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Dr. Jasmeen Pawar

HR TUNES

Touching Chords of

Human Resource

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HR TUNES – Touching Chords of Human Resource

Copyright © Dr. Jasmeen Pawar, 2013

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1

Human resource is considered to be a centralized

part of any organization in the world and hence it

includes a lot of factors based on which the articles

given below have been written. These articles are

written based on experience, knowledge and

observation.

Shape up or Ship Out

"I will not do the work more than what is assigned to me. Sorry! I am just paid peanuts". "Making you multifaceted is merely a jargon used by private sector employees to exploit us and our skills". I am sure we hear this kind of conversation almost every day .It may be from our peer group at work or from our friends sitting with us in a group or even sometimes at home from our elders. The mind sets, the perspective or even the conviction in these statements depend on situations or an experience that employees carry with them in their day to day lives. In all this, there’s something that we all forget, that an employee is not just doing for the organization but also for his own motives to be accomplished. We do expect to rise up the ladder of success and we all want to be recognized at our workplace. Where, in this game of growing and giving back to the organization is evident ,there are numerous hidden facts and fundas which needs to be clearly understood by us if at all we seek RECOGNITION

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and GROWTH for our life. In the current scenario, there is a notion embedded in the minds of young management graduates or even job seekers that they just have to sit in a cabin and do some work which they later carry with them if at all they get hired and become rigid enough to shape themselves up. But, the real fact is, if an individual holds a degree or is merely doing a job for the heck of it then one can be called a FROG IN A POND. Then, the statements stated above are more evident with this group which I address as FROG IN A POND. It is always good to LEARN THE ROPES, i.e. get an expertise in one’s profile and then make one open to better opportunities. The more we open ourselves to opportunities the more we get prepared for challenges and this is the point where real learning of life happens. One who is rigid and desires to be multifaceted very easily faces the situation where he needs to ship out from his respective workplace and later POUND THE PAVEMENT that leads to frustration at a time when he gets completely saturated with this vicious circle of leaving jobs and searching for a new one. While the one who is open to shape out moves on a path completely different that gives him every opportunity to add new dimensions to his career path ,the other gets entangled in shipping themselves out. Every time he needs to prove his capability in the new environment to stabilize himself. The choice is always ours either to be a CREAM OF THE CROP or DEAD WOOD. If, we choose the

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former we shape up better else we ship out frequently. We are all architects of our own fortune. So, let us build the same by adopting SHAPE OUT rather than SHIP OUT!!!!

2

Hopping is not always fruitful "Had I planned a career in a systematic way I

would not have been hopping jobs like this." This is

a line which gets into my ears quite often and that

makes me wonder what may be the reason for

people to make such a statement. When people

step into Management studies they do have a lot of

absurd and incongruous reasons to back up their

reason behind choosing the same. That's the point

where the actual problem starts. It is quite easy to

say that I got a package of so and so on my first job

and it’s hard to some extent to sustain the same.

Getting a lucrative package, getting a job on the

campus …..Wow! This seems an amazing start of

career for a fresher. And the real story begins when

this same lucrative and remunerative package

becomes quite hard to sustain. Actually, the

problem starts when people step into careers they

never wanted to be into. This somehow relates to

poor focus or a lack of goal. The moment this lack

of goal comes in front this vicious circle of hopping

up jobs starts. Now lack of goal is one part of the

story but the other part reveals the truth i.e. lack of

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proper understanding and guidance too. This is

used as an excuse too.

Now when people keep hopping from one job to

another, somehow their own indecisiveness spoils

their CV or their profile. This happens merely

because the moment they appear for any interview

an HR gets mad on watching the CV of such

candidate who has changed 10 jobs in 5 years and

questions the credibility of such a candidate. It's not

about packages, designations, or even about the

brands you are working with, it is certainly about

the gratification level you have in your work that

matters the most. Until and unless an individual is

not sure about whether he loves his work it is

simply impossible to grow in his professional life.

The best solution for the same may vary from

person to person. But, one thing is for sure that it is

always good to run after what you really want

.Which stream attracts most of your attention?

What work gives you a sense of Gratification? Ask

yourself what your short term and long term goals

are and is it associated with the kind of profile you

have chosen for yourself. Ultimately it is not about

hopping 10 jobs and then getting satisfied. But, it is

about how well you grow in the profession you

choose for yourself.

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3

Withhold the top performers

In this market scenario, where dynamism persists

at every nook and corner, retention of the

employees still remains as one of the

biggest challenges posed on HR. Who says that

the notion “GRASS LOOKS GREENER ON THE

OTHER SIDE" is wrong? Well it is the same for the

employees who are eager to switch to the new

organizations with the ambiguity of attaining

packages and lots of benefits & compensations.

This concept of switching jobs is

well embedded among the top performers these

days and the moment January comes they start

eagerly waiting for April as it’s time for appraisals

and plans to move ahead. And this is exactly the

point where all the cost for training,

talent management and having performers within

the organization go in vain. This in turn increases

the level of stress and burden on the HR

department on a larger scale.

Problems persist in every organization and every

work. The need of the hour is not to sit back with

problems but in recognizing them and working out

solutions. One of the major problems is that the so

called top performers can always find jobs

elsewhere. These are the people who fall under

critical workforce segment showing consistent

performance and can simply succeed anywhere.

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This is another point which the HR needs to refocus

is letting employees work first in one sphere, get an

expertise rather than expect multitasking. Regular

training programs as per need should not be

ignored.

It is often good to retain your best talent rather than

working your way hard to find afresh. Right HR

planning at periodic intervals can work out the best

and get better outcomes. Also never be afraid of

transparent communication within the system

because if transparency does not persist disbelief

in the management rises among employees.HR

cannot deny the fact that top performers are

definitely assets which if lost, poses a great deal of

liability on the organization.

4

Go beyond saturation

Yes! Today no more is the task of HR limited to just

hiring, compensation and benefits, appraisals or let

us say firing. With dynamism everywhere, how

could HR roles stay saturated to the same limited

styles? The terminology of saturation is not

applicable anywhere now in the world of business

or the corporate scenario. We know that technology

brings breakthrough in some seconds and the

same happens in the case of HR where

management of diversified cultures is also a

challenge. Let me give you an example of Sam

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Walton who always worked hard on creating a

congenial corporate culture. Every employee was

equally important for him and he even established

certain sociological programs for getting insights

from employees which affect their working

behaviors.

Employees should be trained enough to contribute

towards a higher productive level. The teams need

to work in close association with each other and as

an HR manager, he or she should maintain a good

level of communication both with the senior

management and subordinates too. Understanding

the psychology of employees, working on regular

feedbacks, one to one interviews bring various

insights which work like a tool for designing &

implementing the new strategies.

Getting work done from employees needs a smart

approach and critical thinking along with problem

solving skills. The same stereo- type approaches of

just giving normal or standard appraisals after

particular tenure no more works as a motivation for

employees. Even this can no more be used to

retain the best talent within the organization which

indeed demands a movement beyond saturation.

This in turn demands reaching towards the heart of

employees and making them feel that they are a

part of the organization. Again coming up with the

example of Sam Walton, he had been one of the

first persons to bring in the approach of Profit

Sharing for employees. It makes them act as

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shareholders and keep in sync with the

organization. This creates a competitive edge for

employees both professionally and personally.

Poor people management leads to poor outcomes.

Employees who are being managed and trained

well think out of the box and come up with the

innovative solutions as and when required. In order

to build better teams engaged in reaching their

targets the concept of fun at work proves to be a

tonic to motivate as well as bring the employees

together .Working upon the areas which have

saturated can definitely help organizations in

setting higher benchmarks and GO BEYOND THE

SATURATION!!

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Manipulating volatile situations

The hiring was so poor that the employees

were neither trainable nor were they are worth it!!!

Such employees have become more of a liability on

the organization rather than an asset. But if we go

back to the basics we must check out and look at

the core hiring that had been done by an HR

recruiter himself who claims to be the best person

for choosing talent. And this is where, when

economy becomes volatile, fluctuations rise at

levels beyond limitations and interruption in normal

business behavior occurs. The most important thing

for an organization is having a talent within it who

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can handle such situations and above all have

a leader who can transform the situation to a win-

win.

The leadership which we call transformational

leadership in such situations becomes the need of

the hour. Organizations such as IBM, Infosys, and

Wipro have time and again worked upon what we

call people management. The actual problem

arises when people are themselves not aware of

what exactly they are expected to deliver.

A higher sense of responsibility lies on the

shoulders of the HR manager as he has to first

understand the organizational structure and

accordingly organize the training sessions for

employees .The dynamics in market and its ever

changing scenario demands the building up of

strategies which can ultimately help flourish the

business houses. It becomes essential to keep

employees acquainted with overall enhancement of

their skills which may help them in reaching their

strategic goals. These trainings and thorough

knowledge help in dealing with volatile times of

market.

This further requires identification of the key

contributors within the organization and having a

good hold over retaining such employees. These

volatile situations are involuntary but sometimes

they even bring a positive change and the after

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effects of the same can be enjoyed for a long

period of time. HR plays a significant role in such

conditions. Defining competencies and working

upon them to achieve strategic goals is very

important. HR needs to be accountable for

promoting an environment conducive to positive

change and setting goal expectations. Yes! It is

important to work on value addition but it cannot

be achieved without value creation.

6

ADVOCATING TEAM: CAN DO IT

ATTITUDE!

Just imagine you have a team who is about to play

a cricket match representing your department, but

in the team of 11,only 2 of them are good at

bowling, while 3 at batting, 4 do not know how to

play the game while the remaining 2 are not loyal

enough and can do match fixing too. How does this

relate to a team as HR? Well yes! This is the

scenario in our current teams wherein some people

are confident about their roles and know what they

have to do. Few of them are not even aware of

what has to be done, while a few just spread bad

words. Having such a junk can never take you

anywhere or rather land you nowhere. Yes! It’s

important to realize that if cricket teams are made

based on competency, I relate it to cricket as its

one of the most favorite games of almost a

maximum number of people then why can’t we

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have the members in a team working on the same

strategic goals and working smart enough

to achieve them.

The responsibility of this falls on the shoulders of

HR because again it is all about hiring the right

employee for the right job and looking out for the

right competencies required for the said job. The

biggest mistake we people make is while recruiting

.It’s hard to say but I have seen people come for an

interview and they are unable to justify their

resumes. Such candidates even if hired can never

be assets to the organization but they become a

liability and the employer later starts finding the

best way to fire such an employee. Then why the

hell should we hire such a candidate without even

finding out whether he or she fits in for the vacant

job profile or not?

Now winning the game is not a child's play,

similarly being at an edge also needs a lot of hard

work, smart work and persistence. When your team

knows clearly where to go, what is to be done, how

a particular goal has to be achieved and how you

expect them to conduct themselves in the pursuit of

that vision and goal, there's a good chance that you

will reap rich dividends for yourself and your team.

Once you have spent good time with every member

of your team and know their pitfalls too, it always

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get easier to strategically assign the work to

respective employees based on their

competencies. Again multi-tasking cannot be

accomplished in a day or two. Careful observation

of team members is equally required before you

decide on this part whether to make your employee

multi- faceted or make him perfect in a single role.

The passion among team members need to be the

same just like players playing a match in which

every member should be alert and definitely be so

consistent that achieving heights should not be an

impossible task for managers but rather I’M

POSSIBLE(IT’S POSSIBLE) and we can do it

attitude!!!

7

ACTUALIZE VIBRANT WORKFORCE

“My team is no more working the way it should",

“my employees are not giving their best"....Often

we come across such statements from managers

but I wonder how they forget that such responses

are an outcome of the ignorance of the managers

themselves. Why should we always blame an

employee or a team be criticized when it is the

same workforce we created ourselves. How can we

forget that? Yes! Managers do wake up, open your

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eyes and analyze what were the discrepancies on

your own part? Where did you ignore your teams

when they needed you the most? And why are the

levels of frustration so high among the employees?

We need to reshape the HR schema if we really

want to talk about creating the best of teams to

meet the organizational goals. Extensive support

should be given to the employees. They are more

sensitive these days and it is not only getting work

done keeping a stick on their heads but also more

of understanding them, focusing on their career

development and a sincere guidance in periodic

intervals.

I would like to relate an instance in this regard-

There was an employee who always performed

well and gave his best. Every time he worked more

than expected and also better than the other

members of his team. But his reporting manager

never supported him and also guidance was

negligent in his case. Slowly the graph of his

performance started falling down. While the other

team mates no matter how they performed they

were always in the manager's good books. This

attitude demoralized the employee to such an

extent that he lost faith in himself, his work and was

on the verge of resigning. But the manager senior

to his reporting manager tried to sort out and

motivated him to work again as he used to earlier.

Now in this case the responsibility of creating a bad

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team and having lesser outcomes does not fall on

the employee alone but also on the manager who

created an atrocious team.

When we say that it’s time for a transformation or

an age of rapid development it becomes equally

essential to create more vivacious and energetic

teams which are unbiased and where team mates’

opinion is carefully observed and taken as and

when required. Such teams enable business

success through engendering, improving and

sustaining the organizations competence.

Employees should be made a part of the

organization rather than making them feel that they

are load bearing donkeys. Respecting employees

and creating a good team is the best solution to

creating an edge and be distinct in whatever you

do. That is why we say” Having a vibrant workforce”

is the need of the hour

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TANTALIZING TO CONTROL

Managing talent and retaining the best of them is

not an easy task. Often when lured with an

opportunity of high packages and lucrative benefits,

there would hardly be an employee who won't

leave the organization and run for the better. And

again none other than an HR would be blamed for

the higher attrition rates and having employees with

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second thoughts on staying in their coveted jobs.

Why then should the HR alone be blamed? Why

should retaining talent be a problem for

organizations? Why then should recruitment by the

HR not be taken up as an urgent mission for getting

the right talent for the right job?

The stalwart behind having a good talent is:

working on” WE rather than I”. For this the most

accountable are the managers handling teams

wherein people need to work together rather than

for individual goals. This ultimately will help in

reaching the strategic goals of the organization in a

better way and engaging employees in the task at

hand rather than thinking about leaving jobs. It is

essential to strengthen the work culture and build a

talent powerhouse. Further the employees should

be encouraged towards contributing and supporting

Corporate Goals. Looking after employees’ career

interests is equally important in order to help them

succeed and grow in their current roles which may

help them in building a better future.

Ensuring that the right people are placed in right

positions for now and in future is equally important

to meet our corporate goals. The basic problem

comes when even the employees are not aware of

what is expected out of them and certain questions

that cloud the mind of an employee are:

- Do I have an opportunity to do what I am best at?

- Is my development relevant to my employer?

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- Will my good work ever be recognized?

- Do my opinions have any value here?

- Are there any opportunities to learn and grow?

When it comes to the question of an employee

belonging to the organization, probably a doubt

arises in terms of his retention. The cardinal fact

behind this doubt lies in the front of the employer to

hire an employee with the right set of skills for the

right job. This further has the following requisites:

- The selection should be for the right TALENT

rather than experience, determination and

intelligence.

- The Expectations from an employee should be

well set and guided, so that they may achieve the

same.

- It’s important to keep an Employee motivated by

focusing on his/ her strengths rather than

weakness.

- Look for the right FIT for the right profile rather

than just filling the organization with unskilled

people.

- Study your people well and spend time with them.

- Do your best to cultivate the talent of your

employee.

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Again if the bad happens it comes on the shoulder

of an HR but one must not forget that good is also

an HR's takeaway. So having the right talent and

temptation of controlling the same with an

organization made me work on a thought –

TANTALIZING TO CONTROL!!!

9

REPOSE YOURSELF

Working all time, being stressed with heavy

workload, deadlines, targets, performance...oh my

god!! There is so much I need to do. Suddenly a

voice came from my heart, Hold on...what are you

running for? You will end up losing all your

enthusiasm and energy. All you need to do now for

yourself and the people you are working with is

REPOSE yourself and stay calm. Yes! We often

forget this and keep ourselves all the time so much

hooked up with work, that we never relish the joys

of life.

Who says a person who works like a clock will

definitely be successful in all spheres. If you do not

relax how will you perform better? It is like this that

people rarely succeed if they do not have fun in

what they are doing. So, sometimes having fun in

what you do is more important than working 20 hrs.

a day. It’s better to work 5 hrs. And get high levels

of productivity rather than sitting 20 hrs. and getting

no output. Definitely this is an individual's

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responsibility to perform well and come up with

bright colors for his own growth. But since a team is

formed by the members of its group, it again is the

responsibility of the Manager or an employer to

have an overview of the changing patterns in his

team, the way the members in the team work and

how each of them works under different conditions

and situations.

Keeping the team together and understanding their

needs is the sole responsibility of an employer.

Therefore it is essential to create a team of

employees who are jovial, buoyant and happy at

heart. So having FUN AT WORK is what I mean.

Having some fun element often contributes to

giving good times and building good relations too.

It is often said and believed that HAPPY

EMPLOYEES = HAPPY CUSTOMERS. So having

happy employees is equally important as they are

the face of organization. It is important that we take

small breaks in between if we aspire to achieve our

dreams because the right way to reaching solutions

and finding a way to dreams comes from working

hard and efficiently. And this is not possible until

and unless we repose ourselves timely. The more

you stay happy the better are the results you come

out with. Finally, an HR is expected to create the

HPT's i.e. High performance Teams which

definitely needs employees who are motivated

themselves from within and working towards the

strategic goals of organization.

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REPOSE YOURSELF AND WORK TOWARDS

YOUR GOALS IN AN EFFICIENT MANNER!!

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EVEN EMPLOYERS NEED TO LEARN

The employers expect to have a good team which

gives high performance, high revenue, very high

productivity, and competitive advantage.........it is a

never ending list which is expected from its

employees. But why do they forget the fact that it is

only the Employees who can either break or make

an organization. Often lectures are given on

motivation of employees but there lies a lot of

difference in speaking, delivering and

implementing. Employees are the face of an

organization or I must say the primary asset for

organization.

The employers sometimes fail to create an aura for

its team/ employees which in turn creates an

impact on their performance. This in some way

stops their personal and professional growth which

definitely becomes negative for the steps of

success which can be related well to a metaphor –

Using the right steps to the ladder we call staircase.

The wisdom, authenticity, creativity and factualness

gets missed which is expected from its employees.

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When all these facts are so important and

employers look out for these, how can they miss

something really important i.e. respecting its

employees and understanding their needs? The

most common error made by employers is when

their behavior is biased and they forget it is a team;

it is not one person who leads it. Self-development

for employees is equally important but in an

environment where intellect is hardly valued, how

will people grow? How will an employee be

competent enough to give his best? No matter what

we say, it may even come from within to succeed

but when the employers miss out on understanding

their employees and finding out what is hampering

their performance they can never create Top

Performing Teams which is often called- TPTs.

Employers must first educate themselves on how to

overcome their own shortcomings because

employees learn from their seniors as it is often

said- Kids learn from parents! Similarly even

employees learn from their reporting managers. But

if these reporting managers are themselves Lousy,

Procrastinators, Biased who don’t not recognize

and value their presence...probably they need to be

prepared enough to face the same. It’s often said-

GIVE AND TAKE RESPECT! So the moment an

employer forgets this, he himself loses his respect

in the eyes of the employees too.

The moment the employers learn some basic facts

which even include the basic courtesies, there

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won’t be an HR fighting for the basic problem of

Employee Attrition and searching the right talent &

a right candidate for creating high performance

teams. And no more will an employee cry out his

heart and say EVEN EMPLOYERS NEED TO

LEARN!!!!

11

HR - AN IMPULSIVE FIELD

It’s been said & I must say believed that if things

remain the same and don't change, then one day

we get bored of it or stagnancy levels raise.

Ultimately that particular thing loses its charm. The

same holds good in terms of Human Resource

Management or what we say personnel

management. The changing trends and dynamism

is a part of the word called "Globalization”. Not only

are the private organizations concerned about the

personnel management but the government firms

have also shifted their focus towards this field. This

remarkable change has been seen in the line of HR

managers with time. Recruitment which was prior to

1992 was not a very tough phase has now become

a prime responsibility of HR manager and an affair

that needs a lot of attention. If recruitment is not

done properly, it leads to various other problems in

an organization.

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The prime focus of HR management is no more just

the selection of an employee but their roles have

become far more vulnerable & flexible. HR

department is now considered to be an impulsive

area around which rotates almost every other

sector of an organization. The firms are now more

result oriented and performance based. An

employee is considered now to be an asset of an

organization. But there is one discrepancy which

needs a solution that people need to be more in

sync with each other within the organization. The

role clarity and a good relationship management

with senior personnel can help in achieving the

goals at a much faster pace.

The organizations still need to be more focused

and inclined towards the human resource

management. These days it is not only about hard

work but also a lot about being smart enough to do

the work and get efficient outcomes. Getting the

best of outcomes requires a proper understanding

of the employee’s psychology. It needs

understanding of the work culture, the gap among

employees in terms of competencies and efficiency

and how they contribute towards productivity. On

the basis of this understanding training needs to be

designed and timely implemented for the benefit of

the employees. Not only is the training important for

employees but also for the employers too.

Among other things in an organization proper

coordination is still lacking and it needs to be

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worked upon. To survive in the growing

competition the managers have to understand and

adopt the new trends. The responsibility of success

or failure of an organization depends a lot on how

well the HR managers take up the work and get the

work done by the employees of their organizations.

Since this field has shown a lot of changes with

time and is also stepping ahead with new trends

every now and then, henceforth it’s not wrong to

say that yes – HR IS AN IMPULSIVE FIELD....

12

MULTI ETHNIC WORKFORCE

It was considered traditional by the people to stay

confined to their hometowns and they hardly

preferred to move to other cities for work. Rather

the gratification among employees was quite high

in terms of work & the organization where

employees used to work. This aspect of being

satisfied is now getting lost somewhere and it is not

only employees’ own motivation level which is

coming down but a lot for this is organization

culture which is responsible. Post liberalization and

adoption of globalization by India has changed its

face to a great extent. Work patterns, job roles and

responsibilities, preferences have shown a

tremendous change.

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Post liberalization various international firms

stepped in and even the investment plan by FII has

shown a great deal of change. The scenario has

changed so much that now in 2011, hardly there is

any multinational which does not have its

operations in India. As a result of this one can find

people from diverse backgrounds and cultures

working together with each other in the same

organizations. And here the responsibility of having

a good organization culture within the system

among this multiethnic workforce lies on the

shoulders of the leader.

We are well aware of the fact that Indian

workplaces are one of the most ethnically diverse

places. Somehow there is a differentiation among

employees from different regions in terms of their

diverse expectations. It is the responsibility of the

manager to take care of the individual behaviors

and adjustment of employees in their particular

environment. No matter to which region they belong

to an employee who feels responsible to his work,

obviously contributes higher in terms of meeting the

organizations goals.

In such a case the leaders need to understand the

need of its employees. The needs of employees

differ at individual bases but some of them are

definitely generic and those needs move around -

Guidance & Support, which every employee

expects. Then comes favorable work environment

& this favorable environment is created by the

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workforce no matter to which ethnicity it belongs.

The important thing which leaders should take care

of is providing recognition & appreciation.

The diversity of the workforce or the region/culture

the employee comes from is immaterial. All that

matters the most is how cordial the workforce is

with each other. How well the business is

understood by them, how well they coordinate and

move towards their goal. The workforce is the

primary asset for an organization and must say it is

the best brand ambassador.

13

RETICULATED EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE AND GRATIFICATION

The important parameters in the purview of an HR

professional are being concerned about an

employee’s attitude which is quite clearly depicted

by his behavior and the job satisfaction levels. Even

though job satisfaction levels vary for every

employee the organizational programs & the

management practices create a deep impact on the

productivity level of employees. The Management

schools give an impressive and good lecture on -

Organizational behaviors, attitude building & so on.

So, how much does each employee implement

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those lectures in their practical life? Hardly do we

find the employees interacting with each other.

The responsibility of choosing a right employee for

a right job i.e. the one who matches well with the

requirement of job lies completely on the shoulders

of the HR professional. Work situation matters a lot

in terms of job satisfaction and organizational

impact. Employee attitudes and outcomes are

directly related to each other. If somewhere the

employees are not motivated enough to give results

and doing work just for the sake of doing it, then an

HR professional is accountable for the same. HR

department is considered to be the center or rather

I must re name it as the Heart of any organization

from where the entire operation or business is

regulated. The callous attitude of the HR

professional paralyses the entire system such as

the employee’s attitudes and their job satisfaction

directly and smashes up the outcomes.

Some core factors which help in forming the

employee’s attitudes are-

- Career development.

- Relationship with management.

- Compensation and benefits.

- Work environment.

Lacking clear and defined roles make things worse

as an individual loses his focus on his core area

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and will be unable to deliver what is expected out of

him / her. The satisfaction of job revolves around

fulfillment, commitment and engagement put into

the assigned work. Recognition of an employee’s

efforts is equally important. One can get

satisfaction when there’s a - hike in salary, better

compensation, promotions to higher level and of

course more benefits. Such perks definitely act like

a value addition and encourages an employee to

work towards his goal. Insufficient knowledge,

inability to select qualified and good competent

workers for a particular job, lack of communication,

lack of job definitions are the factors which affect

job satisfaction negatively. The management

should keep a check on overcoming these

discrepancies so that the ultimate aim of achieving

goals and strategic requirements of the

organization are met timely and in an effective way.

Job satisfaction and sincerity to job affect each

other reciprocally and have an impact on

performance levels. Efforts to improve the

processes and practices within the organization are

essential in order to have a good healthy

environment. At last the most important factor is

that happy employees are more productive.

Creating happy employees and keeping them

engaged towards their work ultimately results in

having higher levels of job satisfaction. The attitude

of employees and their satisfaction is practically

relevant and henceforth organizations should focus

on the same.

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14

INTERLUDE IN PERFORMANCE LEVEL

Generating high revenues and high incomes are

the core aims of any business or an organization

because these organizations have this kind of

Business Model. Strategies and plans are made at

almost every quarter meetings & even reviews are

done, but still there exists a gap in terms of setting

up right strategies and further it even goes beyond

the setting up of those strategies is the right

implementation. YOUR PEOPLE ARE YOUR

BUSINESS. One cannot forget this fact that no

matter what your strategy, or your marketing plan,

IT system, finance department, management

information system all put together cannot make

that difference which even people in an

organization can make. People are considered to

be the key to success. So to transform business,

it’s essential to transform your people.

So the need of the hour is to take personal

responsibility for their performance, as well that of

the overall work. Once the people in the

organization engage in doing this, probably the

levels of performance can be much higher and

even productivity levels rise higher. This gap has

been found in organizations due to various

reasons. Having said this a few of them are as

follows-

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The organizations rarely track the performance

against the top priority goals which had been set.

No communication within the organization.

No follow ups.

Performance bottlenecks are not visible to top

management in various situations.

Strategy & top priority needs do not match the

same wavelength.

Issues like how well the team communicates

tackles difficult assignments as well as create short

& long term plans & hold themselves accountable

for results matters a lot. The biggest disparity lies in

delivering the right message to people. They are

hardly aware of what is expected out of them.

Moreover it’s really painful to see people who do

not have clarity in terms of the roles assigned to

them. Job responsibility comes later; people are not

even clear about their job roles. This discrepancy is

not because the middle management or lower

management people are not willing to work, but it is

probably because the higher management hardly

takes time out to discuss with its people about the

difficulties they are facing.

It’s essential to have clear & defined roles for each

employee in an organization & then we can expect

higher productivity. Problems are endless, but if we

carefully analyze this interlude & try to find out the

solutions then success may not be far and even

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organizations can reach their goals in a short span

of time. All that is needed is to keep a track of

things and have them moving right.

15

Employee training is a pronominal task

When it comes to the point of larger productivity

and better outcomes then one cannot ignore the

fact that the right kind of skill set is required at the

right place. The same holds good even when we

talk about the professional environment or even the

social segment wherein we all come across

different responsibilities and areas of work. No one

is born with technical or soft skills, these skills are

developed with time and henceforth the employees

in an organization must understand the value of the

same. Some of them even find training as a waste

of time and for them I must say" Knowledge never

goes Waste". Probably the new things that they can

acquire from training can help them in motivating

themselves and acquainted in facing new

challenges that comes across.

So in this competitive era where the level of

competition is high in every field then, how could

Training & Development stay behind? With the

need to maximize the individual and organizational

effectiveness, technical (hard) skills and soft skills

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both play an important role and require attention.

But generally it has been observed that the focus of

most of the organizations is more on Technical

skills rather than the soft skills. But the customer of

today or your audience is no more interested in

Gyan(Knowledge), everyone wants the speaker to

understand their psychology and their mindset. So

this definitely requires a lot of brainstorming on the

part of the trainer. To put it in a nutshell one cannot

ignore that training is a must for all, whether he or

she is a part of the senior, middle or lower

management.

Now that we know that training is important for all,

the structured training programs are a must for all

the employees. It’s to make them aware that they

are the organization's future and by giving their

best they can one day turn out to be leaders. The

ultimate aim here is to keep employees engaged in

the task assigned and also be accountable for their

work. Ideally organizations hire the people who

acquire the skills required for a particular job but as

it is said that with time, wear and tear occurs or can

say depreciation occurs, so having said that I would

say that everyone needs to brush up his skills. This

procedure of brushing up skills is giving training as

and when required.

Well it is said that training is expensive but if people

don't value training it becomes even more

expensive. Even in the training most important

thing is to understand the psychology and mindset

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of the target group because it helps in retaining

them. Training for employees is important because

it contributes to the organization’s competitiveness.

In other words it often helps in creating a

competitive advantage as for e.g. it helped in case

of - Rosewood Hotels, Hard rock café etc. Good

training offers good facilities to employees in terms

of their effectiveness and enhances their

performance levels.

Training creates a lot of difference and even helps

employees in getting to the heights which they are

craving for and looking forward to.

16

TRAINING AS A CARPENTER TOOL

Training & development has gained tremendous

recognition in the past 5 years and is widely

adopted. But there are instances when people run

away from training or they think it as a waste of

time. This has proved to be a curse for some

organizations that aim at bringing improvement

using this tool. This tool of training and

development is no more different from a carpenter’s

tool which he uses to pound and get a job in some

cases, while in some to sustain the job. No doubt it

is a widely accepted concept now and Human

Resource department is laying a great emphasis on

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the same but let me just ask a question from every

trainer – Are you targeting the right audience?

When a carpenter pounds a nail into the log of

wood he is aware if the wood is suitable for this

work or not. Similarly when I compare training to a

carpenter’s tool, I mean that training needs to be

given to the right people, at the right time and

where it is required. This in turn means that a good

analysis is mandatory before deciding what kind of

training has to be given. At last it’s important to

make trainings effective & productive. Now it’s not

predefined that training can always create effective

employees because it requires equal participation

from the participants too.

Evaluating the persisting problems within an

organization and then working on those is one way

to achieve a successful training. There are a lot of

expectations from an employee and a certain kind

of skill set is required for a certain job. So, in order

to achieve the same, training needs to be taken

seriously. For example- in an organization a trainer

might be hired for the purpose of providing training

to employees timely and in a systematic manner. If

the burden increases and more responsibility is

thrust, then a trainer may have to serve other roles

also. For instance he may have to even tackle

customer related problems who walk in to the

organization for their queries. So in that case it is

essential to make this employee acquainted with

the training on customer handling. Here training

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can help people accept the challenges of evolving

jobs.

If nothing changes in the world and everything is

stagnant or there is a lack of dynamics in the

organizations, then in that case no one needs to

emphasize on training. Training is insignificant if it

is done for an employee’s development and would

be less critical to an organization’s success. So this

follows the need to analyze not only the part of an

employee’s development but also keeping the

accomplishment of organization’s objectives clearly

in mind. A clear look on the significant changes that

have taken place in the organization is essential.

Training needs arise from various circumstances-

· The installation of new equipment or techniques

into the system.

· Change in the working methods or products.

· Labor shortage.

· A desire to improve quality.

· An increase in number of accidents.

· Promotion or transfer of employees.

There can be more reasons for having trainings but

yes the ultimate aim lies in having productive

outcomes from them. The carpenter spends hours

a day to cut wood and provide us with many

products similarly training creates a lot of difference

P a g e | 37

if given at the right place at the right time and again

with the right kind of attitude. Keeping in mind the

beneficial reasons behind training it should be

made mandatory and be followed and taken

seriously.

17

MY FIRST EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

I still remember the induction program of my First

job where in all the newly appointed candidates

were made to sit in front of a trainer. There were so

many questions in our minds like what were we

doing there? What we had to do? Are we going to

be paid on time or not? When would be getting our

salary hikes? How do they evaluate our

performances? What are the company’s rules and

regulations? What do they expect of us? All such

questions made me realize that there might be

some catch for sure else why did they hire us? And

then the trainer came up with some pages in his

hands and a small booklet. I was wondering if it is

again back to school days some test/ grilling or

what? And then I heard a voice which said – Hi

dear welcome to the organization and this is your

handbook. Then I realized it was an Employee

Handbook. Once I opened the same, many of my

unanswered queries got clear.

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So, as the organizations grow, it becomes

increasingly important to have a known or

structured set of rules and guidelines to address

everyday issues. The Employee hand books help in

explaining the employment policies and the

consequences for violating those policies. Yes, I

mean the handbook although small gives a clear

idea of what the policies of the organization are and

by not abiding by rules it can lead to negative

consequences. Moreover the good part is that

every employee has to follow the same rules and

regulations which have to be clearly understood.

So every employee handbook in general has some

features which are as follows-

- Introduction – which states a message from the

Managing Director, company Chairman. This later

gives an idea about what the organization is all

about, the culture and history of the organization.

- Pay & salaries – i.e. the salary which will be paid,

tax deductions and how they are calculated.

- Performance reviews- which covers the appraisal

programs and how often the appraisal would be

done. Also it mentions the evaluating criteria.

- Benefits- this includes the benefits which will be

given to employees.

- Discipline – the maintenance of decorum is

essential in every organization and doing anything

against it is not good for employees.

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- Employee safety- it includes the safety of its

employees in their organization.

- Complaints – how complaints have to be handled

is also included in this.

Any unconditional promises which the organization

will not fulfill should not be included in the

handbook. This handbook once reviewed

thoroughly is one way to get all the information in

just a few minutes about the organization. Most

importantly the right to change policies as and

when needed must be included in the hand book,

as the kind of dynamics which this market is going

through anything is possible. But sometimes

employees may argue later for things not included

in the handbook which must be made clear at their

induction period.

So this handbook, for many employees like me,

stays in the mind as a memory with which one can

carry a little knowledge about the organization to

which one is associated now or even after one

takes up another one.

18

PATH TOWARDS SUCCESS

Success stories in life do not happen in a day or

two. If that had been the case, every person on this

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earth would have carried the tag of being

successful in their resumes and lives. It is not fable,

when we state that only 5 % of the people are

successful in this world. A major chunk of the world

becomes a follower rather than being a leader and

hence 95 out of the 100 people in this world have

no clue to where success lies. As it is impossible to

live like everybody and hope for financial success

at the same time.

One of the most important elements for being

successful is passion and desire. Never mix the

words desire and wish as they both have different

meanings. Many a time it happens that an idea

comes to mind, but what would an idea alone do. It

requires an action too.

1- If you dream follow it and achieve it

For this it is extremely important to follow your

dream. Rather I would say before you follow it, be

clear in your mind what your dream is? What are

you striving to achieve in your life? This is later

carried forward by following your dream. So it’s

better to be calm, composed and give a though to

what you want to achieve. A better idea would be to

take a paper and jot down the list of your dreams

because we all have many of them. All it needs is

to go in a systematic manner and once you

complete this step it means your first step is done.

2- Once started – follow your dreams one by one

per day

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Don’t rush! Hold on. It is impossible to achieve your

dreams in a day. Certainly, now you are at a point

where you know what you want and so you can

plan systematically to achieve each of them.

It is a lot about one’s firm determination to achieve

something in life and be successful. Many a time

we come across situations where failures become

our day to day partners and one day that partner

bugs us so much that we feel frustrated and loose

hopes. But we ourselves have to fight those bugs

and come up again as each individual stands for

himself on this earth. No one comes at your rescue

when you face problems. So it is better to be a

fighter than a looser. Who says that you cannot rise

after a downfall! This is absolutely wrong. Having

the zeal to succeed can help in fighting against any

odds and make us shine. You are the maker of

your own destiny whether you are

married/unmarried/working in an office/having a

business one must have the right focus, direction

and above all the right intention to be successful.

IN THE JOB-

Often people in jobs come across numerous

problems, ranging from workloads to competition to

preference given to a non-deserving colleague. But

success is above all these excuses. The one who

aims to be successful in his job goes beyond all

these and comes up by creating an edge in his

P a g e | 42

performance. For such an individual I agree that

climbing the ladder of success is not that difficult or

easy. So, one thing is clear that one needs to have

a strong passion in ones heart to reach that

particular point. You may face many hurdles as well

as setbacks but success comes when you go

beyond these hurdles. Look for what you desire

because desire comes from heart and not from

mind. Heart controls emotions and mind controls

magic. If there is a conflict between emotion & logic

then every time it is emotion that wins. So give your

best input to reach the point where you think

success lies for you. Now this never means that

you will reach that point in a day or two, it takes

time. Once you are well equipped with the

knowledge at core basic level then it becomes quite

smooth and easy to reach the upper levels in your

job.

IN THE BUSINESS –

One of the common mistakes which people make

while they venture into some business is that they

do not perceive if the idea with which they are

entering market will be accepted or not. It’s

essential to find out which area has potential for

your business. For eg- Buying property in a remote

area where no urban population or let’s say even

rural population stays around, and planning to have

a shop there means an absurd idea in itself. So it’s

P a g e | 43

better to look out for a potential market where you

are planning to enter. In business again, the zeal

along with passion and above all experience

matters a lot. It is never wrong to take advice from

the learned men in fact it is rather fruitful. The

bigwigs in business started with a scratch and that

too at times when none had any awareness of what

markets were? What is IT? What is technology &

globalization? But now times have changed

Entrepreneurship is a widely accepted area and

many people are making good revenue out of it.

But this in itself needs a careful planning, right set

of strategies and mindset.

The most important point that I would like to add

here is that right and positive attitude is even more

essential than knowledge. Now in business it is

also essential to understand what is the statistics of

the market? Is the economy showing an upward

trend or not? Whether the business you want to

enter into is acceptable in the market or not? Who

are your competitors? What are they doing to reach

that particular point? How to create an edge and

capture the large part of the market? How to form a

customer base? Who are your potential

consumers? What is your target in the market?

Leaders are those who have a strong strategic

vision. It’s important to design an efficient business

plan and then train & motivate the workforce

towards it. For this one needs to have a capable

workforce, a good relationship management as

P a g e | 44

good contact helps in its own way. Successful

companies have strong relationships with their

customers and this leads to rapid sales, higher

profit margins and lower customer acquisition

costs.

So for being successful it is always good to

remember this –

"The difference between a successful person and

others is not lack of strength, nor lack of

knowledge, but rather a lack of will." Vincent T.

Lombardi

19

COG IN THE WHEEL- HR

Human resource is just like a steward and an

enabler to the organization. Here managing talent

is just like the mainstream to the success of the

organization. Certain implementation of the

programs or the lack of doing something incorrect

creates a dissonance and here it is well compared

to the Cog in the wheel which if once it creates a

problem in rotation then it’s entire balance gets

disturbed. So, human resources department has to

shoulder the responsibilities carefully as it comes

across as the central point for the management.

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Their failure can distract the normal balance of

organizations and rather the organizations which

face a downturn are actually in that situation

somehow by the kind of problem created by the HR

department.

If the HR hasn’t understood or there’s no clarity

about its business focus then it means that it is the

starting point for some major problem yet to come.

One thing is clear; if business focus is unclear then

it is just like a disaster. In such a case, even if the

best practice is given by the HR personnel or the

best policy is implemented they won’t work. Trust

me all the hard work goes in vain when the

business focus is not clear. Moreover the senior

management sometimes behaves as if the HR is a

puppet who must dance to their tune. Now this is

wrong! An HR has all the rights to raise his voice

and clarify the employee’s doubts making them

sure of their defined roles.

Also it is important to have regular audits and HR

processes to be reviewed timely. Now as the

economic environment changes business requisites

also change. Proper assessment of the HR

personnel should be done. Also one must not forget

the kind of effort an HR has to put forward in all the

processes right from staffing solutions to training

employees. Regular feedback from the seniors is

essential. Some of the HR processes even lead to

failures if unchecked and the famous example for

this is the Toyota crash by HR people. The reason

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for failure in this case was not one but many. It

started with rewards and recognition that fueled

sales but safety based inputs were ignored. Even

the corporate culture was biased towards any

positive information. The leadership, retention and

risk assessment by the HR missed identifying the

revenue impact of human error. So in all it created

a kind of mess and led to crash for Toyota.

HR needs to understand the behavior. The

sentiments in banking and financial sector remain

volatile as talent behavior corresponds with the

market swings. The focus of the HR should be very

clear. While hiring decisions are made because an

employee hired has to be trained and training itself

demands lot of expenses. Sometimes the decision

to hire the wrong employee and later the attrition

rates in the organization actually mess up the

things.

So the reasons for shambles by the HR can be

many but the point lies in finding out solutions. It’s

very important to understand the maturity level of

the organization before deciding to take any

decision. Since HR is a part of the organization

where in major functions rotate so a HR personnel

needs to be clear, knowledgeable and strategic in

taking decisions for the organization because if this

cog in the wheel creates a problem then, an

imbalance can lead to major defaults.

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20

LATEST IN HR- COMPETENCY MAPPING

Every one dreams to be a star performer in some

way or the other in the respective organizations.

But is it that easy to be a star performer? No! It

requires a lot of hard work and sincerity,

Knowledge and intelligence is what makes one

competent enough in the working environment.

Along with this some other features are also

required to excel in the job. Good managers often

look for traits which are essential to do the job

effectively and work to bring positive outcomes.

The psychologists in organizations have refined

their understanding and converted it into the

process which is known as competency mapping.

This is a tool used by HR professionals to find the

right person for the particular job requirement.

It has emerged to be a tool used by the HR

professionals to find out what set of skills is

required for a particular job and how to achieve the

same. So this is the process which assesses and

determines one's strength as an individual worker

and in some cases as a part of an organization. It is

essential to find out the areas where an employee

has a good hold because when the task assigned

to him is related to that area then he can

accomplish the same in a shorter span of time and

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get a better outcome. So basically this term

Competency Mapping rotates around two main

factors- Emotional intelligence and Strength of a

person in a particular area.

The right way of getting results from a team

requires one to be a good team manager or I can

say a good team leader. The one who understands

the team building process definitely has a good

team structure and hence can give effective results.

Taking the right decision at the right time is equally

important. This concept of Competency Mapping is

now widely accepted and large organizations are

using the same to understand effectively how

competent the strength of workers is. Even various

types of procedures are used for the same-

1- Employees are provided with a Questionnaire,

basically to ask them what they are engaged in,

what more skills are required in order to get a more

improvised performance.

2- Once the similarities in answers obtained

through the questionnaires are noted a competency

based job description is prepared and presented to

the personnel department for their feedback on it.

3- Final step involves mapping of ability to

benchmark and then decide the rest of the tasks to

be assigned accordingly.

This concept in India is a new one and has been

recently adopted by various. But still it is a question

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mark if it has been seriously adopted or not. This is

a kind of mapping that helps in defining some

success criteria in one's career and is beneficial

both at individual and organizational level. But yes

some organizations even face problem in adopting

it completely. They sometimes make the mistake of

having the right set of procedure for the same and

this leads to wastage of time. Moreover in some

cases the incorrect assessment itself leads to a lot

of problems being posed and faulty cases. All that

is required is to have the right understanding of

what is being adopted and how it has to be

implemented so that the latest trends and

outcomes in HR bring lucrative results rather than

drawback.

21

HR & SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has emerged as a powerful tool in all

aspects of business and every field is engaged in

this area, so how can the HR stay away from the

same. It is also a notion that social media motivates

the employees. Moreover the branding and

promotions are best done and spread to wider

network by the use of social networking and media.

This discipline deals with selecting the appropriate

social media sites and formats from a myriad of

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options which are available and leveraging the

same in order to create value for an organization.

Engaging in HR and social media requires an in

depth understanding of the key benefits, the

drawbacks which are related to social media & also

managing the same in a proper way. It means that

now social media can be at best used for effective

Human resource management which includes

Recruitment, Collaboration and Engagement of

employees at all levels. Since there are a lot of

forums now where the discussions are related to

various HR topics so this keeps them more

engaged at all levels.

As such the social media has become a model for

Employee interaction. Sharing of information

through various HR portals and forums has now

made interaction and discussions easier. Now- a-

days even, the use of Face book, LinkedIn and

Twitter is not only limited to sharing videos and

photos but their use has also widened engulfing

into recruitment, branding and customer contract.

Even the same is used for capturing knowledge

and sharing the same. Formal and informal

learning, collaboration and communication &

engagement are some of the uses.

The business network allows an employee to post

professional and personal information. Various

other tools like micro blogging, blogging, instant

messaging are now in. All these tools are available

through various forums and have their own

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platforms which are used even by HR professionals

on a larger scale. So these things are used to

connect, communicate and collaborate

globally/nationally with other employees effectively.

The trend is now focused on these social business

networks which need to be distinguished from

social public networks. As the trends change, it is

essential to change with the same and adopt them.

Now HR & Social media are well connected with

each other.

22

3R & HR- INNOVATION IN ITS OWN WAY

Innovation is the word which is being heard almost

everywhere in the corporate from one wing to the

other. Every senior tells his sub-ordinate to come

forward with innovative ideas else the things won’t

work. Well some have a misconception that HR has

no role in this so called INNOVATION. But the truth

is that HR in any company contributes a major

share in the innovation of the Success formula.

This follows the fact that the functions of the HR

have an impact on the innovation capacity of an

organization. This impact needs to be a positive

one.

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HR reinforcement acts in terms of innovation and

here it is not required to move out of the world to do

something extra or strange. All that HR needs is to

focus on its 3R's i.e. -

- Recruitment in an effective way

- Rewards as per requirement.

- Retention of the talent.

Some way or the other, the most positive and

effective impact in the organizations is best created

by HR personnel, provided they give their best to

the task they hold on to. Thus HR plays an

essential role in contributing to the corporate

innovative agenda.

Recruitment: is one major thing which should

be done carefully. Effective recruitment is a tedious

task and one that requires a great deal of attention

at all times. So this begins with hiring the best

people to work for you in your Organization. So HR

must take care and work diligently to ensure that

the right systems are in place to attract, identify and

hire the best talent which becomes a driving force

for innovation. So contribution to innovation does

not mean going to the market and searching for any

innovation GURU. Here it means to have the top

talent, with good knowledge at all levels from junior

to the top management executives. This sounds

quite easy but it is actually a hard task to

accomplish. No one can be blamed for this, as it

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has been seen that even the HR managers

sometimes have made mistake over the years on

their patterns of recruitment and the kind of staff

they hire. The HR should take advice from the other

people in the organization too to hire the best

talent.HR should provide special interviewing

classes and skills to the managers who are

engaged in hiring.

Rewards: When we put in our best inputs to the

task assigned to us we often expect recognition.

Now this core area has also to be handled by the

HR as it holds a specific meaning in a working

environment. So having reward mechanisms at the

right place is essential and also requires innovation,

in terms of building and working upon

compensation strategies, performance

management tools and reward programs. So the

HR should work upon its resources timely and

come up with new ideas.

Retention: Now from the time an employee who

is hired is connected with the organization in one or

the other way, the HR plays an important role.

Retention of talent is equally essential. Here the

prime objective should be retaining the top

performers as they have a higher tendency to move

forward and switch when offered with more

lucrative packages. It is important to make these

people realize that they are the key people in the

organization. It is now the responsibility of the HR

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to hold onto the performer before he or she takes a

decision to leave.

All the terms and conditions of the HR and

innovations revolve in some or other way around

the 3R's.Tackling them effectively reduces half the

burden of the HR. Things can be worked out

effectively to make the HR an important contributor

towards what we say INNOVATION.

23

RECRUITMENT PRIORITIES KEEP CHANGING

Gone are the days when parents used to insist that

a high score will take you high in life. The

recruitment pattern has changed a lot. In the past

few years where the academic records which if

definitely are excellent enough need to have a

background of practical skills too. These days

studying hard and having good marks on the report

cards is not considered to be a big thing. If you are

competent enough to survive and stand for yourself

in this tough practical world, then you will be shown

a path towards success and promotions, as the

marks in your report cards are not considered when

hiring a candidate or even when appraisals are

done.

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This is something logical and even practical. If we

read/hear the success stories of such individuals,

then we come to know that they never come up in a

day or two or with good academics rather they

come up with Good leadership skills, Effective

management, Teamwork and Hard work. So,

extracurricular activity is a good source which

creates a positive impact upon your personality

level too. This helps as these qualities speak about

the traits, strengths and overall personality of an

individual. The one interested in sports turn out to

be a good team player while the one in artistic

activities appear to be creative and have a lateral

thinking pattern. These qualities in some way or the

other are helpful for the organizations as strategic

thinking and planning are the two important aspects

of management. So these qualities can be of

invaluable functioning to the organizations. So in

one way or the other, these activities nourish and

enrich the careers of individuals.

There are various instances where some

individuals are not so good with their academics but

definitely turn out to be very good in the other

activities. These extra activities make their minds

more sharp and hence they are quick in their

responses. The tendency of action and reaction is

perfect in these individuals and their performance

levels are worth appreciating. So it is not

mandatory now days that the ladder of success is

only for people with good academic achievements.

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The recruitment process is a hard one where a lot

of time is invested in selecting an individual and

hence it has to be carefully done with a good

review and checking if the candidate actually fits for

the particular job description or not. Hiring a

candidate means the right assessment and

screening has been done. It has to be seen if the

candidate has specific skills or not. Academics and

also good practical knowledge help in

accomplishments at a much faster pace.

24

WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT ON THE TOP

There is no area where a woman has not

contributed and had been appreciated. It is an

understood fact that she can balance her

professional and personal life well. Traditionally

men preferred their women at home. But as times

have changed in terms of advancement and

adoption of technology how could women stay

away from working. Women these days are

contributing a lot in the field of management

irrespective of sector.

As per research studies it is observed that the

firms with women representation on the board have

attained sustainable profits as opposed to the

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board which had no women. But still in India gender

diversity ratio is being given so much emphasis that

at times it’s also irritating as many men hate to see

women ahead of them. Women prefer working now

and wish to contribute financially to support their

families, they also gel well with their spouses who

often face the same kind of pressures and stress at

work which women do.

We cannot forget the various personalities who

have shown tremendous growth in the past few

years and definitely are considered to be among

the great management leaders. Few of them are

Indira Nooyi who heads Pepsico, Kiran Majumdar

Shaw who heads Biocon, Chandakoachar a lady

whose contribution in the banking sector is

tremendous. We even cannot forget Shikha

Sharma and similarly many such examples before

us where women have contributed to the corporate

sector at best in their own ways.

Moving ahead when we talk of corporate sector the

best HR professionals turn out to be women who

are into Recruitment, staffing or into Training.

Anisha Motwani, chairman Max New York Life

insurance says that women have contributed their

best in the corporate sectors and are also engaged

in having consistency in terms of the service they

provide. No doubt there comes a gap in the

professional career of women due to personal and

family priorities but the ones who cover this gap

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and again come across with the same zeal turn out

to be the best managers.

So women in India continue to equip themselves

with academic credentials and experience thus

matching male leaders in functional expertise and

wisdom. The leadership levels of women have

shown an upward surge in a short duration of time.

What happens if the females on the board of

organizations are less? Of course it creates an

impact on the companies which have no women at

the top management levels. They are at higher risk

in terms of growth levels. It is seen that over 80% of

the companies which are showing the fastest

growth have more than two women on the board

and 35% of the others have at-least one.

Women leaders in organizations contribute their

best in their own way. All that we need to change is

the mindset and equally allow women to grow and

excel too. It is rightly said that ‘The hand that rocks

the cradle rules the world’. The female who is

considered to be the best house-manager can also

turn out to be a great leader in the organizations

which cannot be ignored as we have many such

women before us.

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25

KEEPING EMPLOYEES MORE UPDATED

The word called Human Resources, 10 years ago

was not that much focused upon as it was not

considered to be an essential component in

management. But now, one cannot imagine any

organization to run without this field of

management. Then came the time when corporate

training was considered to be a very essential part

of an organization wherein huge amount of money

was spent on this particular area. Moreover the

trends and patterns in training have shown

tremendous change since past few years.

These days competition worldwide has increased

so much that it is very hard to maintain the top

notch levels without some extra efforts by

organizations. Rather it can be said that the market

of today is transformed to a corporate race where

everyone is struggling hard to stay ahead in

competition. This naturally requires hard effort by

companies to maintain and increase the levels of

productivity each day.

So, to create a competitive edge and be ahead

fruitfully resulted in the shape of corporate training

which has truly revolutionized the way in which

companies educate and discipline their manpower.

Each day something new happens in an

organization. This may be in terms of some new

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policies or practices or it can be in the form of new

strategies for increasing productivity. It can also be

implementation of new software into the system. So

in some way or the other the need for training is

created and it becomes essential to keep the

employees updated and informed about the same.

Now the question arises as to who should be hired

for corporate training? This actually is a question of

serious concern. The people who are highly

experienced in their particular fields can turn out to

be the best corporate trainers. It is important to

move with changing trends in the market as

technological advancement and variations take

place at a very high pace. So no doubt a good

corporate trainer is required by the organizations.

So the responsibility of corporate trainers is high

and henceforth organizations need to have the best

of them. Some qualities which cannot be ignored in

a good trainer are-

- Business perspective and adequate knowledge of

their subject.

- Good interpersonal skills.

- Excellent communication skills.

- Quality to get along with anyone.

- Good observation skills.

- Training & Teaching skills.

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- Listening skills

Sometimes even the companies are in a dilemma

whether to hire a trainer full time or part time. But it

all depends upon the needs of a company and the

departments for which they require a trainer.

Sometimes temporary hiring works best while in

other cases it may not. So corporate training has

emerged as a powerful tool to keep the employees

updated and informed.

26

RETAINING EMPLOYEES - PRIORITY FOR

HR NOW

As there are several options before the employees,

companies these days are shifting their prime focus

on retaining their good employees and trying their

level best to reduce the attrition rates which are on

a much higher pace as compared to the new

entrants in the system. The idea behind increasing

the perks of employees and adding more benefits is

nothing more than stopping them from moving to a

new organization as it is not that easy to have a

good talent within the system.

The new form of Stock options as we know E

SOPS are again in and back to lure and retain the

best performers of organizations. The idea is to

provide an employee with many benefits so that

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they may not think of switching over and be loyal to

the organizations they are already working for.

Earlier employee stock options were offered only to

the top level people who were loyal to the

organization for a long period of time. Also

perks/benefits were given when employees

achieved a certain milestone in the same

organization.

This kind of lucrative option was withdrawn during

the time of economic downturn when there were no

rewards and downsizing departments took place in

almost every organization. This option was followed

in the US and now it has been adopted by domestic

companies in India too. So E SOPS and other stock

options were what every employee was almost

seeking to achieve. Then came the time when

IPO's were given more preference. Somehow

companies keep offering one of the two just to keep

a check on lowering its attrition rates. One good

example for this is Deloitte which has increased

40% of stock options for its employees.

Various other companies which have now

increased stock options for its employees are -

Essar, Appolo Hospitals, Thomas Cook, I Gate and

Info Edge. This follows that achieving some major

motives by the organizations is like a driving force,

creating competitive edge and inculcating an

ownership culture among employees. Retention of

employees is like a direct result that helps in

keeping employees engaged, focused and above

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all improving their performance levels. Also some

companies offer the option of sweat equity which

means the share offered to the people who are in

the business from its inception.

In a private sector it is very clear that if you

perform well you get a handful of rewards but if you

do not perform your job is on the line. Boosting

employee output and having good performers

within the system is always beneficial. So retention

of the best manpower is a great challenge and a

top priority for HR professionals. Employee

retention is one of the primary measures to the

health of an organization.

27

Transition into the field of HR

People from varied backgrounds want to make their

careers in HR. But it is not written anywhere that

HR professionals have an easy life, although HR is

considered as an easy profession by many people.

HR is considered to be the field which has a lot of

areas in its own self or I can say it is a one stop

shop for a lot of things. People often seek to make

their careers in HR, as it is a notion very common

among all - That HR means just to sit and work as

an administration officer. But let me make this

aspect more clear, that HR functions are not

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performed traditionally any more. A lot has changed

and similarly roles in HR are also not the same.

There is no doubt that HR offers a lot of lucrative

opportunities and is one of the fast growing

industries now. Even career analysts project that

the number of jobs in the future in this field are

definitely going to increase. But certainly, one must

not forget that to make a career in HR, one should

be very clear with the conceptual part. As we are

often taught and told to get back to basics. So once

you are clear with your basics and you have a good

knowledge of the subject, no can stop your career

growth.

It’s commonly seen that HR professionals are from

different educational backgrounds. However many

HR positions require at least a Bachelor’s degree.

Having a Bachelor’s degree often acts as a boost

for a HR career. Such a degree is often regarded

highly among HR managers. But it does not mean

that the people who don't have degrees cannot

make successful careers in this field.

The good news is that many B-Schools have

started offering specialized and even executive

level courses in HR that help in having a long term

career in this field. Even large companies offer the

certification courses for being a part of HR. The

most important point to remember is if one is

planning a HR career then plan your life, your

education and your experiences all together in a

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proper and systematic way.

Human Resource is a career which demands

integrity, confidentiality and a high level of

interpersonal interaction capability from the people

who already practice human resources. Being into

HR means you should have a good hold and

knowledge of almost every management aspect

and subject. Also one should not forget that HR

means a challenging career where in you are

expected to deliver more than being asked for.

If the organization is small then only one of the two

people wears the hat of an HR and he is expected

to carry out the entire work as an HR generalist.

Larger the organization, multiple are the tasks to be

done. Since trends have changed a lot now as

compared to traditional times, even the different

departments of HR in an organization can be seen

ranging from a separate hiring & staffing

department to a training department.

Labor relations are one separate subject in HR

now. To have a career in this one must hold good

knowledge of labor laws. Being knowledgeable and

delivering the same in practical aspect of life is

often a value addition and positive point for our

careers.

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1- HR AND ATTITUDE

It is rightly said that no one likes to stand by a

person who is pessimist and is negative in every

single thought. The HR personnel, is one such

personality around whom various or I must say a

major part of the organization revolves so a right,

optimistic and enthusiastic attitude is a must. This

positive attitude becomes a spark that sets the

vehicle of life moving in the right direction. The top

notch employers while hiring now look for the right

attitude first, then examine academically how

strong the candidate is.

While facing some interviews, I could clearly make

out that the HR person rarely looks at the degrees

you hold, but they try to find out what kind of

attitude you hold for being a part of the system and

whether you deserve to be given an offer letter or

not. Right vision, conviction and effort compile

towards achieving goals in life. Attitude is clearly

represented by your personality, the way you

communicate and what you represent. All this

somehow requires a passion to do something and a

burning desire to achieve the same.

There come certain situations in our lives, for which

one finds no solutions and that’s where a serene &

calm attitude plays the role rather than getting too

apprehensive and losing control on our own

emotions because ultimately it poses a negative

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impact on our professional and personal lives.

Having the right set of focus & clarity of goals can

be accomplished well if one holds the right attitude

for the same. The HR personnel has a great degree

of responsibility on his or her shoulders which

means that he or she needs to have a good attitude

to fulfill those responsibilities.

I would like to share an instance related to attitude.

When the numbers in sales profile are getting low

each day and one is unable to meet the revenue

targets, and then somehow the attitude of that

person starts getting pessimistic automatically. This

person would be unable to reach the target that

later 3-4 months also wouldn’t be sufficient to save

his job. Now the one who has become a pessimist

will never be able to recognize the flaws in his own

work but would rather blame others for being

unsuccessful. This in turn will de motivate him and

it will make him feel that life is worth for nothing.

But the person who has a bit of optimism will

definitely hold on and give a thought to what the

problem is and what alternate solution can be found

for the same. Also what can be done, so that he

does not lose his job and also be able to sustain is

what an optimist would think. This is how difference

in attitudes can either make or mar one’s life or

take it.

An employer often hunts for the candidate who

holds a very positive attitude towards work so that

he or she may spread a positive aura around. The

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positive attitude acts like a magnet that attracts

everyone towards him and being an HR person

such an individual would be of help to his

employees in keeping them engaged in their work.

So it is like a mantra for imbibing success and

attracting everyone to your charm of optimism. This

helps in making yourself employable throughout

and definitely helps in accomplishing goals.

2- BOOSTING UP YOUR OWN MORALE

The level of work pressure is so much these days

that in some way or the other it starts hampering

our lives both personally and professionally. This

leads to an irritable behavior which in turn affects

our relationships with our peer groups and loss of

right focus for the job responsibility we hold on our

shoulders. In such a case, it is very essential to get

some positive vibes around yourself so that one

may not lose enthusiasm to move towards ones

goals. Some basic things which can be of help to

us are-

SETTING UP OWN BENCHMARKS-

It is always better to have own goals and mission in

mind rather than looking upon what others are

doing. Comparisons with others and just looking at

what others do sometimes make life dull. It seems

we are worthless when we keep looking at others

for our accomplishments in life. It better to

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understand that, what you expect in life and how

you can achieve the same. The focus should be

very clear regarding that and look at what you have

achieved and what more should be done to

improve performance and have a competitive edge

above others.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE VIBES-

It is always good to stay away from people with

negative vibes. It is better to have friends who have

diversified backgrounds like achievers, business

owners, singers, authors. Interacting with each one

of them can help you in getting positive vibes even

if it is just a cup of coffee or a phone call. This

pumps up the level of motivation and inspiration,

that itself creates a positive impact on the

employee’s performance. Also its always good to

have a positive rapport with your seniors or bosses

or senior colleagues because they are the people

who have come across the same challenges which

you have faced and somehow their experience can

help you in learning something new every time.

LIVE IN PRESENT-

Stop bothering about what will happen tomorrow

and how things will be the next day? Stop thinking

about the past failures, as they just put us down.

Time once gone can never come back. All we all

can do is to learn from bad experiences and

mistakes rather than taking them on our heads.

Better to have a mentor who can guide and help in

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forming the right approach to problems. Life can

never be a bed of roses, therefore it is better to

learn from mistakes and gauge the present

situation that can allow us to take an informed step

in our future en devours.

DON'T DEVIATE FROM FOCUS-

Running towards something which is not required is

a mistake made by most of us. It’s always better to

give a thought to what we need and then focus on

how to achieve the same as this solves 50% of our

problems. Because once we achieve this level it

reduces the level of stress and helps in choosing

the right path. The presence of this thing can be felt

while achieving targets especially those which are

beyond expected goals. This fact during reviews

helps the people in the company to recognize your

worth and set up new standards and challenges for

you such that you learn something new every

second.

BE CURIOUS-

If one is curious enough to learn at every step and

take new challenges, definitely such an individual

moves faster ahead in his path as compared to the

one who doesn't want to learn and move ahead. So

if you are not tuned to new changes and

developments at work place it means you yourself

are losing opportunities. A change of role always

boosts up the morale and urges one to excel at the

task at hand. It’s important to have a balanced

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approach towards work and never let negative

thoughts come your way as they hamper the

chances of positive growth in life.

3- RESTRAIN THE HIGH ATTRITION RATES

A very common trend which is seen these days is

that employees resign their jobs very soon and they

say switching in most of the cases is a greed for

higher package or job dissatisfaction which makes

them prone to this attitude of resigning jobs. But

many of us forget the fact that consistency is also

important to have a good career, rather than

jumping from one job to the other. Hence high

attrition rate among newly recruited employees is a

major concern today. It has a negative impact upon

the organization when there is an interface

especially between the employee and the

customers. So the resignation of an employee from

an organization at such a fast pace is definitely the

result of an ineffective selection process.

So the challenge that stands before the HR

employers is to hire competent candidates who can

benefit the organization. So the managers must

know how to recruit right and perhaps do away with

attrition. There can be no guarantee for a right

recruitment but it is possible to minimize the risk of

selection failure. This requires the right set of

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selection procedures and hence evaluation

methods like psychometric tests and assessments

can be helpful in selection as they help in giving

insights about the candidates. However these tools

are expensive and time consuming & are usually

not available with managers when required.

The selection of an employee in an appropriate

manner matters a lot and personal interviews are

the deciding factors for any selection procedure. So

to take good interviews the managers need to have

good interview skills in order to make the right

assessments. The biggest con in interviews is that

managers are unable to make out if the candidate's

profile matches the job requirement or not. So, just

to fill up the position/vacancy sometimes the wrong

candidate is recruited. Such a candidate becomes

unfit for the job and hence it results in his

resignation letter.

Job dissatisfaction levels are so high among

employees these days that even before joining an

organization some of them plan when to leave the

same. Now the main trouble is that no two

individuals are exactly alike and the recruiters are

hardly able to set some parameters for the

judgment of the candidate. This makes every

selection decision similar in kind and hence the lack

of the right candidate for the required position. For

success in any job right competencies are essential

which need to be looked upon while assessing an

individual. Now competencies are not just limited to

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the technical knowledge or knowledge about

subject but much more beyond this. Particularly

competencies could include areas of attitude and

culture fitness and recruiters would need to identify

these features in their candidates.

Proper planning of interview strategies is required.

In this some structured questions must be present

which may help to identify the required qualities for

job. For e.g. asking the candidate a question like -

why sales in some particular area is low or what

can be the potential areas for sale of one particular

product can help in giving insights into the

candidate's problem solving approach. Later

questions like- what steps are required to tap an

untapped market for sale of a newly launched

product can help in understanding the planning

skills of candidate. Such questions and their

respective responses become a guideline to

understand how the candidate reacts to different

situations.

Just like other management decisions this

judgment also plays a very important role in the

selection and the probability of the right and wrong

exists equally in this. The purpose should be to

conduct competency based interviews. The

decisions made on gut feeling kind of a thing

should definitely be ignored as it later leads to

negative consequences for organizations. So to

restrain these high attrition rates it’s essential to

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work upon interview skills and make decisions as

per requirement of job.

4- EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT AND WORK

It sounds strange but yes in today's competitive

world it’s very important to have an emotional

intelligence that helps in professional and personal

growth of an individual. Now there’s something very

common and faced by all of us these days in the

corporate world and that is- BAD BOSS. This leads

to suffering, complaining and in some cases even

leaving jobs by people. But how many times can we

actually run from this bad boss as this is the same

story every door. So, just because of a bad boss

we cannot keep leaving the jobs. For a moment we

should not forget that the Boss is also a human like

us and also suffers from a mental pressure much

more than us. Now what holds importance here is

Emotional intelligence and how effectively we use

the same in our lives.

By being emotionally intelligent, it means to change

ourselves according to the situations and mold our

behaviors. It helps in dealing positively with any

kind of situation. Emotional quotient sets one apart

as a good leader whom people would love to follow

and learn from. So we being individuals differ from

each other in the ability to understand complex

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ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to

learn from experiences, to handle pressure and the

various obstacles that come our way. Here what

counts is how we organize this complex set of

phenomenon.

Success in career which plays an important role in

today’s world is not a child's play to be achieved. It

depends on-

- How much at ease do we feel while handling

frustration at work?

- Can we manage our own emotions well?

- Do we have the ability to manage our social

skills?

Emotions at work can vary ranging from chaotic,

haphazardness, superfluous, incompatible with

reasons, disorganized to the ones resulting from

lack of effective judgment. But then again handling

these emotions in a proper way is equally essential.

Emotional intelligence is not about being nice and

letting our feelings hang out without any purpose. It

is about recognizing our own feelings and those of

others working with us in order to manage and

motivate the emotions creating a positive aura in

the work environment. A good leader is one who

can use emotions to maximize intellectual

processing and decision making at work. It is just

like the art of managing social relationships at work.

Sometimes when we are unable to recognize our

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true feelings and our expectations, it leaves us in a

state of mercy, where in it becomes hard to be

good pilots of our own lives and this directly

impacts our work in terms of ineffective decision

making.

Many people due to work pressure become

Alexithymia which means they lose command of

their emotions and it hampers the entire work

environment. Rather they lose an expression for

emotions. So one cannot deny the fact that

emotional quotient is an extremely important

component of work these days. And moving up the

ladder of success in organizations demands on a

higher emotional intelligence because this is

directly related to social competence. This

influences the level of communication, leadership,

building bonds, collaboration and cooperation at

each level. It has become a prerequisite for work

satisfaction, that needs high levels of self-mastery

and understanding how well you put yourselves in

others shoes and find solutions to the problems.

PROMOTING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE-

This can be done by numerous ways and some of

them are as follows-

1. Understanding the cause of feelings.

2. Recognizing and naming emotions.

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3. Managing anger through a learned behavior.

4. Understanding the situation clearly and finding

solutions.

5. Using gut feelings while making decisions.

6. Taking time and avoiding haphazardness.

7. Preventing depression with a lot of optimism.

8. Developing listening skills.

So it is always better to develop the learn-able skills

of emotional intelligence which are transformational

and can benefit everyone from tuning up this

intelligence. Adapting to the changing work

scenarios can be well achieved if one has a strong

emotional intelligence level.

5- INVOLUTION BY EMPLOYEES

We often come across the saying that employees

are the assets of an organization as they are the

one who represent the same to the world. But this

makes sense only if an employee understands the

same and engages himself in the work area

contributing to the success of business. So the

questions that come to our mind regarding

Employee Engagement are numerous beginning

with -

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1. What is it?

2. Why does it matter?

3. What drives it?

4. How can you measure it?

5. Is it significant?

This word Engaged Employee puts a great

emphasis on how much a person involves him/ her

into his job. As the person grows older in his

career, it is the level of performance and

understanding of the work which counts most and

becomes a ladder to move high. There are people

who start working from the small rungs of their

organizations but as they engage themselves and

understand each aspect of their work in a good

way, it definitely helps them in taking more

responsibilities and getting more involved in their

work.

The employees who are engaged are not just

committed or just passionate but have an insight on

their own future and on the organization’s missions

and goals. They are enthused enough to use their

talent and arbitrary effort in creating a difference for

their organization in terms of business success.

Such employees are aware of the business context

and gel well with the other people in the

organization to improve the performance and

increase the level of output delivered each time.

Rather, an important aspect to understand is that it

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is a two way relationship between the employee

and the employer.

Employee Engagement - is directly related to

affective commitment because an employee's

positive attachment and commitment to work

identifies with the goals of organization and attrition

rates from such employees are really less. In this

way such employees become assets for their

organization. So this term is like a broad agreement

which stands for some basics like-

- Positive attitude and pride towards organization.

- Belief in the organization’s products and services.

- wish to work collaboratively and be a good team

player.

- Willingness to give their best services.

- Understanding business clearly.

Higher the Employee Engagement better is its

contribution to business performance in terms of

high income growth, higher operating income and

more earnings per share. So, such employees are

obviously more innovative and committed to

customer satisfaction. Now for this kind of attitude,

some driving factors are there, which are as

follows-

Organizational commitment: The psychological

attachment of an employee to an organization.

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Service commitment: The shared ethos of

understanding and meeting customer needs.

Work & career commitment: The kind of

importance an employee gives to work and

understanding in terms of how it will help in career

growth.

Job satisfaction: The impact work creates on the

mind of an employee and whether it gives him

satisfaction or not.

So, higher the engagement of employees in an

organization much higher would be the levels of

productivity and performance. The organizations

like TCS, DELL, IBM, etc have such high levels of

commitment and engagement towards work which

in itself contributes to the high turnover ratios. This

is just like a recipe for success which always works

on the principle of thinking fresh and delivering

more. For e.g. - Airtel always think fresh and use

innovative ways to meet their customer needs.

They deliver what they promise.

6- PAY FOR PERFORMANCE

When it comes to salaries and the various benefits

which are given to top employees, often we talk

about the payroll system of Organizations. Payroll

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initially, going back 10-15 years was considered to

be a part of the Finance department which is now it

taken over by HR. This kind of practice was

followed in India whereas if we take a look at other

regions of the World, the Payroll management

included by the organizations their compensation

and benefits which definitely are the core functions

of HR and since then it is adopted worldwide as a

component of HR rather than Finance & Accounts.

The sole reason behind this is that people are

these days being paid depending upon their

performance which means their salaries are more

dependent upon the kind of output they give and no

one can be blamed for the same as its the business

model which works in this manner. The

performance linked incentives are given more

emphasis. So this is a sensitive matter as

employees may come up with various questions

when they receive their pay slips. Not to generalize

but the accounts people are not so well versed in

terms of Human relations whereas HR people often

are. This in turn shows that HR people can handle

this function in a better way with a lot of difference.

These days the organizations have started using

the Payroll Management software which of course

acts as time savers. This also depends upon how

an HR system and I must say the Workforce

automates the processes like hiring, compensating,

managing performance and then retiring the

employees.HR personnel can help in controlling the

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labor cost and transform the business processes

wherein they work on the salaries and incentives to

be given to employees. The software used for

Payroll Management helps in reducing the tedious

manual work into better and high quality information

along with results. Hence forth the month end

payment will not be a strain for employers as it can

be well managed by the use of technological

solutions at their best.

In all this it becomes necessary for HR to check

and authorize the salary details before processing.

This includes checking the attendance & all the

necessary deductions. It also requires to keep a

check on leave availed by the employee.

Sometimes it happens that even if the employee is

outside for some marketing activity he is marked

absent even while on duty. So it is important to

keep a check on such things. Even the maintaining

the statuary record is the responsibility of HR.

Technology has always granted us with lots of

options to reduce the burden of hard tasks into

simple ones. So, even payroll system is quite easily

managed now- a- days by the use of HMRS

software and it is widely used globally for managing

the payrolls as per performance of employees. This

in many ways helps in managing effectively the

entire service of the employees in the organization.

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7- ONE STOP SHOP-HRM

Human Resources Management is not less than a

stop shop wherein a large number of products are

sold as per need and the requirement. It is a highly

competitive and fragmented industry which has

shown growth and is consistently showing the

same every single day. This industry in itself is

poised for enormous growth with a lot of

globalization and new companies are emerging.

Hence the need for this core area in Management

cannot be ignored. The human capital marketplace

is a hundred billion dollar industry that

encompasses countless suppliers selling hundreds

of different products and services which includes

recruitment, staffing, employee benefits, payroll,

training and development and a lot more.

In general if we take a look, its Human Resources

of Organizations which is responsible for all

practices and processes that impact the company's

most important assets i.e. the employees. So the

HR forms the pillars of this industry and these are

as follows-

Recruitment and staffing - which includes

searching for and hiring new employees & wide

variety of services from job boards to staffing and

relocation firms, testing, assessment technologies,

applicant tracking technologies, executive search /

placement firms. This is an important pillar as the

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employee hired and his competencies are of value

to the organizations.

Compensation/ Payroll - this includes everything

from payroll processing, company to company

specializing in compensation and payroll services.

This helps in understanding the salary statistics of

an organization.

Employee benefits - so this includes a wide

variety of benefits given to employees ranging from

health and welfare benefits to worksite/voluntary

products, pharmacy benefits, communication

software, 3rd party administration and workers

disability and insurance services. These benefits to

employees are of sole importance which the HR

needs to fulfill to its best.

Talent Management/ Employee relations - It

includes all Human resource services related to

managing the individual once they are hired as an

employee - appraisal, evaluation, recognition,

promotion, retention and succession planning

services.

Training & Development - This includes imparting

knowledge to the employees about new products

and services, also in terms of new software

introduced so that the employees can efficiently

use the same. It can be from conventional class

room sessions to E learning processes.

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In addition to these specific categories of work, it is

important to understand that now the services have

gone cross functional in nature and they are

somehow related to the core areas of HR like-

Consulting services - it includes thousands of

consulting firms that can help the HR department

with one or all aspects of human resources

management and process improvement.

HRIS- technology is now well integrated in HR and

has also helped in each aspect from tracking

applicants to E learning. The internet and other

technologies are definitely changing the human

capital marketplace as companies strive to become

more efficient. This technology allows HR to

automate processes and eliminate the processes

which are unnecessary and creating a burden.

Therefore HR as an industry has shown

tremendous growth and is definitely a one stop

shop for buying various HR solutions.

8- ACCOMPLISHING GOALS BY HCM

It is quite often heard that people or I must say

Employees are the assets of an Organization. What

makes an Organization grow? How do the

customers or the outer world come to know what

business you are into? Who creates strategies for

the Organizations? Who creates a benchmark in

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terms of its services? Let me not forget the ones

who help in creating a competitive edge in the

market when there are a large number of players in

the same market for the same product? Yes! This

is what we cannot ignore and so the concept of

Human Capital Management is widely accepted. It

is the people who work for these organizations, on

whom the success of business depends. So,

Human Capital represents the human factor in the

organization, the combined intelligence, skills and

expertise that gives them with a distinctive

character.

The innovativeness and insights of these people

bring timely revolution and transformation. The

success of an organization depends upon its ability

to understand how a human capital links to its

performance and increase in wealth. So, in all

effective recruiting is really efficient in this case as

the best of the companies in the world have the

best strategies and methods for attracting, hiring,

managing, developing and retaining the top

performing talent. So this concept we call “Human

Capital Management" should be well inculcated into

the minds of managers and even they should be

given training on the same.

HUMAN CAPITAL STRATEGY-

It covers the following aspects-

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Human asset profiles

Performance management

Selection

Recruitment

Career development plans.

Coaching & mentoring which further includes-

- Core values.

- Core competency.

- Performance improvement.

Selecting and retaining the top talent is the need of

the hour because quality and performance of

people is what sets an organization apart in an

intensely competitive market. So if the people in the

organization are not good enough and skilled, it’s a

huge loss for that organization. It can lead to huge

loss of revenue which creates a negative impact on

the growth. So, it is essential to understand that 60-

90% of revenue comes from the best workforce and

hence it cannot be ignored.

A timely check should be kept on how many

employees are actively engaged in work, how

passionate and connected they are towards their

work. The ones who aren’t engaged in any useful

work and are not contributing to the organization

then what’s the purpose of wasting capital on those

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employees? So if the percentage of this kind of

employees is high in your organization, it would

lead to unsatisfied customers and ultimately result

in losing business. Now that is why human capital

management is essential to keep such pessimism

away from your organization and let it grow at the

right pace.

Whether you realize it or not one must understand

that profits are leaking out from your organizations

due to three main holes-

1) High turnover ratio.

2) Low productivity.

3) Customer dissatisfaction

But the remedy to these problems is making use of

HCM and getting the best out of it. So adopting

HCM effectively can lead to -

- Lesser or no customer complaints at all.

- Increase in revenues.

- Higher productivity.

- Retaining the top talent.

- Professional growth of its employees.

So, managing employees, properly adopting HCM

will undoubtedly help an organization in

accomplishing its goals and achieving success.

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9- TRAINING AND MAINTAINING EXPATRIATE EMPLOYEES

Since globalization has been adopted at a very fast

pace and also companies have started their

operations overseas, so it’s a common trend seen

where in employees from their native countries

have started moving to other countries for work.

Such citizens who work in the nonresident

countries are referred to as Expatriates. Now in this

case effort is required by the Human resources

department to ensure that employees are given

special trainings and also special considerations

are made for compensating these employees.

When we take HR into this question of Expatriates

then of course maintaining healthy labor relations is

equally important.

ORIENTING & TRAINING EXPATRIATES

When it comes to providing the orientation and

training to the employees on international

assignments, then organizations need to adopt a

systematic pattern of sessions designed for them.

Employees need to be firmly made aware of

economics and practices of foreign countries. But

the bad thing is that very few companies provide

such trainings. WHAT KIND OF TRAINING IS A

MUST?

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The training in such cases requires a 4 level

approach-

Level-1 – Training focuses on impact of cultural

differences and raising a trainee’s awareness of

those differences and how it impacts the business

outcomes.

Level-2 – aims at making employees understand

how both positive and negative attitudes are formed

and how the behavioral pattern impacts the work of

employees.

Level-3 – it provides factual knowledge about the

country where an international assignment is being

given.

Level-4 – provides skill building in areas such as

language and adjustment and also adaptation

skills.

Besides these patterns and levels it’s essential for

employers to mentor their employees regarding the

kind of challenges they can come across. Also

seminars should be conducted for those employees

who are given international assignments, by the

people who already had worked abroad. This can

help the new ones to learn from the experiences of

the returnees. Even at various firms like IBM such

development includes rotating assignments that

permit overseas managers to grow professionally.

Such firms like IBM, Infosys etc. have their

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development centers around the world where the

executives can hone their skills.

The activities like seminars taking place periodically

can help even provide consistency of purpose and

thereby improve control, by having unified set of

values, standards and corporate cultures.

10- IT SOLUTIONS FOR HR

When every area and every field is making the best

use of Information Technology which is also our

day to day need, then how could HR stay away

from the same? Rather, IT solutions in HR have

made the work of executives and HR managers

quite easy and time saving too. When I heard of

this concept HRIS I thought it might be some new

concept introduced into the world of Human

Resource. Development about this concept is not

well known even to HR managers who have to be

equipped by the knowledge of what HRIS is. How is

it used in the present era by various organizations?

LET US GET KNOWN TO -HRIS

The Human Resource Information System is a

software or online solution for data entry, data

tracking and data information needs of Human

resources, payroll management and accounting

functions of the Business. But yes choosing HRIS

depending upon company's need is also important.

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Once a proper need analysis is done, then of

course this software can be used at its best in

different areas within the same firm. So, better

HRIS provides -

- Overall management of employee information.

- Reporting and analysis of an employee’s

information.

- Company related documents such as employee

handbook, evaluation procedures and various

safety guidelines.

- Benefits for administration such as status

updates, personal information changes.

- Applicant tracking and resume Management.

HRIS acts as an effective tool that provides

information on just about anything the company

needs to track and analyze about employees, as

well as about applicants. The timely data required

for employee management, knowledge

development and career & growth development can

also be facilitated by the effective use of HRIS.

COMPANIES USING HRIS-

Various companies both at international and

domestic level have started using and making the

best out of this IT solution. Some of them are-

Infosys, Wipro, Irvine, IBM and even many Indian

companies are using the same. So, this software

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that most effectively serves companies tracks & so

this software is useful to HR in many ways-

1. HR PLANNING AND ANALYSIS-

- Organization Charts.

- Staffing projections.

- Turnover analysis.

- Internal job matching.

- Job description tracking.

2. EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS-

- Union negotiating costing.

- Auditing costs.

- Attitude survey results.

- Employee work history.

3- HEALTH, SAFETY AND SECURITY-

- Safety trainings

- Accident records.

4-COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS-

- Pay structure.

- Wage/ salary costing.

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- Vacation usage

- Benefit usage analysis.

5- HR DEVELOPMENT-

- Employee training profiles.

- Training needs assessment.

- Succession planning.

- Career interests.

Therefore the software that holds so much

importance in the field of HR and is useful should

definitely be implemented well and training should

be imparted on the usage of the same. Hence it is

the software which has enabled the various

complicated and time consuming tasks to be

completed in a short time and in an efficient

manner.

11- BALANCED SCORECARDS

It was during the 1980's probably the end of 80's

when it was realized that only financial

measurements cannot bring success to firms.

Rather it was insufficient to guide the companies to

success. So Robert Kaplan & Nortan found that

companies which took over financial aspects and

tried to resolve it either by cutting down in terms of

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quality of service given to customers or laying off

employees to maintain its financial figures. Keeping

this in view, he came up with the concept of

Balanced Scorecards which is a strategic

Performance Management frame work that allows

organizations to manage and measure the delivery

of their strategy. Now what matters most is creating

value to the customers who come from this kind of

service delivered to them. So the best of the

companies in the world are creating value for their

customers by-

- Working upon customer relationships.

- Improving processes.

- Maintaining good services.

- Taking measures related to improvement &

innovation.

- Working upon employee capabilities.

The effective use of a Balanced Scorecard started

in the early 90's and was made well by-

- Engineering & construction companies.

- Insurance companies.

- Major Banks.

- Mobile marketing companies.

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- Refineries

So, the four generic perspectives had been

selected for this card which covers the main

strategic focus of companies. Rather it is being

used as a management control system. It helps in

tracking the key performance indicators from

different business units (i.e. operations, finance and

marketing). This scorecard's basic focus is that it

realized the strategies in a more balanced way

rather than just the dependability on financial

measures in which it had been traditionally used.

TARGET AREAS-

1- FINANCIAL - The question that arises here is

how do the shareholders of a company identify

financial success? One cannot ignore this fact that

accurate funding is very important. Risk

management and cost effective are the core areas

which cannot be ignored.

2- CUSTOMER- Customer focus and customer

satisfaction is the main priority for success of any

business. If there is poor performance and

ignorance in this aspect then it becomes an

indicator for future decline for the firm. So this is a

core area that needs most of the attention.

3- BUSINESS PROCESS - This perspective helps

in checking if a process is going internally and also

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be able to meet the customer requirements or not?

These processes have to be uniquely designed in

order to have an edge over competitors and retain

its customers.

4- LEARNING & GROWTH - That works upon

improving employee capabilities, their self-

improvement and also corporate cultural attitudes.

Continuous and timely learning for employees

needs attention.

Challenges ahead in management in terms of

performance management are several therefore

adoption of better tools will definitely be an

advantage for firms. Therefore managing the

delivery in a systematic manner can help in facing

those challenges & hence the use of balanced

scorecards can be of value to firms.

12- SMALL BREAK FOR CORPORATES!

All work and no play make one dull and even

hamper the growth in life of such an individual.

When it is said that employee attrition rate is high,

among various other factors and reasons involved,

the most favorable reason is when employees feel

that there is no growth in these firms where they

have spent years and are still not given rewards for

their inputs.

Now it becomes important on the part of employers

to take care of its employees’ needs which may be

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by gifting employees a certain vacation or a holiday

in order to make them feel a bit less stressed and

get rejuvenated. These holidays can be given to

some exotic locales along with their families so that

it helps employees to stay in high spirits and also

imbibe in them team spirit.

Can an employee even think of or plan for a

vacation gifted by their bosses? But yes this is now

practically possible and many corporate have

started working on this in order to have an efficient

workforce rather than having ones who are dull and

think of leaving jobs. The step towards this is

planning and execution of trips to fascinating

locations, adventures and amusing. This is also a

step in the form of outbound trainings for the

employees away from the same day to day routine

of office and trainings rooms or within the 4 walls I

must say.

The idea is basically to gift employees with a

holiday to get away from routine and connect with

their peers in some better ambience spreading

positive energy amongst them. This all in all

contributes to increasing the efficiency levels which

in turn is beneficial for firms. Earlier this was to

attract the work force but now it is more about –

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Retention of Employees

Allowing employees enjoy a good time

Help in improving their performance

Rejuvenation

Adventure sports, games and competitions are

mere efforts to relieve stress and make employees

feel that they are not loaded with pressure all the

time.

All in all the sole purpose is to make employees

learn the objectives of management in one way or

the other. Now planning these activities is also not

that easy, consultants are hired for this and they sit

with the HR team and chalk out the entire program

based on requirements and needs.

The various points on which these trainings focus

on are-

- Leadership.

- Team building activities.

- Consensus building.

- Self-awareness.

- Interpersonal relations.

- Attitude.

- Emotional awareness.

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Such activities even help in improving relations

among the employees who may not be too good

friends in the work environment but definitely can

turn out to be one, after such gatherings. So this

not only helps in building good equations among

employees but also provides a better

synchronization at work. Thus such outbound

trainings and vacations can definitely help in

bringing better outcomes for firms.

13- AVANT GARDE IN HR

Changing scenarios each day created an impact on

every aspect of business and so how could HR stay

away from the same. The attrition rates in

companies these days are much higher than they

used to be earlier which leads to a diminishing staff

and so the work is directly or indirectly affected by

the same. All this has definitely increased the

burden on HR departments now and here the level

of struggle has also become high. In this century

the traditional role of HR has now changed to

integrating HR and this further leads to their

involvement in business planning. So does the

work levels and responsibilities at each level of HR

personnel changes and hence these professionals

have to meet day to day challenges while

continuing their operational and political

management.

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So, innovative and ground breaking changes have

come up and are emerging every day in this field.

They are in the form of-

HR Capital Steward- here HR acts as a guide and

a facilitator in partnership to bring people &

organizations together to work for a particular role.

Knowledge Facilitator- HR facilitates here both

capital and knowledge inflow.

Relationship developer- HR manages

relationships between the individuals and groups

both internal and external to firms to enhance the

capital across the value chain of system.

Rapid deployment: HR takes responsibility for

development of flexible human capital resources

with emphasis on adaptability, tolerance and ability

to learn.

Initially it was believed that HR personnel need to

take over hiring of employees and then just over

see the administration part. But now the role of HR

has become more refined and challenging. It starts

from the moment a candidate is hired till the

candidate leaves the organization but then also the

work of HR does not end. It still needs to manage

PFs and all the remaining tasks related to

employees with the firm. So the role of HR today

includes-

- Reduce absence of employees

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- Motivate the staff

- Team work

- Recruitment and selection

- Training and development

RECENT INNOVATIONS-

1. Six Sigma practices- it is basically a rigorous

and disciplined methodology that uses data and

statistical analysis to measure and improve the

company's operational performance by eliminating

the defects.

2. Human Resource outsourcing - this involves

various roles such as-

Taking care of organizational structure and staffing

requirement.

- Recruiting, training and development.

- Tracking department’s objectives, goals and

strategies.

- Employee and manager training.

- Benefits administration.

3. Retention Strategies- These are basically to

reduce the high attrition rates among employees

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and also have good employee strength within the

organization.

4. Quality Management - in terms of the

employees’ knowledge and roles assigned to them.

Job rotations are done in order to make employees

understand how different roles are important to run

the firms.

5. The hothouse effect - a new concept in the field

of HR the focus of which lies on managing

creativity. It works on following points-

- sustain high level of innovative creativity for a

significant period of time.

- draw on knowledge and innovations of broader

cultural zone to which they belong.

- establish new ways of doing things.

So in this way no doubt innovations are more

frequent in case of technology and services, but

similarly even the HR field has shown tremendous

growth and change with the period of time.

14- CONTRIVE A CONCEPT OF HR BRAND

Gone are the days when the work of HR was just

limited to some back end operations or looking into

the part of administration. Now this department

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equally needs to look over and rethink their role in

this competitive environment where in each day

something new erupts within a few seconds. The

ongoing challenge for HR now is to maintain a good

relationship and balance in order to establish strong

partnerships with both its internal and external

customers. In future the HR personnel needs to

look at the big picture understanding each aspect

within the firm with a broader perspective.HR

continues to balance the demand of several

different roles -

- Business partner.

- Internal consultant.

- Operational expert.

- Administrative expert.

- BUILDING HR AS A BRAND

For this it is essential to understand how the

employees feel about their HR department? What

is their feedback? Is HR Department working up to

its best to deliver good services? In this, the big

constraint is that even employees think that the

responsibility of HR is to just conduct interviews

and calculate the benefits to be granted. To change

this particular image HR personnel have to

participate in role taking of building good public

relations, taking feedbacks, discussing the updates.

It is important to understand that HR department is

flexible, adaptable and a solution oriented partner.

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It is a source to whom the firm’s employees and

senior personnel can turn to whenever some

problem arises and build a solution oriented

approach. This will not only clearly define the

flexible nature of HR but also promote it as

something which we are all savvy about and that is

a brand.

There are few important points in HR that make it

more feasible as a Brand-

- Pre employment experience.

- On the board experience.

- Post hire experience.

- Interview experience.

- Interview follow up and response.

- Trainings

Carefully managing these points help in bringing

good experiences for the employees and help them

in delivering their best to the most important asset

of every firm- CUSTOMERS. This can be well said

by quoting examples of brands like Starbucks,

Pepsico, Southwest Airlines, Kraft who created the

same kind of employee brand that they enjoy with

customers. Creating a competitive edge in terms of

HR is only possible if firms work well on their

important points in an efficient manner.

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So, branding of the firms along with that of products

now hold an equally important role and this can be

well taken care of by the HR which itself is now

reflected not less than any Brand.

15- KINSHIP IN HR & PSYCHOLOGY

Is behavior related to HR Management? What is

the relation between psychology and HR?

After reading these questions I hope I am able to

reflect what exactly this post of my blog is all about.

People work in the organizations having a certain

set of goals in their mind, which are relevant to both

organization and an individual. Now an

organization's success depends upon the

knowledge, skills and abilities of its employees in

creating a competitive edge. So moving around this

topic an HR needs to understand the psychology of

individuals who are considered to be an asset of

the firm. Rather psychology acts like a tool for

bringing a proper balance in terms of knowledge,

skills and abilities of employees.

Psychology in HR is helpful in various ways-

- Selection of the right candidate.

- Training of employees as per need analysis.

- Career development of employees.

- Performance management.

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- To tackle the problem within an organization i.e.

diagnosis of problem and solve the same.

- Interviews- understanding the psyche of a

candidate.

- Job analysis

- Supporting employees & motivating them to reach

to their goals.

- Minimizing the level of stress in work.

Moreover psychometric tests are essential for every

employee and they should be done by HR

department while the process of recruitments and

hiring goes on. Now understanding the mind set of

candidate and kind of responses that he/she

delivers are directly related to the psychology of

person.

If a candidate comes for the position of Business

development manager, then psychology plays an

important role while an interviewer interacts with an

interviewee. It comes up with an ideal profile which

an organization looks for which means that job

analysis is done as per certain parameters set for a

particular job. In simple words I can say that it

analyses various elements involved in a particular

type of work.

TRAININGS-

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Training now- a- days is a very important aspect in

a job wherein as per need analysis it is being

delivered from time to time. Now trainings in that

case are not only on technical skills but also related

to the organizational behavior and attitude which

employees need to keep in mind as per

requirement. This takes us again into the

psychological aspect which is polished during

trainings based on non-technical skills. The kind of

courses to be given is designed keeping into mind

the psychological levels of attendees. Employees

are guided on the scientific and basic learning

theories.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT-

Psychology helps in determining what can be the

best career for the person keeping in view his

attributes and characters. For e.g.- person holding

an experience in sales on the field now can develop

in career by being promoted to the position of a

team leader wherein he can deliver his experiences

well to its sub ordinates depending on his practical

experiences. Also it suggests the best ways to

attain his goal in the future. Also psychology at the

level of HR helps in recognizing where all the

employees can improve and shine even in their

present career itself.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT-

It suggests various ways by which performance

appraisals can be done. Also detecting and

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eliminating errors. It helps in setting the right

evaluation by suggesting the best ratings methods.

DIAGNOSING PROBLEMS-

It helps in understanding the varying needs of

employees from time to time. It evaluates the kind

of problem an employee is going through and tries

to understand their perspective. This further helps

in creating ownership among employees and

raising their level of morale to achieve high and

give their best.

INTERVIEWS-

It helps in determining what can be the various

interview methods as per the job requirement. This

helps an HR person to understand exactly the kind

of candidate they are searching for, for the

particular job which in-turn helps in framing the set

of questions.

JOB ANALYSIS-

Psychology has provided HR department with

several methods which are used for interviews and

helps in job analysis. Some of them are-

- Questionnaires

- Activity methods.

- Psycho graphic analysis.

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- Time and motion study.

- Skills analysis.

- Job psycho graph.

The growth of industries largely depends on the

psychological aspects, so various experiments and

investigations are conducted in the field of

psychology some of which are-

Conditions of work

Nature of work

Selection of employees

Human elements in work

Conflicts in industry

Stress busters

Transfers and promotions

The psychological aspect of the HR personnel is

henceforth considered to be relevant in terms of

employees and their contribution to organization.

Therefore it is said that psychology and HR hold a

kinship and a strong inter- relationship within the

firms.

16- REMONSTRANCE IN HR

The economic growth in India is taking place at a

fast pace with a good level of growth in GDP almost

yearly. This in turn shows that there are a number

of people who are getting qualified and are seeking

jobs. We are all aware of the fact that employment

is still a problem for even the well qualified

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professionals. But India holds an important place in

the global market as most of the companies from

the west have started their operations here. Tight

labor market has become an issue. Now in that

case the responsibility of the HR has increased a

lot. Rather it can be said that the HR is the central

part of any business now. It is solely an obligation

for the HR to create a work force which may help in

achieving strategic goals for an organization. This

means that they need to follow certain standard

policies and regulations.

CORE CHALLENGES-

One major problem which professionals face here

are that they are not highly experienced. Some no

doubt are good academically still they lack practical

knowledge for which the institutions are also

responsible as they give the least exposure of what

happens in an industry to their students. Millions of

the college graduates pass out every year. But

exactly how many of them get a job. Or it can be

said that they are not meeting the standards of

western companies.

Now the ones who have qualified from the top

business schools they do have 2-3 offer letters but

again there comes a problem in the salary or I must

say the packages offered. But salaries offered in

India are very much lower than what is offered in

western countries.

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Another problem these days which is a big

challenge for the HR is that the lesser the number

of people who are recruited and who join the firm

higher are the attrition rates. Now people leave the

job due to various reasons -

- Bad working environment

- Lack of support from seniors

- Can’t see a growth path

- Not satisfied with the packages

These high attrition rates are seen most commonly

in BPO's and among people involved in financial

product selling.

So the two most important challenges before the

HR are-

1. To attract good employees for the firm even

though there is fierce competition.

2. Keeping employees satisfied so that they don't

leave the firms.

Controlling attrition rates is very important,

because companies spend a huge amount on

training these employees who ultimately leave the

company very soon.

Some standard practices which every HR

department should follow are-

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- Designing the compensation packages with

performance appraisals too as and when required.

- Regular performance reviews to be taken.

- Making sure employees are respected.

- Providing good working environment.

GOOD REMEDIES-

Some other strategies which can work well in this

case are-

TRAINING:

The companies usually prefer experienced people.

So one thing which can work out well is to hire the

candidates from average business schools and

give them training for the job before they are

actually hired. This expands the candidate pool and

is also helpful in terms of enhancing the candidate’s

skills.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION:

Having simulations and some business games

sometimes can be good as it can help in reducing

the stress of employees and later help them in

giving a good outcome. Some of the organizations

like Infosys also organize various competitions like

sports competitions, then clubbing, gymnasiums.

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Such efforts can bring in a positive outlook for

firms.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT:

Yes, it is largely seen that salary is what employees

look for, but hold on there’s something beyond this

which holds importance for them is career growth.

So the employer should take care of the career

development part of his employees by giving them

regular feedbacks, taking reviews from time to time,

One to one meetings with them on various goals

and at a certain point if training needs to be given

then it must be given. This enhances an

employee’s productivity in the long run and helps in

his career growth. Sometimes internal company

transfers, job rotations can also be helpful.

So, I would like add that retention of employees is

also as important as hiring of new employees. Of

course it is like a challenge for making sure that

new employees are right for the responsibility

granted to them and are proactive enough to

handle the challenges coming across.

17- SLEEPING WHISTLE BLOWERS

The more the organizations are growing these days

the more is the rise in revenues which the company

hold. Sometimes it’s hard to handle the situations

and as we grow more we need to be more cautious

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and the lesser we remain in the comfort zone. Now

this is the situation in India as we talk in context of

corporate sector. Since the number of companies

which are formed and growing each day in the

country the regulators are finding it tough to

manage and regulate the same in a better way. As

a result of which we hear about the fraudulent

cases like Satyam and Global trust bank. Moreover

now a day’s a large number of companies hide their

annual financial reports and the accounts

department is smart enough.

But what should strike the minds of the people is

the reason why a company wants to hide its

financial reports year after year. Although we talk

so much of globalization and liberalization, still

there are cases of frauds found in our country?

How can regulators ignore on such an important

point? And yes like always the answer is lack of

strong regulations & good controlling environment,

legal support and willingness to bring things into

some systematic pattern. Moreover the corporate

babus are smart enough to play smart games in

such cases. Also the registrar of companies shows

lenience by giving companies time for settlement

and they are permitted to pay late fees and submit

reports. Smart people are not just enough and

right! Even not to go far our law is not strong

enough to threaten the culprits.

Now when companies do not file or they plead for

more time from Regulators to submit their papers,

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obviously they get a good time to commit frauds

and hide the true details. In India after the global

economic meltdown and increase in competition,

cases of frauds have also increased among the

corporate companies. The direct impact of this rise

in fraudulent cases is on the investors mind. Of

course they become more skeptical about whether

to invest in Indian markets or not. So in such an

atmosphere of doubt and disbelief every investor

thinks a 100 times before investing.

FACTORS THAT FACILITATE FRAUDS IN

INDIA-

- It is considered as acceptable behavior due to

ignorance by our regulators.

- Poor internal policies.

- Lack of right procedures and good administration.

- Lack of effective regulatory and compliance

mechanism.

- Weak law enforcement.

Now definitely this thing needs attention. There was

a time in the US when the Enron fraud took place

and the Serbanes Oxley Act was passed to set up

the enhanced standards for all US company

boards, management and public accounting firms.

Punitive provisions were introduced. Such things

and acts need to come in India so that chances for

frauds lessen.

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In the case of Satyam who checked what

Ramalinga Raju claimed? He claimed to have

53000 employees on pay roll the actual figure was

just 40000. Certainly the accounting professionals

are responsible for such fraudulent cases and they

should act as whistle blowers but no they act smart

in supporting the unethical business environments.

So in order to bring a reform and some changes

definitely an action should be taken against these

professionals too. Critically the role of the senior

management should be looked upon and checked if

things are fine. Wrong doers are really needed to

be controlled. The government and the regulators

should set the rules and act as impartial umpires

and must follow the principle that rules are not

meant to be broken but to be adhered to and

followed upon.

Not only will making laws and rules be helpful but it

should also be checked if they are followed and

enforced strictly. So if the nation has to be

protected from frauds and gain investor confidence

definitely our sleeping whistle blowers need to

wake up and come into action.

18- VOIDS IN TRAININGS

Training and development is as essential as the

other areas in any organization. It is believed that

training creates a competent workforce which

underpins the success of any organization. The

staff should be well acquainted with knowledge,

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skills and competencies which are required for an

optimum performance. No doubt the candidate is

competent and skilled due to which he is hired but

something needs to be brushed up well with time to

get the best out of it. It can be said that - nothing

shines forever, until and unless being taken care of.

The same rule holds good for trainings too, but still

there are some gaps in this particular area which

need to be filled in well to get the best outcome.

In many organizations the basic key is missing i.e.

unable to recognize the training, development and

learning needs to equip staff with the capabilities

required to contribute to business success and

progress in their own careers. Even some do not

realize that training and development is something

for improvement of their own staff. Now- a- days

technology has contributed a lot in terms of

trainings and there is a shift seen from conventional

trainings to online trainings, use of HR Portals and

also SAP-HCM software. ERP (Enterprise

Resource Planning) and HRMS (Human Resource

Management Solutions) are other transformations

which are still not adopted by many firms. There is

a huge need to fill these gaps.

Now trainings are not only required for the new

hires but also for management development. By

management development it means to emphasize

longer term development and to focus on

developing the capabilities of current or future

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managers. In this case training holds a lot of

importance in-

- Assessing the company's strategic needs.

- Appraising manager’s current performance.

- Developing the managers.

This is the lacuna which is ignored at times and so

it has a negative impact for organizations as well as

an employee’s growth. Training needs to be

imparted at each level to make employees aware of

the changing trends in HR. Training and learning

are the components of a broad approach to

competency management aligned to HR and

business strategy. The gap lies in training in the

following ways-

- Lack of understanding the current and evolving

future requirements with methodologies that are

tailored to individual client needs.

- Analysis of gap between current competencies

held and needed.

- Preparing and making employees understand the

strategic competency management framework.

- Focus is much on technical skills training rather

than the interpersonal skills training.

The need for training in organizations is more now

as an economic turmoil had been seen in the last

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one decade. Improvements and filling of these gaps

can be done by-

- Offering new methods for learning and

development.

- Adapting to changes as per demand and supply at

the level of industries.

- Aligning of the strategic goals of business to the

learning programs.

- Realizing that people are the sole survivors of the

organization and keeping them updated with

knowledge at various levels can help firms in

achieving their goals.

- Focus on high effective performance at each

level.

Now when it comes to training, billions of dollars

are spend by the corporate outfits in imparting

training to employees but the success of these

programs at times still remains a suspect. The

basic reason behind this is - the lack of need

analysis. Effective training needs to be reinforced

and even monitored at regular intervals so that

behaviors modified and knowledge implied may

lead to permanent changes. Done effectively with

this and doing proper need analysis , then

designing good training sessions will definitely not

leave any VOID IN THE TRAININGS.

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19- CHOOSY EMPLOYERS

To have a perfect job and a perfect career is not a

child's play. We often make mistakes which of

course are big time blunders and reasons behind

not having a good job in hand. In this era, where

competition thrives at such a fast pace and people

with good educational qualifications in their

pockets, having a perfect job is still a dream.

Having several degrees and even being good in

academics doesn't help much because now- a-

days these qualifications are with almost every

pass out from a college. Now unemployment is

such a bug which is eating our lives like anything.

Some important skills are missing in the markets

which the corporate are looking for in addition to

your academic results.

An employer of today is choosy in taking

employees into the organization because the

business models now- a- days focus on what

values can an employee add by being a part of

organization. Of course employees are a valuable

asset but then how do they make a difference while

being a part of the organization is a question in the

mind of an employer. Now some of the basic points

which can be helpful in an endeavor to have a good

job are-

1. COMMUNICATION SKILLS-

Can you speak clearly? Are you using proper

grammar? Do you slur making it difficult to

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understand? These are the things which every

employer needs to check well because the way you

communicate directly impacts your business. So

communication can be checked both in verbal and

non-verbal terms. Missing clarity in what you want

to depict is definitely a weak point. It is always

better to practice before you go for an interview.

Look in front of a mirror and check with your words

and especially your answers particularly to

questions like” Tell us about yourself?”

2. INTEGRITY-

I will add a fake experience, since I need job...yes

this is what many of us do and when questioned on

the so called fake experience they are unable to

justify the same. It’s extremely important to be

honest in your statements. By faking around at

least, you are not doing any good to your own self

or your career. Employers look for an honest

worker and not any thief or any liar.

3. TEAMWORK SKILLS-

Employers look for people who can gel well in

groups and not prefer to be loners. It’s always good

to add some joint projects in your resume if you

have worked on them in the past and which helped

you in gaining some teamwork skills. Working on

different projects is of course an asset in your

resume so one should not miss on that.

4. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS-

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The educational system of today gives the least

focus on this as they are more busy giving lectures

and getting results for their educational institutions.

Some people are too shy to speak which has a

negative impact in an interview. Having a good

smile on ones face shaking hands and showing

interest is what gives a positive impression in front

of the recruiter. It’s always better to be calm and

composed, as it reflects the optimism in your

personality.

5. STRONG WORK ETHICS-

Make sure by your speech to your prospective

employer that you are ready for the job and ready

to work as hard as expected. Showing interest in

job and working hard is helpful for your own growth.

Willingness to do work and giving your best is what

an employer wants.

6. STRONG KNOWLEDGE-

Coming unprepared to the interview is what we

need to check once before appearing for any

interview. It’s important to know well the position

you applied for and what skills are needed for the

same. An employer wants to ascertain whether you

are logical and fit well to the role. Make sure that

your employer recognizes that you are suitable for

the job position you came for.

7. FLEXIBILITY-

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Every employer seeks to have an employee who

does not procrastinate and one who would work

even at a stretch to give his best to the job

assigned. They test whether you can adapt yourself

to an unusual situation or not. It’s better to think of

instances when you had been flexible enough in

your job, if required you can even mention the

same.

8. GOOD ORGANIZATION SKILLS-

Are you able to organize things well? Organization

skills strengthen the employee's reputation. By

being organized, the employee is contributing to a

better working environment for his or herself.

9. CREATIVITY-

Creative skills are important in improving the

company and the working environment. Employers

are always looking for creative solutions to diverse

problems.

Keeping in mind these key points can be helpful for

everyone. Henceforth develop your skills in such a

way that you can create a competitive edge and be

a potential candidate for an employer. It is your

career, so better be competent enough to look at

what can give you satisfaction in life and how you

have to get a job even in this hard competitive

world convincing the CHOOSY employers.

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20- NURTURE STUPENDOUS EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

It is quite funny when you see that the people you

found competent enough for your organization and

hired them with a lot of expectations are the ones

responsible for the high attrition rates in your

organization. Things do keep changing with time

and so is seen a change in the relationship of

employers and employees. Employee justice,

safety norms and union relations sound quite heavy

but yes they are the foundation criteria for having a

good employee relation. Commitment to Business

Ethics comes from this. The best suited examples

for the same are Tata group and Infosys for their

commitment to business ethics. Poor employee

relations for instance untruthful or incomplete

communications can do no good for firms as the

employees are considered to be the best Brand

ambassadors for any organization. So when we say

a good word it comes from happy and content

employees having good relations with their

supervisors. Varied behaviors and kinds of relations

are seen in firms.

ASSORTED EMPLOYEE RELATIONS-

- Employees are praised for their good work.

- Employees are trusted.

- Employees are treated with respect.

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- Supervisors yell at employees.

- Supervisors prefer their own favorites.

- Employees’ questions and answers are

responded quickly.

- Employees are lied to.

- Employees’ suggestions are ignored.

- Employees’ hard work is appreciated.

- Supervisors threaten to layoff or fire employees.

- Coworkers help each other.

- Coworkers argue with each other.

- Coworkers respect each other.

Huge and enormous variations can be seen in

terms of relationships of employees within the firm.

Now these relations create an impact on what we

say organization culture. This culture is formed of

the values, traditions and behaviors which

company's employee’s share. Engaging and

inculcating good relations among employees and

supervisors can do wonders if implemented well

which of course is a joint effort by both.

In certain cases given as follows supervisors

knowingly or unknowingly lead subordinates astray-

- They tell staffers to do whatever (means

whatever) to achieve results.

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- Overload top performers to ensure that work gets

done (no matter by hook or crook).

- Look the other way when something wrong

happens (OH! I never knew this, trying to be

innocent, just to save their jobs).

- Take credit for others work or shift blame.

Friends let me tell you employees are the real

assets of any organization so if not respected and

taken care of you are going to lose the most

important component of your firm. By good

employee relations I mean deliver what people

want today. They want to feel good about who they

are, what they do and where they work. In that case

the comfort/discomfort of an employee in a firm is

also an issue.

- Employees are concerned about their privacy and

rights which of course is not wrong.

- Employees want to know whether their employer

considers their opinions or not.

- They want to be more productive and engaged.

- They are concerned if their values, skills and

knowledge are acknowledged or not.

- Whether they would be supported/guided while

taking challenges or not.

Now some organizations clearly work on this such

as Jet blue Airlines founder David Neelman says-

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"We all are together". So this is the message he

delivers to each of his employees. This definitely

motivates the workers to give their best as they

themselves feel a part of the organization. HR

management is responsible for this area and it has

to take care of employee grievances, recognitions

and boosting the morale of its employees to make

the working environment healthier, so that they can

fulfill the expectations of the management

maintaining good work culture and ethics.

TWO WAY COMMUNICATION-

Building a two way communication affects the

perceptions of how an employee is treated. This

clearly depicts- Engagement- involving employees

equally in decision making taking their feedback

and input. Explanation- ensuring that each

employee is well informed and involved.

Expectations Clarity- making sure that everyone

knows up front on what standards they will be

judged.

FACILITATION-

Facilitating a two way communication can be

explained by the example of Kentucky based

Toyota motor manufacturer's hotline. The plant’s

hotline is available 24 hours a day where an

employee can pick up the phone dial any extension

and deliver his message. This is a certain

procedure used to receive feedback of the

employees about the company and managers.

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So a well-planned employee relation is the key to

success creating a healthy environment, Good

organization culture balanced retention where

employee and employer both are at a level of

gratification and content. This is all that is required

to avoid conflicts and above all for both personal

and professional growth of an employee.

21- STOP COMPARING!

There is a huge transformation seen in the choice

of people with time and the fast pace with which

Technology is adopted in every way. Numerous

alterations are observed every day in terms of

things which were done traditionally and the way

they are done now. We are all so internet savvy

that we sometimes even forget our regular daily

chores. Several people call this advancement/

transformation and use many more words for the

same. So when transformation is seen in every

area and every field then of course training and

development is no exception. Trainings are now

made available to the employees at anytime,

anywhere and at any pace. But then can you tell

me if there is a single thing in this world which does

not have pros and cons. My conviction tells me NO!

There are many companies like Hexaware, Infosys,

Wipro, Accenture and many more such companies

which have adopted the use of Online Training

Programs. The companies use and adopt not only

their training programs but also use their HR

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portals, SAP-HCM - Human Capital Management

software. Definitely these technology prone ideas

have supported an increase in revenue for the firms

but still there are some things which cannot be

taught without hands on experience on the job. If a

sales person wants to use CRM software for his

data recording and use the same for after sales

service also, then definitely he/she needs to be

equipped by the hands on experience of how the

software works.

PROS-

Online trainings have made it quite easy to learn

and implement things well in the present times.

Some of the pros which off line training can’t

overcome are as follows-

It allows an employee follow the training process at

any hour of the day

Budget involved in this is less and hence

companies find it more cost effective

Easily flexible to the needs of the company as per

their need analysis

Prevents wastage of time

CONS-

Even though it is essential and has so many pros

still it is not that dominant and can't phase out the

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face to face learning. Hence it has some cons too

which are as follows-

Failure of social interaction

Lack of team oriented learning

Not getting any doubts clarified immediately

No tactile experience.

If I say I want to learn how to drive a car? Do you

think I can learn by some online instructions? No, in

that case I need to take guidance of an

experienced person for the same.

People do need off line trainings too wherein the

face to face interaction takes place. Here the key

ingredient for learning is human interaction. But yes

the con in this case falls out to be the cost and

budget which definitely is higher.

But in the real sense there is no competition or I

must say even no comparisons should be made in

terms of the training modes used because both are

equally essential and for companies to reach their

objectives and goals , it requires to give both kinds

of trainings to its employees. So both methods

should work together and none of them should be

eliminated. Online learning is considered to be an

isolating experience but still it has its own value as

it engages the learner and the same can be true in

terms of offline training too.

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22- GROWTH NEVER COMES IN 1 DAY!

It is very easy to say that oh this company was

formed just 10 -12 years ago and today it has

reached sky high. But we forget the hard work,

dedication and 24X 7 untiring effort put in by the

employees within the same and helped the

firm reach that level. Success never comes in a day

or two. In case of firms it is extremely important for

the goals of employees to be well aligned with that

of the organization and then achieving them in the

shortest possible time which is a great challenge

before firms.

All this requires the high levels of motivation of the

employees so that they can contribute their best

and help the firm grows at a faster pace. When I

say motivation level of employees it comes

from use of a dynamic tool i.e. PERFORMANCE

MANAGEMENT AND APPRAISAL. A perfect

example of this is Biocon limited, a Bangalore

based company that has shown an exponential

growth in the last decade and picked up its

revenue. The senior management at Biocon

realized the value of performance management and

helped its employees achieve good levels and

positions which motivated them to give their 100%

to the firm and help it in achieving its strategic

goals.

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An employer who looks clearly at the performance

deficiencies of an employee and then gives a

feedback is being responsible. An employer should

check if the employee meets the performance

standards set up by the firm or not. The aim behind

this tedious process is to ensure that an

employee’s performance is supporting the

company’s strategic aims. This doesn’t mean to

give a review once or twice in a year but rather it

should be given at least once a week. For this right

performance planning and managing people is

important. This chalks out the role of HR manager.

It is observed now that as the environment has got

quite competitive which is the result of increased

levels of Globalization and also many multinationals

having their offices nationwide so it is important that

each employee’s competencies and efforts must

focus on helping the company achieve its strategic

goals. Here what we say is that continuous

improvement is essential and it holds out to be the

philosophy of the Management.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF EFFECTIVE

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT-

Role clarification – each employee should be

clear of his day to day duty

Goal setting and planning- means translating the

organization’s goals into specific goal for each

employee

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Coaching and support – should be given as a

feedback process

Rewards , recognition and compensation- all

play an important role in keeping the right flow of

work and the employees should be motivated to

achieve the goals of the organization.

Having an effective management definitely helps in

creating good workforce and achieving

organizations goals. In this increasing competitive

environment where in like a race everyone is trying

hard to win, it’s important to have good manpower

so that the organization can achieve its goal up to

its best. The organizations like TCS, WIPRO &

INFOSYS have shown tremendous growth due to

the hard work and contribution made by the

employees at every level which has helped them to

become globally famous and amass huge

revenues.

23- ANIMOSITY IN TRAININGS

Well its sounds strange but what can one say after

hearing this- Oh why the hell do we have trainings

which are so meaningless and useless? Yes this is

the kind of attitude observed among the employees

these days. They abhor trainings more than

anything else. They don’t find these sessions as a

way to learn something new. It is being treated as a

medicine or a kind of punishment which they have

to take as a matter of compulsion. I am not at all

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saying that this is the case with every training

session and every trainee who goes for it but by

and large this is how it is now days. Now having

attended some of the training sessions I have

realized that very few of them appear to be

interactive. Rather these sessions act like a

sleeping pill but still one has to sit with open eyes

even if he / she is listening or not. There are lots of

expectations regarding this but what exactly can be

done? Companies spend a lot so how can this

insight change so that it does not appear boring.

It is observed that seniors or even our reporting

managers do not tend to be a part of the trainings.

They say “Oh we know everything and why should

we attend training". So now this kind of an attitude

leaves a negative mark on the minds of people who

are attending training. They are bound to think that

if their seniors hardly cared to attend training then

why should they be so serious about it? This is the

kind of message which seniors embark upon their

subordinates which becomes the sole cause of

failure of trainings.

I will not go very far but I quote the same with an

example- Nurses and the administrative staff are

required to attend trainings on Customer service

like to be said patient service. Then what about the

doctors? They don’t even care to be the part of this

kind of training and it is sometimes the doctors who

exhibit bad behavior in front of the nurses and other

staff for not attending to the patients properly. They

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equally hold the responsibility of ‘patient needs’ and

also to make their staff learn about the same. No

wonder it is quite commonly seen that they never

want to be the part of these trainings as such

trainings sound irrelevant to them.

It is the responsibility of the senior to make his sub

ordinates understand the importance of trainings

and they should do a lot of questioning to clear

their doubts from their trainer rather than sitting

dumb. They should tell them how training is

valuable for a particular role in an organization and

how the changing roles can be adopted making

each employee confident enough to work in any of

them. No one likes to be a part of boring training-

every attendee wants to be a part of interesting and

good trainings.

ADDING VALUE-

The trainings can be made valuable enough by-

- Not just reading study material.

- Adding a lot of examples from real life.

- Making sessions quite interactive.

- There should be an element of fun in between.

- Take a chance to grow and learn.

- Make the best out of it.

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It is in hands of the trainer along with the attendees

to make the session valuable. It’s the responsibility

of the trainer to make his attendees feel that they

are not trapped or punished but they are here for

some good purpose. Trust me with such a positive

mind set and making them feel cherished, none

would abhor trainings but would rather appreciate

the fact that it involves a lot of handwork by trainers

and especially by the presenter who has to make

the training session successful and lucrative for the

organization and its employees.

24- REVEALING TRUTH FROM ACTIONS

It is rightly said that- Actions speak louder than

words. We often ignore that our body language and

our gestures tell a lot to the ones who are

interacting with us. It can be applicable in terms of

both professional as well as our personal lives. The

word KINESICS technical word for body language

is an epochal aspect of the modern day

communication and relationships. It is relevant to

the corporate cultures in terms of management and

leadership. Rather it is applicable to all the aspects

of business environment and work culture where

the people from one area need to communicate

with the other. Even outside the work culture it is

well observed.

Communication also means effective listening

which is actually not clear to some people.

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Exhibiting an arrogant behavior and not letting

others speak shows discourtesy and to some

extent even manner less attitude. One must not

forget that your body language reveals all the truth

about you in terms of your feelings and emotions

too. Most often in an interview, the investigator or

the interviewer observes your behavior more than

your knowledge of technical skills.

Let me illustrate to you one such instance- An

interviewer asked Mr. Singh what makes him

distinct from other candidates. Mr. Singh gave a

cunning smile and started rubbing behind his neck

and said,” Well I am more intelligent and

hardworking as compared to the other candidates

here”. Now here it clearly reveals the truth about

Mr. Singh that- He is over confident regarding his

own skills but he cannot be a good leader as he is

concerned only about himself and not concerned

about the teamwork at all. Then giving a cunning

smile in itself shows an arrogant attitude as if

proving his superiority to others. Moreover he is

showing his defensive attitude by rubbing behind

his neck.

Sending of such body signals takes place at both

conscious and unconscious levels.

Body language can be of various kinds-

1. Tilted head- means you are quite convinced and

interested.

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2. Rubbing hands- anticipation.

3. Rubbing eyes- Doubt in mind or a kind of

unconvinced behavior.

4. Stroking chin- Thinking something.

5. Downward gaze- feeling of being defeated.

6. Clearing throat - Nervousness.

7. Hands over the mouth - Feel of boredom

8. Arms swinging- feel like running away from a

situation.

Similarly there can be various types of gestures

which reveal your personality from the way you

move within an organization. It is actually a lot

about your behavior and your body language when

you are in certain situations such as follows-

- Job Interviews.

- Day to day situations.

- Gestures at the time of review meetings.

- Gestures in the conference halls.

- Business meetings.

- Appraisal meetings.

Now since body language is an important aspect

which is now focused upon by firms definitely some

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training sessions should be given on the same too.

There should be sessions given by some body

language experts which will definitely bring a

certain change among all the employees as –

‘Nobody is perfect’ and it can definitely be of benefit

to them. It is a face to face encounter with another

human being. Sometimes even a single gesture of

hands or eyes conveys 100% what we want to say.

And this sometimes leaves a very good impression

and vice versa too.

All in all it’s a fascinating subject which leaves an

impression and mark in its own way sometimes

revealing the entire truth. Even the world’s best

communicators manage to be Persuasive due to

the kind of body language they hold. Frowning

head, eyes down and no smile definitely shows you

are trying to be defensive. So the personality one

holds within is reflected well sometimes by your

gestures. This subject should definitely not be

ignored as it is an important part of an

Organization’s behavior and given the right training

for the same definitely can bring a good and

positive aura within the firms.

25- CREATING BETTER AND HAPPY EMPLOYEE

Hi Joe, how’s your work going? Well Andrew, I left

the job. Oh not again, I guess it’s just 3 months that

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you had joined the company and you even left that.

Well I could not work in that company. So this is

what happens most of the times with new hires as

they have no end to the number of reasons for

changing their jobs. But if organizations help in

creating happy and better employees, then

definitely the attrition rates won’t be as high as they

are these days. The basic problems which new

hires face are-

· -Lack of support from immediate supervisor

· Stress associated with the learning of the job in a

very short time

· Lack of understanding the job expectations

· Lack of understanding the company structure

· Some feel they cannot have a good career path

and feel stuck in the company

· -While some do not feel comfortable within the

system

As I said earlier, there is no end to the no. of

reasons why the new hires leave job and show no

consistency in their jobs. Moreover some of them

do not even stay in the firm for more than 3 months

which in real terms is bad for their own career. Here

falls the responsibility of the firm hiring these

employees to train them well and make them feel a

part of the system rather than just loading them

with pressure and giving them unachievable

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targets. Even those targets can be achieved well

and in time if employees are given the right set of

training at the right time.

It’s well said by Dale Carnegie that- training is

essential for the achievement of business. Creating

better employees and generating profits from their

devotion to work is not that easy. If no training is

given to these employees in whom the company

found a high potential at the time of hiring. So all in

all good training is like a benefit package offered to

an employee. Also it helps in reducing the attrition

rates of employees and retaining them. In general

these trainings give an insight to the employees on

how they can sharpen their skills to become

effective and competitive in their professional life

and adjust themselves to the corporate culture too.

Trainings are given to not only some technical skills

but there can also be various aspects covered in

trainings. If we talk about Dell, it’s a huge MNC and

hence there are many kinds of trainings given

ranging from hardware training to software

infrastructure training and then learning

management skills too. Hence all the training

programs help employees get well acquainted with

the system into which they have to work.

For any organization it’s the employees who

deserve gratitude from the top management. As

they contribute so much to the firm definitely they

should be shown appreciation and must say a word

of Thank You for all their hard work. This will not

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only help in making employees feel good but also

increase their levels of credibility to the firm.

Moreover less become the chance of attrition due

employees. Creating happy employees should be a

fractional or say an integral part of overall business

strategy. If employees are given the feeling of

belongingness and say the Maslows Need

Hierarchy theory is implemented well, then it

definitely helps employees to work wholeheartedly.

26- MEMORABLE BLUNDERS

It happens quite often that when we come out of an

interview, we feel that we have given our best and

definitely we should be hired by this organization.

Later after an hour or so, when we come to know

that we are not hired we start looking reasons for

blaming the hiring managers rather than

introspecting within ourselves as to the blunders

committed by us and our shortcoming? Having

shortcomings/unable to clear an interview/ facing

failures in interviews is not at all an end to one’s

life. It’s the best opportunity to learn from mistakes

and move a step ahead in the next interview which

we will face and who knows the door we knock this

time is the last one. It is always better to learn from

the blunders committed once rather than

committing them again.

What the hiring managers look for is whether a

candidate will be a valuable asset for their

organization or not. Not one but several blunders

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are committed by candidates and can be committed

by anyone facing interviews. This happens not only

in the case of a fresher but also in the case of

experienced people too. But it’s not good to give

lame excuses or exhibit an arrogant behavior in the

interview as no one is liable to you. Moreover it’s

equally a candidate’s responsibility to maintain

decorum and maintain a good attitude and

behavior.

UNEXCEPTIONAL BLUNDERS IN INTERVIEWS-

Some of the regular mistakes which are committed

by candidates are as follows-

1- Not prepared -

Being unaware of the firm where you want to work and also have no knowledge related to the field you have chosen to work for means a big NO at the beginning itself. None of the managers would like to hire a candidate who is just looking for charity in terms of salary and contribute nil. A small instance in this case- a candidate went for the position of a lecturer at a particular University and applied for the post of MBA Finance lecturer. He was not even aware of what’s a monetary and fiscal policy. Obviously being unable to answer this makes a recruiter aware of the depth of knowledge and no one would hire such a candidate.

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2- Talking unnecessary-

Who is free enough to hear your life story? I guess no one. So, if you talk unnecessary and deviate from what is asked then you create a negative impact before the panel in an interview. 3- Improper attire-

Hello! You are attending an interview wearing denims, applying a lot of make- up then you are fooling around wasting the time of the recruiter. Your degree of seriousness is depicted a lot by the kind of attire you are wearing.

4- Long answers-

Please a big no to stories. Many more people are waiting to get employed. So, better answer to what’s being asked by keeping your answers succinct and to the point. Relate your answers with good and practical examples rather than just bluffing around and talking all nonsense.

5- Lack of Good eye contact-

Please talk to me...I have asked you a question! In a one to one interview this is a feeling of recruiter. It’s important to have good eye contact while talking to the recruiter and of course a hand shake at the end of the interview leaves a certain impression of generous behavior. 6- Irrelevant answers-

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It’s always better to think before you answer. Once a candidate had been asked to mention any one author of HRM whose book he read, and the candidate replied Mark Andrews who had never ever written any book. This clearly shows you are giving some answer just to speak anything rather than a relevant answer. Oral responses to oral inquiries are on the agenda

of interviews where a proper screening of the

candidate is done before taking the decision to

recruit him/her into the system. Interview is an

indispensable management tool which is a stepping

stone for one to be in the particular job. Interviews

depend upon situations or behaviors too. Be

careful about your words and your actions as they

reveal your personality.

NUTS AND BOLTS-

Yes let me take you forward with some basics

which prove to be nuts and bolts for all of us when

facing interviews-

1- Have a good knowledge about the position you

are going for and about the organization.

2- Relate your experience well with the position

offered and how can it benefit the firm.

3- Give uncomplicated answers to reveal your

clarity in your words.

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4- A formally and neatly dressed up person spreads

a good positive vibe.

5- A smile on the face and not laughing I say a

smile to make the aura comfortable for the recruiter

as well as yourself.

6- A thank you before and while leaving the

interview room will never make you small but rather

show your generous behavior.

Blunders and mistakes are made by all of us. But

it’s better not to repeat them. Also it can be of no

use cribbing about them because it’s not that you

will never get job. Jobs are plenty it’s all about how

you search for and approach them at the right time

and at the right place. Having good

conscientiousness, intelligence and interpersonal

skills will always keep your morale high and help in

achieving what we deserve.

27- GAP ANALYSIS

Hey! Tomorrow is the training on some new subject

and we get to learn something new about which we

were not aware initially. This was the response of

employees some 10 years back when there used to

be an announcement of training programs within

firms. Traditionally trainings were perceived by

employees as an opportunity to learn something

new, a break from some of their hard schedules or

a chance to meet some new people.

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Oh no! Not another boring training and again some

GYAN. This is the reaction of the employees now-

a- days may not be in every case but in many

cases. This response is the result of unplanned

and fortuitous training sessions which are

undervalued as they don't add any value to

trainees. There is definitely a change now and its

essential to look for loop holes in organization

based on which these trainings should be designed

and carried forward. It’s not only about classroom

teaching but it’s also a lot about understanding the

psychology of people to whom you are talking to.

When I talk about need / gap analysis then it’s

essential to chew on some basic points-

Trainings to be in- sync with the organization’s strategic goals and objectives.

Please do not make training a selling or a consumer item.

Customize training based on what the organization requires.

Look carefully for the gaps which restrain optimal performance and find a solution accordingly.

Organized and systematic sessions often add more value.

It is essential to know that what kind of gaps can

come in the normal functioning of the company or

what exactly are the factors which evoke the need

for trainings. There can be various types of

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pressure points within the firm which evoke this

need. Some of them are-

Lack of some basic skills in employees

Poor performance from time to time

Introduction of new technology

Customer requests driven from use of CRM or such relationship managing software or sources

Influx of new products

Improvement in performance standards

New job responsibilities

After understanding these it is then required to

understand who needs training. It is a misnomer

that some managers feel only junior employees

need training but actually these programs should

be conducted for all from the top management to

the lower level. Then in this context some more

questions arise which are as follows-

1. What is that the trainees need to learn?

2. What kind of training should be given?

Once a good need analysis is done it definitely

gives a good and positive outcome. This can be

quoted well by taking the examples of the

companies which have lost in terms of profit and

revenue generation at some time or the other but

later came up with flying colors once they found out

the gap due to which the fall down happened and

they overcame the same with good solutions.

Remember even Confucius said that- “Learning

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without thought is a labor lost. Thought without

learning is intellectual death." So having a good

need analysis means adding value to your firm in

the form of result oriented training programs.

28- REMARKABLE AMELIORATION IN HR SOLUTIONS

We are now well acquainted with the fact that

nothing remains the same and with time things

keep changing. Similarly the practices used in HR

have now changed a lot and many new advances

have come up with time. HR solutions have now

shown a radically distinctive growth and

improvement. Each day some new concepts and

ideas are introduced and are even well adopted.

So let me take you forward with the concept of SIX

SIGMA about which already I said - that it’s a new

HR solution. This word sounds like six attributes

engaged to form something new or one concept out

of six features. But hold on my readers, it is a

concept or I must say a business strategy with its

application now days in the HR department too.

A WORD ON SIXSIGMA

SIXSIGMA is basically a business management

strategy which was originally developed by

Motorola in the USA in 1981. It had its application

in almost every sector or it was applied in many

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sectors of an industry. Once it was adopted there

were critics and controversies against the same but

still it’s used worldwide by many multinational

corporations. For criticism one must remember

what had been well said by Emmet Fox that-

"Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting".

However it’s a practically untouched concept by the

HR departments of many firms till now whereas on

the other hand it has been adopted and

implemented well by some firms. Few of them are

as follows-

Wipro Technologies- has its focus on six sigma skill

base and consulting experience which in turn works

upon bringing about a continuous improvement in

the organization. Also it worked on competency

based people processes which had shown

tremendous improvement with time.

BSNL adopted Six Sigma as it helps them in

meeting the requirements of the changing

environment. Various projects have included the

concepts of green and black belts into the system.

HR consultancy services have adopted this on a

large scale.

Tata Consultancy Services- applied Six Sigma to

streamline its HR processes and also to add value

to its business.

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Strategies are developed in any business to have

profits and achieve a good level of growth. This had

been achieved well by many firms with the

introduction of Six Sigma within their HR

departments. Essentially it’s the work of the HR

department to interact with its employees and

influence them to achieve the strategic goals of firm

in the best manner.

The functions of the HR in any firm are huge and

hence its focus lies on bringing Returns on

investment by creating a knowledgeable employee

aware of all the new advancement. Six sigma had

helped in recognizing the gaps and opportunities

for improvement by breaking down the complex

tasks into simpler ones. It has provided a

dramatic improvement through innovations in the

functions of the HR.

Outcomes given by the implementation of Six

Sigma in HR are as follows-

Reduction in cost and time to hire employees

Reduction in employee retention

Reduction in safety violations

Reduction in overtime

SIXSIGMA not only acted as a support to the

management but also helped in creating value. The

companies making the best use of it definitely are

in a better predicament and plight.

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29- THINGS CHANGE WITH TIME

An umbrella can give shade to many and protects

one from both sunlight & raindrops. It is well said

that what you show people form an image out of it.

Similarly employees are considered to be the brand

ambassadors of the company who present their

firm before others. The way you present, helps in

forming of an image by the outer world. Human

Resource Management has shown a lot of changes

since past few years and now the roles and

responsibilities have also diversified.

Traditionally, the role of HR was limited to handling

administrative work or taking candidates within the

system. But now as said that nothing remains the

same forever we see an introduction to a lot of HR

initiatives within firms which have been very well

adopted & implemented too. So an umbrella in this

context is a one stop shop which is well related to

HR as it shows a lot of diversification from -

Recruitments

Training & Development of Employees

Compensations

HR policies

Performance appraisals

Payroll Processing

Resume Processing

Employee retention

The responsibility is increasing every day on the

HR executives and for the same even Technology

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has supported a lot. Advances in technology have

introduced the concept of HR PORTALS which are

widely used and accepted by various multinational

companies.

HR PORTALS-

These portals are advantageous to the HR

management-

· Knowledge sharing

· Giving online based training classes to Employees

· Sharing of articles

· Keeping updates on new changes within the firms

Let me share with you the use of these HR Portals

by the famous MNC's these days even in India. For

example-

1. Hexaware uses these portals for centralized

reporting and analysis that help in decision making

processes. Secondly it is used for resource

mobilization from different areas of the world.

2. Infosys uses these portals for knowledge sharing

and keeping updates on the changing trends and

advances within the firm.

3. Wipro uses channel W named portal for

connecting Wiproites across the world.

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These portals act like a binding force across HR

initiatives. HR is a huge field which now focuses on

providing value added services to its employees

and creates a competitive edge in the market. More

the advances within HR, the more it improves the

awareness levels and knowledge sharing among

employees. With such advances affinity clubs,

message boards, chats, intranet search and

various personalization engines have been

introduced within the HR management. As

definitions of jobs are changing new trends are also

coming up. Even the concept of six sigma, SAP

and competency mapping are included in the

recent advances which I will share in my upcoming

blogs.

This competitive age and era needs employees

who are well acquainted with the upcoming trends

and have knowledge as it makes you more aware &

definitely helps in creating an edge above others.

30- MOVING HIGH UP ON THE LADDER

It’s not that any person who joins the firm on the

very first day becomes the CEO or the chairman of

the Firm. Years of hard work and a lot of smart

work these days become the ladder for success in

a maximum number of cases. Value the time you

have in your life rather than just wasting it and

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thinking why life is worthless. Life always comes

the way we imagine and how much input we give to

drive our imaginations.

Trainings in corporate life are like water for the

survival of fish now- a- days. The one who is

trained well will of course be efficient enough as

their results will show as compared to the ones who

do not believe in this system of training &

development. Now one thing which is practically

missing these days and very commonly seen is that

people do not value time at all. To a great extent it

is seen that even senior employees are sometimes

not on time to the offices which quite obviously

creates a negative impact on their sub ordinates

and so how can one expect them to be on time.

Mostly in the case of sales profile, the sales people

have to move for calls to the clients. But it is always

good if they maintain a proper diary and write about

their timings of meetings with their clients as this

saves time and also helps things flowing in a

systematic manner.

It’s always better to reach 10-15minutes earlier for

any meeting which creates a positive impression on

the employer and also reduces the level of

apprehension & anxiety which is very common

before any meeting or even an interview. Suppose

you move to some another site for some work,

better have a cup of coffee and enjoy talking to

people there before your meeting starts. If you

arrive early for meetings better introduce yourself to

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other participants. Know the people because this

world is about people and the contacts you hold in

your database. This is actually known as contact

management when you maintain a good database

of the people whom you meet and interact with you.

They will one day be definitely helpful to you in one

or the other way.

Try to remember what you can about people. Show

good positive gestures towards them. Keep an idea

of their birthdays and anniversary or any special

day in their lives and greet them. Be considerate

enough to understand what you can do for people.

Send cards, greetings of congratulations if

promoted, or a condolence message if something

bad happens. Once you engage in people

management you’ll realize that people remember

your kindness more than even you do. Now such

things I agree cannot help you enhance your

technical skills or help you in gaining expertise but

they would definitely help directly or indirectly to

give you the recognition which can be a stepping

stone on your way to succeed in your work and

your job.

Times are really tough now and to get jobs is not

that easy as it used to be. It has also been seen

that a maximum number of the fresher’s are

unable to sustain in their jobs for more than 1 year

because they are unable to build good relationships

with neither their sub ordinates nor with their peers.

This is due to lack of training programs on soft skills

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which should be given to the new hire’s as and

when they are called for joining their jobs. Before

their induction in the firm training programs should

be conducted so that the new hire gets acquainted

with all the aspects pertaining to his job.

So the important thing which one should not forget

is that the more you value people around you the

more you receive recognition. Also not to forget

trainings are just a way to polish you and bring out

some hidden qualities which you already have. So

it’s better to have good client relationship and grow

in a systematic career as moving up high on the

ladder is never a child’s play.

31- WHICH FORK TO USE AT LUNCH?

Often when we talk about business etiquettes I

don't understand why people feel that it’s too

significant to hold a fork in the proper hand during

lunch with a client. Does holding a fork at lunch

complete the real sense of business etiquettes? But

this word called Etiquettes in Business include

significantly many more important things other than

knowing which fork to use at lunch with a client.

Etiquette is about how you present yourself, the

kind of polish which shows how serious and

professional you are in terms of the corporate. It’s

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about how comfortable you are with people and

how the others are with you.

It is all about the kind of people you have in your

firm and how are they presenting your organization

in front of your clients. What kind of an image your

employees project people will have the same in

their minds. Sometimes due to breach of proper

mannerism and good etiquettes many firms loose

the business and even customer loyalty. Let’s not

go very far. For eg- we go to shop at Big Bazaar

and we feel that customer dealing is poor and

moreover the employees have no etiquettes to

present themselves, I guess none of us would like

to visit the shop again. This in-turn spoils the

company's image more by word of mouth.

The environment within the firm too creates an

impact on the employee’s behavior. Sometimes the

senior management is not that cooperative and

talks rudely to its employees. This in turn also adds

a negative impact on the employees. So the

discourteous and disrespectful behavior is passed

along from the top. This impact affects firms in the

form of bad customer relations. So here comes the

role of good etiquettes as no one misbehaves

intentionally. Having trainings on behavior

management can help employees a lot in this case.

REMEDY

Let’s not forget that most of the times when we

have a bad note with some or if our behavior is

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perceived as disrespectful, rude or abrasive it’s

always unintentional. Sometimes it’s even due to

lack of proper communication. But there lies a

solution for everything. The first and the most basic

solution for this is to have an open mind and

maintaining an open, honest communication. The

concept of miscommunication can be eradicated by

this remedy. Now practicing good manners and

having a calm and composed behavior in daily

office routine can be helpful.

KEEP IN MIND

It’s well said that get back to basics. So the same

falls for etiquettes in your working environment. By

basics I mean be courteous and generous enough

to the people around you which means to both your

seniors and your subordinates. Listen to what

convictions other people hold, respect them and

then respond in a good and positive manner. We

are often influenced by the big corporate leaders &

management Gurus like Ratan Tata, C.K Prahalad,

Michael Porter. They hold leadership with their tags

because they have all those good qualities which

truly present the value of etiquettes in their work,

mind sets and daily lives.

PLEASE AVOID

- Using abusive language

- Talking in a loud voice

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- Using harsh words

- Always showing yourself superior to others

Your words and your behavior mostly add to the

kind of credibility and respectability you deserve.

So better hold good business etiquettes rather than

just keeping a fork in the proper hand in front of

clients. The better your customer relations you

have the better is your contribution to your firm's

and your success.

32- BASIC ETIQUETTES!

The professional growth of an individual depends a

lot on the way he/she presents himself/herself. It is

rightly said and very much applicable in terms of

etiquettes that First impression is the Last

impression. So etiquettes play an important role in

every aspect-

- Interviews - Presentations - Peer group relations - Basic office etiquettes The one with good etiquettes often receives respect

and is looked upon with much attention as

compared to the one who ignores them. Now let’s

say if a candidate goes for an interview without

being properly dressed in formals but wearing

jeans, obviously the interviewer gets an impression

about how serious the candidate is about getting

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the job and taking any responsibility. Moreover the

one who cannot carry himself well how can a firm

take a risk of hiring such a candidate.

Some of the etiquettes which should be taken care

of are-

Take care of bad breath and bad smell from body.

Colors should be the one which suit an occasion.

Not to smoke in the office premises.

During meetings it’s better to keep the phone on silent mode.

Let the one who’s speaking complete, rather than interfering.

EMAIL ETIQUETTES-

Be concise and to the point.

Answer all the questions in a systematic manner and give relevant responses.

Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation marks.

Templates can be used or frequently used responses.

Do not write in capitals.

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Properly check before you send.

Take care to whom you are sending a mail rather than replying to all.

Be careful about formatting.

Avoid long sentences.

Have a meaningful subject. However skillful a person is these basic etiquettes

definitely create an impact. I shall keep adding

more on these skills in my upcoming posts.

33- SOFT SKILLS- CANNOT BE MISSED

The changes in behavior and thinking of employees

depend largely on the kind of soft skills they

acquire. There exists a strong relationship between

the soft skills of employees and effective customer

relationships. If we talk about our Indian companies

definitely they are creating a competitive edge in

terms of growth of which training of employees both

technical and soft skills play an important role. Soft

skills, as compared to technical hard skills, greatly

create an impact on the personality development of

employees. This is now an important aspect of

managerial trainings as companies are now not

only limited to local level but have turned out to be

global. Various training institutions have opened up

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nationwide the emphasis of which is purely into soft

skills trainings.Few of them which create a great

impact upon the clients from across the world are

as follows-

- Team building skills - Presentation skills - Time management skills - Cultural sensitivity - Business etiquettes - Good communication skills - Telephone etiquettes - Email etiquettes - Listening skills If a firm en devours to be on the growth path they

cannot ignore how important it is for the employees

to be skillful both technically and personally. Going

through proper need analysis of the firm sessions

of training modules are prepared as per their need

and these trainings are given from time to time. It

can be well said that soft skills is a sociological

term for emotional intelligence of individuals. Even

though it’s a face to face interaction with a client or

on phone or through emails this aspect of trainings

is important.

34- INTERNET BASED- TRAININGS

Employers make extensive use of web based

trainings these days. Quite a lot of emphasis is

given on the internet based learning. Even some

firms let their employees take online courses

offered by the online course providers like

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saba.com while others make use of intranets to

facilitate computer based training.

The wider use of Microsoft office is for providing

trainings and these are in the forms of power point

presentations, Microsoft Excel is to make them

learn the financial figures. Various products like

black boards and Web CT support online learning

en devours. Web CT is a product that provides a

process for delivering course content via Power

Point presentations which enables learners and

instructors to interact live and asynchronously via

online chat rooms and discussion forums and also

deliver grades and compiles online exams and

grades.

Now people are internet savvy and have knowledge

of internet based systems, so it’s easily accepted

by firms and moreover many students are familiar

with its advantages. The use of internet based

learning is in various sectors like banking, travel

and tourism particularly by airlines.

Effectiveness:-

It has been seen through various research studies

also that internet based learning is a bit more

effective than the classroom teaching. This helps in

providing the procedural knowledge and having a

proper domain knowledge. Even trainees are

equally satisfied with the web based instructions

more than other modes of training.

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Advantages:-

- It is a feasible educational option. - Trainings can be given to the employees of firm even in remote locations. - It allows people to fetch knowledge in their specific domain. - Also it has contributed to an increase in ROI's on trainings. It is all about adopting the new ways and bringing

them into practical implementation which works on

well and helps in bringing better outcomes.

35- LEARNING PORTALS

Learning portals during trainings are very much in

and acceptable in the present era of advancement

and adoption of technology at various levels. Many

firms these days employ Business portals. Through

its Business portals firm’s employees, secretaries,

engineers, sales people can get the tools which are

used to analyze the data both inside and outside

the companies. Also they help in checking the

customized content like industry news and

competitive data which is needed by them.

Employee trainings are increasingly conveyed

through learning portals. The suppliers of these

portals form contracts with employers even to

deliver online training courses to the employees of

the firms. Some of them are like Learnivity.com,

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skill soft.com etc. Commercial portals are used to

deliver trainings both to employers and employees.

Business portal training links are maintained by the

suppliers of these portals.

Even these suppliers provide business firms with

some offerings. Some even create special courses

for the employees of firms and customers. Such

systems had been initiated by the USA for the first

time. Learning Management system is used to

expand the portal services’ learning activities. This

program gives access to the state of the art training

and lets the portal service managers monitor their

organization’s training progress.

E-learning systems have been introduced to make

these trainings more result oriented. Employers can

easily synchronize employee’s trainings with their

performance appraisal, skills, inventory and

succession plans.

36- ON THE JOB TRAININGS

On the job trainings are one of the most effective

methods of training being adopted by most of the

firms today. But how many of us exactly know what

is on the job training? OJT means a person learns

the job by actually doing it and I guess this phase of

training must be taken by every employee who

joins the firm. Rather every employee from a junior

to senior level in a firm has to go through this mode

of training. It is like your employer tells you- "GO

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AHEAD, THESE ARE YOUR JOB

RESPONSIBILITIES".

The most common type of OJT i.e on the job

training is coaching wherein your mentor or your

senior who was one day holding your position and

has now moved on to a higher one explains to you

what will be your responsibilities, what challenges

you would come across and how to manage in any

kind of a situation? It is similar to a senior

supervisor training his employee.

Now let me quote this with an example- If a

candidate joined as a Relationship Manager, then

the one who can help him most is the Senior

Relationship Manager. He can help in making the

RM understand following points-

- What are the various ways to generate business? - How to tap an untapped market? - What does ‘by providing post sales services’ mean? - How to make good relationships with clients? - How to take new references from the existing clients? In all, it can be said that every manager is accountable for the development of his or her direct subordinates. OJT is advantageous in many ways-

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1- It is relatively inexpensive.

2- Trainees learn while being initiated into the system.

3- No need for expensive off site facilities like classrooms or programmed learning devices.

4- Even trainees learn by doing work on their own & get a feedback on their performance.

Moreover in this kind of training the trainee should

take care of the following points-

- Prepare the learner well -

Put the learner at ease.

Explain to him why he/ she is being taught?

- Present the operation-

Explain the key points to the learner.

Make him clearly understand the things to be taken

care of.

- Important steps-

Make the trainer learn in a systematic pattern

required for his job.

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Look out for the mistakes committed and how to

correct them?

- Follow up-

Designate a trainer to whom he/ she could

approach for help.

Compliment the trainee for the good work and

motivate the employee.

Make the training effective so that they can be a

value addition for employees and can have a

competitive edge as compared to its competitors.

37- POINTS- NOT TO BE MISSED!

Some people feel and say" Oh no! Not again,

another training session and one more day to sleep

and yawn. But hello let me tell you that it rests a lot

in the hands of the trainer to take care of each and

every thing and make sure the people are active

rather than yawning. More meaningful and more

interesting is what everyone expects in these

sessions.

As per my experience it is a lot about the GYAN

given in trainings that makes the sessions

monotonous and provokes the listeners to show

that they are in the least interested in trainings.

Nobody these days want to listen to what is written

in the reading material and moreover why to listen

to what is already printed in books.

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There are certain important things which create a

positive impact in these sessions-

1. Spacious and airy space.

2. Good seating arrangement.

3. Proper lighting.

4. Neat and tidy place.

5. Trainer with a smile and positive attitude.

6. Trainer with a loud voice and clarity of words.

7. Trainer with a good body language.

8. Having good eye contact.

9. It is good for the trainer to even be a good

listener.

10. Most important relating concepts with examples

and practical experiences.

Even management games make the sessions more

interesting and help in making the mind more

active. Positive mind set and a smile raises a good

level of confidence within the trainer and creates a

positive aura within the training room. One should

be ruthlessly positive and honest with ones words

to have good outcome.

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Feedback from listeners are important too, to have

an understanding of how helpful the training

sessions were for the trainees and whether it is like

a value addition for them or not.

38- INTERESTING SESSIONS

It is not always about teaching when we talk in the

context of training. It is a lot about the two way

interaction & a matter of discussion. Training

sounds to be more effective if participants equally

participate in the same. Being trained well &

acquiring a good set of skills definitely helps in

creating a competitive edge.

In most of the trainings it is seen that the focus is

on the subject matter and the reading material. But

the sessions become more interesting and

interactive when not only the study material but

also the other things are given equal importance.

Soft skills are given these days special attention in

most of the corporate offices. Proper attire, good

attitude, smile and a composed gesture creates a

positive image and gives positive vibes.

Smart Presentation skills are what come with time

and practice. No one can be perfect in a single day.

Such sessions help in the growth of the employees

both on the professional and personal front.

Practical implementation of these skills enhances

the growth level of employees. Making your

followers follow you is not the only sole purpose

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behind trainings but it’s a lot about learning new

things, adopting new skills sets and grabbing the

same. Reactions and behavior is what a person

should understand.

One must have a tremendous eye for detail and

understand every aspect which may help the

employees in returning the favor to the firm in a

good way. To create a warm and glowing

environment during trainings, two way interactions

and discussions should be focused upon. Such

things being taken care of definitely helps in making

the sessions interesting rather than boring lectures

which make people sleep too in trainings.

39- WHY TRAININGS

Now after talking so much on Training and

Development, let me take you ahead as to why

training is such an important aspect in any

organization? What if we do not have T& D in our

firms? Why to invest such a huge amount into this

aspect of HR?

Trainings can be initiated for various reasons like-

1- It is a part of an overall performance

development program.

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2- It is a part of the succession planning to help an

employee in adapting to the new change in role and

responsibilities.

3- It is used as a benchmark to compare the status

of improvement so far in the Performance

Improvement effort.

4- To train the employee on a specific topic.

5- To meet the increasing expectations of the

corporate social environment.

6- To be in sync with the diverse workforce in

bringing good values and morals to the work place.

7- When dealing with heavy equipment or being

into some manufacturing units, safety training is a

must.

8- To meet the increasing competition of global

market place and understand its needs.

9- Improvements in specific areas and increasing

knowledge.

10- To have a competitive edge and higher

threshold of performance.

When we say that an employee is really working

well at every stage, we must not forget that he is

able to deliver not only because of his own

competencies but also due to the proper know how

of his work, so trainings are essential and very

much in need to give employees a higher and a

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competitive edge in the organizations. This helps

them in their professional growth at a much faster

pace.

It is better to attend these training sessions

regularly and take them seriously rather than sitting

dumb and being unaware of new developments

coming up. It not only helps you but also other

people in the same working environment. Being

unaware and not serious about this is like

hampering your own growth in your professional

life.

40- GOOD INVESTMENT

Investing in the development of skills of employees

is as essential as the other aspects of operations in

any organization. The purpose behind these

trainings is not only developing skills but also about

behavioral modification of Employees to have

efficient results. Such trainings on Behavioral

modifications, attitude, soft skills must be done from

time to time to have a good aura within the firms

which makes them more result oriented.

On-going training programs for current employees

help them to adjust to the ever changing and

rapidly coming up new job requirements. Even it

helps employees in brushing up their skills and

working upon them. Even seminars and workshops

are now a part of these training programs as they

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are focused on some particular objective and work

on fulfillment of the same. They do help in

improving business operations too.

It essential not to forget some important points

before the trainings are scheduled-

1. Objectives of the organization.

2. Need Assessment.

3. Is there any gap?

4. Selection of training methods.

5. Administer Trainings.

6. Evaluation of trainings.

No training is without any purpose. So, a

demarcation of the objectives behind training, then

what methodologies should be adopted for the

particular training and how exactly to go ahead with

this process is required.

The right set of investments into the trainings, to

uplift its own employees, can come out with fruitful

results.

41- CHANGES AS PER NEED

With advancement in technology and science,

along with development taking place at such a fast

pace nothing remains the same. Changes keep

coming and we have to adapt to them. So, new

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ways and methodologies have been adopted every

day by trainers to make the sessions more effective

and efficient.

The Traditional method used for training was either

formal classes or delivery of some lectures to make

the listeners aware of the task being assigned and

how to do the same. But now-a- days many new

ways have come up to make these sessions more

interesting and outcome oriented. Some of them

are as follows-

- On the Job Training

- Job instruction Training

- Computer based Training

- Audio- visual Training

- Simulated Training

- Apprenticeship Training

But before opting for any kind of a training method

it is essential to analyze the need for training. It is

essential to know whether the training has to be

given to a new employee or to the one who is

already on the job. Look out for what do the job

entails and then break the same into tasks. Further

into sub tasks and make it easier for listeners to

understand things in a simpler way.

Such adoption of methods, understanding the

needs, can make it easy for the employees to be

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more knowledge equipped and work in an efficient

way going through the systematic pattern of

learning things. If employees are not well trained

then even gaps are observed in their performance

which is not good and hence trainers should make

use of some analytical software like Saba software

being used for the diagnosis of these gaps. When

we know the facts that there are some

shortcomings and gaps, training modules can be

changed as per requirement.

Therefore when the right set of training sessions

are being delivered it helps in both the personal

and professional growth of an employee.

42- LEARNER TO TRAINER

It had been very rightly said that “if you won't put

yourself into the system you will never be able to

understand what exactly goes within the same".

Similarly one can turn out to be a good trainer if he

/she are himself/herself equipped with the right set

of knowledge and good attitude. Certain own

characteristics, attributes & experiences contribute

in giving a better delivery of ideas.

Being into marketing and doing hard core sales

from a certain period of time or for a long period,

the sales person can give the best training on what

are the aspects and basic things a sales person

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needs to understand to generate and develop a

good business. Some of them can be like-

- What should be the target market for a particular

product?

- How to tap that target market and reach the right

set of customers?

- What can be the different attitudes & behavior of

people sometimes and how to react to them?

- What challenges can come across in direct

selling?

- How to do cold calling?

Along with practical aspects of training and the

knowledge part, trainers should focus also on-

- How to make their sessions more interactive?

- How to initiate group discussions?

- How to give equal attention to all the listeners?

- How to make a proper eye contact with each of

them?

Certain basics are definitely required to make these

sessions more successful and output driven.

Concept of Apprenticeship Training is always a

good mode of training. It is a combination of both

formal learning and on the job training. Even

many surveys and studies have emphasized more

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on the ‘On the Job Trainings’ along with formal

trainings as practical aspect becomes more clear

through them.

Getting the right set of instructions and having the

right knowledge definitely helps a good learner to

turn out to be a good trainer one day.

43- VARIATION IN TRAINING NEEDS

As each sector has its own requirements and own

priorities, similarly trainings in each sector are not

the same. They do differ depending upon the need

of a particular sector. People often confuse the role

of BPO's with that of KPO's but there lays a huge

variation.

Some aspects of training are similar and are

required in each sector. It is for the development of

the employees. Some of them are-

- Behavioral management.

- Soft skills training

- Stress management.

- Time Management

- Positive work attitude.

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As we go ahead with the training required in KPO’s,

there are various essential points which are needed

to be taken care of. So the training is given in the

following areas-

- High quality Research & analysis.

- Managing complex relations.

- Project development.

- Team member skills.

- Maintaining databases and preparing MIS reports.

- Taking feedback on Training.

The training designs are only effective if they help

employees in reaching their goals and objectives.

Now it’s not only limited to the private sector but the

public sector has also realized the importance of

the Training and Development. Companies have

initiated policies for regularly updating the

competencies of their employees by different

training programs. Therefore no compromise

should be made in providing training at the right

time and at the right place.

44- HALLMARK OF MANAGEMENT

The initial step which every new employee has to

go through at the entry level in an Organization is

an Orientation followed by Training. It is given to

new employees to provide them with the skills that

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are needed to be performed in the job. This training

is sometimes given in the form of some sessions or

depending upon requirement the training can also

be on- the- job training.

Moreover a good management is formed only if

employees are well trained and hence they deliver

the same to their sub ordinates along with learning

from their senior management. Now for e.g.-

showing a new web designer the intricacies of your

site, new sales person given training on products or

how to prepare daily sales reports DSRs can be

taught well and be used to generate effective

results by a proper and systematic manner of

training. Such DSRs help in engaging the data

which is used for both generating new clientage

along with providing post sales service to current

client base.

So training is specific to each sector depending

upon ' know how' & what task is to be performed.

Training is the hallmark of good management & it is

something that managers ignore at times which

creates an impact on upcoming success. Workforce

must know what to perform and how to perform.

Training programs which are being given must

make sense in terms of company’s strategic goals.

The word 'Performance Management' depends

solely on assigning, training, assessing & rewarding

employees. Relevance of the same depends upon

sector to sector.

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So now this can be well said that training is

booming as it contributes to an organization’s

effectiveness. Workplace learning and even on the

job trainings have laid down positive results.

45- CREATING- SMARTER WORK FORCE

As we talk about the issue of Training and

Development within organizations, we all need to

understand that it is something which is part of a

subsystem. Training helps in reducing randomness.

It makes you aware of what exactly is being

required at a particular time and as per demand.

If I talk about CRM , this is often practiced in

various companies for retention of customers,

maintaining their records, moreover it helps in

increasing sales but practically I have seen very

few people in the financial sector( even in other

sectors) particularly the ones who know exactly

how this software works. What lacks behind???

Here something, that lacks is the right training for

the use of software. When people within the

organization are not aware of their own systems

then how can outcomes be expected.

So creating a smarter workforce and bringing

changes in employees depends a lot on what kind

of training they are delivered with. Of course an

organization that gives value to training stands at a

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better position in terms of performance by

employees rather than the one who does not focus

on this aspect of HR management.

Corporate trainings are being appreciated in all the

result oriented organizations and in the ones which

are moving at a fast pace. This is the subject which

I must say is the’ Most – In’. Even these training

sessions enhance the skills of worker force from

time to time and they give better results. Today it’s

the core of any Business model to be successful.

These trainings are not limited to any one particular

sector but they are equally important in all sectors

they may be IT, FMCG, Pharmaceutical or BPO's

and KPO's. Moreover when we say "know how" of

the work and expectations can be well fulfilled by

understanding this aspect and achieving it in the

right manner.

46- Training & Development- Cannot be ignored

Let me take you to an important aspect of Human

Resources Management i.e Training &

Development where in the emphasis is entirely on

letting you know that no matter how effective and

how good performer one is, everyone needs

training and is such an aspect which cannot be

ignored.

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When an employee is recruited he/she is given

certain responsibilities and are expected to perform

them effectively and come out with efficient

outcomes. This recruitment is done depending

upon their competencies, capabilities, educational

backgrounds and most important experience. But

none of us are completely knowledge equipped

with what exactly we need to do & how to do it until

being guided in a systematic manner. For the same

every employee has to go through the procedure of

what I say - Training and Development.

Organizations spend huge amounts on Trainings

and the sole purpose behind is that their employees

may be able to achieve the organization’s strategic

goals and reach higher levels. Moreover it is not

only a newly hired employee who needs training

but even the one who is already into work they

should also be delivered with trainings from time to

time to enhance their knowledge and help them to

perform in a more better and skillful manner.

This is very well seen that even carefully selected

employees don't guarantee that they will perform

effectively. Even the high potential people

sometimes cannot bring positive outcomes if they

do not know what role and responsibility they need

to fulfill. And here lies the sole purpose behind

Orienting and Training employees. Every new

employee has to go through orientation to

understand the organization, what they deal with,

what the hierarchy of the organization is and who

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are all their seniors and sub-ordinates. Once an

orientation gets over it is followed by training.

Effective outcomes, generating revenues and

having competitive edge above others depends

upon what you are delivering and how well you are

implementing the right set of strategies. Hence

training is that aspect of HR which cannot be

ignored and should be given priority to have

lucrative results.

47- 80/20 PRINCIPLE FOR EVERY PROFESSIONAL

Introduction –

80/20 Principle is a well-defined concept which had

been first given by Pareto and its application is

varied when it comes to personal lives, professional

growth and even while an individual moves in

society. This book carries a very practical notion of

how our lives revolve in this 80/20 circle when we

go ahead with various spheres of our life. It is an

inbuilt imbalance between our efforts and causes. It

clearly states quoting various examples that 80% of

results we achieve are derived from 20% of the

serious efforts we put in to reach to the same. In a

quite detailed manner relating to our various

instances of life this 80/20 principle is applicable.

This principle should be used by every individual,

every organization and every part of society that

aims to accomplish something higher in life. This

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principle raises the level of effectiveness,

satisfaction and above all what we keep searching

throughout i.e happiness. This is practically

inevitable that 80% of results which we get in our

jobs are merely the outcome of 20% sincere efforts

being put in. In the context of Business the 20% of

products are responsible for 80% of the revenues.

In a similar lexicon, even 20% of customers are

responsible for generating benefits to 80% of the

business. Time and again various organizations

have used this principle to generate successful

outcomes and IBM was one of the most successful

and earliest corporations to spot and use the 80/20

Principle. Those who developed the personal

computer and its software in next generation such

as Apple, Lotus and Microsoft applied 80/20

Principle with more vigor to make their machines

cheaper and easier to use for the new target

customers.

Importance of 80/20 Principle –

50-50 fallacy i.e. our thought process that 50%

input will generate 50% output is deep-rooted in our

minds and hence it creates problems. It is essential

to understand the imbalance. Some customers are

more valuable than the others and this should be

understood by the executives so that better post

sales service can be given to them & keep them

loyal to the Business. This principle gives you a

pace of what exactly is happening around you and

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how well you can apply the same in your life in any

context.

It works on the principle of nonlinear thinking.

Thinking linear may not always generate the best

results. So, it is essential to work on situations in a

nonlinear way and then find out the best alternate

for a particular situation.

Also when it comes to investment the biggest

mistake we do is expecting results from our poor

moves too. It has been well explained by the

example of an investor from the book who applied

80/20 principle for his investment and he found that

investing 5% of his money in Filofax which is not a

very well-known investment stock generates 80%

of his wealth. The moment he sold those shares he

could get the price 18 times more than what he

invested.

80/20 principle guides us in terms of realizing what

is important and how we should emphasize more

on the important things rather than cribbing and

complaining over the unimportant ones. It works via

use of 80/20 Analysis and 80/20 Thinking. 80/20

thinking works on increasing or multiplying the level

of effectiveness which further helps in celebrating

productivity, looking for shortcuts and deriving

results, exercise control over life and strive for

excellence in few things too. This indeed teaches

that 80/20 thinking requires creativity and active

participation too.

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APPLICATION OF 80/20 PRINCIPLE

Various organizations like FORD electronics

manufacturing apply the same in quality program

i.e. correcting 20% of the causes of complaints by

customers can roughly eliminate the complaints of

800 out of 1000 customers. Apple used the

Information revolution of 80/20 principle in

developing the APPLE NEWTON MESSAGE PAD

RISC software. Information revolution aims at

transforming the work habits and efficiency of large

tracts of Business.

This principle helps in finding out which are the

areas of disaster and how they can be washed off

to make the business flourish in a good way. It

helps in dividing business into competitive

segments. It works on simplicity of the things rather

than making them too complex because the more

complex the business becomes the more its returns

fall dramatically. The less profitable segments

should be eliminated as they contribute to

overheads. Also the negative value activities in

firms should be controlled to deliver better value to

customers.

To reduce costs 80/20 insights should be used in 3

ways-

Simplification – elimination of unprofitable activity.

Focus- on key drivers of improvement

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Comparison of performance- to know the

competition

Working very hard and generating results is a

conventional concept that’s what smart working

strategy is all about. That is the focus is on the high

profit generating activities. It is basically used to

pinpoint improvement. It gives an idea of

working on successful marketing as it is all about a

focus on relatively a small number of customers

who are most active consumers of your product.

Hedonism via 80/20 Principle-

This principle is hedonistic as it emphasizes on

helping others and getting closer to achievement. If

we do not look for a possibility to progress we can

never change the world for better. It is important to

be relaxed and selective in decision making.

This principle clearly states that managing time in

an effective way itself brings success closer to you.

To an extent this further raises the level of

happiness and enthusiasm if applied in an effective

way. It further explains-

Choose your mentors and allies carefully via

applying 80/20 principle.

Long term success needs smart work and patience.

Work on generating higher i.e. 80 % by making the

best use of 20% in hand.

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Conclusion –

Happiness is a key ingredient for any of the pitfalls

or shortcoming in life. Generate happiness for

yourself in any way for which two main strategies

as the author says are –

1st- find out what gives you happiness and devote

your time towards those activities.

2nd – find out what activities lead to unhappy

behavior and reduce your attention towards them.

Further to harness the power of 80/20 principle in

your life with research observe how things happen,

what can be the best strategy for customers, check

the areas where you have highest errors and

eliminate them, keep a right attitude as it is

famously said- it is the attitude at the beginning of

the task, which more than anything else will affect

its outcome’s success.