People Matters

Trading off privacy

By Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, Wipro

May 7th 2012

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone is paying for it.” When it comes to the Internet, we don’t ever sit up and ask who is paying for all the free stuff that we take for granted. Don’t be in a rush to find out the answer. It is you. You are paying for the ‘free’ webmail, the ‘free’ site where you store documents – especially the important ones or the free apps that you can download for your device. The maps that you use to navigate to ... Read more »

Book Review: Repeatability: Build Enduring Businesses for a World of Constant Change

May 7th 2012

In a world so dominated by pundits who vouch for reinvention as an inevitable tool for companies to remain competitive, the authors Chris Zook & James Allen, by the virtue of their multi-year study of hundreds of organizations, believe the contrary. Based on empirical evidence, the authors vividly put forth the idea that simplicity, focus, and mastering the art of continuous change, nearly trumps strategies of radical change or constant reinvention. They believe that the best performing co... Read more »

The BIG Shift

By Pallavi Jha, Chairperson & MD, Dale Carnegie Training India

May 7th 2012

While organizations look at effectiveness of training programs, managers are finally looking at ROI and business impact; this precisely is the big shift.Initially, the ROI part was more of a lip service. In fact, one does not necessarily need a mathematical formula to calculate ROI. What one needs is to look at whether or not the intended outcome of the training program has been achieved. Measurability of training has become a lot more specific. There are models that are practical and related ... Read more »

Coaching is neither counseling nor consulting

By M. Krishna Kumar, Founder Director, Intrad School of Executive Coaching (ISEC)

May 7th 2012

Be it the underlying concept or the importance, it is apparent that most organizations in India are yet to fully come to terms with understanding the concept of coaching. More often than not, in the business context, it has a negative connotation; it is primarily meant for remedial or corrective action. It seems that they are yet to comprehend the true meaning of coaching and hence, the impression is that coaching is something which is very scary. However, coaching in the world of business is ... Read more »

New world managers

By Srinivasa Addepalli, Senior Vice President - Corporate Strategy & Communications, Tata Communications

May 7th 2012

Let’s face it; the world we live in today is a lot different from the one we grew up in. Things like HAL 9000 that we grew up reading about in science fiction are becoming a reality – Siri anyone? We have changed as being mere ‘consumers’ to ‘creators or collaborators’. The desire for ownership has changed to that of the need for instant access – anytime and anywhere, giving rise to the trend of collaborative consumption. Augmented by device proliferat... Read more »

The Counselor: Why don’t people work as a team?

By Vivek Paranjpe

May 7th 2012

I have recently joined the HR team of a mid-sized pharmaceutical company as a senior manager. I have worked here for about 6 months now. What I have realized is that while the team has intelligent, creative and motivated people, they are not able to work as a team and as a result, productivity is suffering. While there is a lot of potential, the outcome is not as impressive and that is a concern. How do I identify the reasons behind this and help the team overcome the dysfunction?You have stat... Read more »

The Counselor: Employee motivation and productivity

By Vivek Paranjpe

May 7th 2012

Over the last few years, I have been observing a strange trend. When employees join the organization, they are highly motivated, which is directly reflected in their productivity. However, with the passage of time, this level declines. What could be the possible reasons and what can organizations do on their part to keep employees motivated and productive?This looks like a very general question; it is not specific to a problem that you may be facing. Several articles and books have been writte... Read more »

The Counselor: Becoming a paperless office

By Vivek Paranjpe

May 7th 2012

As a subsidiary of a European company, we are opting for paperless HR system. What are the legal issues that need to be kept in mind when transitioning to an electronic personnel records system?A paperless HR system is a concept that is laudable and corporations do aim to get towards that. You need to however, keep in mind that the world is not yet ready to move towards this 100 percent.There will always be some manual phases/human interventions in each HR process. In some processes, need to c... Read more »

Practising Giftwork® : A Great Place to Work® Institute Series

By Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Place to Work® Institute, India

May 7th 2012

The year was 1991. I was a management trainee in a well-known organization in the electrical engineering industry in India. The scene: Gate meeting of the worker’s union in response to a strike declared by the union and subsequent lockout declared by the management. Over 500 workers were listening with rapt attention to fiery speeches of a few union leaders on a makeshift stage near the factory gate. I and a few other “rookie” management trainees were seated on the ground alo... Read more »

Hey, I am top talent...

By Elango R., Chief Human Resources Officer, MphasiS

May 7th 2012

As the market tightens and as people get more senior in the company, we all find ways to stand out and be different from the next, so that a recruiter or a senior manager will make the call and invite us to the table.Recently, one such résumé crossed my desk. It listed as an achievement “Was on the top talent program for 3 consecutive years”. So, during the interview, I made it a point to ask them about this. The conversation went something like this:“I see yo... Read more »