From Classroom to Corporate

This is the first article am penning for this year 2013 so I would like to share my insights and experiences that I had while interacting with few HR managers and my friends in corporate.

This is the time of the year when corporates houses visit various campuses to recruit their future managers and leaders so this article would focus on what corporate houses are looking-in from new recruits. 

According to the recent survey, around 300,000 management graduates would be coming out of over 4000 institutes. But companies are willing to recruit only those who are industry ready.  The traits recruiters look for are as follows

Analytical Skills:

Most organizations today prefer managers who have a flair for numbers. They should be able to survive and thrive with data and be specialized in analyzing reports and make vital decisions for their day-to day problems.  Companies conduct quantitative and analytical written test to evaluate the analytical skills of the management students.

Communication skills:   

Businesses today are no more local they have been globalized. Companies today expect their managers and associates to write and speak fluently in English.  Managers are expected to interact and influence several people, so exceptional communication skills is a must have for budding managers. Companies consider candidates who have knowledge of foreign language as an added advantage. 

Innovation:

Innovation has become the key for business success. Companies welcome managers who think out of the box and come up with innovative and implementable solutions that could solve everyday business problems. 

Industry Knowledge and contemporary development:

Organizations expect the new managers to have basic knowledge about the industry in which the organization they have applied for job is operating. They should be aware of the latest developments taking place in their industry and aware of the business challenges faced. 

Team player:

Organizations are keen to hire management students who could be comfortable working in a team.

They recruiters observe these skills via ground discussion and judge the candidate whether he or she can lead a group, or he/she is a just a passive spectator or tries to dominate and so on. All these traits are evaluated by the recruitment panel members.

Achievements: 

Recruiting managers are keen on prospective candidates who have won awards in business plan events, management fests, cultural and in other sports activities. This shows that, the candidate is not just following academics but also an all-rounder.

So by developing or honing these attributes we can definitely add value to the organization and stay ahead in the corporate world. 

All the best folks!!

Author: Subburam N.N

College: Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

Ways to ameliorate women’s safety in organization

The whole country is horrified by the recent violent attack of a 23 year- young women and her companion on December 16, 2012.  Many voluntary organizations across India and around the world have commenced to fight against gender- based violence and for women rights in India. This article would focus on how companies in India are and can ensure safety of their women employees.

IT/ITES industry in India has witnessed a high inflow of female talents. The role of HR manager has become more challenging now and it is our responsibility to ensure that the work environment and culture are friendly and safe for female talent pool. Women workers should be given equal opportunity, honor and adequate protection to their dignity.

Ensuring women safety

Life of the women working late night shifts in BPO sector in metro cities is like walking on razors edge. So as HR managers, our role is to make women feel secure and should render them the mindset to concentrate on work. Corporate can conduct self-defense training program and workshops for the women and teach them how to be safe in various places. Encourage women to carry chilly-powder or pepper spray with them to injure the attacker.  

Most of the IT and BPO companies provide cab facilities to women, but there should be a proper check on the cab driver. Driver should be trustworthy and he should not consume alcohol or any other drugs.  While a women travel alone in cab, she should be assisted with a security guard till she reaches her destination. Cabs can be fixed with GPS systems so that if the driver takes a detour from the normal route it informs the company and the service provider. If the reason for detour is not satisfactory, immediate action should be taken on the cab driver or else the service provider should be suspended. IBM do not encourage first boarding and last drop of female employees, because they believe no women ever travels unescorted.   

Helpline numbers are given to the women so that they can use it when the driver misbehaves with them. Women can install free mobile applications which send a SOS message to the chief security officer, HR manager and to any other family member or friend if the employee is interested.  Companies can avoid women working after 7 PM and travel desk should avoid booking of late night or early morning flights for women traveling to other cities for business visits. Work from home can be the best option to women, if the project is not completed.  

Management should understand and give top priority for the safety of women and invest in training programs and technologies that boost the confidence of female talent pool. 

We pray for the victim and her family for speedy recovery. 

Author: Subburam N.N

College: Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

IR Highlights of 2012

IR Highlights of 2012

As we come to end of the year 2012, I wish all the readers “Happy New Year 2013”. This article focuses on the Industrial Relation Crisis that took place across the world in 2012, which would help the readers to gain information and insights regarding the IR issues.

Labor unrest across the world is increasing at an alarming rate which leads to strike and lock outs. According to the Labor Bureau data the first five months of the 2012 recorded 108 industrial disputes, which is 12 % high when compared with 2011. Between January and May around 97 disputes were registered and it cost a total loss of 9, 60,089 man-days. While looking at a bigger picture on these IR issues there is a striking similarity between most of the unrests which was demanded for higher wages and better working conditions.

June 2012, work stalled at the two main units of Arvind Mills in Gujarat, India. Around 4000 workers were unwilling to work until the company announces a wage hike.

June 08, 2012, around 500 workmen of Hitachi Home and Life Solution situated in Kadi Gujarat India went on strike for 40 days demanding for permanent employment.

July 18,2012 can be marked as the black day for the HR fraternity. The violent labor unrest in Maruti Suzuki India, Manesar plant in Haryana which caused a huge loss to the company and the General Manager HR- Awanish Kumar Dev was burnt to death by mob.

July 2012- the IOCL  plant in Paradip, Orissa – India experienced a work halt because of the prolonged labor unrest.

August 08, 2012- Honda’s Manesar plant in Haryana received a new wave of labor unrest.

August 10, 2012 around 3000 rock drillers at the Marikana mine of Lonmin PLC in Rustenburg, South Africa stalled working at the mines demanding for higher wages.  Around ten people were killed in the clash at the platinum mine between the rival unions the National Union of Mineworkers(NUM) and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union(AMCU).

September 13, 2012 due to the labor agitations at the Carnations factory in Howrah, Kolkatta India,  the work was suspended.

September 25, 2012 – Apple’s iPhone assembler in China, Foxconn Technology Group experienced labor agitations. The workers protested against increased pressure and demanded to improve working conditions.

First ever strike in WalMart stores in Los Angeles area. Around 88 workers walked out of the stores demanding better working conditions and better wages.

October 2012, Employees of Kingfisher Airlines stalled their work because of the non-payment of salaries for the months March to May 2012. Employees are unwilling to join the work until their salaries are paid.

October 05,2012 Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) top container handler of India was threatened by workers to shut down. Their demand was reinstatement of four workers which include three union leaders, who were fired in May for taking industrial action.

Author : Subburam N.N

College : Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

Transforming role of HR Managers

Transforming role of HR Managers

The role of Human Resource Managers are transforming these days.  Gone are those days in which HR function was viewed as a support function and today, it has become the major differentiator for organizations and HR department is more aligned towards the strategic goals of the organizations.  This article would focus on the transformations that had happened in the roles of HR managers and how budding HR professionals can adapt to these new roles.

Style of Reporting:

Earlier HR managers were to report to single boss but today in organizations HR Managers are supposed to report to more than one boss. It may be his/her functional head and administrative head, who may be present in different location and sometimes in different country. Each boss may have different personality styles so HR manager should be very careful so that they do not hurt the ego of their boss and see to it they satisfy both their bosses.

Managing Time:

The role of HR managers has changed substantially today; he/she is supposed to wear multiple hats in and out of the organization. HR Mangers should attend meeting with the employers, which is inevitable, spend face time with the employees to understand and address their grievances, and participate in personal and professional success of employees such as wishing on their birthday and anniversary.  Finally, HR managers should maintain a proper work-life balance.  

So, HR managers should be proficient in handling their time and they should organize their calendar effectively.  They should plan their daily activities and prioritize the task. They can follow the simple to-do-list which would aid them to manage time effectively and efficiently.   

  

Managing Teams:

Organizations expect HR Managers to be trainer, mentor, motivator and effective communicators. They should be accessible, constantly educate and retain the team to deliver excellence. HR managers should maintain a good balance between employee and employer interests. HR Managers should provide feedback effectively or else employees would be demotivated.   Here’s an example for providing an effective feedback- “You have done a good job and here’s how to get better and best…”  

HR managers should take great attention in goal setting. You should set SMART goals and clearly define the parameters and never micromanage- let the team to perform.  HR managers should be buddies with the employees and at the same time you must command respect and lead.  HR managers should be capable of managing multiple teams from different geographical locations. Clear communication of the policies to various strategic business units should be given top priority.

High Adversity Quotient:  

HR managers should possess high adversity quotient because they act as a key player in implementation of strategies, policies, new ideas. They design these considering the current environment but unprecedented events happen which makes everything chaotic.  So, HR managers should be prepared to face unprecedented adversities with positive attitude, motivate themselves and teams and they should create high level of energy and endless enthusiasm.

Understand the business:   

  

HR managers should possess business acumen and partner with core functions of the organization.  Understanding the business nuances would help them to recruit the best talent, renders deeper knowledge about competitors and so on.

So, the budding HR professionals should understand and adjust to this system at a faster pace to succeed in the HR profession.

Author : Subburam N.N

College : Amrita School of Business, Bangalore

Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

Six Sigma to Human Sigma

Six Sigma to Human Sigma

Six Sigma the most frequently used business management strategy practiced by most of the leading manufacturing companies which has transformed their operations and strives for near perfection.  The importance of Six Sigma is crucial for manufacturing sector so is the Human Sigma for the service economy.

In the service sector the greatest challenge every company face is managing people. Managing people not only mean managing employees, it deals with managing customers, vendors, investors, stockholders and so on.  Human Sigma mainly deals with the relationship between employees and customers. According to Gallup organization, Human Sigma is a holistic approach to measure and manage the quality of relationship between the employee and customer.

Six Sigma was developed in a manufacturing context where the role of the people is relatively small but Human Sigma is developed where the role of people is large.  It aims to increase the productivity through people and reduce the lack of effectiveness. Six Sigma is mostly data driven, rational and analytical process but Human Sigma is based on neuroscience and behavioral economics.

Why companies need Human Sigma?

Companies that follow the principle of Human Sigma has surpassed the competitors by 26 % in gross margin and experienced a substantial growth of 85 % in sales.  Measuring or dealing with people is a difficult task because when you buy a machine you roughly know the price of the machine, how much it produces, required maintenance cost, cost of depreciation per year and the output produced today would be same as the output produced next day. But this is not the same with people. People are unpredictable, you do not know their value would appreciate or depreciate after each year; their output level can fluctuate each day depending upon various reasons that are beyond our control. Human Sigma has become a proven method for evaluating the health of the employee customer encounter with a disciplined process to improve it. 

Human Sigma applies even to employees who do not face customer directly. In sales and service organization where employee-customer is more, it should be managed with great care because it is the best opportunity for financial improvement. Every interaction between the employee and customer either increases or decreases the emotional connection.  Emotional satisfaction of the employee and customer matters the most and they are directly linked to the bottom line. So, companies should use the right metrics to build an emotional bonding with employees, who will wish to build a good relationship with customers with leads to higher revenues.

Author   :  Subburam N.N

College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

                                      How to deliver an Effective Performance Review

Performance review is an excellent opportunity for employees to know their strengths and weakness, but it is the responsibility of manager to effectively deliver the review in such a way it reinforces the star performers and redirects the poor performers.  During the appraisal, if the manager tell positive things about the employees and sugarcoat the negative qualities this would lead to mixed message in the mind of the employee and lead to disappointment. The article helps us to know the various strategies that aid the appraiser to deliver productive and stress-free performance appraisal.

Many experts state that, face-to- face performance review is the toughest one for employees and for the managers because it requires a person to stand in judgment of other. James Baron, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management at Yale School of Management articulated that, performance management is a process and it involves significant amount of real-time for rendering feedback to the known employees.

Setting up clear expectations at the beginning of the year or at the commencement of a project with your employees and learning their person’s goals and explaining your expectations is paramount importance because it helps the employees to know their accountability. James Baron also stated that, understanding the ambitions of the direct reports would help managers to know their career ambitions which would enlarge their professional experiences. Before the face-to-face review ask the employee to jot down few best things he/she has done in the company. The appraiser should have detailed note about employee such as the targets achieved by him/her, missed deadlines, clients’ feedback and so on.  When the appraiser discusses the performance review in personal with the employee, he/she sometimes tend to churn out emotions (glad, sad, mad or scared) , so to avoid such emotional outburst, give a copy of the appraisal to the employee a couple of hours before the interaction so that, they can have their own time to think about it.

Often during face-to-face review managers tend to provide sandwich feedback, this would sometimes demoralize the star performers and encourage marginal or low performers. So the appraiser should take a clear stand for both star performers and marginal performers, so that they would know exactly where they are playing right and where they are not, this helps them to excel in their career and motivates them to do better.

 After discussing the strengths and weaknesses with the performers, ask them how they feel and listen to their concerns.  Use a “stop, start and continue” model- what the employee doing now which is not working, what they are best at and what kind-off actions they should do in future. Give specific advice and not general advices.  Core issues associated with performance review is the money and rank. The appraiser should be clear with the amount that is to be allotted and ranking is the most challenging part of the system. The appraiser is dealing with highly selective group of people, so he/she should be clear with the ranking, under-ranking of a good performer would let the person down and ranking everyone in the average is also not a good sign. Ranking and conveying the message is the greatest leadership challenge.

So finally summarize the core message with two or three strengths to be carried and important areas of development. These are the principles would help the managers to deliver an effective and stress-free performance review.

Reference:

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/11/delivering-an-effective-perfor.html

Author   :  Subburam N.N

College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

What corporations can do to control exit of women?

What corporations can do to control exit of women?

Recent research indicates that women are leaving corporate at twice the rate of men. Companies are tremendously affected by the exodus of the women executives and it causes a negative effect in the team morale and the cost of finding replacement is very high. The National Foundation of Women Business Owners (NFWBO) finding suggested that, many of these women go into business for themselves and become entrepreneurs. This article examines the differences and provides suggestions for corporations who wish to attract and keep top women.

The study called Paths to Entrepreneurship-New Directions for Women in Business, was released at a conference sponsored by Simmons Graduate School of Management found that, women started their own businesses and another strong impetus was inspiration of winning business concept: roughly half of the women surveyed were motivated by the combination of hitting upon a great idea and identifying a market niche. Other major reason was the desire for more flexibility.

How companies can respond
- Identifying the gender equity
- By more rewards and recognition for the contributions made by the women
- Flexible work arrangements
The following measures would foster hospitable workplace for women employees

Examine the current scenario  

According to The Paths to Entrepreneurship research finding, large number of women leaving the organization were not going home to have babies as assumed, but they remained in the workforce or starting their own businesses.
So, we need to identify the number of women in the upper management position and who are in the pipeline, positioned for future advancement and talk to them and find out what’s important to them. These conversations would help the organization to offer program to help women managers to advance in their career.

Avoid gender equity issues

Women fell that, a host of factors such as Gender-based stereotypes, absence of female role models and objective performance standards, informal business networks, mentoring opportunities and exclusion of women from male-only tradition are mostly affecting them. So, there should be common language for discussing gender-related issues and these issues should be removed from the sphere of individual personalities, and should be discussed from a business point of view.
Remove invisible barriers to women’s success

Organizations should eliminate the male-dominated hierarchies and perceptions and stereotypes and adopt interim measures to ensure safety of women and organizations should promote female approach to management.

So, corporation can reduce the departure of women executive, if such issues are avoided.

Reference 
Kristen B. Donahue S. Retaining your best people- from A Timesaving Guide- THE- RESULTS-DRIVEN MANAGER.  Harvard Business Press

Author   :  Subburam N.N
College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com