Table of Contents From the Editor’s Pen Challenges of International Career Article by: Smita Verma Importance of Organizational Development Article by: Suraj Batra
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Reducing Survival syndrome in the face of Downsizing Article by: Mounika Puppala and Eddu Sundeep
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Success beyond Growth...a meaningful journey! Article by: Mahesh Toradmal
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The Dynamics of Motivation Article by: Donna Gommes, The challenge ahead-HR in a globalized India Article by: PranavPrimlani, Rahul Sapru and Pragya Sarathi
Munna Bhai H.R. Manager Article by: Amarendra Sahoo, IIM Indore
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Students Speak
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Fun Section
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From the Editor’s Pen Editor, HR Mesh "Thank you much more, Than a greeting can say, Because you were thoughtful, In such a nice way!" Anonymous Greetings from the HR Forum, Welcome to the HR Mesh September Edition, Rising on the enthusiastic contributions and valuable feedback from our readers on the previous edition, with a word of thanks, we move forward on our endeavour of knowledge sharing and presents the September Edition of the HR MESH. This edition of the HR MESH takes on a variety of topics spanning across multiple dimensions of the HR function. It brings forward the issue of changing role of HR function in the globalized business scenario in the country and also the challenges of an International Career. It also sheds light on how "Workforce learning and Development" can put into effect "The Dynamics of Motivation" and make employees go for "Success beyond growth". It also highlights the importance of Organizational Development in today's challenging business environment and the question of existence HR faces at the hands of Automated Information Systems. . The HR MESH comes with a new section "Students Speak" this time where we take up the issue of gender diversity in the HR function itself and delve deep into what students feel about the issue. Also the HR Mesh team would like to welcome the recent positive happening on the burning Manesar front. After 40 meetings over a span of 4 months, the management at Maruti has taken a welcome step
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towards improving the state of ER and has finally agreed to provide a Rs. 18000/ month hike to its workers at Manesar and Gurgaon plants. Under the 3 year contract, the workers will receive a 80% hike in the first year, with the rest coming in successive years. The agreement provides a ray of hope that any issue between the workers and management can be solved through dialogue and violence is a solution under no circumstances. The financial benefits are bound to decrease the dissatisfaction of the workers whereas steps like increasing the number of holidays to 12, 90% support of medical expenses for workers and their families by the company and reduction in the probation period to 2 years from 3 are going to make the employees feel associated with the organization they give their sweat and blood to. Your feedback adds value to this platform of knowledge sharing. So it is always a pleasure hearing from you. Please write to us your views , opinions and suggestions at: hrforum@scmhrd.edu. Until the October Special Edition of HR Mesh with a new special theme, till then Happy Reading !!!
Editorial Team Varun Chandar Shubhangi Acharya Umang Kotriwala Designed By Umang Kotriwala
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Challenges of International Career Smita Verma, PGP II IIM - Indore International career An enthralling reverie! International career are all time popular among youth because of the benefits and perks it offers. But truth encompasses some bitter experiences as well. The fantasy of global jobs fades soon and then comes the real challenges. It is easy to cope up if one is well prepared; but for someone unprepared, challenges that an International career brings can be awful. Though one can handle situation at personal level, organizational level efforts are far more effective and appreciable. WHY INTERNATIONAL CAREERS ARE SO ATTRACTIVE? In expanding business world, no firm can be limited to one nation for long. Hence, majority of them are going global. This gives them additional benefit of differential production and labour costs and an opportunity to explore new markets to strengthen their profit base. Multinational expansion demands advanced skills at managerial level, so employees with comprehensive experience are assets to the company as they bring wider perspective and valuable experience to the table. Thus, companies do not hesitate in compensating these people with heavy perks and handsome salaries in return. FLAWED SELECTION PROCESS For multinational assignments, selection is generally based on the technical expertise and past success records. Other factors like family support, social
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background and team relationships are often neglected. The whole process is based on the assumption that the performance is not a function of country, environment and social setup. On the contrary, these factors play important role in performance. FIRST MEETING WITH CULTURAL SHOCK Every culture has its own formal and informal practices. Generally an American presses more on individuality whereas a Mexican likes to hang in groups of friends. Without a proper understanding of the culture and attitude of people in the new country, compatibility problems can arise. Cultural shock can be primarily attributed to difference between previous and new culture. Expatriate employees find themselves unprepared for these changes. As a result, it affects their efficiency and performance initially and self-confidence later. Generally, Friends and family are a big support at such times but distance from them aggravates the situation by creeping in the feeling of loneliness. NORMAL PROBLEMS: Following are some problems that an expat comes across: 1. Restoring a Social Life: It's a top concern as everything has to be started afresh in terms of social life with new people and friends. The expats relocated with families tend to adjust more quickly. 2. Language Hurdles: Many have concerns about language being a barrier to their successful integration
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abroad. 3. Career Apprehensions: After the job cuts during the 2008 meltdown and 2011 debt crisis, concerns regarding job safety became prevalent. For expats these concerns are even more unnerving. Loosing job in native country comes with less shock as compared to foreign country. 4. Health Worries: People are more concerned about health and after retirement healthcare facilities abroad than at native country. 5. Cultural Adaptation: Cultural adaptation is not easy because it directly affects one's deep rooted beliefs. 6. Standard of Living: The majority move abroad expecting a better standard of living to previous one but cost of living and infrastructure quality in new country can be hugely different to the native. The attractive salary in context of the native country can prove to be meagre in new country. It has to be factored in or it can have an adverse impact on person. INTERMEDIATE STAGES: The transition from initial to stable state can be divided into four stages: 1. Honeymoon Stage: During this stage everything seems fascinating in new place. The dreams seem transforming into reality. Higher package, facilities and changes everything seems extraordinarily attractive. 2. Frustrating stage: In this stage, daily struggle, difficulty in communicating and difference between the native and new life start looming in and lead to deep dissatisfaction, anger, sadness and feeling of incompetence. 3. Doable Stage: Now, the person begins to feel better as things start looking up. He learns ways to live new life. He learns how to ask for what is needed, and problems no longer appear grandiose. 4. Enjoyable stage: Now, the new place starts feeling like home. S/he makes local friends and no longer fret about bad things. Here they begin enjoying good things.
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VEILED DANGER The second stage is most difficult and dangerous. Improper handling at this stage can lead to personal disasters and can affect the transition from the frustrating to doable stage. The frustration and disappointments are extraordinarily high at this junction. Thereafter lack of support from the organization and absence of family can lead to a phase where a person starts finding faults with the system for his/her low performance. It widens the gap and hinders the chance of friendly interaction. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL INITIATIVES 1. Learning about local language and culture 2. Information Access: Pre research about social, sports and art clubs in new country. 3. Perspective correction: Friendly attitude and mutual respect for other culture and people. 4. Knowledge of dos and don'ts of the nation ORGANISATION LEVEL INITIATIVES It is impossible to remove all uncertainties but these can be reduced with collective efforts. Following are few recommendations for organisation to prepare their employees: 1) Cross culture training: Develop some wellstructured cross culture training program based on past experiences. This can include details of work culture, social life and lifestyle in the country. Spouse and fa m i l y m e m b e rs must be part of training program. 2) Experience sharing platform: A proper formal or informal platform for employees to share their experiences. 3) Buddy/Mentor allotment
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POSITIVE IMPACT ON EMPLOYEE Organizations can reduce the outcomes of shocks and changes and can enable a smoother transition. The supporting role of organization makes positive i m p a c t o n employee and facilitates building up a relationship of trust and loyalty. These measures provide following value additions to a firm: 1) It makes employees happier and more productive.
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2) 3)
It earns employees' loyalty. It serves the purpose of global assignment well. 4) It provides a healthy employee and employer relationship. In short international careers have both positive and negatives but with proper care the negatives can be reduced and positives can be reaped well.
REFERENCES HSBC 2010 Expat survey (of 4100 expats) Expatriate and cross culture coachingGlobal Coach Centre
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Importance of Organizational Development Suraj Batra, 2nd year, MBA-Class of 2013 FMS Delhi Organizational Development can be defined as a deliberately planned effort to increase an organization's relevance and viability. Peter Drucker who is often regarded as the father of modern management, provided some time tested strategies to improve the vitality of organization through managerial activities but time has now come to build on these taking a visionary look for future along with sustainability. As Peter Drucker rightly pointed out that productivity of every work by every individual in an organization primarily depends on doing the right things and so there is no shortcut in reaching the sustainability of the organization through a top level effort and there is no shortcut for attaining good management. Now Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives comes into picture. It can provide a basic fundamental structure for every activity that is considered a part of good management and help us in achieving sustainable management and development in an organization. But we need to be aware of following statement of Peter Drucker “Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't�. As we all know that the MBO process is initiated by organization by setting up its objectives. The process of strategic planning, future
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goal setting or vision formulation generates later on after setting up of objectives. Up to this stage there is no difference in good management and bad management as both strive to achieve same objectives efficiently for an organization. Thereafter in the next step ,where it is up to individual departments to set up their objectives, proper care should be taken to ensure the desired results of good management which can change fortunes of people involved and on the whole the fortune of the organization. Then individual objectives are established to support the departmental objectives. By focusing on the message that Management by Objective is present as one of the means to help the employee assess and prioritize efforts in order to ensure that those efforts are focused on the bottom line and more importantly on social and organizational value. This process also helps in understanding what the society and organization does not value ensuring that it is not required to be done in future and hence reducing redundancy for future ventures. What we also need to understand is that when we are dealing with managers there is a natural resistance to change that occurs even when they know that intent is fair and right for the society. So to enable those managers to come into ambit of good management there should smaller objectives and we should be able to measure them on a short term basis. It is essential for present day employees to define their work, their tasks, their responsibilities, their
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contribution and quality of their work. Managers always acted as catalysts in enabling and supporting them for doing this prime importance work. But what we are forgetting is that why should a group of few very smart people at the top of company hierarchy solely govern where to go, what strategies to follow and what actions to take? Instead what we require in today's knowledge society is the capitalization on aggregated wisdom of company's employees who have good and direct perspective on the customers and the products. This will result in businesses where analytical, logistical and communication skills are imparted along with valuing them with acknowledgement. This will create both need and absorption of innovation very effective. It is this management order that will do a greater good in the long term scenario. As Peter Drucker indicated increasingly, “the success-indeed the survival-of every business will depend on quality of its knowledge workforce”. What we need today in good management is that they find new ways and means to identify along with promoting the new innovations and ideas of workforce. Hence the good management will be the one which maintains effective change with continuity in today's corporate bandwagon. Nobel Laureate and USA president Barack Obama once said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”. We are extremely fortunate in respect of being educated in times when change is the buzzword and every step one takes in improving and establishing the new management order will be remembered for a long time. It is this chance of initiating good management so efficiently which is required to give a positive image change to management and will highlight its good natured initiatives. The key to future of development
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in every nation and the world is to channelize proper efforts and funds into the individuals of management who will build businesses and promote social welfare that identify and address the problems and take advantages of chance in today's economy. What we need for this dream to come true is neither the leader nor the managers but a whole new breed of LeaderManagers who will have vision for world and the necessary knowledge to effectively fructify their efforts. This new management in organizations will have to be transcendental across borders and across societies. We are already seeing some signs of such management present in some organizations. One of the prime examples can be of the TATA group which in the last 5 years has gained presence in South America and Europe effectively cutting across Indian borders. From an Indian perspective TATA group is considered to be a reflection of Indian Society and has an enviable reputation all across the Indian Territory. Every Individual from a cart puller to Rolls Royce owner knows about TATA brand name and knows about their dedication to society and social change along with business. They are known to be ecosystem creator for all the communities in which they work and in their luminous history have given India many educational Institutes of national standing. The TATAs are shining example of how a business can incorporate good aspects while enhancing its profits and changing people's lives. Another aspect needed is the review mechanism for steps implemented. It will enable leaders to measure the performance of their
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managers especially in the key result areas along with key performance indicators in marketing, innovation, human organization, financial resources, physical resources, productivity, social responsibility and profit requirements. One point which we have to remember and which is written by Peter Drucker is
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that the “manager should be directed and controlled by the objectives of performance rather than by his boss.� MBO should Provide focus not vagueness. It is my hope that proper attention would be given to ideas proposed in the article and people affected by management may be able to better their opportunities and thus increase their welfare and well being.
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Reducing Survival syndrome in the face of Downsizing Mounika Puppala, PGDM, PGP-2, IIM Indore Eddu Sundeep, PGDM, PGP-2, IIM Indore “Little is known about the dynamics of change in shrinking organizations” (Greenhalgh, 1982). There was a time when employee's strength was looked upon as growth and stability indicator. However in today's competitive world, to meet external and internal challenges organizations make radical changes in order to manage resources efficiently. This resulted in a new norm- Reduction in size or downsizing. CONCEPT OF DOWNSIZING Downsizing is one of those activities taken up by the management to improve the organization's efficiency, competitiveness and productivity. It results in reappraisal of an organization's design, changes in relationships with internal and external customers and allocation of roles and responsibilities.
! Surviving employees who do not have any formal training or personal experience are forced to take a range of responsibilities. This makes it difficult for them to sustain ! Existing employees, under the threat of losing their position, refuse to train others (Risk avoidance) ! Results in overwork and loss of creativity in employees (reduction in the speed of decision making) ! Increases job insecurity in employees which may affect their performance at work and indirectly organization's productivity ! Increase in absenteeism ! Reduction in organizational commitment and employees' engagement Though downsizing is looked at as an imperative tool to make organizations efficient and competitive, literature suggests that in reality it leads to negative outcomes. It is observed that financial measures like return on assets, return on equity, market to book value equity, sales on total assets never showed any improvements after downsizing (De Meuse, Vanderheiden, Buzman, 1994).
THE RATIONALE FOR DOWNSIZING The major rationale behind downsizing is to yield economic benefits. Those benefits include increase in shareholder value, enhanced communication, reduced overhead costs, betterment in productivity among others. It is also implemented to respond to competitive threats and need for consolidation during merger and acquisition.
SURVIVOR SYNDROME
IMPACT OF DOWNSIZING Following are some major impacts of downsizing:
HOW TO REDUCE SURVIVAL SYNDROME? 1. Need of leadership: There is a need for positive and
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Survivor syndrome is referred to the set of feelings, perceptions and attitudes that occur in those employees who remain in the organization after downsizing. It is expected that if downsizing leads to layoffs then it will have adverse effects on the survivors in the organization.
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visible leadership to help the employees manage transitions easily. 2. Communicate: It is must for the employees to be informed about the downsizing well before the action takes place. The survival syndrome depends on the amount of information shared and the source of information. The best way to communicate is to send a public e-mail describing the events during and after the downsizing. This is required to gain the confidence of the employees so that they don't perceive the layoff to be impulsive or unfair. 3. Lead by example: It is common that one (employer who layoffs some of his employees) suspects one's image amongst survivors after downsizing. But as a business executive one should make sure to understand organization's perspective and focus on transitions for company's bright future. 4. Create opportunity: Make sure that the employees who have been given new responsibilities are given additional training. For example they can be offered one-to-one career counselling and stress management workshops. 5. Role of HR: HR has a major role in reducing survivor syndrome. With the increasing survivor syndrome, innovative HR solutions have come up which are critical to the business. HR manager should play the role of internal consultancy. Though the HR department shrinks in parallel with the downsizing, its impact is increased (for reducing survivor syndrome). To address the issues of
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accessibility and facilitating the change process, HR should play a major role in counselling the survivors. Also, the duty of fair and legal implementation of the changed processes should be taken up by HR. 6. Role of teams: The organization has to be administered by Downsizing Administrator by dividing the survivors into teams. There is a need for a team system in an organization which will help it in reviving post downsizing. Teams offer a fresh beginning all together by providing the survivors a platform to discuss their feelings and frame it in a context. Also, to give people a revised sense of accomplishment, the teams formed should be structured around organization's core processes. It is management's responsibility to make sure that the survival syndrome is abated in order to avoid tedious measures to handle it later. REFERENCES Can Teams Survive Downsizing by Jennifer M. Howard (Quality digest magazine) How to manage layoff survivor syndrome by Kristin Burnham Downsizing and survivor syndrome: A study of HR's perception of survivors' responses by KusumSahdev and Dr.SusanVinnicombe (Human resource management, Cranfield school of management, Cranfield university)
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Success beyond Growth...a meaningful journey! Mahesh Toradmal, Executive MBA, 2011 - 14 SCMHRD, Pune How many of us think that they need to be successful in their work to achieve growth in corporate world? How many of us think that getting good challenging assignment at work place is like an opportunity in hand? In my corporate experience, it is always my area of interest to watch people growing and synthesize it with individual's characteristics which allowed them to be like what they are today. After experiencing this corporate world for last thirteen years, I feel that there are few regular checks which Individual need to do on regular basis to get better ROO (Returns On Opportunity) in corporate world. Environment Check: Environment in which we work is the external factor which always contributes in individual's success. We need to start from understanding core values and competencies of the organization in which we work. This is required to understand in better and clear way. Along with this, understanding organizational structure and pivot in it is required. Your position in it should be known to you. This is to get better understanding on your area of influence rather than understanding your area of control. You could always get idea on area of control from your job description and KRA (key responsibility areas) identified for that role. You might be thinking that most of us know this. However key is not there in knowing it. Key is there in knowing it in faster manner during your early probation time. Environment consists of organization values, organization processes/methods to get work done and people who perform those processes. This means equal focus to learn about other departments and their procedures which affect your work is highly
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important for you to know in the beginning. This is nothing but understanding the bigger picture and knowing how much and which colour brush you are holding. Value check: How to define 'right environment' for individual to grow? Word 'Right' itself in this context is very relative and this is driven by individual's belief. 'Right' for me might not be equally right for others. I think that Belief is driven by our upbringing and the core values which we hold with us. This drives our action. Once we understand the environment, we should do value check for ourselves. Many entry level jobs allow people to understand environment during preplacement talk at college level or during company induction program for experienced people. At any point, we need to understand whether our belief and values are complimenting to the core values of environment which we are choosing or already chosen. This check at early stage is always helpful to align our action so that to avoid friction in our progress. Value differences or priority change creates highest friction while moving ahead on career path. If anyone really get negative result to this check then it is better to think twice before continuing with that environment. Getting out of such a situation is really helpful for both as employee and employer because no employer wants sad faces working for organization. This affects directly or indirectly customer satisfaction for organization. Impact depends on department in which you work. This is one kind of functional problem in employees - employer relationship. I observed that people who continued with this functional problem in
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relationship got very less opportunities from employer to show their skills. Even it is observed in my experience that employee also struggled to capitalize on given opportunities because of differences in thought process due to different core values. I observed that this functional problem in relationship asked both to close relation not in healthy manner. Positive results to above two checks increases chances to get more opportunities in current environment. This also increases chances for individual to be successful in given assignment because environment and individuals keeps on complimenting to each other's strengths. What next is require…
How many time in last 3 months you referred books, experts to take decisions and not just to take action? How many times and how much desperately you were waiting to see results of your action in last one operations cycle. This is because when we try/plan/experiment new things first time, we are unknown to the results of it. This is one of the pointers to check whether you are learning or not while working. If you analyze that you are at right place with right attitude and learning while working on assignments then does that mean that you are successful and growing? Most of us will answer this as 'Yes'. However if I add one more question do you feel that this growth is sustainable along with changing needs and demands from business side? When I say sustainable growth, I don't mean only holding the current position or role for longer time. I am actually focusing on the sustainability of your growth rate in which you are growing. For this question we will hesitate to give confirm 'Yes'. The main reason I understood in my experience for this hesitation is not because of uncertainty in environment. I think there is always logic around what organization/environment wants from us. Employer always wants things from employee which will make them successful at market place. Then what is that which asks us to hesitate to answer above question…
Learning Check: Doing same activity year by year automatically allows person to handle higher volume of that type of activity. This should not give us feeling that we are learning. Growth without learning is not sustainable. If you are growing and not learning new things then chances are high that you are not taking required risk or organization is not effectively doing assessment of your strength. Learning is mostly driven by two factors. One is opportunity to learn and second is ability to learn. Above two checks take care of providing sufficient opportunity to learn. Beyond opportunity, ability of individuals to learn is more important. Ability of learning starts from skills of hunting the right opportunity to learn. Learning is all about keeping you compatible and Check on ability to change: competitive in fast changing world. How to check We always hear that change is the only thing constant whether you are learning or not? There are few in life. And by entering in corporate world we pointers to check on this. Those are experience this every day. I am talking about change at How many times you feel proud about your very core level and not surface level. Change which is deliverables? Successful deliverables while you are introvert and not extrovert focused. When I said core, learning gives proud and not only happiness... it is at individual's belief level. Changing the belief How many times you failed or you were allows us to believe/adopt new things in quick and fast challenged by environment to deliver something new? manner. When I said changing the belief, I did not
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mean at transaction level. That is not a change, it is adjustment for me. Change in belief asks you to stand for that and sell it to others. And that's what organization wants “Change Agents” in you who helps them to grow and maintain cutting age in market place. These are the checks which we require to do as and when require. In my corporate experience I learnt one thing. You will not get employer who offers you good learning, good salary and require comfort for self development at single given point of time. If you get that kind of employer then believe me you are lucky enough. To manage this I developed my own funda which I used for last 13 years. I always defined priority
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of learning, salary and comfort for me by considering every 3 to 5 years time horizon in mind and took actions with focus on topmost two priorities. When I said I took actions, that doesn't mean that I changed employer always. Many times it asked me to change. Now when I look back, I feel that I enjoyed my work. My journey of more than one decade looks meaningful to me. I personally think that feeling of meaningful journey after 13 years of travel is more worth than transactional success and growth. These above mentioned checks allowed me to build this feeling. I will be happy if this helps someone who is in need. To me that will make this write-up more meaningful in real sense...
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The Dynamics of Motivation Donna Gommes, Goa Institute of Management, PGDM (2012-2014) “If what you're working for really matters, you'll give it all you've got.” - Nido Qubein
down from 61.1% in 1987, the first year in which the survey was conducted. (TNS)
Motivation at a workplace remains a relentless contest in any organization, large or small. Gone are the days when monetary satisfaction seemed to be the u l t i m a t e objective an employee was p u rs u i n g . S o, what is it that m a k e s employees wake up at 6:00 am, go t h ro u g h d a i l y ro u t in es wit h eyes half closed, battle the maddening traffic and be at their desks before the boss does?
It is common knowledge that even the most supportive work environment has its own set of trials. The employees will not always find their objectives streamlined with the company's and from time to time they will have to “compromise”. However, managers can create an environment which is conducive to staying motivated despite differences.
The following article combines the findings from studies to show how motivation techniques have made a difference to employee performance. It also goes to show how external stimuli like stress affect employee morale and how this can be tackled. It will include a few methods to contend with such adverse factors. According to a report by The Conference Board, based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households conducted for The Conference Board by TNS, finds only 45% of those surveyed say that they are satisfied with their jobs,
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Every management student has a special place in his heart for Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In line with the pyramid, every employer has to agree that physiological and safety needs have and will always come first. These can be taken care of with appropriate compensation which includes benefits and days off. Feelings of safety call for complying with correct industry standards procedures. Next in line are the employee's interpersonal relationships with his seniors, peers and subordinates. It is important to an organization's welfare that all its employees have healthy associations amongst themselves and feelings of rife are kept to a bare minimum. However, it is imperative that diverse, thinking intellectuals will always have differences in opinions. It is only the organizational culture that will determine how conflicts are resolved and the knowledge that is assimilated from such encounters. Further on, an employee's commitment to his workplace will be defined by how much he believes he
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is valued within his workplace. A worthy organization will always consider their employees as valuable stakeholders. This belief will enable a company to invest sufficiently in the well-being of its stakeholders. Building a rapport with the employees and gaining their trust will involve providing ample career development opportunities and sufficient training programs. Many a times, the company will have an innate fear of employee attrition despite its investment. But, when the employee recognizes its hold within a company, resigning will require serious motivation. Joshua Cook of www.ThinkingLeaders.com writes how companies like Google Inc., Cisco Inc., and Wholefoods Inc., are leading the way to restructure management, so employees can streamline creative ideas that produce blockbuster new products. They are rewarding employees with perks like onsite swimming pools, allowing employees to bring their pets to work, providing onsite child care, and all the free food employees want. Elton Mayo's Hawthorne studies, offer various perspectives on motivational aspects including psychological, job interest, group relationships, social influences, communication and a sense of belonging. (Eltonmayo.htm)
other. It may put individuals under pressure to change their behaviour, sometimes for the better or worse. Eustress is when a stressor allows the individual to solve the difficulty, thereby building his confidence and skill. Distress is when the individual refuses to look for a solution and goes through feelings of depression. When an employee is distressed and is unable to resolve his issues, it slowly creeps onto his productivity. Loss of focus, inability to concentrate etc. eventually lead to a gradual decline in the quality of work produced. Stress may be born out of work or home pressures and in some unfortunate cases, both. Organizations need to offer suitable support in situations that demand more from an employee. Life transitions such as marriage, childbirth and death of a loved one are key stressors in an individual's life; they may entail a drop in productivity. An organization should participate in apt stress management techniques. It may seek the engagement of counsellors to help employees to see things in a new perspective. Also, a manager can assist stressed employees by helping them set realistic goals, delegate and encouraging discussion. Many organizations also provide their employees training on meditation techniques and yoga allowing them to get in touch with their spiritual side to effectively deal with life's vagaries.
Stress and Motivation: The dreaded word 'STRESS'!!! Not limited to corporate life, stress gets the better of everybody at one point or another. Stress and motivation, however, may work in tandem with each
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Motivating employees and retaining them will always be a herculean task but in doing so, an organization will find it immensely fruitful to build a home away from home for its most important stakeholders.
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WORKFORCE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IS ESSENTIAL FOR RETAINING AND ENGAGING YOUR EMPLOYEES. : Ashish Kumar, Goa Institute of Management, PGP1 “Employee attitudes reflect the moral of the company. They are the face value of any organization”.“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.” (Zhong, 645 BC) Planning to do an MBA simply because the organization with which you work does not care for you? Switching jobs because of lackluster job growth? It is time for the organizations to act quickly before they reduce indefinitely. An Organization is like a human soul. From its nascent birth to the moribund stage none but oneself knows how it fares throughout. The development of the person can be interpreted as the productive evolution of his cognitive abilities and the soul can be associated with the increase of wisdom, self-satisfaction, compassion and humanism. At various stages of life one needs to understand the needs and accordingly learn, adapt, develop and adjust one's attitude to conquer the goals. Employee attitudes reflect the moral of the company. They are the face value of any organization. The objectives and focus should be more on the employees since they are the ones who represent the organization. The customer or the recipient of any service will always see the company from the lens of the employees. The rate at which business is growing today makes it imperative for employees to learn while they work or they become obsolete. “Employee First” needs to be the tone of the corporate world that shall
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bring the desired change required. Capability is required by job performance but is also developed through job performance. Workplace culture and social interactions form an important aspect of the context of learning of an individual in an organization. A good environment brings about a driving force that can lead to increase in productivity. Investing in employees should always top the priority charts of an organization. It is like parents spending on their children's education and development, which shall reap in the long run for the benefit of the entire family. It generally is not a huge chunk of the organization's pie. It guarantees returns that multiplies manifolds and enhances the organization's outlook. Workforce learning and development is essential for retaining and engaging the employees. An educated workforce is the foundation of every community and the future of every economy. It is critical to identify and develop talented employees who are acclimated with the long-term strategy of the organization. The primary objective of this process is the ability to identify individuals who have the appropriate characteristics to maintain this high performance, or have the potential to develop such characteristics. It is imperative for any organization to act on the willingness of an employee to learn and rise through the ranks. The organization should drive the passion of the employees to give them a position of recognition, by giving them opportunities and a stage where they
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can fulfill their dreams. The policies and objectives of any organization should imprint a blueprint of the employee's aspirations to build a successful career path. Workforce learning and development acts as a hidden source of motivation for the employees. Job enrichment along with Job enlargement can lead to high level of job satisfaction amongst the employees. Retention and Engagement of employees go hand in hand. A good retention policy without a decent engagement strategy is like holding an equity share whose value is going down. Similarly a good engagement policy without being able to hold on to the employees is futile. It is like a monthly salary that makes you king of the world till the time it lasts. The moment it finishes, it shall burn a hole in your pocket since by this time you have been accustomed to high spending habits. It is essential to have an insight of the employees so that the organization can prepare itself better to provide the learning and development effectively. Quarter appraisals can be more from the employee's point of view and help the manager learn what is lacking. Roping in ideas of the employees in various scenarios and giving them the due appreciation shall engage the employee in a much effective way. It makes you feel a part of the family and makes you feel accountable. A small pat on the back from a manager is always worth the effort put in by an employee. The training department should be in line with the organizational needs shall make the employees cater to better application of talent. Companies need to understand the fact that they need to take steps to ensure the delivery of highly customized employee training solutions and use of the cutting edge
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technology for the better development of their workforce. Small building blocks should be present for employees based on the job roles. This will also help in nurturing the skills of the employees. Mentoring can also be done to help others learn, grow and become more effective in their jobs. A platform, where there is shared commitment between the employees and the managers needs to be created to leverage the best for the organization. The organizations also need to take a look at the inter-communication to the employees about various benefit programs and make them constantly aware about the same. “Big promotion, little value�, much like the Indian Olympic Team, modern day managers generally tend to show a rosy picture to the potential employees and make grand promises with regard to career growth but they actually cover few expectations and are more or less unrealistic. Ethical Leadership is vital to avoid such situations in real workplace scenarios. Employees should not be treated as fillers and they should always look for the right talent to fit in. Workforce learning and development lead to high Operational effectiveness and efficiency, creates a positive work environment, increased job satisfaction and effective personality development of all the employees. It shall help in building sustainable business relationships with clients worldwide and help the organization to develop competitive advantage over the others. It improves the human resource quotient and the employees are able to perform different roles. This improves the performance of the business and its productivity. It allows the business to adapt easily to the changing business environment and increasing competition with positive results.As the human soul progressively develops and evolves, it requires constant nourishment and a consistent learning to survive the various stages of life.
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Advent of Information Systems: Has HR become redundant? Shreetam Subhranka, Human Resource Management 2012-14, XLRI Jamshedpur For three years after my graduation, I worked for a company that developed software applications to facilitate better Human Resource Management. In other words, we tried to automate the functions of a regular human resource staff. Automation has its own set of advantage that cannot be denied: 1. It is a self-service model. So instead of the HR staff initiating processes, the employee himself can do so at his own discretion. 2. The response to a request is quick. It does not involve the natural human latency especially when operating across geographies and time-zones. 3. It is highly reliable. Unlike your HR staff, it's never going to quit on you! 4. Management of employee data, especially for a large organization, becomes easy and centralized. 5. The margin of error is minimal. But beyond all these positives, what it also means is that it can do the work of a human resource staff; faster and better. With information systems getting intelligent by the day and their affordability in the reach of medium and small scale industries, I often wondered if HR would cease to exist as a relevant department in most organizations. And then, I happened to join a MBA course in Human Resource Management! Surprising though it may seem, I got my answer in the first three months of the course. Much of the interaction that we have with the HR department at entry level jobs, is limited to the transactional nature of the work of the Human Resource Staff like planning out the recruitment logistics, explaining the code of
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conduct and ensuring its compliance, rolling out policies and appraisal cycles, announcing performance bonuses and salary increments, maintaining and granting annual paid and casual leaves and acting as an input medium for handling employee grievances. A competent and contemporary HRM application can handle most or all of these functionalities. In some companies, the HR might be involved with a few other activities carried out under the umbrella of 'Fun at Work' like arranging quarterly team outings, functions and birthday-parties in the office. However, almost all of these activities are non-tangible in their return. This creates a myopic vision, under the impression of which, many, like I used to, wonder if over time HR would become a redundant department. I say 'myopic' because in a real organization, the influence of the HR department exists beyond these activities and it is awareness of such activities that helped me find the answer. Come to think of it who plans how many candidates need to be hired or for that matter at what competency level, where should the recruitment drive be conducted to get maximum return on investment, who defines the code of conduct and the repercussions of non-compliance of the same, who works out the policies, defines the parameters on which you should be appraised, who decides what percentage of the profit should be distributed as shares and increments, who creates a grievance handling framework and takes necessary actions to handle employee grievances. Well the answer is not difficult to guess, given the context of the discussion. Yes, it is the same HR department.
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And interestingly, these and many others including training and development and designing compensation matrices cannot be automated. They can be programmed as function output to a given set of inputs but even then the HR department has to determine the set of inputs. Also, all of these activities are tangible and functions can be devised to calculate their efficiency as return on investment. These activities of the HR department are now being referred to as the transformational nature of the work that a HR staff does. And thus the scope of HR department extends beyond the realm of e-HR applications and even though they might do away with a few transactional responsibilities of the HR department, they can never be a perfect substitute for the transformational work that every successful HR department needs to carry out. The use of the word 'successful' is deliberate as in the current business environment, dominated by the effects of globalization, increase in diversity in the work-force, empowered employees and stiff competition from a highly volatile market, a HR department cannot be contained in their transactional work alone. To be successful, they have
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to carry out the transformational aspect of their job as well. In fact, these days, most businesses are in the process of realizing the true potential of their human capital and are slowly waking up to the competitive advantage that it provides; and hence do not mind involving the HR department as a strategic partner, who has an equal say in the business decisions in the board room. This brings us to a cross-road: with all of these dynamics in play, how does the future of HR department look like? Well, to say the least, it will evolve. The transactional aspects will soon be taken care by automated information systems requiring very less human intervention leaving behind the transformational aspects to the HR department. From this logic and the way I see it, in the times to come, HR department would be one of the niche jobs in the market, their numbers will shrink but they will have people who chalk out parameters that will define the success or failure of the objective of an organization.
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The challenge ahead-HR in a globalized India PranavPrimlani, Rahul Sapru, Pragya Sarathi XLRI Jamshedpur, HRM 2012-2014 The Developing world is in a period of enormous flux as Globalization completes its work of sectioning-off a chunk of the population-the middle classes- from the bulk of the populace. Having taken advantage of newly created opportunities and having risen out of the morass of poverty, the middle class now identifies itself with the ruling class above itthe industrialists and the politicians- rather than the one they have just succeeded in leaving behind. As Arundhati Roy laments, the most dangerous secession of all in India is that of the middle classes into outer space- whether it is Anxiety of Influence or more simply, the snobbery of the parvenu, we have begun to look upon the majority of our countrymen- farmers, industrial workers, wage laborers and other blue-collar workersas children of a lesser God. Marxist theory tells us that this is exactly what Big Capitalism wants. It is under these conditions alone that it can push back the gains made by the Labour Movement, for it has always been the middle classes who have traditionally served as a check, intellectually and politically, against the exploitation of the masses. Class traitors-both intellectuals and activists from Marx and Engels to the doyens of the New Left- have always acted as the voice and the organizing force behind labour movements. In India today, the situation is indeed parlous. The demands of a liberalized, market-oriented economy are taking their toll on more traditional forms of living
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and working. At the beginning of his second term, Manmohan Singh announced that his goal was to see a great wave of migration from India's villages to her cities. This ill-conceived outlook is part of the problem. Taking away forest(tribal) land for mining and arable(farmers') land for SEZs, highways and big dams forces the traditional inhabitants to migrate enmasse to the already teeming cities, exacerbating the dismal living and working conditions there. This in turn produces a huge pool of desperately poor men and women, which in turn drives down wages and bargaining power for the workers in general. Corporations, like Maruti, take full advantage of this, keeping regular workers' numbers down and slowly increasing the number of contract workers, who get only a fraction of the wages and benefits of regulars. Unionization, in any case, is limited to only about two percent of India's workforce but corporations are seeking to slash even this dismally low figure. What corporations must understand is that, in the long run, Unions are as important to the smooth functioning of a corporation as they are to worker welfare. The reason is that the two are inextricably interlinked- without unionization, management can do what it likes with the workers for a while but they end up pushing them so hard that it is only a matter of time before an explosion. Unions act as safety valves, denying management certain savings in wage costs and labour flexibility in the short run but ensuring workers a minimum standard of living and, equally important, a sense of empowerment. I believe that it is
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the lack of fora for expressing their grievances that drives workers to desperation more than anything else. It is this alone which can explain the desperate, utterly pointless acts of violence that workers have indulged in on several occasions in the past few years. These are acts not of rational, calculating beings but those of the most dangerous of people-those with nothing left to lose driven to utter desperation. The paucity of data means the jury is still out on the Maruti case but both the i n c r e a s i n g frequency and brutality of these incidents in India cannot be ignored or dismissed as manifestations of workers' insatiable greed. Management must introspect and recognize the root of the problem-the attempt to make false economies by focussing on cutting human costs instead of core production costs. The question of how to tackle this problem now arises. Firstly, it is a mistake to view violent agitations as only a law and order issue- a few troublemakers instigating the rest. Workers are not blind sheep to follow suicidal provocations which lead to them being fired, hunted down ruthlessly by the police and jailed. The opposite view is that the Manesar incident was part of a giant conspiracy, involving (as a top home ministry official has hilariously suggested) the Maoists! Both these rationalizations tend to obfuscate the fact that the malaise of worker unrest is systemic, not incidental. No agent provocateurs, no grand conspiracies, but rather the boiling over of a pot with no other means of release.
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The chairman of Maruti, RC Bhargava, has described the violence as a “class attack.” This is closer to the truth but not in the way he means it. True, the workers seem to have targeted the managers merely because they were managers- representatives of the class that they feel is exploiting them. What is lacking in the workers, however, is a sense of class unity in pursuit of a larger purpose. Workers in India are still extremely fragmented and hopelessly unorganized. Agitations are local and issue based; rarely ever have workers come together to protest against the system or the 'ruling classes'. The great English historian EP Thomson tells us in his magnum opus The Making of the English Working Class about how it was unceasing exploitation by industrialists in the early part of the nineteenth century that was responsible for the formation of class consciousness in Britain. The single biggest mistake Indian industry can make is to follow this example. In the past, the only cement that could bind India together was opposition to foreign rule. Today, the only glue that can bind the millions of disconnected workers in India is a consciousness that there is no recourse from exploitation but in unity. It would be suicidal for corporate India to permit this. No lessons have been learned even after the M a n e s a r tragedy- SY Siddiqui, the COO, is now talking of using the incident to “increase labour market flexibility” and usher in “labour reforms”. Euphemisms for hire-and-
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fire rights, these demands, if fulfilled, will further exacerbate the already tense situation. In return, Mr Siddiqui promises to phase out contract labour, but he neglects to mention that this will only really happen when hiring contract workers ceases to be beneficial- ie when the rights of permanent workers are abridged to the extent that no difference remains between them and contract workers. This 'take all you can; give nothing back' mentality with regard to the workers must be overcome. The bedrock of industrial growth is stability, which is impossible if the tension between management and
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labour is ratcheted up any further. Similarly, workers must be made to realize that violence will get them absolutely nowhere, and that murder cannot be condoned or justified, whatever the provocation. So HR must perform a balancing act at the strategic, not at the plant level. HR must influence top management to look at the situation from a longterm perspective and resist the temptation to burnish the books only for the next few quarters by cutting labour costs. The interests of labour and industry must run parallel and this can only happen when both sides realize that the progress of each is to the good of the other as well.
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Munna Bhai H.R. Manager Amarendra Sahoo, IIM Indore For people who have seen Munna Bhai MBBS, I request you to recall the 'subject' Anand Bhai- The brain dead person, who was used as a resource for medical study and treated like a vegetable, without any element of human touch. For people who have not seen, please see the movie and revisit this article. The key factor Munna was successful in achieving the supposedly unthinkable (healing Anand Bhai) was the personal connect Munna was able to establish with the human being, rather than the treatment the 'subject' received earlier. With the growing problems in the industriesmanufacturing and services alike- related to people issues, it also needs the intervention of a Munna, who will treat the supposedly called (Human) resources as human beings. The long established theories of HR management, were formed when there was class divide, predominantly in the manufacturing dominant industrial setting. Most people are less educated and so the few educated ones assumed the responsibility of controlling the majority and became the so called Managers. Adding to that the eternal human nature of distinguishing self being superior to others, which helped those chosen few to place them a rung higher, thus creating the two famous collars. But the fact is they all are in the same entity, the same company. But rather than identifying themselves as being one of them, or part of them, they operate at one layer above them. There comes the problem of calling people as resources. Imagine our daddy 'manages' the whole family based on budgets and appraisals and analytical tools sans the personal connect and
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identifies himself as being with us and part of us. Well, you may argue family and factory are two entirely different socioeconomic entities, but still we are dealing with the same aspect-People in both cases, susceptible to emotions and relations. Things become worse in service setting, where people are more educated & more thoughtful. Applying the theories developed predominantly in manufacturing era is not apt, and is bound to create problems. People will not be ready to givein to this p r a c t i c e , whatever theory the mangers may apply, be it Stick-Carrot or sense of purpose. You cannot get their acceptance by not becoming one among them. The simple fact is you cannot sit on their head and still call them friends and family members. And the key is the trust, in true sense. Rather than developing along this aspect HR managers are busy planning for their 'resources' based on increasingly sophisticated tools, analytics, innovative new pampering plans and what not. Sending your girlfriend an e-card on her birthday is one thing and ringing her door bell sharp at 12 at mid night is completely different thing. And the essence is personal touch. Without the presence if it whatever metrics, indices, measures adopted will not produce major result. All the motives of HR department are taken with a sense of cynicism, because they actually have the hidden agenda of using employees for
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company's benefit, making people more effective for the benefit of the firm. The HR has to be a true representative of employees and their ambassador to board rather than the other way round. All the HR policy should be designed keeping in mind the fundamental human relations so
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as not to strain and betray the harmony of human relation and emotion. After all people are not machines to be calibrated according to predefined specifications. So we need a our Munna bhai HR Manger who can break the divide and barrier, reach to the employees and work with them, lead them by his personal touch, the magical 'Jaddu ki Jhappi'.
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Students Speak Increasing number of Y chromosomes in HR After the 50,000 Years of human existence, coming out of dark caves and walking on foots, there are some questions that humans are still not able to answer. One such question which have always been a topic of debate: why men and women are d i f f e r e n t ? To answer this John Gray has written best seller book “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus�, but it too is not able to solve the age old query. Science is able to answer it to some extent by blaming it to chromosomes, but they are still clueless as to how X and Y chromosomes make such a difference. But does being X or Y really make a difference in today's world where very nation is talking about gender equality- let me elaborate equality for all gender types. Politically and legally no, but studies shows that gender difference, apart from personal choice and environmental difference, makes a difference in choice of career. That's the reason that certain jobs are considered specific gender dominant.
HR is an industry which has been considered as a female dominant industry, facts also support this. Figures released by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) regarding its membership, often a reliable way to look at the HR industry as a whole, reveal a staggering fact. Almost three quarters (72%) of the total membership are women. What's the reason for it? Answer is in the commercial perception that HR is almost exclusively for women. On a broad, generic level, it has often been said that the skills and qualities required to be a successful Human Resources professional lend themselves more to those of the female skillset. Organisational abilities, an eye for detail, empathy, non-confrontational negotiation skills, listening and an overall desire to help have been cited as aspects of the profession that is cited as being more of a feminine trait. But this perception is somewhat changing in the new generation where more number of males are excelling in HR. HR Mesh talked to some of the SCMHRD students to know what they think about this general perception.
One doesn't need to be offended when HRM is referred to as not being masculine enough. Actually, it's a psychological phenomenon, a perception that it is a backend function that too one that requires soft skills. Human resource is much different from 'traditional' assets like the factory and the cash and so is its management. The management functions have always quarrelled with each other to be daddy's favourite son but each of them must know that their responsibilities, objectives and visions are different and equally important and they sustain because they are necessary. Arka Gosh, Student SCMHRD
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I don't believe in gender difference and according to me each girl and boy is competent enough to excel in whatever they do. We have women like sunita Williams who have reached space and male fashion designer like Georgio Armani. So, this stereotype link to HR should not b there. Abhishek Kamra, Student SCMHRD
Well before doing MBA even i had a similar stereotype for HR. Had never thought that I will opt for the same. But with time my thinking changed and now I feel being an HR is not an easy job, it is challenging, demanding like any other management field. Right now, the diversity is tilted towards females but I guess in a few years from now on, we should see the ratio moving more towards unity. Vimal Bakshi, Student SCMHRD
The factor, that 70% of HR exec are females, didn't really deter me or stopped me to take up HR as a specialization. HR is perceived as a feminine specialisation, due to which many guys find it hard to relate and actively follow HR.. I don't think that is true. Its as brutal, ruthless and tough a field as any other, testing you to the core. In a unionized kind of a set up, I believe male HR specialists can add real value to the function. A proper gender mix is important in any field Archisman Roy, Student SCMHRD.
I personally feel HR should be a mix of both women and men. There is a huge misconception in the minds of people, leave alone people, there are misunderstandings in the minds of the employees who work in the organizations regarding their HR department. It is a situation where you need someone to take care of the minutest of details to implement decisions on one hand (females). You also need someone to analytically build strategies and put work into place (males). So I feel a good HR department is a mixture of both males and females.� Namita Kaur, Student SCMHRD
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Fun Section FB POLL What according to you is the most important criteria for climbing uo the corporate ladder?
# The poll was conducted among the students of SCMHRD
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Fun Section - Dilbert
HR Jokes Eleven people were dangling below a helicopter on a rope. There were ten HR people and one engineer. Since the rope was not strong enough to hold all the eleven, they decided that one of them had to let go to save all the others. They could not decide who should be the volunteer. Finally the engineer said he would let go of the rope since engineers are used to do everything for the company. They forsake their family, don't claim all of their expenses and do a lot of overtime without getting anything in return. When he finished his moving speech all the HR people began to clap‌ Q. If you had a gun with 2 silver bullets, a vampire, a werewolf and an HR manager, who would you shoot? A. The HR manager twice; just to be sure.
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