Discrimination should end An Interview with Dr. M.H.Ilias (Associate Professor, India-Arab Cultural Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia)

The history of union activism in West Asia dates back to the 1920s. How do you see the evolution of trade unions in this region?
A. We have different phases of evolution in West Asia that was quite parallel to re-emergence of different interrelated movements. In the 1950s, all these movements were patronised by the State, especially in Egypt and Iraq. In the 1980s and the 1990s, these were replaced by Islamic movements. With globalisation of economies and liberalisation of polities, new forces became the social base of the state. The state could not mediate between the conflicts of market forces and society, thus a need for voice of the masses was felt. Labour forces, patronised by the state, could not fill up this void and automatically the Islamic movement came to the forefront.

Q. Is there a need for reform in the labour laws in West Asia?
A. There is discrimination among national communities and labours from different nationalities. There is inequality in compensation structure and living conditions. Therefore, a serious look is needed to mend the situation. Click here to read full interview...

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The Human Factor

The great disciple: An Interview with Bhawana Pandey, Head – HR, Protiviti Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Q. Please tell us about your academic bacground?
A. Master’s degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations.

Q. How would you describe your first job?
A. An enriching experience.

Q. Your best day at work?
A. I start every day anticipating it to be the best yet.

Q. What all occupies your desk at office?
A. A calendar, watch and photograph of my son.

Q. What is that one thing that makes you happy in office?
A. Enthusiasm and passion of people around me.

Q. The most valuable people lesson you have learnt?
A.  Trust people and recognise the differences in personalities.

Q. Which has been your toughest professional decision so far?
A.  I had to leave a well-settled job after nine years.

Q. Your favourite one-liner?
A. Whatever you do, give it your best.

Q. Your career path, if not HR? Click here to read full interview

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Not just educated, but responsible citizens

Real education will not teach you to compete, it will teach you to cooperate. It will not teach you to fight and come first, but to be creative, loving and blissful, without any comparison with the other people. It will not teach you that you can be happy only when you are the first. That is sheer nonsense. You cannot be happy just by coming first. And in trying to be first you go through such misery that you become habituated to misery by the time you become first.

The above words of spiritual leader Osho Rajneesh ring particularly true, especially in today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive world when education is crunched to mere marks and percentages, and the human element is overlooked. University heads now face the challenge of ensuring that educational agenda also takes cognisance of the ultimate goal of producing students with a holistic, selfless attitude to life, and are aware of all their duties and responsibilities and not just their rights and freedom.

Administration is not the real challenge; it is creating systems and policies that enrich students and the faculty. Developing teaching and learning resources is easy, but developing such resources that enhance development is difficult. And developing such resources that enhance quality is all the more difficult.

Many university heads possess a background in administration and in the case of some, stints in the civil services may have even taught them governance and management. Yet the challenges of education can be far more complex, even for people from meritorious background. Click here to read full article..

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Making a better India

Q. Since independence, India has progressed a lot when it comes to education, but still there exists a gap. Please share your views on how this gap can be bridged.

A. Although, today India today shows signs of tremendous growth in the education space, there still lies ample scope of improvisation in that area. The challenge for all educators today is to develop employable lifelong learners and establish world-class standards by infusing students with a sense of power, broader horizons and larger world view.

Realising the critical aspect of the Indian education system, schools today must introduce well-researched concepts with world-class infrastructure and adequate pedagogic attention to every child to be on a par with the education received globally and develop their individual skills and capabilities. Schools have to ensure that teachers are well-trained and are committed to provide personalised attention to every student to help develop their talents in the right direction.

Q. Teaching needs a lot of dedication, commitment, passion and the urge to create better human beings. Do you think teachers today nurture the same passion or do they just take it as an alternate career option?

A. Today, creating an ambience that fosters better learning is imperative. Teachers as mentors have the enormous task of motivating students through positive connections.

Teaching has always been considered as a vocation and not a profession. However, it is a pity that many teachers today look at it as a mere profession and are just concerned about finishing their syllabus. When the occasion arises, they quickly move to greener pastures. Having said that, we should not forget that even today many teachers continue to be faithful to their noble vocation as a teacher to create better human beings for a better world. Click here to read more..

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“The lack of independent leadership in firms that combine the CEO and Chairman positions makes it difficult for the board to remove poorly performing managers”

“The lack of independent leadership in firms that combine the CEO and Chairman positions makes it difficult for the board to remove poorly performing managers,” according to Vidhan K Goyal and Chul W Park in their paper published in the Journal of Corporate Finance. The board’s role does not end with having an emergency succession plan in place but it also needs to specify all the required criteria that will be used to select the next CEO. The board should also explain why those criteria are critical keeping the future business plans of the company in mind. This approach will go a long way in calming investor concerns.

The boards should do a lot of thinking about the potential candidate as well as about the one already sitting in that top notch position, else the productivity might be the one suffering the most even if the crisis is not enough grave.

It is important to understand turnarounds do not happen overnight; the process of steadying the ship and starting to sail again often requires patience and endurance.

Replacing the captain might help calm down public and show a little on the scorecard, but it may not be the best move for building a champion team. Read more..

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Decipher the other side of the coin - IIPM Think Tank

An MBA graduate from Edinburgh Business School, UK, Ms. Shalini Kamath has nearly 24 years of experience in HR, Business Development, and Social & Community Development. She has worked with ChevronTexaco, Star India, KPMG and is an expert in start-up management. She is on the advisory board of TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) and a co-chairperson for the HR Western Sub-Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Q. Please share your views on HR as a turnaround enabler.
A. HR has a very strong role to play in turning a business around. However, the critical part is that HR first needs to understand the business case for a turnaround. In certain cases where the clarity does not exist, HR can play a vital role in analysing the areas where a turnaround could help the business to flourish, which sometimes, the business heads may have failed to identify. In such cases, HR also has to take the responsibility to make them understand the gravity of the situation. Once the business need for a turnaround is established, HR is positioned the best to work with the business to conduct the most efficient and effective interventions to bring about the positive people-related changes and business transformation through people.

Q. Are there any HR limitations that you see in such situations?
A. I see three limitations:
• The HR department is often divorced from the business and HR people work in isolation. Therefore, often the critical role that it can play in a turnaround is undermined. HR needs to upgrade its skills to a level where it can learn what is happening in the business so that the need for a turnaround is well understood or in certain situations it could be identified by the HR before a business encounters a problem.
• At the time of a turnaround it is generally the business head that does all the thinking and the implementation is left to HR. However, if there is a collaboration between business and HR, many untapped solutions may surface which would be more appropriate for the business.
• HR needs to keep itself updated with all the latest theories, tools and HR practices available in the marketplace to be able to find effective initiatives for specific turnaround needs. Read more...

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Barbara Mitchell (Managing Partner Mitchell Group)

....They put everyone through five weeks’ orientation which includes working for two weeks at their call centre so that everyone, including HR, finance, management, gets to experience and develop strong customer service skills. HR at Zappos is tasked with supporting these principles through hiring practices and applying good practices to maintain the focus on employing people who “get” what it means to be a customer-focused organisation.

Q. How can a CEO help selecting the best talent?
A. The CEO sets the corporate culture which is key to bringing in the best talent. Southwest Airlines encourages fun at work. They talk about how they “hire for attitude and train for skill”. Everyone, even the CEO, should be trained in good interviewing practices.

Q. How can a C-suite executive understand the HR nuances?
A. If the HR has business competencies, the CEO or others should be able to relate to him/her as easily as they do to each other. It is when HR is seen as an outsider who can talk only about HR-specific topics, that they have trouble relating to it.

The HR department should be able to talk the business language, read a profit and loss statement, and understand sales and marketing terms. In general, it should be able to understand what makes the business work! Read more..

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Persistent Performance Partnership

Q. What should CEOs do to ensure HR of their support in carrying out these functions smoothly?

A. First, they should start treating HR as a partner. They should give them the platform to speak on behalf of employees at the executive level and involve them in the business strategy and other important decisions that are taken in the company.

CEOs should also invest in the HR team to build themselves. In IT companies, usually all investments are made in training the technical people and there remains a want of efforts in helping people in the HR department.

Sometimes, HR team also needs exposure; they need to attend conferences and participate in business forums. A CEO should encourage them when they approach him with such requests. It is essential to understand that HR is not a support function and they are the business partners that help in meeting business goals.

Q. Do you think that the IT industry has fully explored the HR potential?
A. People are the real assets of IT companies and the company’s competency depends on the people they have. It is essential to recognise the importance of a good team and it is only good HR that can take care of the resources. Thus, we give a lot of importance on HR operations and invest in employees.

Q. How can the CEO assist HR in building the employer brand?
A. The CEO must assist HR in terms of creating an employer brand. At Persistent Systems, the HR team has a lot of ideas on how they can help. Mostly, they need encouragement and investment.

As far as the company’s overall brand strategy is concerned, the HR plays an integral part in it. The CEO should work along with the HR and provide it with whatever it needs to help the company develop a good brand within the employee community, and even outside the company.  Click here to read full interview...

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Superwoman of Group Buying

Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. Mrs. Anisha Singh, founder and CEO, Mydala.com, knew this well when she started the enterprise in December 2009. Her concept to start a group e-shopping by launching Mydala.com is today one of the leading web portals that offer immense opportunity to its customers to shop with ease while saving the big buck. With a Masters degree in political communication and an MBA in information systems from American University, Washington DC., Mrs. Singh, at just 21, joined the Clinton administration at the National Women’s Business Association. Here she helped women entrepreneurs raise funds for innovative women-led businesses. She then worked at Centra Software in Boston before returning to India and establishing Kinis (Software) Solutions, a provider of customised e-learning solutions to clients across US and India. “I was travelling back and forth for my first business, but after a period of time, my presence was not required 24x7 as things started to settle down and were taken care of by a management team. It was then that I started to think about what else I can do,” says Mrs. Singh, who feels that Indians have entrepreneurship inherent in them as is proved by the large number of hotels and motels being run by Indians throughout the world. Then Mydala.com happened.

She says, “I was working for 18 hours every day while setting up Mydala. In fact, I was in office till 10 pm before going to the hospital at 2 am to deliver my baby and attended my first business call after only four hours. I was back in office just 10 days after becoming a mother.” The hard work was worth it. Mydala.com is today one of the leading names in the realm of group buying. It currently has associations with 2000 plus merchants across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and has created savings for users to the tune of over INR 2 crore till date, she says. It offers deals from restaurants, saloons and spas and a host of other services at discounts ranging from 40 to 90 per cent. Just within two years of its launch from Delhi, it has a remarkable subscriber base of around one million. Click here to read more...

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What needs to be done?

Two types of solutions to the problem of groupthink have been suggested.

1. Solutions that seek to insert particular processes into meetings with the aim to ensuring effective debate and discussion. Organisations should set up several independent groups, working on the same problem. The board should invite outside experts into meetings to discuss key issues. Each member should discuss the group’s ideas with trusted people outside the group (That is, a coach or mentor). First, and not surprisingly, simply having a debate helps, as can extending the time available for discussion. Likewise, assigning at least one group member the role of devil’s advocate can affect decision-making positively.

2. Insight solutions that focus more on helping teams understand how they make decisions and the politics and biases involved.

Harvard Business School’s Professor Emeritus Chris Argyris says, simply creating debate is of uncertain use when the issues involved are potentially threatening or embarrassing to the participants. His method involves engaging executive groups collectively and individually as a coach/facilitator, giving them feedback, challenging their thinking and using focused exercises to help them reflect on how they operate. Click here to read more..

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Rajeev Narang (Vice President - HR, Tech Mahindra ltd.) explains why The Employee Graduate Scholarship Programme was his Best Decision

The success of the programme can also be measured with the significant drop in the attrition rate. It has come down to more than one-fourth for the BPO as compared to the overall attrition. Participation in pursuing the work integrated learning activities is greatly encouraged. These programmes are conducted in a collaborative environment with various premier national and international educational institutions. There are several objectives behind these activities; some are stated below: 1. Stable resourcing for existing business needs over four years. 2. Higher profile resourcing for future business needs in large numbers. 3. Value addition to fresh and experienced graduates. 4. Concurrency of learning opportunity and work experience. 5. Acquisition of post graduate degree in engineering. While there are various opportunities involving financial demands, some are fully funded by Tech Mahindra, some are partially funded, and others are conditionally funded. Currently employees can pursue these programmes from: BITS, Pilani; British Telecom – University College, London; IIT, Mumbai; and, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Click here to continue....

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Cricket World Cup 2011

IIPM Publication News

Immediately after the World Cup fever of 2007 subsides the fans would be counting the days to the next World Cup to be held in 2011. The 2011 Cricket World Cup will be the tenth time the tournament would be held. The World Cup of 2011 is scheduled to take place in the Indian sub-continent and the four countries that are going to host the 2011 World Cup are India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. India would host 22 matches, Pakistan 16, Sri Lanka 9 and Bangladesh 6. The final of the World Cup will be played at a state-of-the-art stadium to be built near the banks of the river Yamuna. The 2011 World Cup will also allow the non-Test Cricketing sides to compete.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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MICHAEL WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE ANSWER

Dell’s refashioning is largely to be better able to compete with HP, which under CEO Mark Hurd, has become a menacing threat. HP has been continuously leveraging its relationships with retailers to better target consumers, which has helped considerably in increased PC sales. According to market research firm IDC, Dell increased its market share to 16.4% (as compared to 15.5% in the previous quarter) as against HP’s dominant 18.9%. Dell recorded a 21.4% y-o-y much ahead of industry growth rate of 15.3%, but the growth has been at the cost of a substantial 17% drop in Q2 profit, which drastically resulted in plunging of shares. Brian Gladden, CFO, Dell, said in a statement, “Strategic actions to accelerate growth in certain areas of our business have affected gross margins this quarter.” However, Michael Dell said he is pleased with his broad-based growth, though he accepted that there are areas where Dell’s price cutting was “a bit too aggressive.”...Continue

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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• The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
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• IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
• Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
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