Dr. Y Shekar
The sound of skills In the late nineties, management guru Gary Hamel popularized the concept of ‘core competency'. As per this concept, organizations were expected to focus on what they were good at and outsource everything else
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HR S t r a t e g y
hen the Science teacher in school taught ‘‘Sound’’, for the first time I heard the term ‘‘rarefaction’’. It is that phase where the waves are widely dispersed and cover a lot of distance but are not decipherable. This is followed by a phase of highly contracted waves called ‘‘condensation’’. This is where the audio can be deciphered. It is the alternating rarefaction and condensation phenomenon that lets sound waves travel in space and be audible too. Honestly, I understood this phenomenon only much later in life! There was this odd occasion when I came in my father’s direct ‘‘line of sight’’. Appearing to be busy, I whizzed past him without making any eye contact. He stopped me and asked, “What are your hobbies?” Self: “er, I play” Father: “That’s an extracurricular activity. What are your interests?” Self: “I am quite busy with my current activities. I have no time for hobbies.”
Father: “You need to develop some hobbies. They will be useful when you retire.” Self (in the mind): “retire? I haven’t even started my career. Why should I think about retirement now?”
Era of core competency & specialization In the late nineties, when the Internet was emerging as an option for conducting business transactions, management guru Gary Hamel popularized the concept of ‘‘core competency’’. As per this concept, organizations
were expected to focus on what they were good at and outsource everything else. By doing so, they will achieve specialization and will be able to compete in the global market that was emerging on account of the Internet. Accidentally, India became the back-office for the world – call centers, contract manufacturing, 3rd party logistics, and several other companies emerged, offering specialized services and were called as Industry Verticals. With the advent of the Internet, business models started to change, and when FEBRUARY 2021 |
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