HR Mesh March 2011 Special Edition by Zigu MBA

March, 2011

SCMHRD

Volume 3 Issue 3

HR MESH Special Edition

Editorial Team Isha Chandra Aditi Naik Karanbir Singh Designed By Aby J Kottukappally

We are pleased to release the first special edition of HR Mesh, a theme based magazine of HR Forum @ SCMHRD. We appreciate the overwhelming response to the same from the alumni & students of all the B-Schools. We have tried to maintain a trade-off between the number and the quality of the articles. This being our first attempt, we would like to have your valuable inputs & suggestions on the same for the success of its future endeavors. Team HR Mesh

Contents 1 Knowledge Management case study

Page No 3

Kishore Poduri, Head - Human Resources, e-Clerx 2 Inclusivity of HR into mainstream operations

Sweta Mohapatra, HR Business Partner, Barclays 3 Workplace Romance

Ritu Kumar,PGDM-HR,2010-12, IMT-Ghaziabad 4 Workplace Romance

Sharad Gaur, PGP,2010-12, MICA 5 New generation brainstorming model for knowledge management

Swapnil S Bhure, PGDIE,2010-10,NITIE 6 Workplace Romance

Meera Mohandas, MBA-HR,2010-12, SCMHRD 7 Workplace Romance - The third dimension

Rahul Phadke, Sr. Manager & Head of GHRO & India HR Direct, Symantec Corporation 8 Workplace Romance Sonali Rout, PGDM-HR, 2010-12, IMI

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY Kishore Poduri Head - Human Resources, e-Clerx

Ov er v ie w eClerx is a specialist Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) company that provides data analytics and customized process solutions to global enterprise clients from its offshore delivery centers in India. eClerx provides service solutions using a mix of custom designed data processes, delivery teams comprising generalists and domain specialists, and in-house software to automate processes. Currently, services are offered to clients that are from the following industries: high tech & industrial manufacturing, online and brick and mortar retail, media & entertainment, travel & leisure, software vendors, capital markets & financial services. Some of the firm‟s largest clients in terms of revenue contribution include FORTUNE 500 leaders with whom eClerx has multi-year partnerships. eClerx is India‟s first and only publicly listed KPO company, and is today traded on both the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges of India.

At the strategic level, KM is often times clubbed with organizational learning based on the alignment between their objectives, methods deployed and the organizational factors that recognize and value employees‟ collective knowledge. At eClerx, the learning function is a part of KM. The premise is that learning is more than vanilla classroom training. It‟s not always possible or optimal for people to have to disengage from work each time they need support. Also, the dynamic nature of eClerx‟s business means that waiting for explicit knowledge (to be documented) before acting is inadequate. Spontaneous, “learning opportunities” are created by leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to connect consumers with creators of knowledge. All offline and online learning programs are consolidated under one umbrella – a virtual university with over 3000 courses. The in-house university supports:

KM Pr ac tic es Organizational Learning



Domain-specific areas such as:

knowledge

–

Derivatives (credit, equity, commodity, FX, weather and energy), risk management, trade processing, regulatory environment

–

Online retail (content development and management,

pricing, merchandizing, web analytics using platforms such as Omniture, Google Analytics and WebTrends, customer experience management and so on) application acquisition processes.



Business process training that delivers process execution knowhow. The emphasis here is on

rather than mere of knowledge of



Functional knowledge that‟s core to the eClerx business, programs on data mining and warehousing, advanced business statistics, Business Objects, SQL Server 2008



Training on supporting competencies including analytical thinking and problem solving, team work, interpersonal communication, strategic orientation, leadership, time management, quality management, and project management

eClerx has deployed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). The MOSS 2007 implementation has enabled: 

Content Management



Enterprise Search



Team Portals



Collaboration Cloud Content Management – Box.net



Like many service providers in the outsourcing space, managing thousands of RFPs (request for proposals), contracts, business

process documents and client presentations is „business as usual‟. Even though we had a successful document management system based on SharePoint 2007, two online platforms have completely taken over the entire document management lifecycle. eClerx is successfully and extensively using Box.net and echosign.com for managing

documents and contracts. Multiple folders are created with relevant documents in each folder.

and Offshore eClerx Managers



competitive information and activities that enhance business development opportunities.



Even though these files are stored in a secure environment, if needed, can be shared with other stakeholders through an online link. Echosign.com is one of the add-ins for Box.net that eClerx‟s uses to sign documents online. Echosign is a reputed cloud application that has helps process owners digitally sign high-value contracts without mending any legal compliances. The entire

The folders are usually project specific with access controlled by an administrator (to secure confidential information). The document can be locked / unlocked for editing and if editing is needed by a specific person, a „task‟ can be assigned to him / her with relevant comments and details. Apart from project and core operations folders, dedicated folders are created for sharing relevant industry and domain knowledge process becomes digitized without any hard-copy exchanges. People-to-People Sharing

Knowledge

Prior to institutionalizing a methodology around sharing business process improvements (BPIs), the process was inefficient for the person looking for information as well as the person who had the information. There were several cases where a manager would implement a BPI, assuming it had never been done before, only to discover later that in fact someone else had done so previously.

Also as the organization grew it was increasingly likely that multidisciplinary client facing delivery teams would be made up of several people who were new to eClerx and / or who did not have experience working together. The central KM team institutionalized a meeting for sharing BPIs. Once a month, the KM team facilitated a meeting where knowledge champions would present BPIs to a panel of senior leaders. The presentation would be in a standardized DMAIC (component of the six sigma methodology) format shown. The standardized format enabled stakeholders to leverage the benefits of a common language. The BPIs would be assessed on a number of parameters; some of the key questions that would be raised included: Is the process improvement a part of process deployment? What is the validity and sample size of the data set used for measuring the improvement? Is the improvement a request from the client? What is the investment? If a tool was developed by the inhouse software team or a macro by a subject matter expert on the team, how many

hours did it consume and how strong is the return on investment proposition in light of the cost-benefit analysis As with all other KM initiatives, the central KM team markets the BPI meeting through mailers, posters, flash banners on the home page of the Intranet. Two samples below:

excellence teams, and if found feasible, the knowledge management and the ideator collaborate to make the initiative a successful project. KM team helps the ideator with resources, reusable components, expert meetings and if needed, training sessions as part of his competency development and training plan.

Innovation - Eureka! At the heart of eClerx‟s core competency is process excellence. Constant improvement and innovation is essential for the survival of each process – achieved by capitalizing employees‟ idea generation capabilities. For this, with the assistance of the in-house IT team, an end-to-end idea lifecycle management platform was developed in 2007. Ideas are logged under two categories: Initiative: An idea that is managed from the ideation to successful implementation phase is logged under the „Initiative‟ category. The initiative is studied with the help of operations and process

Suggestion: Any suggestion which improves a process, but the implementation is not necessarily undertaken by the contributor is logged under the „suggestion‟ category and becomes a part of the „idea bank‟ repository. Development, showcase and reuse: Every month selected members from each of the departments attend (physically and over video conference) the BPI panel meeting. The BPI panel meeting is a two hour event where best-of-breed BPIs are showcased and rated at an organizational level. Departmental representatives ask the ideators questions around technology, execution and implementation, measurement and metrics, et cetera. The intent of having representative at this meeting is to enable rapid re-use and greater awareness of best practices. The best and most reusable BPIs and awarded with certificates and recognition from the senior management team along with other tangible incentives.In a nutshell,

eUREKA! works in three stages as represented by the flowchart shown below:

discover new innovative solutions that have been deployed recently. For the shortlisted solutions, the KM manager then does face-to-face interviews to draw out the background and description of what was deployed. And finally the documentation specialist from the central KM team refines the write up.

Since inception, 1653 ideas have been logged in eUREKA!, contributed by the current headcount of over 3000 employees. Regular analysis across multiple parameters is conducted by the central knowledge management team. Solution of the Fortnight

Alternate Friday‟s the central KM team e-mails a „solution of the fortnight‟ to all managers. The intent here is to use a push methodology, that is, push best practices into the mail box rather than wait for employees to access the repository periodically. A manager from the central KM team speaks to operations managers to

Business Challenge

Development

Idea

The objective of this initiative was to access the knowledge and creativity at the day-to-day operations level and seek out the best ideas and potential new service lines to continue to grow the firm‟s sales and marketing side of the business. The three best ideas, in addition to winning prizes like an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, were given the opportunity to work with the onshore leadership team to convert

their ideas into solutions that can be pitched to existing and / or prospective

clients. In a very competitive process, w 23 entries were received these were scored on five parameters: uniqueness, practicality, compatibility with existing business model, revenue generation potential, completeness and clarity

INCLUSIVITY OF HR INTO MAINSTREAM OPERATIONS Sweta Mohapatra, HR Business Partner, Barclays

'Inclusivity' is an interesting term and really means 'to be treated as a part of the whole'. So logically, if HR as a department exists among various departments each of which is a part of the whole organization, its inclusivity is unquestioned. And most professional organizations today, be it Indian or Foreign based firms do have full fledged HR divisions, HR teams or at least standalone representatives of HR. And those start-ups and entrepreneurial firms who can't afford any of these permanent arrangements opt for some form of HR outsourcing or HR consulting services. So this establishes the fact that HR is a sure shot part of the scheme of business in most organizations in some or the other form. But can this be the ultimate proof of inclusivity of HR, obviously not! If what is on paper is what was always followed in spirit, most of us would not have faced the role dissonance and value dilemmas when we joined a new organization after thoroughly researching about the firm. So what am I getting at? I am getting at the fact that the 'Symbolic Inclusivity' of HR is unquestionable in

today's corporate world. And the proof of that are the highly paid HR heads, smarter and more intelligent students taking up HR as a career and also the innumerable people-centric projects being taken up as pet projects of CEOs and Directors. These among many others, give outsiders an impression that HR is important, that a lot of money is being spent of people processes and projects and also that this stream of management is attracting a lot of talented professionals. But what seems to be may not always be. And I only wish ensuring inclusivity for HR was all so simplistic. And in saying this, I am not one bit undermining the importance of symbolic inclusivity because I am sure it has been one whole journey for many of our fellow professionals for the function to reach there - From a point where founders, promoters and entrepreneurs thought of themselves as proficient in handling all people related aspects of a business to a point where they appreciate the need for an HR department.

However, if this inclusivity was not just symbolic but in spirit, then we would not have had instances where business heads decide a termination of an employee and call in HR merely to inform and execute the termination. And CEOs decide to ramp up in a matter of months without understanding from HR what the challenges of right talent pool could be. Or furthermore, other instances where mainstream operations and finance together decide to delay bonuses and ask HR to manage the communication. Most of these decisions impact morale of employees, the employer brand and people proposition of employees and HR must be at least involved. And true inclusivity of HR would be when they are not just involved but have a say in the business and operational strategy right from the start when the chessboard is being laid. In organizations where inclusivity is extended in true spirit, it translates into highest levels of collaboration and synergy. In these firms, HR is not just a part of the whole, but HR leadership is engaged right from the think tank inception stage and not somewhere midway when the business desperately needs to recruit people on board. These are the companies with benchmark HR and people practices and the CEOs of these firms take it upon themselves to champion large scale human resource initiatives. Also,

business heads and HR leaders work hand-in-glove to lay the organization's strategy and people strategy and both are able to add value while doing so. So why can't most organizations model themselves against these benchmarks? There are ample challenges that prevent inclusivity of HR in mainstream operations. Firstly, if the HR division is unable to deliver on basics like payroll, recruitment and statutory compliances, then it is unlikely that it would gain the credibility and respect of business heads in the boardroom. In most cases, HR function needs to graduate many levels before it able to demand or deserve inclusivity. To be able to add value to strategic discussions, HR professionals need to understand the business thoroughly and not just keep toying with HR jargons. HR leadership needs to define various metrics and get into seeking buy-in through scenario building and various HR solutions need to come across as multiple options. This is because business heads and stakeholders are the customers and customers in this era of abundance like to be spoilt for choices. Lastly, HR will have to play the role of championing the cause of managing and growing talent and organizational capability in an organization, which in turn would

translate to sustainability of the organization over a long term period. Suppose if inclusivity could have a scale, the scale would begin from having a HR division and go on finally to having the HR leadership on the board of Directors and on every major decision-making table. If we try to place our respective organizations on

this scale, the fact is we may find ourselves anywhere on this scale. And obviously we, the passionate HR professionals, need to wear our 'influencer' caps and be the advocates of change to get to those highest degrees of inclusivity!

WORKPLACE ROMANCE Ritu Kumar PGDM-HR, 2010-12, IMT-Ghaziabad

Romance is when you are not simply close to a person, but it‟s a feeling when you do not know where one ends and other begins. When you have a special person in your life, people will say that you have found romance in your life. And when that special person is from your office it leads to Workplace Romance. Romance is more of an act and, and sometimes it is tangible or visible. It is extremely powerful because it has the power to make or break relationship A survey conducted by TeamLease services reveals the figures on Workplace Romances in India. It was carried out in 7 cities which included metros, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Overall 16% of those polled say they have been romantically involved with someone at their workplace. Delhi had the highest percentage of 28%. Most working executives feel that the organization should not interfere in an employee‟s romantic involvement work. Office affairs impact work productivity negatively and opposed to the general belief it‟s not men who always initiate romantic liaisons at workplace. We

cannot reach to a conclusion based on the results but this gives us a fair idea. If it‟s just about sex, a dalliance, an extramarital affair, or a relationship to move an individual up the career ladder, coworkers and companies tend to frown on love relationships in the office. If a couple is genuinely serious about dating and building a relationship, popular opinion is more favorable. And, these days, with the number of hours employees spend on work-related activities, they are likely to meet their friends and eventual spouses at work. Office provides a pre-selected pool of people who share

at least one important interest. People who work together also live within a reasonable dating distance, and share a location, so they see each other on a daily basis. Coworkers in similar jobs may also be approximately the same age, and share similar interests both inside and outside of work. This however poses potential problems for the employers like if one employee is managing another employee and they are dating, one employee's job needs to change. What if performance problems arise later with one person in a married couple? The life and work balance was hurt also, because couples went to work together, worked together, went home from work together, and talked about work - together, all the time. Most employers do not have formal written policies related to workplace romance. A survey done by Society for Human Resource Management states that out of the 617 members who responded, 72 percent do not have a written policy; 14 percent say they have an unwritten, but well understood, norm in their workplace. Thirteen percent do have a policy. Major concern is with respect to the future potential sexual harassment claims, retaliation and workplace disharmony if the relationship should end.

Two kinds of romances have the most damaging effect on group morale and organizational effectiveness – “hierarchical romances” in which one participant directly reports to the other, and “utilitarian romances” in which one participant satisfies personal/sexual needs in exchange for satisfying the other participant's task related and/or career-related needs. Organizations should draw a fine line between ensuring employee productivity and interfering in the private affairs of their employees. Workplace romances cannot be legislated away and should be ignored unless they present a threat to individual, group, or organizational effectiveness. Decision makers in most organizations recognize that some form of managerial intervention is required when a workplace romance presents a serious threat to the conduct of work or group morale. As an HR professional, you also want employees to perceive your staff members as advocates for their well-being and high morale, not as the rule-making, interfering, systematizing arms of management. Organization should provide proper training for supervisors and managers about how to discreetly address overt sexual behavior in the workplace. In

US we have heard numerous incidents when the organization has looked down upon homosexual relationships. In India, however, we have not heard many cases but there is a possibility as people are becoming more open about their sexuality. Supervisors should know how to address these issues should they arise. Office relationships are often the focus of intense gossip, so supervisors need to know how to keep their ears open for work and career damaging behaviors. Supervisors need to know the appropriate disciplinary actions to take if the romance derails and resultant employee. Organizations should have a formal, written sexual harassment policy that is posted, appears in the employee handbook, and is listed on all company policy documents. At the same time, employees need to understand that it is okay to ask a coworker out on a date. Harassment occurs when the employee indicates no interest and the unwanted attention continues. All employees need to understand where the line occurs. Most organizations ask employees to sign a document indicating they

understand and will abide by the sexual harassment policy. I would just end by quoting an incident discussed by one of our HR professor who has had industry experience. There was a couple in their office and things were fine till they had a happy relationship. The lady was quite infamous for her harsh, abrasive attitude and the guy had a good reputation. So when their romance was over, the situation got complicated and since the lady had a bad reputation everyone was blaming her but as the organization cannot afford to take sides based on rumors. Any action taken should be equally applicable for both. Initially people were favoring the guy but later HRs in the above case decided to go with the same action for both. We need to be more open about Workplace Romance as it would definitely increase in coming years; we just need to be better prepared with proper policies in the organization.

WORKPLACE ROMANCE Sharad Gaur PGP, 2010-12, MICA

One of the toughest tasks for the Human Resource Department in any organization is framing policies to deal with workplace romance. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m not trying to categorize workplace romance as good or bad, but keeping a check on it becomes necessary because like everything else, when romance at workplace exceeds a certain limit, it starts affecting the decorum of the place and efficiency of the employees. And keeping a check on it is a devil of a job because there is a very thin line between bantering, flirting, romance and harassment. Since none of the above can be measured on a quantitative scale, it becomes extremely difficult for the policy makers to come up with guidelines regarding the same. Workplace romance isnâ&#x20AC;&#x;t an eerie thing. An organization which is completely devoid of workplace romance is likely to be an exception. In fact, research indicates that onethird of all relationships between professionals start at the workplace. It is normal human tendency that when employees spend long hours together at the workplace, they start knowing

each other better, both personally and professionally, and in that course they tend to become good friends. In certain cases, when employees of opposite sex are involved (taking exception of gay and lesbian relationships which are yet not so open in India), this friendship might further develop into feelings for each other. These feelings are the germination ground for the seeds of love and romance. Workplace romance is on a rise these days because of more and more women entering the corporate arena compared to a decade ago. I personally know scores of my friends who owe their relationships to their workplace. And for them, there seems to be no other way to feel about their relationships which started at their workplaces then to be happy. But the way organizations feel about it might not be the same. This is because; many times the onset of a romantic relationship between certain employees of an organization creates an unprofessional environment. Those involved might start being casual towards work while spending long hours with each other. This infection (pun intended) might even spread to their friends and colleagues, and a lot

of time might get wasted in bantering and leg-pulling. Many a times, it might even lower the morale of the coworkers around those involved in romance. Generally the organizations turn a blind eye to office romance as long as it is kept subtle. But the real issue arises when it starts affecting the productivity of the individuals involved. Many a times, such incidents of office romance might actually prove to be a boon for the organization as the individuals involved might work hard to prove them and hence impress the lover. In that case, the organization must take a breath of relief to have got sensible and wise employees. As I have seen in a lot of cases, the organization even gives them a chance to work in the same department to make them and others around them feel comfortable. But when does the real trouble start? It happens when a long romantic relationship with some colleague ends on a sour note. This is a real time and the worst kind of situation faced by many organizations. It creates a very awkward kind of environment for the couple and for those close to them. As it is said – “friendship often results in love, but love never results in friendship”. Once a relationship ends,

it is very difficult to strike a chord of harmony among those involved. A lot of complex issues arise. Those who are directly involved might go in a state of emotional breakdown and depression, which would affect their performance at work. Forget being friends, it becomes difficult to even face the one you were once involved with. In some cases, the ex-lovers might even try to retaliate through non co-operation. Then there‟s the issue of common friends, who are around you all the time, but content and tone of conversation changes abruptly. People try to act in a manner as if everything is fine, but by doing so they make the atmosphere even worst. A major reason why most organizations discourage workplace romance is because such relationships have a potential for claims of sexual harassment in case of misunderstandings or when things go really cranky on any side. That‟s a reason why many organizations even make its employees sign a „consensual relationship contract policy‟ to save itself from getting sued in case things go out of control. When such a situation arises, there‟s no direct remedy or solution to it. It might take a lot of time for those involved to return back to a normal routine. These people definitely suffer because of their reduced efficiency, but the real

sufferer is the organization. The organization faces the brunt as its overall productivity reduces as a result of decreased efficiencies of so many individuals. That is the reason why an organization has to come up with policies on workplace romance. If the organization notices budding relations between two of its employees, either it turns a blind eye on it, or starts keeping a check on them. In case of any negative deviation, it becomes the responsibility of the HR managers or their immediate head to summon them and take notice of the situation. But as long as there hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x;t been any disruption in their capability to deliver, the organization might not need to bother. Similar might be the case when certain employees are affected due to badly ended relationships. In such cases, the HR managers try to help out these employees and might even suggest measures like taking a few days off or shifting the departments of the affected individuals. Counseling might also be organized for the effected employees. Most organizations would not take drastic steps like termination or demotion of the employees because they understand that employees are not machines, they are human beings

and that relationships are likely to evolve between like-minded employees at the workplace as people seek warmth, support and compassion in other human beings. Also companies spend a lot of resources on the training and well being of their employees. From that point of view also, termination of an employee seems illogical until and unless no other option is left. Thus we can say with significant conviction that most organizations discourage romance between its employees, at least during the working hours, because of the hassles associated with it as we have discussed above. Also organizations should give proper training to its employees regarding the company policies concerning issues like workplace romance, liaisons and its consequences. As a precaution, companies should make its employees sign the so called â&#x20AC;&#x17E;love contractsâ&#x20AC;&#x; which helps in avoiding any sort of misunderstandings between the company and the employees if at all certain stringent steps have to be taken at any later point in time.

NEW GENERATION BRAINSTORMING MODEL FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Swapnil S Bhure, PGDIE, 2010-12, NITIE

Abstract The objective of this article is to describe a new generation brainstorming model of Knowledge Management that, for the first time, has the potential to meet people‟s expectations. It is divided into the two categories: • Methodology • Information technology and builds on the idea of applying knowledge to work, though not on the conventional brainstorming model. Instead, it extends to Knowledge Workers and gives answers to the key question of Knowledge Management: How can the productivity and motivation of knowledge workers be increased? Introduction Managers are watching 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. 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 job 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. 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 is considered to be the mean 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 someone, to question and to support someone. But this doesn‟t happen if no one take 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 him even if his idea is not feasible, everybody follows with his solution, no one dares to 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 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 have 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 detail the real name, nickname and the password (in encrypted form) 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 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

display the real names and the corresponding nickname only when all the players accede 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 (Participants â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Aditya, Omkar, Pratik, Sunny)

Mahesh,

In this example the above mentioned people are taking part in brainstorming, each participant selects a nickname as shown in fig and a password. Now this is like a chat room, the views of every person will be displayed on everyone computer screen with his nickname. 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 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 Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x;s KM World-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.

WORKPLACE ROMANCE Meera Mohandas MBA-HR, 2010-12, SCMHRD

Sahil had been noticing this girl in the marketing department for quite some time now and had actually wanted to ask her out for a date. It was only yesterday that he got a chance to talk to her via a common friend. She was fun to talk to and was no doubt pretty. “Why don‟t I give it a try…will ask her out for a cup of coffee tomorrow” Next day Sahil asked her out for a coffee. She agreed. They had a nice time together. Even the girl seemed to like Sahil a lot. It was not long before that they started dating each other. They initially tried to keep it a secret, but weren‟t successful. Their relationship started affecting their performance. It was difficult for both to concentrate on their work when the other was around. This came to the notice of the HR department. The HR manager called both of them individually and asked them the reason for their declining performance. Despite the initial hesitation to let out their secret, both of them confessed. They were given a warning. The company was not against them dating; however a decline in their performance as a result of it was not acceptable to them.

With people spending more hours at work place, they have lesser time for life beyond work. This combined with the fact that more and more women are now entering the workforce, the number of workplace romances are increasing. According to a recent „Office Romance survey‟ conducted by Vaults.com, about 41% of their respondents have accepted the fact that they have been a part of office romance sometime or the other. Workplace romances have both positives and negatives and the effect on the organization has been found to vary. On the one hand in some cases, like the one given above, it leads to a decline in the performance, while on the other hand there have been cases wherein dating on workplace has improved people‟s performance as a result of improved teamwork, coordination etc. There are companies which have tried to cash in on this fact and actually encourage dating at workplace, as it can be used as a tool for employee retention. Some of them even went to the extent of giving dating allowances to the employees to encourage dating between co-workers. NIIT was the

first company to introduce the same in 2005. The same concept was apparently adopted by WIPRO too. A housewife alleged that her husband left her because of this scheme and sued the company for running such a scheme! However, WIPRO denies the fact that it even had such a scheme in place. A success in the league of companies encouraging workplace romance is Southwest Airlines in the U.S., where 1,600 of Southwest‟s 26,900 employees are married to each other. Most of them met each other while working for the airlines. The company thus proudly calls itself the „Luv Airline‟. Just opposite to such companies are those which are anti- dating and ban dating between co-workers. A major concern among them apart from the decline in productivity is the fact that dating relationships have unfortunately transitioned to sexual harassment cases. But even this concern has taken a back seat and what the employers now are concerned about is the consequence of a break-up, the conflicts that arise between the couple as a result and the impact this has on their performance. Some companies resort to intimating the existing couples from the very beginning that in case of such conflicts, one out of the pair will be transferred to a different location of the company

and who among the two will be transferred is entirely to the discretion of the organization. According to an SHRM and Careerjournal.com survey, only 9% of the companies who participated in their survey have an anti-dating policy in place. The rest of the companies are those which are indifferent towards workplace romance. These are like the company in the above described scenario. They do not encourage workplace dating neither do they have an anti- dating policy in place. In such companies dating is not a problem until and unless it affects the organization‟s performance. If it does, action might be taken against the involved workers. However, a major problem with such companies is that the managers even after getting to know about such incidents do not take the necessary actions and are unaware of or untrained on how to deal with such situations. This is because in the absence of written policies on intra office dating, neither do the employees have an idea about what exactly is the company‟s stand on the matter nor do the managers know how to deal with it. According to the survey conducted by Vaults.com, out of the total number of companies participating, about 70% of the companies have no formal policy banning workplace romance. Having said all this, the employees have a best time dating a co-worker.

Not only are the chances of them getting caught dating very sleek but even if they do, they have managers like those described above, who at times completely ignore the relationships blooming in their organization. This apart the office lovebirds also have at their disposal a number of articles written just to guide them on how to make their workplace romance more effective. A simple Google search on workplace romance gives you more articles instructing employees on how to go about dating a co-worker rather than giving companywide policies on dating. According to these articles, a strict „no-no‟ as far as work place romance is concerned is dating your supervisor. This can lead to a lot of tension within your group. Even your star performance may be attributed to the “good” relationship that you have with your immediate head. Around 34% of the respondents in the „Office Romance survey‟ conducted by Vaults.com felt that a coworker gained a professional advantage because of a romantic relationship with a supervisor. Also the survey shows that only 19% of the respondents have dated their supervisor and only 25% say that they have dated their subordinate which means that while dating at workplace, employees actually try avoiding dating

their supervisor or subordinate for the above said reason. Given all of this, it is equally important to consider the stand of the other employees in the organization, as to whether they are comfortable with their co-workers dating or whether it distracts them. According to a survey conducted by OfficeClick.com, it was found that only 30% of the employees think that workplace romance is appropriate, which means that the rest 70% are not comfortable with it. This can cause tensions between employees at workplace and therefore should be considered by the company while framing the dating policies. Workplace romance is thus a very important area which companies today have to consider seriously. They can either try to look at it positively and gain out of it or can ban it if they think that the negatives overweigh the positives. All this is entirely up to the discretion of the organization. However, whatever be the case it is very important that the company has in place policy guidelines which make their stand on the matter clear, not only to the employees but also to the HR managers, thus making their work easier.

WORK PLACE ROMANCE - THE THIRD DIMENSION Rahul Phadke Sr. Manager & Head of GHRO & India HR Direct, Symantec Corporation

So let‟s see what happens when cupid strikes at work place.

supply of spice to the gossip starving staff. The gossip debut was that Sakhi‟s selection was more a result of the relationship chemistry experienced by Subodh, during their initial meetings of the otherwise boring selection process. The on boarding was even more engaging with Subodh taking all possible steps to make Sakhi comfortable in “every sense” few best practices were frequent exclusive lunch meetings at romantic getaways, personally looking into work space arrangements, of course the rose bouquet on the table could not be missed…what happened subsequently was a love tale that others and Anirudha witnessed for years to come……..

Subodh meets Sakhi

Romance unveiled.

Subodh was recently promoted as a India Centre Head of an European MNC, after completing a successful stint as a Production Head for past 4 years. During these years Subodh recruited many talented individuals including Sakhi for professional as well as personal interests. Sakhi‟s selection provided never ending

As many employee engagement theories advocate for having “friend at work place” soon Subodh left no stone unturned to convert these theories into practice at least in case of Sakhi.

“Love is blind”. The sightless nature of Love is actually less physical but more intellectual in nature. This intellectual blindness empowers love to be omnipresent without any geographical or social boundaries and hence we witness romantic encounters anywhere and everywhere, including workplace. Conventionally, love has only 2 dimensional effects while contemporarily it involves third dimension as well, especially at work place. What is important is to understand its impact in the professional world of other work mates.

Friendship blossomed into romance in no time with meetings, social gatherings, taking international calls

becoming a routine, where Subodh always ensured they were together irrespective of whether Sakhi was able to value add or had any relevance to the meeting. As quarters passed by the relationship performance moved to the next level, calls meetings got transformed into domestic & international travels, professional off sites, conferences, needless to say this romance was on company cost, proactively budgeted in the quarterly business plan. Romance also made Subodh traffic immune and inflation proof… dropping Sakhi to Boravli (W) from BKC became a routine & the most important task, conveniently ignoring the fact that his own house was at Vile Parle (E).

concluded it as a work environment any MNC would sport as against her previous “Desi” employer. Sakhi‟s career and confidence was at its all time high and her love submerged heart rarely left any opportunity for her brain to think and understand the genesis of all the goodness happening to her. With Sakhi by his side, Subodh conveniently ignored his other directs. Team encountered biasness; all decisions were in Sakhi‟s favor, budget approvals, incentives…the list was never ending. While the romance was at its peak, team‟s morale and Subodh‟s ability to manage them fairly was at the nadir. Aniruddha the quality head was the worst impacted, he was Subodh‟s direct and Sakhi‟s counterpart.

The rise and the fall

Third Dimension

Subodh‟s intense desire to impress Sakhi was the most powerful force and the sole motivator in his life. He worked tirelessly to achieve newer professional heights and eventually became India center head. Naturally his promotion was followed by Sakhi‟s leaving other deserving candidates in a thwart.

Love is blind, was reinstated since Subodh could no longer see his team‟s sad n frown faces and also Sakhi‟s incompetency to manage the team. But the workplace love was not only blind but deaf too…as Subodh refused to hear any grievances, voiced by Sakhi‟s team against her.

For Sakhi, her new job was a major breakthrough in her career. She was cherishing all the love and care showered on her and conveniently

Anirudha who was earlier confused and later concerned on the sheer negligence about his team‟s performance and achievements, made several futile efforts to shrug Subodh.

He believed that only talent and hard work will survive in long run and one day Subodh will recognize his potential. With such high hopes in the Organization and trust on self competencies, Anirudha pulled through his professional journey. For team it was like an emotional ride on stock market sensex, with complete uncertainty but never dying hopes. Every day they get a new addition to their collection of spicy stories on Subodh and Sakhi. Sometimes these juicy additions made them giggle but most of the time left a long lasting frown on their face and morale. For them it was even more difficult to come to terms, as they never possessed loud hopes as Anirudha did nor they could ignore outside career opportunities. The outcome was quite well predicted… “Farewell gatherings” found their permanent place in everyone‟s calendar. In such a positivity dearth environment, team could not remember when was the last time they received any encouraging or praising words from Subodh. It appeared that the only person who was working at India Centre was Sakhi as Subodh tagged her name on all the good work team delivered. Sakhi‟s praise spree had always been Global in nature and destined to impress the overseas bosses too!!

It came true Anirudha was sailing through a rough sea and as a good captain he always kept his courage and team together. He made several attempts to improvise the situation or at least make it no or less impactful for his team. Till the time a giant wave of Sakhis‟s aspiration to become the Operation Head, struck and shattered him completely. For him it was his worst nightmare turning into reality… he would be required to report to Sakhi. While Sakhi‟s aspiration had its own logical progression, from her induction to her out of cycle fat salary increase, she was always made to believe that she is the best. All overseas accolades, and courteous responses from generous oversea bosses due to Subodh‟s continuous & unconditional support in essay mails praising Sakhi, were also screaming in her otherwise deaf ears that she is the first amongst the equals. For her it was result of all those small and big achievements which she achieved or propagated to be achieved by Subodh, what so ever…now that was a reality for Sakhi. That evening, Anirudha silently promised to the glass of scotch that he will move out with the very first opportunity he get in this recession struck market, but will not report to Sakhi.

And true to his word Anirudha found himself a better opportunity and moved on……. Today, when we review the whole situation we find Subodh and Sakhi very much in their characters…..the love tale continues along with enormous operation issues at India Centre. The twist in the tale is that Sakhi is struggling to manage the undeserving role she acquired by all her feminine charms and delivery pressure is building on Subodh as well.

The latest spice churned from the gossip mills is that Subodh is busy hiring new operations Head for India Centre to stabilize the currently troubled operations and frequently out for lunch meeting with a potential new entrant….. Love is blind but the office staff is not

LOVE IS IN THE AIR! Sonali Rout PGDM-HR,2010-12, IMI

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Workplace romanceâ&#x20AC;? is defined as a consensual and mutually desired relationship that includes physical attraction between two members of the same organization, characterized by desiring to be with the other person and feelings of emotional and physical attraction, which may lead to a sharing of personal information, mutual caring and respect, and quite likely sexual behavior. Since more women are entering formerly male-dominated professions and assuming positions involving frequent interactions with men, workplace romances are flourishing as never before. The positives to this phenomenon are many. There is related research on workplace friendship suggesting reduced stress, increased communication, better workplace outcomes, and even greater acceptance of organizational change. In addition some organizations experience lower turnover because married employees who work in the same company tend to stay with the company.

The workplace has always been a major place for individuals to meet and learn about each other. Seeing your prospective partner at his/her best does induce greater interest in the person. This proximity further leads to attraction and romance, which, in case of the relationship turning sour, may lead to productivity losses for the organization, charges of sexual harassment, perceptions of employee favoritism, the potential for breaches of privacy, and even workplace violence. Very few organizations include workplace romance and related issues resulting from workplace romance in employee orientation and training, preferring instead to ignore the problem in the hope that those involved will at least be professional, discrete and modest and thus potential negative consequences will be finessed with a mature practical approach towards such problems. Due to this lack of preparation, many office managers find themselves dealing on an ad hoc basis with the negative aftermath of failed workplace romances rather than effectively

responding to and managing these romances. Workplace romance between peers, that is employees who work in similar positions in terms of the organizational hierarchy, are often thought of as being more benign in terms of consequences to the organization. These affiliations result from the fact that most of the individuals spend more time in the workplace than in any other setting, including social settings such as restaurants or public venues, the gym, community meetings, church work, or volunteer projects and meet people with similar interests, education, and/or background there. Employees involved in a peer workplace romance often keep their relationship a secret, at least in its early stages. Issues may involve inappropriate or explicit sexual behavior in the workplace or even the more mundane problems of spending inordinate amounts of time together instead of attending to work tasks. An over-riding concern from managerial perspective is that if the workplace romance ends badly there might be disruption to participants' and co-workers' job performance or the ubiquitous fear of resulting sexual harassment claims.

Workplace romance may take a serious turn when a subordinate enjoys undue favoritism on being involved romantically with the supervisor. If the relationship sours, the subordinate may retaliate by claiming sexual harassment, or the supervisor may block further rewards for the subordinate. Such situations may result in litigation against the employer. Romances involving individuals at different levels in hierarchical position-or when one of the employees is a manager or executive and the other his subordinate-can create really complicating issues well beyond those involving peer employees. These hierarchical romance/relationships are often viewed as inappropriate and or unfair by the majority of employees because of the power dynamic and supervisory relationship and the potential for abuse or advantage to the lower ranked employee. Other employees tend to see supervisorsubordinate romances negatively due to the potential of unfair influence in work-related outcomes such as specific assignments, promotions, pay raises, and bonuses, which may have components of discrimination against them because of the perceived benefits to the participants. Thus, these can lead to legal action or detriment to the firm from those not directly involved

in the workplace romance including lowered morale. If one or both of the employees are married, the negative outcomes to the individuals involved and the organization can be further increased. The number of stakeholders affected by this romance expands to include others outside the boundaries of the organization; thus liability for the company expands as well. Steps that maybe taken by the HR include implementing a proactive workplace romance (WR) policy. This ought to be a policy meant for all, without any prejudice/unfairness/element of bias involved. A safe point that can be noted is intolerance towards an unprofessional relationship between a manager and his subordinate, unprofessional meaning any relationship that has no effective contribution to the organization. Hence it should prohibit supervisors from dating subordinate employees who are in the supervisor‟s direct chain of command, because of the fact that there is an inherent conflict of interest in a supervisor dating a subordinate, since the supervisor will not be able to maintain objectivity when giving the employee evaluations or discipline. Even if the supervisor can maintain a neutral position, other employees could perceive favoritism stemming from the relationship and

bring a lawsuit if they are passed over for a promotion or their employment is otherwise negatively affected by their supervisor‟s personal relationship. Again there is an element of subjectivity that still remains, in deciding the nature of the relationship, since the participants generally don‟t own up. For this, a cross-departmental panel maybe involved in its execution. Then it maybe left to the couple to decide who would volunteer to leave/get posted at a different location, to assure fairness to the subordinate. Other strict actions maybe developed as per the HR policies of the organization. “Love contracts” are another form of disciplinary action in use these days. This is a form of written contract in which both of the employees involved in a relationship sign a contract with a supervisor, claiming that it is a voluntary relationship and pledging that they would be involved in any sort of offensive workplace behavior. This contract acts as a testimony to their agreement and can be produced by the supervisor later on to the concerned HR manager, if the need arises. The employees maybe educated on unlawful harassment prevention, including the organization‟s policies and procedures on workplace relationships, on at least a yearly basis. New hires should be trained at the

onset of employment. In the past, conducting such training has been administratively challenging for many HR departments, but it has become much easier to deploy and administer such ongoing training with the rise in usage of Web-based training. Again, such training should be comprehensive and cover all the protected categories, not just sexual harassment. Supervisors should be regularly trained in their dual obligations to both follow their organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x;s noharassment policy and administer the policy in the workplace. Supervisors should also be trained to assist in identifying, receiving, and reporting harassment claims to HR. Their training should clearly specify the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x;s policy on intimate workplace relationships and the steps that must be followed in enforcing the policy. Senior employees need to understand that the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x;s policies apply to them and that the consequences for violating the policies could be personally devastating, as well as catastrophic for their organization. Employers should communicate openly with employees regarding office romance and create an environment of trust and support. Due to the significance of counseling as a responsive action on behalf of the employer, and its popularity among

workers, managers should be trained on how to counsel individuals involved in a workplace romance and on the risks associated with it. Additionally, all employers should make sure that the guidelines in the policy are clearly written and include coverage of sexual harassment concerns. Employers should also be careful not to invade employee privacy. There should be a line always maintained between supervisory action and grant of personal space to an employee. A policy should be jobrelated, matching corporate actions with disruption in office workings. Moreover, policies should be updated often and in a timely manner. Corporate policy should also be put in information packages and distributed from time to time. In addition, managers should be trained how to effectively administer the policy fairly and consistently. One way to address the issue of consistency and access is to place the policies and guidelines in the company handbook. Finally, employers need to make sure that the policy as well as the efforts of managers remain ongoing, by continually updating the policy, providing training and ensuring the clarity and conciseness of the policy. In this way the organization can profit from the work of the managers and realize the value of a required corporate policy on romance.

For Feedback or Suggestions HR Forum Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) Symbiosis International University Symbiosis Infotech Campus, Plot No. 15, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, MIDC, Hinjewadi, Pune-411057 INDIA Email: hrforum@scmhrd.edu