HR In India …

With umpteen mergers and acquisitions across sectors and the stock markets functioning almost in sync with the world markets the business world in India is witnessing a lot of action. There are issues related to infrastructure, availability of talent, comparisons with China –but there is lot of sustained optimism around the India story .Lot of new businesses are being formed and old businesses are gaining a new texture .With so much happening in the business world there is an everyday change process  in the HR profession .This change process is happening across sectors and demands that the HR professional hones his/her skills to cope with the dynamic situation . We are literally at a tipping point – a lot of change is happening and lot of spectacular changes will happen some pleasant, may be some not so pleasant . What’s in store for the HR professional then? Well let’s begin with the inevitable Recruitment function .There is lots and lots of difficult recruitment for the fledgling businesses and established ones  with all the constraints of a half developed, sometimes developing economy. The HR professional has to provide new tools to the hiring managers and scale the process to meet the growing business demands .

On the learning and development front I think the thrust is more towards just in time delivery . This has to ironically go hand in hand with long term development planning !Thus the HR professional needs to have ‘hardcore’ OD related skills. State of art tools and methods are being used  for effective performance management in organizations  .There will be a tendency to shift from the more subjective evaluation processes . All this calls for reducing the transactional activities and thus there is an inevitable shift towards automation of the HR operations domain. Thus use of various ERP applications is gaining popularity across all industry segments and sizes  . And then the much vaunted participation in the change management process in organizations. This is taking place (or will taken place in some instances ) in form of partnering business for the expansion activities , incorporating newer practices in each HR sub function and the every necessary change related communication . It could again be both through formal or informal channels .

What does this action mean for the HR professional ? There is no pre determined formula to tackle the change process. But a few things that the professional can do is to a)keep knowledge levels dated b)function in sync with business and be aware of the every changing models and plans c)understand and keep abreast with business financials d)network in the industry and even outside the function e.g. finance function , IT function – as they would play a vital role in shaping the HR function . e)Go back to school – get the necessary certification , practical knowledge / functional competence  to acquire ‘delivery skills ‘in at least one area .

 

I think there would be a time when India specific HR practices evolve and gain validity . Thus the way ahead is extremely challenging and exciting for the Indian HR professional.But in the day to day challenges of the job have we understood the repercussions of the change process ? And most importantly have we prepared ourselves to face the future and even present situation ?

AV

Talent at Higher Levels

I was reading an (http://www.talentmgt.com/succession_planning/2007/March/276/index.php?pt=a&aid=276&start=0&page=1) article in Talent Management magazine that  the current business realities call for a different skill sets from executives who aspire for leadership positions in organizations. The article concludes by saying that a global mindset and  blend of people and business skills are required to be successful in senior executive role . We write and discuss about the blend of these skills and the need for a global ethos in our approach. But how many organizations are consciously adopting practices to ensure that the right kind of leaders are groomed? The article talks about the progressive practices adopted in organizations like Ernst & Young and Philips to groom better leaders.

 

India has witnessed a growth in the number of new business ventures in the last 3 to 4 years . All of them need a senior management team that can steer business through the choppy waters. But how many people occupying the top positions have a blend of business and people skills? This question can be debated and discussed for a long time. Also many organizations which are growing fast would place a premium on business results rather than real people orientation in the short term. This is the paradox which the leader according to me has to tackle .Many people now say that the real leaders today will not be charismatic or transformational but real down to earth people who understand the organizational pulse. But are we really appreciating those leaders or do the charismatic leaders still occupy our mindshare?

AV

I Talk to think…

A recent article on Fast Company Think to Talk <http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/learning/conner/talk-to-think/060507.html>  set me pondering about the implications of this insight in the management meetings that I have been a part of. I have often encountered a couple of people who are more active than the others. The reaction of the others varies depending on their mood and preference. It can range from

It is so good that I don’t have to be bothered to think about that one

to

Who cares

to

I wish he shut-up more

to

What an ‘airtime’ hogger

And yes the quality of discussions is not optimal. The talkative ones get the limelight and the others either relax or get frustrated. Buy-in from all is reduced – and then we revisit some of the same discussions at a later point in time because though it seemed like a consensus – it was actually not. Of course one can say that the role to ensure that everyone contributes belongs to the ‘chair’ …but may be everyone can be a bit more mindful of the consequences…

Oh well, I have been accused more that once of being a ‘powerful contributor’ expressing my own views sometimes at the expense of the amount of time that someone else would require to formulate theirs. But the truth of the matter as a wise Irishman once said  ‘ How do I know what I think until’ I know what I say’? (courtesy Handy in his latest work  – ‘ Myself and other Important matters’). I have now decided that I will consciously use the very simple trick that Marcia Conner suggests and prelude a simple ‘ I am just thinking out aloud here’…and try and state just one idea at a time…

Cheers

SW

Succession Planning Continued

You make some interesting points about Succession Planning in the review– I would like to share some of my own experience as being a part of these discussions on succession.   

  

In my role – I have a key responsibility in articulating a strategy for planning succession of General managers for a mid-sized international pharmaceutical company. We are structured as the ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ parts of the world – and my interest currently is in the ‘developing world’. Well I guess ‘ Developing world’ is a misnomer considering the potential of the BRIC countries as well as some of the rising powers like
Korea. However I will use that somewhat simplistic term for lack of another.  

  

For succession at a GM (General manager) level we look for a mixture of qualities that may not be inherent in a single individual. Typically these are individuals who have had successful stints at delivering ‘Sales’ numbers – which by their inherent nature are fairly short-term and operational. Sales people who have been successful at providing results on a quarterly basis struggle when faced with a challenge to take a 5 – 10 year perspective for an entire country, especially when they still have to deliver the agreed operational margin year on year. On the other hand we consider individuals who have worked in extremely strategic marketing roles at a head quarter level. This lot is burdened to deliver on short-time scales and we have seen them fail more than once. An ideal GM is a combination of these 2 diametrically opposite skills sets. He/She needs to deliver on the short-term; but be ready to take some difficult decisions in the short-term to benefit in the long term. Managing this paradox does not come easily to most.  

  

I often wonder if it is even possible to combine these qualities. Yes – I have seen some individuals who are able to walk this tightrope – but these are few and far between. And then comes in the question of mobility. As all multinationals we would like to move these ‘few’ talented people around the globe. But they have families to cater to and may not look forward to such uprooting their existence too often. But that’s another discussion… 

  

We are now experimenting with something which we believe can work. Being strong believers in ‘Real experience as the best teacher’ – we are rotating the sales people in strategic roles and vice versa – before actually giving them GM roles. And instead of giving the ‘small GM jobs’ to ‘Ready now’ candidates – we are taking a risk and giving them to individuals who have the ‘potential’ and the ‘right’ mix of experience. Now ‘potential’ is a big word – and very difficult to predict in spite of the slew of psychometrics. Often ‘high performance’ in the current role is a prerequisite for being considered for the next role – but we know that high performance at one level cannot really predict the same at the next level. We have decided to take a slightly easy way out – leaders require a basic set of competencies (we term them as leadership competencies) to be successful. If we put enough effort in identifying what this set is and if an individual possesses those competencies then half the battle is won  - and my firm belief is that a leader who is successful in one company with its own set of culture and values – may not necessarily be successful in another organization. The irony of the matter is that most global organizations use consultancies to ‘create’ their competency models – and I know of too many consultancies that will regularly put ‘old wine in a new bottle’. So it all comes down to spending a considerable amount of time in identifying what works in ‘your company’ – with its own ‘history’ and a set of ‘values’ and its own ‘culture’…All of these fancy terms that are so difficult to ‘define’ in an ever changing ‘world’. As a practitioner I have been guilty of taking the ‘easy way out’ – and accepting the ‘generic competency model’ sold by a well known ‘global’ consultancy. And often thinking…if only I could spend more time on doing this right…  

 SW

REVIEW OF THE SUCCESSION PLANNING ARTICLE

I stumbled on this article published by the international training and consultancy firm Achieve Global on the critical issue of succession planning .Article link is : http://www.hreonline.com/pdfs/03022007Extra_AjilonSuccessionPlanning.pdf

The article mentions the importance of succession planning in today’s competitive business environment. It further builds a historical and socio economic context to strengthen the case for strong succession planning in organizations. The important generic factors mentioned are a) impending retirement of the baby boomers b) Generation X and Y characterized by high volatility and low loyalty c) Lack of a strong middle management level in most organizations

Keeping these factors in mind the article suggests a three pronged way or three different models of succession planning. They are:

a)Contingency model based on emergency replacement

b) Long term planning model based on long term organizational needs and a strong strategic framework

c) A Mixed model which comprises of the emergency replacement method and long term planning model

The article cites successful examples of organizations like Johnson and Johnson , Eli Lily Microsoft , Proctor and Gamble who have taken visionary steps to have a robust talent pipeline and have embarked on focused initiatives to develop leaders . The various tools and techniques range from identifying high potential people , using different assessment tools and techniques , communication of the intent of the management to the employees .The article further sates the three critical factors that should be considered by human resource professionals during the process of succession planning and they are

Strategic planning -This involves a review of the organizational strategy and building systems based on the internal and external factors

Knowledge and criticality of the role –Here the HR professional will have to identify the critical roles for effective retention of talent and knowledge

Talent Management as a holistic process- Finally succession planning has to be viewed as a sum of multiple inputs and hence on should have a talent management philosophy where recruitment , career development , learning , retention are viewed as various dimensions of the entire process . The organization thus should have an integrated approach to manage and develop employees and plan for their career advancement .Thus a lot of focused efforts need to go in this direction where the Leadership team of the organization will play a very vital role in defining and executing the talent management philosophy .

My take is that most companies have realized the importance of the succession planning process. But it is a complex process at the end of the day . To be successful we will have to view the entire talent management process holistically and have a well defined yet flexible approach to handle each dimension of the talent management process with a sharp eye on the business realities . This is a job which the HR function has to do in consultation with the senior management for the company . For this the HR professional needs to have to right tools , information and technique to carve an organization specific succession plan . These tools and techniques could comprise of :

• Appropriate business knowledge ie organization’s products , revenue streams , competition intelligence
• Knowledge of critical roles and possible career paths for them
• Knowledge of various assessment methods ie 360 degree method , psychometric tools
• Information of practices in other companies
• Facilitation and coaching skills
• Literature related to career development and talent management ie sites , books , certifications
• A perspective or view based on the information about possible solutions and alternatives to the talent pipeline issue

Intuition and Analysis in the Manager’s world

I was reading a review of the recently published book by R Gopalakrishnan called The Bonsai Manager where he highlights the importance of intuition in the decision making process(http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?id=6586 ).The writer mentions that a leader should trust his intuition and I should add to it that the earlier s/he starts the better . That is because the business world is so unstructured and unpredictable that analysis can allow you to arrive at anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of the decision making process and the rest has to be left to intuition . The modern day management practices do call for a lot of preparation and snap decisions . So when the work itself demands a combination of analysis & insight , preparation and two minute decision making a combination of intuition and analysis is a must . But as practicing managers how soon do we start relying on our intuition . I think it takes sometime at least. In the MBTI(Myers Briggs Type Inventory) categorization of personalities we do have a slot for intuitive versus sensing kind of people . Your innate style might be sensing but there is an element of gut feel which is beyond the ken of thinking and sensing and that plays a vital part in any managerial decision making process.

R Gopalakrishan has mentioned an important point in his book where he states that managers have to learn and derive important lessons out of their natural surrounding else they would become what he calls Bonsai Managers . Many people get the impression that management education would make everyone all analytical , buttoned up and not very keen for any kind of out of box thinking . But I think that thought process has changed . The future lies with the intuitive manager and someone who can derive a community and nation specific idiom out of his/her experience keeping in mind the global ethos . Hence one should not be surprised with the booming economy in the Oriental world if there would be a China or an
India specific management thought process emerging in the near future .

BTW-After reading the review I have started reading the book too. More about it will follow soon …

AV

Management Education in India

Ancient India has been a creator and repository of a vast body of knowledge. However we have not been very systematic in documenting that knowledge for various reasons. One of the reasons could be our temperament – to specify more on that front … We pay attention to abstract phenomenon rather than creating or codifying concrete systems or institutions. I think the same plight affects modern management education in
India. The premier institutes (or Tier I Institutes as they are called) have seen compensation levels reaching an astronomical high. At the same time there has been a proportionate increase in the compensation levels at the second rung management institutes as well. However one would like to ask what are the concerted efforts taken to enhance the skill levels of the students ?

I happened to visit as part of the Campus Placement process at least 40 to 45  different Management institutes in 2006-7. Let us leave aside for the time being  variables like availability of slot , compensation levels offered by various companies , profiles offered by the recruiters et al . The general observation was that a) the communication skills of the students were far from satisfactory b) lack of practical skills i.e. accounting knowledge, practical application of concepts for fields like HR. c)lack of awareness of the skill level requirements in the industry . At the same time most of the students came across as extremely confident[ Henry Mintzberg did mention once in his characteristic style that  Confidence without competence  borders on arrogance ]. The students are indeed highly open to all kinds of inputs and moldable . However the industry requires more advanced skills and the students have to go through a steep learning curve .The students per se are not at fault as they have not got the right inputs . As  result the there is a mismatch between the actual yield and the industry expectations . If we take a Systems view of the whole situation then we will have to make changes at the input stage itself so that there is a consequent change in the process and thus the final output . Thus industry will have to actively collaborate with the education sector to create talent for the future. Talent creation itself will become an important HR activity going ahead. Organizations like TCS, Infosys , ICICI have already started collaborating with institutes to evolve specific curriculum that suits their interests . In addition to this there are many institutes that have evolved insurance specific courses( taking cognizance of the booming insurance sector in India ) , institutes like NMIMS at Mumbai have started a focused MBA course in Capital Markets . It is interesting to note that management education in China too is more or less in the same state . However we have long way to go before India is able to regain its status as a centre for higher learning …  

AV

Employee Life Cycle Approach To Manage The HR Function

Employee Life Cycle approach in managing the HR function will help us create a business case for effective management and resource allocation for the function . At an organizational level it will help us to present a robust model for the function and explain neatly how best HR could be aligned to various business processes. Thus it enables us to take both a micro and macro view of the HR function & business and create focused linkages between the two. Employee life cycle would encompass all the activities associated with the employee’s tenure in the organization from selection , recruitment , on boarding , development , learning and separation . In fact our blog is based on the principle of viewing and managing the HR function from an Employee Life Cycle (ELC)point of view. For an HR practitioner this approach can be a vital tool to determine the kind of inputs that need to be given to the employee based on the stage in the employee life cycle to ensure his/ her optimum performance, maintain motivation levels and ensure that suitable developmental inputs are given to the individual. Of course in larger organizations it might be difficult to give individualized attention and there invariably large scale systems driven initiatives would be useful in creating or providing inputs to the employees using an Employee Life Cycle(ELC) approach. There are both individual and organization specific factors  that affect the nature of initiatives and inputs using the Life Cycle approach .The individual specific factors are :

• Demographic profile i.e. details like age , gender etc
• Educational qualifications
• Tenure in the organization
• General aspiration and engagement levels

The organization specific factors that affect the Life cycle approach are :

• Nature of the industry
• Stage of the organization
• Organizational goals – long and short term goals
• Socio economic conditions
• Percentage of jobs , roles that can be categorized as bulk jobs ie that are done by majority of employees i.e. a sales driven organizations , organization having maximum programmer/software developers , organization with a majority percentage of employees  involved in the manufacturing process

Individual specific factors	Organization specific factors
Demographic profile	Nature of the industry
Educational qualifications	Stage of the organization
Tenure in the organization	Organizational goals – long and short term goals
General aspiration and engagement levels	Prevalent Socio economic conditions
	Highest  concentration of jobs in a particular category

Table 1 

The Employee Life Cycle is to be used in any organization keeping the individual and organization specific factors in mind . In a large MNC it can be used to draw a region specific plan followed by country and unit specific plan . The priorities and variables might change from region to region but the key drivers and philosophy behind the initiatives would be largely uniform and driven by the core thought processes prevalent in the organization and the HR function .In the ITES/BPO /IT industry in India characterized by a projectised environment , relatively younger workforce who can be easily molded and trained the Employee Life Cycle(ELC) approach calls for a unique  set of initiatives and processes. The HR strategy  and approach has to be designed in such a way  that it should  ensure  steady sourcing amidst the high attrition rates, evolution of industry specific  employee engagement activities , launching various platforms for quick recognition , keeping compensation and other benefits competitive  et al .

At this juncture we posit a model based on the Employee Life Cycle and Organizational Life Stage . We propose that different Organizational Life Stages call for varied interventions at each stage of the ELC. The table below further explains this comment .

Employee Life Cycle and Organizational Life Stage Model  

ELC Stages	Emerging organization	Mature organization
Recruitment	Maximum thrust	Moderate thrust
On Boarding	Extremely crucial activity that is being defined	Established activity
Retention	To evolve individual and sometimes organization  specific initiatives	Systemic initiatives for retention
Development	Evolve individual specific plans . Plan and implement the approach for developmental activities	Use of more sophisticated systems and existence of a well defined philosophy
Analytics	Importance to base level metrics i.e. number of hires vis a vis applicants	*Metrics defined for all ELC stages *Use of more advanced measurement systems

Table II 

Thus the ELC approach is both a well planned and flexible route that can add great value to the organization . It is the HR practitioner’s and organization’s viewpoint that can help yield greater or leaser value with the aid of this approach . We can add rigor to the model with a) live examples from a cross section of the industry b)link the interventions to the actual value they are able to bring to the create – both tangible and intangible c)make a conscious use of the model in the planning and budgeting phase . 

The HR architecture would thus   be vastly different in a mature organization as  compared to an emerging organization as the Employee Life Cycle stages would vary a lot and hence the building blocks of the HR framework would be different . The importance given to each stage of the Employee Life Cycle would vary depending on the organizational stage. A start up would demand lot of importance to the recruitment and selection stage whilst a more mature organization with a stable recruitment process will imply that adequate attention is given to the retention and employee development stage. The Industry Life Cycle too will affect the functioning of the Employee Life cycle. When the industry as such is going through the throes of change the organization and consequently the HR function too has to realign its focus and  provide employees with the tools to  operate in the New World . A good example to prove this point would be the case of all the old economy companies in post liberalization India(after 1991). In all the traditional growth sectors like  pharmaceutical , automobile etc  there was a huge thrust on Change management with BPR(Business Process Reengineering ) , TQM(Total Quality Management ) , Downsizing/ Rightsizing being the order of the day and thus  the focus of HR shifted to employee communication , learning and development and closely partnering businesses to implement the change initiatives . Thus a whole host of internal and extraneous factors have the potential to shape the Employee Life Cycle approach. Further the  ITES(IT enabled services) sector HR practices and approach would be different from  Old Economy companies  . Thus both the nature of the industry and the organizational life cycle would affect the functioning of Employee Life Cycle approach.  

The Employee Life Cycle approach is an effective  way to delineate even complex HR processes and strategy . All the HR initiatives and goals can be categorized  under the various stages of the Employee Life cycle . This will act as a ready reckoner to indicate the kind of resources , time,  energy we plan to spend on the various stages . It  will further help us evolve a focused HR plan and align that plan with speed to the larger organizational goals . The ELC   approach is very dynamic and open to imbibe and implement  various influences. Hence it becomes a very practical tool for the HR practitioner to  capture the external forces, organizational stimuli and link them  to the overall HR strategy .

AV

Talent Management discussion

I think Talent Management is a key topic of discussion across the HR community . However there are varied opinions held by people about the concept and its application . From an application view point we think that HR functions can be categorized under the umbrella of Talent Management and can be divided further into -planning ,acquiring, maintaining, retaining and developing . Jac Fitzenz( ref : How to Measure Human Resource Management (3rd Edition) by Jac Fitz-enz ) has added another dimension to it ie analytics . For convenience sake we can look at the three key functions under the big Brand Talent Management . They are talent acquisition , talent retention and talent development . With the global talent hunt on for varied profiles the common refrain that one hears is- Yes there are people but where are the right people ? Tapping these right people itself is a  key challenge and may be a hiring manager’s nightmare or most creative project ( ref:How to Become a Talent Magnet: Getting Talented People to Work for You by Mike Johnson  ). It is refreshing to view HR from Talent Management perspective. It helps us to a) build a framework around the disparate practices b)helps us to be more specific and accurate in any of the initiatives that we take up as practitioners c)gives us a sense of direction and an idiom to express both the day to day and long term initiatives  and planning being carried out in the function.

We examine the critical issue of Talent Acquisition in the Indian context . Whilst it is an important job there are many issues and challenges around the role of the Talent Acquisition team itself and they are :

a)many do not understand its criticality in the organizational context b) it becomes a whole lot transactional c) it becomes repetitive and monotonous taking into consideration the huge churn rate  d) organization themselves view hiring / sourcing departments as very operational units meant to take instructions and implement .

So are we talking of brain dead people who will only take inputs and process the information according to a well defined pattern … well it is for the individual organization to figure out what  kind of model they follow and as a result decide  the kind of people they want in the talent acquisition team .All in all Talent Acquisition is a critical role and we do need people there who understand business, have a working knowledge of the HR function ie structured interviewing processes and tools , competencies , various job elements  etc. Also one cannot forget the fact that in the race for establishing  huge organizations in a short period of time we might sacrifice various quality processes associated with the talent acquisition process as the emphasis is on getting the headcount in place within the specified timelines.

Talent Retention

This is an area where right from the CEO to the line manager everyone can add a lot of value with their orientation , willingness and ability to allocate resources and most importantly a  sound realization that these practices go a long way in adding to the bottomline .These practices could range from sound on boarding to processes and practices that bind the disparate elements  of an organization i.e. rewards and recognition programs , effective use of intranet, seamless HR service delivery  ,knowledge management initiatives etc . The key element here is also to have a conducive work environment where superior – subordinate relations, peer relationships are both personally and professionally value adding to the individual .Also a lot of initiatives will evolve over a period of time as the organization grows and HR will have to design  lot of industry specific practices .

Talent Development

This involves identifying the developmental needs of the employees in the context of the larger organizational goals and the individual career aspirations . The initiatives under this heading range from classroom learning , e-learning , leadership development and management development practices like career development , succession planning ,stretch assignments , job rotation etc. As competition gets fierce it is highly essential that companies design  , and implement practices that suit both the organization and individual .Here one will have to examine the larger organizational goals and the approach or philosophy one wants to adopt towards any developmental exercise let it be a competency based approach or an approach driven by the needs that emanate from the annual performance evaluation exercise . Once the goals are evolved  and approach is firmed up then one has to embark on the path of actually evolving a framework that converts  into actionables the gaps that are to be bridged and the new skills that need to be acquired .There would be various developmental tools or initiatives that would be used for this transformation  process ie converting the needs into deliverables .

Thus there are three concepts under the talent management framework to enable us to understand the approach and implement it in day to day practice . There is plethora of information and resources available for understanding this approach  . We can recommend the websites of SHRM(www.shrm.org) , CIPD(www.cipd.org)and The Talent Management Handbook by Lance and Dorothy Berger to  carry this thought thread ahead ….

 

AV

Introduction

Our aim : To present differing viewpoints on a range of HR topics by transcending borders of various kinds- national, intellectual , cultural

In the background :  Inquiry/ Contemplation/ Discussions

Vehicles: Article/reviews/ critiques and a growing knowledge base

For whom : The busy HR practitioner and the inquisitive HR student

Who are we : 2 opinionated HR practitioners in 2 corners of the world.

We invite you to challenge our view points and share yours…Welcome to our blog…