Jigyasa 2013

JIGYASA
2013Journal of Human Resource and Organisational Development
Master of Human Resource and Organisational Development
Unlocking Human Potential

AboutMasterofHumanResourceandOrganisational
Development(MHROD)
About IGYASA
The Master of Human Resource and Organizational Development (MHROD) program
was started in the year 1995 by the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of
Economics with the objective of providing quality education to highly motivated young
men and women so that they can provide professional expertise to business and industry
in the twin areas of Human Resource and Organizational Development. Identified by
NHRD and NTPC as premiere course in the field of Human Resource, MHROD is a two-
year full time professional program spread over four semesters which combine gruelling
academicschedules with proactive efforts to developnew perspectivesand a higher level
of knowledge and understanding. Going beyond books, theories and case studies to open
new windows, MHROD helps young HR and OD experts to enter the increasingly
competitive and constantly changing global economy equipped with the ability to face
everychallengeheadonandemergevictorious.
J
J‘ ' is an annual journal of M.H.R.O.D.The name signifies the nature and intent,
which is to arouse or pacify curiosity i.e. Jigyasa. Being a non-profit, in-house, student
initiative, first launched in 1997, the journal has ensured wide circulation and garnered
appreciation from both the corporate and the academia. It is the compilation of articles,
interviews, case studies and book reviews by stalwarts in their respective fields. It
provides valuable insights and viewpoints of specialists in the field of Human Resource,
Organisational Development and Management, and thus secured a place for itself in
famous libraries nationally as well as internationally. The objective behind the initiative
and evolution of the journal is to provide the readers with an idea of complexities of
working in the industry and to help broaden their knowledge base in the field of Human
Resources.
IGYASA

Toourreaders
IGYASA
IGYASA
IGYASA
IGYASA
IGYASA
A lot is changing in current business environment. As Greek philosopher
Heraclitussaid“Nothingenduresbutchange”whichcanalsobetranslated
as 'The only constant is change'. Since change is inevitable, it makes more
sense to embrace it than to resist. As HR has transformed from being a
support function to a strategic business function, prevalent trends in
currentenvironmentaremakingitmovetowardsanewparadigm.Tohave
different perspectives on this change from eminent personalities from
differentbusinesses,itisthattimeofyearwhenwebringyetanotheredition
of .
in current issue has made an attempt to present subtle ideas
by giving a concoction of theory, experiences, expression and creativity of
intricacies of Human Resources. The valuable insights from renowned
practitioners are like a knowledge warehouse to which
humblyprovidesa“key”.A“key”,alsotounlockhumanpotential.
Thecreditforoverwhelmingsuccessofthisendeavourrestslargelywiththe
distinguished authors who have contributed with their knowledge,
thoughts,opinionsandmostimportantly,time.Wehopethisjournalbrings
as much pleasure to all the authors, as it has brought to us in framing and
compiling it. We value the incomparable inputs of the contributors for this
journal and thank them for infusing their knowledge and experience into
eacharticleof .
We value your invaluable inputs and suggestions and hope that your
journeythough wouldbeapleasure.
Kartik Pant
J
J
J
J
J
Editorial
Patrons
Prof.J.P.Sharma
Dean, Faculty of Commerce
& Business
Dr.Sunaina Kanojia
Programme Coordinator,
MHROD
Editorial Board
Akshat Ambedkar
Dheeman Barua
Kanika Pande
Kartik Pant
TeamJigyasa:Divya|Parul|Rahul|Rashmi|Shalabh|Sourish
Jigyasa 2013

With immense exuberance, I present forward the current issue of Jigyasa 2013, the annual journal of the
Master of Human Resource and Organisational Development (MHROD) programme. Jigyasa
primarily has been fostering the knowledge on Human Resource along with its varied dimensions, and
the journal so far has been successful in providing the platform for the students, academicians, and the
corporate leaders to disseminate their ideas and opinions on various current topics on Human Resource
ManagementandOrganisationalDevelopment.
In today's business environment, where local and global advancements and changes are occurring
rapidly, it has now become the responsibility of HR manager to play the role of a strategic partner and
change mentor within the organisation. In order to succeed, Human Resource Management is expected
to be a business driven.Accentuating the fact it is expected that present issue of Jigyasa would serve the
needtoaddress thevariousissuesrelatedtothetalentmanagement.
I congratulate the Editorial Team for their hard work in producing this issue of Jigyasa and hope that it
would provide a platform to professionals, students and academicians in the domain of Human
Resource management and Organisational Development to express their insights on key issues
pertainingtothebusinessandOrganisationalBehaviour.
Prof.JPSharma
Head&Dean,
FacultyofCommerce&Business,
UniversityofDelhi
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
Message
MHROD, Department of Commerce, DSE

It is indeed a matter of immense pleasure for me to write a message for the JIGYASA, which is a
magnificent endeavour of MHROD students. Jigyasa has grown in the past decades and has created a
place for itself. The contribution of corporates, managers and our student writers are exemplary. The
topics chosen by these avid writers are diverse and emphasise on the current economic as well as social
concerns.
The most exciting facet of Jigyasa is the approach with which the write-ups have been handled and
presented, not only highlighting the problems but offering the solutions as well.With a fresh writing and
flamboyantstreaksthearticleshaveaflavourofcontemporarythinkingwithconventionalbasis.
Iwishthestudentstoreachbeyondboundariesandexcelinalltheirefforts.Goodluckandallthebest.
Dr.SunainaKanojia
MESSAGE FROM THE COURSE COORDINATOR
Message
Jigyasa 2013

CONTENTS
Change Your Point of Reference 5
Employer Branding on Social Media 7
Human Resources: Because, It's the People Who Make the Difference 9
How to Make HR Tick: A Real HR Value-Add Ingredient 12
On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers 15
Effective Change Management 19
Sustainable Engagement Codified 20
20:20 will change your life 22
Outsourcing: 'Is it the end of Employer-Employee Relationship?’ 25
Human Resources as a Strategic Partner of Business 28
Challenges to Rewards and Recognition 30
Success and Satisfaction: A Hypothesis 32
Mahindra Rise 33
Ester Martinez, Co-founder & Managing Editor - People Matters
Mansoor Hussain, General Manager – Talent Acquisition, Philips Electronics India
Limited
Varinder Singh, Lead Associate – HR, Tata Power Company Ltd.
Shamik Vora, Vice President–HR, The Bombay Store
Chandan Shamnani, HR and OD Consultant at Amdocs
Rashmi Sharma, Senior Manager-Talent Acquisition, Quatrro Global Services
Vinay Ravindran, Head HR-Hyderabad DC, SG Analytics
Mr Rushi Patil, Senior Director – HR, GroupM India Media Pvt. Ltd.
Uddalak Banerjee, Student, XLRI
Arjun Mitra & Karan Shorey, Students, XIMB
Akshat Ambedkar, Student-MHROD
In conversation with Ms Emrana Sheikh, VP-HR, Mahindra and Mahindra
MHROD, Department of Commerce, DSE

Corporate Article
espite acknowledgment
around the world that
Dtalent is integral to
competitiveness and that today's
business is all about people, HR
professionals still struggle to
establish their relevance in the C-
suite in most industries. Some of
the fault lies with CEOs, who
typically fail to define what they
expect from their heads of HR.
HR professionals are also to be
blamed as they tend to alienate
themselves from the challenges
of the business and the quarter-
to-quarter pressures that other
functions face. This even results
in many CEOs choosing non-HR
professionalsfor thetopHRjob.
The reality is that businesses
need to handle HR's core
competency of managing people
issues – such as finding and
recruiting the right people and
nurturing & motivating them to
succeed in today's complex
business environment and to
facilitate their growth as a
professional. This begs the
question: Has the time come for
HR professionals to build a
career path to business roles as
naturally as their peers in other
businessfunctions?
An HR head brings several
strengths to the table but also
faces several challenges in the
journey to the top job.HR
professionals who have grown
into a business role from HR
function share that the path to
become a business head is a
mixed bag of several choices that
onehastotake.
Our research among HR leaders
across the India brought us to
question whether becoming a
CEO was even an ambition. We
asked over 70 HR heads if they
wanted to continue in HR or
move to a business role .
Interestingly, 50 per cent of them
said they wanted to stay in HR,
while 27 per cent said they would
like to move to a business role.
The rest said they would like to
explore opportunities in
entrepreneurshiporadvisory.
So if you are among the other half
that wants to explore various
options beyond the HR function,
whether it is entrepreneurship or
a line role, you need to evaluate
whether your career trajectory
will allow you to stay effective if
you have the option to make the
switch. And if you are just
starting out in your career, you
should plan to make yourself a
serious contender for the CEO's
seat by the time you reach the
head of the HR function. The
popular perception that HR and
business are incompatible with
each other is dated. Financial and
technological acumen have
become hygiene factors for
CEOs today and their prowess is
determined by their people
management skills. In factor in a
nationwide survey that People
Matters conducted in 2012 along
with Monster.com reveals that 84
percent of CEOs spend more than
one-fourth of their time in talent
relatedactivities.
Finding, recruiting, and
motivating the right people and
helping them succeed in a new
business environment is HR's
forte and the evolving nature of
the modern organization, which
is very people-intensive, has led
to HR being results-oriented and
driven, similar to other functions.
However, this seemingly natural
fit between an HR leader's skills
and the required capabilities for
CEO hasn't led to a spurt in HR
leaders becoming CEOs. What is
holdingthemback?
Isthereaformulaforsuccess?
The common ingredient shared
by most high performance CEOs
is working and progressing in a
Change Your Point of Reference
- Ester Martinez, Co-founder & Managing Editor - People Matters
In this article, the author examines possible reasons for HR professionals rarely making it to CEO positions. The
authors believes that working only in HR function and staying aloof from the other business functions cannot
work in today's work culture, and lays stress on the importance of learning the capabilities beyond their HR
domainthatwouldenrichprofessionalswithvariouspreconditionsforgrowingintotheC-suite.
5Jigyasa 2013

Corporate Article
well-managed organization run
by high-caliber people.
C o m m e r c i a l a c u m e n ,
understanding of the business
context, natural orientation
towards numbers, appetite for
risk taking and a strong executive
focus are the prerequisites to be a
successful business leader or a
CEO.
Inclusiveness is a very critical
ingredient towards becoming a
successful business leader in the
future. Inclusiveness refers to
those qualities which are related
to understanding of diversity,
developing chemistry with the
workforce, working in teams and
energizing people. Another
important ingredient of success is
the need to develop multi-
functional experience, even if it
comes at the cost of your
promotions. Career base of a
successful CEO is almost
inevitably built through learning
new skills and making judgments
from different experiences. Of
course, one may greatly increase
chances of success by doing their
h
omework right. Before joining
any challenging assignment, it is
important that a professional
learns as much as possible about
the role and the business model of
the organization. Lastly, two very
critical functional capabilities set
up the pedestal for an HR
professional moving to a
business role- sales and finance.
An HR professional, thus, at
several points of his career,
should look out for experiences
insalesandfinance.
The journey from HR to CEO
requires a complete change of
point of reference, and comes
with many challenges: Working
under intense performance
pressure, working under the
influence of many factors which
are not under your control,
gaining the ability to manage a
360 degree view of the business,
managing sales and investors
beyond the HR metrics. In order
to succeed in this new avatar, one
needs to re-skill himself
completely. Nothing in your HR
experience really trains you for
that.
With more than 15 years of experience in human resources, Ester has a wealth of knowledge in all areas of Talent
and Human Resources Management. Until 2008, she worked as a professional manager with a host of Blue Chip
companies, which included Hewlett Packard in different countries within Europe, and Tata Consultancy Services,
both in India and in the UK. In 2009, Ester decided to come to India and work on developing India centric data on
talent management, leadership and HR, seeing the absence of any such research content that could be referred by
CEOs and HR heads. This spurred her idea to start People Matters, a magazine that aims to provide practical
aspectsofmanaging,developingandcoachingtalentinIndia.
6 MHROD, Department of Commerce, DSE

Corporate Article
rand is the heart and soul
of any organization. It
Bincludes all forms of
communication spread across all
mediums. With the role of
narrative in authentic and
attractive branding becoming
essential and crucial, the advent
of social media could not have
been better timed. Today, People
expect more, they want messages
and communication that seem
natural and personal. A narrative
is critical path to utilizing the
basic building blocks of your
brandingstrategy.
Organizations often cite their
people as one of their brand's
greatest assets. While some have
taken steps toward empowering
their employees as brand
ambassadors offline, few have
developed a strategy to arm
employees online. Organizations
are increasingly placing
importance on employee
engagement and recognizing the
benefits of having an engaged
workforce.
In recent years, organizations
have begun to brand themselves
as employers too. This is rooted
in the belief that if organizations
can convey to the world why their
workplace is exciting and unique
– they have a better shot at
attracting good employees. In
other words, employer branding
is all about communicating the
value proposition of the
organization. So, not only does
this strengthen the brand story
and attract good employees –
employer branding is an
indispensable strategy that
differentiates you from your
competitor.
Strategic HR entails attracting,
developing and retaining
performing talent to the
Organization. Previously,
O r g a n i z a t i o n s w o u l d
communicate using traditional
channels of communication.
With the advent of social media,
it is now required to adapt to the
changing talent behavior, where
the tendency is to rely on and
trust peer recommendations.
Thus, it becomes critical to create
a strong value proposition and
communicate it to prospective as
well as existing employees
acrossmyriadtouchpoints.
The beauty of Social Media is the
power of transparency. Social
media is about establishing
partnerships and relationships.
Integrating it into Organization's
employer branding and hiring
s t r a t e g y p r o v i d e s t h e
Organization an opportunity to
present itself in a transparent and
credible way by connecting and
engagingwithstakeholders.
Here is an interesting fact to think
about: with 4 out of 5 internet
users visit social media sites.
Hence, this is a new area that has
come to play an important and
pervasive role in reaching unseen
and virtual audiences today. The
fast moving demography of
internet users adds a new
dimension as to how social media
can be used to brand the value
proposition of the organization.
And in today's social media
space, the ultimate goal must be
to move beyond communication
(with the target audiences) to
conversations and engaging with
them. Creating interesting,
original, genuine and honest
content is key for social media
success today. And encouraging
line-managers to be involved in
Employer Branding on Social Media
- Mansoor Hussain, General Manager – Talent Acquisition,
Philips Electronics India Limited
Employer Branding has been a buzzword in HR circuits for quite some time now. While organizations are leaving
no stone unturned to brand themselves in a competitive environment, social media has been to make waves of late
for all the right reasons.With its vast reach spanning across geographies and demographics, social media is a force
to reckon with when it comes to Employer Branding. For, an organization that encashes on the power of social
media reaps benefits manifold in terms of larger recruitment pool, a robust reputation amongst prospective
employees, and an overall credible market standing. In the following article, the author lays emphasis and
elaboratesonhowsocialmediaisaexcellentplatformforEmployerBranding.
7Jigyasa 2013

sharing this content – both with
internal and external audiences,
can be a good way of increasing
the engagement levels and
building a strong employer
brand.
Every employee is a brand
ambassador. And the best way to
build or strengthen the brand is
via employees – who can
contribute to building the brand
inside out. To that effect,
employees should be encouraged
to be active on social media sites
and share their perspectives on a
wide range of subjects. This will
provide the world-at large a
glimpse into the knowledge of an
informed employee and thereby
propagatingtheemployerbrand.
It's important to recognize that
what makes up your employer
brand is reflective of more than
the current employee population.
Former employees too shape
what people know and think
about your Organization. In this
direction, a vibrant and engaged
alumni network, who contributes
actively to social media
conversations about the
Organization, can further
enhance the employer brand.
This platform can encourage
active networking and peer-to-
peer discussion around topics
relevant to personal or
professional development. In
fact, this can also act as a Talent
Magnet to re-attract employees
andbeachannelofrecruitment.
Mansoor Hussain is a Human Resources professional with over 15 plus years of experience, specializing in
recruitment & resourcing. Before joining Philips Electronics India as General Manager- HR(Talent Acquisition)
heworkedinHCLandiGATEGlobalSolutions.
Corporate Article

Corporate Article
he rapidly transforming
business landscape
Tmeans that there are
many confrontments in human
resource management which will
continue to evolve for the years to
come. Due to the fluctuating
economy of the country, there are
a lot of local and global
advancements and changes
which are occurring rapidly, that
is expected to affect human
resource management in a wide
rangeofissues.
The role of a Human Resource
Manager is evolving with the
change in competitive market
environment and with the
realization that Human Resource
Management plays a strategic
role in the success of any
organization. In the changing
business environment, it has now
become the responsibility of a
HR Manager to play the role of a
strategic partner and change
mentor within the organization.
In order to succeed, Human
Resource Management is
expected to be a business driven
function with a thorough
u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e
organization's big picture and
being able to influence key
decisionsandpolicies.
Some of the crucial challenges
which could be visualized in the
area of managing people are
Talent Retention, Leadership
Development, Succession
Planning, Change Management,
Organizational Transformation
and Learning and Development.
Keeping these challenges into
consideration, it becomes very
important for the drivers of
Human Resource Management
in any organization to promote
and facilitate values, ethics,
beliefs, and spirituality within
their business group, especially
in the management of workplace
diversity.
It's always important to see how a
Human Resource manager can
meet the challenges of workplace
diversity and motivate employees
through sharing and executing
information system by properly
planning, organizing, leading and
controlling their men. The future
success of any business entity
would depend on the ability of its
Human Resource Team to recruit,
manage and retain a diverse pool
of talent that could bring about
different perspectives, views and
innovative ideas to their
workplace. With a mixture of
talents of diverse cultural
backgrounds, gender, lifestyle
and age, any organization can
respond to business opportunities
more rapidly and creatively,
especially in the global arena. On
the contrary, if the work
environment in any organization
does not support workplace
diversity broadly, one may risk
Human Resources: Because, It's the People
Who Make the Difference
- Varinder Singh, Lead Associate – HR, Tata Power Company Ltd.
An enunciatively written article that discusses the evolution of the role of a Human Resource Manager in a
challenging environment.The article underscores the importance of the management of workforce diversity in the
organization since it is this diverse pool of talent that helps an organisation in understanding the forte of the market
that it targets. The author affirms through comparison as to how the vision and style of a leader has the potential to
bringaboutchangeandcorecompetencyinanorganization.
losing talents to their competitors.
As per a study conducted by
Deloitte on The Emerging role of
the HR COO, the emphasis is laid
upon as to how to empower the
HR Leadership teams so as to
deliver more business value. The
roles which the HR Professional
needstoplayintoday'sworldare:
The above study also showed the
result that almost one quarter
(24%) of the total hours worked by
HR Professionals should be
devoted to being a strategic
business partner in the
organization. Dr. Ulrich defines
strategic business partner as a
partner comprising of senior and
line managers from the HR
Department of the organization
who should be responsible for the
execution of the strategies framed,
thereby helping to move the plans
from conference room to the
marketplace.
In the same survey which was
9Jigyasa 2013

carried out across Asia Pacific
countries, the issues expected to
pose a challenge in the upcoming
5 years would be staffing i.e.
including international mobility
of employees, as it was noted in
otherregionsaswell.
The concept of workforce
diversity also holds true for most
of the multinational companies,
which have their operations not
only in different countries, but
alsoin differentcontinents.These
MNC's are the companies which
employ people from different
countries with different cultural
and ethicalvalues.Hence, in such
scenario the HR manager is
expected to be more watchful and
employ the approach of 'Think
Global, Act Local' in most of the
circumstances.
Also, one of the crucial challenge
which stands in front of the HR
Professionals is that with the
inclusion of foreign talents in the
team, the local professionals must
be assured that the incoming
foreign professionals are not a
threattotheircareeradvancements.
Role of a Human Resource
Manager:
In order to effectively bring in the
essence of Workplace diversity
and make it a continuous practise
or a habit, the HR Managers need
to play the role of front liners and
drive this phenomenon across
organizations thereby touching
each and every element in the
organization.
1.CharacterofLeadership
There are few people who live in
dream, while there are others
who live in reality, but the beauty
of human progress goes in the
hands of those leaders who think
of a dream and strive to make it
real.
The workplace culture in any
organization is reflected by its
leadership. If you would see the
sightsin feworganizationswithin
the country, the first name which
will strike your mind is Mr.
Ramalingam Raju. A former
Indian IT Industrialist who
founded Satyam Computers in
1987andwastheChairmanof the
th
company until January 7 , 2009,
had to resign because of the
loopholes in his leadership.
Unfortunately, it was disclosed
thatthisleaderhadsystematically
falsified the accounts of the giant
outsourcingcompany.
On the other extreme, there have
been leaders who have taken their
organization to a new height. A
Bharat Ratna who made a
conglomerate grow, which takes
the credit of providing the
services and products to the world
ranging from salt to software.
Under his chairmanship, 'M' was
replaced by 'B' (The Tata Group
grew from 100 Million dollar
company to 5 Billion dollar
company). He started with 14
enterprises under his leadership
and half a century later on July 26,
1988, when he left, Tata & Sons
was a conglomerate of 95
enterprises which they either
started or in which they had
controllinginterest.
In both of the examples listed
above if you would have noticed,
it was the vision of the leader
which made the difference.
Whether it was Mr. Raju or Mr.
Tata, it was their character which
spoke about them. The above two
anecdotes clearly demonstrates
that a leader has the power and
the capability to bring about the
change which the organization
wishes to experience or see. It's
also the leadership style which
can help the organization to
develop on the emerging core
competencies and at the same
time overcome key strategic
challenges.
2. Creating a flexible
Workplace
A diverse workplace is a still a
long distant goal for many
organizations and to achieve this
goal, the organizations need to take
a big step by creating a fair share of
flexibility at the workplace.
Flexibility at workplace would
allow the diverse workgroups to
co-exist. Several experts from the
industry claim that the dedication
and commitment from the
employee and the level of his
engagement at the workplace
increases significantly if they
observe and perceive that their
organization genuinely cares for
them and is transparent. Flexibility
at workplace is one such tool
which communicates care and
transparency.
Until 2011, India's best score in
terms of employee satisfaction in
the area of transparency stood at
77%, while this year the same
number broke all records and
climbed to 82%. Though the
number in case of satisfaction has
climbed to 82% but still there is a
gap of 18% which needs to be
explored.
Hence for creating an atmosphere
which actually supports and
recognizes the efforts of a team
which comprises of people with
disability, LGBTs, women talent
and people from different
generation, it becomes equally
important for the HR professionals
to ensure that in their office or
workplace there is an environment
which allows these diverse
mindsets of people to come
together, work together and live
together effectively towards the
outcomeofthebusiness.
Corporate Article

3. Strategically handling the
talents
The companies have now started to
realize the importance of diverse
workforce. As companies start
expanding their operations
globally either physically or
virtually, it becomes a strategic
need for them to hire, recruit and
employ people with diverse
talents, as it helps the organizations
to understand various forte of
marketinwhichtheytarget.
It was 1980's, when the country
with the largest population in the
world - China had decided to
expand it trade beyond its
boundaries and it started looking
out to global market. The idea
was to export their products
globally. To achieve this, the best
of the Chinese companies hired a
number of Singaporeans, as 75%
of Singaporeans are of Chinese
descent. This was done because
the Chinese realized that the
marketing professionals which
Singapore nourished had the
basic understanding of the
Chinese market.Also, because of
Singapore's open economic
policies, these professionals from
Singapore also had an attitude
towards the western market and
the ability to speak English
Language.
With the evolution of this trend in
the market, an HR manager
should try to strategically handle
the diverse talent. He / She must
show agreement to the fact that a
diverse workforce can urge the
organization to scale new
heights, by cracking new
potential market and attaining
organizational goals, in order to
tie together the full potential of
diversityattheworkplace.
Any corporate organization
which considers workplace
diversity as an organizational
asset and not as a liability helps it
to positively take in its march
some of the last positive facets of
workforcediversity.
4.Betheleaderintalks
As an HR manager, the
professional needs to ensure that
he endorses, encourages and
promotes, a diverse workforce by
making diversity evident at each
and every hierarchy of the
organization. If this is missing,
theemployeesof theorganization
would tend to develop a notion
that there is no future or career
path of the employee in the
organization. This may lead to
high attrition. Hence it becomes
equally important for the HR line
managers to respect the issues
related to diversity and promote
transparent, apparent, clear and
positive responses to these
concerns.
There should be a promise to all
the different categories of people
working in a workplace by the HR
professionals that the concerns or
issues raised by the employees in
the field of workforce diversity
would be resolved in ethical,
responsible and just manner. An
encouragement of this sort would
imbibe the feeling inside the
employee that he is free to raise
the issue and at the same time, it
also sends a signal to the employee
that all these concerns would be
addressed. This way the employee
would now concentrate and
dedicate himself more for his
assignedrolesandresponsibilities.
Therefore, the opportunities to
grow in this area of HR function
and leadership are huge as there
are a number of sectors
untouched, which needs to be
explored. The people from these
sectors could be brought into the
mainstream to bring about the
culture of workforce diversity
where these people would
actively participate, contribute
anddeliver.
Hence, the study shows that the
role of organizational leader
becomes very important to drive
workforce diversity in the
organization and this must run
parallel to the changing dynamics
in the corporate world. Most of the
successful organizations are the
ones which are more adaptable,
resilient, flexible, change makers
and customer focussed. And for
the organizations to be successful,
the entire HR fraternity of the
organization should become
skilled in managing, supervising
and controlling the human
resources proper planning and
strategic decision making. Also it
becomes more significant for the
leaders to have knowledge and
regular updates of the emerging
trends to train and develop the
employees.
Varinder Singh is currently serving as Lead Associate – HR in The Tata Power Company Ltd. He has completed
his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering and after completing his graduation, he became a fresh engineer who
opted for Human Resource, out of his interest. Mr. Varinder has been a winner of several National Level Awards
including twice All India Rank # 1 in National Level Oratory Competitions. Mr. Varinder is also a professional
anchor who has hosted more than 140 professional shows for many national and international companies. He has
also worked as a Soft Skills trainer for 5 years where he was training all the IIM / XLRI and Top B-School call
getterfortheirGroupDiscussionandPersonalInterviewRounds.
Corporate Article
11Jigyasa 2013

i c h a e l P o r t e r
pioneered value chain
Mc o n c e p t o f t h e
organization in his book
'CompetitiveAdvantage', he said,
"the value chain disaggregates
the firm into its strategically
relevant activities in order to
understand the costs and existing
p o t e n t i a l s o u r c e s o f
differentiation". Value chain
essentially contains a supply
chain and a demand chain. The
supply side is about procurement,
production and distribution while
the demand side is about
marketing,salesandservice.
Just as this concept is applicable
to the organizations, it is equally
applicable to HR function. HR
valuechaincanbeviewedas:-
Traditionally HR has been more
comfortable functioning as a
manager of supply chain of
talent, where HR is expected to
supply the talent pool to meet the
business needs. Nothing is wrong
with it. However, this puts an
onus on HR of 'selling' business
goal or organization to current or
prospective employees. As a
natural consequence, employees
become 'internal customer' of HR
and HR obviously has to protect
this constituency just as sales
department would want to
protectcustomer.
HR moves from employee
perspective to business
perspective through the cusp of a
s y s t e m o f P e r f o r m a n c e
Management. At one end of the
HR system are the competencies
of the employees as acquired or
developed by HR and the other
end is the demand owing to
production, sales and marketing
activities that in turn creating the
demand on talent and there
competencies.
From business perspective, if
there would be just one KPI for
HR Manager, it would be
delivering a decent ROI on
people investment. As someone
responsible for ROI on people
investment, HR must be able to
manage the complete HR value
chain and not just the supply side
of it. HR becomes real business
partner when it operates from
demand chain side of the HR
valuechain.
How to Make HR Tick: A Real HR Value-Add
Ingredient
- Shamik Vora, Vice President–HR, The Bombay Store
Corporate Article
Finding the right man for the right job (and vice-versa) is the need of the hour and the root cause of unemployment
(and to some extent, migration). Filling up critical industrial voids keeping supply chain considerations in mind
hasnotbeenworkingwellinmostcases.Providedhereisaninsightintoasuggestedalternative.

The real HR value addition
comes when both side of the
value chains are strong. As
shown in the diagram above,
Performance Management
System is the interconnecting
block of this supply and demand
chain and hence usually turns out
to be a maker or breaker of the
valuethatHRcanadd.
Due to regular practice, HR
generally has strength on supply
chain side. HR is very comfortable
in using the supply side practices
like sourcing, training and
development, promotions and
transfers. However, same is not
true for its use of demand side
practices like competency
mapping, development of talent
attraction plan, development of
leadership pipeline, coaching,
mentoring, career planning etc.
Basically all the activities which
are more dynamic in nature and
can give much better ROI on
peopleinvestmenttothebusiness.
HR needs to recognize that it can
strengthen the demand side of
chain through a strong PMS.
PMS is the communication
system, communication of why
talent is needed, what is talent
expected to achieve, what
resources are at the disposal and
which bottlenecks to be removed
for the talent to perform and so
on. This will create a robust
dialogue that pertains to
business. This will create a true
e m p l o y e e e n g a g e m e n t ;
engagement of employee with
thebusiness.
Supply side is people centric.
Effect is that HR needs to present
the task in a manner that people
approve, like and appreciate on
supply side of value chain.
Supply side activities create a
push of talent to fill the business
need.
Demand side is task centric.
Task demands competencies and
HR need to keep task in mind
while designing people related
activities. A demand side
activity of HR creates pull on
talenttofitthebusinessneed.
For obvious reasons, fitting the
talent to business need gives
better ROI on people investment
than filling the business with
'talent'.
Most organizations have
developed HR systems which are
excellent on supply side. Well
laid recruitment management
systems, employer branding
activities and well laid training
calendars, lots of employee
engagement and development
activitiesandsoon.
This system works well when
business is growing but cause lots
of collateral damage to
organization and people when
businesscycleturnsthetide.
If the HR systems are designed
with demand side perspective, it
willfunctionwith
Competencies mapped, so
that evaluation of talent is
during recruitment and
subsequently it is more
alignedtothebusinessneed.
Job Descriptions are replaced
by KRAs and KPIs, so that
focus of talent can be moved
from 'what to do?' to 'what is
expected to be done?' This
mode can also improve
e m p o w e r m e n t o f t h e
employees.
Business and operations goals
well resolved and strategy
maps created using Balanced
Score card like approach, so
that strategy is clear even to
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Corporate Article
13Jigyasa 2013

Presently Vice President HR & IT at The Bombay Store and chief coordinator for practice consolidation initiative
HR4India; Shamik Vora, AMIE, DHRM; is a veteran HR Professional with Operations, Business and core HR
experience spanning over 30 years and multiple industries like Engineering Maintenance, Engineering Field
Service, Information Technology, E-commerce, Luxury Retail and Distribution, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
andDistribution.
Creating HR system which is aligned with the business objective is his core competence. Systems created by him
have components of Development of Leadership Pipeline, Team Processes, Data Driven Organization and a
robust Performance Management System; which are responsible for fostering Cultural of Accountability and
deeply Engaged Employees. Shamik Vora unabashedly uses software tools to keep the system transparent,
objectiveandpeopleindependent.
The question he is trying to answer is "How to make business more effective in meeting customer's changing needs
with the help of employees?". Answer for him lies in the thread that stretches from Balanced Score Card of Norton
and Kaplan for Strategy to Execution as defined by Ram Charan and Larry Bossidy, Accountability as defined by
RogerConnorsandTomSmithandpersonaleffectivenessasdefinedbyStephanCovey.
Corporate Article
and a true people support
champion.
Most importantly; managers
operate in coaching and
execution mode rather than
peoplemanagementmode.
Such a system will be more in
Ÿ
sync with market reality, with
NPHA (Non Performing Human
Asset)beingkeptincheck.
To sum up, HR will add better
value to business, if it creates HR
systems which are designed from
demand chain perspective than
supplychainperspective.
t h e b o t t o m o f t h e
organizationalpyramid.
Coaching, mentoring and
learning facilitation are in
place, so not that just business
demands are placed on
employees but HR actually
becomesperformanceenabler
Ÿ

altering their self-concepts, basic
attitudes, and self-directed
behavior". And, that human
beings have "the tendency to
grow, to develop, to realize its
full potential...the constructive
directional flow...toward a more
c o m p l e x a n d c o m p l e t e
development". This belief and
trust, in turn, informed the aim of
Rogers' approach: to release this
directional flow. This principle
became the basis of humanistic
psychology.
Carl Rogers's book, "On
Becoming A Person" released in
1961. At that time the Freudian
school of thought was in vogue
which laid emphasis on
analyzing the patient's “illness”
and the silent psychoanalyst (the
expert) prescribing what is best
suitable for “curing” the client.
Needless to say, the book
revolutionized the psychological
literature. While his intent on
publishing this book was simply
to make his material more widely
available to other practitioners,
he found that everyone from
housewives to lawyers sought
outthebook.
Rogers's personality shines
through his writing like few other
academics I've read. His prose is
humble, compelling, and
incredibly accessible. You can
see curiosity, care, and humility
in how he lays out ideas and gives
examples. In addition, he puts
into words so many principles
that have fundamentally shaped
psychology and allied fields.
Concepts such as "empathy",
"reflection", "unconditional
positive regard," and "self-
actualization" seem so simple
that there's a tendency to
overlook how profound they
really are. In the hands of a
master clinician (one who has
taken these attitudes deep
within), these ideas become an
art that is effective in exploring
andhealingthepsyche.
On Becoming A Person is not a
single piece of writing but a
collection of papers Rogers
wrote over a decade. The book is
the accumulation of wisdom of a
career in psychotherapy
spanning over many decades.
The book consists of twenty one
chapters and its divided in six
parts. A caveat: In this space I
cannot do justice to the whole
On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
- Chandan Shamnani, HR and OD Consultant at Amdocs
Book Review
"...In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I
would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own
personalgrowth?" -CarlRogers
arl Rogers, the creator of
client-centered therapy
Cand counseling, and
person-centered approaches to
human relations and community
building, was arguably the most
influential psychologist of the
20th century. He took the then
radical view that "the client
knows what hurts, what
directions to go, what problems
are crucial, what experiences
have been buried". He believed
that the experience of being
understood and valued gives us
thefreedomtogrow.
Rogers constantly reflected on
his professional and personal life
experiences, on the client-
therapist relationship, and on the
process of therapy; continually
testing and refining his
hypothesisorprinciple:
All individuals have within
themselves the ability to guide
their own lives in a manner that is
both personally satisfying and
socially constructive. In a
particular type of helping
relationship, we free the
individuals to find their inner
wisdom and confidence, and they
will make increasingly healthier
andmoreconstructivechoices.
He held steadfast to his
appreciative belief and trust that
human beings have within
themselves a "constructive
tendency" and "vast resources for
self-understanding and for
15Jigyasa 2013

book but am focusing on chapters
which interested me. So, this
text contains only my selection
and interpretation of bits and
piecesofRoger'sgifts.
Characteristics of a helping
relationship
“People are just as wonderful as
sunsets if you let them be. When I
look at a sunset, I don't find
myself saying, "Soften the orange
a bit on the right hand corner." I
don't try to control a sunset. I
watch with awe as it unfolds.” –
CarlRogers
Rogers felt that he could not be of
help to troubled people by means
of any intellectual or training
procedure. No approach which
relies upon knowledge, upon
training, upon the acceptance of
something that is taught, was of
any use. It is possible to explain a
person to himself, to prescribe
steps which should lead him
forward, to train him in
knowledge about a more
satisfying life. But such
methods, Rogers felt, are futile
and inconsequential, based on his
experience. The most they can
accomplish, he said, was some
temporary change, which soon
disappears, leaving the
individual more than ever
convincedofhisinadequacy.
The failure of any such approach
through the intellect had forced
him to recognize that change
appears to come about through
experience in a relationship.
Rogers outlined what he felt were
three essential conditions for a
therapeuticrelationship:
1)Authenticity
Rogers found that the more
g e n u i n e h e w a s i n t h e
relationship, the more helpful it
would be. This means that the
therapist needs to be aware of his
own feelings, in so far as
possible, rather than presenting
an outward facade of one
attitude, while actually holding
another attitude at a deeper or
unconscious level. Being
genuine also involves the
willingness to be and to express,
in one's words and one's
behavior, the various feelings and
attitudes which exist in one's self.
Rogers found this to be true even
when the attitudes he felt were
not attitudes with which he was
pleased, or attitudes which
seemed conducive to a good
relationship. It seemed
extremelyimportanttobereal.
2)Acceptance
Rather than trying to 'fix' the
client, Rogers felt that it was
much more important to listen to
what a person was saying
completely, even if it seemed
wrong, weak, strange, stupid, or
bad. This stance allowed that
person to be accepting of all his
thoughts. By acceptance, Rogers
meant a warm regard for him as a
person of unconditional self-
worth -- of value, no matter what
his condition, his behavior, or his
feelings. It means a respect and
liking for him as a separate
person and willingness for him to
possess his own feelings in his
own way. It means an acceptance
of and regard for his attitudes of
the moment, no matter how
negative or positive, no matter
how much they may contradict
other attitudes he had held in the
past. This acceptance of each
fluctuating aspect of this other
person makes it for him a
relationship of warmth and
safety, and the safety of being
liked and prized as a person
seems a highly important
elementinahelpingrelationship.
3)Understanding
Rogers also found that the
relationshipwas significantto the
extent that he feel a continuing
desire to understand - a sensitive
empathy with each of the client's
feelings and communications as
they appear to him at that
moment. Acceptance, Rogers
felt, does not mean much until it
involves understanding. It is
only as one understands the
feelings and thoughts which
seem so horrible to the client, or
so weak, or so sentimental, or so
bizarre -- it is only as one sees
them as the client sees them, and
accepts them and the client, that
the client feels really free to
explore all the hidden nooks and
frightening crannies of his inner
and often buried experience.
This freedom is an important
condition of the relationship.
There is implied here a freedom
to explore oneself at both
conscious and unconscious
levels, as rapidly as one can dare
to embark on this dangerous
quest. There is also a complete
freedom from any type of moral
or diagnostic evaluation, since all
such evaluations are, Rogers
believed,alwaysthreatening.
Rogerswrites:
"Thus the relationship which I
h a v e f o u n d h e l p f u l i s
characterized by a sort of
transparency on my part, in
which my real feelings are
evident; by an acceptance of this
other person as a separate person
with value in his own right; and
b y a d e e p e m p a t h i c
understanding which enables me
Book Review

to see his private world through
his eyes. When these conditions
are achieved, I become a
companion to my client,
accompanying him in the
frightening search for himself,
which he now feels free to
undertake."
TheProcessofBecoming
“The curious paradox is that
when I accept myself just as I am,
thenIcanchange”–CarlRogers
What characterizes this process
of becoming a person? What are
the basic landmarks on this path?
As per Rogers, once he creates a
relationship with the client that is
safe and free, the client begins to
drop the false fronts or the masks
or the roles with which he has
faced life. He (the client) appears
to be trying to discover
s o m e t h i n g m o r e b a s i c ,
something more truly himself.
The second aspect is the
experiencing of feeling (difficult
to put concretely into words).
Rogers explains that a safe
relationship helps the client to
experience his emotions in the
here and now, so that for the
moment the person is his fear, or
he is his anger, or he is tenderness
or whatever. When a person
(during therapy) has experienced
all the emotions which naturally
arise in him and experiences
them in an open manner, then he
has experienced himself in all the
richness that exists within
himself. He has become what he
is. The third aspect is the
discovery of self in experience.
The individual is becoming
himself as his experiences lead
him to an understanding of who
he truly is. The real-self is
revealing itself through
individual meanings that are
derived from life experiences.
Rogers takes excerpts from
interviews with his clients to
explain his point and adds further
- “…deeply and vividly he
experiences the various elements
of himself, not a façade of
conformity to others, not a
cynical denial of all feeling, nor a
front of intellectual rationality,
but a living, breathing, feeling,
fluctuating process – in short he
becomesaperson”.
The Fully Functioning
Individual
“Am I living in a way which is
deeply satisfying to me, and
which truly expresses me?”- Carl
Rogers
Openness to Experience - This
involves living in the moment
(without being defensive), and
allowing one's self to feel the
continuity of existence. The
client becomes “a participant and
observer” rather than the
'controller' of an ongoing process
of becoming. This way of living
is unstructured and does not
include preconceived ideas about
the way things ought to be. No
judgments or evaluations are
necessary because the person is
living each experience as it
comeshisway.
Trusting in one's organism -
relates to trusting a wide variety
of feelings and tendencies that
exist at the 'organic level'. The
person becomes his organism
“without self-deception and
without distortion”. Instead of
trying to understand what others
expect of him – or second-
guessing himself based on the
opinions of others – he begins
acting on the basis of his own
satisfaction. He comes to be fully
aware of who he is, while having
the experience. This awareness
helps him to become a whole,
functioningorganism.
Internal locus of evaluation - He
understands that he is the
decision-maker and does not
need the approval of others. He is
comfortable looking internally to
evaluate a situation, and is no
longer relying on the external
world for making decisions.
Especially for the creative
person, the manner in which he is
living and expressing himself is
very important. He moves away
from people, places and things
that are not in alignment with his
true-self.
Willingness to be a process – Such
individuals strive to discover and
become themselves. The
individual seems to become more
content to be a process rather than
a product, to accept a more
satisfying realization that he is not
a fixed entity, but a process of
becoming. Rogers mentions that
the client puts aside fixed goals
since there is no fixed
psychological state that can be
achieved between the therapist and
the client. The client realizes that
there is no state of permanent
balance (which might also be
frightening or an upsetting
situation), however he is now
better equipped with psychological
tools that are necessary to help him
maximizehishappiness.
Rogers adds further - in his usual
authentic and modest style - “… I
am not saying, “This is what you
should become; here is the goal
for you”. Rather, I am saying that
these are some of the meanings I
see in the experiences that my
clients and I have shared.
Perhaps this picture may
illuminate or give more meaning
tosomeofyourownexperience”.
Book Review
17Jigyasa 2013

Throughout the book Rogers
cites objective research and
recorded interviews with clients
to substantiate his hypothesis.
He wears the hat of a therapist, a
philosopher, a researcher, a
scientist and a person with equal
ease. His emphasis on people
needing to see themselves more
as a fluid process of creation
rather than a fixed entity was part
of the climate of ideas that led to
the 1960s counter cultural
revolution, and it is easy to see his
influence on today's self-help
writers.
The beauty of the book lies in
Rogers's simplicity. In my
experience, it was as if Rogers is
sitting next to me and talking to
me. I saw that Rogers is
practicing what he is saying; the
tentativeness with which he put
forth his point of view and the
feeling it evokes in me – words
are poor substitutes for that. The
climate of unconditional positive
regard and acceptance that
Rogers emphasized, if replicated
in the family and the work place
would result in more harmony
and other desirable outcomes.
The questions it raises for me –
How keen is my desire to
understand and accept others?
This process though difficult,
holds the possibility of
transformingthoseinvolvedinit.
WorksCited:
1) On Becoming a Person –
CarlRogers
2) AReview of – On Becoming
aPerson–RobertWaxman
3) Characteristics of a Helping
Relationship adapted from
t h e R o g e r s p a g e o n
mythosandlogos.com
Chandan Shamnani is an alumnus of '06 batch of MHROD. He is HR and OD professional with 7 years of
experience as a HR Business partner, OD Consultant and as a Facilitator. He is an MBTI and FIRO B certified
practitionerand akeenstudentofhumanprocesses.CurrentlyassociatedwithAmdocsIndia.
Book Review

n these ever fluctuating
economic times, there
is one truth whichIholds true for everyone at
personal as well as
professional level which is
Change. Change the way
we think, the way we do our day to
day activities and despite various
theories which we have studied
from time to time one thing will
alwayschangeisthechangeitself.
There are many words which are
synonyms of the word change
often used in corporate world such
as re-engineering, innovation,
thinking out of the box, doing
thingsdifferentlyetc.
Typically change management
starts with senior leadership &
board of directors sitting in their
lavish boardroom making a
decision that they wish to make
c h a n g e s i n t h e w a y t h e
organization is being run through
various mapping exercises. As
typical change is introduced by
senior management drilling down
the hierarchical cycle and
employees which are impacted the
most are often clueless of why
there is a change or given a limited
understanding with a mandate to
followthedecision.
Now the question - is this the best
way to handle and manage the
change? Or there are better ways to
bring change with maximum
acceptability from employees who
will help to bring the expected
outcome with minimum or least
possible resistance. Instead of
following a directive approach, if
employees are involved right from
the stage where thought of
bringing the change arises till the
end result of change management,
they will own the change and will
work like small entrepreneurs thus
resulting into a manifold impact of
the change in positive direction. It
is extremely important to own the
change and this can only be
achieved if the paradigm is driven
by empowering and rewarding
employees with some amount of
tolerance to ensure that small
failures are meant to learnings and
are not impacting change
managers negatively. Ensuring
persistence and perseverance
driven approach by management
will lead to achievement of the
final goal and making it a base for
anyfuturechange.
At the onset of change , strong
expressions like 'mindset change',
and 'changing people's mindsets' or
'changing attitudes' should be
avoided, as these often indicates a
tendency towards imposed or
enforced change and this is a very
strong statement and means that the
organization believes that its people
currently have the 'incorrect' mindset,
which is essentially is not the case. If
people are not approaching their
tasks or the organization efficiently
and effectively, then the organization
has the wrong mindset, not the
employees. Changes like new
structures, policies, targets, re-
locations, etc., all create new systems
and environments, which need to be
explained to employees as early as
possible, so that people's
involvement in validating and
refining the changes themselves can
be obtained. Participation,
involvement and open, early, full
communication are the important
factors. To facilitate this regular
workshops and brainstorming
sessions will prove to be effective
workout sessions to develop
collective & collaborative approach,
understanding, methods, ideas etc.
Regular anonymous surveys will be
a helpful tool to understand the
impact and effectiveness of change
anditsimpacttochangeagents.
To summarize in order to bring
change effectively in an organization,
employees involvement and when
are they involved are the two most
important aspects. A collective
collaborative approach will ensure a
seamless environment to bring the
rightchangeattherighttime.
Effective Change Management
- Rashmi Sharma, Senior Manager-Talent Acquisition, Quatrro Global Services
The author provides us insights into the various important methods that facilitate change management and tells
us that change management can be learned through various non-professional experiences as well. The author is of
the view that instead of imposing change on the employees, the top management should involve the them in the
[change management] process right from the beginning so that they can embrace the change effortlessly, thereby
benefitingtheorganization.
Rashmi Sharma is currently associated with Quatrro Global Services as a Sr. Manager in Talent Acquisition
vertical within Human Resources team. PGD in HR from Symbiosis, Ms Rashmi has around 12 years of
experienceinBPOindustryinoperations,Quality,Communication,ComplianceandTalentAcquisitionareas.
Corporate Article
19Jigyasa 2013

Corporate Article
R Team regularly
brainstorms internally
about the strengths andHweaknesses of HR practices of an
organization. During such a
brainstorming session, I came
across the term Sustainable
Engagement. I could relate to it
because I was continuously
encountering it in some social
mediaplatforms.
During the brainstorming
session, we took out several
individual cases and tried to cross
check whether we fundamentally
went wrong or we could not do
much because of process issues.
Before that, I would like to take
you through what is Sustainable
Engagement.
Sustainable Engagement was
introduced by Tower and Watson
Consulting, USA and this model
revolves around three core
pillars:-
A)BeingEngaged
B)BeingEnabled
C)BeingandFeelingEnergized
A) Being Engaged: How much
a n e m p l o y e e u s e s h i s
discretionary effort to achieve his
goal.
Example/Case:
Sunil has booked the tickets for
Friday evening to go for trekking
along with some colleagues. Sunil
has planned to leave office early,
at around 4:30 pm. He has taken
all the necessary approvals. A
substitute has also been arranged
for. Sunil's train is at 7:30 pm.
Suddenly at around 4:30 pm an
important client asks him to work
on a query. Sunil has an approved
leave, backup is also ready, but he
chooses to work on the query
himself. He improvises and asks
his brother to come to the railway
station with the entire luggage
while he completes the query and
sends it back to the client. He
could have easily chosen to work
on the query on Monday which
was acceptable to the client, but
he chose to complete the work –
Here Sunil used his discretionary
effortstoworkforhisgoal.
B) Being Enabled: A work
environment where sufficient
resources are available to
complete the work without any
obstacle.
Example/Case
Rita works for a Small Indian
KPO as a telecom research
executive. Her major work is to
coordinate with clients across the
globe; therefore her working
hours are set according to
different time zones. Her major
work is to interact with clients
through e-mail and telephone.
She also needs to attend a number
ofconferencecalldiscussions.To
her surprise her workstation was
equipped with only a desktop and
an analog telephone line. She has
several times complained to the
admin team about the calls
dropping when she is making
ISDcalls.
Another grave issue is that she
has to work in shifts. At 6:00 pm
IST it is peak working hours in
UK. If she chooses to take the
calls from the office, she has to sit
there late till 11:00 pm which
raises a concern of personal
security. Here in spite of her
engagement and interest she was
not provided with the adequate
resourcestocompletethework.
The HR should have studied the
role of Rita and should have
provided her with simple
solutions,like
a) A laptop and subscription to
Skypecallingfacility
b) A smart phone with Skype
installed.
Sustainable Engagement Codified
- Vinay Ravindran, Head HR-Hyderabad DC, SG Analytics
For an efficient and effective workforce, the HR machinery has to play a very crucial role. One of the analyses that
can be done is to measure the degree of Sustainable Engagement, backed by some real-time examples.Asociable
andwell-equippedenvironmentdrivestheemployeetoengagemore.

c) Occasional approval of cab
facility with a security guard
accompanying if in case Rita
needstostaytilllateintheoffice.
d) Instead of the analog telephone
line digital line should have been
provided.
In this example, Rita was
engaged, but she could not get
sufficient resources to complete
her work effectively because her
work environment was not
enabled.
C ) B e i n g a n d F e e l i n g
energized: A work environment
where employee feels energized
by attaining a feeling and sense of
accomplishment and which is
verysupportivesocially.
Example/Case:
Kedar Mohite had joined two
years back. He is ambitious;
everyone in the company agrees
that he has a good market value.
The HR think tank had predicted
that he won't be staying in the
company beyond 6 months but to
everyone's surprise he has
completed two years and seems
to be enjoying his work. He gets
along with his boss very well and
is really enjoying his work. In a
one to one session with him the
HR realized the reasons of his
motivation. It is the hike that he
gets in completing the work
assigned to him. Also he has a
group who share common
hobbies. When we had a look at
Kedar's role we could sense that
individually, physically,
interpersonally and emotionally
he is doing quite well at the work
place.
FinalThought:
The most important aspect of
Sustainable Engagement is the
enablement.Secondly, the idea of
sustainable engagement can only
be achieved through line
managers who need to focus on
the well-being of an employee in
terms of his career and his
financial, physical and social
well-being. We HR need to focus
on bringing the balance between
work and personal life of an
employee.
Refrences:
Ÿ http://www.cipd.co.uk/binari
es/6067%20Sustainable%20
engagement%20RI%20(WE
B).pdf
Ÿ www.towerswatson.com/
Vinay Ravindran did his MBA in Human Resource from Osmania University with 10 years of experience in
variousHRfunctions. HeisalsocertifiedHumanResourceManagementProfessionalfrom
HRCI –USA .Currently works for SG Analytics – A KPO Company and spearheading the HR function of
Hyderabad delivery center. He is also an ardent blogger and blogs at www.vinayravindran.com. He can be
reachedatvinay@vinayravindran.com.
Corporate Article
21Jigyasa 2013

Corporate Article
20:20 will change your life
- Mr Rushi Patil, Senior Director – HR, GroupM India Media Pvt. Ltd.
Modern lifestyle has come to govern us in ways more than one. Technology, gadgets, social media, internet- these
and even more have taken us miles ahead from where we were decades back. But have we really come that far?
The author speaks specifically in context of reading, what it meant in the days of yore, and where it stands today.
How we, as a generation, end up spending more time on what lies on the surface and unwittingly, miss out on what
lies beneath. The virtue of reading is such that it helps facilitate keen observation in real life too. The author
suggests 20:20 Rule for one and all to go back to the good old days where reading was a habit and learning was a
wayoflife.Read ontoknowmore.
t took me couple of weeks to
even start on thinking what
should be the paper on, ideaIwas to share something
which is not available on
Google search, and then the
thought was; what is that
today's generation does not
seems to be worried about
and only rely on Google
search for a bit when
required. Today life has come
down to expressing yourself
in 140 characters on Social
Media, and we end up following
up those individuals basis their
self-proclaimed image in those
140characters.
The question here is… Do we
read beyond these limited
characters, are we really reading
anything beyond comments on
Facebook? When was the last
time you visited your campus
library just to read for yourself?
When was the last time you
visited a book store for checking
out best sellers books and not
DVD's or PS3 Games. When was
the last time you read a good
book? Not for work or for studies
or just to finish an assignment,
but read just for the sheer
enjoyment of reading? Even
collage assignments and
attendance no longer guarantees
activereadinghabits.
If you found it difficult to
recollect on your last read book,
then I am glad I have picked up
the right thought to share with
youall.
Most of us struggle to find time
for reading; but because there are
so many advantages of reading, it
can pay to find somewhere quite
where you can have some much
needed and valuable rest and
relaxation where for a while you
can shut yourself off this
sometimes hectic world we live
in.
Have you even thought that an
average book writer shares his 15
– 20 years of experience in his
book which you can gain in just a
weeks' time. Just imagine that
how many years of collective
work experience you will gain by
just reading few books. But most
of us even fail to read one book in
a year. Most of us would have not
even read single book after their
college. Most of them who have
started reading a book have not
completed reading the book and
leftitinbetween.
I can assure that no matter what
you read, the act of reading will
help you in nearly every aspect of
your life. Reading makes you
wiser not to mention the
educational and learning
benefits that are gained, it is
enjoyable as well as factual.
It definitely improves
quality of life and it will
definitely improve yours as
well.
Some interesting statistics
on reading shown below, I am not
sure if India would be any
different in statistics from the
numbersinthetablebelow.
The story the data tell is simple,
consistent, and alarming.
Although there has been
measurable progress in recent
years in reading ability at the
school level, all progress appears
to halt as children enter their
teenage years. There is a general
decline in reading among teenage
and adult Americans. Most
alarming, both reading ability
and the habit of regular reading
have greatly declined among
college graduates. These
negative trends have more than
literary importance. As this
report makes clear, the declines
have demonstrable social,
economic, cultural, and civic
implications.

Corporate Article
Is reading really important? -
Reading is actually fundamental
in developing a good self-image.
Non-readers or poor readers
often have low opinions of
themselves and their abilities. A
person who knows how to read
can educate themselves in any
area of life they are interested in.
We live in an age where we
overflow with information, but
reading is the main way to take
advantageofit.
All Leaders and Successful
PeopleNeverStopReading
Have you ever been to a rich,
successful person's house; what
you will definitely find is a big
library with all sorts of books.
Similarly if you go to a poor man's
house what we see is a big TV in
the small room and no books
around. The question is, has the
man become successful after
reading all those books or has he
bought those books after being
successful? I am convinced that
it's always knowledge followed by
success.Nomatterhowitcomes.
Inspite of knowing all this most
people end up living their life in a
kind of ground hog day. They
think mostly the same old
unhelpful thoughts every day
because their mind has nothing
bettertofocuson.
Nearly all successful and
intelligent people including the
rich and the powerful claim they
read at least one new book each
week and for good reason it is the
bestwayoflearning.
Knowledge can mean intelligence
or success especially if you apply
the right information to help you
better your life. But reading it's
not just about information, it can
also bring you great success
whichisgreatforyourwell-being.
You cannot succeed in life with
limited knowledge and information.
The mind also wants stimulus and
appreciates a story. We are told
stories from the moment we are
born, many hypnotherapists use
anecdotal and stories because they
are the powerful ways of
influencingthesubconsciousmind.
I would also recommend
focusing as there comes a time
when one has to choose between
turning the page and closing the
book, I assure you if you read the
remaining article you will
definitely turn the page than
closingthebook.
Don't stop feeding your brain,
elseitwillstopgrowing
The benefits of reading are
enormous, some books will
inspire you, reading about other
people's success stories or how
they have overcome near
seemingly impossible feats
which have required immense
courage and determination can
give you great inspiration to go on
and achieve your dreams with the
knowing that if other people have
alreadydoneitthensocanyou.
Reading inspirational stories or
reading what people have already
achieved what your aiming to
achieve can give you the
motivation you need, knowing it
canbedonecanencourageyou.
R e a d i n g i s s i g n i f i c a n t ,
everybody who wants to better
their life should read a book
every week, when we stop
learning we stop growing and in
Reading Statistics : 28-Apr-2013
Total percentage of American adults who can’t understand the labels on their prescriptions 46%
Total percent of young people who claim they read more than 10 books a year 56%
Total percentage of U.S. adults who are unable to read an 8th grade level book 50%
Total amount of words read annually by a person who reads 15 minutes a day 1 million
Total percent of U.S. high school graduates who will never read a book after high school 33%
Total percentage of college students who will never read another book after they graduate 42%
Total percentage of U.S. families who did not buy a book this year 80%
Total percentage of adults that have not been in a book store in the past 5 years 70%
Total percentage of books started that aren’t read to completion 57%
Total percent of U.S. students that are dyslexic 15%
Total percentage of NASA employees that are dyslexic 50%
Total number of U.S. inmates that are literate 15%
**Source : http://www.statisticbrain.com/reading-statistics/
23Jigyasa 2013

this life you do one of two things,
you either move forward in life or
youstaywhereyouare
Time=Moneyprincipal
If you think that you don't have
enough time to start reading,
you're wrong. How do I know?
Check your Facebook updates
and you will know, check your
Watsapp communication and you
got it right. Oh! You are also on
Google Hangout now. We make
time for the things that are
important to us. How much TV
do you watch? How much time
do you spend trawling the web?
You could easily replace reading
with those activities. Remember
we are only taking about 40
minutes(20:20rule)
There's really no excuse to start
reading on a regular basis. The
benefits far outweigh the costs,
and more knowledge never hurts
anybody.
20:20 Principal is highly
recommended
I am recommending 20:20
principle so as to ensure that If
you are even thinking about
reading a book every week and
continuing the same practice for a
year of 52 weeks can be a bit
overwhelming, but think of it that
way by taking the number of
pages in the book and reading and
dividing it by the number of days
what you would be reading in that
week.
There is a difference between a
book of 250 pages from the very
beginning, and a book of two
hundred pages which is the result
of an original 850. The 600 are
there,onlyyoudon'tseethem.
I only recommend reading 20+20
pages in a day Morning +
Evening, which will not take
more than 20 + 20 minutes in
each session to finish and in a
week you will finish one book
and average book is of 240-250
pages. Keep Sunday free for
yourself to let your brain chill and
think of what you have gained in
last 6 days. If you follow this
practice regularly you will finish
reading 52 books in a year, which
is equal to earning 2 PhD's in a
year.
Trust the 20:20 principle will
change your life from today as it
hasdefinitelychangesmine.
Keep reading books, but
remember that a book is only a
book, and you should learn to
think for yourself ~ Maxim
Gorky
Corporate Article
Rushi Patil, is a business focused HR professional with a full time MBA in Human Resources Management, with
rich exposure to IT/ ITES, Telecom and BNFS industries having overall 10 years of rich HR Operations and in
which 3 years of Talent acquisition and retention experience. He has been part of several multifunctional project
teamsandhasmanagedvariousstagesofanorganizationfromrapidrampuptoconsolidationtoturnaround.
He has always demonstrated ability to deliver results and lead teams in high growth businesses. Distinctive
competency and experience in high-impact leadership roles including Business partnership, HRIS
implementation,Talentmanagementandnurturinghighperformingteams.

mployer–employee
relationship as described
Eby Michael Josephson
(Josephson, Michael. (2010,
December 15).”Responsibilities in
E m p l o y e r - e m p l o y e e
relationship”) is “a significant
human relationship of mutual
dependency that has great impact
on the people involved and both
the employer and the employee
have moral obligations arising
from this relationship.” However
with growth of businesses and
increasing head count , it has been
most businesses seek to free
themselves from added
responsibilities of day to day
transactions with employees in
order to dedicate themselves
towards running their core
business. While moving further
towards the fulfilment of the
objective companies these days
seek to utilise the services of
labour brokers so as to outsource
all of its manpower related
activities. These brokers (who
are paid significant amount of
money by the principal
employer) would then in turn
look after the terms and
conditions of employment of the
employees on behalf of the
principal employer. However,
outsourcing has opened up a
barrage of questions namely; can a
company outsource the function
without taking their consent? Is it
not unethical to divorce company's
responsibilities of the workforce
which is supposed to be building
block of any organisation? Is
company profitability the sole
reason for outsourcing ? If so
can't that be obtained through
a strong employee-employer
relationship? If not then which is
the point at which employee
employer relationship becomes a
factor of outsourcing?Answer to
each of this questions is
essential to finally decide
whether Outsourcing is the end of
employeeemployerrelationship?
In the quest to find the answer
to first of these questions and
also to deliberate on the
evolution pattern of the
employee employer relationship
w i t h t h e e m e rg e n c e o f
outsourcing in parallel ,let us take
the case of South Africa.
Previously in 1995 , as per labour
relations act , section 197 of
South Africa employers due
to “operational requirements”
could outsource a function on
their will without any legal
consequences. However, A
very interesting case came up in
South Africa in 2003 namely
NEHAWU vs. University of
Cape Town .and others which
led to overriding of the Act and
subsequently the power of
employers to outsource at will
was annulled. However, in a twist
of tales owing to business
demands the act was finally
amended in order to take into
consideration chances of job
losses of workers and rewritten as
follows:
In short, in terms of Section 197,
if a business, trade, undertaking,
or service, or part thereof is
transferred as a going concern,
unlessotherwiseagreed:
Oldemployeris automatically
substituted by the new
employer in respect of all
contracts of employment in
existence immediately before
thedateoftransfer;
All the rights and obligations
between the old employer and
an employee at the time of
transfer continue in force as if
they had been the rights and
obligations between the new
employerandtheemployee;
Anything done before the
transfer by or in relation to the
old employer (including the
dismissal of an employee, the
committing of an unfair
labour practice or an act of
unfair discrimination) is
considered to have been done
by or in relation to the new
employer;and
the transfer does not
interrupt an employee's
continuity of employment,
and an employee's contract of
employment continues with
the new employer as if with
theoldemployer.
(Source : “South Africa: Section
197, Second Generation
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Outsourcing: 'Is it the end of Employer-
Employee Relationship?’
- Uddalak Banerjee, Student, XLRI
Student Article
As organizations are majorly dependent on outsourcing today, does it imply that the employee-employer
relationshipislosingprimacy?Or,hastheefficiencyofworkgainedimportance?
25Jigyasa 2013

Outsourcing And Service
Transfers:The Future Of Section
197 In South Africa” by
Anastasia Vatalidis and Bradley
Workman-Davies dated 18
Nov 2010). Hence, we now know
that the company has to
compulsorily be following these
set of regulations in the process
ofoutsourcingitsfunctions.
Before deliberating on the
process and also the breakeven
point of employee employer
relationship that decides
outsourcing . Let us first analyse
the rules of transfer of
employment in case of India
through ID Act, 1947. In case of
Industrial Disputes Act , 1947 , of
India , it is clearly stated in
Article 25FF (Taxman's
“Labour Laws” ,Pg 347 ) that
where the ownership or
management of an undertaking
is transferred , whether by
agreement or by operation of law
, from the employer in relation to
that undertaking to a new
employer ,every workman who
has been in continuous service for
not less than one year in that
undertaking immediately before
such transfer , shall be entitled to
notice and compensation in
accordance with the provisions of
25F,as if the workman had been
retrenched provided that nothing
in this section shall apply to a
workman in any case where there
has been a change of employers
byreasonofthetransferif–
a. The service of the workman
has not been interrupted by
suchtransfer,
b. The terms and conditions of
service applicable to the
workman after such transfer
has are not in any ways less
favourable to the workman
than those applicable to him
immediately before the
transferand
c. The new employer is under
the terms of such transfer or
otherwise, legally liable to
pay to the workman, in the
event of his retrenchment,
compensation on the basis
that his service has been
continuous and has not been
interruptedbythistransfer.
Hence , transfer of employment
involves a conditional check on
how the employee is impacted
due to this shift of employment
.Through this check again the
responsibilities of employer in
the employee employer
relationshiphasbeenhighlighted.
Now, coming back to the
question of deciding the
breakeven point of employee-
employer relationship in case of
outsourcing and its various
implications on the employee-
employer relationship. With the
evolution of work standards
following globalisation and
liberalisation across many
countries , workers who provided
"labour" to a company began to
be viewed as “employees”
providing a "service" to the
employer, and hence the
“outsourcing” of staff also came
to be known as a part of a “sale”
as it amounts to the” sale” of
serviceof business.
Hence it was no longer
considered unethical to divorce
company's responsibilities of the
workforce which is supposed to
be building block of any
organisation.
N o w b r o a d l y w h a t t h e
organisation gained through
outsourcingweremainly
1.OperationalControl
2.StaffingFlexibility
3.ReducedOverhead
4.CostandEfficiencySavings
5.Focusoncoreactivities
6.Developinternalstaff
7.RiskManagement
(Source
http://operationstech.about.com/
od/officestaffingandmanagem/a/
OutSrcAdvantg.htm)
If we look each of the 7
advantages each of them are
related to employee-employer
relationship .Significant gain is
achieved in cases where the
employee employer relationship
is not working well .But then
there are still many issues that are
possibly going to emerge after
outsourcing. We find most of
these issues while analysing
the disadvantages of
outsourcing like Hidden Costs,
Loss of Managerial control ,
Bad Publicity , Quality y
problems , Tied to financial well
being of another company etc.
Here again we find that employee
employer related issues coming
up. Bad publicity is again due to
the employees who often have to
shift from one place to another
causing concern to their relatives
who then think lowly of the
employer. Quality problems
emerge because employer's
approach of driving employees
for production may not be
same as that of outsourcing
agencies . A function once
Student Article

outsourced becomes dependent
on the outsourcing firms
capability of influencing
employees to perform a set
of work. However, we find that
although the outsourcing has
many advantages through which
principal employer is able to gain
greater control on processes but
then it has also lost through
hidden costs, bad publicity and
qualityproblems.
In order to reach the breakeven
point for outsourcing, usually
outsourcing is done only in those
functions where present
mechanism of control is not
working well. However if an
employer seek to run entire set of
o p e r a t i o n s t h r o u g h a n
outsourcing organisation, it will
be completely dependent on
that organisation leading to
Quality problems and a huge
dependency on financial well
being of that organisation( high
risk), which would nullify the
positives gained through
outsourcing. Outsourcing may
thus be applied only in cases
where employee employer
relationship is becoming too hard
to control because of large labour
force or due to labour issues.
Hence a principal employer only
opts for outsourcing in case of a
few functions where he
perceives the employer
employee relationship to be
weak and cost incurred to handle
these functions being more than
the cost that would be incurred in
case of outsourcing these
functions. But then we just
saw that an entire organization
(all of its functions) cannot be
outsourced so direct employer
and employee relationship would
always exist, although the
breakeven point may shift on the
basis of work environment and
socio political climate. Hence in
coming years too in spite of
outsourcing of few functions, the
relationship between employee
employerwillbeexistent.
Student Article
27Jigyasa 2013

I hate my boss”, “I hate
going to work every
“morning!”, “HR is nothing
but a glorified clerk”. In the age
of social media, information
travels and travels fast. Open
any forum and you will find
some disgruntled employees
venting out their anger. Without
inhibitions at times, or under the
veil of confession pages! All of
us, who are related to
organizations or business,
clearly understand the reasons
for this. HR is a necessary evil,
the world talks about the huge
role that HR plays in the success
of any organization, so it'
critical to have a dedicated HR
function in order to take care of
people's needs and aspirations.
But,doesHRreallydeliver?
HR is often referred to as a dark
bureaucratic force which uses
one size fits all approach across
the organization, treads the
beaten path oscillating between
lackoftrainingto'overtraining'!
HR is also known as bad cops in
organizations blindly enforcing
nonsensical rules ranging from
dress code, moral code, value
code, 'please kill me' code on
the pretext of protecting
corporateassets.
The guardians of performance
are known to resist creativity
and impede constructive change
by expecting people to follow
the 'traditions' and ignoring the
u n p r e c e d e n t e d c h a n g e s
happeningaroundtheworld.
Redefining HR can be summed
up by a commonly used phrase in
business, “Building the Table”.
Building the table means that
HR's role in an organization is
not only to implement strategy
but to help create strategy. Now,
we need to understand what
constitutes a strategy. It means
engineering your talent to drive
business performance and also
enabling an organization to make
a breakthrough in new business
areas. It also means creating
experiences, challenging existing
paradigms, flexibility of rules,
training and development,
compensation and benefits and
recreational facilities etc. This is
where HR acts as a game
changer.
We all love having great
experiences, witnessing a
c o m p e t i t i v e g a m e o f
cricket/football, breathtaking
performance, water sports, a
soothing drive with your favorite
music, dining at a 5 star, meeting
your heroes/idols, a day out with
friends etc. All these are
experiences which we cherish for
life and want them to happen to
us over and over again. Contrast
this with the workplace scenario,
where most of the people feel
forced to come, most often even
for jobs they like to do. Working
in any organization is an
experience of sorts, an
experience which you get every
day, and something that stays
with you even after you leave the
organization. The role of HR can
be very clearly defined, create
that 'experience' which is an Aha
moment for the employees. The
idea is to not only to focus on
improving the age old methods
but also to constantly innovate
and redefine the existing
paradigms to align with the
changing demands of business
andaspirationsof'talent'force.
Now, what does redefining
paradigms means, and how do
we achieve that. How do I create
that experience for my
employees? Based on the
numerous surveys conducted
across the world's best
workplaces like Google, Face
book, Bain & Company,
McKinsey & Company, IBM,
National Instruments and the
likes, an opportunity to 'make an
impact' through their work, is one
of the biggest factors that makes
employees love the workplace.
Another critical factor for
employees is the colleagues who
they work with, people who
constantly challenge, inspire
them to do better and provide
support when needed. Various
companies have agreed that
positive internal competition
improves productivity and sets
you up for success. Achieving
both these objectives is easy, give
the employees clarity on how
their individual goals tie up to the
bigger picture and promote team
culture, an individual's success is
directlyrelatedtoteamsuccess.
Redefining HR means less self
indulgence and more flexibility.
Talent needs freedom and power
Human Resources as a Strategic Partner of
Business
- By Arjun Mitra & Karan Shorey, Students, XIMB
Student Article

to thrive, and there are ways to
achieve that. Participative goal
setting, flexibility of location
and working hours, leaves send
out a clear message, let
employees own their work and
focus on performance rather
than compliance. The output is
important and the employees
will find creative ways to
achieve that output. In 2004, Jet
Blue started a revolution by
allowing 700 customer care reps
to work from home without a
central office while Yahoo
recently made news by banning
work from home for all
employees. “People are more
productive when they are alone,
but more collaborative and
innovative when they are
together”, says Marissa Mayer,
CEOYahoo. There is no utopian
way that can create magic,
customization is the key. HR
professionals need to identify
what suits their organization
best,andmakethathappen.
Great workplaces manage talent
by make creative investments in
them. IBM, Infosys, Unilever, GE
are companies which lead the way
in enhancing competency of their
talent force through training,
mentoring and leadership
programs. Though training is a
norm in most of the organizations,
but building skills in all
dimensions i.e. technical, domain
/functional, process/project and
behavior creates differentiation.
Employees like challenges job
rotation gives them a platform to
solve cross functional big
company issues. That is why job
rotation has been regarded as one
of the widely appreciated strategy
ofmanagingtalent.
Compensation and Benefits, a
core HR activity, can give an
impetus to the business strategy.
P e r f o r m a n c e l i n k e d
compensation, concept of pay
banding to distinguish high
performers from the rest are
progressive means. Various
surveys across organizations
have clearly indicated that
money is not the top motivating
factor for majority of the
employees. But, benefits
coupled with facilities can
rejuvenate the employee
experience. Dell has a unique
way of making the high
performers feel privileged.
Every month, the best
performers get to spend time in
an exclusive game lounge which
is not accessible to other
employees. While some other
companies arrange one on one
interaction with the senior
management, including CEO,
for the best performers. This
creative rewarding mechanism
not only makes the employees
feel special but also gives them
an opportunity to share their
thoughts. Feedback, which is
often called the backbone of any
organization, can catapult the
slow performers to higher
league.
HR has the core duty of
nurturing the talent force is the
old phenomenon; the new
paradigm is nurturing business
through people. That's what a
strategic role is, and that is how
we can redefine HR. “Creating
the Table” is the objective, and
achieving that is success! HR
is no longer a business enabler,
butabusinessdriver!
Student Article
29Jigyasa 2013

Student Article
n today's fast paced world
with ever increasing
Icompetition a motivated
workforce is one of the biggest
assets an organisation can have.
Having had a prior experience of
I.Tindustry in Birla soft and from
current experience of pursuing
my summer internship in a
FMCG company like Kimberly
Clark, I believe that ensuring
employee motivation is the single
most important challenge being
faced by majority of companies
across industries. The problem
has been further compounded by
the presence of high attrition
nourished by presence of
competitors with fat purses and
hence resulting in a recurring
expenditure of selection, training
and development. However
employee motivation also
b e c o m e s c o n s p i c u o u s l y
quintessential in case of
principal-agent conflicts where
the agent (managers) is entrusted
to work harder to generate profit
for the principal (shareholders) in
r e t u r n f o r a m o n e t a r y
compensation which clearly and
obviously is lesser than the net
income/revenue the work
generates. With increasing
literacy and sense of self
betterment among workers,
Reward and Recognition for
those who work hard to generate
value for the company (indirectly
shareholders) finds greater
relevancetodaythaneverbefore.
Among the motivation theories
that were suggested so far
Maslow's Need Hierarchy,
Herzberg's two factor theory and
Reinforcement theory point
towards the composition of
Reward and Recognition
Framework. However, the
practical challenges while
implementing the framework
goes way beyond the propounded
theories. A brief overview of the
recommendationsisasfollows:
The three major practical
challenges that come up while
implementing the above theories
areasfollows:
1. The premise behind
allocating a reward/recognition
is that it should motivate the
workers who are not
performing at their best to
perform better .Which means,
the target segment for the
reward and recognition
Challenges to Rewards and Recognition
Rewards and recognition have never been more popular, and there's a reason. Incentives are the secret to engaged
employees. But there are challenges, practical challenges while applying the practical aspect of motivational
theories

framework is the segment just
below the best performers (
average performers) and
extends all the way to the under
performers. But then we also
know that the best performers
are the ones who believe in
bettering themselves and
compete to be the best. So by
excluding them from the
reward system would
demotivate them and hence can
easily counter balance the value
created by introduction of the
framework.
2. In case of rewarding and
recognising all segments of
workforce that is selected
individuals from each
performance ratings there is
always a chance of a good
performer not getting
recognised while a not so
good performer getting
recognised by just being
selected in that few. This
becomes compounded when
we consider that once a
framework gets established,
the employees/workers
e s p e c i a l l y t h e h i g h
performers keep waiting for
the reward or recognition to
come to them and work
exceptionally hard keeping
that in their mind as it
provides visibility and a
sense of fulfilment and
recognition, which indirectly
excites them. Now what is
intriguingly true is that it is
this “visibility” and the sense
of “extreme excitement
/strong desire of winning it”,
is what the entire reward and
recognition framework seeks
to espouse! So no matter how
baffling it may feel it is true
t h a t a n a b s o l u t e
i m p l e m e n t a t i o n a n d
fulfilment of the reward and
recognition framework could
again lead to demotivation
among sections of the
workers who would find
themselves losers and which
can again spur enmity and
lack of team playing
behaviour. A live example of
the same can be drawn from
actorAamir Khan's absenting
himself from majority of
award ceremonies which
media often attribute to a
prior experience of his not
winning an award while
expectingit.
3. Lastly, comes the issue of
organisational politics and
favouritism which in practice
is often involved in final
selection of winners .Now
most organisations usually
have a cross functional team
for selecting the final winner
of various awards. This is
done to normalise the
p e r f o r m a n c e s a c r o s s
functions. Since the output of
an hr department is different
from that of the finance
d e p a r t m e n t a n d t h e
operations department. Yet
for an award like “Best
Employee of the Year” which
is one of the most coveted
ones it becomes pertinent to
compare and normalise
p e r f o r m a n c e s a c r o s s
functions to decide the
winner thus opening up scope
o f s u b j e c t i v i t y a n d
favouritism. Now on this
point too, there is a conflict.
The source of which is that
individuals tend to put more
prize on objects which are
difficult to achieve. For
rewards which are intra
departmental the competition
is less and hence relative
value becomes less thus
indirectly as per expectancy
t h e o r y , r e d u c i n g i t s
motivational power. But with
inter department and across
organisation rewards which
are valued more comes scope
of politics and scope of
favouritism which can again
lead to a deserving individual
not getting his deserved prize
thusleadingtodemotivation.
Student Article
31Jigyasa 2013

Student Article
such as Abraham Lincoln trying to
abolish slavery and racism or
hundreds of volunteers educating
children of slum in order to reform the
lives of thousands making country's
futurebrighterthananystar.
To understand a person in terms of
human resource we must understand
the importance of these cadres in his
life as this will decide the
motivational factors responsible for
influencing the choices made by this
person. For example a compensation
raise wouldn't stop an employee from
leaving if he is leaving because he is
getting a better brand to work with, or
he may leave even when incentives
are being showered on him. This is
because compensation raise would
surely help fulfilling personal cadre
of success but he is leaving the
organization for his social needs of
recognition. The main point is the
dominationoftheneeds.
Various motivational theories exist
in order to generalize the concept of
motivation and thus related
manipulations of decisions of the
subject individuals. But that makes
us take structured decisions in an
issue as dynamic as human mind and
emotions leading to errors. For every
individual the combination of these
cadres of success in their lives differ
and so should the approach to reach
out to these individuals. When some
understand how to do that, they are
commonly referred as talent masters
and are compensated very well for
theiracquired&raretalent.
It can be inferred that every
individual is different. Then how to
manage the human resources so
dynamic and that too when we are
short of such talent masters. One
way is to understand that there are
broad categories of individuals and
these can be formed in various
scenarios as per requirement to
efficiently manage the human
resources. For instance, if we divide
peopleon thebasis of theirresistance
towards change, initiations and
innovations, it will make things very
manageable if we make two groups
saying one is resistant and other is
adapting type. The former group
would be usually large and would be
satisfied with the old systems &
policies making stability a virtue for
them & vice for the latter. In addition
to that former might feel safe with
constant and widely deployed
working conditions and terms
whereas in order to retain the latter
group the human resource managers
will have to take efforts on the
individuallevel.
Concatenating this perception would
give the concept of individual needs
generating the terms of success and
sense of achievement leading to
satisfaction. The factors of
satisfaction being unique to every
individual makes the task of the
talent managers difficult and
dependent on deep understanding of
human psychology as basic
qualification for the profession.
Hence, I would like to conclude by
putting forward a simple thought, we
don't need adapting species or
resilient without cause types, what
we need is 'leaders' and 'motivators',
people who understand people and
work for the betterment on an
individual in a sustained yet simple
manner. That is how miracles
happen and generations change.
WhatweneedisSPARK!!
veryone wants to be
successful in life. Success is
Ean aftermath of achievement.
Success in life refers to a state of
mind when people feel satisfied
about what they have achieved &
how they have achieved. In
Buddhism, we have a term for this
phenomena called 'parinirvana', a
state after which person is satisfied
with life because all his desires are
fulfilled. Discussions over the
definitions of these desires will lead
to the concept of goals and mission
of life. These goals or missions lead
tovariouscadresofsuccess.
Satisfaction thus can be divided into
threecadresofsuccess:
1. Personal
2. Social
3. Political
Talking about personal cadre, we
include successes related to an
individual and the nuclear sphere the
person lives in, for example,
promotion in his job, marriage of his
daughteror just makinga new friend.
This sphere usually includes his
family & friends and himself, people
to whom the person is attached on
emotional grounds, fulfilling his
emotional needs & providing him
withasenseofbelonging.
While considering the social cadre
we usually consider his immediate
environment with which he interacts
in day to day life such as recognition
by boss in front of office colleagues
orgettingaNobelPrize.
The political cadre of course would
include his goals regarding his
conscience led altruistic goals. This
cadre can be best understood through
examples of some great people under
influence of their hunger of success,
Success and Satisfaction: A Hypothesis
- Akshat Ambedkar, Student-MHROD
How do you relate success and satisfaction? Broadly we refer to success as state of mind when people feel satisfied
about what they have achieved & how they have achieved. To understand the importance of an individual in terms
of human resource, we must understand the importance of three cadres of success viz., at personal, social and
political level, in his life. These factors will impact the decisions and choices made by a person and the
combinations of these factors differ for everybody. So the main job of a leader or a motivator is to determine how
to manage the dynamic human resources to so as to satisfy their individual needs generating a sense of
achievementandsuccess.

Jigyasa 2013

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