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HR’Xpert Helping You Understand HR Better

July, 2011

Presents

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Greetings from HR’Xpert Team!!!

We proudly present to you the fourth edition of HR‘XPERT. While musing on what should be

the theme of this edition, my eyes fell on a magazine clipping. It dealt with the growing

complexities of employment bonds. Since history, there has always been inequality of power

sharing between the employer and the employee. We may say today an employee may be able

to achieve a competitive pay due to growing demand of skilled labor in the market-place.

However, when it comes to designing the employment bond, sadly the power still rests with the

employer. The term ―Employment Relationship‖ refers to the conditions under which the

employer decides to hire labor and the employee decides to sell his manpower to the employer.

HR professionals today have more prominent roles to play in regulating the employment

relationships. We were overwhelmed with the kind of participation and the motley assortment

of views regarding our Theme: “Employment Relationship: Crucial Challenges for HR”. We

have published three articles about this topic, which cover different aspects of the same topic.

The article ―Challenges faced by HR professionals‖ talks about emerging challenges for the

HR community, and also focuses on Employment relationship challenges. ―Change

Management‖ is a short and lucidly written article which provides us with ideas to achieve

effective change management.

In the ―HR Toolkit section”, we have articles on two important models: one describes a

Learning and Development Model through a case and the second one is about Knowledge

Management models. We have also tried to give the beginners in HR a taste of case studies

through the section ―Brainstorming with Case Studies‖.

As HR‘Xpert team strongly believes in ―A teacher affects eternity‖, we have the section ―Faculty

Speaks‖ where XIMB‘s Father George Joseph, S.J. opens up his world of wisdom. In the section

―In and Around the Industry‖ we have an article that gives insight into the HR practices at

Hotel Taj. While going through the article, one realizes how small changes can lead to big

results.We also have some short articles on philosophical thoughts and reflections in the section

―Reflections‖. If reading through the articles you ever feel the need to just see the fun side of

HR apart from the challenges, you can always look up ―Fun at HR Desk‖.

We enjoyed going through all the articles and would love to have such enthusiastic

participation in the future. Please send in your comments to ximahr@ximb.ac.in.

Happy Reading !!! Swagatika Priyadarshini

HR’XPERT Team

Editor

Swagatika Priyadarshini

Sub Editor

Anjali kumar

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CONTENTS

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP & VARIOUS CHALLENGES FOR HR

The Employment Relationship: Crucial Challenges for HR ..................................................................... 4

The Employment Relationship: A Holistic View ................................................................................... 10

The Employment Relationship: Crucial Challenges for HR ................................................................... 14

Challenges Faced by HR Professionals in Today’s Workplace .............................................................. 21

Change Management .............................................................................................................................. 25

HR TOOL KIT

MODELING LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Knowledge Management ........................................................................................................................ 36

BRAINSTORMING WITH CASE STUDIES

Case Study: ABC Hotel (Based on Internship Program) ................................................................ 42

FACULTY SPEAKS

In Conversation with Fr. George Joseph ........................................................................................... 46

IN AND AROUND THE INDUSTRY ............................................................................................ 50

The TAJ'S People Philosophy and STAR System .................................................................................. 50

REFLECTIONS

Leadership in the Changing World ......................................................................................................... 55

Will I Fit In? .................................................................................................. 61

How to make your Workplace Employee-Friendly? (ELF Story) .......................................................... 63

Fun at HR Desk …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….68

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THEME OF JULY 2011 HR’XPERT:

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP & VARIOUS CHALLENGES FOR HR

The Employment

Relationship: Crucial

Challenges for HR

Himanshu Kapadia, Welingkar Institute

Dynamic Business Environment:

Today, we are living in the age of change

and dynamism. The world as we know it is

increasingly changing at a faster pace

defined by global competition, faster flow

of information , easier communication &

increasing complexity of business

environment.

With these rapid changes, new paradigms

of business are constantly getting created,

while the status quo is continually

challenged by forces of technological

breakthroughs, economic growth, market

evolution, societal changes, shifts in

consumer tastes and political events.

Changing Employment Relationship:

The pace and nature of changes in the

environment in which businesses of today

operate, the nature of employment

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relationship is undergoing fundamental

changes. Reengineering, shifting market

downsizing, and make other factors have

contributed to rapid changes in existing jobs

and creation of new ones. There are no rigid

job definitions. Functional flexibility is the

new rule of the game. The role and

composition of teams has expanded.

Organizations are increasingly using

temporary staffing and contractual labor as

a means to mitigate the cyclical changes as

well as manage costs and efficiencies.

These changes have the following

implications on Human Resource

Management for both organizations and

employees:

1. Companies no longer assure lifelong

employment to their employees

2. Employees do not profess complete

and lifelong loyalty to the employer.

3. A talented and committed human

resource base is emerging as a

source of great competitive

advantage.

4. There is an increased focus on HR

practices & policies to retain and

motivate the workforce.

The companies need to invest in their

human capital fully well knowing it could

be their riskiest investment. Hence there are

risk – mitigation / hedging methods in HR

which are observed in recent times like the

‗Employment Bonds‘ that are being used by

the organizations as tools to minimize the

potential loss of a bad people investment.

In this quest to win the ‗War for Talent‘,

employers often make promises that are

likely to be met only if the pace of growth in

the business continues steadily. However,

the business realities of the downturn in the

recent past have shown us that growth may

not be uninterrupted or steady all the while

and managing human resources might

have to be re-adjusted to satisfy other

stakeholders, particularly shareholders, by

cutting down on promises made earlier, as a

consequence, impacting the relationship

between employee & employer.

Organizational Psychology is a subject

which applies the principles of psychology

to one of the most important areas of

people‘s life – work, specifically, with the

human aspects of the workplace and aim of

improving people‘s efficiency, and hence

organizational effectiveness, through the

knowledge of human behavior.

Employment Relationship in Future

Organizations addresses the issues of

change within employee relationships

resulting from the impact of factors such as:

Internal competitive pressures

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Technological changes

Changing individual expectations

and behaviors

The new employment contract is analyzed

from inside and outside organizations and

the issues are addressed from both a human

resource management and work

psychology perspective.

Emerging Challenges for HR –

Employment Relationship:

Trust

Valuing the employment relationship

implies that both the parties viz. The

employers & the employees should have

trust in the relationship. Employers should

pay attention to building employee‘s trust

in the organization through transparency

and management credibility. This means

clarifying what is on offer, meeting

commitments, or when necessary,

explaining what has gone wrong and

monitoring employee attitudes from time to

time. Non-fulfillment of perceived

obligations may lead to disconnect.

Congruence between what has been

promised & what the employees receive

from the organization strengthens trust in

the employment relationship.

Psychological Contract

Psychological Contract between the

employer and the employee involves the

beliefs about the obligations that are

predicted on the unstated perception that a

promise has been made between the two

stakeholders. Psychological contract is

dynamic. It implies the inferences of the

‗Employee value Proposition‘ as promoted

by the organization. It refers to the way the

employment relationship is interpreted. It

helps build the people dimension into

thinking about organizational strategy.

Now, the purpose of business strategies

becomes how to get the best return from

their employee‘s energies, knowledge and

creativity. Managing the favorable balance

of this ever changing Psychological

Contract is going to be one of the biggest

challenges for the HR practitioners going

forward.

Well Being

The workforce today has matured beyond

wanting only compensation at par. They

demand more from the job – well-being.

The organizations today have also

recognized that an employee‘s emotional

and physical well-being is essential for

overall efficiency and maximum

productivity of the employee. Hence a slew

of measures will be required to be initiated

by the HR Managers of tomorrow.

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Information

One of the cornerstones of any relationship

is the openness of communication and the

amount of information sharing that is done

in good faith. Employment relationship is

no different. Organizations going forward

will have to design policies which enable

them to seamlessly share relevant

information on a continuous basis with

their employees and engage them in the

state of affairs from time to time as

important stakeholders driving in a

transparent and accessible environment.

Fairness

Adopting fair practices and ensuring that

there are no inherent bias that creeps into

any of the HR related processes whether it

is the recruitment, performance evaluation,

compensation parity or even for that matter,

facilitating the exit of an employee, there

should be no room for any prejudice,

preconceived mindsets and meritocracy

should be the norm. This is a very difficult

target to achieve, especially given that some

of these processes rely on a great degree of

an individualistic assessment of the

situation. When fairness in process is

religiously followed, it significantly reduces

the employee – employer litigation matters.

Any lapse in maintaining a stringent check

on the fair and unbiased treatment can lead

to the severing of an employment

relationship.

Involvement

Numerous empirical studies over the years

have shown that a positively engaged

workforce is more likely to be closer to their

optimum performance. Intellectual stimulus

and creating a challenging and compelling

environment for every employee‘s

involvement is going to be a great challenge

for the HR Managers going forward. To

keep up the morale of the workforce and to

ensure that there are enough opportunities

create to differentiate the quality of internal

talent pool, creating platforms for employee

involvement will be vital for maintaining a

healthy employment relationship. In the

absence of such available platforms,

boredom, monotony, lethargy and atrophy

can easily creep in dislodging the balance &

harmony of the employment relationship

Consequences of Mismanagement of

Employment Relationship:

The problem occurs when the employee

perceives that the organization has failed to

meet its obligations towards the employees

and vice versa. This is a cognitive

experience when either of the parties forms

judgments regarding the level of breach of

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the unstated psychological contractual

relationship.

This perception not only leads to negative

feelings about the unmet expectations

associated with specific promises, but also

to more general feelings of organizational

belongingness in term of not being

mutually valued and respected. Such

alienation in the minds of the employees

would lead to the following behavioral

reactions:

Lack of commitment

Increased Absenteeism & tardiness

Frustration

Job Insecurity

Disengagement

All this ultimately results in Voluntary

Turnover / Attrition which eventually

results in elevating people costs to the

organization and lower productivity.

Conclusion:

This is a turbulent time for the HR

managers. With increasing number of legal

cases involving employees and the

employer, mostly revolving around

employments bonds, HR managers have a

strategic role to play. From acquiring the

right talent and designing perfect

employment agreements to helping the

employees sustain or have a peaceful exit,

HR managers have quite a lot on their

plates.

Organizations trying to improve the quality

or efficiency of employee‘s work can gain a

great deal while taking into consideration

the holistic view of the Employment

Relationship from the point of view of the

employee and vice versa. Empathy from

both sides is the key in this symbiotic

association.

A strong organizational culture aligned

with the vision and the strategy of the

company can elicit the highest performance

and retention of the top talent thereby

enabling the organization to truly emerge as

a great place to work in.

References:

‗Employment Relationship‘ – by

Archana Tyagi & Rakesh Kumar

Agarwal – Indian Journal of

Industrial Relations – Vol. 45, No. 3,

January, 2010

Anderson, N & Schalk R (1998),

―The Psychological Contract in

Retrospect and Prospect‖ – Journal

of Organizational Behavior, 19:637-

47

Blau, P.M. (1964), Exchange and

Power in Social Life, New York,

Wiley.

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Mayer, R.C. Davis, JH & Schoorman

F.D. (1995), ―An Integrative Model

of Organizational Trust‖, Academy

of Management Review, 20: 709-34

Organ, D.W. (1988), Organizational

Citizenship Behavior: The Good

Soldier Syndrome, DC Heath &

Company, Lexington, MA

―The War For Talent‖ - Steven

Hankin of McKinsey & Company in

1997, by Ed Michaels, Helen

Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod,

Harvard Business Press, 2001 ISBN

1578514592, ISBN 9781578514595.

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The Employment

Relationship: A Holistic

View

Aby J Kottukappally,

Symbiosis Centre for Management

The role of HR Manager has evolved from a

traditional transactional manager to that of

an administrative one to that of a strategic

one. The evolution of terms such as

―Business Partner‖ is an indication of the

same. Often HR Manager is confronted with

issues such as retention, talent acquisition,

development, recruitment etc. which have

become increasingly complex as the years

passed by. Though the challenges faced by

HR are many, I would like to focus on a

couple of them which are outlined as

follows:-

Generation Y

Before we proceed to address the above

issues, we need to identify where these

challenges arise from. It could be traced

back mainly to a demographic dividend, a

volatile economy and a younger profile. Let

us look at the characteristics of Gen Y

Is optimistic about new possibilities

and the future

Has Desire and drive for

entrepreneurship and making a

difference

Has a keen sense of competition

both regional and global

To him work is essential, but the

focus is on shortening the process

Has a deep interest and pride in

owning state-of-the-art technology

Wants a lot of money and he wants

it now.

His focus is shifting from Family

First to himself first, his work, his

friends, his things, and his world

Shifting perspectives and priorities of Gen

Y:-

1. ―Local‖ to ―Global‖ – though the

focus is deeply rooted in their own

community, there is increasing

awareness of global opportunities

2. ―Service‖ to ―Core Competencies‖

– focus is on honing ones skills and

expertise

3. Workplace - ―an expense‖ to ―an

investment‖ – the workspace is

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made more attractive and reflects

the identity of the company

4. ―Inherited Identity‖ to ―Created

Identity‖ - developing an

independent identity based on

merit of education, job profile, etc.

5. ―Job Security‖ to ―Growth‖ –

growth is more important than

security

6. ―WORK- Life‖ to ―WORK - LIFE‖

– focus is more on quality than

quantity; irrespective of

geographical space

7. ―Connections‖ to

―Collaborations‖ – teams based on

individual skills collaborate keeping

in mind a larger goal [1]

Traditionally in organizations, the

development of an individual is mainly

facilitated by training, stretch assignments

etc. The only pertinent question being, how

many organizations effectively use it, i.e. in

terms of changing needs of business and

individual? Although we as HR managers

prefer to say that performance management

system has helped to increase the

performance of the employees, a recent

study by Watson Wyatt showed that only

three out of 10 workers agree that their

company‘s performance management

system helps improve performance. Less

than 40 percent of employees said their

systems established clear performance

goals, generated honest feedback or used

technology to streamline the process.

Mapping the same with the characteristics

of the Gen Y, it turns out that the failure to

implement a properly designed PMS will

fail to retain and nurture the talent for

organization‘s growth

Gen Y is highly tech savvy. Given that a

great deal of networking happens through

social media sites, the questioning of

banning the social media networks at work

place remains a puzzle. The latest trend

among corporates being to increase their

brand visibility through these sites often

ignores its own internal customers

(employees). Does an organization which

runs on good-to-get-work-done soft wares

stand a chance in this era? After all the

survival of the organization depends on

how well they connect to this tech savvy

generation.

Workplace diversity

As suggested by an HBR article, there are

three approaches to manage diversity:

Assimilation paradigm: ―We‘re all

the same.‖, Hire diverse employees;

encourage uniform behavior.

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Differentiation paradigm: ―We

celebrate differences.‖, Match

diverse employees to niche markets.

Integration paradigm: The

integration paradigm transcends

assimilation and differentiation—

promoting equal opportunity and

values cultural differences. The

result being that employees‘ diverse

perspectives positively impact

companies‘ work.[2]

But how far has the above approach worked

in the corporate arena? We do have firms

who have successfully managed diversity to

their competitive advantage and firms that

have failed to address the issue. But often

we find that the sources of diversity can‘t

just be natural, it might as well be forced. A

recent survey brought out the fact that

number of women on board of directors

seems to be far less in India than the

internationally. Now the Ministry of

Corporate Affairs (MCA) has mooted a

proposal that a firm with more than 5

independent directors is supposed to have a

woman director. Are the corporate firms

ready to take up this challenge?

“Green Jobs”

India Inc. was expected to complete some

big ticket projects on the back of second

term of UPA govt. at the center only to

realize that the environment ministry

would put a spanner in the works. The

result was that specialists in environmental

studies became extremely valuable for the

company. If the company follows the

market pricing of the jobs, sustainability

becomes an issue. This constitutes the

ability of the HR to address the basic issue

of supply and demand. How much would

the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the

compensation make a difference

considering the profile of the future work

force?

Growth of SME and Leadership

We find the rapid resurgence of SME in the

new millennium. The success story of an

SME is centered on one or two key persons,

the absence of whom leads to its downfall.

This phenomenon can also be put in a

different perspective for the corporate

world. We find that the companies fight for

the ―right people‖. Why does it happen

when HR has put in place a so called an

―effective succession planning‖? We may

find that the so called systems have failed to

produce leaders that are much required for

the growth of the business. Management

Guru Ram Charan has co-authored a book

called ―Leadership Pipeline‖ which outlines

the leadership passages in a typical

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organization as well as an SME so that the

company is not found of dearth of leaders.

In-house or Out-house

The vegetable oil to software giant Wipro

had done away with joint CEO model,

replacing them with a single CEO. The

reason cited being lower than growth

expectations. But if we dig a bit deeper we

could see that one of the kin‘s was elevated

to an executive position. Many see that the

question of running the business would

ultimately rest with the family veterans. A

different case in point would be the Future

group who adopted a family business board

letting professionals CEOs run the business.

As Gen Y is set to enter the workforce, the

pertinent question would be that regarding

family based succession. Professional CEOs

need to be given the accountability for the

P&L of the firm.

References

1. http://www.merinews.com/article

/future-work-priorities-of-gen-y-in-

india

2. Making Differences Matter A New

Paradigm for Managing Divers by

David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely

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The Employment

Relationship: Crucial

Challenges for HR

―Treat people as if they were what they ought to

be, and you will help them become what they are

capable of becoming.‖ ~Goethe

Mansi Praveen and Bhavna Khar,XLRI

The fundamental reason behind the highly

dynamic employment relationship of today

stems from hyper competition-the

unpredictability, disorder and stress facing

modern organizations. And other

environmental forces are said to have

created this waves of changes. Disorder is

created at the interlude between the end of

a cycle and the beginning of a new

economic cycle, based on political,

economic or technological forces as drivers

of change .Organizational behavior

specialists concur that such disorderly

changes will result in corporate confusion

and anarchy due to the economic and

competitive forces .Managers are thus

facing strong and highly career challenging

forces. They contend that their work in

Business has transformed to an almost war-

like situation. Business is said to have

become synonymous with cut-throat,

survival of the most competitive type of

situation .Thus, in order to cope with hyper

competition, organizations will value

human capital as an asset, very highly, and

will develop the same in new ways, along

with their systems and core competences.

This pressure to be flexible will challenge

employment relationship, especially so

because it will necessitate the development

of new organizational structure.

New organizational structures and

knowledge based competition

The basic purposes served by

organizational structures are as follows:

1. Identify and percolate the

organizational aims.

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2. Control the allocation of resources

and the flow of produce created by

the various functions in the

organization

3. Delineate and control the duties,

rights ,functions and roles of the

organizational members

In the present era, knowledge based

resources within an organization will base

the success and guide the organizational

structure design. For example, ERP, sales

systems have an influence on the workflow

and organizational functional

differentiation because the efficiency

associated with these systems garners

profitability of the organization. Knowledge

- based systems today have empirically

proven their mettle in cost reduction and

better communication along with increased

capabilities to support employee learning

and knowledge management.

Bureaucratic organizations today have their

inbuilt design deficiencies exposed. They

were initially created when it was possible

to commoditize knowledge .Today, very

little control can be exerted on knowledge

flow, and the insights can flow in a more

open manner. Controlling and routinizing

the knowledge, as happens in bureaucratic

organization stymies creativity and

learning- the corner stones to learning

organizations. An organization which

ceases to learn soon declines and enters the

death stage of the organizational life-cycle.

Following are some of the new

organizational forms:

Modular organizations

Boundary less organizations

Distributed knowledge system

Virtual organization

Re-engineered corporation

Atomized organization

The challenges associated with these new

organizational structures are related to

interdependence: Highly needed, advances

in IT and communication systems, capital

mobility related reforms, have made it more

cost-effective. All parties to a business

transaction are highly dependent on each

other for their desired outcomes.

Management of such systems has increased

in complexity, due to dispersal of authority

across parties.

For instance, the knowledge base of firms is

intrinsically linked to the knowledge of

their employees. This is particularly the case

in knowledge-intensive business services,

where the production of services is almost

entirely dependent on the ability of the firm

to make use of the knowledge of the

employees. Applying a distributed

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knowledge system view of the firm helps us

understand that how knowledge is created

is more important than what knowledge the

firm and its employees have. The

knowledge base of firms is intrinsically

linked to the knowledge of their employees.

This is particularly the case in knowledge-

intensive business services, where the

production of services is almost entirely

dependent on the ability of the firm to make

use of the knowledge of the employees.

Applying a distributed knowledge system

view of the firm helps us understand that

how knowledge is created is more

important than what knowledge the firm

and its employees have. (2001, JACOB

NORVIG LARSEN)

Workplace Flexibility and Its implications

on the employment relationship

To survive in this hypercompetitive world,

new workplace practices are being designed

to pass on the risk burden (some of it, at

least) from the State and the private

organizational entities and on to the

employee him/herself. The following

important choices have emerged:

1. Stable vs. a new, contingent

workforce

2. High informational, technology

intensive) vs. low skill, low pay and

low training involvement jobs

3. Flexible specialization of

workforce allowing deskilling and

multiskilling of workers vs. new

structures introduced only for the

sake of perpetuation inequality and

power centers.

How the previously listed organizational

structures affect the employment

relationship has not been ascertained

empirically yet. However, the following

three issues are the basis for the deep shifts

taking place in the very nature of work:

1. The interlink age between

technological changes and their

impact on organization structure

and processes.

2. How the structural changes and

new forms of organizations

affect the integration,

organization and distribution of

roles and responsibilities.

3. Job –content, job-design and

their co-ordination by HRM

systems.

In order to perform skill matching, exploit

employee creativity, organizations have

been using total quality management, just-

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in time, lean manufacturing, team-work and

empowerment. Past changes have included

increased relevance of operational

knowledge, higher level of work

interdependence, higher cognitive-abstract

qualifications needed for optimum

performance, increased emphasis on soft

skills and social competences.

New systems of work organization, such as

lean production and total quality

management, have been introduced by

employers throughout the industrialized

world to improve productivity, quality, and

profitability. However, few studies have

examined the impact of such systems on

occupational injuries or illnesses or on job

characteristics related to job strain, which

has been linked to hypertension and

cardiovascular disease. The studies

reviewed provide little evidence to support

the hypothesis that lean production

"empowers" auto workers. In fact, auto

industry studies suggest that lean

production creates intensified work pace

and demands. Increases in decision

authority and skill levels are modest or

temporary, whereas decision latitude

typically remains low. (1999, Paul A.

Landsbergis, Janet Cahill, Peter Schnall)

By flexibility today, the manipulation of

jobs-context, content and so forth is implied.

Managers have been simultaneously

manipulating the following aspects:

1. The tasks, duties, responsibilities,

work- elements that are bundled

together into definable jobs.

2. Redesigning job contexts into which

jobs are placed, positioning new jobs

through job families into the broader

framework of organizational design,

the job –holder`s occupation ,the

career stream to which jobs belong,

the work process of which it forms a

part.

3. The interaction between jobs,

informational flow and control,

power associated with the jobs.

4. Aligning of these jobs with the

organizational strategy – by

modifying the competence and

commitment required by the

employees – through the use of

various HRM systems like

compensation, Performance

management, etc.

Psychological Contract

Against the background of a changing

business environment, the psychological

contract between the employer and the

employee is susceptible to be broken. It is

important, for managers and supervisors in

organizations to have a proper appreciation

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of the nature and dynamics of the

psychological contract and its implications

on employee behavior and attitudes.

Psychological Contract serves many

functions like predictability, stability,

security and control. The cognitive view of

Psychological Contract conveys important

principles about managing change in

employee‘s mind-set e.g. experts process

discrepant information differently from

novices. Thus, the organization should

support this change in employee mind-set

through some HR policies like getting

employees actively negotiate new job

conditions after a merger. Though these

exercises, the psychological contract would

change thereby enabling the organizations

to redefine the employment relationships.

Framework for Psychological Contract

Changing Structure of employment:

With the changing business scenario, there

is a dynamic change in the way short term

employment relationships are perceived.

For example, some of the perceived trends

in the changing relationship are:

Long term jobs with a single

employer are a thing of the past

The labor market offers mainly short

term and unstable jobs

The attitudes most appropriate to

employment relationship are

entrepreneurial because individuals

need to manage their career

efficiently to maintain their own

employability.

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But, studies have shown that the long term

employment relationship have proved to be

very resilient. Heere and Salmon, in their

research have drawn attention to a theory

called ―insecurity thesis‖ which is a social

theory stating that there is a connection

between the developments in the world of

work (as stated in the bullet points above)

and the changes in the individual‘s and

society‘s life beyond. They note that

government, policy makers, trade unions

and management organizations- all express

concern at the levels of risk and instability

which is defining contemporary life now a

days. They are working towards

strengthening employment relationship as

employees are the greatest asset of an

organization which provides them

competitive advantage.

Job stability and employee outcomes

Jon stability of an employee in an

organization is a signaling effect to the

employment relationship. But this

relationship is not empirically proved. For

example, there is a market variation in the

average tenure that employees have on jobs

across countries. Also, employees change

jobs more frequently while they are young

which shows that the age structure can

influence job security.

Restructuring – In a dynamic economic

environment, the behavior and attitude of

the employees is changed drastically. Thus,

special emphasis should be paid by the

employers to strengthen the employment

relationship. The changes felt by the

employees after a layoff are:

Working in a new organizational

structure and design

New job sites, new bosses, new

visions, new team roles,

responsibilities and new policies

Taking on more work, managing on-

going cost reductions

Different progression opportunities

New rules of employment

relationship and new rules for the

negotiation process within the

relationship

Loss of peers and changes in the

social fabric of their work life

On-going fears about the survival of

their own job

The organization resorts to strategies which

are mainly based on control and

containment. Due to this, there is a loss of

honest communication, resistance to change

and decreased morale. Employees sense a

loss of trust and loss of information sharing.

This lays more stress on individualism and

a sense of vulnerability and insecurity pops

20

up in the employees. The organizational

structure changes to a centralized.

Also, many studies have been done to

capture the attitude of employee after

layoffs. It is proved that job satisfaction;

organizational commitment and job

involvement reduce drastically. Attrition

rate shoots up for the organization once the

economic situation starts reviving.

Thus, as stated above, there are many areas

which affect employment relationship and

HR is evolving to fill these gaps.

Employees are the greatest asset of an

organization and nurturing and providing

them the opportunity to grow will act as a

competitive advantage for the firm. The

growing importance of employees and their

relationship is described by Steve Jobs in

the quote

―The people who are doing the work are the

moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to

create a space for them, to clear out the rest of

the organization and keep it at bay”

21

Challenges Faced by HR

Professionals in Today’s

Workplace

Tushar Sharma, IMI

Globalization and increased competition

has transformed the way companies operate

in today‘s environment. Fast changing

volatile environments, increased consumer

demand, shortened product life cycles,

increased technology etc. have impacted the

relations between employees and the

employers in a big way.

During Industrialization, in many countries

including India, employees were perceived

as just another source for achieving means

of production. Abundant supply of labor

meant that employers had an upper hand in

the negotiation and they could exploit labor

for their own means. This widespread

exploitation combined with growing

influence of collectivism in that era gave

birth to the idea of Trade Unions. This

collective group of employees had better

say in negotiating for their rights and

balanced inequality in power on the table.

In India, post-independence, the State

favored welfare of labor and formulated

laws and regulations for their protection

and social security. Job security was the

main issue for the employees and scarcity of

job opportunities meant low attrition rate

for the employers. Industrial Relations in

India were governed by three parties-

Government, Trade Unions and the

Management. This cordial environment

deteriorated with increasing militarism of

the trade unions. Increased political

support, protection from the law and

multiplicity of trade unions created a rigid

environment for productivity to increase

and MNCs to operate in India.

Liberalization opened doors for many

Multinational companies in India to

operate. The boom of IT sector created an

unprecedented demand for knowledge

workers. This changed scenario gave birth

22

to a new and unique employee relation

challenges- challenge of managing an

individual knowledge worker. State also

began changing its role from being a

welfare provider to a facilitator in providing

cooperative environment between the

employees and the employers and

promoting productivity for the

organizations. The dilution of the strength

of Unions has also opened a new window

for changed employee relations.

Cooperative bargaining has begun to

replace collective bargaining which again

poses new challenges to Human Resource

professionals.

Today employee relations are governed by

new actors in the society too. Consumers

play an important part in the way an

organization operates. For example during

1990‘s widespread protests were conducted

by people in opposition to employment of

child labor employed by Nike in Third

World countries. In light of this criticism,

Nike had to change its conditions of labor.

This incident also shows the role of media

in today‘s employee relations. New issues

which have emerged in today‘s global

environment are: creating sustainable

environment, protecting rights of minority

groups, promoting safety issues, preventing

child labor and sustaining customers. Any

employee relation policy will have to keep

these issues in mind in order to create a

perfect synergy between the external

environment, organization‘s strategy and

the HR policy.

Today‘s employees are not concerned about

job security. The challenges and rewards in

the job are the major drivers of job

satisfaction for the employees. Employment

contracts today do not govern the

relationships between the employees and

the employers. Psychological contracts are

replacing transactional employment

contracts. According to Rousseau,

psychological contracts are beliefs held by

the individuals in mutual expectations

between the two parties (Rousseau, 1989).

So, if the employee expects rewards and

recognitions in return for the contribution

made by him towards achieving the

organization‘s goals, it is simply fulfillment

of psychological contract. These

expectations are not static and continuously

keep on changing and also play an

important part in perceived ―fairness‖ at the

work environment. If these expectations are

met mutually then it will lead to higher

employee engagement and employee

satisfaction.

Factors of Psychological contracts are:

23

For achieving all this, today‘s HR role should be strategic in nature. This strategic nature of HR

can be developed in many ways:

All these trickle down from the Top management of the company.

Google has been able to attract and retain

its top talent by creating one of its kind

work environments for its employees. It has

catered to the individual needs of its

Strategic HR

Employee Involvement

Respecting individuality

Empowering employees

Communication

Psychological

Contract

Commitment &

Motivation

=

Engagement &

High

Performance

Employment

Contract

Employee

effort & Rules

adherence

+

Employee

reward & Job

security

External

Context

HRM Practices

Expected outcomes

Leadership

24

employees and provides fun environment

to its employees at work. These have been

incorporated by its founders – Sergey Brin

and Larry Page – itself and today Google is

the topmost employer of choice among the

employees. This has been possible only by

incorporating strategic HR policies which

create joy among the employees and caring

for the needs of the employees.

Thus, it is easy to say that employees are an

important resource who gives organizations

their competitive edge. Pay packages are

not the instruments for retaining valued

employees anymore. Organizations will

have to continuously innovate to retain

talent. In today‘s context, it is a war for

talent and the best way to achieve retention

is to engage in constant up gradation of

processes to bind every values employee to

your organization.

References

Rousseau Denise, M. (1989), Psychological

and implied contracts in Organizations;

Employees Responsibilities and Rights

Journal.

25

Change Management

Pranav Chawla, IMT Nagpur

What is Change Management?

Change management is an art of making

changes systematically i.e. in a well-planned

and organized manner in an operating

organization.

Why Change Management?

―Change is the only constant thing in our

life.‖ Every organization undergoes change

at one point or another, may be temporarily,

may be at the wrong time, may be too early,

may be too late or maybe, just may be…

forever.

The reasons for the organizational change in

the current scenario may be external or

internal. The external factors affecting the

organization can be rise in competition

among rivalries, changes in the economy,

changes in government policies, fluctuation

in cost of raw materials, advancement in

technology etc. The internal factors can be

appointment of new leader i.e. CEO, decline

in profitability, union problems,

implementation of new technology etc.

These days, the most visible changes that a

common man encounters are Mergers &

Acquisitions, Technological changes and

Downsizing. Thus, managing change is of

utmost importance to ensure the

effectiveness of these desired changes, to

take care of the undesired side effects of the

changes implemented in the organization

and to provide strategies to manage the

resistance to change.

Resistance to Change Management

“It is easy to change the things that nobody

cares about. It becomes difficult when you start

to change the things that people do care about or

when they start to care about the things that you

26

are changing.”

— Lorenzi and Riley.

Change is inevitable still people are

reluctant to accept this reality. It is a part of

a human nature. People resist change

because of the following reasons:

1. They are afraid that the change may

act as an impasse to their current

level of performance.

2. People are used to do things in the

same way as they are doing it from

years. The quote, ―You can‘t teach

an old dog new tricks‖ also coveys

the same message.

3. Some people find limitations of

resources such as scarcity of time,

scarcity of manpower to implement

the desired change.

4. People in the higher level of

hierarchy consider themselves more

powerful or influential and are

afraid that may be the change will

eliminate their power of influence.

5. They are afraid of the after effects of

change as the outcome is uncertain.

They believe in, ―When change

arises, think of the consequences.‖

It is advisable for an organization to adapt

for changes otherwise new strategies will

not be perfectly implemented and the

quality programs, if implemented, shall not

deliver the expected results.

Effective Change Management

Slowly seeking for acceptance is not what

we want from change management. This

will unsettle the present working scenario

and will result in the same lower levels of

performance. When an organization is

looking for a change, the first and foremost

thing to be taking care of is to remove the

reluctance to change. Effective change

management can be done if we follow the

under mentioned steps:

1. Accept the reality is the first step.

People don‘t accept the change

readily so a negative frame of mind

can never give desired results. They

should be rational as this helps in

unbiased analysis and a better

judgment.

2. Try not to avoid the ongoing process

(of change). Avoiding the process is

not a solution but one should follow

the process. Change is not the

objective but it is the process to

achieve the objective.

27

3. One should learn the art to

anticipate change which is going to

happen in future. This is known as

Change Foresight. Do not wait for

things to be take place, try to predict

it and be prepared.

4. Change is mostly done for the good.

So, an organization should evaluate

long run benefits. Some may argue

that this is impossible to measure;

nevertheless, it is very essential to

get the complete picture of the

change. Change is mostly associated

with risk. Greater the change,

greater the risk. But the biggest risk

in life is not to take risk at all. The

benefits associated to risk are so

high that risk can be ignored.

5. In implementing the desired change,

group consensus is of utmost

importance. A wrong change may

lead to a series of wrong changes.

Taking decision, keeping in

confidence all the stakeholders is

usually more effective.

6. Taking reference from the past or

from somebody who has already

implemented that change

successfully or even unsuccessfully

will certainly help in a better

decision. At least one can evaluate

what change to implement and what

not to.

7. Do not expect quick results. It might

happen that after transforming any

certain norm, result may not be seen

immediately. It may lead to

anxiousness but reviewing it

patiently for a certain period of time

will certainly pay off.

8. Some people in spite of knowing

that changing with the

contemporary era is very essential

still are reluctant to accept this. If

you feel the need to change anything

then you definitely have to change.

Procrastination of a desired change

is not advisable as in long term it

may be unmanageable. Performing

changes with a casual frame of mind

can be disastrous.

At last to end the article I would like to

mention that no one should follow words

ofMark Twain, “It‟s not the progress I mind,

it‟s the change I don‟t like.”

28

HR TOOL KIT

29

Modeling Learning and

Development System for

Maximum Performance

Results

Asha Tatapudi, XLRI

Introduction

SEW Infrastructure Limited is one of the

fastest growing companies in the

infrastructure industry in India. It has

proven its excellence in past fifty years by

successful completion of many signature

projects and is now diversified into various

Infrastructure verticals such as Irrigation,

Power, Industrial & Institutional structures,

Highways & Bridges, Hydro and Thermal

Power projects etc. It employs a talent force

of five thousand people. However, its one

thousand strong Works Supervisors whose

average work experience is eight years are

the backbone of this enterprise even though

they were not adequately skilled or

formally trained, because they are involved

in direct supervision of the performance of

construction tradesmen. The rapid growth

of the enterprise challenged the

predictability of timely project delivery

owing to the low competency levels of the

supervisory cadre. The company had

instituted a training academy specifically to

conduct Supervisory Development training

programs for up-skilling these Supervisors.

However, there was no distinct

improvement in their post-training

performance. The company was concerned

about this criticality and wanted to revamp

the whole learning and development

approach and implement an effective

system to enhance the supervisory

capability.

Therefore, the company hired a senior

Head-Human Capital and assigned him the

responsibility to revamp the whole system

and to make the Supervisory Skill

Development training more effective

delivering superior performance results.

The Head-Human Capital analyzed and

examined the existing training practice and

found the following deficiencies in the

existing practice:

The Supervisor‘s job profile

majorly comprised of

supervising the works pertaining

30

to survey, bar-bending, form-

work carpentry and masonry.

Besides, he was also responsible

for resource estimation and daily

progress reporting. However,

they were found to be competent

to perform only the task of

resource estimation and did not

possess the required competency

in the other Skill based job areas.

The design of the existing

training program content

comprised of ninety percent of

theory and only ten percent of

skill based training in the areas

of Auto leveling and chain

survey techniques.

Considering the academic

background of the supervisors,

who had merely completed their

schooling, they did not possess

the cognitive ability to perceive

and acquire the Civil engineering

based theoretical knowledge that

was hitherto being imparted to

them.

The tradesmen reporting to the

Supervisors were highly skilled

in their respective trades.

Whereas, the Supervisor did not

possess any of those skills.

Hence, they could not effectively

supervise the execution of

construction works.

The training environment was

class room based and did not

resemble a real-time project site

by any extent.

The training program did not

comprise of any competency

wise or overall assessment of the

candidates either during or after

the training program.

The training academy did not

have any alignment with the

projects as it did not understand

the training needs of the

supervisors. It also did not focus

on transfer of post-training

knowledge to the work place.

KEY OBJECTIVES

To summarize, the issues identified

to be addressed in the new system were as

follows:

To identify the competencies

needed for the supervisory

competency development at both

the knowledge or skill levels

through job and competency

analysis

31

To develop a battery of

competency assessment tools at

the following four stages-

Pre-training level

Periodic evaluation during

the training for every skill

area

Grand assessment after the

completion of training to

assess if the benchmarked

competency level is attained

Final assessment after two

months of the post training

performance if it has

incrementally improved or

not

To assess and map the current

competency levels of the

supervisors and identify gaps

mapping to the competency map

To develop an effective training

methodology with more practice

orientation

To create a simulated

construction environment to

provide a real-time experience

To define the learning

benchmark levels and ensure

every trained supervisor meets

the set benchmarks

To motivate the supervisors to

undergo the learning and

development process

To assess and appraise the

incremental performance results

of the supervisors‘ post training

To refine the training design and

methodology based on the post

training behaviors

STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR AN EFFECTIVE TRAINING MODEL

A Core team comprising trainers, construction domain expert & HR representative was

constituted & RADAR strategy is adopted to revamp and develop an effective Supervisory

Development program. RADAR is an evaluation tool to evaluate the sub-criteria of business

32

excellence or quality management systems as seen Figure-1 below.

Figure-1: The RADAR model

This is a tool developed by EFQM which

encompasses the following aspects:

Determine the Results it is aiming

for as part of its strategy making

process.

Action Step:

The key objective was to fulfill the

requirement of skilled supervisors at

projects, so it was derived that the

structure of training program should

be aligned with their projects.

Plan and develop an integrated set

of sound Approaches to deliver the

required results now and in future.

Action Step:

Development of a competency

map through a detailed job and

task analysis

Development of the content for

the training in the ratio of 80%

skill / practical based and 20%

class room based for lectures and

review of previous practical

sessions with assessment tools

Design of a simulated

environment at the training

academy

Training aids for the pedagogy

were listed out

Design of pre-training and post-

Required RESULTS

Plan & Develop

Approaches

DEPLOY Approaches

ASSESS & REFINE

Approaches &

Deployment

33

training assessment tools

Deploy the approaches in a

systematic way to ensure total

implementation.

Action Step:

Handshake was established with the

projects to identify the performance

enhancement opportunities through

competency development of supervisors.

The projects were also advised to redesign

the roles of the supervisors based on their

strengths as assessed after the training

program. The supervisors were to be

motivated to undergo the training and also

improve their post training performance by

instituting a special increment of INR 500

per month. They were also provided a full

sponsorship to a Diploma in engineering

program for their professional and career

development.

Assess and Refine the approaches

followed based on monitoring and

analysis of the results achieved and

ongoing learning activities.

Action Step:

Assessments were integral in the

supervisory development program as they

were conducted before, during and after the

training to identify learning reinforcements

and to enable the supervisors acquire the

required competencies.

The following tools were used for the

effective implementation of RADAR

strategy:

Competency Framework

Competency refers to a cluster of abilities

relating to excellence in a specific task /

activity, competence indicates sufficiency of

knowledge and skills that enable one to act

in a wide variety of situations. For the

purpose of the new training model, a role-

specific competency framework is

determined with detailed activity specific

knowledge and skills at three levels:

Threshold (basic/ Silver)

Differentiating (superior/Gold)

Expert (Platinum)

This is accomplished by developing a

competency map by undertaking a detailed

job analysis of the supervisor‘s role defining

the broad job elements, the set of tasks or

activities required to be performed under

each job element and the corresponding

knowledge, skills and behaviors required to

perform those tasks at the said three levels

34

of expertise. Please refer Figure-2 below to

view a cross-section of one job element in a

competency map.

Figure-2: A sample element section of the competency map

Methodology: „Job Competence Assessment

method‟

It was carried out by using behavioral event

interviews and observations of outstanding

and average performing works supervisors

to determine the competencies that

differentiate them while performing various

tasks / activities and critical incidents.

Thereafter, a behavioral event interview

was carried out with the concerned domain

expert in order to validate the task specific

defined competencies.

Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation

Model

This training evaluation model is a proven

tool to determine the effectiveness of

training.

Figure-3

Kirkpatrick‟s training evaluation model

Results

Transfer

Learning

Reaction

35

The four levels of training

evaluation as in Figure-3 above

signify as follows-

Reaction Level- Evaluation at

this level implies how the

participants react to the

program. The participants were

provided with proper

infrastructure & adequate

facilities which is required to

create an environment for

learning.

Learning Level- Evaluation at

this level implies the extent to

which participants change

attitudes, knowledge and skill as

a result of attending the

program. Training need was

identified with an assessment

prior to the training program to

so that each one should be

trained specifically to their

requirements. Every learning

program was integrated with an

assessment & trainees were

given periodic performance

feedback for effective learning.

Transfer Level- Evaluation at

this level implies the extent to

which the post training behavior

of the participants has changed

at the work place. A post

training assessment was made at

the respective project location

where these trainees were

deployed & feedbacks were

taken from their supervisors to

know the difference in

performance.

Results Level- Evaluation at this

level implies the extent of

improved results owing to the

training and the motivation of

the participant to improve.

Feedback from the project

managers were taken to find out

the change in the overall

productivity at work.

ACHIEVEMENTS

By adopting the afore detailed strategic

model, SEW Infrastructure Limited had

successfully developed all its 1267

supervisors to the Silver Level and 356

supervisors to the Gold Level and had

enhanced its overall performance results by

40% as measured at all its project sites

where the supervisors were successfully up-

skilled. This approach enabled greater

predictability in timely project delivery. The

supervisors were also highly motivated to

attain higher competencies and for being

36

placed on a path for higher professional development.

Figure-4: Supervisors undergoing a competency

assessment at company‟s academy

REFERENCES

The handbook of competency mapping-

Seema Sanghi

Quality Management- Tilo Pfeifer

Measuring Business Excellence- Gopal

K. Kanji

Predictive Evaluation- Dave Basarab

37

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly,

or it vanishes.

--Peter Drucker

Knowledge Management

Swapnil S Bhure, NITIE

Managers watch keenly for how they can

align the employee‘s goal with the goal of

their company. The most important job for

any company is to utilize the potential of

their workforce. As the companies are

expanding it becomes a challenge for them

to handle their most powerful weapon the

knowledge. A common workforce planning

concern is to determine how to identify,

codify and preserve key knowledge and the

―institutional memory‖ before all the people

in whose heads the knowledge resides leave

the organization. A company invests in

Knowledge management to build a

knowledge capability that facilitates the

effective management and flow of

information and knowledge in the firm.

The motto of knowledge management is not

to find a replacement for a person who may

leave the organization but making that

knowledge accessible to the one who will

perform the same job in future. The primary

thing is to not reinvent again and do the

same mistakes which occurred in the past.

Working with knowledge is a known as

Knowledge process that includes

knowledge acquisition, knowledge

conversion, knowledge protection and

knowledge preservation.

For several decades the world's best-known forecasters of societal

change have predicted the emergence of a new economy in which

brainpower, not machine power, is the critical resource. But the

future has already turned into the present, and the era of

knowledge has arrived.

--"The Learning Organization," Economist Intelligence Unit

38

There are some knowledge preservation

tools used like mentoring programs, job

shadowing, job rotation etc. Behavior of

employee plays an important role in

making HR policies. Organizational

structure is comprised of organizational

hierarchy, rules, regulations and reporting

relationships which are considered to be the

means of coordination and control. Many a

times it happens that in hierarchical

organizational structure the knowledge of a

person is underestimated and that creates

frustration among the employee. There are

many techniques that are practiced in

organizations to face this problem. Many

organizations practice brainstorming

sessions in which the Senior Manager, the

Project Manager and the employee takes

part where all have the equal right to speak,

to disagree with someone, to question and

to support someone. But this doesn‘t

happen that no one takes part in the session

with free mind. There is a gap in the ranks

of participants. When Senior Project

Manager gives an idea no one disagrees

with him even if his idea is not feasible,

everybody follows his solutions, and no one

dare express his or her strong contradiction

because they fear that it will be deleterious

to their career. On the other hand the

Manager thinks that he gave a very good

idea and implements the concept. So, what

is the result? Of course the results are

painful. Even if someone had excellent

solution he or she would never speak up

which creates frustration. This situation

lead to attrition and ultimately the most

important assert of any organization, their

Knowledge Management

Key Concepts

Innovation

Information System

Intellectual Asserts Total Quality Management

People

Team skills

Roots of Knowledge Management

39

employee and the knowledge is lost. Many

companies are facing this problem. This is a

very serious issue, as this is directly

affecting the growth of the company.

According to my view we can overcome

this problem with a model based on

Information Technology.

About the Model

Concept – Brainstorming

Based on – Information Technology

Participants – All the members of

brainstorming group will be the

participants. It may have Senior Manager,

Project manager and the employee

(basically the group may be of the person

having different ranking in the

organization). Apart from this the server,

computers and the software will also be the

participants.

Assumption – It is expected that every

participant has a basic knowledge of

computer and chatting.

Explanation – In this model every person is

having a laptop or PC and is connected to

the local intranet. Everyone will have a

nickname (not known to everyone and

unique) which must not be their real name

or surname and a password. All these

details will be stored in the server. The

participants need not to be seating together.

The boss may be seating in his cabin and the

others may be somewhere else. Now they

join a same chat room where every

comment written will be displayed with the

nickname of the writer. Everyone is free to

say whatever in their mind and no one

knows, what is the rank of the writer?

Everyone will just know the nickname and

his views. In this way everyone express

their views, disagree with someone, and

support too without knowing whose view

they have supported or disagreed. In this

way an online brainstorming session will be

done and the best solution will be chosen.

After the process is over, now it depends on

all the participants if they want to reveal

their names or not. Each one in the group

should be willing to reveal the real name.

To reveal the names the computer system

will ask for the password from all the

participants and will display the real names

only when all submit their password to the

system. Even if one person is not willing to

reveal his or her real name then the person

have the right to not to give the password to

the system and at the end no real names

will be revealed. The system will display

40

the real names and the corresponding

nickname only when all the players provide

their password to the system. It may

happen that all the participants not submit

their password and wait for the results of

the solution suggested. In this way at the

end whenever the names are revealed we

get the person whose idea was

implemented and can be praised or

rewarded.

Example

Participants – Aditya, Mahesh, Omkar, Pratik, Sunny

In this example the above mentioned people

are taking part in brainstorming, each

participant selects a nickname as shown in

fig 1 and a password. Now this is like a chat

41

room, the views of every person will be

displayed on everyone computer screen

with his nickname. It will be like-

Here White gave one solution to increase the

sales who is a Senior Manager but Green

who is an employee doesn‘t feel it to be a

good idea and opposed him and also put

his view on the problem. Orange also

supported Green without knowing that he

is opposing Senior Manager.

At the end of the brainstorming you get the

free views of everyone and now the

disclosure of all the participants will

depends on every participant. The system

will ask each participant whether you want

to disclose your name or not. If you want to

disclose names, then provide your

password to the system. Now if White,

Orange, Blue, Red are ready to publish their

names and Green not then the real names

will not be displayed. Whenever Green feels

that it is the right time to disclose his real

name he will put in the password in the

system and a message will be sent to all the

participants showing real names and

nicknames.

Conclusion

This paper provided a high level overview

of a new generation brainstorming based on

two categories the methodology and the

information technology which eliminates

shortcomings of conventional

brainstorming. Many companies are

heading towards the Knowledge

management and some are leading like

Wipro Technologies who received

Information Today‘s KMWorld-KM Reality

Award in the year 2002[1]. Knowledge

Management is clearly the crown jewels of a

firm. Processing a data can be performed by

a non-living machine, but the knowledge

and information can only be processed by

human mind. It is an ocean of great

opportunities where a lot of research is

needed to be done.

References

1. http://www.domain-

b.com/companies/companies_w/w

ipro/20021119_km_reality.html

2. http://www.asis.org/SIG/sigkm/i

ndex.html

3. http://www.apqc.org

White- I think we should reduce the cost of our

product by $1 to increase the sales

Green- No this will not work our break-even

point will shift drastically. I think we should

invest in advertisements.

Orange- Yes, I thing Green is right.

42

BRAINSTORMING WITH CASE STUDIES

Case Study: ABC Hotel

(Based on Internship

Program)

Talent Management – A

Challenge for an HR

Manager

NityaWadhwa, IMT Nagpur

ABC Hotel (name disguised) is a 5-star

hotel located in New Delhi which deals in

corporate hospitality. This has been the

preferred residence of visiting heads of state

and global business leaders for over 25

years. This extraordinary hotel combines an

historic aura with contemporary facilities to

create an unrivalled luxury hotel

experience. This is a very old organization

which started in the late 60s. The hotel has

employee strength of more than 2000.

Though, the hotel is in profits, and

employees are treated well, yet it was found

that the turnover rates are quite high.

The recruitment and selection process is

very comprehensive and stringent in this

organization. There are four rounds of

interviews and the managers who are

recruiting want to ensure that the people

whom they are recruiting fit in well with

the job which is being offered. The

recruitment process is really very fine and

according to the study done, it is estimated

that recruitment costs per candidate is

approximately Rs. 22,000/-Once selected,

the training regime is quite rigorous. The

43

study also suggests that the productivity is

positive for the employees in 99% cases.

Employees are part of various engagement

activities. They are given various benefits

like Medical Insurance, Pension, Provident

Fund, Medical Reimbursements etc. Trade

Unions in this hotel have entered into

agreements with the management, and

therefore work for the welfare and benefits

of the employees. Despite all this,

employees are not satisfied with their jobs.

Upon analysing the problem, some of the

problems found are explained in the

following paragraphs.

This hotel, at present, is in its maturity

phase. The basic reason for discontent

among the employees was compensation

management. In ABC Limited, this was a

matter of concern but only for those

employees who have been associated with

the organization for more than 20 years.

They feel that they are underpaid and there

should be some pay parity in the

organization. Their contention is that, they

should be paid equal to what the new

recruits are being paid. But the

management is of the view that they are

paid as per their job description and their

skills and in no way their compensation is

inadequate by any standards. However, the

employees are of the view that since they

have been serving the organization for so

many years now, their salaries should be

higher than the new recruits. However, the

fact is if the new recruit is highly qualified,

they will be paid highly irrespective of the

experience that they may possess. This has

resulted in a lower sense of belongingness

amongst the old employees. Though they

are loyal to the organization, yet they are

not satisfied. This has resulted in

absenteeism in some cases. According to the

survey results with the sample size of 73

employees it was observed that employees'

Safety and Security needs are fulfilled but

somewhere 30% employees are dissatisfied

with their post retirement security and

wellbeing and with the welfare schemes for

their family.

Another problem faced by this company is

their unwillingness to change. Since the

back end employees of this hotel are old

and have been working for so many years

now, they are unwilling to change and learn

new things. They don‘t want to alter their

mind set.

Another challenge being faced by the hotel

is high attrition amongst the younger

employees. With the Commonwealth

Games slated to be organized in Delhi in

2010, there is demand for more and more

hotels to provide accommodation to people

44

who would be visiting Delhi. Many hotels

are going for capacity up gradation and

hence, require more staff particularly those

people who have some experience in this

hospitality industry. As a result of that,

many young employees belonging to the

age-group of 20-30, who get easily enticed

by good salaries and better career

opportunities which are being offered by

these hotels, are leaving the ABC Hotel.

Apart from these reasons, several other

personal problems like marriage, ill-health,

family matters, problem in working hours

etc have also been identified for high

attrition.

Fig.1: Attrition pattern for each month in

the year 2009-2010

RECOMMENDATIONS / SOLUTIONS

Firstly, a sort of training program

must be launched for the old

employees who have rigid mindsets

and are unwilling to change. This

training program must make them

understand the reasons for change.

The hotel must give them the

necessary training so as to equip

them with skills that may be

required to deal with challenges.

Reverse mentoring for the old

employees can also be tried. If still

they are not ready to change, then

either they should be given the

option of voluntary retirement.

Compensation and other benefits

offered must be in sync with the

person‘s skills and talent. There

should be fairness as far as

compensation is concerned. If there

are some issues with regards to

salary, management must take the

initiative of sorting this out as soon

as possible. Salary compression can

also be introduced in order to

distinguish the new employees with

existing ones. Good performers

must be rewarded and promoted as

and when a suitable opportunity for

the same arises. There should not be

any limit for growth opportunities

in a company in particular for those

employees who are new to the

company and want to grow in their

ATT

RIT

ION

RA

TE

ATTRITION PATTERN 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

45

career. This will check employee

turnover to a large extent. Personal

Counselling can also be tried by

various companies to deal with

personal issues of employees

These were some of the suggestions

that the researcher could

recommend to the organization.

Conclusion

Talent Management is a serious issue being

faced by a majority of the companies. Today

it must be ensured that companies must be

able to manage the talent in their companies

for otherwise they would surely get beaten

in this highly competitive market. We must

remember that employees are the real

strength of any particular company and the

need for talent management is even more

today considering the plethora of options

that employees have today.

A company that is able to successfully

manage its talent would not only earn

profits but would also be able to create

value for its customers.

46

FACULTY SPEAKS

In Conversation with Fr. George Joseph Sauvik Sarkhel and Tanupriya Negi, XIMB

Father George Joseph, S.J. teaches organizational behavior and

Business Ethics to PGDM-1 students of XIMB. His teaching interests include Transformational

Leadership, Business Ethics and Individual Behaviors in Organization. He has wide experience

and expertise in the field of transformational leadership and human behavior, having done his

PhD. on the topic ―Transformational Leadership and its relationship with Organizational Justice

and Organizational Citizenship Behavior‖. His cheerful persona and novel way of teaching

make him quite popular among the student fraternity. The following his insights on the field of

HR:

XIMAHR: Why should one take up a career as

a HR professional? What are the challenges

he/she would force in the due course of time?

Fr. Joseph: In my opinion no one should

take up anything unless he is convinced of

doing what he has to do. If one takes up

HR, it must be his or her passion to work

with and for people in the organization.

Most of the time, the contribution of HR

person to the organization is not

measurable quantitatively, colleagues from

other department have a tendency to

undermine the importance of HR functions.

Unless the HR person is convinced of his

contribution, he or she might experience

stress for no reason at all.

XIMAHR: How important is for the aspiring

HR managers to have knowledge about human

psychology/ behavior?

47

Fr. Joseph: HR managers are like nerve

system that connects all departments and

different functions to reach the

organizational goal. It is essential for him to

understand the fundamental aspects of

human behavior; otherwise the best in a

person cannot be brought out. Especially

positive psychology has a lot to offer for the

HR managers to create conducive

atmosphere within the organization.

XIMAHR: How should a HR professional

approach team conflicts within the current

organization?

Fr. Joseph: Most of the time conflicts are

not due to technology or some strategic

approach to new vision or a goal. Present

day conflicts are due to prejudice, ego-trip

and lack of openness. If HR manager can

point out these human frailties and tackles

them tactfully then conflicts will be seen

literally as opportunities.

XIMAHR: How important do you think is the

concept of ethical business in today's profit

oriented world?

Fr. Joseph: Karl Marx pointed out that

History repeats itself, first as tragedy,

second as farce.

History has proved time and again that

business without ethics will harm everyone

and eventually leads to bigger crisis. If a

person cannot see beyond his nose, and

refuses to the reality, then no one can help

him. He is like time-bomb, can create death

and destruction not only for himself but to

all near and dear to him.

The business world has enough examples

that organizations with strong ethical

values can be both successful and

financially strong. In the long term, ethics

becomes the most reliable strategy for

survival.

XIMAHR: How should a HR Professional go

about choosing between morals and business

requirements?

Fr. Joseph: If your approach to life is that in

the long term everyone will die and what

matters for you are only short term, then

invariably values and morals will not make

any sense to you. And no one can put

ethical principles in to your mind using

brain surgery. And ethics is not a play act; it

must emerge from one‘s self and one‘s

convictions. One has to be, in touch with his

core self and core believes and values. This

alone can guide him in his decision making

process.

XIMAHR: Do you think that the current HR

Professionals are working in Sync with the

established business ethics?

48

Fr. Joseph: I do not think that I have any

right to pass judgment on the present HR

Professionals with regard to ethics. It is for

each individual to examine his or her life in

the light of ethical principles. In my opinion

happiness index is a better measurement of

ethical behavior of a person. I maintain that

a happy person will be necessarily ethical

and a miserable person cannot afford to be

ethical. Keep in mind that happiness has

nothing to do with pleasure and thrills.

XIMAHR: Would you like to shed some light

on the kind of work you have done in your field?

Fr. Joseph: So far my handling of OB and

Leadership sessions were based on

existentialist approach. Understanding

human nature as it is, conclusions were

pretty grim and dark. I especially enjoyed

proving how stupid we are, how irrational

one is in choosing clothes to girlfriends, and

how meaningless this so called life is. Some

liked my teachings; some disliked them and

most gave a damn about it. I genuinely

agree with Immanuel Kant that reality ‗as it

is‘ is beyond the realm of reason, one can‘t

delude oneself knowing what human

nature is. What we deal with is never the

reality but only with our mental models.

Mental models are basically how we have

been brain washed but parents, teachers,

friends and so called role models. So

henceforth, my approach is going to be how

to brain wash oneself and others in the

positive directions. ―Why negatives when

positives are real possibility‖!!!

XIMAHR: How do you think the role of an HR

manager has changed over the past 10 years?

Fr. Joseph: Earlier the focus of HR was on

controlling the negatives in the workplace.

But as the companies enter the new era,

there has been a shift to focusing on the

positive aspects like motivation, optimism

and inspiration. As we enter into an age of

increasing uncertainties we realize that

these are actually quantifiable i.e. we can

measure, observe and manipulate these

factors to improve the conditions in the

workplace.

Also, you have to be quite adept in judging

the personality of the person in front of you

in order to deal effectively with him. It is

the amalgamation of different personalities

that constitute a workplace and a HR

manager has to keep this fact in mind in

order to keep everyone happy. As such, it is

not an easy job and one has to be constantly

evolving in order to deal with these

changes.

XIMAHR: Your message to our readers?

Fr. Joseph: Keep doing what your heart

suggests you to do and don‘t worry about

49

what the world says. ―It is fools only who

run after accolades, wise people follow their

own path.‖ So go ahead, listen to your heart

and make the world dance to your tunes.

50

IN AND AROUND THE

INDUSTRY

The TAJ'S People

Philosophy and STAR

System

Hitesh Agarwal, XIMB

Citation:

―THE TAJ'S PEOPLE PHILOSOPHY

AND STAR SYSTEM‖ is a case

written by P. Mohan Chandran,

under the supervision of Vivek

Gupta, ICFAI Centre for

Management Research.

Abstract:

The Taj Group, in order to show its

commitment and belief in i ts

employees developed the Taj People

Philosophy (TPP). I t was their first

step they took to shift HR more from

a functional role to make it a critical

business partner. Many policies

addressing the issues like talent

management, performance

assessment and appraisal, employee

reward and recognition, were

developed and introduced as a part

of TPP with the ultimate aim of

employee satisfaction and retention.

The STARS program was the one

that got the group the Hermes

Award for the most innovative HR

policy. TPP not only enabled the

group to increase employee

satisfaction and retention level, but

also provided many strategic

advantages that enabled them to

improve their business standards.

TPP and STARS System

The Taj Group followed a charter

called Taj Charter, as given below.

- Every employee of the Taj Group

would be an important member

in the Taj family.

51

- The Taj family would always

strive to attract, retain and

reward the best talent in the

industry

- The Taj family would commit

itself to formal communication

channels, which would foster

transparency.

It reflects that Taj strived to keep its

employee satisfaction level high. I t

believed in the philosophy that ―A

happy employee leads to a happy

customer.‖ Thus, in 2000, to show its

commitment and belief in

employees, The Taj Group

developed ―The Taj People

Philosophy‖ (TPP). They believed

that employees were the greatest

asset to and the very reason for the

survival of their business. Moreover,

to motivate the employees and

enable them to go beyond the usual

level of responsibilities it

introduced the STARS (Special

Thanks and Recognition System) in

2001, as a part of TPP. Also, in 2002,

STARS won the Hermes Award for

most innovative HR policy in

hospitality sector.

Taj People Philosophy

It was a complete program which

covered all the aspect of an

employee career from joining the

group until his/her retirement,

hence was also cal led ―The Womb to

Tomb Approach‖. It covered the

various aspects of HR like

induction, training and

development, feedback system,

performance assessment,

performance appraisal and reward

management. The TPP was based on

the lines of ―Tata Business

Excellence Model‖ and followed the

Taj Charter.

The three major areas of TPP

included work systems and

processes; learning and

development; and employee welfare.

Talent management was at the core

of TPP as they believed it was of

utmost importance to retain

competitive advantage.

Also, as a part of TPP they

introduced strong Performance

Management System called Balanced

scorecard system (BSS). It included

Employee satisfaction and tracking

52

system (ESTS). It aimed at raising

the employee satisfaction level from

75% to more than 90% and

eventually to 100% with the help of

ESTS. Moreover, to weed out under-

performers at each level they

implemented the 360 degree

feedback.

Taj also recognized and rewarded its

best employees across all levels of

the organization by introducing the

STARS system.

STARS System

It was a unique employee loyalty

and recognition program. It offered

no cash incentive, but provided an

organization wide recognition to

star performers, thus aiming at

motivating employees to exceed

their usual levels of commitment. It

aimed to identify, recognize and

reward those employees who

excelled in their work. Employees

attained through the points they

accumulated for their acts of

kindness or hospital ity. Points were

granted on basis of parameters like

integrity, honesty, kindness, and

respect for customers,

environmental awareness,

teamwork, and trustworthiness,

excellence in work, new initiatives,

courage and conviction among

others. Based on the points

accumulated over the defined

period, they were categorized in

different level.

STARS various levels of

recognition

Level 1: Silver Grade 120 points in 3

months

Level 2: Gold Grade 130 points in 3

months

Level 3: Platinum Grade 250 points

in 6 months

Level 4: 510 < 760 points. (CEO‘s

Club)

Level 5: 760 points or more. (MD‘s

club)

The point needed for the STARS

could be earned by appreciation by

customers, compliment a colleague,

forums and various suggestion

schemes. An employee could also

get default points if the review

committee couldn't give any

53

feedback to the suggestions of the

employee within two days. This

ensured prompt response from the

reviewing department. According to

the point the employee could get a

star, which would be pinned on

their coat as recognition. The

winners were faci litated at the

annual function held by Taj; they

would also get gift hampers, cash

vouchers or a vacation in Taj hotel

of their choice in India. This

ceremony significantly boosted their

morale.

Benefits brought by STARS:

After implementation of STARS

customer satisfaction levels

increased significantly.

Large number of Taj employees

started working together in a

true spirit of teams.

Many employees were motivated

to do that extra bit and go that

extra mile, out of the way to

dazzle the customer satisfaction.

After the ‗STAR‘ initiative was

launched, the innovative

suggestions were made by Taj

Group employees and accepted

by the organization

The recognition of Taj employees

directly linked to customer

satisfaction as ―Happy

Employees lead to Happy

customer‖

Service standards at all Taj hotels

improved significantly because

the employee felt that their good

work was being acknowledged

and appreciated.

Repeated footfalls of customers

were noticed after

implementation of STARS.

Taj Group won the Hermes award

in 2002 for best innovation in HR,

and in the hospitality industry.

Following the award, it also got

offers to set up hotels in France

Conclusion

Due to its ability to provide better

opportunities and give greater

recognition to its employees, the Taj

Group gained many strategic

advantages. The TPP and STARS

program motivated its employee to

54

work to the best of their abilities

and even transcend their usual

standards. Moreover, the Employee

Retention Rate (ERR) of the Taj

Group was the highest in the

hospitality industry because of its

employee-oriented initiatives.

Through their STARS policy they

successfully satisfied the

Recognition need of an employee.

Even without offering any cash

benefits, they were able to boost the

morale of the employees at all the

levels of the hierarchy. Moreover,

the BSS introduced at all level

ensured comprehensive and

appropriate performance

assessment. BSS coupled with ESTS

further enabled them to raise their

employee satisfaction level from

75% to above 90%.

Through TPP and STARS, the Taj

Group have successfully set high

standards of HR policies in

hospitality sector. However, they do

face a challenge from other service

sectors like banking, as many

graduates from their institute

showed tendency to get into non -

hospitality sector. So, they now need

to review their HR policies, and

come up with strategies that will set

them apart in not only hospitali ty

sector but also in overall services

sector.

55

REFLECTIONS

Leadership in the Changing

World

Satyajit Bagchi, FMS Delhi

Leadership as I comprehend

This is a turbulent time for the HR

managers. With increasing number of legal

cases involving employees and the

employer, mostly revolving around

employments bonds, HR managers have a

strategic role to play. From acquiring the

right talent and designing perfect

56

employment agreements to helping the

employees sustain or have a peaceful exit,

HR managers have quite a lot on their

plates. For an organization or as a matter of

fact any group needs to have a visionary

who can guide the team in the best possible

manner. In the present times the virtue of

good leadership is well acknowledged.

Leadership for me means the ability to

make the choices that matter the most.

Often in our lives we have to choose

between what is right and what is easy.

Sometimes failures encumber the minds of

the bravest souls, but a true leader always

finds hope even in the darkest of the times.

Leaders often have to trudge along a path

often less taken. And it takes a lot of

courage and resolve to stand up against the

tide. There have been many debates in the

past on whether leaders are born or

whether they can be nurtured. Time and

again it has been witnessed that the greatest

leaders were the ones upon whom

leadership was thrust upon them and who

to everyone‘s surprise turned out to be

exemplary forerunners. It is that extra mile

that one has to traverse that separates a

leader from the rest. A pioneer envisages a

vision not only for himself but for the

greater mankind, he dreams not only for

him but for everyone: a dream to make the

world a better place to live in.

The history is adorned with exemplary

leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or Martin

Luther King who have single headedly

made significant and unexpected changes to

this world. They invoked in the masses a

zeal for individual struggle and generated

immense passion among millions through

their vision and dreams. They used their

leadership abilities and degree of influence

to conquer hostile situations and continued

their work for the cause of the masses.

The World is changing, rapidly

The world is changing at a fast pace. The

urban lifestyle, the rural livelihood and

practices, workplace dynamics as well as

the personal spaces have all undergone

radical changes over the past few years,

decades maybe. Managing organizations or

governing a nation has undergone a

transformation. In a developing nation the

lives of the people are affected by a degree

of insecurity (in form of job security or even

life security), food issues and corruption.

Even the developed nations are fraught

with problems like terrorism, global

warming and economic instability. Often an

ordinary citizen can be heard wishing for a

governance to lead us out of the mess.

57

Maybe a form of leadership: to show us the

light. However, despite all the problems the

world is now a more convenient place to

live in. We have conquered the Moon and

sustaining life beyond our Mother Earth is

not a scientific fiction anymore. Information

is easier to access, connecting with people is

definitely much easier than in the times of

President Lincoln or Mahatma Gandhi.

The changing dynamics

First there was an era of sharing and giving,

followed by a dominant spell of capitalism.

Individualism heightened to a level where

you did not even know your next door

neighbour‘s name. However in the recent

times people have realized the virtues of

giving back to the society, of working for a

cause more than one‘s personal gains. The

money-making process has now

transformed into the development of the

whole and collective improvement. The

Asian, African and Latin economies are

growing rapidly and are becoming the

incubation zones for technological

developments and innovative ideas.

With the rapid development of

telecommunication, satellite networking,

information repositories on the internet or

the social networking sites, the world can be

truly termed as a global village. The gap

between the personal life and professional

life are blurring. Social and political events

have more profound an effect on us

nowadays. Adam Smith‘s Free Society is a

practicality now. There has been an ever

growing interdependence amongst the

countries and people are emphasizing on

the need of ethical values and practices

more than ever. Serving the society is not an

NGO‘s job anymore. Organizations: big and

small are increasingly participating in CSR

activities. Any action by an individual or

an organization or on a larger frame a

nation now has far reaching consequences.

Effective leadership is needed to choose the

best way ahead by taking stock of the status

quo. A century back Nobel Prize Winner

Rabindranath Tagore probably had this on

his mind when he scribed ―Jirno sthobir jak

huche jak‖ (Wake from the slumber and

challenge the stalemate)

Leadership in workplace: The old school

Earlier leaders in organizations only

commanded. They were chiefs at the top of

the hierarchy pyramid involved in taking

independent decisions, delegating work

and assigning responsibilities to their

subordinates. Work pattern was structured

and offered limited defined growth

opportunities. Innovative thinking was

hardly appreciated. Protocols were meant to

58

be never breached. The work place was,

well, just a work place. The essential

―emotional connect‖ with the organizations

was limited. Work was like a well-oiled

machine always moving in one pattern

churning out steady but assembly-line

output. The functioning of an individual

was constricted to a pre-determined set of

orders and the impact of the individual‘s

role on the whole organization was never

the focus. An individual was expected to

stick to his own role only.

Nouveau Leadership Style: Rethinking

Leadership

The traditional method created an

individual as a subdued follower. But

leadership must develop via a series of

mature, conscious (also subconscious)

decisions over a long duration through a

series of events. The baptism of fire tests a

person‘s abilities to its maximum threshold.

Entrepreneurial ventures are steadily

gaining dominance and we have seen

amazing visionaries transform the way

organizations do business nowadays. We

have the Tatas or Mr. Narayana Murthy of

Infosys who have brought to the work table

never-before-appreciated virtues. Doing

business ethically is not unheard of in such

organizations. And these organizations are

doing so without hampering its profit levels

or hurting the interests of the stakeholders.

Why are these businesses an exception? Is it

because the organization got lucky of

having the service of an exceptional

workforce? Or it is because of the way the

leaders of these organizations have led the

company forward? Or is it the way they

wanted their vision realized? (Is Google‘s

―Do no evil‖: an addendum to Gandhi‘s

―Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil?)

In progressive workplaces employees are

given more free reign. Taking of

unnecessary pressure from the employees

enhance their marginal productivity. 360

degree appraisals in companies are inplace.

The head of an organization (policy makers,

management, etc.) is still the most

important decision maker, but the opinions

of the lower and middle management are

also taken into opinion and due diligence is

put while making important decisions. In

the employee-friendly organizations good

ideas are praised and the relevant

employees are given their due credit. Such

transformations in these organizations have

occurred because of the leader‘s propensity

to support his employees in the collective

decision making to realize the

organizational goals.

However, it needs to be ensured that there

are no confusions created where everyone is

59

a decision maker or a leading player that is

the defining force in itself. The role of the

new leadership style is to prepare us for the

future. It shall provide newer avenues over

the working-life period of an individual for

experimenting with leadership actions and

activities so as to enhance the formation of

leadership abilities.

The times are tough and we are fraught

with newer and complicated challenges. It

is the time to join hands and start making

the difference. Collaborate to excel is a

byword now. For any job, so to speak, there

has to be a leader. But instead of that sole

individual taking all the calls or all the

responsibilities, the job can be divided

among individuals. Each member can be

delegated with their own responsibilities

and in turn each member in a team can don

the cap of the leader. That individual gets to

discuss, share and implement his thoughts,

and rise up to the occasion when the

situation demands and guide his team

forward. A king alone can‘t win a battle;

even the pawn has a role to play and as per

the situation needs to take up the mantle. If

the responsibilities are divided amongst all,

the chances of corruption are reduced.

Everything is interlinked now and when a

single entity when goes wrong the whole

system crashes and creates trouble for

everyone. The learning process has ceased

to be a localized one and instead consists of

diverse aspects. Different people with their

different backgrounds and viewpoints bring

different characteristics to the organization.

These individual values need to be

respected and this in turn should only end

up enriching the organization.

A leader needs to communicate to the new

employees the vision of the company. It‘s

not just about setting goals and

responsibilities; it is about articulating the

views and imprinting them into the minds

of your employees. It is about giving a

direction from whereon the employees shall

have the platform to choose their own

methods.

Collaborative leadership shall promote

ethical practices and create harmonious

groups and congenial workplace

environment. There is a need for the focus

to shift from the ―power over others‖ to the

―power amongst all‖. Tagore had written

―Amra sobai raja amader ei rajar rajotte‖

emphasizing on the right to voice one‘s

opinion. A leader can initiate a project, but

any success story is a culmination of the

efforts of the whole team. So if each

member can in whatever small way become

a leader they would be able to put in more

60

effort (and heart) in their work and

optimally utilize their abilities and talents.

Then their tasks will no longer be

monotonous.

At Crossroads

Some of us have the privilege of leading a

more comfortable life than our forefathers

could have ever dreamt of. There has been

an unprecedented growth of opportunities

over the past century along with its own

share of chaos. There is now a greater scope

for growth in this globalized world.

Sensitive issues like holistic development of

the society, mental well-being are all

finding prominence. We are at a dawn

where we can decide how to govern

ourselves. It is a time to make the proper

decisions to ensure a brighter future.

Hard questions need to be raised. Should

we step aside on issues like global warming

and instead focus on reaping economic

profits? Should an offender responsible for

a Satyam scam or creating a recession in the

economy and thus affecting lives of millions

let go unquestioned? Or should a man be

allowed to die because of inadequate food

or warm clothes? But more importantly for

how long can we keep mum? We need to

choose between what is right over the

broader perspective and what is the more

convenient in the shorter run. Our wrong

choices may bring our severe repercussions

on our future generations. Is there a need

for a leader to show us a way? Or should

everyone be given the freedom to decide

collectively for our future? There are no

easy answers. It is high time that we

decided on how to lead ourselves

tomorrow.

Bibliography: With information from

Wikipedia

61

Will I Fit In?

Sarmistha Padhi, XIMB

For many it begins the moment Mom or

Dad first releases our hands, eyes shining as

we step into the strange and often

unfamiliar surroundings of pre-school.

Walking reluctantly away, this trickle of

self-doubt may swell into a flood of

uncertainty. Will I get along with others? Will

I be met with kindness and warmth? Will I be

accepted?

Will I fit in?

Some of us may have paused, eyebrows

raised in concern and hesitation, looking

back over toward an equally reluctant

parent, seeking that final little push that

says:

Go on. It‟s going to be okay.

And for most of us, it is just that – okay.

Between victories and failures, years pass

and we may still hear that quiet voice

whispering its questions from a place we try

not to visit. On some conscious level we

wish we didn‘t care so much about

acceptance, about fitting in. Our hope is that

individuality is rewarded and others see us

for who we really are and not as some

cookie cutter projection of a certain sex,

shape or complexion. And to stand out in

some unique or distinguishing way we

rebel against the so-called norm because it

feels good – hell, it feels great! – And it

works, albeit for a little while. But the

paradox is always present… we want to be

treated the same yet we often yearn to be

different.

Eventually we find ourselves at the

doorstep of our careers, assessing and being

assessed, attempting to apply what little

information we can gleam to determine if

this organization is the place we belong. If

these are the people we want to surround

ourselves with. If this is the best use of our

62

education, our skills, our energy and our

time. And if we want to earn the trust and

confidence of those in power, we

desperately want to fit in and meet all their

spoken and unspoken expectations.

It‘s only later that we might realize that

fitting in may be more than we had

bargained for. And then the tradeoffs and

rationalizations begin.

So what choices do you have as you balance

earning a living against your desire to be

you – the real you – in a work environment

that both rewards and expects

unquestioning conformity? For many, a

double life is a real and pragmatic

approach, the ―work you‖ showing up

when you‘re expected to show up,

expressing the right emotions for each

situation you face. But outside the office

you‘re the genuine article, the one who has

untapped talents, passions and possibilities,

the one who wishes there was some way of

earning a paycheck for what truly sustains

you.

But a double life can be exhausting.

Employers are creeping more and more into

your personal life, tethering you always – a

single beep or buzz of his device

immediately makes us return to the trance

like state of work. The one that earns the

paycheck that provides food, and childcare,

and vacations and a million other ways of

incentivizing conformity. And we do it

because everyone does it, and not doing it is

irresponsible, childish and self-destructive.

So we are told.

So you suppress the real you, push it down

somewhere deep and tell it to stop

bothering you with its ridiculous hopes and

dreams. And one day, you forget the

difference between the two ―you‖ that this

other you even existed.

The bright light of ideation, creativity and

individuality is snuffed out by the

machinery of the organizations which we

tirelessly serve. Most organization‘s are

successful in doing this .Only a handful of

organizations apart from ruling with the

handbook which tells us that what‘s

expected is to be applauded also believe in

and support an individual who wants to

bring in sustainable change.

63

How to make your Workplace Employee-Friendly? (ELF Story)

Sauvik Sarkhel, XIMB

It is the dream of every employer to create a

workplace where employees feel happy

about showing up in the morning, where

creativity abounds and teamwork thrives

and the employees want to stay back

voluntarily even after their normal working

hours.

What is the secret behind such a workplace?

What is the reason that such workplaces

always resonate with excitement,

engagement, positive employee morale and

high employee motivation? Can such a

workplace be replicated?

Yes, it can. You just have to create a

workplace that is elf-friendly.

Why Elves Are Happy at Work

At Santa's workshop people focus on

creating a work culture that is elf-friendly,

fun, and engaging. Here's what they do to

make elves happy at work;

Santa’s elves have a purpose bigger

than themselves. What‘s not to like

about providing all of the little boys

and girls in the world with exactly

what they want for a Merry

Christmas and having a lot of fun

your selves in the process (sleigh

rides, singing, dancing)? Who said

work can‘t be fun?

Doing work that impacts millions in

a positive way is what every

employee dreams of. The employer

should focus on making the

employees aware of the importance

of their job and its impact on lives of

their customers. It must be stressed

upon the employees that they are

bringing joy to others through the

work they do.

Elves have a customer intelligence

gathering system that is admired

and envied world-wide. How do

elves know what their customers

want? They ask them. They‘re

listening to their customers and

64

keeping track of exactly what they

want. They supplement their

intelligence gathering by reading

letters to Santa and have a hundred

other ways to stay close with their

customers.

Santa's Workshop and its elves are

an integrated, customer facing

organization whose sole objective is

to produce products that their

customers need, want, and revel in.

They have delighted customers who

become word of mouth evangelists

for them.

Organizations have got to stay

constantly updated about customer

expectations by having a strong

intelligence gathering system. It

makes the customer feel as if they

are an integral part of the

organization and boosts the

employee‘s morale when they get to

know how happy the customer is

with the work they are doing.

Elves feel totally needed and secure

in their employment. Elves have

lots of customer orders - more than

they can fill, for all of the good girls

and boys. Since there are definitely

more good girls and boys than bad,

elves know that they will never run

out of work.

Job security is a desirable condition

to create happy employees. Feelings

of job security allow the energy of

the employees to be invested in

building, creating, sharing, and

producing a helpful, supportive,

happy work environment. No bad

energy looms in such places.

Elves have both a known mission

and a vision. Elves know that they

must meet the goal of presents

delivered on Christmas. They must

do whatever it takes to make that

delivery happen. So, elves have a

clear mission that guides their daily

work: a mission based on customer

feedback so integrated that it

unconsciously shapes the mission.

Yet elves are driven by their overall

vision, too: to bring joy to all of the

girls and boys – joy that stretches all

year round. This vision is a higher

calling that chills and thrills and

keeps elves moving on the most cold

and blizzardy winter day.

Employers should take care that

their employee‘s personal goals are

aligned to the organization‘s mission

and vision. A clear plan of action

65

should be laid out for fulfilling

them, in order to ensure a

harmonious relationship.

Elves are clear about the impact of

their work. Elves know that they

affect the lives of boys and girls

worldwide. Not just during the

holiday season, the impact of their

gifts is felt all year long. Boys and

girls play with toys and cherish

memories of holidays with family

and friends all year. And, pictures

from the Christmas camera bring

back moments that they might

otherwise have forgotten.

Happy employees know about the

impact of their work on the lives of

customers and co-workers. They

know that they make a difference in

millions of lives. That's why they are

eager to go to work every day.

The guy who manages the elves

(the boss) is accessible, easy-to-

talk-with, participative, fair, and

fun. Santa‘s merry laughter

envelopes the workshop in an

environment of joy. He doesn‘t play

favorites because every elf matters

to get the work done. Every elf idea

is seriously considered because the

goal is happy children, not stoking

the boss‘s ego nor feeding his need

to control.

There is no competition to hog the

limelight. All of the elves work

together, under Santa's leadership,

to bring out the toys for children.

Elves are smart; they know what

they‘re doing. Santa knows that the

best way to lead elves is with gentle

encouragement. They don‘t need

micromanaging or to be told how to

do their work.

The boss should give his/her

employees proper freedom to

express their views and to exercise

their creativity. There should be

ample opportunities provided to the

employees for growth in the

organization. The organization

should foster teamwork and co-

operation.

Elves receive perks that make them

feel cherished and needed. Mrs.

Claus is famous for her cookies that

she shares with joy in the workshop.

Hanging out with reindeers,

particularly a special reindeer with a

bright red, glowing nose, is another

opportunity not shared by many

66

employees. The elf costumes,

supplied by Santa, bring a smile to

every child‘s (and elf's) face.

The employees should be suitably

remunerated and perks should be

provided to them on a regular basis

in order to ensure they are dedicated

to their work and continue giving

their best.

Elves have the opportunity to

continue to develop their skills and

abilities. Not only do elves learn

about all of the new technology that

affects new toys in the off-season,

they cross train on the job every day.

They can make a whole product or

cooperate with other elves to

produce a gift for a child.

Promotions are not often available in

Santa's Workshop where a flat

hierarchy rules the day. But,

training, changed work

responsibilities, and lateral moves

are common, so elves can increase

their skills and value.

Combating the boredom so often

found in repetitive work is easy

when employees have the

opportunity to do different tasks

each day. Staying up-to-date on

innovations in their field of work,

getting knowhow of the technology

that powers the development of new

products, and gaining information

about the linkages between the

different products should be the

focus. When employees are learning

and keeping their skills up-to-the-

minute, the future of the

organization, its employees and

their stakeholders is secure for

generations to come.

Trust and respect permeate the

work environment where elves

spend their day. Elves feel

intrinsically valued. In Santa's

Workshop, the behavior and

interaction of the boss and

coworkers broadcasts a message of

trust, respect, self-belief and value.

Not spoken about very often, actions

form the message elves believe in.

Santa's actions speak so loudly that

he rarely needs to say anything

about what he believes.

It is important that the same trust

and understanding between the

employees and their bosses is

emulated in an organization in order

to ensure a thriving and healthy

work environment.

67

Elves receive lots of positive

feedback and recognition. Not only

do elves receive droves of thank you

letters from happy children

everywhere, they receive positive

feedback from Santa every day.

Thus, they have no need to compete

for positive attention, in a work

environment that provides lots. This

is why elves are almost always

smiling.

In a work environment in which

every employee is happy,

recognized, and the recipient of

positive feedback, there is more

positive feedback available to share.

Happy employees recognize their

coworkers and help them feel

appreciated. This is why such

workplaces are always vibrating

with energy.

“A happy employee is the one who is most

satisfied and willing to give his/her best”

These above points try to capture some of

the principles organizations should follow

to ensure a healthy and competitive

workplace and achieve success with their

employees.

However, these are not the only factors that

make employees happy at work; these are

just the basics. But it can be said without

doubt that if all of these factors are

implemented every day in our workplaces,

we would‘ve gone a long way toward

creating an employee-friendly culture.

References:

humanresources.about.com/od/.../qt/hap

py-employees.htm

www.employer-

employee.com/happymotivated.ht

ml

www.inc.com › Leadership and

Managing › Human Resources

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/

090203142512.htm

68

FUN AT HR DESK

A worker who was being paid by the week approached his employer and held up his last paycheck. "This is two hundred dollars less than we agreed on," he said.

"I know," the employer said. "But last week I overpaid you two hundred dollars, and you never complained."

"Well, I don't mind an occasional mistake," the worker answered, "but when it gets to be a habit, I feel I have to call it to your attention."

Dilbert at his Best