Let us ask a fundamental question: why do organisations exist? They exist to meet a need of society, providing an environment in which individuals can use their skills and strengths to collectively find a solution to this need. Human thought and effort are, therefore, central to the organisation. Are people then "costs", as Manika describes them, and not assets? For it is people that make organisations conceptualise, run and deliver products and services. Deven Vats, head of HR, reminds the others of something he had heard: idam na mama (this is not mine). When we consider the real reason for the organisation's existence, we understand our individual place in the collective. This can result in brilliant team performance like a great orchestra, where something beyond the wildest imagination of each member is created. Therein lies the reason why people come together in organisations. We know all this, yet organisations are ruled by conflict and ego. Perhaps our society is too individualistic, as so much of success is measured in terms of how the individual stacks up against others. This is not to say that individual brilliance is unimportant — outstanding organisational performance requires every single person to put his or her best foot forward.Organisations have to start with hiring the right people in the right way. And then build upon their strengths instead of highlighting their weaknesses. Worse, as in this case study, leaders tend to take people decisions based on opinion, without knowing enough of the individual's capabilities. Likewise, organisational decisions are not to be confused with individual decisions — each person has a perspective, but eventually, collective intelligence should prevail.Sangachadhwam (may we progress in harmony): The role of the manager in a team is that of stitching the people together, finding their strengths and helping them perform together for their larger vision. When organisations, teams or individuals have a larger purpose, they are energised, knowing what each is to do and how to do it — this curtails gossip. The discussion about teaching employees brings up a key shortcoming in the way managers think. Sure, organisations hire for what has already been learnt; but it is the duty of leaders to provide a context for employees to apply those skills. Learning never ceases — as individuals and as teams. It is unwise to brush the issue of learning aside as Deven does. New ideas and energy come in with new employees. Therefore, ‘integration' of a new employee is a two-way process. How often do we see enthusiasm turn into cynicism as the person ‘settles in'? Manika compares their own situation with the political situation that is developing. Her question about who would assume responsibility for the people is at the heart of understanding management's role. The description of "back of the envelope management" is interesting — it throws up questions about how deeply we understand and study issues before taking decisions. Very few people take the trouble to really understand an issue. Which is why perceptions weigh over facts in people decisions. Radical change in management thinking is required to create, run and lead organisations of the future, when change will be faster. Aggression can typically be seen in organisations that do not carry conviction in what they do. Manika describes the prevalence of aggression in the workplace as a reflection of the social context. Can organisations like Temple actually bring about social change? Deven highlights the importance of grace in managers. But is grace innate to certain leaders, or can it be learnt?Na brooyaat satyam apriyam (do not speak hurtfully, even the truth): There will be times when, for several reasons, people have to leave the organisation: lack of performance, little team co-operation, personal setbacks or new situations. It could also simply be that expectations have changed, but have not been communicated in an actionable way to the employee. Jimmy Sangma, for example, had outstanding technical capabilities but a style of management not suitable for Alsor. The way the message is communicated, sensitively and with respect, is important as it reflects the spirit of the organisation. It is not surprising that the young managers on Facebook had strong comments on this. Could Alsor have retained Sangma's value in some other way? Charles Handy's cloverleaf model is one way of thinking about how people associate with organisations.Manika says it is the company's duty to anticipate that people would want to know what has happened. Indeed, not enough attention is paid to this issue. It seems that fairness can only be achieved at the cost of humane-ness. Could we not apply a balanced scorecard approach to managing people as well? Finally, why communication should be honest and open is because only then can people work synergistically. That perhaps is the takeaway for management teams.Susheela Venkataraman is managing director of internet business solutions group, Cisco. Her consulting experience has focused on enterprise and community transformation(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 18-07-2011)
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The way the narrative of this case opens is not a coincidence. It comes across like a metaphor, or a cinematic montage: "The new corporate campaign for Temple India's Office Products Division was ready and the marketing people wanted to show her what the feel of the ad would be when viewed between news as against between any other programme."So much care and diligence in making sure what gets communicated and how it gets communicated. The internal processes of the organisation also willy nilly get transmitted to the general public. We are in the midst of a time when there is communication or, more specifically, broadcast explosion. There are a host of new media forms. Referred to here are the ubiquitous social networking sites as well as the "gaining-in-popularity" case discussions in learning institutions, not to mention all the informal spread that is hard to track. Almost anything can come out into the public space for debate, comment and opinion. The reputations of people, much like brands, are continually evolving. The more senior you are, the greater the public focus. And how do these reputations form? What sort of collective process goes into it? How does anybody really know what the truth is?Sangma, a senior and experienced technical person, was virtually asked to leave the organisation because his behaviour left a lot to be desired. ("Sangma was not sacked. But he was asked to step off," clarifies Manika Singh. This shows her intention but the fact that people view it as a sacking shows how the opinion of the crowd has taken over.) His team was divided; backbiting and group-ism was prevalent; the younger lot were not being related to in a manner that inspired them, and so on. All these functions are perhaps a subset of what a manager is expected to do — work with the task and the people. In short, Sangma may have been great as an individual contributor but not as a manager of others. So when an opportunity came up, he was shunted out. The wisdom of this decision was questioned and created doubt. People in different forums — social networking sites and education — started discussing the matter and quite a few were more sympathetic towards Sangma. Manika, who had taken the decision, was left feeling misunderstood. Her intention behind the action was different from the negative reaction she was receiving. To my mind, and in retrospect (where one has the proverbial 6x6 vision), some attempt should have been made to help the person concerned become more aware of his negative behavioural impact and get support before a decision of easing him out was taken. But that did not happen. Now the consequences have to be dealt with.Then this comes out as a case and the ‘whole world' has some opinion or the other on it. The more vociferous and fierce successfully outshout the milder voices. It then comes back to hit Manika and perhaps damages her image in the larger public eye. Her reference to Kartik's story is also in the same vein: Kartik comes angrily from a perspective of righteousness to confront JJ on a breach of intellectual property issue. But the manner and approach results in the whole thing being seen as Kartik the drunken demon unleashing on a hapless and innocent JJ. Perhaps, over time, Manika too could be ‘demonised'! The just don't necessarily get justice.There are two critical issues here. First, it is very important to build awareness of oneself since we are all in the sphere of public opinion. Using the ad campaign as a metaphor, one would need to look at the possible impact this may have on others. The buy-in and support from key people in the decision-making process also helps buffer the decision and potentially provide perspectives that a single person may not be able to see. Needless to say, those one seeks opinions from regarding the decision should feel fully empowered to speak out and not be mere ‘head nodders' for the leader.The second issue is the management of the negative press that has accumulated. As Manika says quite wisely, "If we do not communicate with the employees clearly, then we too are going to be divided." If this is not done, the brewing and distortion can continue and spread to find its way into potential employers' dossiers.Recently, I had exposure to an organisation, emerging onto the international platform, that had changed its logo from a written word in English to a symbol. The perception down the line was oddly negative — many people could not relate to it. The logic behind the change had not been communicated. A senior leader put it in perspective during a meeting with a few managers. He said the aim was internationalisation, where a symbol and not a word could help establish the brand to a linguistically diverse global group. This immediately made sense to the unhappy managers. The communication clarified the intent behind the action. Without it, the quietly negative view would have persisted.Kaushik Gopal is an organisation consultant and leadership coach. He is an associate coach and faculty with the Center for Creative Leadership and works with Chatur Knowledge Networking(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 18-07-2011)
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Celebrations have already begun as the summer placements process across the country's top B-Schools concludes. The numbers have swelled – stipend or job offers, so are the roles bagged by students in their respective dream companies. Although the summer profiles happen to be of a shorter duration (8-6 weeks), they are instrumental in the overall performance of final placements. It is the time when companies and B-Schools both try to understand each other and warm-up for the final placement session.The stipends for internships increased considerably this year in comparison with last year. For instance, the average overall stipend for Delhi University's Faculty of Management Studies rose by 42 per cent from last year's Rs 60,000 (approx) to Rs 85,000. The highest domestic stipend offered by an investment bank (for domestic location) at FMS stood at Rs 2.5 lakh, a hike of 150 per cent as compared to last year's Rs 1 lakh. The average monthly stipend, on the other hand, for IIM Indore was Rs 40,000 - a hike of 60 per cent as compared to last year's Rs. 25,000. (See table 1)The number of companies flocking to B-Schools to hire interns has also jumped. Around 180 companies had registered to visit IIM Bangalore this year and the entire batch was placed in 127 companies. Around 120 companies had confirmed their participation for summer placements in 2009. Similarly, 163 companies made 456 offers for 414 students at IIM Lucknow in 2010 as compared to 127 companies in 2009 which offered 401 internships for a batch of 315 students. Times Are ChangingOne of the important indicators of a successful summer placements are the PPOs or pre-placement-offers which had sharply declined last year. The number of PPOs at IIM Calcutta during the final placements in 2009 stood at 56 offers which were reduced to 41 offers in 2010. The trend seems to have reversed this year, according to a source, the number of PPOs at IIM-C for the coming placements have already crossed year-2009's figures i.e. more than 56 offers so far. Similarly, the number of PPOs at FMS has increased sharply this year with 41 PPOs confirmed and at-least 10--15 confirmations expected during the PPIs (Pre-placement-interviews) for 143 students. In 2009, the number of PPOs at FMS was limited to just 15 for 109 students. The last year's decline in PPOs occurred in the wake of economic downturn when companies had become too cautious while picking new talent and had even frozen hiring. Sectorial Break-UpThe number of students opting for different sectors depicts the sectorial break-up of placements. Although the overall sectorial distribution for finance has marginally lowered across the B-Schools, it still remained the most preferred sector for B-Schoollers. Famous for the finance-inclination, IIM-Calcutta's 37 per cent of the students opted for opportunities in the ibanks and BFSI sector. The number is however, lesser than last year when 44 per cent students had opted for finance.IIM Ahmedabad's 39 per cent students also chose finance profiles, 41 per cent students had opted for the sector last year. The similar trend was noticed across the top B-Schools (See table 2).break-page-breakMarketing was the second most preferred sector in most of the top B-Schools. Around 47 per cent of the students opted for marketing profiles at IIM Indore this year - highest across all the sectors. Third most popular sector was consulting. Other popular sectors among the students include pharmaceuticals, IT, operations, manufacturing, and media & entertainment.RecruitersMajor finance firms such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche GMC, JP Morgan, Citibank, UBS, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and BoA Merrill Lynch recruited students from the top tier B-Schools for domestic and international locations.The top consulting giants including the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and AT Kearney made 70 per cent more offers than last year at IIM Bangalore. Other premiere consulting firms that hired interns in bulk across the B-Schools include Arthur D. Little, Accenture Business Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, and Ernst & Young.Other top-recruiters for various marketing and general management profiles include HUL, P&G, Colgate Palmolive, ITC, Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur, GSK Consumer & Healthcare, Tata administrative Services, Cadbury Kraft, Diageo, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nokia, Coke, Marico and Pepsi (See table 3).It's DifferentApart from the surge in offers and stipend, the summer placements were marked by a series of 'new trends'. The biggest shift came from IIM Ahmedabad that has adopted the cohort system of placements for the summer placement process this year. IIM Ahmedabad had incorporated major changes in its final placement process last year when it switched from the decades-old slot system to cohort system – a rolling system of placements. The new system allowed companies to interact with the students for a longer period of time where group processes and interviews were decoupled and held on different days during the process.A higher number of students chose to opt out of the internships to pursue the lesser explored avenues at IIM-A this year. Four students chose to work under Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on the PURA project (envisaged by him). Another student with an interest in governance and public policy formulation would be interning under Shri Prem Das Rai, Member of Parliament from Sikkim.Several students (IIM-A) keen to pursue a challenging and entrepreneurial experience have chosen to intern with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. NIF works towards discovering grassroots innovations and helping those innovations to become self-supporting business activities.Another premiere B-School - IIM Calcutta became the only B-School in the country to host a $6 bn hedge fund that offered internship to 2 students. It was the second time that a hedge fund visited an Indian B-school after 5 years (first time as well, it was IIM Calcutta).Summer placements are not just an opportunity for students to get their hands on the real-time projects, but also is an opportunity to explore their area of interest and nail the chances of a full-time job in the same organisation. For recruiters it is a fair chance to spend more time with their prospective employees and make an informed decision while handpicking fresh B-School minds.With a sudden surge in the summer placement opportunities and corporate and finance biggies once again showing keen interest in the summer sessions after a period of two long years, the coming final placements are in for a better than ever session.
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Manika Singh slid the DVD into its drive and waited for the visuals to play. The new corporate campaign for Temple India's office products division (OPD) was ready and the marketing people wanted to show her what the feel of the ad would be when viewed between news as against between any other programme.Shankar Kashyap, her erstwhile boss when she was in digital cameras (before she took over as CEO of OPD), was also present, waiting to see the effect unfold. Other monitors were placed all over the seminar room and different business heads and marketing heads were watching and making notes as the clip played over and over again in different combinations of news features cosseting the campaign.Presently, a news item began to play, where two central ministers were answering questions on the Lokpal Bill to the press. One of them said to a reporter, "You do not seem to understand how Parliamentary processes work." The other was saying, "You are so poorly informed!" One was pouting that the civilian team was using uncivilised language. The civilian team pooh-poohed that and said, "People of India have been upset for 62 years, so your getting upset now is very good." Then the ministers said, "The government is not going to get diverted by abuses and slanders." Another said, "If a poor man does not have a toilet, can the Lokpal bill help?" Manika paused the screen and asked the eight or nine people around to view the ad on another screen. Then, beckoning to Shankar, she pulled a chair and told him, "Sit, watch the body language, just watch... we cannot create this whole thing of ‘civil society' (as if it is a set of incurably ill people) and ‘us'..."... don't miss the posturing, that look which says ‘you poor silly civilians, leave daddy alone to do his work....' When you separate yourself from the grassroots, apart from looking foolish, you also set in motion a perception that you don't care. And this is the point I am making: if we do not communicate with the employees clearly, we too are going to be divided. All these comments here (on television) point to that."Last week, Kannan, Manika's colleague at Temple India forwarded to her excerpts from his Facebook page discussion on the ‘sacking of Jimmy Sangma'. Kannan said he had discussed the story as a loosely packed case study with his management development students at the college where he taught, and the students, young middle-level managers, had expressed some opinions on Facebook. "This will tell you what managers and staff usually take away from an episode like this!" Recap: Manika had recently agreed to replace Jimmy Sangma, a senior technical manager at Alsor, a sister company. While she admitted that Jimmy was a good person, he was not fitting into Alsor's new and aggressive context. Replacing Jimmy had led to corridor whispers on the propriety of such a decision; whereas contention had been that ‘good and intelligent' was not enough for a job function, it should include ‘team skills and amicability' as well, both of which Jimmy lacked.Kannan had taken the episode to his classroom and his students had posted their angst over management decisions on their student board, which Kannan sent to Manika. Replying to Kannan, she wrote, "These excerpts are indicative of exactly what happens when management does not communicate and employee managers take away a set of perceptions and huddle together and interpret things. "Take just one example, Kannan. Read the post of Manager X: ‘All these flowery words are nice to read, but in real life situations this is not how things work; when actual results are to be obtained then these case studies do not work.' "This is about all of us, Kannan. Recall, you had told me, ‘You are the one dealing with Sangma, you should know best.' And then you have gone and discussed this with a class... That strengthens my conviction that this concerns all of us. This is exactly the parantu factor I talk about. ‘You should know best, parantu...!' Talk which we cannot walk is called ‘flowery talk'."Kannan: Those are the management fraternity of the country. They are young today, but they will be running organisations tomorrow. You can see that they have very strong view points about sacking a manager... especially when he is also skilled!But Shankar said to Manika, "I want to see how you are going to deal with this. This is real life. To head a business includes dealing with backhanded ones." Manika (referring to Kannan and the Facebook chatter): This is how we do back-of-the-envelope management. To comment in passing, to opine from the periphery, to hold on to a viewpoint....! Management is not about viewpoints. It is about the point from which you view. And that point has to be non-personal. I don't know if the correct word is impersonal, but I definitely believe it has to be non-personal.... It has to view the greater good of a collective. I am not on television, Shankar. Nor is the issue of Sangma a News Time debate. The issue is serious and when I agree with replacing him, I am not replacing the person Jimmy Sangma, but a skill-set contained in the persona of Sangma that is not working for the organisation. I have my mind trained on the path that Temple India needs to be on. If Kannan's opinions have to be addressed, they need to come in a formal forum. Until then, I am not being baited. So if Kannan wants to be counted, we must have a formal discussion, where all views are factored in. Another post: ‘Oh yes! Juniors cannot give feedback to the seniors !!! Seniors ‘know', juniors simply adhere!' break-page-breakManika (to Shankar and Deven Vats, head of HR): This is perception, and this is the perception I want addressed. This can be removed when we stop gossiping about our people decisions and talk straight. The issue of Sangma needs to be communicated to all at Alsor in a way that we do not make it look like sacking, because Sangma was not sacked. But he was asked to step off. There is a difference to people management in today's times. Deven and I wish this difference to be made very apparent in an address to Alsor, where we talk about the dynamics of competition and business evolution and how when the context changes, the same people need not be right for the changed context. Because finally having people is a cost. And that cost has to return us a value. People here were hired in the 1990s, for an anticipated growth pattern for the next 15 years maybe. But while growth in quantity has turned out as targeted, the content has gone haywire! I mean, we were not able to understand where technology would go, where competition would emerge from and how much we would globalise. We were not prepared for the change. The changed context of the marketplace dynamics needs addressing. Educating people includes all this as well! No wonder then they talk about fair and unfair!Deven: To me, this is a huge example of communication: how important it is that everyone agrees to the decision made and then sticks with that single version. How does the management team work together? That ‘that was Manika's decision, not an HR decision' or vice versa? Not at all! During the vision workshop, we were taught that all thoughts and ideas belong to the group. ‘Idam na mama' in Vedanta speak; the management team objectively discusses to enable a decision that will be reached collectively. A decision has multiple contributors who collectively ‘develop' the decision. The team gets all the facts together, discusses them, understands why the decision is taken and then they all stand by it. Sometimes, people don't spend enough time to understand. They use ‘flowery words', which are often like macros, compressing a large learning, with quick opinion. So what happens is lack of common understanding, lack of internalising the action. And add to that the feeling of ‘my function', ‘her function' and you have the roots of a broken organisation. So once the decision is taken, a common script must be drawn up and given to the team that is allowed to speak on the issue. The rest must simply keep quiet and point people in the right direction. And then, as we say in change management, communicate pro-actively and before it hits, rather than after. The important thing is to not encourage gossip: the challenge with Jimmy Sangma's case is that it allows everyone to voice an opinion and most people actually do not have strong opinions, or at least, not firm convictions. They get swung by what they find in the outside world that appeals most at that time. No organisation should stoop to responding to nonsensical accusations, but they do have to find innovative ways to counter gossip and misconceptions. Shankar: Here is one more comment: ‘General Managers are ‘eccentric' , never seen a normal general manager!'Manika: No matter how hard we try, there will always be lunchroom discussions on ‘management is like this', and ‘HR is like that'. We must always ensure we have an honest exchange from a podium with our people, and only from that podium. We should not talk about different things to different people. I have always been deeply impacted by a situation at Infosys. It was a time when Infosys had a very delicate situation with an employee embroiled in a mess in the US. Narayana Murthy did not have three versions. He spoke once to the press and once to his people. To both, he said the same thing, no different. To both, he made it clear what the organisation stance was. Thereafter, he stopped and did not engage with them. And he has always been so. Speak once, speak correctly. If we do that, these perceptions of GMs will improve. Deven: I agree, managers need grace. Not everyone has it.Shankar: Yet here is one reporter from a newspaper who says, "Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Unfortunately, in high stress situations sometimes it doesn't work. I don't think firing is... cold. Different situations demand different solutions." Then she says, "Don't wait to be taught because no one will teach. If you have the passion, work those extra five hours and figure it out yourself." Manika: Again, points to perceptions. Why should there be a ghost idea about management? Why do employees come to think of managers, especially senior managers, as ‘people who sack', ‘people who teach', ‘people who do not teach', ‘people who treat'... If you hear closely, this is their experience of management, how they have perceived their seniors based on what they got. Organisations are a microcosm of our social context, and if we see aggression in the workplace, it perhaps comes from our social context. Or is it the other way — that because there is aggression in the work place, I take it home and unleash it on the family? Deven: There is a deep-level confusion about issues here. ‘Teaching' is not what organisations do. At least, not the kind of teaching this lady is referring to. Organisations hire people who have already learnt. This is a huge misconception that organisations must teach. This lady says ‘go figure it out'... I say, you cannot be employed if you are still figuring it out! So there is a fine difference here. Trainees, interns — we teach. Young managers or all managers are mentored. Knowledge and skills they pick up on the run after B-school. Shankar: Manika, the media lady's words — "Don't take things personally"— are equally for you. Don't carry more confusion with the perceptions surrounding Sangma's departure...Manika: Shankar! I believe, beyond the teaching and preaching, beyond the theory and practice, lies a human being who needs to have the courage to admit that theory is not often in sync with humane-ness. I have a strong sense of fairness and do not like to feel that I might not have done the right thing by the company and the individual. Deven: Why should that thought belabour you? We took the decision as a team, not as Manika Singh. Two, as you yourself pointed out at the start, Sangma was not sacked. He did not fit into the changed context at Temple, hence, we need someone different to perform his job.Shankar: Talking of courage, I must share this. My wife works with an organisation which has predominantly women workers and she laughs at me and says that only in male organisations are emotions seen more clinically, put under a scanner and laughed at. So ignore my ‘why are you so confused...' comment. Confusion incidentally is not a feminine prerogative. Recall I was extremely confused in a similar situation which I mentioned the last time. I guess men won't label their feelings, and men will call all feelings also as ‘ideas' or ‘thoughts'!Manika (smiling): So, to set confusions right, I also think that Jimmy did add a lot of value to us in his tech role and it isn't easy to replace his experience. But the difficulty with Jimmy was his personality, his lack of amicability. And since his job requires a lot more of team play, especially since all those tasks are rush jobs and need to be done in time, he comes a cropper. Deven: Here is one more: this student manager says that some people in top management actually prefer nasty people in middle management. Does he mean Sangma? He adds, ‘Aggressiveness is frequently associated with an ‘achiever' attitude. A majority of the actual task force is dispensable. And those few who aren't, can always be taken into the core team by some external incentives.' I really wonder if this is representative of the average manager thinking or is this pure interpretation. Jimmy Sangma's exit has resulted in a huddle and a posture. We should be moving ahead, not backwards... we will have situations like this and we need to have an open chat with Alsor's teams. Let me share with you a story that happened some years ago but has left us embarrassed. Some years ago, there was a huge backlash when Kartik was asked to leave for some ethics issue. It was done quietly so as to not affect Kartik, hence no one knew why he was asked to go. I had just joined Temple then. There was a process that we had leased from one DX, which was being used by JJ's team, where Kartik was a manager. Kartik had lost his temper with JJ, the user, over an ethical issue concerning breach of IP because JJ was using the process beyond defined areas. Kartik lost his temper, and used some choice modern expletives; an angry JJ pulled the roof down and Kartik had to go. break-page-breakThe management had pulled a blanket over the whole story. But JJ, unsoothed by Kartik's resignation, spread stories that Kartik had attacked him physically. Foolish, but there is no saying what anger leads one to do! Placement firms got to hear this story, they confronted Kartik, he got upset, he asked Temple to clarify and set things right. Then, in anger he reported to the process owner DX that there had been a bid to hijack his patents... and things just got from bad to extremely bad. Shankar: Wow... I didn't know the details. I was told Kartik had fouled up, someone said he was drunk... So who was wrong or were they all wrong or was no one wrong?Manika: Fabulous! See what I mean? Shankar, senior manager, who could have known the truth, also carried perceptions as truths! You cannot allow for stories to develop. It's unfair, patently unfair. HR may have good reasons for wanting to let things rest, but out there are human beings with minds that get doubtful, and their speculation damages!Deven: Okay, let me explain. Things had got so clouded by then, we didn't want to add to the confusion. It really was something we expected Kartik to handle maturely! Manika: But it is the company's duty to anticipate that everyone would want to know what happened. Silence and stoicism is sophisticated but damaging! * * *Now, here she was with Shankar and Deven in the seminar room, and the Lokpal debate. "Just look at all the posturing and huddling going on. Watch the ministers' behaviours, postures... this is exactly what management does sometimes. We do not seem to realise that employees get harmed even if they don't voice it, if you just sit and wait for things to cascade as it had done now with the Lokpal Bill. For 65 years you piled waste on the citizen and now you have an uprising!" Deven: We as HR can only convey the decision taken by the company and stand by it. We support the company's stance, as we should. It is expected of us....Manika: So if we compare this with the Lokpal Bill festival going on, who assumes responsibility for the people? See?This is at the heart of those Facebook posts. We are management and we cannot behave like ‘people'. We need to have a standard practice for communicating all news pertaining to employees, to employees. It is not nice to let things drift and not bring a resolution to things. Therefore I do think there should be a communication with Alsor teams as to why Sangma is leaving us, that organisations can ask a person to leave Temple, if it is seen that he has lost the context. More than clarifying the myth behind Sangma's exit, it will let employees know that growth demands everyone to grow too!"Classroom discussionWhat is at the heart of a leadership's inhibition to hold a dialogue with the people?casestudymeera(at)gmail(dot)com(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 18-07-2011)
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India's fuel inflation eased in late June on lower petrol and other decontrolled (or market-determined) fuel prices, but the recent hike in state-set fuel prices is seen keeping headline inflation high and pressure the RBI to raise rates further later this month.Annual food inflation eased to a seven-week low, but the knock-on effects of last month's increase in diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices are expected to nudge up food prices.The fuel price index climbed 12.67 per cent in the year to June 25 from 12.98 percent a week earlier, while the food price index rose 7.61 per cent compared with an annual rise of 7.78 per cent in the previous week.The primary articles index rose 11.56 per cent in the year to June 25 from 11.84 percent a week earlier.India's benchmark five-year overnight indexed swap (OIS) rose 4 basis points (bps), while the 10-year bond yield rose 1 bp after the weekly inflation data, reflecting the market's concerns on high inflation.The five-year OIS was at 7.73 percent, up from 7.69 percent before the data. The one-year OIS rose 1 bp to 8.06 percent."If you look at the trend of prices, petrol has actually softened this week significantly, though LPG and diesel prices have gone up," said N. Bhanumurthy, an economist with New Delhi-based policy think-tank National Institute of Public Finance and Policy."Besides, crude had softened since the domestic price revision though it has again gone up. That is why the fuel basket as a whole has softened."Data released by the government showed prices of kerosene, high speed diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) had risen during the week, while those of bitumen, furnace oil and Naphtha had declined.Battling InflationThe Reserve Bank of India raised key interest rate last month for the 10th time in just over a year to combat sticky headline inflation, currently hovering above 9 per cent.This figure is expected to hit double digits again after the government last month raised prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene to cut revenue losses of state fuel retailers for selling these products at subsidised rates.The market expects the RBI to raise key rates by a quarter percentage point at its policy review on July 26.Diesel, cooking gas and kerosene comprise 6.4 percent of the total wholesale price index (WPI) basket and 70 percent of the fuel component of the WPI."The net impact on the headline is likely to be more prolonged. In all, June WPI is likely to remain rooted in 9.0 percent handle, signalling no let-up on the need to tighten benchmark rate at the July meet," said Radhika Rao, an economist with Forecast PTE, Singapore.Goldman Sachs expects the rise in diesel prices to add around 90 basis points to headline inflation, a recent report showed.New Delhi has budgeted a fuel subsidy bill of $5.2 billion for 2011/12, assuming oil prices below $100 per barrel, but with global crude prices showing little sign of moderation, analysts expect the government to hike fuel prices further in coming months.Brent crude climbed above $114 on Thursday, supported by a more-than-projected drop in U.S. crude stocks and expectations that China's monetary tightening cycle may be nearing its end.Even after the fuel price hike, state-run oil companies are still expected to lose about 1.2 ($26.9 billion) trillion rupees in the current fiscal year.India is likely to pay an additional around 300 billion rupees in fuel subsidies after August, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday. (Reuters)
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China raised interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday, making clear that taming inflation remains a top priority even as the growth pace of its vast economy gently eases.The 25-basis-point increase in lending and deposit rates underscored China's quiet confidence that the world's second-biggest economy is resilient enough to endure tighter monetary policy and is not threatened by the hard landing that some investors fear.It also suggested the People's Bank of China was acting pre-emptively before another big jump in inflation data heightens depositors' worries about low yields."Today's rate hike suggests that China's June inflation could be higher than expected and the second-quarter GDP remains solid, consistent with our expectation," said Ligang Liu, head of Greater China economics at ANZ in Hong Kong."The rate hike will help the PBOC to fine-tune its monetary policy by alleviating the worsening negative real interest rate problem so as to prevent an outflow of deposits from the banking system."The latest move increases China's benchmark one-year lending rate to 6.56 per cent, and its benchmark one-year deposit rate to 3.5 per cent, the central bank said.The increases will take effect from Thursday, the central bank said in a short statement on its website.Risky assets, particularly those with direct links to China's growth such as the Aussie dollar , sold off after the announcement, reacting to concerns this latest monetary tightening will choke an already sluggish global economy.China-watchers couldn't agree on whether there will be more rate rises in the second half of the year. The PBOC has raised banks' reserve requirements nine times in addition to these rate rises in its nine-month tightening cycle."China's inflation battle is almost at an end. Already, there are signs that price pressures are coming off," said Frederic Neumann, an economist at HSBC in Hong Kong. "Today's rate hike may therefore have been the last in the cycle."Growth Vs InflationHopes that the PBOC may be near a pause in tightening was seen as a positive for stocks and could halt the rise in yuan onshore swap rates. Such expectations have helped the Shanghai Composite index bounce from nine-month lows hit in June.Evidence is growing that China's vast manufacturing sector is losing momentum, due both to tighter policy at home and slowing demand overseas.A survey of purchasing managers showed the factory sector expanded at its weakest pace in 28 months in June, mainly owing to a drop in new orders. Many analysts reckon the pace is in keeping with an economy expanding on average at around 9 percent and industrial growth of around 13 percent.Moreover, a double-digit increase in wages is expected to feed into already strong domestic demand.With US interest rates near zero, Beijing worries it might attract more speculative funds into China if it raises rates too far. That would exacerbate the problem of excess liquidity and further fuel inflation.Equally, it has to placate depositors struggling with a negative real rate of return on their cash in banks.China's inflation quickened to a 34-month high of 5.5 percent in May as elevated food prices and a red-hot property market kept price pressures alive. A Reuters poll forecast June inflation, data on which is due on July 15, would hit 6.3 percent -- its highest reading since mid-2008.Beijing is especially sensitive to rising prices that might stir social unrest and threaten its leadership.Wang Jun, an economist at CCIEE, a government think tank, said Beijing may feel compelled to raise rates again if inflation proves more stubborn than expected."If inflation comes down, there will be no need to raise rates. But if prices rebound, there could be further rate rises," he said.(Reuters)
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Refuting the allegations of US lawmakers and certain quarters here that H-1B visas take away jobs from Americans, NASDAQ's chief has claimed that studies show that for every H-1B visa, technology companies increase employment by five workers."Let me take the job stealing issue head-on," NASDAQ CEO Robert Griefeld told Senators at a Congressional hearing on immigration reform early this week."Opponents of enhanced legal immigration argue that when a foreign-born, highly skilled immigrant gets a job, American graduates are the losers," he said."But my research and experience tell me quite a different story. For example, the National Federation for American Policy says that for every H-1B worker requested, US technology companies increase their overall employment by five workers," Griefeld said.The NASDAQ CEO argued there was a case to enact a more flexible and stable regime for legal immigration."Reform must convey economic priorities about job growth and global competitiveness. Increasing H-1B visas is simply not enough. We need to admit and keep entrepreneurs here so that the creative dynamic of our economy is enhanced by the very best skills and minds," he said."Whether in Silicon Valley, Austin, Chicago, or anywhere else in the United States, I hear from CEOs that the H-1B visa system is inadequate for today's human capital marketplace and the backlog for green cards and what they mean to the quality and the uncertainty of the lives of these foreign-born employees is a legitimate threat to their businesses," he said."Many companies can, if needed, locate people in Canada, Europe, India or any country that wants those jobs and the benefits they bring," he said.Frustration With ImmigrationPuneet Arora, the Vice-President of Immigration Voice, told lawmakers that frustration with the US immigration system sent Wharton graduate Kunal Bahl back home in 2007 where he went and founded SnapDeal.com.This is a rapidly growing company with over USD 20 million in annual revenue, over 400 workers and growing at the rate of 70 workers a month.This, India's equivalent of Groupon, has major US venture capitalists like Vinod Dham, the father of the Intel chip, investing significantly in it."Reports from India and China suggest that this is not an isolated example. This is a growing trend. We often hear concerns that foreign-born workers are taking jobs and stalling the economic recovery," Arora said.Ronil Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Rochester Institute of Technology said to meet the needs of both the US economy and American workers, the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes need immediate and substantial overhaul."The goal of these programmes is to bring in foreign workers who complement the American workforce. Instead, loopholes have made it too easy to bring in cheaper foreign workers, with ordinary skills - these are not specialised skills, these are not the best and brightest, these are ordinary skills - who directly substitute for, rather than complement, American workers," he noted."The programmes are clearly displacing and denying opportunities to American workers. The H-1B and L-1 programmes have serious design flaws and legislation is needed to fix them. Administrative changes alone such as stepped up enforcement, while necessary, are simply not sufficient to correct the problems," Hira said.(PTI)
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Nokia has dominated the smartphone market ever since its 1996 launch of the Communicator model, but competition from its two nearest rivals and a slump in its own sales sent it straight from first to third place in the three months to June as growth in the sector starts to slow.Apple sold a record 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter despite the fact that its iPhone 4 model is now more than a year old. Usually success of smartphone models does not last so long.Apple unveiled its sales last week, but on Friday analysts also estimated Samsung sold 19 million smartphones in the quarter, well ahead of Nokia's 16.7 million as it was able to benefit from booming demand with smartphones using Google's Android software."Samsung's Galaxy portfolio has proven popular, especially the high-tier S2 Android model," said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics."Strategy Analytics estimated smartphone market volume grew 76 per cent from a year ago in the second quarter. ABI Research was somewhat more cautious estimating market grew 62 per cent.Slowdown WorriesGrowth on the overall cellphone market slowed too in the April-June period, as sales of basic phone models dropped for the first time in seven quarters due to consumers reining in spending, research firm IDC said on Friday.IDC said strong smartphone demand boosted the market to still grow 11.3 per cent from a year ago to 365.4 million phones, but this was a clear slowdown from the 16.8 per cent growth seen in the previous quarter.Strategy Analytics estimated the total market at 361 million cellphones in the quarter.In a Reuters poll, 29 analysts' average forecast for the total market stood at 374 million phones.IDC said sales of simpler so-called feature phones fell 4 per cent from a year ago due to conservative spending and continued shift to smartphones, most visible in developed markets, such as the United States, Japan and Western Europe.The shrinking feature phone market is having the greatest impact on some of the world's largest suppliers of mobile phones," analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement.Stalwarts such as Nokia are losing share in the feature phone category to low-cost suppliers such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel and Huawei."Struggling Nokia, still the world's largest phone maker by volume, saw its phone sales shrinking 20 per cent from a year ago. This helped Samsung to close the gap to the Finnish firm in the overall cellphone market to the lowest level ever.Some analysts already forecast for Samsung to become the world's largest cellphone vendor next year.(Reuters)
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India is likely to pay an additional around 300 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) than budgeted in 2011-12 to state refiners as compensation towards selling fuel at subsidised rates, a senior government official with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.Upstream companies and explorers -- Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Oil India Ltd and GAIL -- have to sell crude oil and products at a discount to retailers, which sell diesel, kerosene and LPG at government-capped prices."The oil subsidy given in the budget has already been exhausted. So the government is working on 25,000-30,000 crore (250-300 billion) rupees more on oil subsidies to be given in the monsoon session of parliament," the source said.The monsoon session commences on Aug. 1.In February, the government had budgeted a petroleum subsidy of about 236 billion rupees, assuming oil prices below $100 per barrel. However, high global crude prices are expected to substantially inflate New Delhi's oil subsidy bill.India's decision to raise fuel prices last month is expected to trim revenue losses for state-run oil companies by just 50 billion rupees to about 1.2 trillion rupees in this fiscal year.Analysts say duty cut on crude and petroleum products could widen the government's fiscal deficit to over 5 percent, from the budgeted 4.6 percent of gross domestic product for the 2011-12 fiscal year, and force it to resort to higher market borrowings.Also, a slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy is seen upsetting New Delhi's fiscal calculations.The government source, however, said the fiscal gap target is unlikely to be missed as the government is looking to generate additional resources and trim its expenditure."We are drawing up alternative plans which include better tax revenue and compliance and compression of plan expenditure," the source said."The other thing that is being looked at is how the number of state companies for stake sale can be increased...The entire exercise should yield results and help us meet targets."The government is planning share sales in seven companies, instead of at least four earlier, in this fiscal year, the source said, but declined to name the firms.The source also said the government was in discussion with the planning commission on ways to reduce the planned expenditure.The government had announced its stake sale plan in four state-run firms -- Steel Authority of India Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Indian Oil Corp -- earlier.The source said the government, which plans to raise 400 billion rupees through its divestment programme in 2011/12, is planning to sell shares in Oil India Ltd now instead of Indian Oil Corp, but did not give reasons for the switch.(Reuters)
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Corporate India is joining hands to address its need for the future leaders. A group of professionals and entrepreneurs have announced the launch of the Young India Fellowship (YIF) - a one-year multi-disciplinary leadership development programme for postgraduate students. The first of its kind programme challenges the current trends of higher education system in India.YIF is launched in India in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's (UPenn) School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). "Delivered by top-rung faculty, the curriculum aims to broaden perspectives and help our Fellows carve their own paths," said Pramath Raj Sinha, founder and director of YIF & founding dean of Hyderabad based ISB today at the launch of the programme. "The YIF curriculum is designed to challenge the increasing specialisation of Indian undergraduate programmes and develop a more holistic educational experience right here in India that mirrors some of the best undergraduate learning environments in the world."The residential programme will include classes on subjects including anthropology, ethics, life sciences, art appreciation and entrepreneurship with primary focus on developing the critical thinking, reading, writing, communication and leadership skills.YIF is open to 50 final-year undergraduate students or graduates with less than two years of work experience. Each of the first batch students will receive a scholarship of Rs 8 lakh to cover the full cost of tuition, board and lodging for the YIF. These scholarships have been donated by group of leading professionals who want to make a difference to higher education in India.Applications for the programme open from the 24 January, 2011. The classes will begin on 30 May 2011 in a functioning educational campus in Gurgaon.Sinha, with a few members of the industry is also setting up a private entity called Ashoka University. The 26 acre university will reflect a multidisciplinary and open pedagogical style. The YIF and the Ashoka University are supported by the International Foundation for Research and Education.(BW Online Bureau)
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