People Matters

On Leadership and Succession

By Ester Martinez

Oct 1st 2010

How important is the role of a CEO? In an economy where businesses were traditionally driven by either family or the state, the CEO’s role was one that encompassed both executive and corporate governance roles (MD and Chairman). With the huge influx of funds into the economy, there is an increasing need for the separation of powers for taking business related decisions and for safeguarding shareholder wealth. In essence, the recent call from SEBI to split the Chairman and Managing Direct... Read more »

Cover Story: CEO Succession Planning

By Ester Martinez & Savreen Gadhoke

Oct 1st 2010

In a well-funded, high growth economic environment, it is imperative for India Inc. to craft effective leadership transfer mechanisms. Be it family-run businesses, PSUs or professionally-managed companies, the responsibility for effective succession planning and its implementation rests with shareholders’ representatives – the company’s BoardJanuary 2005: Reliance Group, India’s largest private sector enterprise, is split as the two Ambani brothers agree on a legal segr... Read more »

Cover Story: The Industry Perspective

Oct 1st 2010

On Leadership Development Leena Nair, Executive Director-HR, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.Leadership development is about building leaders through a combination of disciplined routines and processes, and something not always evident from outside: a collective expertise, honed through practice, in recognizing and developing talent. HUL is often referred to as a ‘CEO Factory’ and has contributed over 400 CEOs within Unilever and externally. Our approach toward recruiting and nurturing lea... Read more »

Cover Story: The Advisory View

Oct 1st 2010

On Succession Planning in PSUsDhruv Prakash, Managing Director - India, Leadership and Talent Consulting, KORN/FERRY INTERNATIONAL PSUs are unique in that almost invariably grow their own timber. PSUs generally have an internal promotion system and hire at entry level. Their system of internal promotions reaches the Executive Director level, which is one level below the Board. The Board level appointments are done only by Public Enterprises Selection Board. At that level then only, the pool b... Read more »

Cover Story: Academia View

Oct 1st 2010

On Five Steps of Effective Succession PlanningWilliam J. Rothwell, Professor of Workforce Education and Development, Department of Learning and Performance Systems, University Park Campus, The Pennsylvania State University Step 1 is to ‘Get commitment’. That means the organization’s leaders must be committed to systematic succession planning and not fall victim to the old problem that “when times are good, we don’t have time for succession planning and when time... Read more »

Cover Story: How to Hire a CEO that Lasts

By Ron Ashkenas and Justin Wasserman

Oct 1st 2010

 Hiring a successful CEO is no rocket science. All that companies need to do is to go beyond the traditional process of selection and create mechanisms for exploring the inert capabilities of the candidateRon Ashkenas and Justin WassermanNot long ago, a CEO of a major corporation called it quits after being there for only two years. Although the official statement said that he left ‘for personal reasons’, in truth he was not a good fit with the company, had alienated many of h... Read more »

Acquisition vis-à-vis Recruitment

By Amit Garg

Oct 1st 2010

Organizations are constantly faced with the challenge of making quick hires and that too in a market with massive shortage of talent. For managers to get the right talent at the right moment, they will need to invest in proper recruitment processes and systems.Indian economy is growing at a tremendous pace today and is expected to see a growth rate of 8.5% in the next six months. Consequently, talent acquisition and recruitment have seen a concomitant growth. Indian companies are hiring and w... Read more »

The Search Begins

Oct 1st 2010

Hastha Krishnan, President - Executive Search, Ma Foi Randstad talks about how executive search practices in India differ from those in the rest of APAC countriesWhat are the trends in the executive search space in India?Traditionally, companies in India thought that executive search is just another form of recruitment. As globalization has deepened, senior executives have been exposed to multiple opportunities and employer organizations have found it challenging to attract the ‘right pe... Read more »

HR Challenges in SMEs

By Rajiv Oza

Oct 1st 2010

Although Small & Medium Enterprises are set on a growth trajectory, they are still grappling with inherent challenges of culture and scale, which the HR leaders must address.The Indian economy is now the second fastest growing economy of the world. As per the Ministry of Finance, the GDP of India stood at 8.8% in the first quarter of 2010-11 (the overall growth of GDP in 2009-10 was 7.2%); overall growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was recorded at 13.8% during July 2010 as ... Read more »

Lead Speak: Shri. S. K. Chaturvedi

By Savreen Gadhoke

Oct 1st 2010

In an exclusive interaction with People Matters, Shri S. K. Chaturvedi, CMD, POWERGRID discusses the daunting challenge of achieving 178,000 mega watt capacity and the risk of talent poaching from private sector players as they enter the transmission sector.Hiring in both public as well as private sector was on a downside last year due to slowdown. What was the impact on POWERGRID in terms of reduced hiring?The recession in fact gave us an opportunity to spend more and attract good people. Dur... Read more »