition (to the new structure) by leveraging on the strengths and addressing the

gaps in the people, systems and processes that would support the new structure.

It was necessary for the internal stakeholders to live the brand across all functions and levels. An organisation-

wide approach was therefore required to facilitate the alignment of the people of Company B to the business-

brand objectives.

Starting with the Leadership

Company B went on to initiate the internal brand alignment of Company B first with the leadership team. A

diagnostic study was undertaken with the vision holders, business heads as well as function heads, to arrive at

the extent of brand alignment of individual leaders as well as their respective functions.

A group workout was then organised to:

� Understand the strengths of the leadership team & how to leverage them

� Understand the blind spots of the leadership team & how to overcome them

� Understand the extent of alignment to brand promise

� Deep dive into the Root Cause Analysis for gaps in alignment

� Understand the inter-functional gaps

And hence,

� Co-create of functional blue prints to align (each function) better, to the brand promise

� Develop People-Process-Policy Action Plans for delivering the brand promise

Cascading the Brand Cause

The organisation then moved onto an implementation mode through a two-step process.

Step 1: A series of workshops with key team members of each function, who rolled up their sleeves to thrust

responsibility, pin down accountabilities, spell out authorities and also ensure support & guidance from the

appropriate role holders.

At this stage the Performance Management System of the organisation was redesigned to align the functional

and behavioural parameters of each role to ensure delivery of the brand promise.

Step 2: An organisation-wide awareness program was launched comprising of group sessions, quizzes,

engagement initiatives supported by a communication campaign in order to spread awareness of the market

dynamics, the challenges of brand building and the need for each function and every employee to align to the

brand promise.

At this stage a reward and recognition policy was launched to:

� To foster an environment of shared commitment, success and celebration for brand alignment


� To recognize and reward individuals and teams for their exceptional contributions to the brand promise,

in a timely and effective manner

� To highlight Brand Aligned behaviours and activities

� To nurture & showcase Brand Champions

Establishing a Review Mechanism

In order to ensure that the initiative continued to gather momentum, a Brand Culture team was constituted with

identified brand champions across functions & levels � for progress review and course corrections.


ditya Birla Group is a 41 billion dollar conglomerate with 150000 people operating out of 36 countries. ARight from its inception, well-being of employees and their family members has been the core focus of the

Group. We believe that human beings are whole: their lives cannot be neatly divided into professional and

personal domains; instead their lives are deeply inter-twined. Lack of well-being either of the employees or

their family members has an effect on effectiveness of employees and their productivity at work. Our

endeavour is on �proactive care�, much before the well-being of an individual is severely or perhaps irretrievably

impacted. We approach well-being in a multi-faceted and holistic manner � physical, emotional, financial and

social. We believe that it will lead to healthy-happy employees and their families, and an overall productive,

positive and energized work environment. Our philosophy is depicted in Diagram 1.

While several well-being programs are at different stages of implementation either taken up locally at different

Businesses and offices of the Group, outlined below are few programs that have been implemented across the

Group.

1. Physical Well-being is about feeling healthy and energetic, not just being illness-free. It encompasses a

wide range of aspects such as fitness level, nutrition, self-care, rest etc. Several manufacturing businesses

of Aditya Birla Group operate in remote locations, which are far away from cities with good medical

facilities. While providing good hospitals � ranging from primary health centre to 100 bedded hospital � can

be considered a passé, our attempt has been to bring urban-like consultation to these remote locations.

Technology in the form of telemedicine has been leveraged to achieve this. Doctors in hospitals at remote

locations consult with specialists and super-specialists from cities or other hospitals within the Group. This

enables them to take guidance to deliver best possible medical care to patients in remote locations.

Health tips, guidance and doctor consultation at fingertips, anytime anywhere is another endeavour. Online

health portal, popularly known as �Vitamin H� acts as a one-stop shop for physical health for employees and

their family members, both in our remote locations as well as cities and towns. Through this portal,

employees or their family members avail 24 by 7 health services from doctors whose credentials are

established. Some of the services include consultation with:

� Doctors for minor ailments offering a convenient and hassle free option

� Specialists to seek inputs on diagnostic reports or take second opinion

� Gynaecologist or paediatrician by would-be mothers and new mothers, helping them alleviate their fears

and worries that tend to plague them at this stage

� Dietician for individualistic and customized diet plan for different goals

The health portal also provides employees support to set up appointment with doctors for face-to-face

consultation in near-by location, create and maintain their health records online, go through health risk

assessments and several health related articles.

2. Emotional well-being is about overall psychological well-being, with an excess of positive emotions over

negative emotions. Positive emotions include comfort, enthusiasm, happiness etc. whereas negative

emotions include anger, frustration, sadness etc. Although emotional well-being is rarely talked openly in

India, we believe that it poses equal, if not a higher risk as physical well-being. Primary reasons that

contribute to lack of emotional well-being include increasing stress at workplace, tough lifestyle in cities,

long travel, nuclear family structure leading to reduced family support, relationship issues at home and

workplace.

Unfortunately, there is a social stigma associated with emotional well-being. As a result, people are not

willing to talk about it or avail help even when it is required and services are easily accessible. To address

Dileep Ranjekar is the founding Chief Executive Officer of Azim Premji Foundation

(the Foundation) and has been associated with the Foundation right from its

ideation. Dileep is a Science Graduate and has a Post Graduate Diploma of

Business Management as well as Master�s degree in Personnel Management and

Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He joined

Wipro from campus in 1976 and was one of the core team members that led

Wipro�s journey in two key dimensions. Building Wipro as a professional

organization and deep commitment to Values.

The Foundation has worked with thousands of government schools directly and

with many state schooling systems involving over two hundred and fifty thousand

schools. It is in the process of a significant scale up, by establishing institutes

(which also run field programs) and schools in 50 districts and 6 state capitals

across India by year 2017. Currently the Foundation has a team of about 1300

people that is poised to grow to about 2500 people in the next four years. Dileep is

a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the apex decision making

body on education in India.

Dileep Ranjekar

Effective Corporate Social Responsibility

About the Author


fter establishing Azim Premji Foundation, we visited several good programs in education to learn from Athem. One such program was in interiors of Telangana that was attempting to educate girl children in the

age group of six to thirteen years. The program engaged with the girls to educate them in a six month camp in a

manner that enabled the girls to join the mainstream schools at the end of the camp. These were girls that had

left their homes due to various reasons. Some had run away from their home to save themselves from getting

married at that tender age. Some were forced into a child marriage and had refused to live their alcoholic

husband who used to beat them regularly. The parents of some of these girls were so poor that they could not

afford to enrol their daughters even in a Government school. But one thing was common among all of them �

they were all brave, bright and alert children. After listening to their stories for almost two hours, the founder of

the organization asked them to engage in a dialogue with us. One of the girls asked me �So what can you or

Wipro do for children like us?�

I quickly thought on my feet and told them �I would ensure that Wipro did not employ child labour in any of its

operations�! Upon return we ensured within 30 days that all forms of utilization of children below 18 years of age

was eliminated from all parts of organization including with vendors.

It is important that corporate organizations that want to embark on the path of launching corporate social

responsibility first learn to be responsible citizens of this nation. They must comply with the law of the land in

letter and spirit. They must pay their taxes correctly and on time. They must treat their employees, customers,

vendors with respect and dignity. They must empathize with the communities within which they survive. They

must not release their polluted water in the rivers and drains around them � without treating such water as per

pollution control norms. It does not make sense if a corporate organization is insensitive to the surrounding

community but boasts of doing great work in some tribal communities that are thousand miles away from them.

Corporate organizations are often accused of boasting about their work disproportionate to what they do in

reality. In fact, it is said that the Corporate Social Responsibility that they engage in is primarily to promote their

image as socially sensitive organization than wanting to cause genuine change in the society. Such

organizations don�t use professional ways of working towards their CSR work. Their work is not supported by

scientific analysis, allocation of professionally qualified people to the project, investment in periodic

monitoring and measurement. Even worse, their focus changes periodically without making an attempt to

institutionalize their work.

The Government has directed corporates to allocate two percent of their annual net profit towards socially

relevant work that has been defined by the Government. Two percent of profit after tax is a sizeable fund. From

the records it emerges that if the top 500 corporates decide to invest two percent of their profit after tax, the

amount would be close to ̀ 10,000 per annum. And if all profit making organizations invest similarly, the amount

would be a whopping over ̀ 35,000 crore per annum. Just imagine what all can happen with this amount each

year in several fields such as health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation etc.

Some essentials of effective Corporate Social Responsibility would be:

1. Genuine commitment to society: The top management must have the empathy about the social

problems that exist around the, and have the commitment as well as belief that their corporate is merely a

small element of the society and whatever happens in the society would sooner or later influence their

work.

2. Developing a sound vision that you truly believe: organizations must invest in understanding several

social issues, their interconnectivity and the root causes of some of the evils to evolve a balance vision for

the Corporate Social Responsibility work of the organization.

3. Assigning your best people: There is a tendency among many organizations to allocate manpower to

Effective Corporate Social Responsibility


Corporate Social Responsibility work that is not necessarily their best. As a result many a times, people

who otherwise cannot be accommodate within the productive side of the organization get assigned to

Corporate Social Responsibility work.

4. Invest in understanding and developing people: Social issues are deep pocketed and interconnected.

There are multiple dimensions to the same issue. Leaderships of the organization must invest adequately

in developing deeper understanding of such issues.

5. Provide opportunity for your employees: Many employees intrinsically want to contribute to the society

and enjoy doing so. In fact, employees prefer working with organizations that are committed to socially

useful work. organizations must create structures and avenues where employees actually get to work on

Corporate Social Responsibility projects.

6. Establish norms for monitoring and evaluation: while social issues cannot be measured the way

business results are measured, there are milestones and short � medium and long term goals that need to

be set and measured from time to time to understand whether the organization is on course in achieving

what it set out to achieve.

7. Top management involvement: Rightly or wrongly, the employees in general look for signals and positive

messages from the leadership. It is important to give a message that Corporate Social Responsibility is an

important part of employee and organizational work. The top management must be seen to be involved

and reviewing at a certain regular interval.

Genuine Corporate Social Responsibility contribution builds a certain image and brand for an organization

without the corporate overtly trying to do so.


Understanding the Role of HR in Stakeholder Management

Amit Sharma is an alumnus of TISS, Mumbai. He started his career as a

Management trainee in Reliance Industries Limited, and currently works for

Cipla as Organizational Development Lead.

He is an ardent sportsman and has played Cricket for his state side. He is now

pursuing Pistol shooting as a hobby. He is passionate about teaching and

teaches CAT aspirants on weekends.

Amit Sharma

About the Authors

35

Anindya Kumar Shee is Head - Organization Development& Governance,

Cipla. An alumnus of XLRI, Anindya is an HR and change management

professional and has held leadership roles across sectors as diverse as

management consulting, pharma, steel, Oil and Gas and IT. He has worked

across the length and breadth of HR in line HR role, C&B, OD, consulting etc.

Anindya Kumar Shee


Prologue

started my career posted as a Management Trainee in a remote unit of SAIL, a PSU behemoth. The unit was Isituated in the backyards of Orissa, which was an impoverished belt with a volatile local population. HR was

the single point for dealing with a host of issues dealing with but not limited to:

� Employment Office

� Forest Department

� Local Police

� Department of Environment

� Director General of Mines Safety

� Local Cooperative

� Local Unions

� Factories Inspector

� Boiler Inspector

� Inspector of Weights and Measures

� Corporate Office

� Vendors and Contractors

� Indian Railways (Freight) and

� Employees

� Employee Families

The function worked with remarkable versatility in managing the numerous pulls and pushes of the visiting

official doms who often had interests other than that of running of smooth unit operations. Each conversation

was a high stakes one and a small miscalculation could lead to an escalation with a potential of stoppage of

operations. This was the early post liberation era with paucity of jobs, strong and violent trade unions and an

unforgiving and corrupt bureaucracy. I remember our operations shut down for close to month as our forest

clearance expired and the new application was pending before the concerned department despite repeated

follow-ups.

The approach was clearly an adversarial-bargaining one to the extent that one needed to �manage� the external

stakeholders and not necessarily partner with them to create holistic outcomes.

However, I have seen significant transition in the way these stakeholders are handled today. Most HR

departments have developed verticals with expertise in dealing with different stakeholders. For example we have

Theoretical Background

Stakeholder theory came of age with the seminal work of Freeman in the 1980's (Freeman 1984). The

stakeholder perspective envisions a firm at the center of a network of stakeholders, a complex system for

exchanging goods, services, information, technology, talent, influence, money, and other resources (Freeman,

1984).He has defined a stakeholder as �any individualor group who can affect or is affected by actions,

decisions, policies, practices or goals of an organization� (Freeman 1984).

There is an inherent paradox that exists with stakeholders working together and competing simultaneously.

While they work towards creating maximum value together, they are also in conflict as they compete for the

limited value created has to be then distributed amongst them. The theory argues that firm value is created

when the firm meets the needs of the firm�s important stakeholders in a win-win fashion (Donaldson & Preston,

1995; Jones, 1995). However, the value generated by a firm is only limited, and then eventually gets

appropriated amongst stakeholders. Dissonance between stakeholders (congruence and divergence) is

originated from the way value is appropriated among stakeholders once it is created (Blyler & Coff, 2003; Coff, 1999).

Stakeholder theories or models identify at least two streams of stakeholder oriented behavior that


organizations can adopt: behavior where organizations take stakeholders into account for the good of the firm

(the stakeholder as a means to an end); or behavior where stakeholders are taken into account as a matter of

principle (stakeholders as ends in themselves) (Greenwood 2001). The HR function has evolved from the latter

view of Stakeholder oriented behavior where the stakeholders are the reason for existence of an organization,

to the first where stakeholders are to be strategically managed to support in meeting organizational goals, The

focus of HR has shifted from �managing stakeholders� to �managing business� and hence, stakeholder

management has undergone a massive shift from being primary to the scheme of things to aligning to the larger

scheme of things.

Limitations in current literature

Most of the work on Human Resource Management, tends to assume an individualistic (focuses in the

individual employee as a unit) and unitarist (assumes singularity of purpose and goals, e.g. profit maximization

vs. worker exploitation) perspective of the stakeholder relationship.(Greenwood, M. R., & Simmons, J.

(2004).The values and practices of this mainstream view of HRM developed within the individualistic enterprise

ideology of the 1980s continue to reflect this ideological climate. This perspective continues to be dominant

and pervasive for a number of reasons including the influence of popular management writers and theories, the

focus on positivism in HRM research, and the decline of unionization resulting in a shift to enterprise based

negotiation (Greenwood 2002).

The impact that media and democratization of language has also had considerable impact on the way things

operate. The power models have considerably shifted due to the emergence of consumer pressures from

media and other influencing stakeholders like NGOs, self-help groups etc. The consumer activism that can

dent business results from a negative publicity (or even rumors) at times has tilted the balance even towards the

previously considered powerless stakeholders.

The available literature has been overly influenced by agency theory. In a networked and freely interacting

organizations where value is created through a series of customer-supplier-vendor-employee interactions, the

agency theory needs to be broadened to factor in a win-win for multiple stakeholder.

HRM as a result of this has come under criticism by various multi-disciplinary researches. Kamoche (1994)

claims that the unitarist ideology of HRM is used to control any divergence of interest between managers and

subordinates in order to achieve economic goals. Rather than being a way for employees to fully develop and

contribute in organization, HRM practices are a way of intervening in employee's lives in order to get them to

sacrifice more of themselves to the needs of the organization.

This divergence and convergence of interest, drawing from the stakeholder theory has been kept as the basic

construct of this article.

This article draws heavily from the critical theorists, who see HRM as a socially construed phenomenon to

support the power tussle between multiple stakeholders. In contrast to 'mainstream' writers, 'critical' theorists

tend to assume a pluralist (multiple purposes and goals) and collectivist (employees as a group or groups) work

place. They assume that the various parties involved in the workplace have differing views, and thus potentially,

goals.

Also, most literature has concentrated on segregating stakeholders as internal and external stakeholders and

watching them as a part of the ecosystem, while keeping the focus on dyadic relations between an organization

and an individual. Some have even gone on to characterize stakeholders as core (Employees, managers etc.),

fiduciary (investors etc.) and silent stakeholders (Community).

A commonly used model has been proposed by Wheeler and Sillanpaa (1997), which has the following

four different classes of stakeholders:

1. Primary social stakeholders (investors, employees and managers, customers, local communities,

suppliers and other business partners)

2. secondary social stakeholders (government and regulators, civic institutions, social pressure groups,


38

media and academic commentators, trade bodies, competitors)

3. Primary non-social stakeholders (natural environment, future generations, non-human species)

4. Secondary non-social stakeholders (environmental groups and animal welfare organizations)

However, most models have disregarded that the characterization or importance of stakeholder should

depend on the agenda being pushed, and the solution lens used. As the agency costs involved with managing

stakeholders in the form of time, effort and resources are incrementally getting higher, it becomes important to

focus and concentrate efforts on the relevant stakeholders.

The Competing Outcomes Model

With the decline and weakening of the collective bargaining, the stakeholder matrix has changed considerably.

The power equation has undergone a tectonic shift, and new stakeholders like communities and media have

come into focus, while Unions and legislative authorities have lost importance.

The key stakeholders on the internal stakeholder map include the following:

1. Board of Directors/Promoters

2. Management Committee

3. Employees (Millennials et al.)

Some key stakeholders on the external map are:

1. Local statutory authorities

2. External unions

3. Vendors and contractors

Our model makes an attempt to plot stakeholders depending on congruence over a convergent divergent

continuum on one axis and an internal external on the other based on whether the stakeholders are internal or

external to the organization.

The X axis is a continuum of stakeholders basis their interests in the organization as external or internal. They Y

axis plots them on their convergence or divergence to organizational goals.

Figure 1: The Competing outcomes model

Convergent

Industry Bodies Employees

Statutory AuthoririesEmployees

External Unions

Board/Shareholders

External Internal

Divergent

1. White papers

2. Policies

1. Employment generation

2. Special Quotas

1. Long Term Settlements

2. Productivity

1. Returns

1. Engagement,

2. Development

3. Rotation

1. Pay & Benefits

2 .Product iv i ty

3. Security


39

The stakeholders fall in these 4 quadrants which have been detailed below. The stakeholders falling in each of

these 4 quadrants need different focus owing to their different perspectives and interests. Here is how it would

matter to HRM policies and processes to incorporate it in their outlook towards stakeholder management.

Convergent-Internal

This is when stakeholder interests are in alignment to organizational goals. Talent management and

organization development skills are utilized here, and is core to the HRM that is being taught in the B-schools

today. In this case both the employee and the HR works in tandem for a goal that they are both invested in and

hence there is little or no conflict.

Divergent-Internal

When there is an inherent conflict between an internal stakeholder�s interest and company goals, they would be

in this quadrant. An example is employee pay; while the employee would want to maximize it, it is imperative for

the organization to make profits to keep it to a minimum. The employee wants security and higher remuneration

while the organization would like to keep the wage costs under control. HR�s role in balancing the needs of the

two parties while ensuring fairness and consistency is critical.

Convergent-External

These are the external stakeholders who are aligned to the firm�s goal and would usually be supportive to

furthering them. Here, HR works with industry forums to influence government policymaking to enable the

industry to survive and flourish in the economic environment. HR works closely with corporate affairs team to

manage the authorities and keep them at a favorable position.

Divergent-External

This is where external stakeholders who have a conflict to the firm�s goal, and would be inclined to create

impediments to the achievement of firm�s goals. This is where HR works with the corporate affairs team to

manage the external environment and ensure that the internal operations do not get affected due to the same.

While employer relations have ceased to be a formidable frontier today, there are still consistent pressure from

political parties/statutory authorities in areas such as provision of employment opportunities to local

population.

There is also the fiduciary responsibility of working with the board/shareholders to ensure that the broader

goals of corporate governance are met to make the organization a sustainable one. This often acquires great

significance in a time where there is frequent changes of business models and obsolescence of worker

competencies. Approach to dealing with employment contracts while dealing with redundancies is a delicate

act that needs to be aligned to the principles of corporate governance and ethics.

The competencies required for all the above activities straddle across a wide spectrum. Given this challenge HR

departments maintain professionals who handle external facing jobs and have specialists for the internal roles.

However this gets integrated at the CHRO level where the HR head is expected to lead a crack team that

juggles multiple balls and create a moat around the organization. This moat is supposed to protect the

organization against the shocks of the external environment and allow it to go about in its regular business.

The convergence divergence continuum is not static, but dynamic depending upon the impact the HR process/

system would have on the stakeholders, and how would they react to it. The same process / decision can be

convergent for some stakeholder and divergent for some stakeholders.

Table 1: Dynamic convergence and divergence of stakeholders

The above table shows that in most cases, there are activities where both parties are on the same side along

with activities where they end up on opposite sides. This depends on the process and the associated payoffs.

Divergence has additional agency costs of pushing across agendas by overcoming resistance and aligning


40

Stakeholder Convergent Divergent

Employee Training and Development Performance Normalization

Manager Staffing of open positions Rationalization of manpower

Management Committee Rationalization of manpower Audit and governance

controls

Industry Body Agenda based lobbying Non-compete agreements

Shareholders Dividend payouts based on profitability Reinvesting surplus

dividends

Unions Workmen training Productivity linked plans

Statutory Authorities Skill Development Programs with local Quota based hiring

employment authorities

stakeholders with divergent interests. Contrary to popular belief, it is much easier to work with each other when

we start from similar frames of reference rather than one that is different.

Moving from Convergent to Divergent

Moving from a divergent approach to a convergent approach requires a mind-set change and a belief that we

need each other to complete the stakeholder map. The interdependence on stakeholders is what is needed to

create value for the firm. No stakeholder can exist independent of each other, and hence it is important to move

to a convergent position to reduce conflict and increase value generated by the firm.

Bargaining (Divergent):

Like integrative bargaining theory, stakeholder theory assigns the less tangible concerns about self-

image, fairness, process, precedents, or relationships the same analytic standing as the �harder� or

�objective� interests such as cost, time, and quality (Sebenius, 1992).

Stakeholders have power if they

1) Have the ability to act in a unified manner,

2) Have access to superior information,

3) Are difficult or impossible to replace and

4) Face low costs if they decide to move to another firm. (Hickson et al. 1971, Marburger 1994, Pfeffer 1981)

How to reduce divergence:

The first step to creating value with a stakeholder is to probe deeply for interests, distinguish them from

issues and positions, and to carefully assess trade-offs (Sebenius, 1992).

The bargaining literature also offers a parallel with stakeholder theory in describing how firms and their

stakeholders interact when creating value. Firms that manage for stakeholdersexhibit cooperative

behaviour such as openly sharing information, communicating clearly,spurring creativity, emphasizing

joint problem solving, and channelling hostilities productively. When both parties take an integrative

approach their joint problem becomes inventing alternativeagreements that increase their utility. This

often requires the firm to share its own utility function� the relevant trade-offs that would increase and

decrease its welfare � with its stakeholders.When a firm shares its own underlying interests with

stakeholders it helps facilitate trust thatmany stakeholders seek before revealing potentially sensitive

details of their own utilityfunctions (Jones, 1995).

The superlative form of divergence that the Organization can face with its employees (And allied

stakeholders like Unions, managers, communities etc.) is that of laying off its workforce. Mentioning two

case studies, we try and examine how we can assuage divergence.


Case Studies:

Convergent Approach

Case 1: An India based IT Major

The IT industry was one of the worst hit by the demise of the Lehmann brothers which was followed by the 2008

financial crisis. This company was one of the many Indian offshorers severely hit due to exposure to the

banking industry, which was overnight in shambles. Their high value banking contracts along with several allied

industry deals, were terminated overnight. Over 20% of their workforce were directly impacted and were

rendered without any foreseeable utilisation.

At this point in time, the cultural fabric of a company is tested to the fullest as there are several stakeholders

who would like to further their short term interests and reduce risks with a knee jerk reaction by an immediate

large scale layoff. The dissonance or divergence between the interests of stakeholders like shareholders and

employees is usually at its prominent best, and the power centre normally being the shareholders, the norm is

to notice a knee jerk reaction, unless the cultural ethos would collide with such a move.

The IT major being true to its credo of �Applying Thought� tried its best to bring a convergence amongst all

stakeholders. While it was imperative to let go of the non-performers (wonder if that is ever a decision to not

make?), for the workforce rendered surplus the company came out with 2 schemes to further the interest of

both employees and the company.

1. EnrichProgram� Under this program, employees could opt for a Half Day and Half Pay arrangement. It

also encouraged employees to hone their skills by working on research and development projects of their

choice.

2. Rejuve � Under this program, the employees were given an option of taking a sabbatical with all their

benefits protected. An employee can moonlight and take up a commercial or non-commercial activity

while remaining under this program for a period not exceeding 12 months post which the arrangement

would be reviewed. If during this period, the employer has an opening that meets the skill set of the

employee, the employee would receive a call up to join the organization as an FTE (Full Time Employee)

and terminate this program.

The communication for the same was honest, open and transparent. It was almost as a problem was

presented before the employees that there is a reduction in work, and we have surplus employees. What

should we do together was the tone of the communication. This made the employees and allied

stakeholders feel part of the solution as they ideated to create an outcome that is win-win.

The impact of these schemes was a long term convergence to the organization�s goal with the goal of

these stakeholders.

Divergent Approach

Case 2: AGlobal banking MNC

On the contrary, a leading MNC bank had acted differently while responding to the same crisis. The decision

was made at the higher echelons and the affected employees list passed down to someone entrusted as an

expert in breaking the news.

The employees were then called to a separate room and told the following information:

1. Their employment has been terminated

2. They need not come to office tomorrow

3. Their settlement cheque is enclosed

4. There is a cab waiting for him/her and his personal stuff from his cubicle would be sent home

5. In case he needs it, the services of a psychiatrist/counsellor is available from the company (a humane

gesture!)


While the bank was furthering shareholder interests this clinical approach towards employment contract and

hinges on the divergent agency theory. While no one can fault the approach from a compliance perspective, it

leaves a lot desired when you implement such a measure in a country like India without social security

programs. The local HR was supposed to influence the global management to sensitize them to thecountry

realities.

Role of HR

HR could influence the management to play the balancing role to on one hand protect the interests of the

promoters/shareholders on one hand and the employees, local community and other sections of the society on

the other. This is where HRs role as custodian of the core values and beliefs that the organization stands

� Place before management where the stakeholders are coming from.

� Do an analysis to give a neutral perspective on their charter of demands.

� Explain the benefits of having a supportive stakeholder network.

� Connect the value of having a positive image to the overall brand especially while championing the needs

of the local politicians or citizen groups.

� Create alternatives that moves the conversation to Win-Win e.g.

� Can salary increase have linkages to productivity?

� Can employee engagement activities reduce turnover?

� What are employment options beyond a �full time�?

� Importance of having partners among the stakeholder groups who would support your interests

Tailpiece

HR plays a key role in influencing the management to adopt convergent approaches which will lead to a more

sustainable and arguably a more humane organization.

JRD once remarked that one cannot have islands of prosperity in an ocean of adversity highlighting the

importance of taking all stakeholders along in all places where the TATA group was operating in. The comment

was prescient and way ahead of its times.

This would represent a big shift from the Agency model of the 80s where HR was often seen as the agent of the

shareholders to maximize the economic outcomes at the expense of the minority and often defenseless

stakeholders.

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43

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Pitman.


Rajasekhar is currently the President Human Resources at CRISIL, Mumbai. He

has over 23 years of experience in HR varied industries, countries and functions.

He previously worked in organizations such as RBS, Microsoft, HP and Sasken.

He has expertise in all areas of HR and is deeply passionate about enhancing

organizational capabilities to achieve sustained effectiveness.

Rajasekhar is currently enrolled in TISS, Mumbai, as a Research Scholar and his

research interests include areas in OD, Organisational Effectiveness, Multi-

generational workforce and Employee Engagement.

Rajasekhar Kaza

About the Authors

Is Cocreation the Future?

Dr P Vijayakumar is an Intraprenuer, Innovator and Chairperson at the Centre for

Social and Organisational Leadership (C SOL) at Tata Institute of social Sciences

(TISS), Mumbai. As an Intrapreneur, he has conceptualised, developed and

offered a very comprehensive Organisation Development and Change Diploma

programme in India from TISS Mumbai Campus for the working Executives.

Currently the same programme is offered also from Delhi and Bangalore. Over 17

years, he has developed and has been teaching courses in OD& Change and

leadership at TISS and various universities outside India. He has presented and

published many articles and a recipient of Erasmus Mundus scholarship. Has

recently won the Indus foundation award for his contribution to management

teaching.

His current research interests are focused on the reconceptualization of the

contemporary organisational space with an emphasis on strategizing, OD and

Change, Leadership and innovation. He argues for a practice perspective with a

focus on collaboration to foster the linkage between micro and macro

organisational elements.

Dr. P Vijayakumar




In a business world that is ever evolving and highly complex, business leaders are constantly tasked with

creating a need for and managing change in their business strategies, business models, product and service

offerings, redesigning organization structures, team compositions, initiating mergers and acquiring new

organizations to enhance their competitive and collaborative positioning in their respective markets. Business

leaders are thus compelled to deal with enormous amount of change in this effort. Often business leaders, for

various justifiable reasons, tend to take a short term or utilitarian approach rather than focusing on holistic

change while making many of the decisions facing them in everyday business life. The results of this approach

are often disastrous. As an example, HBR report on Mergers & Acquisitions -2015 (�Why do up to 90% of

Mergers and Acquisitions Fail? | Finance | Business Review Europe,� n.d.) says that 70 to 90% of mergers or

acquisitions fail to deliver on their objectives. Most critical of the reasons for failure are attributed to human

issues at work (Koi-Akrofi, 2016). Employee engagement reports of most, if not all, of the survey organizations

(Gallup, 2012)have been crying hoarse for years about the fact that anywhere between sixty to eighty percent of

the workforce across industries in most continents are either disengaged or are deeply alienated at work.

Intentions are Noble

All the stakeholders are aiming for stained effectiveness of their organizations but the results have been hard to

come by. Below are some of the contributors impeding the businesses from achieving this noble goal.

� Organization as a Machine: Decision makers in the organization, in the rush of getting things done, are

more likely than not to treat the organization as �machine� that needs to be fixed � removing the broken

parts or adding extra components to help power up the machine to perform faster and more efficiently.

This approach completely ignores the social infrastructure of the organization � the people, their

relationships, aspirations, implicit knowledge and their unstated needs and goals.

� Short Term results focus - Another key impediment is the focus driven by the pressure to deliver on quarter

on quarter targets by the stock markets and investors. This results in organizations focusing on single loop

learning process (Argyris, 1977) whereby they focus only on identifying and fixing what is wrong rather

than making relevant decisions reflecting on the underlying factors impacting the overall change process.

� Employees as cogs in the wheels � Neoliberalist theory (Clarke, 2005) promotes removal of barriers to

exchange, promotes free market enterprise, competition and pricing based on demand and supply. All

this has apparently led to creating a �world factory� which thrives and celebrates its growth and basis for

existence on keeping the economic costs low and maximizing profits. While this may be widely accepted

as beneficial by some experts, business leaders have also contributed to creating harsh conditions on the

other interdependent social structure of the organization. Widespread use of hire and fire policy, doing

away with positive aspects of collective bargaining, contractualization and informalizataion of jobs,

erosion of job security, complete lack of focus on social security, lack of investment in enhancing

individual employability are some of the sad, unintended but catastrophic consequences of this

mechanistic, neoliberal approach to business.

Adding to this are the so called �nimble� operational practices such as frequent and unexplained role

restructuring, employment of �temporary� and part time workers doing full time permanent roles, wide

spread disregard for employee rights, lack of respect for individual sensitivities at work as human relations

at work are being viewed from the narrow lens of consequences on �cash flow�, net operating income

driven by P&Lization of various departments of the larger organizations. These have created

unprecedented levels of anxiety amongst the workforce in all industries today.


What then has been the impact on employees when Business leaders, HR professionals and entrepreneurs are

staring at unprecedented rates of disengagement, disillusionment and alienation amongst it work-force at a

time when the organizations most need all �hands on the deck� to deal with the challenges of the VUCA world

(Berinato, 2014).

Experts have for long described the increased precarity of work, erosion of long term benefits as destructive to

the motivation and quality of life. Many employees held at arm�s length by entrepreneurs and business leaders

feel the hurt and frustration and protect themselves by psychologically withdrawing from commitment to their

employers (Crowley & Hodson, 2014) .

Brutal work pace, continuous assessments in the environment of insecurity takes a toll on well-being of not

only employees but their families too even while impacting relationships with their coworkers and destroying

the informal support systems at work place.

Chaos created with this rapid change and resulting alienation have the power to create larger social upheavals

and the world has witnessed showdowns post economic meltdown in various financial centers around the

world specially in the United States. We also have examples closer home of flash strikes and picketing by

employees of a famous ecommerce firm in the recent past.

Declining rates of profits, failures of companies which were �built to last� and �visionaries of the next waves�

around the world and closer home in India, suggest the need for the leaders in all spheres of commerce to

review and reevaluate current design principles of mindless �mechanization� of HR processes and bring the

human element back to into work.

Practioners can and should take heart from various examples of successes by organizations around the world

such as Southwest Airlines which attributes most of its continued success to their commitment to employee

health and well-being. Since early 80�s the organization has charted its strategy to survive and grow in

extremely competitive market conditions. Most of the strategy then of the organization was based on the

�family and people feeling� (weber, 2015). Not surprisingly, the organization continues to defy the industry

turbulence even till today. The organization states that their commitment to their employee health, security,

growth and development as pivotal to them being top ranked in customer satisfaction and being listed as one

of the �World�s most Admired Companies� (Airlines & Attitude, 2010).

It is in this context that the Human resource practioners, OD experts and behavioral scientists need to regroup

to design new age engagement paradigms, help enhance the �OD Skills� of frontline people managers and HR

generalists to help positively impact employee commitment at work(Sullivan, Rothwell, & Worley, 2001). This

will help swing the pendulum back to the center by drawing the focus of business leaders to the human aspect

of work and help them replace the �OR� between the markets � employees with �AND� by adhering to some of

the time tested values of OD (Connor, 1977). Fundamental values such as recognizing human quest for

happiness, freedom, responsibility and self-control. System values such as respect for Human potential,

empowerment, mutual respect, authenticity and acceptance. Adding to these are commitment to processes

enabling people to grow to achieve their true potential, promote win-win attitudes, trust, vibrant community

and an inclusive culture.

It is here that knowledge and skills of the practice of OD offers a solution to business leaders as it is a practice

that applies behavioral science knowledge to improve the performance of human systems and also helps

explain and understand that human behavior as a function of both people and environment. It is thus a call to all

the business leaders and HR professionals to passionately embrace the human values as enumerated above

and help enable organizations improve, transform, such that our social systems can discover the secrets of

attaining sustained effectiveness.

References

Airlines, A. S., & Attitude, F. (2010). Our People make Southwest Airlines one of the world � s most admired

companies . Airlines Family Members create innovative programs to increase productivity , generate ideas to

trim costs , give back to our communities and the planet , and take time to ce, 36�74.


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Crowley, M., & Hodson, R. (2014). Neoliberalism at Work. Social Currents, 1(1), 91�108.

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Gallup. (2012). State of the Global Wor k place. State of Global Workplace.

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January 10, 2017, from http://www.businessrevieweurope.eu/finance/390/Why-do-up-to-90-of-Mergers-

and-Acquisitions-Fail


HR and Trade Unions Are They Incompatible? No!

K R Shyam Sundar has worked as Associate Professor and Head of Department

of Economics, Guru Nanak College, affiliated to Mumbai University for a little

over two decades and has been working as Professor, HRM Area, XLRI, Xavier

School of Management at Jamshedpur since 2013. He has published so far

twelve books and over 60 research articles and book-reviews in the field of

Industrial Relations and Labour Economics. He has edited two books. He has

been a consultant to ILO from 2008 onwards and has done projects for ILO,

European Union, Global Trade Unions and so on. He is a member of the Editorial

Board of Indian Journal of Labour Economics and Amity Journal of Economics.

About the Author

48

K.R. ShyamSundar


ndustrial relations (IR) in a classic sense as it evolved from the Western industrialism and perhaps even Icapitalism slowly but surely embraced the idea and even the institution of trade unions and collective

bargaining over the decades of 20th century. The New Deal package introduced by Franklin Roosevelt sort of

legalized trade union and collective bargaining rights in the United States (even though later laws sought to

balance the distribution of legal power between labour and capital) while in the United Kingdom tradition

nurtured it. In the erstwhile West Germany trade unions coexisted with plant level consultative workers� code

termination committee. Trade unions achieved a sense of global legitimacy once the erstwhile colonial

countries were freed and many of them elevated the right to form trade unions as a fundamental right including

India.

The formation and growth of International Labour Organization (ILO) and the framing of international labour

standards in the form of ILO conventions (hard law as once ratified they become binding on the ratifying

member countries of ILO) and recommendations (soft instruments are they are merely guidelines, yet as

powerful as the conventions are) provided global framework for constructing labour rights and creating a level

playing field for countries in the trade sector. Many a countries� Constitutions including that of India and labour

laws in them could be said to be have been influenced United Nation�s instruments and perspectives. ILO

framed more than 180 conventions but the global community have enshrined eight conventions dealing with

freedom of association and collective bargaining, abolition of child labour and forced labour and elimination of

discrimination as Fundamental Human Rights (FHR).

The Constitution of India provides for respect for international treaties suitably. Freedom of association is a

fundamental right as per our Constitution though the right to strike has not been elevated to that status either

by the Constitution or by judiciary. Our Constitution promises a bundle of fundamental rights that are

complementary to freedom of association which is so essential in a pluralistic democratic set up such as ours.

During the command economy the State and its instrumentalities like judiciary and labour administration

framed all the �rules of the industrial relations system� in exchange for labour rights for trade unions and

assurance of disciplined and committed workforce for employers. This social pact was implicit and personnel

management evolved to implement labour laws and negotiate wage deals within the framework of the planned

economy. In that sense, personnel management recognized collective institutions and performed vital though

less strategic functions at the firm level. Its main task included human resource development at the individual

level and dealing with collective institutions for grievance administration and collective bargaining and

enforcement of labour laws at the firm level. This system of workforce management produced at once cycles of

industrial peace and even severe industrial unrest. But collective bargaining gradually rose in strength and it

was at once complementary to and displacing of State-managed rule making process. But what was definite

was that personnel management accommodated even thrived on trade unions. It was not a smooth flow for

management who often decried the rising labour power and rise in real wages incommensurate with

productivity. But the closed economy allowed both employers and trade unions to effect high wage and often

irrational wage deals (classic rent seeking) if only to pass on the cost to the consumers who had no product

alternatives. Neo-classical economists and employers� federations blamed trade unions for unsustainable real

wage growth which caused jobless growth and rise of indiscipline the violation of very two crucial tenets of

planned economy.

State regulation of both product and labour market was long criticized for producing poor industrial growth and

causing rigidities in the labour market. Economic reforms which were hesitantly introduced since the mid-

1980s began to be firmly the primary economic policy of the government since 1991. Product market reforms

liberalized much of the production decisions of the firms and it empowered them and along with domestic

reforms trade, investment and technology were also liberalized. Around this time, the perspective of managing

HR and Trade Unions Are They Incompatible? No!


people also changed from being driven by laws and regulations and collective institutions which did not

produce competitive outcomes to stress on people�s management through individualized processes and a

broader and stronger role for human resource managers. Neo-classical economic theory asserts interface

between product market and factor market in its demand-supply framework and management theories

translated this interface by seeing human resource management (HRM) as integral to corporate management,

though not with much conviction. Not much conviction because HRM is still subordinate to and not equal to

higher level strategies.

Individualism and employment contracts replaced in many places collective agreements and rigid labour laws.

Incentive-based management and competitive compensation policies are seen to be aiding productivity. The

norm of HRM is to move away as far as possible from the �standardized rule making process� such that

individualism will incentivize people to build their own resources. In this sense, workers act like capitalists

owing skill capital bidding in the labour market and firm hopping (not job hopping) as a typical wage maximize.

So both on the demand and the supply front, long term employment is not much cherished unlike in the

classical era of personnel management and industrial relations.

The forces of globalization in the meanwhile weaken the collective institutions through various channels. For

example, fiscal conservatism (not balanced budget but a mean budget) means state retrenchment which often

means privatization and steep fall in state investment in economic activities and hence collapse of public and

government sector and this means less scope for continuation of trade unions. State investment is replaced by

capital intensive and automation seeking investment by domestic and foreign capital in search of efficiency

and this means labour saving investment. Further, private firms trim the surplus workers through various

innovative means. As a result, the conventional bases for trade unionism get eroded.

HRM has sought to build its own channels of communication unlike the personnel management which used

trade unions. The dominant competitive strategy of firms in India (both domestic and foreign) desiring to

capitalize on low labour cost in a typical labour surplus economy resort to cost-saving route (low road to

development) rather than high road to development through technology and skill-treasure house method.

Employers at the macro level demand labour flexibility to aid running business in a competitive manner and to

be able to respond to often volatile product market changes. The demand for flexibility in workforce

management is in marriage with the philosophy of individualism cherished by HRM paradigm of management.

It is integral to and wedded with corporate strategy. Collective power conflicts with managerial freedom and

corporate plans and corporate strategies of mergers and acquisitions or fissuring in terms of building supply

chain. Trade unions could at best be a partner in this grand scheme or at worst wither away in this scheme.

The fight against external regulation at the macro level is carried on at the firm level unless social and

institutional re-engineering produces unique collaborative styles of management. Union avoidance at best and

union busting at worst has become the norm of HRM. Educational curriculum has been embellished with tools

and ideas conducive to new paradigm of people management or control.

Low-cost strategy means in a practical sense toying with labour cost as plant and equipment costs are fixed

costs and material cost depends on the product market. Labour cost in a third-party regulated market is a

quasi-fixed cost and hence not desired. So a two-pronged strategy of union avoidance/busting and increasing

non-unionsablelabour employment has been often adopted. Contract labour at the firm level has risen to

unimaginable levels and the internal labour market has been dismantled. Labour market has been segmented

at the firm level as at the macro level.

At the same time trade unions have begun to shed their past robes and be pragmatic and moved from

distributive bargaining to productivity bargaining. In some firms like Thermax trade unions came to the

forefront of firm turnaround and even that union acquired quality accreditation. Enterprise bargaining and

internal leadership of trade unions have arisen in several places and cooperative and productive industrial

relations have emerged. Trade union leaders have begun to speak a different language and even the Left-trade

unions in several places entered into agreement providing for productivity bargaining, leaving several workers�


management issues to managerial freedom and so on under certain conditions. They have been quick enough

to learn that product market conditions have changed and unless cooperative and productivity based

workplace are ensured mutual survival the classic underpinning of collective bargaining will be in peril. So long

some distributional justice is effected and insider�s interests are protected cooperation with management is

fine for these unions. In some cases, the trade unions have gone beyond protecting the insider-trap

perspective and ensured that the material and employment interests of flexi-workers are protected.

In these cases even the management move away from union avoidance style and conversed with trade unions.

While globalization apparently threatens and even erodes collective institutions it also has a baggage � the

baggage of competitiveness. It punishes errant firms in the competitive scheme and employers appreciate the

need for cooperative employment relations. If trade unions play to the competitive logic management

accepted them and social dialogue follow.

On the other hand, there has arisen a style of HRM which is isolative and exclusive in character which believes

in hard style of HRM which invariably means union busting, top on numerical flexibility and oppressive shop

floor management. At best it nominates its own workers� collectives and even installs its preferred leaders in

the company unions and at worst destroys unions. Lean and mean management is not only in terms of core

employees� strength but also in its attitudes to workers and their rights. Independence and autonomy that

embed labour rights are anathema to this style of management. Various forms of insecurities including voice,

employment and even income security are at risk. Labour unrest ensue often resulting in violence even fatal �

e.g. bloody conflicts in Pricol, Grazianoni, Maruti Suzuki, Regency Ceramics, Honda Moto Cycles and

Scooters. Thanks to many a struggles and union-countering strategies followed rather widely in India, the

International Trade Union Confederation�s (ITUC) annual survey of violations of labour rights place India on a

worst ranking of �no guarantee of trade union rights�.

While there is no national level labour law that provides for statutory recognition of representative trade unions

and casts an obligation on the parties to negotiate in good faith a handful of states provide for regulations for

the same and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and some of the state-level labour laws stipulate unfair labour

practices. Labour laws can coerce the unwilling management to recognize trade unions. The Constitution can

assure fundamental rights of association and unions. The ILO conventions can require its member countries to

respect core labour rights. Judiciary in India has asserted labour rights. But unless the management

internalizes these regulations into their perspective and philosophy and the trade unions conduct themselves

in a manner that is at once not compromising with its independence and yet is seen as partners in progress,

labour rights and competitiveness cannot coexist.

HRM perspective needs to understand that trade unions perform some vital economic and social functions

even for the benefit of firms. For example, they reduce the transaction costs of negotiations and they filter

numerous and often conflicting demands and interests and present a coherent and manageable demands for

management to address. The biggest challenge to HRM is workplace monitoring and ensuring contract

implementation. The trade unions become co-monitors by being co-producer of contracts and ensures

contract observance if only for its own legitimacy and to continue the cycle of negotiations over the time.

Individual contracts set one against another and seek to capitalize on the rivalry which can be damning.

Collective bargaining removes the inherent inequalities and coupled with productivity ensuring mechanisms in

place can be a sound and even efficient way managing workplace. Equity and Efficiency can be married, a hard

marriage at that only when labour rights coexist with competitiveness. This marriage is something that is

embedded in the philosophy of Decent Work of ILO which stands on four pillars of employment and work

opportunities at macro level, rights at workplace, social protection and dialogue process. Bad HRM invites bad

outcomes including violence and it leads the firm nowhere. Militant trade unionism is suicidal for workers for

competition punishes not only firms but workers also. Markets do not manage economy well and social

institutions provide bulwarks against failures. Pluralism is a check on unbridled power of any unitary centre

including the State.


HR managers need accept the fact of countervailing power in the pluralistic system of industrial relations. The

more the HR strategy is to deviate from this and if they aggressively use contract labour the more vulnerable

and disoriented industrial relations governance would become in the medium-to-long-run. The HR managers

need to cultivate the art even the habit of conversing with trade union leaders; should engage with them.

Dialogue needs to be initiated and sustained. It need not always result in rule-making but could blunt the

bludgeons of conflict. A Maruti Suzuki mishap would not have happened with seasoned trade union leader in

place. Trade unions are not a general �bads� but they can aid good IR. A union-free employment relations is

short run good but bi-partite and voluntaristic industrial relations in the medium-to-long-run is at once

democratic and efficient governance. So both theoretically and empirically, there cannot be conflict between

HRM and collectivism.


S Deenadayalan, an Un - learner for last four decades from the leadership and

members of Corporations Like DuPont, ITC, Titan and Mettur Beardsell, He

schooled from Madras School of Social work is Founder of CEO and based in

Bangalore. He Spends time with so called ordinary people to trigger native talent,

consults for 70% and the remaining learns a lot from NGO leaders, College

students and Government programs.

S Deenadayalan

Larger Purpose of Human Resources Professionals

About the Author


Larger Purpose of Human Resources Professionals

CSR is the buzzword of the day, so when HNS (H. N Shrinivas) requested that I write an article on CSR, it got

me introspecting. He wanted me to dwell on how a larger role is emerging for human resources in building

bridges with employees, unions, the government and communities? Impacting Society through holding the

role of HR cannot be done only with the knowledge of HR tools and practices but having a conscience of being

a human being. There is Human (e) in Human Resources

In the pursuit of these answers, two questions came to my mind.

Why me as a writer on CSR, harmony and social citizenry? Why me, who is seen more as a radical, more as a

social worker than as an HR professional, me who has, despite my �radical avatar� taken on HR roles in varied

corporate organizations before branching out on my own in the last two decades?

A caveat emptor with apology is this article shamelessly shares thoughts of my half baked experiments, which

worked most of the time and failed miserably some time.

HR people fall into the category of the most semi-permanent staff in any organization. Is there an impacting

positive legacy they can leave behind in such semi-permanent roles? Probably HNS wanted a perspective from

the experiential journey of mine

Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) and Social Enterprise � Precursors to Today�s Jargon

Before the nomenclature CSR or Social Marketing was coined, are we creating �Much ado about� the new

jargons and flavours on this subject forgetting people like Jamshedji and JRD Tata, Mahatma Gandhiji and

many others who seeded a stronger legacy that goes beyond the CSR laws. The Tatas sowed the seeds of

Social work concepts through Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Thousands of years ago, most temples had choultries, free feeding and planting of trees was just a way of life

without any seminars and workshops. In School we studied Raja RajaChola and King Asoka on varied social

impacting initiatives they took including 360 degree feedback of societal grievances through town walks where

they disguised themselves. The Dharmic concept was seeded as a culture both by the Kings and their subjects

to the extent, most individual houses were designed with space outside for passing travellers to rest. In the

following paragraphs, I would like to outline my journey in HR and about all the mentors, servant leaders and

NGO�s who shaped the larger purpose of life.

Late Ms Mary Clubwala Jadhav internalised the thought of �ISR� Leadership:

Late Mary Clubwala Jadhav founded many educational institutions for the less privileged. The Madras School

of Social Work founded by her impacted my life in many ways. Not only as a student of her Institute or the

scholarship she gave to make me a social worker, but in how as a single individual, she impacted the whole

country, which in the corporate parlance we call as stake holder benefit or the triple bottom-line. She lived by

the ISR value, impacted polity, the downtrodden, the educated as well as industries and society at large in a

sustainable way. The institutions she created are torch bearers of social citizenry even today.

It was at the same time that Dr. Govindappa Venkatasway of Aravind Eye Hospitals was working on the

innovative model of �Eliminating Needless Blindness� through Social Enterprise (SE), again, even before the

concept of SE was popularized. Maybe those that preceded these greats centuries ago had etched values of

caring and sharing in their genes.

Agrarian Strife and the Lessons it taught:

Post my MSSW, my first assignment was with FAO under Professor T.K Nair - and it was on Agrarian relations in

Pondicherry and toured remote parts of Karaikal and Pondicherry in 1974. Life turning moments they were, as it

was a strife ridden period.44 Agricultural grass-root workers were burnt to death by landlords and revenge,

caste divisions, feudalism and its impact triggered me to connect with bottom of the pyramid.


I used to cycle to interior villages and meet the harvesting team who had boycotted harvest and then try to

meet the landlords to broker a settlement between them, thinking social work principles will work. But in reality,

the landlords did not even allow me inside the house as I had met the so called untouchables! This deep divide,

which continues even now, is contradictory to the share and care wisdom indoctrinated into me in MSSW. Has

the divide vanished? Sadly not and new disconnection even at higher levels have happened. Such divides also

exist in corporations, for example between the IT and Manufacturing professionals. Materialism and greed has

created intrinsic pain.

The Corporate Soil that seeded compassion:

After that, I moved on to the corporate sector with MetturBeardsell, a pride MSSWian - getting a Management

trainee role along with IIM greats like Indira Nooyi (then Indira Krishnmurthy), P. Rajagopalan and many others.

It is here that I was mentored into compassion by a great Social Worker from Baroda School� Late Mr. P.M

Mathew, the first HR Director in India in 1975. Business partnering (the new cliché) with heart started here.

Seeding pucca Labour lines for Workers in Mettur was talk of the town (the project did not take off) but the

thought seeding was so powerful and at young age of 24, I became daring of 11 unions. I learnt the network of

meeting politicians, political perspectives in dealing with union and found out that even in confrontation;

authenticity triumphs provided one has the patience, perseverance and ethical base.

NTTF - the CSR Skill Varsity:

I shifted gear to skilling in NTTF in 1979, where I learnt real outreach through capability building. From then on

Business partnering with compassion became my way of life. I wish to share a few initiatives where I was a

learner, participant, instrument and a change agent, away from the corporate buzz, and got the title �Radical ",

thanks to Mr. Reguraj, MD of NTTF.

I partnered in seeding bridge courses with help of Canara Bank and Dr B.N Balaji Singh to reach out to people

who couldn't pass entrance exams and offer them free coaching. Designed schemes, for blue collars to

become entrepreneurial or contextually employable by up-skilling them- all in the years 79-85 and the up

skilled grew. NTTF was, is and will be the trend setter for SKILL INDIA, NSDC AND PRIME MNISTER.

NTTF laid foundation for Competitive employability in the skill space not only for India, but developed countries

like Australia, Germany, US, Singapore and Malaysia. Today, the poor and needy students of yore are ruling the

global skill space as leaders and entrepreneurs in these countries, and I am proud to say I was part of their

journey and played a very small role, but learnt the importance of strong skill base for any organization.

Also Learnt the art of main-streaming the physically disadvantaged for ability and became an advisory member

with the Association of the Physically Handicapped. We facilitated a unique reservation policy for students

studying in Municipal Schools, which addressed economic considerations for getting good skill education

even for those from remote areas. Caste took a back seat. It was Mr. Regurajwho pioneered diversity and

inclusivity for business purpose and preferred neighbour hood status.

Even during periods of strife when we had to terminate 17 hard core union leaders with CITU leaning, we made

sure that half of them were converted to entrepreneurs and they became suppliers of components into NTTF,

the same company against whom they fought. This was real transformation championed by NTTF and

supported by people like Mr. T.S Gopalan a leading advocate and the meaning of Win-Win internalized.

Our organization along with NTTF launched very unique �Earn and Learn programs� and got attuned to

customized skill building in any industry. I continue to support them and take support from them to drive the

concept �Called Municipal School to Managers�.

Nearly for six decades many countries partnered with NTTF even before Slogan �Skill India� movement gained

momentum. Probably NTTF should become a Central Skill University as Industries partner with them cutting

across trades and nature of Industry. Their delivery robustness has groomed technicians to reach greater

heights.


Titan A CSR Growth University

Titan is a well-known name today, but a story not known to many is that it is a joint venture of the Tamil Nadu

government and the Tatas. In 1985, when mechanical watches were ruling the roost in India, Titan seeded the

Quartz movement in the country. Titan was also instrumental in seeding CSR in many ways, and it has brought

about many life-changing and which impacted large parts of the society it operated in. It is here that I learnt

�LADDER-SHIP� role thanks to the foundation laid by various predecessors and mentors. Sharing experiments

between 1985 and 1992 when Titan became Talk of

the town then.I am extremely happy that some of

my successors like N.E Sridhar have taken CSR

(Now CEO of CSR) to a different plane altogether

now.

Naxalite Proliferation: The growth of Naxalism was rampant because of unemployment. Not many know that Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu was once a hotbed of the Naxalite movement. The then Industries Minister of the State, R.Venkataraman, who later became the President of India, propagated the concept of developing Industrial Estates in backward areas, and that is how Hosur was chosen. What Titan did in Hosur is now well-documented history. Municipal schools in the District and later in the State became the source for talent �hunting. Adolescents at the ages of 16 and 17 (which many felt was a HR violation) were taken

in and groomed, and today, at least 500 out of the 3000 that were developed are leaders in varied fields in and outside India, mostly in developed countries. No doubt there were a few negative consequences, but the greater benefits reaped were �Aspirational Growth�, �Contextual Employability �and �Higher Productivity�, all in an environment and time when there were no technical schools for horology, especially in the Quartz segment. Titan tapped the native intelligence of the locals. Here, it is important to state that the Late Mr. Xerxes Desai did not want to disturb very bright students by pulling them into the work stream; instead, he made us identify such talent, and provided them with scholarships for higher education. Titan not only made watches but matches and many inter caste and religious marriages took place. Even when Union was formed, the strife dealing was based on ethical principles and no outsider could enter in the last three decades.

Enabling the Differently-Abled: When the then government, announced that housekeeping jobs cannot be outsourced, Titan took lead in hiring on permanent rolls the hearing challenged in the age group of 40, keeping job monotony and growth limitations in such rolls . This decision proved to be life changing start. Later on, the qualifying age was reduced, Supervisors were trained in sign language and other sensitive aspects concerning differently abled and manufacturing leadership team main streamed visually, orthopedically and hearing challenged in certain unique roles with better productivity in areas like

� Watch packing by the visually challenged

� Noisy press shop handled by hearing challenged

� Stores � some roles for Dwarves

� SEZ Facility in Dehradun had 80% hearing challenged

� Orthopedically challenged people were employed in production floors

� My firstsecretary was a visually challenged person (since we did not have much to do with computers back then) and later, it was a 12th passed person who grew into a senior HR leadership role

� It is not that there were no challenges and like normal employees they had their own aspiration and one even committed suicide creating a problem for the plant manager later.

� Needless to say Titan got President of India Award year after year.


Author with Legendary JRD Tata - Smile says it all

Foster parenting: Diversity is much talked about now but Titan was a pioneer in including women already then.

1000 young girls were employed in the state of the art shop floor. These rural girls were housed in dormitories

with �foster parents� to take care of their needs. They were also trained to adapt to city life and were given

courses in time management, personal hygiene, finances etc. Girls were encouraged to be involved with

orphanages and old age homes to build empathy.

Adolescent transitions are not an easy affair even for parents but things went smoothly because of the excellent

support systems in place. Even boys were housed in transit houses and taught community living

The bunk beds they slept were fabricated by differently abled employees of WORTH trust and a 24/7 care with

micro and macro planning where touch mattered.

Community Outreach: In partnership with Action Aid, IRDT and Myrada, we created women and men

entrepreneurs for varied auxiliary activities like strap making and uniform washing. This helped in creating

economic empowerment to the locals who lived in and around the Titan facilities. One of the local ladies, who thhad only studied up to the 8 standard, is today a Managing Director of the auxiliary activity with an annual

turnover of 7 to 8 crores.

Titan also encouraged co-operative purchase of fireworks directly from Sivakasi, at a marginal profit to support

Deepavali celebrations in local orphanages. Titan HR team Supported Government in eradication of

Parathenium Weed and Worked with Police on Road Safety and positioned Safety umbrellas in peak accident

prone areas.

A changed Community after two decades .Today many of those kids educates their children in the state of the

art Titan School. Some of them have become IAS officers, or senior executives and most of them own houses

Hobby Club: One of the most unique inclusion processes was to tap the passion of employees by

understanding their hobbies and forming cluster clubs around their hobbies. This included debating clubs,

orchestra teams, sports teams, Tata products club, Wall Paper, Rotating editorial board, Plant panchyat or

Employee forum, Housing Co-operative society (which later became a part of Titan). Many employees became

state and national best in their hobbies and performed shows in the media and in on public stages.

Industry-Institute Partnership: When the late JRD Tata visited and interacted with the adolescents employed

by Titan, he could not believe that they were the products of government schools of Tamil Nadu, and wrote that

Titan was an outstanding model of empowerment through Industry�Institute partnership, a buzz word of today.

He found that most of the workers had aptitudes better than engineers and was surprised by their articulation

skills in English within a year of joining Titan.

Businesses created few challenges, unions played a tough and constructive role and the balance sheet of Titan

is proof of its pudding. Critiques talk of too much pampered youths but Unions have demonstrated far better

maturity in terms of crisis.

The spirit of volunteering: How the humble background of people who joined the company from remote parts of

TN, true to Tata�s philosophy decided to give back to society in their own way by volunteering for many social

causes, supporting education, planting trees, organizing health / eye camps etc and all this seeded late 80�s is

a front runner role model for varied corporate houses � who call it �Above and beyond�.

World of Possibility: The success of Titan's strategies at the time is best captured by the life story of

Vijaylakshmi and Murali. Both challenged with speech and hearing, gained livelihood in Titan, Welded happily

in Wedding, and positively parented three kids and all in sign language. Their life story merits a conference on

communication and parenting! One of their daughters is now a Russia educated doctor practicing in

Bangalore. She dreams of Education the parents of hearing challenged to fight social stigma and groom

children for greater careers. Again not a reel world, but real world and every differently abled employee can

share such success stories.

This was not an era when there was jargon or buzz words like Employee Engagement. Several books and research papers have been written about the successes and failures of Titan Experiments. Titanis no doubt a


University with a difference and the Ex Employee Alumni get together takes place irregularly with a purpose. The resigned and retired meet with nostalgia and yet another unique phenomenon

Today NE Sridhar as CEO has taken this to a far greater length, encouraging Crafts, protecting national monuments, water conservation and many such initiatives. Titan in Tata spirit gives space and triggers one�s conscience of human being which is beyond the reach of knowledge and tools.

A Movement Called Titan https://youtu.be/oDDAntB6-tw

Feudal Atrocities and Lesson in Dealing with Inclusivity:

I had a short stint in the Agribusiness of ITC. It was not easy operating in interior areas of Rayalseema in Andhra Pradesh where feudalismwas and is the order of the day. Village Factional leaders had a say in all business operations, employee relations, contract management, material movements inward and outward, renting a house, buying a property and community decisions.

How this is related to CSR is a very difficult question to answer? Share options given to blue collar employees� shares were pledged to the landlord without protection. To practice discipline management, deal with theft or CSR or social

citizenry without their blessing was a challenge. We had to be very creative, tactical and innovative in dealing with such feudalism and factional divide to

create harmonious industrial relations as well as ensure benefits reached the employees. Union negotiations will happen with gun men around to protect the life of the leaders from each other and we need to be realistic this trend which is still a factor to reckon.

This stint also enabled me to understand the intrinsic macho culture of local landlords built over 400 years � I later did a study on this with the help of TISS. Even now Landlords control their communities using power, and sometimes violence. To practice CSR or social citizenry without appeasing them is nightmarish.

This district of Andhra has natural wealth because of open cast mining and most cement Industries are located here. Even now business leaders have learnt the art of dealing with the land lords of different factions � and HR professional knowledge takes a back seat when it comes to managing them. Few youths who have migrated abroad, have reduced the DNA trait of �Genetic Revenge� divide on the positive side. However the poor here remain eternally poor unless they migrate. is Ram Gopal Varma's RaksthaCharitra on Rayalaseema factionsthe real and not reel reflection of the Rayalseemarealities and may be true in many other parts of India.

The unlearning Journey of HR and ISR

It is in DuPont that I realized the power of preferred neighbourhood and internalized the concept of �Front Line produces the bottom line�. To ensure consent to operate amidst an apparent environmental threat, community inclusion and credibility became the greatest challenge.

� Locals were sponsored for high-end technical education to NTTF with an option to join on volition;

� The Learners Program seeded in DuPont resulted in �Municipal School students learning, earning and growing as Managers and Community Ambassadors�,

� Ground water protection around a 25-Km radius;

� Community watchdog committee and introduced to �Social impact assessment studied.

The greatest unlearning was belief in Gurukula and DuPont taught me the dictum � there is �NO BLUE COLLARS OR WHITE COLLARS BUT ONLY CAREER COLLARS�. In a matter of two decades almost all the 12th STD Kids of Govt Schools have become graduates of their choice, grew as entrepreneurs or general managers and some chose careers outside- a dream they could not imagine when they started their blue collar employment


Moment of Titanic Pride after three decades with

Murali and Vijaylakshmi

Customers Employees Owners - Birth of CEO:

This experience resulted in the birth of a completely different enterprise � the Centre for Excellence in

Organization (CEO). Today CEO is seen as a NGO working in the grass root space, and it is only incidental that it

is also a business consultancy organization.

From 1999, my ISR role had a new dimension. Between 1999 and 2005, a pro bono network supported by DRF

(Dr. Reddy�s Foundation), earlier known as SKBS (Street Kids� Business School), under the dynamic leadership

of Nalini Gangadharan resulted in many innovative programs new livelihood programs like Home Care

Nursing, Automobile service Technicians, Hospitality retail management and DAD (Dial a Driver)

These were all targeted at school dropouts. Nalini brought in the concept of road shows, and informed these

dropouts of the various career options, resulting in meaningful careers for more than 50,000 people below the

poverty line. My role was that of network connect and support in mentoring.

Nalini became an icon among the youth in India in enabling empowerment. She was instrumental in partnering

with the Police to eliminate child labor and to mainstream children into education. She later parted from DRF to

start Community and Progress or CAP Foundation. This networking stint gave me various insights into creating

alternative livelihoods based on passion. Both DRF and CAP are today role models in enabling organizations in

the Social Responsibility space. The power of individuals making a difference is what Nalini demonstrated.

Self Directed Teams: My consulting organization predominantly works on the cultural construct space of �High

Performance work systems�. In the last 18 years, we have worked with several organizations like Dr. Reddy�s,

Pepsi, GE, CEAT, Raychem RPG, KEC Electric, Strides Pharma, Saint Gobain, and outside India with Indo

Rama, Jabil and Kobe. We found that enabling the grass root helps in business profitability, societal

empowerment in multiple ways and reinforces the belief of Egalitarianism and contextual knowledge

development. Thus tapping native intelligence has resulted in more than5000 municipal school kids have

become high value adding Executives, technicians, managers and entrepreneurs in a matter of 10 to 15 years

�and minimised contractual employment. Seeing believes and visits the two videos below to get better insights

on the power of Empowerment

1. Learn Earn Grow CEO - https://youtu.be/mLJIv7zmx3g

2. SMT at DRL CTOs sep 2014 https://youtu.be/tHNYlulvDbU

CSIM and Social Entrepreneurship � Connect with P.N Deverajan and Pani Uncle- Servant

leaders of India.

From 1999 till today, I spend 30 percent of my time beyond my business, thanks to two great servant leaders -

P.N Deverajan (Former MD of IDBL, Director in Reliance, has held varied senior positions across India, leading

Chemical Engineering Consultant in the world) and Mr. Sarangapani� popularly called Pani uncle (Former IDBI

Director). The Centre for Social Initiative and Management, popularly known as CSIM, was set up to create new

avenues for passionate people in the Social Entrepreneurship (SE) space. In the SE space, one may not get fair

wages, but satisfied wages. CSIM started working on Capacity and Capability building for NGOs and

passionate individuals wanting to make a difference in the social citizenry space. It found strong roots in

Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Bombay and Coimbatore, and I was one of the founding members of the

Bangalore Chapter. These two servant leaders did not want infrastructure � they only focused on models that

were based on Felt Need � to incubate business skills and drive sustainability. Each of these chapters is unique

under a common umbilical cord, driving programs tailored to their jurisdiction. They sensitize NGOs, Corporate

and well-meaning individuals, who, with humility can volunteer to trigger a new journey for the less privileged.

The Bangalore Chapter has done wonders in building volunteer support, so much so that many high net worth

salaried IT employees who attended 4-month part time programs left their jobs to start their own NGOs.

Connecting the Dots: The Power of One and the network of HR can do far better in ISR than CSR. Thought

budget needs less money and corporate dependency and only authenticity is critical. Recent visit to the tribal


people in the Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu, taught a new lesson on connecting the dots. The farmers here grow good

quality Organic Coffee and Pepper but the produce is procured by middleman at rock bottom price. A mail to

the head of ITC Agri Business Mr Sivakumar, the guru of E Choupel, resulted in his sending a team, evaluating

the farmers and the quality of produce , and they are now bulk procuring. Middleman disappeared and Farmers

are getting higher price. �Dot Connection� was not distanced. While I might have left ITC 22 years ago

In Swayam Krushi, a home in Hyderabad for the mentally-challenged, the core skill taught was tailoring, but the

products they made were bags and some artifacts which remained as unsold inventory. Through our networks,

we connected them to the reputable school Gitanjali, and today, the children�s uniforms are stitched at this

home. This NGO failed and failed till an MBA student whom we had deployed to the project brought in his

management sense, or rather Common Sense Quotient, and spoke to the principal about the order being

distributed over 12 months, restricting new admission uniform orders to May and June, and distributing the

rest on a class-wise basis from January to December. Ms. Manjula Kalyan, the founder added another

innovation � she took uniform measurements at the school but asked the parents to collect the finished

uniforms at the Home, thus sensitizing the children to the challenges of the mentally-challenged, and

generating more orders in the process. This NGO is now taking care of three schools and in self sustaining

mode- and simple solution made it happen.

Connecting net works to NGOs like Youth for jobs, Enable India, we have created more employability for the

differently abled and ISR comes from Persuasive Power rather than Position Power. HR fraternity has more ISR

power.

Don�t each of us have such networks that we can tap from time to time to do little things to help those less

fortunate than us? We don�t need to think big, even little drops like collecting old newspapers in the complex

one lives in will be enough to take care of the living costs of one orphan child in a complex where 50 families live.

Through such small drops, systems, net works, social media and crowd funding, NGO Connect, building

bridges with Government we can impact an ocean of positive help connect. Zero to Hero stories like Dayakar

Reddy of Pragati Nagar or Rengaswamy Ilango of Koothampakkam and meeting them makes me more

inspired and have written several articles on such great souls for NHRD newsletters to spread positivity and

thanks to Chairman Emeritus KSNGaru for that trigger It is just that Business partnering does not mean,

resources are to be treated as billable and the touch part to be ignored, in the name of flexibility. HR fraternity

should have the thrust of Trust in People for best in business and wake up before the hidden volcano explodes It

is not rhetoric � Customized and Aspirational skill nurturing can lead both to business partnering and individual

growth.

Both are not in conflict but collaborative. Through ISR � HR can �LET LEAD �and build a �LADDERSHIP

�model for larger good.

(Thanks to NE Sridhar of Titan, Ms Yamini, Ms Puspavalli and Ms Chitra for the editing and input support)

S.DeenadayalanPromoter– Centre for Excellence in Organization Pvt. Ltd.Advisory board Member – Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development CorporationEmail - [email protected]


Prof J A K Tareen holds a PhD from Mysore University and DSc from Bordeaux

University, France. He established the first high pressure-temperature research

labs of the country for experimental mineralogy and was recognised by several

awards including the National Mineral Award. He was Vice Chancellor of Kashmir

University, member of UGC and then the Vice chancellor of Pondicherry Central

University. He also served as CEO of South Asia Foundation, New Delhi, India

Chapter, and also as Vice chancellor of private university BS Abdur Rahman

University. In recognition of his contribution to higher education, he was awarded

"Padma Shri"in 2009. He is currently establishing his own contemporary �Solo Art

gallery �at Mysore.Prof. J A K Tareen

Educational Institutions A Key Stake Holder in Business?

About the Author


Educational institutions A Key Stake Holder in Business?

t is a well known fact that industry and business benefit immensely from educational institutions, through Ihiring talented manpower, which forms the central pillar of strength, for building an organization. The

exponential growth of technology companies in India is predicated by the availability of trained manpower from

technical/engineering colleges, which provide trained youth in large numbers which in many respects, defines

the growth journey of Indian IT Industry, to its present status. If India today is seen as the back office of the

world, providing employment to millions of youth, undoubtedly educational institutions have played a major

role. It is reported that more than 75% of fortune 500 companies have a presence in India today, or they are

doing business with some IT company in India. Thus, Educational institutions act as key stake holders, in

providing the most precious human Resource, to industry, and play a central role in supporting economic

growth and nation building.

Companies like Tatas, Birlas, have an illustrious tradition of building educational institutions since the early part thof 20 century, and these institutions have gained reputation as among the best institutions in the country,

providing a steady supply of high potential talent to the nation. Indian Institute of Science, TIFR, TISS, BITS

Pilani, are a few among these institutions set up by visionary entrepreneurs almost a 100 years ago, and it is

indisputable, that such organisations have made huge contribution to nations economic and industrial

growth.

Few companies in the last 2/3 decades have treated educational institutions as a key stake holder, and have

made efforts to strengthen their quality/ performance, through conscious and structured interventions.

Campus connect programs were set up in good no of IT companies, where there was an effort to bridge the gap

between the industry requirements, and the syllabus taught in colleges. While these efforts served a limited

purpose, with a perspective of reducing the on boarding and induction cost of resources before they are billed,

it created a line of insight into the plight of educational institutions and triggered the idea for Corporates, of

improving the quality of education including research and development work in educational institutions in

India. A cursory view of the funds committed for corporate giving in developed countries like USA, UK,

Germany etc., and comparing similar efforts in India presents a dismal picture. For organizations, Creating

awareness about understanding the needs of this important stakeholder has become extremely important and

is seen by universities today as an urgent necessity. HR leaders can play an important role in highlighting the

long term value being created by this key stake holder, and impress upon the leadership of companies the need

to define a relationship with educational institutions in a mutually beneficial manner. This not only serves the

organizational purpose, of an assured supply of talented manpower, but also is seen as a visible contribution to

society at large.stCorporate Social Responsibility was mandated in India through a law which came into effect from 1 of April

2014,where every corporate has to put back 2% of net profits into the society to address the socio-economic,

health ,education, environment and sustainability issues concerning a large section of the Indian society . This

provided a stimulus for social impact projects and programs, and many NGOs have been attempting to access

these funds for their social programs, Also several Corporates who have set up their company trusts and

foundations, have a clear access to funds owing to this mandatory requirement.

The importance of each one of these social sectors which needs funding support will depend on the prism

through which one looks at. While, I dare not undermine the importance of Health, clean energy, Sanitation,

environment sustainability and basic education, I would certainly like to highlight the significance of corporate

support to Higher Education and Advance Path breaking Research. While the quality and output of original

research leading to innovation and inventions in Indian universities has been largely rated as average to poor,

questions are also asked as to why Indian universities or Institutions could not produce a Nobel laureate or


Field medallist until date after CV Raman in 1930. Also, why none of our Institutions figure among the top 100 of

world class universities, barring Indian Institute of Science, While, there are several factors such as absence of

critical mass, absence of diversity of students and faculty, poor record of academic freedom and flexibility of

learning, absence of the culture of institutional cooperation and collaboration, one of the major factors is the

extremely poor funding and lack of focus on projects of national concerns.

Indian corporate have only paid lip service to this most critical stake holder, and have not adequately

appreciated the truth that the entire Indian Industry has sustained its growth since independence from the

products of the Indian universities and education system. It is also true that the products of premier Institutions

like the IITs have largely left the shores. Ironically, the Indian Corporates have not sufficiently appreciated its

responsibility to pay back to these universities for capacity building and strengthen them through more

advanced facilities for teaching and research. Whatever limited research done in these universities, is through

dismal government funding and funding through agencies like the DST, DBT and ICMR etc.

In fact, the later agencies have successfully created several small groups of researchers in some of the

universities through their limited funding, which actually contributes to bulk of the research publications. The

biggest handicap in the Indian research groups is they hardly join as a large group from several institutions with

a focus on one target.

There is no unifying force that would bring these scattered groups together for a larger path braking research

with innovations and inventions. I can clearly fore see, with my experience in academics as Vice chancellor of

two central universities, and international exposure, that Corporate sector can play that role.

Taking que from the western universities, particularly from US and European universities, the Indian corporate

has a potential to bring in a revolution in the Higher Education and Research, in Science and Technology in the

universities of the country. What is required is the identification of priority areas of research and commit a

focused and sustained funding for 5 to 10 years with targeted goals. HR can move into this space of building

synergies among various groups who are attempting critical research work in a distributed manner, like they

have managed to do in the area of industrial relations to build relationships with unions of different political

colours. Industry associations have also played a major role in creating a minimum common program, to build

bridges with difficult unions, to the benefit of a group of companies. Similarly, the resources of corporate

funding can be aggregated, for important seminal research with the necessary synergies to benefit a certain

industry domain, If such an effort is initiated by the HR departments of large organisations, support a

conglomeration of research groups from several universities and Institutions, will not only enhance the quality

of research, it will break the culture of isolation research and enhance chances of innovations and inventions. It

is rather sad to note that there is not a single global brand from India, a product of Indian innovation, which can

claim that they are well known brand internationally and are among the top two or three brands in the world,

having become a house hold name. such smaller countries like Korea, Finland, Switzerland etc. have achieved

the status and there are numerous brands from these countries which are popular across the world.

The areas of research that need a focussed attention with adequate funds, that come to my mind off hand are,

Cancer , Diabetes, HIV, Chikungunya, nano-material and devises, clean energy, drug research and a host of

them that could be identified by experts. The aim of corporate funding either singly by large corporate or SME�s

pooling, is to unite and promote large research groups, and provide world-class research, teaching and

facilities. Corporates have a responsibility and role to create world-class universities in India. If not HR function

who else can trigger these chain of thoughts in reputed organisations who have already demonstrated a level of

social concern?


R Vidyasagar is a consultant to business in Human Capital Management in the

areas of organizational capability/leadership development, HR strategy, goal

congruence, rapid innovation processes, mentoring the start- ups and a senior

leadership coach. He has spent over 30 years of corporate experience including

HR leadership roles with Wipro, Motorola, Citicorp/Oracle Financial Services,

Philips and EMC.

He is a member of the leadership facilitators� team at Indian School of Business

(ISB, Hyderabad) and serves as a Senior Fellow with the Global Human Capital

Practice of Conference Board, USA. R Vidyasagar

Sense & Sensibility in HR

About the Author


Sense & Sensibility In HR

By R Vidyasagar

he workplace of today has gone thro� unprecedented changes in the last couple of decades - from the Tdemographic dividends, the �here & now� demands of the millennial, the birth of platform companies like

Google, Facebook, Amazon etc., the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality to the autonomous cars, all of

which have vastly rewritten the way, we live, think, work, seek information and move across the world. Truly, we

have moved into a �digital era�, which has impacted all domains and functions in a big way.

As we are grappling with these, we are entering into yet another major shift into the �age of automation�! Game

changing advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are ushering in a new age of

automation, as machines match or outperform human performance across a range of work activities, including

ones requiring cognitive capabilities such as making judgments, sensing emotions etc.

Amidst all of these, HR as a function has to constantly revisit its core purpose to reinforce, renew & reset itself to

the changing needs of the workplace of today & tomorrow. In fact, no other function other than the human

capital function has the opportunity to impact the course of the organization in such a significant way!

From my long years of experience, one of the core differentiators for a HR person has been the ability to sense

and be sensitized with all the stakeholders �the capacity to discern, pick up, recognize for effective application

of the powers of the mind as a basis for action or response; the quality of being able to appreciate and respond

to complex emotional or other extraneous influences

Multi-generational workforce:

The millenials are a major composition of today�s workforce. Aspirational but often edgy with their �here & now�

approach, centrality of values and often punctuated by lack of tolerance and resilience are some of the issues

one is expected to deal with. At the same time, we have a multi-generational workforce to manage with their

needs and aspirations and balancing these keeping the organizational & social context will be crucial.

With increasing democratization of processes at play and implications of social media, inclusiveness and

crowd sourcing have become the buzzwords all over the place. In many ways, we have moved away from

�command & control� to co-create and enable, calling for a different mind-set and reorientation. While this

being so, it is far more critical to be sensitive to recognize and understand what is beyond the obvious to

manage them lest they can be misguided to seek external help to address their needs and issues. What is

essential is to be �fair & firm� which gets respected by all the stakeholders.

Conventional approaches to careers will be a passé! People will work for shorter periods with organizations. As

wealth increasingly becomes middle-class, more people will dare to dream differently, chalk out different

courses in their career span with concomitant shift in focus to �meaningful engagement�

Credible Champion:

One of the critical competencies for the HR professional is that of being a �Credible Champion� - ability to

demonstrate consistently being an employee champion when required, to act above personal biases at all

times and to stand for just causes with courage, conviction and authenticity. It�s important to take a

professional stand when required and not buckle under pressure. Many of us can recall the Enron story when

people failed to speak up when required!

In a couple of global organizations, I had worked with, HR & Finance were not reporting to the CEO but to the

respective function directly. The sole purpose was to make sure as a custodian of company�s values and

culture, we were expected to play that role without any fear or favor but with utmost objectivity and in a

collaborative way with the business. The folklore was abundant with many tales of exemplar performance,

keeping the interest of the organization at all times.


In another instance, the erstwhile global pioneer in telecom when entering China made sure that a group of senior

professionals spent adequate time in China in a focused way to sensitize us towards the cultural ethos of the

people, work ethics and many gleanings from their folklore. This helped us tremendously in our sensitization

towards designing appropriate initial systems & processes, which were very unique to support the

organization�s foray into China in a big way

Impact of Technology at the workplace

Automation is no longer in the fiction! Companies� world over are robotizing the production lines and across

other areas for increased throughput, higher quality, improved reliability and decreased downtime etc. The

Czech writer, Karel Capek who coined the word �robot� in the early part of the last century will turn in his grave

with a smile as science fiction has become a business reality! A few progressive organizations in India have

already started experimenting with deploying robots in their production lines.

Many scenarios suggest that half of today�s work activities could be automated in the next couple of decades.

However, for us in India, it throws open many fundamental, socio-economic and employment repercussions to

contend with. While on the one hand, Government has a moral obligation to generate large employment

opportunities on a continuous basis to provide jobs to the millions of younger lots who are entering the job

market each year, organizations of tomorrow cannot be totally insulated from such turbulent changes

impacting the workplace.

Managing these paradoxes will be a huge challenge for the Government, business leaders, trade unions and

employees alike. Human Resources professionals can play a pivotal role in co-creating this.

As we prepare to move towards an

era where the co-workers/colleagues

will include machines, it is crucial to

prepare for such disruptions to

reorient, to adapt and to work and

reshape the future in complementary

ways with technology along with

other stakeholders.

In Conclusion

As we all know, the future of work is

likely to be vastly different like a

�connected workplace� as lines

continue to blur between personal

time and professional time. With

physical identity is moving towards

digital identity rapidly, sensing these

changes and co-creating the

workplace of tomorrow will be a huge

opportune time for HR like never

before. I recall from a CEO�s recent address at a conclave . . . �are we in the business of managing or creating�?

The answer is loud and clear!

As we have moved away from being reactive, to proactive, now its time for being co-creative! Advancement in

technologies will manage the routines and as a new normal, we will be increasingly expected to reimagine HR

to co-create the future of workplace on a continuum to stay relevant. While doing so, the challenge & the

paradox will always be as John Naisbitt had put it �High Tech/High Touch�!


Dr. Lakshmi Lingam is a Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

During the period 2011-16, Prof. Lingam was the Deputy Director at the TISS,

Hyderabad. In this position she provided leadership in envisioning a new campus,

hiring new teams of Faculty and researchers, building relationships with the

government, non-government organizations and civil society groups. At TISS she

teaches courses titled �Gender: Interdisciplinary perspectives� �Women,

Development Practice and Politics�, �Gender, Health and Public Policy� for

Bachelors and Masters students. Her research interests range from exploring the

social and gender-specific implications of health sector reforms and other macro-

economic policies; urban poverty and women�s livelihoods; studying women�s

movements and other social movements in the period of globalization;

understanding women�s health and reproductive rights; and exploring issues of

culture, women�s identity and agency. She can be reached at

[email protected].

Dr. Lakshmi Lingam

Sustainable Development Goals and Corporate Social Responsibility: Time to get Counted

About the Authors

67

Varun, an alumnus of TISS is currently working as Regional Manager with Tata

Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad campus. He has four years of

professional experience and can be reached at [email protected].

VarunRamchandruni


Sustainable Development Goals and Corporate Social Responsibility: Time to get Counted

e also make Steel was the byline of a television advertisement campaign that ran in the 1990s, the early Wyears of advertising in colour on Indian television sets, that introduced one to the deligent work of TATA

Steel in a 30 second jingle. I was impressed with the commitment of the industry to several aspects of human

wellbeing outside its industrial precints, that the advertisement reminds one that they also make steel as if by

default, while their primary focus is education, health care and human well being. Riding on a similar structure

of narration, the advertisement campaigns that were released in 2011 by the TATAs introduced a byline �

�Values stronger than Steel�. The short ads were real life stories of people touched by the opportunities that the

Sustainability wing of the TATA Steel had provided. The TATA Steel website pronounces its vision as one that is

aspiring to be "a Global Benchmark in Value Creation and Corporate Citizenship".Much of this work

commenced even before one heard of terms like Corporate Social Responsibility.

This piece is not an ode to the TATAs and their commitment to social causes, communities and social

development, though it is worth exploring and writing it. There are few more industries with equally illustrious

contributions in the social sector. However, I wish to draw our attention to the social context within which

industries and corporates are located in current times. The global and the local context present a dynamic of

ongoing change driven by science, technology, global businesses and innovation. Simultaneously we are also

confronted by persisting socio-economic inequalities, gender based violence, rising fundamentalism, callous

consumption of natural resources, the threat of climate change and the impacts that these trigger on our

everyday lives.

Corporate Social Responsibility in India

The idea of Indian companies going beyond business imperatives to do something for society has undergone

remarkable changes over the years. Time was when companies� merely dispensed cash by way of charity to

organizations or NGOs engaged in social work. Others promoted activities that were mutually beneficial, to

villagers living around a company plant or town as well as to their own employees.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) thus evolved � from philanthropy to a more elaborate

concept that encompassed the environment, employee relations, corporate governance and engaging with

the community.

Scope of CSR in India and its Challenges

The scope of CSR in India has become more complex since the opening up of the economy to MNCs with the

retreat of the state in economic activity in India, the imperative for business to take up wider social

responsibility is growing.

The �first generation� corporate responsibility agenda concerning conflicts between companies and

communities over the control of natural resources is widespread. Yet, India also faces a range of �second

generation issues� relating to hazards of industrial production, exemplified by the 1984 Bhopal tragedy, but

now on encompassing a growing number of incidents across the subcontinents where industrial air and water

pollution and the dumping of waste is going beyond the limits of social and environmental tolerance. Finally, as

the pace of urbanization continues and liberalization opens up in India to global consumption patterns, many of

its cities are simultaneously confronting the �the third generation� responsibility issues related to products and

services, whether they are auto pollution norms or pesticide residues in mineral water.

Not just about what Corporates do with their Profits but how they make profits?

Regulations on compliance to environmental standards in production and organizational processes bring in


the dimensions of CSR as not limited to what industries do outside their organization but also about how do

they align their production and business process in environmentally sustainable ways Terms like Corporate

Citizenship (CC), Corporate Accountability and Corporate Social Performance are gaining ground as a broader

canvas of CSR.

An Economists Intelligence Unit study, provides the following definition of CC: �corporate citizenship is defined

as transcending philanthropy and compliance, and is addressing how companies manage their social and

environmental impacts as well as their economic contribution. Corporate citizens are accountable not just to

shareholders, but also to stakeholders such as employees, consumers, suppliers, local communities and

society at large.�

Therefore, the clause on CSR is a step towards achieving social and environmental sustainability, which will

benefit society in future.

Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility

There is a need for corporates to think about human development seamlessly as a value that permeates within

and outside the organisation. This issue is of even more significance, since a Human Resource Manager in an

Indian industry has a vast portfolio of responsibilities to fulfill. Building a strategy for Corporate Social

Responsibility and implementing the same are the new additions to the portfolio post the notification of Section

135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 as well as the provisions of the Companies (Corporate Social

Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014, which came into effect from April 1, 2014.

As per the rules and guidelines the CSR activities should not be undertaken in the normal course of business

and must be with respect to any of the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the 2013 Act. These include

eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promoting education, promoting gender equality and empowering

women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, ensuring environmental sustainability,

developing employment-enhancing vocational skills, engaging in social- business projects and contributing to

government relief funds.

The Act comes at a time when there is recognition of the opportunities and challenges of the Demographic

Dividend, the unacceptable Digital Divide and India�s poor performance on several Human Development

Indicators. The State has to bridge the gap between the socialist ideologies of the Constitution of India and the

free-market globalized reality of today on the one hand and to remind the social commitments that businesses

have towards making a common cause with the Government and communities.

Sustainable Development Goals and CSR

With reference to the broader commitment to society and country, businesses are attempting to understand

the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon in 2015.international community has evolved a new agenda

for pursuing global development under the banner of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG

framework adopted by the UN as post-2015 development agenda consists of 17 Goals and 169 strategies for

implementation. The SDGs as a package continue to address the unfinished agenda of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), as well as expand them to respond to new and emerging challenges through

convergence of multiple strategies. In particular, the goals emphasize the need to address multi-

dimensionality poverty, sustainable development and environment and global good governance and

partnership to achieve these goals.

The SDGs unlike the MDGs bring into the fold concerns of poverty and development deficiencies even of the

Global North.

http://business-ethics.com/2015/05/05/does-corporate-social-responsibility-increase-profits/

Figure: Sustainable Development Goals 2015

Sustainable Development Goals


GOAL 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

GOAL 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

GOAL 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

GOAL 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all

GOAL 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

GOAL 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

GOAL 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all

GOAL 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and

decent work for all

GOAL 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

GOAL 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

GOAL 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

GOAL 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

GOAL 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

GOAL 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

GOAL 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests,

combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

GOAL 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for

all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

GOAL 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable

development

There is an expectation that corporates, industries big and small recognize the significance of the SDGs and

get counted to provide necessary support to achieve these goals and also participate in integrating it into their

organizational strategy. Industries might want to cherry pick SDGs that are of direct relevance, for example,

Goals 8, 9, 14 and 15 for aligning their business interests to their organizational processes and use the CSR


route for addressing the other SDGs .However, SDGs are not mutually exclusive, standalone goals. Achieving

one goal is closely intertwined with others. The financial requirement to achieve the SDGs is daunting, but

linked to commitments big and small by businesses, philanthropists and Governments.

According to Michael Porte, identifying the growth potential of responsible environmental and societal

strategies is about � the so-called Triple Bottom Line � which lies at the heart of sustainable business. When

business profits from solving social problems, when it makes profit while benefitting society and business

performance simultaneously, it creates solutions that are scalable.

A study done by Price Water Cooper (2015) observed �What our analysis shows is that there�s good awareness

of the SDGs that is translating at many levels into great engagement. However, there�s little consistency in

approach or priorities. Real direction is needed, written in a way that�s tailored to resonate with the business

community and inspire action. It�s also clear that this is not going to be delivered on day one� (p.4)

Embedding SDG Prioritization

Converging the SDG commitments by the country and SDG commitment at the orgnisational level requires

support by institutions that are well versed with social development projects, action research, impact

evaluation and community mobilization.

The models of engagement with SDGs to build social responsiveness as elucidated in the earlier sectioncan

basically be categorized into two areas of engagement vis-à-vis Internal Governance and External

Engagement of the industry.

Governance of the Industry: This aspect can be modeled drawing from Carroll's four parts model which

primarily focuses on four areas of social responsiveness. The four dimensions in Carroll's model are a)

Economic responsibility, b) Legal responsibility, c) Ethical responsibility and d) 2Michael Porter, Rethinking Capitalism, https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value3�Make it your business: Engaging with the sustainable development goals� , 2015. www.pwc.com/sdg4Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: toward the moral management of

organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39�48.

Discretionary responsibility. Economic responsibility deals with producing quality goods desired by the public

at a profit. Legal responsibility concerns with operating the business within the framework of law. Ethical

responsibility guides the businesses to act as per the society's expectations that do not necessarily need to be

codified by the law. Discretionary responsibility for businesses is their voluntary contribution and involvement

in voluntary activities for public good.

Fig 2. Carroll's four parts Macro-model of CSR

External Engagement of the Industry: External engagement for purposes of CSR may draw from Robert Ackerman contributions. According to Ackerman, responsiveness should be the goal of corporate social activities. These activities are categorized into three phases: a) Learning phase, b) Consultation phase, and c) Implementation phase. The first phase or the learning phase of CSR activities includes the learning by managers about the social problems in the region. The second phase or the consultation phase includes hiring of specialists or consultants to study and suggest about social problems. The third phase is the implementation phase, which includes integrating the policies and resources to solve the social problems.


Economic

Responsibility

Producing quality

goods, desirable

by public at a

profit

Legal

Responsibility

Operate within

the framework

of law

Ethical

Responsibility

Do the behaviour

as expected by

society but not

codified by law

Discretionary

Responsibility

Involved into

voluntary

activities for

public good

Fig 3. Phases of CSR activities

Phase I Phase II Phase III5Ackerman, R. W. (1975): The Social Challenge to Business. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard

University Press.

In Conclusion:

With these growing concerns about environment and sociocultural issues, like gender, cultural and racial

diversity, rights of indigenous people, etc., etc., there has to be a clear approach defined in organizations who

are planning long-term business strategies of growth and expansion. We see a great opportunity for HR

leaders to move into this hitherto unchartered/less travelled territory, and establish the necessary connects

with external world, as highlighted in the millennium goals charter of triple bottom line. It is noticed that in many

companies where there are Board level mandates already, a comprehensive Corporate sustainability report is

presented to the board every year covering these issues and reviewed for continuous improvement. HR

leaders are playing an active role in establishing the necessary processes and systems to enable such

structured processes, data tracking and publication of these reports. We fore see a situation that in the coming

years this becomes more and more rigorous and HR function should wake up to this emerging reality and take

proactive steps. Such initiatives create a sense of transparency and helps in chartering a go forward plan for

complying with the requirements of emerging environmental and socialconcerns; Also mandates action plans

are discussed in the Board room, when implemented embellishes the Brand image This is emerging as an

important imperative for the HR function

The Human Resources Manager and his/her team has to work closely with the Business and Sustainability

heads in building a comprehensive strategy with CSR not just as another task but an opportunity to

demonstrate corporate citizenship with an eye and ear to the ground. I place this appeal to HR leaders to seize

this great opportunity.

Ms. Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen calls putting money in the social sector as long term �patient

capital�. Prof. Parasuraman, Director, TISS, Mumbai, which houses the Knowledge support needed for

engaging in CSR and building social responsiveness, points out - �This is a beginning for translating Gandhiji�s

idea of Trusteeship. It is a long haul; we need to stay on course to reverse structural inequalities and inter-

generational disadvantages. We cannot wish them off overnight. There is no magic wand, but knowledge of the

working of societies and cultures and commitment to work with them is important�.

It is time for industry to stand up and make a commitment to fulfill SDGs for sustainable pro-poor economic

growth.


Implementation phase

Integrate the policy and

resources to solve the

social problems

Consultation phase

Hiring of specialists

or consultants to

study & suggest about

social problems

Learning phase

Learning by

managers about

social problems

HN Shrinivas has served the Tata Group for 29 years of which 27 years at Taj

Hotels. He lead HR at Taj Hotels to several global recognitions like Gallup global

best workplace award, Hewitt best employer award and JRD QV award. After

retiring as Senior VP and Global Head � Human Resources from Taj hotels in

March, 2014, he handled an assignment with Tata sons, as Advisor - Vocational

skills initiative, a major CSR initiative of the Tata Group till April, 2015. Currently he

is working as CEO-Vocational Skill Development at TISS, Mumbai.

He has provided leadership for the rehabilitation of 26/11 terror victim families in

Mumbai which has won international acclaim and has become a Harvard Case

study. He can be reached at [email protected] Shrinivas

Human Resources An Agent of Social Convergence

About the Author


Human Resources � An Agent of Social Convergence

t is increasing seen by organisations that HR function should facilitate synergies with multiple stakeholders of Ibusiness by establishing mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships.

In the last two decades or so, there has been considerable debate on the role of HR in building sustainable and

lasting organizations. These discussions have significantly centred on the role of HR as a Change Agent and

Business Partner. The emphasis has been to anticipate multi-dimensional business needs and being prepared

to respond creatively to such demands. Subjects like an integrated HRD system driven by technology, HR

programs to deliver shareholder value, employee engagement programs to strengthen product and service

quality, leading to customer and market leadership etc. has been receiving greater focus.

This has been a welcome shift from the old paradigm, which, many decades ago was that of a labour welfare

and compliance role, morphing into an Industrial relations manager role, and since the last 20-25 years, a

typical HRD role which I have alluded to, above.

Role of HR � the journey

Let us reflect, the journey of HR function, in the last one hundred years or so, and the key inflection points it has

witnessed.

In the early days of industrialisation, mobilising labor and getting them to address a given task, in the larger

assembly line, whether it was a textile mill or a steel plant, and ensuring a certain level of compliance like salary,

duty hours etc. was the role. The power of decision making predominantly rested with the owners of business.

With the labour welfare movements, gaining momentum in the western developed industrial societies, and its

gradual adoption in Indian businesses, this role was enhanced into a labour welfare role, and a few aspects of

worker well being was addressed through welfare programs. Some of this was happening through legislation;

and post independence, there were an array of labour legislations like Factories Act, ID Act, ESI, PF etc. and the

compliance role became more and more rigorous, and technical. The managers in this role revelled in

administering these legislative requirements with a professional élan. Around this time with the enactment of ID

act, the role of an industrial relations manager gained high visibility, where the skill of managing Unions, some

of whom were assertive, and striking a balance/cordial understanding with them became important. This

included facilitating consensus between labour unions and management teams on a variety of issues affecting

worker�s life and careers like wages, incentives and bonuses, certain welfare and safety related benefits,

compensation for industrial accidents, etc. assumed significance, in maintaining cordial work atmosphere.

This phase witnessed the emergence of certain institutional arrangements like collective bargaining, work

committees, shop councils to ensure a level of worker�s participation in management decisions. Thus the

power in the organisation was shared between the management team and the unions acting as employee

representatives and the role of HR was that of a clever and honest broker.

Post the large scale economic reforms and implementation of liberalised policies in the 1992/93, a major stimulus was provided to entrepreneurship with increased activity of business and industry. FDI significantly went up and competition for products and services in virtually every sector increased. With multiple choices available for every branded product/service, customers loyalties became portable and for sheer survival organisations had to focus on quality to retain and enhance their market share. This heralded the emergence of customer imperative. Companies had to address to this with clear plans and programs of establishing a culture of customer driven quality. It is at this stage the central importance of hiring employees of right attitude and competence, engaging them meaningfully, incentivising their performance linked to accomplishment of customer and business goals gained prominence. Total Quality Management and other Quality principles gained huge momentum during this period where Customer was the king. With the emergence of service industry, it dawned upon people that unless we take care of employees, we cannot create customer delight. It was all about maintaining the perfect balance between the three stakeholders � investors, customers and employees.


"We do not claim to be more

unselfish, more generous or

more philanthropic, than other

people; but we think we started

with sound and straight forward

business principles, considering

the interests of the

shareholders, our own, the

health and welfare of

employees, the sure foundation

of our success�

JN Tata

This new role for HR laid emphasis on defining HR strategies derived from the business compulsions of

organizations, forecasting and planning HR goals; be well prepared to deliver these goals with clearly laid out

action plans. This approach lead to constructing HR road maps, scorecards, with articulated objectives,

measures and action plans. Many HR leaders have done an outstanding job in putting the necessary systems

and processes in place to ensure that HR function makes a critical impact on business, which is measured for

its success. If you look at an HR Department today in a progressive organization, the various sub functions are

centred around staffing, performance management, compensation, welfare and benefits administration,

leadership development & training (L&D), succession planning, employee relations, and compliance

management.

While these developments are very progressive, from any stand point, and very necessary, the question of

where is HR headed, what is the future role of HR, in a rapidly changing external environment, with stupendous

advancements in technology on the one side and a increasingly dynamic social environment on the other?

While there could be intelligent and logical answers for the first part of the challenge of coping with technology,

it would be interesting to debate and look at various socio-political dynamics that is influencing the long to

medium term strategies of businesses, and some go forward approaches that are gaining visibility in today�s

organizations and consequently, the changing role of HR.

Building a Lasting Business

To understand and appreciate the social dimensions of business more deeply, let us reflect on the journey of

some organizations that have not only survived cataclysmic changes over several decades, but also have

managed to diversify, grow, and establish a formidable reputation for themselves and their branded products

and services.

If one takes a look at the lasting legacies business corporations have created over the past century, a few

companies stand out not only for their successful running and expansion of businesses but also for their

intense sensitivity to the external social environment. These organizations have made efforts to relate to the

social and cultural context in which they ran their businesses, and have responded creatively with decisive

actions to serve the social needs.

Establishing Indian Institute of Science, by JN Tata, BITS in Pilani, by GD Birla, are sample examples of such a

commitment. Inspired by Swamy Vivekananda, Jamshetji Tata established IISc in Bangalore, financially

supported by the then Maharaja of Mysore, is a major milestone in building scientific temper, among discerning

youth of India, and providing them an opportunity to pursue careers in science. Such genuine commitment to

nation building, has significantly contributed to building the image of Tata Group, as a respected and revered

entrepreneur, in the horizon of business leaders of the country. Establishing portals of Knowledge, like TISS,

TIFR, etc., has been an integral part of growth of Tata Businesses.

This helped them to define a cohesive Identity and purpose and

provided clear directions for strategising their business endeavours.

Likewise Birlas have taken part in the main stream of socially

purposeful activities to reach out to the societal concerns, through

establishment of Birla institute, hospital etc., I am acutely aware there

are many more such progressive organizations who participated in

nation building, alongside running profitable businesses. There are

exemplary examples of several public sector companies like ONGC,

Coal India, NTPC etc. These are some special business leaders, who

painstakingly and unwaveringly tasked themselves with decisive

actions to ensure that the fruits of their business success should

enrich the nation and the society at large. This in my view, helped

building strong foundations and a brand image, which is what one can

term "Build to last legacies"

Likewise the concern such organizations demonstrated toward


employee well being is important to appreciate. There were very few organizations in the early part of last

century, who had detailed plans and programs of labour welfare well implemented. Aspects such as, working

hours, rest intervals, rest rooms, proper toilets, medical benefits, maternity benefit, workman compensation in

the event of industrial accidents, etc. besides a fair wage, well before some of these were legislated in free India

there were such progressive practices in Tata Steel. I remember my long conversations with Dr . SN Pandey of

Tata Steel, who would inspiringly describe the various facets of Tata Steel employee welfare measures, which

were implemented during the first half of the last century, in 40's, 50's and 60's much before legislations

requiring them were enacted. So much so, to understand progressive labour welfare and industrial relations

practices successfully implemented, Personnel management practitioners would visit Tata Steel in

Jamshedpur, on a study mission. Interestingly many such visits were being anchored by professional

organisations, like NIPM, etc. those days. Another noteworthy hallmark of Tata Steel people practice was the

emphasis on establishing multiple communication forums where a transparent dialogue could take place

between all sections of employees and management representatives. These well structured open forums

helped in understanding not only employee concerns and grievances, but also some innovative suggestions

for bettering the overall performance on the shop floor. This philosophy of transparency which was unique to

Tata Steel during those early days of industrialisation in India, heralded the concept of worker participation in

Management, and Tata Steel was among the first few companies to set up Shop Councils, and union dialogue

forums.

These efforts by business organisations to relate to stake holders like employees and key communities, lead to

what one may describe as compassionate capitalism where the human factors in running a business was

addressed on realistic merits within a cultural context. Compassionate capitalism is about fairness, integrity

and transparency in putting the interests of society and employees at par or ahead of shareholder interests. It�s

all about overcoming a reactive response for profits with a short term orientation and planning for business. It is

about creating long term sustainability and serving people and communities. Organizations who have treaded

this path by taking worker welfare and community interest seriously with actionable plans being successfully

implemented have demonstrated greater ability to cope with external challenges eminently. They continued to

grow and diversify into bigger corporations.

Over a period of time these philanthropic activities, conceived and implemented by some reputed

organisations, came to be termed as corporate social responsibility programs. In the last 2 decades or so

CSR became a buzzword, and many business companies were realising the benefit of well planned and

implemented CSR programs, undoubtedly add to their brand image, besides societal and government support

at times when it is needed. In the US, such programs are popularly known as Corporate giving, and there are

outstanding examples of some companies like Emerck, Ily lilly, Motorola, HP, IBM, etc, who actively

participated in corporate giving, which in some ways enhanced their image as a community friendly employer.

Corporate Sustainability and Governance.

In the last 10 years there has been increasing emphasis on three major facets of corporate governance:

1. Environment friendly business

2. Safety-Safety of people associated with business and occupational Health

3. Public concerns on products and services created and distributed by businesses

There has been a spate of focussed activities in organizations to define environment friendly management of

their businesses given the specific product service features of the company. Globally, this is gaining

importance and there have been several conclaves of business leaders who address this major concern, which

is broadly defined under 3 P�s: Planet, People, and Profits.

The triple bottom line (Millennium Development goals) reporting adopted by UN requires organizations to

understand, anticipate and influence changes occurring in external environment; the socio-political system

and the global economic activity. Such a stewardship in organizations calls for willingness to be accountable to


the present and future well-being of people and communities in which they operate, the external, natural

environment which their products and services impact. In other words, it is all about service above the self-

interest confined to profits. Thus progressive organizations charter a path of enduring success where they

consciously attempt to understand and respond to the links between

economic ,social and environmental systems on which the organization

depends and opportunities it offers. These are trust worthy and lasting

businesses which pursue a longer purpose beyond profits and puts

multiple stakeholder relationships at the heart of its success. In other

words, it is of vital importance to the future of the organization to develop

and build a strong sense of humanity at its core.

Today�s corporate governance standards for business organizations across the world are demanding

management accountability for organization�s actions in addressing societal/environmental and safety

concerns. This has lead to creating �Corporate Sustainability Departments� where company�s actions are

measured through an annual evaluation process. So much so, the companies should put in place clearly

defined processes that assures ethical, legal behaviour, fulfils its societal responsibilities and supports key

communities. Many Organizations have matured processes today where an annual Corporate Sustainability

report is generated which is not only presented to the company board as a part of corporate governance and

also are putting up these documents for public scrutiny on their company websites. Some noteworthy

companies in these aspects are: ITC, HUL, a few large TATA organizations, L & T, Siemens, Birla, Mahindra &

Mahindra etc.

The emerging role of HR

With community emerging as the fourth pillar and an important stakeholder in addition to investors, customers

and employees, there will be the need for building linkages of Corporate Sustainability with planning process,

facilitating implementation of plans and including these in the business review processes. This requires

working across functions, levels and different stakeholders. It will be about managing conflicts, building

relationships, coordinating activities, motivating people, communication processes and all this with a human

touch. Who else is better equipped to take up this role other than the HR leader?

In this context, the HR leaders of present day organizations can voluntarily accept and champion the new

corporate sustainability role which in a traditional competitive management system is not seen as so attractive.

HR Leaders can facilitate processes for building lasting work culture and leadership systems which address

ethical & human values, help set company directions, performance expectations with a focus on addressing

multiple stakeholder needs, this includes issues of societal responsibilities and providing support to key

communities.

There are a good number of organizations in India today, where the performance of senior leadership system is

evaluated/measured through clearly defined process of satisfying internal and external customers &

stakeholders. Setting Vision, Mission, Core values which encompass the inclusive criteria as explained above

putting measures and assessment tools for its deployment and addressing comprehensive communication of

these goals and objectives across all constituencies can be an addition to the emerging role of HR.

The adverse impact, if any created by the production & distribution of its products and services is an important

issue to be addressed; how your company products are causing environmental and safety concerns, both

internal and external. Understanding this objectively and committing resources for putting in place counter

measures to avoid or mitigate the adverse impact will be a key responsibility of organizations who care for their

brand image. Issues like, energy management, water recycling and usage, addressing bio-degradability

treating effluents, ensuring adequate safety and security measures both for its employees, customers and

society becomes an integral part of a company leadership role. Any lackadaisical approach in these areas can

lead to a major brand hurting issue when adverse consequences of such an approach visit society at large.

HR Leaders can highlight such issues, build effective plans to address such impending concerns of society and

We do not inherit the world from

our ancestors; we borrow it from

our children�-Native American proverb.


customers arising from their products and services besides serious attention to safety and security of their

employees. Similarly, companies need to set standards and goals relating to societal responsibilities. This is

besides a clear compliance plan to adhere to key legal and regulatory requirements. These requirements are

not only confined to labour welfare but customer and societal concerns. There are many progressive

organizations who demonstrate exemplary leadership as corporate citizen through their involvement in

communities in which they operate; clearly assess the needs of the community and implement creative

responses to address such needs. Standards are set. Plans are implemented. Outcomes are measured.

I have noticed some organizations

believe that signing a cheque for a

charity organization is CSR work.

While such contributions are welcome,

Corporate Sustainability agenda in organizations with a deeper inclusive purpose is much larger in its

imagination and execution. They encourage voluntarism, define processes for a good section of employees

getting engaged with societal work, communicate the purpose behind it effectively and thus build a culture of

empathy and understanding. Siemens have a program of providing six days of paid leave for employees who

volunteer to participate in CSR and community work. Employee engagement shouldn�t be confined to get

together, parties, picnics, discounts etc. It is in this journey of contribution and engagement that an HR leader

can derive a sense of fulfilment besides hugely contributing to the employer brand of the company.

If you look at the social and economic compulsions under which the pre 90s generation worked on their

careers, there were several ups and downs which broadened

their appreciation for people�s problems. So this breadth of

experience helped them to cultivate a sense of maturity and

versatility. This is contrasted by a good majority of Gen Y or the

i-tunes generation who had a reasonably comfortable

upbringing and lesser exposure to societal ground level issues.

We see this prominently in technology companies where

employees operate from a limited perspective of careers and

compensation. This context is a challenge for the HR leader to

widen the horizon of the organisation dynamic, among its youth,

and create deeper understanding of larger issues that impact the

success of the company.

It is in this culture of building an organization that creates a

vibrant cohesive work environment where people enjoy what

they are doing and develop a sense of loyalty, that not only

strengthens employee engagement greatly but also contribute

towards creating a unique shine and hallow around a brand as a

people centric company. HR leaders can seize this great opportunity of engagement in Corporate

Sustainability work which is directly linked to building a strong brand, high performance work culture and

employee engagement. This central humanistic philosophy is aptly highlighted by Dr. Albert Einstein

“A Hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the contributions and

labor of other men, living and dead, thus I should exert myself in order to give as I have received and I am

receiving”.

References:

1. Mark Goyder: Living Tomorrow�s Company � Rediscovering the human purpose of business

2. N R Narayana Murthy: A Better India A Better World

3. Tata Archives

Many companies have the HR Leader also responsible for TQM

and CSR. Arvind Agarwal did this for Xerox India & RPG Group.


I have concluded that upgrades to the

HR operating model will come less from

roles defined on organization charts

and more from improved relationships.

Imagine a family which is not getting

along and tries to improve things by

buying new appliances or furniture, or

by moving house. Most of us realize

that new furnishings or floor plans

won�t help family members get along

better. Likewise, in HR, new tools and

technologies are unlikely to improve

operations; merely changing boxes on

organization charts won�t help HR

Kalpana Bansal is a seasoned Leadership and OD Consultant, serial entrepreneur

and developmental interventionist with 22 years of industry experience. She has

been working across the HR Strategy, Education and Social Sector spaces, and

has been involved with the startup ecosystem. Her other interests are art, culture

and writing. She can be contacted on [email protected]

Kalpana Bansal

HR in Wonderland!

About the Author


HR in Wonderland!

By Kalpana Bansal

Much of the HR fraternity today saunters in the wilderness created by the disruptive changes brought on by

the ambiguous uncertain world. The HR professional today seems to be navigating a Wonderland much

like the wonderful Lewis Carroll creation, Alice. Which brings me to introspect on the famous words of the

Cheshire Cat in the novel:

`Come, it�s pleased so far,� thought Alice, and she went on. ̀ Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go

from here?�

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,� said the Cheshire Cat.

`I don�t much care where �� said Alice.

`Then it doesn�t matter which way you go,� said the Cat.

`�so long as I get SOMEWHERE,� Alice added as an explanation.

`Oh, you�re sure to do that,� said the Cat, ̀ if you only walk long enough.'�

The Human Resources function evolved as a result of the rapid industrialization post the World Wars, and has

contributed significantly to productivity, transformation and growth of the developed nations, and had

ramifications in the structure of industry in the developing economies. Today, the function struggles with its

identity, its deliverables and its existence itself. Like the Cheshire Cat says, most HR professionals are walking

along, not sure exactly where to go, hoping that they are on the right path.

The Internet has been one of the disruptive forces in the World economy. Combine that with the strides in

quantum mechanics, telecommunication, connectivity, transportation, environment, biodiversity and

divergence, the economy that we see today is way different from what we saw a decade ago, and stands to

transform itself rapidly every few years. These forces are changing the ways in which people think, engage and

transact.

While standard functions in enterprises are largely quantifiable or tangible and can be linked to a product or a

service, HR remains one of those abstract, vaguely understood functions that everyone thinks they know and

nobody really understands. This places the HR professional under tremendous pressure and pushes him to

question his own worth and contribution at times. Compounding this problem is the fact that the HR

professional was trained in certain best practices or behavioural theories and approaches that probably served

the last decade of enterprises way better than they seem to serve the current crop of organisations.

The current decade has created certain paradigm shifts in the perception of the HR deliverables in new age

organisations. While attempting to encapsulate the flavor of these shifts in a framework that everyone can

relate to, I have tried to classify them along the lines of the 7-S model. which I have diagrammatically

represented below.

Hard Elements

� Strategy - Purpose of the business / the way the organization seeks to enhance

its competitive advantage.

� Structure - Division of activities; integration and coordination mechanisms.

� Systems - Formal procedures for measurement, reward and resource

allocation.

80

Structure

Strategy

Skills

Staff

Style

Systems

Shared

Values


Soft Elements

� Shared Values

� Skills - The organization's core competencies and distinctive capabilities.

� Staff - Organization's human resources, demographic, educational and attitudinal characteristics.

� Style - Typical behaviour patterns of key groups, such as managers, and other professionals.

From Inside Out to Outside in (STRATEGY): There was a time a couple of decades ago, when vision workshops

and organisation goals and ambitions defined the DNA of the organisation. Today, it's the stakeholders of the

larger eco-system who define what the organisation should deliver and how. The CEO follows the Customer.

This means that organisation DNA is not about what they choose to be but what the environment, customers

and shareholders �perceive they need to be�. Organisations are growing �Outside In� and it would be

immensely helpful if HR practitioners spent time on the Field and worked in Customer service and worked with

policy and procedure that enables the best service to the stakeholders than insist on conformance to policy

that best serves interests within. It is time for HR to mandate an �unpolicy� philosophy to deal with the drastic

nature of changes in the external environment. Visions are best drawn as a collective from the stakeholders

outside the organisation, and suitably embedded those in the organizational DNA, and change is best

navigated by not doing Change Management rollouts.

From Organisation Structure to Building Visions (STRUCTURE) (Structure to Randomness) � In the nineties

when I graduated and till a few years back, the organisation structure was King, and staff requisitions were the

defining characteristic that proclaimed the existence of an official HR Department. HR professionals spent

time �getting the paperwork right� and ensuring that every box was fitted right and put through whatever

checks and balances it needed to have. Today, it's a veritable mayhem, with a crisscross of virtual offices, often

just IP addresses, freelance specialists, outsourced third parties, all of whom interact in a networked world

minus the boundaries of the formal �memo�. HR is rethinking the way it designed organisations, built levels and

career paths, and is compelled to make frequent alterations in manpower deployment fuelled by fluid business

demands.

From Management to Alignment(SYSTEM) - The traditional HR function strove to create adherence, discipline,

productivity, measurability and reliability in the workplace. In order to do that it engaged in transactions such as

Attendance, Leave, Grievance Handling and Payroll processing all of which served certain organisation

requirements. The environment of today where an entrepreneur can run an entire workplace out of his mobile

phone has drastically changed the outlook towards these traits and attributes. Work delivery, work efficiency

and accessibility is more a function of connectivity and commitment than any stipulated working hours or

physical presence, except in industries that require labour intensive contributions. Even in such industries,

automation and collaborations have morphed workplace requirements significantly. The HR evangelist in the

organisation is therefore, more focused on ensuring an alignment between organisation constraints and

individual preferences and enabling employees to work with concepts such as flexible work hours,

asynchronous office timings, portable offices, and collaborative cyber workgroups. HR, which was earlier the

custodian of more punitive frameworks is suddenly a more positive, supportive and enabling function that

seeks to align individual preferences with organisation outcomes.

From Loyalty to Self-Actualisation (SHARED VALUES) - Our �selfie� generation has redefined capitalism,

loyalty and passion. While organisations can aim to get the best out of the employees, it is worthwhile

remembering that our new age employee has his own passions, his own path and his own choices, and is not

bound to the organisation in shackles. He demands his space, his identity and seeks his own path. HR can best

be a facilitator of personal growth while trying to align it with organisation imperatives. Respecting �Freedom�

is way more critical than rewarding �Discipline�, and who better to show the way than the new age

organisations such as Google and Amazon. HR can contribute immensely to growth both at the organisation

level and the employee level by empowering the employee to take decisions and exercise his mind.

From �Candidate profiles� to �Fingerprints� (SKILLS) � HR professionals aren�t recruiting specific skill sets

anymore, but a broader range of competencies that enable people to be moved across functions or roles. There


is less emphasis on compliance and more on differentiation, and attributes like flexibility, adaptability, ability to

question and have a stance are being given due weightage. People are no longer clustered into Job functions,

but treated as people intheir own right, distinctly different, and as unique as their fingerprints. There is an

inherent recognition of the fact that no two people have similar life trajectories, passions, motivations and skill

sets, as there is nothing like a �perfect fit�. The move is more to optimize what is available and seize

opportunities when they come along. Obviously, this creates certain pressures and dilemmas for the HR heads

and they are under huge pressure to reconcile their traditional school of practice with contemporary demands.

From Reward & Recognition to �Wholesomeness�(STAFF)- Gone are the days when HR professionals followed

a very strict formal recruitment process, and used levels and bands to fit employees into �grades� and had

hierarchical labels correlating with seniority. The new Mantra is all about self selection, uniqueness of role and

designation, shifting compensation patterns, and non-standardized incentivisation. This is the era where

everyone recognizes that no two people are motivated by the same proverbial carrot, and what keeps one

going may not necessarily excite the other. HR professionals are still adjusting their mindsets around the

creation of never heard of roles and the obsolescence of certain roles that existed in the past, the expectations

of young twenty something incumbents with huge compensation because of certain scarce technological

skills, and reward systems that do not work on the hitherto traditional models of fairness and equivalence. Time

for the normal distribution and performance appraisal to take a bow!

From Goal Setting to Goal Enablement (STYLE) - For decades, HR professionals pushed top down approaches

through MBO, Balanced Scorecards, productivity measures, Six Sigma approaches, Competency based

measurement. It all worked on the premise that cumulative goals are the result of certain individual goals that

could be quantified and measured. It worked fine when product life cycles were longer than a year,

technological obsolescence did not push things out of the market quicker than they came in, and five year

plans made sense. In the current scenario, a one year lag in measurement is like looking back at your entire

work life post retirement! Objectives and Goals itself keep changing rapidly with every new change, and the

emphasis is on break-through, not on consistent adherence to a set plan. The first end measure is the

Consumer, the single biggest Stakeholder in the entire organisation matrix, the second is the Shareholder. Both

these entities are not part of the internal dynamics of the organisation. Concepts such as longevity, retention,

five year plans, commitment, gratuity and bonus all need rethinking and re-engineering.

All of this makes one ponder about the true role of HR in the current complex world. It's a VUCA world, and

people and environments both of which are made up of unstable, unpredictable attributes are interacting in

ways one would have never foreseen. Perhaps the answers are in just doing away with HR as a role, and looking

at Customer driver organisations where the line manager is the HR practitioner. However, that may lead to its

own set of challenges.

For the ones who have read patiently through this, at no point of time is the true complexity of the People

function more called upon to deliver on its potential than it is today. Navigating through this is exciting,

uncertain and maybe even frustrating at times, however, there is one attribute that can help us on our journey,

that was kindly pointed out by Lewis Carroll himself in a different age and time � Curiosity!

In conclusion, the HR leader is called upon to navigate a lattice of Stakeholder relationships and manage

differing expectations. Be it the employee, the customer, the vendor, other business heads within the structure,

the flexibility of attitude with and non- judgmental curiosity about other perspectives would enable the HR

professional to achieve great strides in effectively delivering optimum results. The HR leader is encouraged to

challenge himself, and explore the realities of business by going �down the rabbit hole� so to speak. It will only

add more value and ability to navigate conflicts and resolve situational dilemmas. As Alice navigated her path

through unexpected challenges, and relied on her skills with people to bring out the best, so should the HR

professional of today rise to the challenges and uphold the Stakeholder Value perception.

Keep finding your own path…


Ghandi Doss L S was formerly worked as a Professor of social work at Central

University of Jammu and Bangalore University. He has worked with number of

NGOs in India and South Asia

Ghandi Doss

Sustainable Organisation and Sustaining Organic Relationship through Social Entrepreneurship

About the Author


Sustainable Organisation and Sustaining Organic Relationship through Social Entrepreneurship

ou can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you Yreact to it M K Gandhi. If this is true to one, it must be to all-including people�s organizations. The cited

quote from Gandhi is one of the ways every organization or individual need to look at. How do we as an

Institution react to changes around us? Many success stories of modern organizations relates to the way they

positioned their �organizational reactions� to the ever changing and challenging environment.

Sociologists, in particular, (John J.Macionics) mapped the core changes happening in our society and

organizations- expansion of personal choice; growing awareness of time; increasing social diversity; personal

freedom and a distinct identity. An organization being a miniature society is also subject to this dynamics.

Today �virtually everything is subject to the twists and turn of changes�.organizational sustainability depends

on the way they can cope in the environment.

To add to the twists is the rise of virtual communities which is growing faster than ever. They exists everywhere

.In all organization existence of two communities is here to stay. ONE, working for the organization and the

OTHER networking among themselves. This is not quite new, but the speed and expansion crosses time,

space and boundaries due to IT enabled technology. While organizations can manage and regulate the first,

resourcing the latter is not adequately thought of. Ironically both operate in the same system and its

significance not appropriately recognized or evaluated. This is one of the core issues, all organization, today,

grapple with.

Concepts like cyberspace, digital communication getting all the time refined and redefined and new definitions

are emerging like New Media. (Gu-Ming Chen,2012) The summary of the same as follows. �New Media

functionally allows people to interact with multiple persons simultaneously with the ability individualize

messages in the process of interaction� This not only influences the content of the messages, but also affects

how people understand each other in the process of human communication. This is important since it

influences different mode of production and distribution. In this process, often, sender is a public

communicator and receiver is a private consumer. Since modern society expand across time and space

culture, individual identity. Choices, preferences, understanding interpretation of the content of

communication, often, come under �perceptional stress� impacting execution of work. Management of off

shore call centers for international service can illustrate this point.

The HR professionals, all the time design in-houseprograms to sustain the employee�s interest to build more

cohesive functional teams to achieve both production process and targets in real time. It is in this context one

needs to look at the �Virtual community� and �organic community� (Jan A.G.M.VanDijk) in an organization and

continuous interaction between these two at any given time within the system. Does it have any influence on

the organization�s identity, culture and productivity? Every individual and small group has both �virtual identity�

and �organic identity� within the organization as well as in social milieu

Max Weber explaining on� ideas and change� traces roots of most changes to ideas. Today, every other

organizationis carving for innovative ideas for change. Organizations have moved from evolution approach to

jump start approach in production and distribution. In this complex situation, personal freedom and

organizational social responsibility come to stay as central theme to sustain organizations.

One of the program me to sustain organization is to move in the direction of promoting and nurturing �social

entrepreneurs� with in the organization and in communities. Organizations tend to showcase social

entrepreneur programs as social responsibility schemes. It will pay more dividends if organization synergizes

the social entrepreneur program with virtual community and organic community at individual, group and

communities levels. (refer-David Bornstein, How to change the world)


Individuals and groups are seeking more space to voice their opinions, ideas within and outside the systems. If

social Medias promoted �virtual networks of people getting connected at the click of a button, the Apps

technology provide a sharper connect to the �organic persons�. They derive a great strength of satisfaction in

creating �apps� since the delivery has social impact, great consumer satisfaction and appreciations. It is

interesting to recall expression of renowned British economist on BREXIT thus �EU is managed by unelected

technocrats and unaccountable Bankers. Therefore we wish to reclaim our sovereignty and freedom.� It is not a

surprise the essence of this feeling echoing all across nations. The organic individuals and groups are seeking

more space in the social system to promote ideas for action. Social entrepreneur�s actions provide more

meaningful involvement to meet the ever growing complex social needs of communities and marginalized

groups. While professional skill sets of employees have immediate recognition in the organization, the �people

centric� or �citizen centric� personal skill sets of individuals-empathy, attentive listening, warmth, positive

attitudes, fine arts and performing arts, innovative ideas with cutting edge technology reflecting social

concerns either overlooked or never looked at. Organizations need to evolve in - house micro program me to

utilize the personal skills sets to promote healthy interpersonal relationships, appreciation for culture, social

ethics and well-meaning personal values and enhancing functional relationship. It will serve as an

organizational mirror. The Individuals themselves will come with innovative ideas to promote the cited

dimensions and organizations need to provide or facilitate space for such �organic networks�. Connecting

�organic Indiduals and groups with social space for public good will enable them to understand the challenges

in meeting in understanding the complexity of social needs of people in a democratic system. Social

entrepreneur program is only a gate way and not an end. But this gate way will make everyone more sensitive to

social issues, bring new ideas to resolve with cost effective �App� technology and sense of satisfaction of being

a �social being�.

People may doubt what you sayBut they will believe what you doNothing brings peace but yourselfNone can borrow or take it


Vikas Vishnu Shinde is the Chairman and Managing Director of SFPCL ( Sahyadri

Farmers Producer co ltd) , he has completed his post- graduation in Agricultural

Engineering. Sahyadri Farmers Producer Co. Ltd. is registered under Companies

Act in December 2010 at Nashik with a vision to provide completely professional,

commercial and integrated solution to farmer members. The Company

commenced its commercial operations in the year 2011-12 mainly exporting

grapes to Europe and other Countries and now has emerged as one of the largest

grape exporters from India.

Vikas Shinde

Case Study 1HR Transformation The Sahyadri Farms Story

About the Authors


Mr. Prashant P. Khambaswadkar is a post graduate in personnel management

from Pune University. He started his career with Tata Steel and then worked for

Johnson & Johnson and HDFC LIFE. He is currently the MD& CEO for the Universal

group. He was the past chairman for NIPM Mumbai chapter and has been recently

inducted on the �Skill Development Authority of India�.

Mr.Prashant P. Khambaswadkar

Case Study 1HR Transformation � The Sahyadri Farms Story

Introduction

mportance / Role of Agriculture: About 1/4th of India�s GDP depends on the primary sector of which Iagriculture is the core component. The share in GDP was as high as 51.81% in 1950 � 51 and was reduced to

15.35% in 2014 � 15. Agriculture is the largest employment provider sector. It provides employment to more

than 50% of the total labour force. Some of the features of the Indian Agriculture sector highlights the low

productivity as compared to advanced nations plus the issue of disguised unemployment. or hidden

unemployment where apparently all people are employed, but in reality some are unemployment � their

marginal productivity is zero. The other thing is Subsistence farming wherein good rainfall means good crop

and bad rainfall means bad crop. The other problem is too much dependence on traditional inputs. Farmers rely

on traditional inputs, Modern inputs are not judiciously used. The land holding too is very small which is under

cultivation and is a big risk. The share of small and marginal farmers in land holdings is as high as 83% !! plus

63% of land holdings belong to marginal farmers with less than 1 hector. Other challenges of the farmers are

limited access to information on domestic and overseas markets and available marketing opportunities. Lack

of basic infrastructure, fragmented supply chain, poor cold storage facility and high post � harvest losses. This

is not the end; other non infra challenges that haunt the farmers are the challenge of the lack of proper agro

advisory services and multiple intermediaries and exploitation by monopolistic licensees. The role of small

farmers � Indian agriculture is the home of small farmers. Therefore, the future of sustainable agriculture

growth, food security and livelihoods in India depends on the performance of small and marginal farmers.

Sahyadri Farms � Way to Sustainable Agriculture !!

Mr. Vilas Shinde is the Chairman of the Sahyadri Farmers Producer company Limited, a public � private hybrid

society of farmers from Nashik district. Sahyadri is the largest farmer aggregator with 10,000 plus farmers as

members and is the largest exporter of grapes since 2015 from India. After acquiring PG in Agri. Engineering,

Mr. Shinde started grape growing activity under proprietary firm (VVS) in the year 2004. He then started farming

on his own farm land along with 10 farmers. He handled different crops like grapes, pomegranates, melons,

mangoes and vegetables in fresh and frozen form. The turnover of VVS for the years 2011 � 12 and 2012 � 13

was 23.33 crores and 53.84 crores respectively handling 400 containers per year. Looking at the positive

response and in order to achieve scalability, Sahyadri Farmers Producer Company was formed as a society

wherein every farmer irrespective of their capital was given similar shareholding. The major objective to form

Sahyadri was to find a solution to problems of small farmers and to overcome challenges faced while working

as an agro entrepreneur. Making farming as a profitable venture with sustainable development of agriculture

and rural community became a focus of this mission called Sahyadri. Today Sahyadri has 200 highly qualified

and experienced staff with a state of the art processing centre supported by 1041 growers collectively farming

1983 hectares of different varieties of grapes providing end to end solution to the registered farmers right from

farm management, input supplies, financial support, risk coverage, post harvest upto marketing. 90% farmers

associated with Sahyadri are marginal farmers under the Global GAP Programme. (GAP is Good Agriculture

Practices). Sahyadri by the way is the largest Global Gap certified farmer group in India !! which exported 13200

MT of grapes all around the world in the year 2016. the current turnover of Sahyadri stands at 160 crores !!

Going forward the plan is to build a strong network of 10000 plus farmers from Nasik and surrounding districts.

The main focus will be on horticulture crops and developing an integrated supply chain from farm to fork. The

way forward also includes creating a world class infrastructure for handling fresh and processed fruits and

vegetables for manufacturing preservative free jam, ketchup, juices, syrup, garlic and other pastes, frozen

foods and many more varieties as an immediate expansion plan. The plan also includes strong support

structure for farming operations and a complete supply chain management for fresh horticulture.

(Sahyadri Agro Retail Company limited) will be the front end of the flagship company and will have a farm to


fork traceability for its branded fruits and vegetables. This unique and innovative ERP system and technology

will enable the consumers to trace back to the farm from where it has been harvested and will assure quality.

In a nutshell, this world class facility on the hill 25 kilometers from nasik is the pride of India as it is going from

strength to strength making farming sustainable and seeding goodness ! some highlights of the facility : Fresh

fruits and vegetables 350 MT/ day. Processed fruits and vegetables 250 MT / day. State of the art grading and

packing line. 6 pre � cooling rooms for handling capacity of 50 MT each. Vaccum pre � cooling system for leafy

vegetables. 8 advanced and fully controlled Ripening chambers with a capacity of 25 MT each. 8 semi

controlled Ripening chambers with a capacity of 250 MT each for Mango processing. IQF facility with capacity

of 50 MT / day. Plate freezer facility with capacity of 40 MT / day. Aseptic processing facility with capacity of 150

MT / day. 2000 MT Cold storage for fast moving items and Frozen products plus a 2000 MT Ambient storage for

Aseptic products. State of the art testing / certification laboratory.

Sahyadri will also commission India�s first ever FARMERs MALL exclusively devoted to the daily needs (ALL �

crop, farming machinery, electronic equipments and gadgets, clothing, shoes, entertainment, food, ATM and

everything that is available in any other mall. The difference here is that this mall will provide quality products

yet at a low cost and within the rural reach). This will be open by the end of January 2017 !!. This unique and state

of the art Rural Mall will enable the farmers to be self sufficient without requiring them to go to the city for

anything.

Strategic HR led growth

The promoter Mr. Vilas Shinde who is himself very well qualified and professional inspired by Dr. Kurian�s AMUL

movement in Gujarat, realized early that although Sahyadri is a Farmer oriented company, in order to grow and

sustain the world class expectations, will have to depend upon professionals as well as a professional and

systematic approach in anything and everything that they do. Towards this, he saw the need of aquiring,

mentoring, training, engaging and retaining such talent that will make his ambitious nation building vision of

creating sustainability to the agricultural sector a reality. His challenge was to attract the right talent for every

operation from the urban cities to their facility in the rural setup of Mohadi (Nashik district) and retain them

productively. Being a farmer entrepreneur, he realized that the farmer is no different that any entrepreneur, his

farm is the factory, the farmer recruits labour, trains them to farm, cultivates crop (manufacturing), remunerates

them, rewards them post harvest (bonus), markets the produce. The only difference is that he does not

generate a balance sheet. In order to make sure there are no nasty surprises, Mr. Shinde decided to

professionalize the Agriculture by introducing systems and processes in everything that a farmer does today.

Over the years, his efforts have paid back as all the member farmers of the Sahyadri group are enjoying better

quality and yield per hecter and a guarantee for the future. The eco system created to arrive at the sustainability

in agriculture is the hall mark of Sahyadri farms !!

Sahyadri is also currently establishing an exclusive Skills Development Centre devoted to provide vocational

training to the rural youth so that they can utilize this knowledge and skill in the farms to increase productivity

and profitability. The aim is to bridge the gap between the rural and urban and ensure that the rural population

migration is reduced as far as possible. Looking at the fast growth of Sahyadri, the talent cultivated at this Skills

centre will not only suffice the needs of Sahyadri but also of the entire Agricultural sector.

The Universal Group (end to end HR organization headed by Prashant Khambaswadkar) has been considered

for setting up the entire HR infrastructure of both the companies of Sahyadri. Since the last one year, Universal

has been able to create the Vision, Mission and Values of the group. Create the organization structure, Job

descriptions, KRA�s, Performance Management System, Compensation Re structuring, Recruitment

management, Competencies mapped and a framework created, Job and position banding, Training needs

were identified and customised trainings were conducted by professional trainers, Employee engagement

model created exclusive for the sector. Town hall meetings, Sahyadri online Academy, HR policies, Practices

and Systems have been laid down to suit the respective businesses.

The way forward is to create a robust succession plan, organisation re structuring to create synergy with the

expansion plans, hire senior management team with strategic intent, career paths for all ranks. The HR


challenge was to create a seamless synergy between the promoter group, the first 100 recruits by the reference

of promoters and the latter staff that was recruited on merit. In essence, change management without

impacting the business adversely was executed flawlessly which ensuring that delegation of tasks

(decentralization) and empowering the ranks to take decisions was a major task.

The Universal group is also spearheading the strategy and execution of the Skills Development Centre for

Sahyadri farms.

November 29, 2016


Naveen Khajanchi is an executive coach, author of Evolutionary leadership A

Holistic Perspective and family business advisor to leadership. He also runs a

Leadership Search firm based out of India. He has an Executive Master�s Degree in

Consult and Coach for Change He is an emerging thought leader from Asia and

was recently featured in Top 25 ( only Asian ) of top 100 Global FOB influences in

Social Media in UK

(http://www.familybusinessunited.com/news/global-fb-influencers/)

Naveen Khajanchi

Case Study 2Cultural Fit for Leadership Roles in Family BusinessesAbout the Author


Case Study 2Cultural Fit for Leadership Roles in Family Businesses

By Naveen Khajanchi

he thumb rule would be to look for a person who after a Best fit - fits in culturally with the organization to Tappreciate what exists, challenge status quo where required for positive disruption This becomes an

important imperative for the HR leader to facilitate

To survive the challenges of growth and intense competition, Family Owned Business have to be suitably

organized and for this often external talent is required who fits culturally with the organization. We can draw an

analogy here; stakeholders are like the fathers looking for good grooms for their daughters. Since the groom

has to live in his father-in-law�s home, he must fit culturally in the new home. Mutual understanding and

willingness to adjust would be the key for the long-term survival of this relation.

Culture of the organization

Before going in for a leadership search for any FOB it is imperative to understand the culture of the organization.

I contend that, the better the understanding of culture, the better the hiring process that selects a culturally-fit

person for the organization. It is important for a search partner to walk through the organization and understand

its business model, strengths and weaknesses.

It�s important to understand the stakeholders and where they are coming from as without that we nod in the

room but go out and start speaking against them. (Smell of the Place by late Prof Sumantra Ghoshal is a great

example of this Between two candidates where one is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUddgE8rI0E )

more skilled while the other fits into the culture more, there are chances the culturally fit will be hired.

To understand the match and mismatch areas, it is also a good idea to study the stakeholders� persona and use

psychometric tools. I can site one illustration where I was to search for a CEO for an IT services company. My

perception of IT was of informal organization but this particular organization had a very formal set up.I did an

extensive search and shortlisted three candidates. Two of these candidates were part of the new IT world and

meant business and worked very informally. The third candidate was formally dressed and began with �Good

afternoon, sir.� He had an understanding of technology but was not really a techie himself. Despite this, the

stakeholder found comfort in handing over the reins to someone he could align with culturally. The third

candidate got the job.

The culture of hiring the right fit person (internally or externally) goes a long way in the success of any company.

The world's oldest continuously operating family business (Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi)lasted for 14

centuries. Company's flexibility in selecting leaders was the key factor for the longevity. The company rein was

always handed to the person who exhibited health and talent for the job and not necessarily to sons. In fact the

company even had the policy of sons-in-law taking the family name when they joined the firm. So the company

continued under the same name even when there were no sons in any generation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2007-04-16/the-end-of-a-1-400-year-old-

businessbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Understanding the candidate

Once you understand the culture of the organization, match the organizational culture with the culture of the

candidate. Observing the candidates and their behavior in day to day activities is required to understand the

psyche of the person and whether he/she would gel with the organization and people working there. At times

employees struggle with so called difficult bosses; it�s all about accepting them and then finding common

ground. Expression of genuine gratitude helps to move on.


92

An insightful bloghttps://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-deal-with-a-boss-who-behaves-

unpredictably?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=harvardbiz

Let me explain through an illustration how observing each and every action and words of the candidate can

help understand the person. An Ivy League educated CEO who worked with MNC in India and abroad and a

local CEO were being interviewed. They were assigned a senior manager whose role was to coordinate with

them. His role was not limited only to report to them but also to report about them. Let us see what was reported

about them and how it reflected their personality �

� Non AC cars were sent to pick them. The abroad educated person remarked that it was hot but at times

one had to do without AC and may be save energy. The local CEO said that since AC cars were available he

should have been sent an AC car only. He made arrangements to use his own AC car which led to his

reaching slightly late.

� The abroad educated person said �thank you� and smiled when he was told that coffee was not there and

so black tea was served. He admitted that he drank only coffee and was ok to have black tea.The local

person asked for a soft drink and got upset as it took a long time to get it from outside.

� In the meeting the local person displayed a lot of knowledge about the business but was constantly

pushing the panel on saying they did not know much of the tricks of the trade & needed him to set things

alright. The overseas person was clear about what he knew and spent more time in understanding what

they were looking for. He conducted himself as professional who had not lost touch with ground reality.

The local CEO assumed that the job was already his and smirked to ask about the range of Bonus payable

at his level.

The expat was chosen as it was felt that he was appreciative of what existed, listened with attention and

made no fuss about non availability of AC car or coffee. He was seen as more system and process driven

as he asked about things like zero PPM etc. Think local act global was felt whereas with the local person it

was as if he was doing a favor by coming there .

There are organizations with strong culture of empathy and understanding focused on serving people and

society at large; such organizations have demonstrated sustainable success. They look for connection

between their employees inside and communities outside. I give an illustration about an organization from my

experience. The organization had a large community and CSR orientation and they had regular resources in

place. They offered employment, basic medical and education on no profit no loss model. Now here the check

point would be the sensitive nature of the candidate.

2 candidates were travelling in different cars for a meeting with the board to an outskirts location in the

countryside. Both the cars came across barricades where some people wanted help to take a pregnant patient

to hospital. Both reacted in different ways and their reaction became an important observation of the selection

process. One person got down and shouted while the other offered his car to the patient and took a lift in a

pillion ride to reach office. He got late .When asked by Board about the issue the local one reacted by calling

them rascals while the other said he was saddened to see such a state and did his best to help. Sorry for being

late but humanity has to stand before all this, he added.

The choice was clear. What was not important to someone was very important to the Culture and Community

values of the FOB .

At times we do get carried away with liking the likewise and there one should be careful as that may not be the

best for the FOB & changing environment going forward .

Prof Adam Grant from Wharton shares his views on this

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2016/02/02/adam-grant-why-you-shouldnt-hire-for-cultural-

fit/#290ac39256f5

To sum up

Candidate


� The best fit candidate should also fit culturally and one can find this through unstructured observation of

the candidate in different social settings and daily life behaviors.

� The other important aspect would be to look for ethical and value driven candidate. A candidate who

treats others with respect and care while complying with law will usually serve as a good candidate.

Assuming that all candidates have similar skills, I would choose someone high on these values. Any

missing functional skill can be added through training unless the position is very technical like R&D.

Client

� Active listening and meeting the clients at their location and context is important.

� Counter-transference of one�s positive or negative emotions needs to be controlled.

� Ego and defense mechanisms need to be suppressed.

� Do not to be drawn into the client�s system dynamics, which may need change.

� It�s useful for the trusted advisor to have someone to advise him on how not to shift his stance of

objectivity.

Alignment of Stakeholders

Three important stakeholders in the search process who have to be aligned in order to ensure that the best fit

person also has culture fit.

� Leader or set of people responsible for hiring - Each one must understand the culture and be able to make

an appreciative enquiry into things that are positive and negative. They should be transparent, making the

candidate and search partner aware of issues that need attention and awareness.

� Candidate - Should be able to identify orientations that he/she will need to adapt and change in order to

settle down into a new organization or team. KRAs should be mutually clear and space, empowerment &

resources for success should be available.

� Search Partner - Should have a sense of what exists by virtue of meetings and observations at the client

office. He/she should observe and record some of the important red or green flags that exist on both sides.

His/her ability to dig deeper and make both sides aware can be very useful in the settling down process.

� On Boarding � An experienced Coach / Family Member / CEO who is well versed can help.

The HR leader has an interestingly different role here. He shall exercise the necessary discretion and

judgment, to ensure that the process is not only transparent but clearly ensures the cultural fit of the

person brought from outside, for senior leadership role.


Vasant Ayappan till recently was Associate Vice President� Corporate Sustainability

for the Indian Hotels Company Limited.

Before he retired He was responsible to provide overall direction to the company�s

mandate of sustainable growth related to social dimensions & environmental

protection. He has over 37years� experience& has held various management

positions in the hotel industry. Mr. Ayappan is a Graduate in Science with a

postgraduate in Marketing Management from the Mumbai University.

Vasant Ayappan

Case Study 3Culture Eats Strategy for BreakfastA Case on Taj Work CultureAbout the Author


Case Study 3 Culture eats Strategy for BreakfastA case on Taj Work Culture

This mantra from the Tattiriaya Upanishad - matrudevo bhava, pitrudevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava,

atithidevo bhava. Summarizes the way �Indian culture� still exists in rural India.

Visiting a village in India, even as a stranger, you would be welcome to most homes.

In the most humble of dwellings, the host would welcome you with a �Namaste�,

spread a mat on the mud floor and offer a glass of cool water and maybe a small

snack. �This warmth is the projection of what hospitality is also about. In India, one

of the things that really typify that spirit is �Atithi Devo Bhava�, Guest is God,�From a

young age children are taught to respect parents, teachers and guests as God.

That�s the level of guests in Indian culture. At Taj hotels, the philosophy is to serve our guests, anticipate their

needs, and make sure they feel welcome, protected, and safe. And these are visible in the working of the Taj and

the Tata leadership. �Culture� in an organization is built over several years � or even decades. It is what is

passed on from one employee to another in the organization � but interestingly, never ever leaves the

organization! Changes in the Leadership hardly ever make a dent in the �Culture� of the organization. It is &

remains unique to the organization.

A term often used to describe this unquantifiable aspect of the Taj culture is �Taj-ness�. �So what does Taj-ness

really mean? �It�s an overall feeling that you get when you�re in a Taj property, just by looking at it and by being

there. It�s something more sensory than tangible.� There are two important aspects that emerge. Firstly, the

emotion of genuine warmth that Taj represents. International companies, mostly have a transactional, cookie-

cutter approach of check in-check out. But the Taj has mastered the art of emotional connect,�. Secondly, the

approach to serve guests demonstrated by all Taj employees. �Something that is common among all Taj

employees is that they interact with you at a deeper level. And at Taj this is encouraged. Taj hires for attitude,

and inducts people who have that intense desire to serve. That is the differentiation for Taj,�. In essence, it

means that the guest is the reason for Taj�s existence, and everything it does has to be around the guest.

Employee needs can be categorized into three broad buckets. The first is the psychological need of pride and

belongingness with the organisation. �Somewhere deeply in their psyche, it should convince employees that

they are working for a reputed, stable, secure and respected organisation. The second is an aspirational need

to learn, grow and contribute. The third is obviously the financial need. Employees look for attractive

remuneration such that they can achieve a certain lifestyle, and look after their children and family. They would

expect the Company to have welfare programmes and policies to support the medical and social needs of their

families.

At the Tajo, it is not uncommon to find second and sometimes third generation employees working as

managers, and whose father would have worked as waiters at the Taj. For all of these multi-generation

employees, �Taj� will always be much more than just a place of work. Employees are proud of their association

with the Taj because it helped them and their families to make careers, improve social status, and provide

stability in their life. And the credit goes to the efforts of Jamsetji and JRD Tata in demonstrating finer human

values in action.

Goodness is inherent, and cannot be taught. In its recruitment process the Company has to look for people with

sense of values that would resonate with the Taj ethos, and this selection process plays a vital role in ensuring

the Taj �culture� remains vibrantly alive. �In the hospitality business a large portion of employees face and

interact with the customer � mostly unsupervised. For this reason, Taj tends to recruit most of its front-line and

junior staff from interior towns where traditional Indian values of respect for elders and teachers, humility,

95

�Culture eats Strategy

for Breakfast'

� Peter Drucker


empathy, discipline, honesty, kindness to children, and support to senior citizens, still exist. Added to the

advantage of larger labour pools and lower remuneration, the advantage of recruiting from smaller towns

helped in accessing manpower with �inherent goodness�, a virtue apparently evaporating from cities where the

glamour of success could entice youth to compromise means for ends. For the next level of recruitment �

supervisors and junior managers, Taj reaches out to the top 100 hotel management and catering institutes

across India. Along with testing domain knowledge, and personality through the use of psychometric tools, the

Company also looks at candidates� commitment to values and desire to contribute to the organisation. For

higher positions, Taj prefers candidates from second and third tier Indian business schools. Experience has

shown that candidates from 2nd& 3rd tier business schools adjust well in a customer-centric culture and are

not driven solely by monetary considerations. In the recruitment process for front line customer facing

positions, the final interview of every candidate would be with the GM of the hotel- or a panel in which GMs of

hotels would also be there - primarily because a direct interaction with prospective employees would enable

an understanding of whether the candidate would fit into the Taj culture. After hiring, the next step was training

new employees by giving them tools, exposure to experiences that make them efficient, and inspire them to

work with flair and sincerity. The TMTP (Taj Management Training Programme) and HOMT (Hotel Operations

Management Trainee Programme) were two major programmes to induct fresh talent at Taj. Both had a blend of

technical and soft skills couple with hands-on experience at various Taj properties. While most hotel chains

train frontline employees for a year, Taj insists on an 18-month programme even for its managers. A

combination of theory and practice helps trainees to imbibe lessons in classroom and practice them in real

situations. The values recruits from smaller towns learnt in school and at home, when coupled with the Taj

training, get translated as service values while dealing with guests.

The Taj philosophy is to make its employees the ambassadors of customers. All through the training, they are

groomed to approach every problem and tackle every situation from customers� perspective. To empower

them in this decision making process, they are assured that for any decision taken by them to delight Taj

guests, everyone, right up to the CEO would stand by them. This gives confidence to employees to think

keeping in mind customers� interests. The strategic rationale behind this approach is that employees should

understand and meet customers� needs in such a way that the delighted guests have a compelling reason to do

business only with Taj Hotels.

The Company also created the �Taj People Philosophy� (TPP) that covered all aspects of an employee�s career,

from recruitment to retirement. TPP was aligned to the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM), and focussed

on three major areas: work systems and processes, learning and development, and employee welfare. As part

of TPP, Taj introduced a strong performance management system that linked individual performance with the

Company�s larger strategy. A unique part of this was STARS (Special Thanks a Recognition System), a reward

system to motivate employees to have fun, introduce joy at the workplace and also go beyond the call of duty

when required. STARS were developed in accordance with Taj�s core philosophy that �happy employees lead to

happy customers�. Still in practice, STARS is operative throughout the year, and is open to all employees across

the Company. Employees can earn points for STARS in three ways. One is when a guest writes a comment that

such and such employees gave me great service. Based on the comment, the concerned employees earn

points. The second way is by nominating a colleague who has done something amazing. This is a very unique

way of motivating employees. While appreciation from one�s boss can be very valuable, appreciation from

peers can be even more powerful. This approach is worthy of replication in employee appraisal systems across

industries. The third way of getting points under STARS is by giving a suggestion that would lead to a positive

outcome such as improving revenue, guest satisfaction, cost reduction, or increase in operational efficiency.

The employee who gives the valuable suggestion earns points. A senior team within the hotel including the GM,

HR Manager and Training Manager, typically evaluates these comments every day.

With changing times, there is an increasing impatience for instant success and career growth, especially

among younger leaders across industries. Also addressed are issues of employee wellness and occupational

health through a need-assessment survey.

To bring in that key element of team spirit& involvement with other departments, Hotel Annual Days are


organised where the staff get an opportunity to showcase their talents. Then there is a Family Day, when the

staffs bring their family members to the hotel. When you start involving families with the place of work, it forms

that bond with the organisation, �Also, during mentoring of management trainees, the General Manager of the

hotel would throw a challenge at them, �We want to open a new restaurant. These are the guidelines. Work on

them and let me know what would you do?� Such new concepts get the trainees excited and a lot of them

would get together and be involved in planning and execution. Thus, vibrant environment, team-building

efforts, involving family, mentorship, and executing challenging assignments were initiatives that worked really

well in creating greater engagement. Not surprisingly, Taj had the highest employee engagement scores in the

global hospitality industry, and was the only hospitality company in the world to be five-time successive winner

of the Gallup Global Great Workplace Award between 2010 and 2014.

Rebounding from Adversity:

The dastardly terror attack in Nov 2008 brought the Taj Mahal hotel Mumbai &almost the entire country to a

standstill &caused serious trauma to many of our employees who were on shift at the time of the attack, saw

their own colleagues as well as guests being killed.

In such a scenario, instead of lamenting the loss, The Taj team took the traumatised employees sitting

expressionless on the pavements outside the Taj, to the nearby Holy Home School, and requested the priest to

permit them to use the hall, to which he kindly consented. Batch by batch, morning, afternoon, night, next-day

morning, afternoon and night, his team continued to interact with employees and console them. Within few

days, employee assistance centres were setup in ten locations across Mumbai, each with two post-trauma

counsellors, a medical doctor, a car, a van and two drivers. Details of Taj employees in each of those areas were

prepared and they were brought to those centres along with family members. The HR team explained to them

what had happened, encouraged them that Taj would once again bounce back from this rare tragedy, assured

them that their jobs were not lost, and that they should unitedly fight the situation.

During the 4-day siege of the hotel by the terrorists, many employees on duty did not leave their place of duty

although they could have easily done so. They, on their own, chose to stay & help in guest evacuation &

protection

What was the reason for Taj employees� behaviour on those days?� �The reason these employees created

those human chains and essentially put themselves in between the terrorist and the guests was that they

considered this hotel as their home. It was a direct manifestation of the Indian philosophy that Guest is God,�

Legendary Hospitality integrated with Social Responsibility

Imagine India in the late 1800s. The British ruled India. Mughals were out of power from the Delhi Durbar. The

Maharajas ruled their small kingdoms. The rich were really rich. But by and large, there was abject poverty

across the country due to the colonial rulers who had oppressed and plundered India for over centuries. In that

kind of overall atmosphere, there was this Indian businessman, who believed that the real purpose of business

should not be to just make money. It should be to give back to

society many times more than what one has taken from it. That

was Jamsetji Tata.

While such an approach seemed so daunting in today�s scenario

that somebody could think of it over 100 years ago speaks

volumes of Jamshedji�s visionary.

Given that Tajis in the food production business, the initial

approach of corporate responsibility at Tajwas in the form of

distributing excess food to old age homes and orphanages. It

was easy to think that the Taj has done its bit in �giving back to

society� by contributing towards poverty eradication by feeding

the poor. But very quickly it realised that the people to whom they

were giving food were becoming dependant. So it wasn�t really a

Group purpose of the Tatas:We must continue to be responsible, sensitive to the countries, communities and environments in which we work, always ensuring that what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over


nation-building activity. They needed to teach these people �how to fish.� The Corporate Sustainability (CS)

Team at Taj reflected on how they could contribute to nation-building. While the list of issues in a country like

ours are endless& one would not know where to begin, The Taj still they wanted to use their core competence to

make a difference. They mapped the Tata ethos, the Millennium Development Goals , the then Prime Minister�s

Ten Point Social Charter, and their core competence and decided that given their expertise in hospitality, they

would focus on �Building Sustainable Livelihoods� in areas connected with the Hospitality industry. Their belief

was that by providing a skill for a vocation and economically empowering the youth, the company was actually

empowering the entire family, and thus contributing to a stronger India

Hence the opportunity to make a difference was enormous. An easy approach would have been to bring youth

below poverty line to the company centers, train them, make them employable, and send them back. However,

the CS Team decided to follow the difficult path of going into the community and establishing centers in very

backward and rural areas of India. The focus was on youth, who did not have the opportunity or money to come

to urban centers

Taj started its skill building journey in the tribal belts of India with the largest amount of poverty and

backwardness, including the North-East, and the naxal infested belts of Chhattisgarh. These centres were

started in collaboration with NGOs. Taj trained the trainers, provided curriculum and the vital resource material

on areas such as housekeeping, Food and Beverage (F&B), bakery services and more. It was estimated that by

2012, the industry would need an estimated 300,000 spa therapists. To contribute to this, Taj Jiva Spa offered a

three-month training course in spa services at the training centre setup at

Dimapur in Nagaland. Besides the inputs from Taj trained experts,

trainees would get an opportunity to briefly work hands-on at one among

the many Taj properties across India. At the end of their training, the

participants would receive certification validated by the Taj, which would

help them gain quick employment. Since 2009, over 12,000 youth had

received such training in hospitality-related fields, through 42 skill

development centres set up across the country. Over 90 percent got jobs,

while the remaining pursued higher studies or started their own venture.

The CS Team observed that advertisements brought in only 30 percent of candidates into the training centres.

More than 70 percent came through word-of-mouth. The large numbers were hence a proof of the

beneficiaries� positive experience.

Notably, all Taj Graduate management trainees in India as part of their Training schedule have to take up a

community initiative which requires them to live with rural communities in their homes for about 10-15 days.

This is part of their internships to enhance their stewardship commitment and help develop programmes that

enhance the hotels� ability to support villages and target communities. The Taj model may serve as an example

to the dozen players in the Indian hospitality industry.

The Tata Way of Leadership,

for the next 100 years�

�To be a leader, you have

got to lead human beings

with affection.� - JRD Tata


Mrs Rema Mohan currently works as Head-CSR at National Stock Exchange ltd,

Mumbai. She has over 20 years of experience in strategizing and implementing

CSR Projects.

Case Study 4Mentoring as an Accelerator to Bridge the Literacy Gap in EducationAbout the Author


Case Study 4Mentoring as an Accelerator to Bridge the Literacy Gap in Education

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

usiness houses and privileged families have a long history of charity both in India and other countries. BThey have been patrons of art, music and culture as well as contributed to infrastructure built hospitals,

schools, institutes of higher learning and so on. Internationally, business leaders have donated billions to

philanthropic activities. In India as well some of the best known hospitals, institutes of higher learning and

research, centres for arts have been initiated as charitable endeavours by companies and business families.

Corporate social responsibility refers to the practises undertaken by companies and businesses that foster

inclusive growth and initiatives which nurture societal development. In a very broad sense it also includes

sustainable business practises and long term growth strategies that preserve and sustain the environment and

conserve scarce resources for future generations without leaving destructive operational footprints.

India is the first country to mandate corporate social responsibility activities as a step towards accelerating

holistic development and bridging the gaps both economic and social that exist in today�s society. India has

pioneered the inclusion of CSR in Section 135 of The Companies Act 2013 and introduced several new

provisions which change the way corporates conduct business. It further outlines the turnover and profitability

criteria for the companies which would need to undertake CSR activities as well as define the activities�

specifically in schedule 7.

Role of HR in strengthening CSR: HR professionals can play a pivotal role to play to help a company achieve its

CSR objectives. Employee involvement is a critical success factor for CSR performance for any organization.

HR managers in organization have the tools and the opportunity to leverage employee commitment to, and

engagement in, the firm's CSR implementation process.

Primary Education in India

India has made significant progress on access to schooling and enrolment with universalization of Primary

Education. The RTE (Right to Education) Act mandates free and compulsory education to every child up to

class 8. However though enrolment has significantly increased from past years to almost 98% the dropout

rates and low levels of learning remain real challenges for authorities both at the Central and State levels. The

statistics published in the 2011 census indicate close to 8 crore children out of school in the country with

multiple reasons attributed to this such as poor academic performance and inability to cope with the higher

class syllabus, poverty, lack of facilities both infrastructure and teaching. There is a teacher shortage of

689,000 teachers in primary schools, only 53 percent of schools have functional girls� toilets and 74 percent

have access to drinking water.

Additionally, the quality of learning is a major issue and reports show that children are not achieving class-

appropriate learning levels. According to Pratham�s Annual Status of Education 2013 report, close to 78

percent of children in Standard III and about 50 percent of children in Standard V cannot yet read Standard II

texts in spite of the mandate of the RTE Act. As per figures released by the HRD Ministry It is estimated 29

percent of children drop out of school before completing five years of primary school, and 43 percent before

finishing upper primary school.

Scale of the problem

Against the backdrop of the independent reports, it appears that there is a wide gap between what is recorded

as statistics and what the ground situation really is. In an assessment conducted in Ulhas nagar by QUEST for


about 525 disadvantaged children of Class 5 from 10 schools, it was found only 1 child had the age appropriate

learning level in language and numeracy. Improving the current system would mean a massive exercise to

impact age appropriate learning levels, better quality infrastructure, staff accountability, quality teaching

materials, efficient monitoring and support systems as well as better assessments at each grade level and

more efficient management ,monitoring and support systems as well as use of technology as a tool for

improvement. In addition, linked to the education system is the gender equality issue including the treatment

meted to girl children, health, better sanitation and hygiene as well as the need for skill development.

Given the range and scale of these issues coupled with the sheer number of students and the differences that

exist in terms of numbers and geographies, as well as the influence on dialects and culture unique to every

district, region and within communities, improving learning will require attention to many issues. According to

school visit reports (UNICEF statistics on India) teacher attendance is just 85 percent in primary and middle

schools. Since this is a part of a large problem it requires systemic correction for accountability and

improvement.

Mentoring

"Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise

their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be." Eric

Parsloe, the Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring.

The Corporate world has used the mentoring system to groom young leaders and a second chain of command.

Mentoring is a powerful tool for empowerment and personal development. Simply put a mentor is a guide.

Many companies use the Buddy system for on boarding young recruits and new employees. The mentee gains

from the vast experience of the mentor. The relationship grows from shared experiences over a period of time

and creates a strong empathy based on respect, trust and knowledge on subjects and issues.

Mentoring as a tool to improve the Education System

With almost 5 lac teacher vacancies (India stat.com) across the country and many school being single teacher

schools with complete lack of supervision and accountability, it is but inevitable that poor learning outcomes

are seen in the majority of students.

Coupled with remote locations and difficult terrains, the problem is compounded. A minimum standard of

primary school education would give an individual the skill sets to adjust in a literate e world where today rural

mobile banking is a reality. This would ensure awareness of government programmes and reduce the instances

of leakages of government benefits which would reach the end user.

A number of projects with various NGOs have attempted to address the learning issues at the rural level in

communities that are tribal, de-notified tribal or measure as backward against most development indices.

According to the 2011 census report, the tribal literacy is around 59% compared to a national average of 74%,

in many instances the figures are far lower than recorded with women scoring even lower. The projects which

are remedial in nature offer a supplementary literacy programme based on individual student assessment and

literacy levels. The programmes are short duration, either in school or out of school held in community halls or

common areas.

The Shikshan Mitra or Friend of learning

Typically the profile of the educator in the projects studied by the author is a young 12 standard boy or girl from the

community who is recruited for the role of a Shikshan Mitra (friend of learning). The Shikshan Mitra (SM) is provided

rigorous training in pedagogy and effective teaching and learning methodologies using low cost materials as well

as trained in the use of technology such as pre-loaded educational tablets and basic computer skills. The mid-level

qualification is important as typically graduates tend to migrate to cities or have higher aspirations.

One of the first challenges that a SM typically faces is to get a buy in from the formal school system teachers

who often resent interference in their class rooms or any assessment of their students. Over the course of the

year the SM builds a rapport with the community school, the teachers, and sometimes even local panchayati

leaders and authorities.


102

The aim if broken down to a single outcome is to help the child to learn but the spill over benefits include

working in communities to increase enrolments , decrease dropouts, increase school efficiencies, strengthen

the community collective voice to demand services from government and thereby improve penetration and

trickle down of developmental activities at the grass root levels.

Shikshan Mitra as Neighbourhood mentor - A larger role

In a small study of 16 villages and around 800 students of various hamlets inhabited by the tribal Katkare

population of Satatra district of Maharashtra, sustainability mechanisms in the form of community (slum/

village level) Community Apex Body, Baal Panchayats, and strengthening capacities of schools have been

undertaken by the Sikshan Mitra. It was found that in many cases the mentoring role earlier limited to bridging

literacy gaps in schools has transcended the terms of reference of the projects and the Shikshan Mitras have

played instrumental role in bringing positive transformations in the local communities. These get reflected in

improved access to basic services, honing special traits (e.g. sports), etc.

Another crucial dimension is the contribution of the mentorship processes towards improving gender equality

which finds manifestation in conscious emphasis on education of girls as well, centre-staging role of women as

decision makers in the community apex body, emphasis on participation of �mothers� in capacity building

programs for parents and enabling men to be more responsible and accountable towards children.

Due to the affiliation to various large organizations the Sikshan Mitras have access to large knowledge and

networking resources. Regular skill development, training and capacity building further help them gain

confidence to become change agents within the community and effectively bridge gaps and provide solutions.

In an educational programme being conducted in Satara district the Sikishan Mitra realised the aptitude of the

tribal children in sports and began a small training programme. Two of the most promising children were helped

to get a sports scholarship scheme in Pune. In another instance the Sikshan Mitras intervened to get water to a

small hamlet as students were reluctant to go to school without a bath as they were being segregated in the

class room.

The Way forward

The case studies present an opportunity to use unemployed but educated youth as development accelerators

in rural areas. The government has begun the transformation of rural India programme and even invited MP�s to

adopt a village each. There are over 6 lac villages in India and a large number of committed motivated and

trained youth with a deep sense of community identity are required make a difference.

Adopting the mentoring approach can evoke a transformation at the grass root level if implemented sincerely

with proper capacity building and training of the youth mentors.

This case clearly indicates that this HR tool which is used for various developmental purposes can be extended

for achieving super-ordinated objectives in larger developmental aspect, namely the field of education in India.


Mr. Prashant Sude completed his Master of Social work from TISS and currently

works as Vertical Head, Training & Capacity Building Initiatives at TISS - National

CSR Hub, Mumbai. He has eleven years of professional experience and can be

reached at [email protected]

Prashant Sude

Case Study 5Upholding the True Spirit of CSR EngagementAbout the Author


Case Study 5Upholding the True Spirit of CSR Engagement

Emerging CSR Landscape in India:

orporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is taking center stage and emerging as an essential corporate Cgovernance practice. With rapidly changing and complex business milieu all over the world along with

financial disclosures the non-financial disclosures are gaining importance and Social, Environment and

Governance (SEG) performance of the companies is monitored meticulously by investors. Several institutes

and platforms have emerged to measure SEG performance and practices of corporates. As a result business

organizations are increasingly expected to demonstrate accountability and realign CSR engagement with long

term corporate sustainability goals.

In Indian context, Corporate Social Responsibility has witnessed immense change in its approach and its

manifestation is quite diverse in form and implications. Globally CSR is integral part of corporate sustainability

practices however in India with introduction of section 135 in the Companies Act 2013, it is directed towards

philanthropy, and has posed challenge of CSR being segregated from corporate sustainability and ethical

business practices.

There is need of collaborative efforts from government, civil society and business organizations to address the

challenge of widening disparity since in India a large section of population is living in extreme deprivation and

excluded from development process. In context of growing economy one side and other side widening gap of

disparity CSR would complement government efforts to address this critical challenge.

It is expected that mature business organizations would comprehend the true spirit of CSR mandate given by

the government to contribute in the process of facilitating inclusive development in the country by extending

essential support to communities.

After completion of two financial years of CSR compliance cycle the studies reveal that majority companies are

struggling to spend the mandatory 2 p.c. profit on CSR.

A study done by the CRISIL on CSR compliance by the 1300 companies that meet financial parameters to

comply with section 135 has revealed that 200 companies did not report about their CSR activities or have not

spent anything on CSR. For fiscal year 2015 against the expected annual CSR spend of Rs. 12000 cr. of these 1identified ~1300 companies only Rs 6,800 cr. has been spent that is 56 p.c. of required spend .

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GoI declared CSR spend report for 7334 companies that data shows only

2774 companies that is 37.82 p.c. have spent on CSR and 4560 that is 62.18 p.c. companies have not incurred

any expenditure on CSR during the financial year 2014-15.

This observation shows that there is need of facilitation support as companies are facing several issues

including ambiguity at board level about the CSR mandate, lack of expertise on social intervention

engagement and, deciding relevant, need based CSR intervention projects, challenges in identification and

selection of NGO partners.

This study also is evidence that large number of corporates in India are responding quite positively to be

partner in social development process and have come forward with financial as well as non-financial resources

to address issues. Contribution through CSR initiatives in improving sanitation conditions that is being driven

through Swacha Bharat Abhiyan is significant and notable.

However when the CSR interventions are assessed for its usefulness and impact from the perspective of

community and social development researchers there are serious issues of concern.

Emerging trends and practices in CSR space conspicuously shows that the purpose and goals of CSR is

104

1 The CRISIL CSR Year Book –January 2016


interpreted differently by people spearheading the CSR agenda hence the choice of priority domain, region,

activities, implementation mechanism are not in consistence with true spirit of CSR and basic principles of

social development interventions.

This scenario has posed serious challenge for the third sector of development organizations that has been

endeavoring for facilitating inclusive sustainable development in the country. Methodology of working with

communities and people�s groups, individuals and facilitating development through social development

interventions has evolved as specialized discipline through decades of work experience consolidated across

the globe.

Emerging Challenges and Concerns:

In evolving CSR space several developments are observed and various stakeholders taking efforts to

contribute in the process of elevating the true spirit of CSR engagement and creating impact at the bottom of

pyramid.

The field experience of CSR and assessment of its manifestation at community level has brought out the few

critical issues that need attention of top management and HR department who take decisions and make

strategies for strengthening CSR capacity.

Positioning the CSR initiatives responsibly.

People are entitled for basic amenities and services like health services, education, and access to clean

drinking water for which government has set up institutions at different level that are responsible to deliver

services adequately. While implementing CSR initiatives it is important to assure that it will not dismantle the

government accountability but will strengthen the institutional accountability and entitlements of the people,

especially of underprivileged communities. Hence CSR leaders need to acknowledge the importance of

positioning the CSR initiatives responsibly.

It has been found that under CSR programme various support services like primary health care are offered to

communities with good intentions butthat results in not only high dependency of the community on company

provided services but if the project is withdrawn the health care needs of the community are compromised

since government agency also becomes defunct.

Emphasis on Community Empowerment

Under CSR projects with the aim of community development the support is provided in the form of infrastructure, materials and services. Now a day communities are also aware and demanding such aid from the companies. Largely focused is on water, short term activities related to education, health like installation of water purifier in schools, distribution of school bags, running a mobile medical van which does not address the development issues adequately but resources are spent.

This approach is likely to create dependency and often it is observed that even after huge investment of resources on community infrastructure and facilities there are various core social issues that community eventually should overcome remains unattained like poverty and marginalization of weaker sections, distressed livelihood, malnutrition, unhygienic practices, child labour, child marriage, addiction, female feticide, empowerment of backward communities and strengthening of local governance, accountability.

Interventions done through CSR without adequately following community empowerment process would results in the cosmetic development process.

While providing support to the community the aim should be empowerment and inclusive development of all sections of the community. The emphasis should be on capacity building to take the responsibility of own development, creating intuitional structures and leadership skills to lead the process of development. This process assures holistic inclusive development as community becomes conscious of their development goals and takes efforts to achieve with the support of various agencies.

CSR intervention becomes the enabling factor and the sustainability of the programme is achieved by giving the ownership to community and gradual process of withdrawal becomes easy.


Partnership with NGOs

NGOs that are working on social development issues bring in expertise of social interventions, domain

knowledge, and people centric approach would support companies for effective implementation of CSR

initiatives. However identification of credible NGOs and adequate assessment of capacity is critical area and

finding challenging for companies.

Most of the NGOs also need capacity building support for developing project management capacity and

internal systems. Many small NGOs have good community connect and capacity to implement projects on

field but do not have soft skills like documentation, presentation, branding to impress upon corporates.

Small NGOs working in underdeveloped regions that are doing meaningful work at grassroots level are unable

to access CSR funds. Also the trend shows major CSR funds have been spent in Maharashtra and Gujarat state

where presence of major companies is there and underdeveloped regions like central part of India, North

easternregion are still deprived.

Need of Facilitation & Knowledge Support:

Corporates in India having expertise in area of business management are now interring into social

development space as an resourceful stakeholder to fulfill the CSR mandate as per the Companies Act 2013.

CSR is an inter phase between business and development sector and this phenomenon of amalgamation

needs to be facilitated carefully.

Tata Institute of Social Sciences as the premier institute has been playing instrumental role in shaping the CSR

landscape in India through its extensive academic, research, field action and policy advocacy work.

To extend knowledge support and navigate the CSR activities of Public Sector Companies the National CSR

Hub was set up by TISS in 2011 under the mandate of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises,

Govt. of India.

After enactment of Companies Act 2013, the NCSR Hub initiated engagement with private sector companies

as well for the advancement of CSR initiatives. The Hub provides range of knowledge and technical support

services and has been instrumental in shaping and strengthening CSR management capacity of public sector

and private sector companies operating across in the country.

The National CSR Hub works with broader vision of influencing and shaping CSR landscape in India and the

knowledge generated through intense engagement with companies for the advancement of CSR initiatives is

consolidated and integrated into the CSR learning programs. Training workshops are organised for capacity

building of various stakeholders in CSR space is one of the core mandates of the NCSR Hub.

In an evolving CSR space in India it is imperative to provide learning support and develop human resource

capabilities for elevating the standards of CSR practices. Capacity building of various stakeholders in CSR

space is imperative.

Training programs of the hub are more relevant and effective as the knowledge generated through intense

engagement with companies for the advancement of CSR initiatives is consolidated and integrated in the

learning programs. Eminent faculties of TISS having expertise in various domains of social development enrich

these programs further more.


Jays Chandy is a HR Consultant/Advisor who works with organisations in

reviewing, designing, implementing, auditing and measuring approaches and

practices in all areas of HR. He has close to 22 years of experience in the area of

HR, Total Quality Management and IT implementation. In his last corporate

assignment, was Senior Vice President & Head HR of cleartrip.com and prior to

that held senior leadership positions at Madura Fashion & Lifestyle (Aditya Birla

group), Mindtree and Taj group of hotels. He is a B.Tech in Electronics &

Communication and M.Tech in Management Studies from IISc, Bangalore.

Jays Chandy

Book ReviewHR from the Outside In

About the Author


HR from the Outside In � the next era of human resource transformation is a book that tries to address the question what HR professionals & departments be,

know, and do to be seen as personally effective and improve business success.

Since 1987, the RBL Group and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan have been systematically studying the competencies that HR professional use to contribute to their own effectiveness and to business success. This book summaries the sixth round of the 25 year research project. This first book provides the global summary and tries to propose what�s next for the HR profession while a second book details the HR competency research for each region of the world.

In the past half century or so, the HR profession has been through three general waves and a fourth is emerging. We are familiar with the first 3 waves and the wave 4, uses HR practices to derive and respond to external business conditions and this is what the researchers call �HR from the outside in� Outside

in HR goes beyond strategy to align its work with business contexts and stakeholders. They do acknowledge that the three earlier waves represents HR work that will have to be done well � HR administration must be flawless, HR practices must be innovative and integrated and HR must turn strategic aspirations into HR actions. For HR to deliver the standards of the first three waves and the promises of the fourth, HR people must learn to master six paradoxes. HR people will have to deliver simultaneously multiple outcomes.

While in the earlier studies (1987, 1992, 1997), participants came largely from North America, beginning 2002, partners were sought in other parts of the world. India was one of the first regions to be added. In the 2012 study, HR professionals associated with NHRD contributed to the research. Thus far information from more than 55,000 participants representing 3,000 businesses have be part of the study. In the 2012 work, there were more than 20,000 individual respondents from 600+ business units.

The book provides a preview into the evolution of the human resource competency model from 1987. It highlight show the expectations from HR have changed over the years and how some of the competencies have transformed with time.

The 2012 study identified six domains of HR competency.

Credible Activist: HR professionals in high performing firms function as credible activists. They do what they say they will do. Such results-based integrity serves as the foundation of personal trust that in turn, translates into professional credibility.

Strategic Positioner: High performing HR professionals understand the global business context � the social,

Book ReviewHR From the Outside In

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political, economic, environmental, technological and demographic trends that bear on their businesses and translate these trends into business implications.

Capability Builder: At the organisation level, an effective HR professional creates, audits, and orchestrates an effective and strong organisation by helping define and build its organisation capabilities.

Change Champion: Effective HR professionals develop their organisations� capacity for change and then translate that capacity into effective change processes and structures.

Human Resource Innovator and Integrator: At the organisation level, a major competency of effective HR professionals is the ability to innovate and integrate HR practices around a few critical business issues. The challenge is to a make HR whole more effective than the

sum of its parts.

Technology Proponent: At the organisation level, high performing HR professionals are applying social networking technology to help people stay connected with one another and are increasing their role in the management of information.

In each of the six subsequent chapters, the authors/researchers provide greater insights into these competencies along with multiple case studies and assessment templates.

Based on the research, 35 specific knowledge and behaviour items that characterise the strategic positioner domain were identified and these clustered into the following three factors-

1. Interpreting the Global Context

2. Decoding Customer Expectations

3. Cocrafting a Strategic Agenda

As Credible Activists, HR professionals have access and relationships of trust with their business leaders. The five domains that HR professionals need to contribute once they engage with business leaders are �

1. Earning trust through results

2. Influencing and relating to others

3. Improving self awareness

4. Strengthening the HR profession

HR professionals create the right organisation when they define, diagnose and deliver the right organisation capabilities. Being a capability builder matters because capabilities outlast any individual leader, and they establish an organisation�s identity that endures over time. The research found 18 competencies that clustered into three factors, namely �

1. Capitalising on organisation capability

2. Aligning strategy, culture, practices and behaviour

3. Creating a meaningful work environment

The researchers described high performing HR professional as �change champion� as against a �change agent� with a purpose. An agent of change often initiates the change but does not follow through. An agent acts on behalf of someone and does not take personal ownership of the need to make something happen. Change champions are people who start and follow through with change. So they need to-

1. Initiate change

2. Sustain change

Innovation has become a more critical factor, driving focus on more efficacious ways to deliver talent, leadership, and organisation and then have the best system integrated and reinforced. So an HR Innovator and

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Integrator needs to �

1. Optimise human capital through workforce planning and analytics

2. Develop talent

3. Shape organisation and communication practices

4. Drive performance

5. Build leadership brand

While most organisation still use IT as an efficiency driver, technology can also be a differentiator in the application of talent and knowledge assets both inside and outside the organisation. A Technology proponent would use technology as a learning and knowledge platform to connect with internal talent assets and to collaborate with external stakeholders. In this aspect they need to focus on �

1. Improving the utility of HR operations through technology

2. Leveraging social media tools

3. Connecting people through technology

A full chapter has been earmarked to provide a step by step process to develop oneself as an HR professional. There is also a chapter on how to create an effective HR department.

The book concludes by highlighting the 10 insights or key findings �

1. Recognise HR�s evolving demographics

2. Accept common global patterns and standards

3. Think and behave from the outside in

4. Attend to the HR department as well as to individual development of HR staff members

5. Move forward beyond the diminishing returns of reorganising HR departments

6. Leverage the benefits and acknowledge the limits of being a credible activist

7. Pay attention to sustaining change

8. Become current on technology and information

9. Capitalise on capabilities

10. Build organisation

In order to do all this, the HR professional has to be an Observer, Diagnostician, Though Leader and Doer. The HR function is headed to a new level with a larger role for HR, greater integration with other functions, shift in administrative responsibility, global innovation, more impact of technology, a different organisation mix & demographics, higher expectations & rewards and the roles & structures will continue to evolve.

The book is packed with facts, evidence and provides prescriptive advice. It provides a comprehensive and practical �tool kit� for HR practitioners. It�s an easy read though provides thought provoking in-depth examinations on many aspects.

Unlike in the past where the new HR model comes up after 5 years, this time the new HR competency model was published in 2016. Given the changing nature of business and the environmental changes taking place around us, probably needed the evolution of the newer competency framework. In this background, the book will be little behind time. However, a good HR professional will find value in the contents of the book since it lays the foundation for some of the competencies that have evolved in the 2016 model and detailed explanations with case studies and examples on the newer competencies are currently not available. Reading the limited literature available on the new competency model along with this book will enable the HR professional to comprehend it much better and hence a highly recommended book.

ISBN: 13:978-1-25-906105-9

10:1-25-906105-1

Author: Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger, Wayne Brock bank & Mike Ulrich

Publisher: McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited, 2012


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Message from Editorial Board


www.nationalhrd.org

Network HRD NetworkThe National HRD Network, established in 1985, is an association of professionals committed to promoting the HRD movement in India and enhancing the capability of human resource professionals, enabling them to make an impact ful contribution in enhancing competitiveness and creating value for society. Towards this end, the National HRD Network is committed to the development of human resources through education, training, research and experience sharing. The network is managed by HR professionals in an honorary capacity, stemming from their interest in contributing to the HR profession. The underlying philosophy of the NHRDN is that every human being has the potential for remarkable achievement. HRD is a process by which employees in organizations are enabled to:

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Ÿ develop their inner potential for self and organizational growth;

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Documents

NHRDN Journal - January 2017 - National · PDF fileDLF City, Phase IV, ... going change process. ... Aligning: All core HR processes like recruitment and selection, employee training,