Download - Nitya Wadwa's Case Study
1
HR’Xpert Helping You Understand HR Better
July, 2011
Presents
2
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 [email protected].
Happy Reading !!! Swagatika Priyadarshini
HR’XPERT Team
Editor
Swagatika Priyadarshini
Sub Editor
Anjali kumar
3
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
4
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
5
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
6
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.
7
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
8
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.
9
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.
10
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
11
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.
12
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
13
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
14
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.
15
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
16
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-
17
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
18
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.
19
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