As an HR practitioner, Ratish Jha has worked in a variety of industries, be it direct marketing, manufacturing or power. Whether traditional business or MNC, he found every organisation to be unique with distinct challenges and varied solutions. At present, Jha is Head HR, Raychem RPG, a 50:50 JV between Tyco Electronics, USA and RPG Group, India. Despite being a recipient of the Global HR Excellence Award on HR Leadership,' Jha still finds hiring people as the toughest part of HR as many hiring managers go by gut instinct rather than specific tools and tecniques. He also feels HR should understand the end customer, analyse the business environment and competition before attempting to create HR processes and systems. Finally, Jha believes a gap exists in the capability of majority of the human resource professionals and this is not getting completely addressed even by the B-schools.Excerpts:What made you choose HR as a profession? Even when I was a little boy, solving puzzles or tricky stuff tickled my interest. In a similar fashion, understanding human behaviour at work seemed a continuous puzzle which developed in me an interest in opting for HR as a profession!What has been the biggest achievement of your career? The merger of Jindal Iron and Steel Company Ltd and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd; which was all about people and process integration.The RPG Cables employee engagement turnaround story which covered all employees irrespective of whether they were white or blue collar. Harmonising the management and labour relationships on the Industrial relations front transformed the company from a group of indifferent performers to a team of highly productive individuals.At RPG Lifesciences; the recognition of the “Great Places to Work – Best Companies” was a significant one.Contribution acknowledged with the “Global HR Excellence Award on HR Leadership” by the “Asia Pacific HRM Congress” for 2010.Currently in Raychem RPG; it is sustaining and reenergising the “Self-Managed Teams” i.e SMT initiativeWhat have been the primary traits/qualities that have helped you attain your present position? The last few years has been a great experience for me as I have had a chance to work across various industries be it direct marketing, manufacturing, power etc. It has been quite a journey across large traditional business or multinationals, and what I have observed is that every organisation is unique, their challenges are distinctive and so the solutions are also typical. Consequently, there cannot be a single similar solution for all situations. Since every organisation is different, it is initially better to observe and study that business, the environment in detail and effectively listen to people before planning and implementing any HR solutions. Adhering to this elementary approach has basically helped me in attaining my present position.What are the challenges you are facing in your organisation? Since our business is such that requires continuous change resulting from dynamic research and development; the challenge is capability building for the purpose of collaborative innovationManaging the aspirations of GEN Y and creating a collaborative harmonious relationship with GEN X.What are the steps a company should take to develop and motivate future leaders?As an initial stage, the leadership and HR is always on the lookout for promising young talent displaying leadership attributes. Once spotted, one has to invest in terms of time, fund and energy infirst, identifying the right challenging profile for the individualsecond, consistently evaluate through continuous close connectthird, demonstrate the leadership’s belief in their capability What is your rate of attrition? How do you prevent it? The rate of attrition is between 12 and 14 per cent range. Attrition is a symptom of low engagement levels. Every year, the Employee Engagement Survey provides us with employee feedback. This is followed up by focused group discussions which help us to evolve suitable action plans to be implemented against the concerned engagement driver.How do you retain talent in your company? Addressing the engagement drivers takes care of the attrition for the entire population of the organisation. We as a rule do not focus on retention of the entire employee base but pay special consideration to the mapped critical talent, who are managed through a Talent Dashboard. What sets your company apart from other companies as far as work culture goes?At Raychem RPG, the work culture is based on ongoing innovation, responsiveness and speedy executionWhat is the biggest challenge you face when selecting people? Selection is more often impacted by the “gut feel”, personality and mood of the hiring manager. A normal selection interview does not necessarily reflect the whole person or their performance. A more accurate assessment of potential can be attained using specific tools and techniques to refine the choice and to minimise subjectivity. For me this is the toughest piece of HR and getting cent percent sure about the candidate to be hired is an easier said than done job!How do you track employees' satisfaction or dissatisfaction in your company?There are various ways by which employee satisfaction is measured on Raychem RPGAt all locations, there is a board titled “Glad-Mad-Sad” put up which allows for an open forum for employees to express themselves.Online Grievance forum which is monitored by Sr. Vice President HR to keep in touch with the employees’ pulse.Lead Indicator, a quarterly webcast taken by the company CEO. Before the webcast, employees send in their queries signaling their dissatisfaction or comments of appreciation.How important is HR to the bottom line of a company? HR is extremely important to the company’s bottom line. The theory that a company as long as it can produce and sell its products or services is a strong organisation is today a defunct statement. The only differentiator in an organisation’s culture is to build a competitive mindset, which then gives it a competitive advantage. This then translates into a sustainable bottom line for the business. HR plays a very significant role in creating this desirable and vibrant culture.How has the downturn affected HR? Like any other function, HR was also impacted during the downturn. Today, on one hand you have high manning costs and on the other you have the challenge of maintaining people’s morale, confidence, engagement and stress levels. Today the test is in finding innovative ways for hiring, retaining and rewarding people through non-monetary ways. The key “mantra” in handling downturn is “communication”, “staying connected” and remaining invested for long term development of people.How should HR be integrated with the core line of business? HR has to develop the mastery in understanding the business before attempting the integration of HR with the core line of business. It has to understand the end customer, analyse the business environment and competition before it attempts to create HR processes and systems to finally assist in building value for the customer.A recent survey has questioned HR's actual contribution in an organisation. Would you like to comment on it with particular reference to your organisation? Whenever HR has been questioned for not contributing effectively to the bottom-line of the company, it could be due to two reasons:HR has really failed to deliver in every way in that organisation.Management has failed to understand and leverage HR for a profitable and sustainable company growth.Expecting any short term returns from HR initiatives is unrealistic as HR initiative and contribution is always linked to the long-term strategic goal of the organisation. For example, at RPG Life sciences it took nearly 2 and half years to transform the company into a ‘Great Places to Work’ organisation. Having achieved this milestone, we have now developed a culture which has a competitive advantage and is delivering profitable growth. Besides this, managing the high level of engagement, low level of attrition, talent acquisition and key talent retention have become much easier. If you could change three things about HR practices, what would they be?Adopting any HR Best practices blindly is dangerous game! One should avoid it!Handling IR issue with a traditional IR mindset! It should be dealt with long term perspective with HR/ER approach!Gap exists in capability of majority HR professionals. This is not getting completely addressed by even B-schools. Any organisation’s HR policy should also focus on enhancing the HR capability of HR professionals
Read More
Deutsche Bank has set a year-end target of 22,500 for Sensex, basing their target on the Finance Minister promise to reign in fiscal deficit, “economic pragmatism”, probable monetary easing, global growth recovery and turnaround in corporate earnings cycle.“Since September 2012, there have been a lot of policy-related initiatives – all hinting at growth. The government is hinting at a diesel price hike in a calibrated manner – and that too, in an election year. Such steps go a long way to increasing investor confidence,” said Abhay Laijawala, head of research at Deutsche Equities, on the sidelines of their investor meet.According to Laijawala, growth green-shoots (in private sector) will start coming out in the second half of this year. It will also re-start ‘stalled’ infrastructure projects. “A recovery in global growth will help our current account deficit in a big way. Expectations of a bounce-back in Chinese economy will help global markets in a big way,” he said.On the near-4 per cent fall in equities since February this year, Laijawala said, “The correction was primarily due to the outcome of Italian election and resurfacing US fiscal cliff situation. Also, the market had a significant rally prior to the correction in February.”Read Also: India Posts Biggest Gain In 3 Months Laijawala’s sectoral preferences include interest ‘rate sensitives’ like banks and automobiles, global plays like IT and metals and domestic plays like oil and gas.Deutsche expects the RBI to continue on the rate easing cycle and expects a further 75 bps cut in repo rate over the next few months.“A 5 per cent growth is hardly anything for India. I think the RBI will now show urgency to bring back growth. Growth will take precedence over inflation,” Laijawala said.Deutsche expects first level of earnings upgrades from June quarter onwards. The group is quite upbeat about budgetary proposals like the industrial corridor project, direct benefit transfer and development of rural infrastructure.Among infrastructure projects, brokers are placing a lot of hopes on Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), for which the government has committed additional funds on a need-basis.“Work is happening at a good pace on the DMIC stretch. It’ll be show-piece project for the country,” said Varun Goel, head of portfolio management at Karvy Stock Broking.Like Laijawala of Deutsche, Goel is also quite bullish about equities market. He expects market (Sensex) to touch 25,000 levels by end of this year.“We’re not expecting much downside from current levels. If we take a bad scenario, the market may consolidate at 5500-levels on the Nifty,” Goel said.Goel likes private sector banks, IT, pharmaceuticals and mid-cap FMCG companies; he prefers to stay away from infrastructure, metals and cement.“I’ve not idea about infrastructure; am not sure when the infra pack will start performing. Metals will continue to be at mercy of global events while cement companies will register low growth because of low demand and inadequate capacity utilisation,” Goel said.
Read More
Just a couple of years back, Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) was touted as the next big thing to boost the Indian telecom market. However, MVAS really didn’t take off as expected. A report by Convergence Catalyst in 2012 shows that non-voice revenues currently constitute about ~10 per cent of the revenues of Indian telecom operators as compared to an average of ~23 per cent in other countries. The current roll-out of 3G and BWA services, along with increasing penetration of smart phones could potentially address this gap, reviving the potential of MVAS.MVAS so far has been about providing entertainment, information and utility services to mobile subscribers. Subscribers are charged for such services, normally through operator billing and the resulting revenues shared between the operators, service providers and content owners. We may classify such services as Consumer MVAS. A new category of MVAS is now beginning to emerge - Enterprise MVAS is about using the mobile medium within business applications for customer engagement, employee productivity and enterprise mobility. Consumer MVAS vs. Enterprise MVAS Consumer MVAS has advanced from the traditional SMS-based services to Internet-based and application-based services. Hence this service in the Indian market is not limited to just customised Ring Tones (RT), Caller Back Ring Tones (CBRT), music and entertainment, but also includes gaming and mobile browsing. Enterprise MVAS, on the other hand, is a largely unexplored territory. A potentially rewarding and lucrative component of the customer base consisting of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and SOHOs (small offices/home offices) has been overlooked. Today, it is essential for organisations to stay connected with the customers to increase visibility, revenues and profitability.To explore this customer base and offer enterprise mobile value added services, we need to devise the right strategy.The Next Level: Enterprise MVASEnterprises today need a holistic and well-coordinated mobile engagement framework which works not only in-sync with other engagement mediums, but can also work as an independent engagement platform by itself.Mobile engagement can be operated over multiple channels. The voice and data channels can be operated in accordance with the regular text messaging through a well-integrated m-Engagement platform. Telecom operators today are very well positioned to provide such a platform to their business customers and thereby open up new revenue streams.In order to tap the potential of mobile to its fullest, there is a need for innovation, unbiased approach and applications that would trigger a data revolution in the country. There is a need to focus on new services and technologies along with social media content. Clearly there is a need to work towards enhancing growth of m-Engagement which can be easily called a way forward to MVAS.An increasing number of Enterprises, SMEs and SOHOs are in need of mobility services with resources which provide plenty of scope for customization. They prefer to have a do-it-yourself platform which would reduce their dependency of multiple vendors or the financially-demanding internal IT setups. ChallengesThe market today is highly fragmented with vendors offering point products. To combat the increasing competition and differentiate, enterprises need to adopt an integrated platform for engaging their customers and stakeholders. The availability of different vendors for different technologies and services is an operational overhead which the enterprises should avoid by choosing a well architected, unified platform.The telecom operators already have access to a rich set of assets such as location, multiple bearer channels, the billing system, and most specifically, rich CRM data. There is plenty of scope for sophisticated segmentation and precise targeting by taking into account behavioral profiles of end consumers. The potential of all these assets has been largely untapped.Operators may have deployed the so-called Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) but these deployments have, in many cases, failed to deliver the goods.There has been a dearth of systematic, state-of-the-art platforms that would provide the necessary adapters for the enterprises to quickly integrate into operator networks and expose their capabilities to business customers.Soclomo: The Integration Of Social, Cloud And MobileSocial networking sites and mobile devices are quickly becoming the de facto channels for businesses to interact with, inform, educate and transact with their customers and prospects. Simultaneously, cloud-based infrastructure, platforms and services are gaining a strong foothold among businesses of all sizes.This technology trinity of Social, Cloud and Mobile (SoCloMo) is slowly changing the face of the enterprise. The traditional ways of functioning are being rendered redundant and the way businesses reach out to their stakeholders is being transformed substantially.The Future: M-EngagementMobile solutions are increasingly being used by enterprises, with customer engagement and employee productivity being the two primary drivers for the increased usage.In order to improve customer engagement, businesses from all sectors and of all sizes wish to connect with customers at every stage by using mobile solutions. One-way promotional mobile communication is being replaced by two-way communication tools which are transactional and interactive in nature. Customers can interact directly with the organization in their moments of decision. Enterprises also seek to maximise workforce engagement and productivity by using mobile technology for day-to-day communication with the workforce. Many organisations are following the ‘Bring your own device’ trend with employees using their personal devices for work to share localised, contextual information. Employee engagement can pave the way for a motivated and loyal workforce who can be dedicated advocates for the enterprises. It also helps in knowing whether employees understand the company’s strategic direction and how they contribute to it in ways that build positive momentum and deliver results. A modern day user is a lot more mobile and well informed. As the mobile market grows further, there is an increasing demand for more holistic, personalised and more customizable mobile user experiences. m- Engagement facilitates mobile channels to be integrated into existing cross-channel user service strategy. Enterprises are in search of sophisticated mobile solutions for effective customer engagement and employee productivity while ensuring smooth functioning of operations. As enterprises continue to increase engagement through mobile technology, it is clear that one size doesn't fit all. Instead, each installation must be tailored to the enterprise’s distinctive customer engagement strategy and brand identity. Of course, mobile deployment in enterprises is still in its nascent stage and mobile engagement, while gaining popularity, is a relatively new phenomenon. The various customer engagement strategies will continue to evolve to keep pace with the ever-changing customer tastes and new technologies.(Vishwanath Alluri is the Founder, Chairman & CEO of IMImobile)
Read More
The fourth Union Budget of the ruling UPA government – and supposedly the last before general elections early next year - has turned a non-event for equities market. According to market researchers, barring select price upgrades in shares of housing finance companies, road pavers, infrastructure builders, FMCG companies, realtors and power utilities, the budget will have negligible impact on overall markets. Most analysts, whom BW consulted, are also not expecting any post-budget rallies this time round. The general consensus is that markets will consolidate at current levels – between 5700 and 5900 on the Nifty – over the next few trading sessions. “We’re not expecting any post-budget rallies this time around. It was a very normal, neutral budget with some support to select sectors – stocks of which could appreciate over the next few days,” Bharat Shah, head of institutional business at Ventura Securities, told Businessworld. Among (budgetary) announcements that were well-received by the markets include tax rebate for first time home loan buyers for up to Rs 25 lakh, removal of barriers with regards to distribution of NELP oil blocks, proposal to build 3,000 kms of roads, reduction in import duty for set-top boxes, higher defence and infrastructure spending, reduction in statutory transaction tax for equity trades and duty reduction on precious and semi-precious stones from 10 to 2 per cent. Interest subvention scheme by private sector banks for short-term crop loans, higher excise duty on cigarettes, higher excise duty on SUVs from 27 to 30 per cent and imposition of Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) have dampened market sentiments. “It’s definitely not a big-bang budget. There’s mild positivity with regards to the estimated fiscal deficit numbers. But in overall terms, there’s nothing much to spur markets from current levels,” said Siddharth Sedani, assistant vice-president (portfolio Management Service), Microsec Capital. Brokers expect companies like LIC Housing Finance, Reliance Industries & ONGC, DLF, IRB, Gitanjali Gems, Rajesh Exports, Titan Industries, Entertainment Network India Ltd, Hathway Cables, Den Networks, Dish TV, Alok Industries, Rolta, BHEL, BEL, Tata Power, Punj Lloyd, L&T, NTPC, Bata Ltd and GMR Infrastructure, among others, to gain over the next few days on the bourses. Among stocks that are likely to correct over the next few days include private sector banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, automobile companies like M&M and Tata Motors and cigarette manufacturers like ITC and Godfrey Philips. India’s lone listed exchange group – the Multi-commodities Exchange – MCX – may also drop on account of the introduction of CTT, equity analysts said. According to K. Subramanyam, AVP -Institutional Research, Asit C.Mehta Intermediaries, the budget was disappointing in the sense that some serious concerns were unaddressed. “Firstly, going by the concerns on the state of the equity markets nothing was announced to encourage retail investors to participate in Indian markets .The RGESS which could have been tweaked to be more effective was not done. Deposits in banks have been showing a falling trend and major power restructuring plans are ahead like re-structuring of SEB short -term loans where banks will play a vital role. No announcement to encourage retail savings in banks was done,” Subramanyam said. A section of the market is also not happy about the bulging food subside bill, which has grown from Rs 24,000 crore in 2006 – 07 to about 1,00,000 crore in 2014. “Government finances could further get aggravated and all reforms on the oil & gas front will come to nothing as it will be offset by this fast rising burden,” Subramanyam of Asit C. Mehta Intermediaries said.
Read More
Ronnie Das, Head Human Resources at Nalco Water India Ltd, never wanted to sit behind the computer and always felt HR was the profession for him with the right blend of people management and technical knowledge with common sense thrown in. He has had his share of startups and loves it best when an organisation grows and evolves into a business house. At between 10 and 13 per cent, the attrition rate may be under control in his company, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to get resources who don’t mind dirtying their hands by working their way up through basics.For future HR managers, Dias' advice is understand the business side of the organisation and spend less time in front of the computer, and more time with the employees and their managers.ExcerptsWhat made you choose HR as a profession?Well I could never see myself as the man behind the computer, so various software/computer related positions were ruled out. Though while I was completing my graduation I did like subjects like Business Administration which had elements of Human Resource planning and management in it. HR also seemed to be one of the professions that had the right balance of people agility, technical knowledge, systems and common sense in it.What has been the biggest achievement of your career?While I have been involved in a few startups, it gave me great pleasure to see the organisation grow in size over the years and evolve as a business house. While this is one of the achievements, it’s hard to pen the biggest achievement as that’s relative to time.What have been the primary traits/qualities that have helped you attain your present position?Perseverance is one of the traits that helped both in my personal and professional life. The other one is carrying and exercising the right set of moral values.What are the challenges you are facing in your organisation?We are currently going through a merger, and it’s like changing parts of an engine while still driving the car. It is challenging but we are sure we will reach our target.What are the steps a company should take to develop and motivate future leaders?One of the key steps we have taken is to invest in a framework to identify high performers starting with top tier levels and then gradually cascading the programme to the levels below. The framework enables supervisors to understand the competencies of their direct reports and helps them build and monitor their development plan. Such initiatives not only create bench strength and supplement succession planning within the organisation but also build confidence in employees. What is your rate of attrition? How do you prevent it?Our annual attrition rate has been ranging between 10 and 13 per cent over the last couple of years. We categorise our attrition into planned and unplanned and it’s the unplanned one that we really interested to control. I am happy to say that the unplanned attrition is much below the market median. To prevent attrition, we start by following the basic steps of exit interview and attrition analysis, employee opinion surveys prevail, further, time is spent with leaders and employees to understand thechallenges they face at work.How do you retain talent in your company?The company provides diversified career paths to employees, right from sales, engineering, R&D, application development, technical support, plant, supply chain, support staff, etc. Employees who have potential and interest to move to other departments are provided opportunities within the company. This fosters greater learning as employees follow a zig-zag pattern of development thereby giving them a greater understanding of the company and its core functions. The company also focuses on identifying talent and providing them opportunities to grow through projects and roles within the India entity or overseas.What sets your company apart from other companies as far as work culture goes?We follow a high performance culture associated with rewards and recognition. Leaders are selected from within the organization with little exceptions to the rule. While we do follow an open door culture employees are given opportunities to reach out to senior management through periodic meetings.What is the biggest challenge you face when selecting people?One of the biggest challenges we face in hiring currently is to find resources who don’t mind dirtying the hands by working their way up through basics.How do you track employees' satisfaction or dissatisfaction in your company?We track engagement of our employees through Employee Opinion Surveys, staff meetings, town halls, exit interviews and feedback through leaders.How important is HR to the bottom line of a company?HR if engaged as a true partner can add value to the company. It is the only department other than the MD which has knowledge and understanding of all other departments. The role of HR is definitely strategic especially in growing Companies. Though the link to the bottom line cannot be directly established, you can ask any leader the price of selecting a wrong hire or promoting the wrong person.How has the downturn affected HR?While we are still following a growth trajectory for most of our business, we have evaluated the status for few businesses and made adjustments accordingly. We still continue to hire talent and invest in people development.How should HR be integrated with the core line of business?At the end of the day HR is a department enabling business to do business. It is important for every HR person to understand the different lines of businesses and how they actually contribute to the bottom line. If an HR person lacks this basic understanding it is pointless knowing the end to end HR functions.A recent survey has questioned HR's actual contribution in an organisation. Would you like to comment on it with particular reference to your organisation?Over the years the HR function has evolved with its offerings, its more strategic, more people focused and have implemented systems and designs to make it easy for the vast number of employees work in the Company. Its commendable to say that with the growth the Company had; leaders have realised the true value HR and reach out to HR on various matters.If you could change three things about HR practices, what would they be?Understand the business side of the organisation.Spend less time in front of the computer, it’s a means to an end, spend more time with employees and their managers.Adapt to change, do not get lost with past laurels.
Read More
Is your organisation built to be successful in yesterday's and today's world, or is it ready for the future? It is already a cliché to talk about how the world is changing; the hard part is preparing the ground to realise the opportunities offered by the new truths. Today's digital cowboys, digital natives who are globalised, thoughtful, and engaged leaders, already accept the changes and offer interesting ideas about the opportunities. Let me introduce you to five digital cowboys from the IMD MBA Class of 2012: Angelos, Aswini, Thibaut, Nael, and Sophie. They were born between 1979 and 1985. Let's say for simplicity they are 30 years old now. You already know that they take computers and the internet for granted. You probably picture them as Facebook junkies or online game addicts. But think more deeply about the world they know. As young children, their first big world events were the Tiananmen Square massacre and the fall of the Berlin Wall. But they only knew about those events if they had direct local implications. As engaged teenagers, when they started to become aware of the world, they saw the Asian financial crisis, the realisation of climate change, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. Just as they became adults, in their late teens and early 20's and embarking on careers, they saw the dot.com bubble burst, Enron fall, 9-11 unleash the War on Terror, and unchecked growth from resource use. For these 30-year-olds, the 2008 global financial crisis was just another event, not such a defining one. It was inevitable. Their perspectives as digital cowboys go far beyond technology fluency. They assume a set of beliefs about the world to which more senior leaders are still adjusting. More specifically, they assume: Boundaries and roles are fluid and permeable. Power is distributed, control requires permission. There is no success without sustainability for individuals, organizations, society, and the environment.These statements have always been true to some extent, but for centuries people have been able to lead as if they were not. Most senior leaders are now in the process of changing their assumptions. But these IMD digital cowboys start with them. And they see opportunities in those assumptions. Most of today's more senior (a euphemism for "older") leaders are not adjusting well to this world. Our digital cowboys see a gap in how companies and CEOs are failing to engage, and how they are blind to business prospects in many sectors. Recently they shared with a group of CEOs what they see, what they are missing, and what possibilities they imagine. Time To Engage "We see people being completely open and transparent about their current and former employers. When we're interested in a company, the first thing we do is visit GlassDoor.com. It's a social networking site where people share what they think of their companies, including salary information, insider tips about getting jobs there, and even CEO approval ratings. You can only use it if you contribute, and we can decide for ourselves if we trust the information. We go from there to LinkedIn to connect with current employees and get real time, real life insights. For us, the corporate website is a black hole, and a very last resort. "But we don't see recruiters acknowledging the existence of this reality. We certainly don't see leaders encouraging their employees to be honest about the company. This information is out there in spite of corporate policies. It is helpful, because it is honest, and it builds credibility. "Most companies disapprove of the use of internet forums, except when it's corporate-sponsored blogging. They want to keep the company boundaries clear and information private. Don't they know this creates distrust, and the information is there anyway? We know not to believe everything we read. Transparency helps us make our own decisions. "Most CEOs don't have a social media presence. But we keep getting taught that good leaders are people who listen. If they're not where people are discussing, then what are they really listening to?" Things need to change. Why don't companies aim to be pioneers in open communication through these kinds of discussion forums, instead of being late adopters? If there is more employee engagement and commitment, that would really attract the best employees. Do leaders think that collaboration and open dialogue is only with the environmental protection agency? This can even make the employer-employee relationship better. Imagine the goodwill that a common and open internet platform can bring. Both sides will come much closer. Fewer disgruntled employees will give you fewer sleepless nights. Besides, this can lead to retaining talent within the company, and keeping them happier. Leveraging the knowledge of this talent, the sustained value becomes immeasurable. Let's Talk About HealthNow let's take the example of a specific business sector – healthcare."In this sector we see patients wanting to know more about their own health and to talk about it. Today social media lets them do this. Health is the third most popular activity on the internet, with 80% of internet users searching health information online (Pew internet project 2011). Today PatientsLikeMe.com has more than 150,000 subscribers, covering over 1,000 conditions. Patients are no longer just consumers; they have become customers who can make choices."We also see doctors using social media in their own profession. Online they cluster, get guidance from their peers, and challenge established ideas. The Chinese DXY platform has more than 2 million members, and grows at a rate of 30,000 new users every month. Some 60% of doctors expect their online communication to increase in the future (Digitas survey in 2010). We see there are over 13,000 iPhone health apps. This market is expected to grow by 25% in the next five years."But we don't see healthcare corporations engaging in the dialogue. This seems strange, when they are clearly experts in their respective pathologies. We don't see, or we're not told, how they take patients' feedback into account to improve their treatments. We also don't see much trust between healthcare corporations and the different stakeholders. Neither patients nor doctors are motivated to engage with pharma companies online. Doctors are three times more likely to engage with other doctors, and twice as likely to engage with patients, than with pharma firms (March 2010 survey by EPG in five large European countries)." Things need to change. Our societies will not go back to rigid and mono-directional communication. Social media may be new, but word of mouth has been there forever. Technology just enables it. Some 78 per cent of Americans trust other consumers, while only 55 per cent of them trust advertising. "A brand is not any longer what corporations tell consumers, it is what consumers tell each other," says Scott Cook, the Intuit CEO. He's right. Imagine how much value a healthcare provider could create by bringing knowledge to the discussions.Imagine the sustainable competitive advantage a healthcare company could develop by building on those rich online insights, and creating trust with patients and physicians. It will ultimately be rewarded by superior brand recognition and lasting loyalty, and by a healthier society. Out With The Old, In With The New?This is just a window into my day as the MBA Program Director at IMD. I hear conversations like this all the time, with topics ranging from sports to heavy industry to consumer products and music to a wide variety of services. Yes, these younger leaders still need to learn a lot from experience. But as a senior leader once said, "if inexperience were a crime, the jails would be full." Senior leaders can learn a lot about building organisations for the future by listening behind the words about social media and idealism. So will you leave an organisation that is based on the old assumptions of boundaries, power, control and success? Or will you find opportunities in the new assumptions? And if you're not sure how to find the opportunities, ask your digital cowboys.(Martha Maznevski is Professor of Organisational Behavior and International Management at IMD, and the MBA Program Director. She wrote this article with Angelos Diatsintos, Aswini Gauthama Sankar, Thibaut Girard, Nael Itani and Huizhong (Sophie) Zhang).
Read More
The government should carry forward its recent policy statements aimed at simplifying and clarifying transfer pricing norms in the Union Budget 2013-14. Currently, over 850 high-tech MNCs operate R&D centers in India, creating direct employment for over 250,000 highly qualified talent and thereby retaining knowledge workers in country. Further, the indirect employment multiplier is 1:4. Clarity in transfer pricing will encourage existing MNC R&D centers to expand, and act as an accelerator for those planning to set up India R&D operations.Build Collaborative Framework For Modern IT: Indian companies will invest at least $10-15 billion in modern IT in the next 5 years. With the growing importance and relevance of modern IT, including cloud computing, big data analytics, mobility etc, we expect Budget 2013-14 to specifically focus on creating a robust framework and incentives to encourage modern IT adoption. While initiatives on cloud computing are being taken at multiple levels, a collaborative framework including government, academia, associations and industry is much required. Similar initiatives are being taken in the United States, Australia, Korea and other key markets.Encourage Small & Medium Businesses: Over 45 Million SMBs are currently doing business in India and the sector contributes 40 per cent of the manufacturing output and about 17 per cent of the total economy. It will be important for government to collaborate with the industry ecosystem towards encouraging usage of technology to help the SMB sector enhance global competitiveness. We expect the government to significantly increase its focus on building robust ICT infrastructure including access to telephony, broadband, public data centers etc. to provide further boost to the sector.Institutional Mechanisms To Create A World-class Startup Ecosystem By 2020: Startup ecosystem in India holds strategic importance in accelerating innovation, and Zinnov expects Budget 2013-14 to focus on supporting its growth in the country. Setting up industry-ready incubators, expansion of incentives for private incubators, funding support and incentives for entrepreneurs to set up a venture would provide the necessary thrust to the ecosystem. To foster collaboration, the government should also provide specific incentives to MNCs and large companies that are partnering startups to develop core intellectual property. As always, we would like the Budget 2013-14 to provide for an income tax-exempted venture fund to seed start-ups especially in the product domain. This will strengthen the 3,000-plus product start-up eco-system in India. We need to replicate institutional mechanisms to bootstrap growth in product start-ups, similar to what the STPI scheme did for the services companies in the 90s. Cybersecurity Enhancement, Increased E-governance Outlay: Zinnov is expecting an increase in the e-governance outlay by the Government in the Budget 2013-14, especially large programs like R-APDRP and UIDAI. An increased outlay combined with an effective and efficient implementation is likely to improve the quality of life of Indian citizens at large. It will also have a positive impact on Indian companies and MNCs in the IT sector. Other expectations from budget include clarity on double taxation on sale of software, enhancement of cyber security laws, clarity on mandates on datacenters in specific sectors (BFSI etc.) simplification of CENVAT refunds, clarity on MAT & Transfer Pricing related tax etc.(Pari Natarajan, CEO Zinnov Management Consulting)
Read More
With a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from BITS, Pilani, and an MBA from the IIM Lucknow, it was only in 2000 that Manmohan Bhutani got into HR function. Before that, he was managing IT/ software & ITES businesses. Bhutani believes to measure its impact on the business, HR and business strategies must be aligned and an HR practice must run the department like a business to be efficient and effective. As VP, People & Operations, Fiserv India, he is part of Fiserv, Inc., a leading global technology provider serving the financial services industry. The global downturn taught Bhutani that HR function is essential for companies to realign their strategies and adopt cost optimising measures to improve bottom line. Bhutani wishes HR practitioners would give up traditional policies and make the HR function more dynamic to cater to the ever-changing business environment and empower associates and the Gen Y in particular. Excerpts:What made you choose HR as a profession? I always had an inclination towards mentorship and resource development, but I did not start my career with it. Most of my experience is in business development and operations. It was in early 2000 when I got an opportunity to handle an HR related assignment and I accepted it with open arms. In my opinion, and I am sure many will agree, the core asset of a company is its people and it is they who have the ability to take the company to the pinnacle or otherwise. Managing this core asset, meeting employees’ expectations and needs, deepening their capability, constantly motivating them, empowering them, indulging in innovation that works best for them, and helping them maintain a fine work-life balance are things I have been responsible for and would like to continue with in my career. Most of all, I like to see employees happy and fully motivated to give their best. In my many years of HR experience, these two things have always mattered a lot, I respect this sentiment and enjoy keeping it that way through good human resource management techniques and leadership. What has been the biggest achievement of your career? Sometimes there is a very thin line between achievement and failure. In one of the assignments, I was managing operations for a large US-based retail chain. The service was not doing well and there were bonuses and penalties associated with service level agreements (SLAs). Service delivery had issues; we were penalised for two months for not meeting SLAs. We were losing money. We were given 2 to 3 months to improve the service and save the Contract - termination of which also meant job losses. I took the team into confidence and motivated all team members (across levels) to put their best foot forward to meet/exceed SLAs. The team met everyday and results were shared with all on a daily basis. This service was turned around in less than 3 months and we not only met SLAs but earned bonus for 6 months in a row. What I like about this achievement is that it was the confidence I could instill in my team members that motivated them to come up with the best, not for any individual or company but for the team. What have been the primary traits/qualities that have helped you attain your present position?I think I have seen and worked on every aspect of a business, and without any regrets I can confidently say that I have enjoyed and loved my time working for people and their aspirations. I see myself as a person who has acquired a good sense of managing diverse global talent, which is a key requirement in today’s corporate world. In doing so, I have gained good knowledge of cross cultural intelligence and communication needs. I am a people’s person and open to both applause and criticism. One needs to be flexible enough to accept viewpoints from the environment, act on them and exchange faulty practices for more effective ones that will keep us ahead of the curve and this particular trait is one of my positives. Trusting people, empowering them and giving them confidence has given me a lot of satisfaction and best results. How do you track employees' satisfaction or dissatisfaction in your company? At Fiserv we are very sensitive about employee welfare and needs. We have a well developed feedback mechanism and communication structure that works top down, lateral and bottom up. Associate pulse is a very important measure to improve governance framework, organisational processes, associate morale and motivation, development needs and other such critical HR matters. We have structured forums of communication and feedback, like: quarterly departmental open houses, organisational and global open houses, annual associate engagement survey called Voices in Action which seeks associate responses to usher changes wherever required and rate organizational processes from strategic to operational point of view. We have established anonymous helpline which can be used by associates to raise red flags and speak about any wrongdoing they see in the company. We have also set up grievance redressal forums where associates can reach out to their HR representatives to speak frankly about things bothering them. We collate this associate pulse and communicate with associates through established channels like organisational open houses and tell them about corrective measures introduced to address concerns. Listing is not enough, what is equally important is to act on them, inform affected parties about the action taken and seek feedback. This ensures complete satisfaction. A recent survey has questioned HR's actual contribution in an organisation. Would you like to comment on it with particular reference to your organisation? It has been established beyond doubt that HR is a critical function for organisational success. How HR representatives run the function is what can be questioned and that is true for anything. It does not matter what needs to be done, what matters more is that it is being done correctly and in the true spirit of things. What is your rate of attrition? How do you prevent it?Attrition is a part and parcel of every organization, especially IT industry. Employees even exit companies that are considered 'Best Employers', and there are no quick fixes. The only way we can minimise attrition is by effectively engaging with and listening to our most important stakeholder - the associates. The attrition level for Fiserv in India is generally lower than the average attrition rate of IT Industry. What is the biggest challenge you face when selecting people?The biggest challenge we face is that we may not always find all the skills we want in an associate, but this can be overcome if we screen for a good attitude. I have experienced that we can easily improve skills/knowledge through various training interventions but it is very difficult to change the attitude of people.What are the challenges you are facing in your organisation?Fiserv in India has been very successful in attracting and retaining talent. We have been working hard for the last few years to develop ourselves as an employer of choice to scout the best available talent in the market. We are continuously working towards taking the organisation to new heights; however, this has its associated challenges in terms of dynamic work environment and stiffer competition that exists. It is our endeavor to create a futuristic and progressive organisation that listens and cares for associates.What are the steps a company should take to develop and motivate future leaders?HR in any organisation has a vital role to play in hiring, retaining and developing career plans for its people. A good organisation has robust HR practices that primarily focus on people management. In order to groom and motivate future leaders, companies must focus on –Aspirations of an individual within the organisationCareer path mapping of an individual with his performance goalsEffective utilisation of resources by giving them meaningful/ challenging work and tracking performanceGiving due accolades to deserving people to motivate them for better performanceIdentifying potential candidates and regularly monitoring their learning curve in order to nurture them into future leadersEffective retention plan for deserving candidates so that they can become future leaders within the organisationCreating leadership development programmesRegular or periodic performance evaluation of potential candidates and providing feedback for improvementHow do you retain talent in your company?At Fiserv, we follow a simple methodology to retain our top performers. This includes:Promoting and rewarding high performanceCreating an open culture for communicationFocus on career, learning and developmentCreating a positive work environment, developing leadership skills for management and continually seeking associate feedback are the keys to engaging and retaining our organisation's top talent.To retain talent, we need to make sure associates are personally committed to the goals of the organization and they feel that these goals are worth achieving. We should also ensure that associates feel they are playing a suitably significant role in achieving these goals. How important is HR to the bottom line of a company? A good HR practice improves the bottom line of any company. Companies often fail to adopt human resource practices that would improve financial performance. An HR practice must run its department like a business that must be efficient and effective. To measure its impact on the business, an HR function must align its strategy with the business strategy.Research shows that the way people are managed affects quality, profitability, productivity and total return to shareholders by increasing associate commitment.Associate engagement surveys show that commitment arises from a combination of various factors, which include: job satisfaction, recognition, appreciation from managers, remuneration, job challenges, responsibilities, continuous learning, etc. HR provides expertise and vision in these areas, which are important to the executive team. It focuses on developing the right culture through implementing practices and HR metrics that are important to the organisation.How has the downturn affected HR?Economic recession has troubled all streams of businesses and the overall impact is visible across all organisational functions. HR has also witnessed a short-term impact of this downturn, but the future looks secure for HR professionals. HR is the backbone of any organisation. During economic crisis it can eventually help companies realign their strategies, adopt cost optimising measures to improve bottom line and work towards developing a more fruitful working environment so that the best talent can be effectively utilised and retained. HR is seen as a crucial player in improving organisational performance. As an organisation navigating the waters of global recession, Fiserv has invested in training its line managers to improve management skills in order to develop and engage talent. We have taken this opportunity to restructure the organisation to be more agile and effective in delivering the business strategy and to utilise all resources including people more efficiently during the upturn. HR has been effectively instrumental in minimising the impact of the downturn.How should HR be integrated with the core line of business? For a robust and effective organisation structure it is highly critical and important to interlink its core functions. Linking HR to the core business domains helps in resolving teething business issues with a systematic approach. The HR function engages with associates to understand their problems and implement effective and relevant solutions for their day-to-day working issues. It is therefore highly critical for an HR function to be associated with core business domains. If you could change three things about HR practices, what would they be?Give up traditional HR practices/policies and make the HR function more dynamic to cater to the ever changing business environmentA simple and more practical approach to the most critical issues and giving up the complex framework which sometimes jeopardises the resolutionMore transparency in the system through empowering associates and Gen Y in particular
Read More
