Motivating employees at work is an issue confronting academicians, researchers and practicing managers all over the world. Human Resource managers are

•          Reevaluating the relevance of traditional motivation theories developed by Maslow and Herzberg, which focus higher set of needs such as self-actualization, in the present day cultural context

•          Suggesting suitable changes and developing an alternate theories to understand the intrinsic process  of employee motivation

The Fear Greed Theory of Motivation

There are interesting implications for managers and decision makers as they revisit the process of motivation.  Thomas Patten, argues that there are just two basic motivators, i.e. greed and fear.  Fear-greed motivation theory, as postulated by him, has economic self-interest as its core and is more fitting to what is happening today.  In support of his argument, he cites the exchange theory in sociology, public-choice theory of political science and emerging socio-biology, all being focused on self-interest.  The recent fall of financial giants, seem to support this contention. 

How relevant is Maslow Today?

Greed seems to be emerging as a potent addition in the context of loss of jobs due to economic downturn, rising labour costs and potential reduction of financial services industry coupled with already shrinking aerospace and weapon markets, all causing widespread fear among working class.   Well-paid jobs seem to be increasingly perceived as means for providing a secured and gratifying existence.  A secured existence reduces fear.  The more is fear reduced, the greater is one’s feeling of security.

The proposition is thought provoking in the current context -

•          What truly motivates employees- is it greed or self-actualization?

•          Are the motivational theories of Maslow and Herzberg based on self-actualization enough to understand the work motivation process today?

•          If the answer to the previous question is no, is there an alternate framework to help practicing managers understand behavior of employees and the motivation process

Show me the money: Is it all that it takes?

It is only in the past decade that the importance of rewards – money, in particular, has been recognized.  Organizational Behavior Expert, Lawler seems to support this, “A great deal of evidence exists to suggest that pay was important to employees and that it could motivate them, yet it has been systematically ignored or distorted”.

The generalization in relating greed seems to be justified in workers exhibiting consistent behaviour pattern (asking for more benefits). Work has indeed moved from being a “noble cause” that a man could be intrinsically motivated to engage himself in, to a “commodity” which is accomplished in lieu of money through extrinsic motivation.  And as work assume the nature of a commodity, motivation to deliver more than expected has dropped and most enterprises today grapple with quality issues.

Schemes intended to motivate employees by linking compensation to performance and productivity are not alien to us.  The assumption is that people perform better if they are provided with higher incentives.  Research studies, conducted in various work settings, however support an opposing view.  According to Alfie Kohn, “As for productivity, at least two dozen studies over the last three decades have conclusively shown that people who expect to receive a reward for completing a task or for doing that task successfully simply do not perform as well as those who expect no reward at all”.

In an increasingly consumeristic world, where there is demand for higher deemed comfort levels,

•          Do most employees find their lower needs are inadequately satisfied?

•          Has this led to the temporary disappearance of man’s higher needs, and consequently his desire to reach out towards them?

Even as we look at modifying traditional motivational theories of Maslow and Herzberg, the theory of fear-greed motivation could do with more conceptual rigor and empirical studies. Most importantly, in an emerging economy like India, which is at the crossroads of change, there is growing importance of money as the prime motivator for work. And therefore, the theory of fear-greed motivation could be of interest.

 By Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Head of HR- Asia Pacific, Perot Systems

Building HR Strategy, Managing Culture Design & Change, Strategic Thinking & Alignment Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay

Uncategorized Anand Pillai, L Selvam George

I recently attended a debate in an MBA College on, “Responding to Economic Slow down”.

Speaker after speaker was stressing that Indian companies should not hesitate to lay off /retrench/down size/rationalise manpower.

They also went on saying that HR in India can only add numbers but is not trained to reduce manpower in times of need.Some even went to the extent of arguing that HR is too scared to handle any backlash.Some speakers opined that HR in India is too soft and in their heart of hearts would not like to send any one home.The “Pink Slippers”expressed that the HR in India should learn from western HR practices where the manpower can be  chopped on a weekend.

The opposite camp vehemently opposed them by saying that in India , there is no proper social security system or unemployment insurance. They added that those employees losing jobs will be on the roads with families as they can not get alternate jobs easily during these days….

Some of them quoted figures of labour cost in percentage terms as very low in India and hence energy should be spent on reducing other costs than employee costs alone.

Quoting example of aviation industry , a speaker opined that instead of stopping salaries , management and government should focus on cost of aviation fuel as it accounts for much higher cost.

As a moderator of the discussion,I got confused as I could see merits in both the sides of argument….

As I was wondering what to say, the tea break was announced to my great solace.rescuing me……

Uncategorized Dr. PVR Murthy

I recently attended a marriage in the family of a HR professional, a friend for decades, where I was pleasantly surprised to watch an incident on the dais. A batch of union leaders from the company he left ten years back were hugging him with joy written all over their faces and wishing him and his family.

I couldn’t believe it as during these days we hardly come across any farewell parties even when the person is leaving the company and here are these persons coming all the way to wish him even ten years after he left them. I couldn’t imagine how he was able to earn and sustain such a long lasting personal credibility and popularity.

I pulled my friend aside and asked him how it is happening… He smiled and said, “Well , to tell you the truth ,I also don’t know it but come to think of it I was just myself…”

His simple reply triggered a few thoughts…

Personal credibility is a building block for trust,Personal Credibility is a quality or a power and capability to elicit belief and make others rally around. Classic example that comes to my mind as to how personal credibility helps is the case from scripture Mahabharat, where Dharmaraj got credibility as a person who never lies and speaks truth only. Hence with that credibility, even when he lied that Aswathama died, every one believed him including Aswathama’s father.

Results of a research study flashed in my mind - -a research by  University of Michigan Business School (HRCS Study) which concluded that among the five factors essential for success of HR professionals of today , their personal credibility is the top most rated competence.

Needless to mention, a HR person with credibility can sell ideas faster, manage changes, respond to crisis quickly and manage it successfully.Personal Credibility enables any HR professional to become intimately involved with the organisation at a strategic level. A HR person not so trusted would invariably be left out of Strategic HR interventions.. Thus it makes him effective or ineffective in his role.

I was also reminded of a book by Sandy Allgeier titled , “The Personal Credibility Factor: How to Get It, Keep It, and Get It Back (If You’ve Lost It)   (Amazon) where the author presents how does one build personal credibility through simple steps like : Forget Power,Position,Status and other Nonsense; Honor commitments and Avoid Gossip ; Know yourself -Good ,Bad and Ugly…; Respect Others as they are ; .Ask More and Listen More…

All these simple sounding but practical mantras sound good but who is the real internal customer of HR, who can build or dismantle credibility of HR folks ?.

Is it the top management?

or is it the Union Leaders ? or Employees at large ?

or fellow management team? Or fellow HR Team?

Or is the immediate boss ?

And if none of them who else??.

A satisfied and happy internal customer may or may not convey his happiness to his/her friends but a discontented internal customer invariably shares the anger with a lot of his friends. And if all or some of the above cited members are HR’s internal customers, how does a HR Professional balance conflicting interests and expectations from these different internal customers as often they build or dismantle the credibility or image of HR folks.

In absolute terms, probably, HR Fraternity has to set self-defined standards and compete with the same to enhance value through innovative HR interventions as Dr.Santrupt Mishra said in some context (2002) .

While the HR function’s credibility is impacted by its internal customers, may be the HR professional’s personal credibility gets carried along with him/her to which ever company he goes. Where ever he/she moves, his /her personal credibility follows like a shadow or  the Hutch Dog in the ad and some times even the image foreruns before he/she joins the new company.

Hence every HR professional in one’s own interest, build , nurture one’s credibility and guard it by one,s actions.

The HR professional has to

· look at long term interests rather than short term excitements,

· walk the talk, through leading by example,operate not by one’s own power or position but by his expertise as also in this knowledge era only knowledge gets respected not the        position he /she holds

· authentic while meeting the conflicting expectations

· cater to internal customers with genuine service orientation.

My friend’s simple reply, “I was my self” made profound sense.

But the challenge seems to be to establish personal rapport with employees in an environment with increasing out sourcing of HR services ?

-How does any HR professional , avoid alienation from his/her internal customers while attaining benefits of HR Out sourcing like enhanced bottom-line and efficiency in service ?

The author Dr.PVR Murthy,is founder CEO of a leading Search Firm –Exclusive Search Recruitment Consultants  and can be reached at pvrmurthy@exclusivesearch.com

Personal Credibility Dr. PVR Murthy

The most invisible but impactful element of the organisation is culture–and arguably one that helps sustainability as well as consistent and superior performance. It’s not just difficult to define but also to explain in a meaningful way, and at the end of the day, is an aggregation of many things. Culture is underlying and what is visible or observable are symptoms, and maybe some behaviours, or how things happen in the organisation. It is then the job of leadership to make meaning out of these visible symptoms/signs and take action to reinforce or correct certain things. However, changing culture is often difficult and unsuccessfully attempted. The difficulty often lies in changing things (processes, leadership, ways of working, people bahaviours and rewarding mechanisms). This is particularly so if the organisation has been successful in the past. Here are a few primary causes (and there can be many more), which seem to be relevant in this context. These are more from a leadership and people perspective and do not illustrate the challenges from a financial, process or system perspective.

It’s easier to talk about problems than do something about them. Most people can fairly accurately talk about symptoms, and some even get to the root cause of issues. Collectively or individually, it’s most likely that the people in the organisation often are well aware of the problem, or at least part of the problem. It is however quite amazing that nothing happens as a consequence. This could be due to many reasons–the voice is not heard, symptoms ignored and /or the analysis of the root cause is faulty. However, it appears that most of the time organisations and leaders do not know “how” to deal with the problem. So they know the “what” but not the path to get there. It’s also feasible that the “how” is linked to difficult choices and a different way of doing things, so it does not automatically happen. And many leaders may believe that by talking about the problem enough, it will somehow go away. Unless there is differentiated action to address real issues, this is unlikely to happen.

Most People/Leaders see themselves as being outside the problem. It’s often quite enlightening to see people talk about challenges in their organisation. It is as if they are analysts or consultants. They refuse to believe that their own actions, behaviours and contribution is also part of the success and culture of the organisation. It is as if they are not part of the organisational dance but standing aside watching other people dance. It’s good to step back once in a while and take a detached view. It is also imperative to accept that each employee (and particularly senior leaders) leave a mark by how they behave and do things on the fabric of the organisation. This defines culture more often than not, and unless there is personal responsibility to see and do thing differently, the collective change at an organisational level will not happen.

The wrong behaviour is being rewarded and not reprimanded/corrected. This is perhaps the most contentious area. Leaders often give confusing signals to people  down the line. There are either not enough motivators for change, and not enough communication around the consequences of changing or not changing are. The rewards (or reprimands) often have nothing to do with behaviours the organisation is trying to drive. There are overt and covert reward mechanisms in organisations–e.g,who gets more face time with the leader in a particular group. While leaders may deal with overt and apparent reward mechanisms (pay, promotions, appraisal ratings etc), they are often negligent of the more subtle recognition mechanisms and what message it is passing to the organisation at large. It is quite difficult to get even the stated reward mechanisms right while implementing–bringing objectivity and fairness. On top of that if there are too many covert signals as to what is ‘really’ valued –or not–it confuses the organisation and creates mistrust and lack of behavioural direction.

The subtle signals are ignored. Organisations and culture don’t change by themselves, at least in a planned way. There are of course examples of crises which force change. While implementing change however, signs of support or resistance can be often ignored, By not acknowledging support, this is likely to go away and enthusiasm fade. By not dealing with conflict and resistance in a timely and direct manner, it can grow, and even become a roadblock. The ability to pick the signs, and more importantly act on them is critical. Change managers and leaders are so taken up by their own vision and what they want to drive that other perspectives can be missed sometimes. Also, differentiating between the more apparent (vocal) signs vis the ones which are less apparent may be important to direct action. The trick therefore is to not just pick the right signals and all of them, but also interpret meaningfully, assess the impact and act.

Change Orientation, Managing Culture, Managing Culture Design & Change Bimal Rath

Last month, I met an old friend. He had done himself well, and is now the HR Head – or Chief People Officer as he would insist -in a blue-chip company.

“How have you been?” I asked him.

“Oh, I am doing well,” he replied.

“…and how has the current recession affected you?” This was a curiosity for me: what would the HR professionals be doing with people when there is not enough market demand to keep the employees productively employed.

“Not much, really!! We have managed it well,” he said. “In fact, we just concluded an Employee Alignment and Optimization initiative last week.”

‘Employee Alignment and Optimization ” seemed such a sexy term. It conjoured up images of a happy bunch of people being helped by my friend and his HR team to bring their interest and capabilities in-synch with their work and performance.

“That’s really nice! You mean, you assessed and re-allocated them so that they get to do what they are really capable of doing, and enjoy doing?”

He looked aghast and uncomfortable. “No! no!,” he said. “This was actually an initiative to disengage about 200 of them from the organization.”

“You mean, you fired them?!!” I was startled, not being sure how can one “optimize” and “align” people by firing them.

“No, actually, we didn’t have to fire them, at all,” he beamed, happily. “In fact, as we had planned, it was a voluntary separation. It was really a very smooth process.”

I was thoroughly impressed. “That’s really remarkable!,” I said with awe. “It says so much about the level of commitment you must have fostered among the people, that they could make such a sacrifice for the larger good of the organization. Imagine!… you send out a mail saying that we need 200 volunteers to leave the organization – and people actually volunteer.”

My friend looked at me as if I had lost my beans. “Of course, Not! It was not like that at all!!” he almost choked. “This was a very systematic and thorough exercise; we planned it with precision, and with full confidentiality; and we trained our HR and line executives to communicate the choice to the 200 of our employees who had be separated.”

I was befuddled, “….and what was the choice?”

“Oh!,” he said with the pride of a general who has cleverly ambushed the enemy. “We told them that they can volunteer to resign; they will have to sign a document to that effect. It was our legal department which suggested this. In return, we will give them 2 months of “sabbatical leave” – “

“Sabbatical leave! You mean, the company will finance 2 months for their re-education?” I was amazed at this generous gesture, though by now, I had a nagging doubt that there must be a catch somewhere.

“No, no!, we can’t do that. Think of the costs!” he corrected me. “You know, what with this sensitivity of media about the pink-slips, we had to really think about what to call this interim period. What we actually offered them was 2 months of further employment at half salary, and they don’t have to come to office – actually, they can’t enter office! We also promised to help their outplacement, and they get a decent separation package after 3 months. Depending upon their length of service, they would get 2-months to 10-months of their pay as the severance pay.”

“…and what if they didn’t accept this offer?”, I was curious – or as Alice would have said, it was getting curiouser and curiouser.

He laughed, waving his hands in the air. “Actually, there was not much of a choice for them.” he said with some satisfaction. “We had their performance ratings, and other inputs from the line managers, which we could use to retrench them. We told them that, upfront…. our Legal Dept had already put together a strong case for termination for each of them, really!.”

A stray thought suddenly occurred to me.

“But tell me,” I asked. ”why did you want to fire – er, sorry, disengage - them in the first place!?”

He looked at me incredulously, as if I was from some other planet. “Don’t you read the newspapers?” he asked. “I don’t know if this is a cyclical recession or a meltdown, but the point is that we need to cut down costs – and maintain our margins.”

“Costs!!.. But aren’t employees the “resources” – I mean, Human Resources? I know organizations which even call them “the most precious assets” or “human capital”? How did they suddenly become “cost” to the company?”

“Ugh! You don’t seem to understand…,” he lapsed into silence for some time. “After all, “resources”, “assets” etc., are just words. The key issue is: whether, as HR professionals, we are contributing to business or not.”

“But what happens if the business picks up in a year or so, and you need more people?”

“If that happens, we will have to hire new ones”, he said in a matter-of-fact manner. “The point is that have to maintain our profit margins of 35%…”

Needless to say, we left each other, puzzled – and the rest of the conversation, somewhat, went on the same tenor…

And I recalled Jerry Harvey’s classical article: “Eichmann in the Organisation”…

“… it was not the Nazis only who were to be blamed for what happened to Jews – but also the Jewish Council in Germany. To quote:

“…the collusive role played by the Jewish councils – the most powerful, respected, and trusted members of the Jewish community – in the liquidation of their own people, including, in the end, themselves…. they compiled lists for the Nazis of persons to be deported… served as police during actual seizure of people and property… “ etc.

In the contemporary scenario, Adolf Eichmann was the quintessential Human Resources professional, and would have approved of the new HR Mantra:

Align!… Optimize!!… Fire!!!

Building HR Strategy, Personal Credibility, Service Orientation, Strategic Thinking & Alignment, Talent Management Dr Madhukar Shukla

It was the month of June 1999, when I first met Vijayan[1]. I was interviewing him for a position of project lead in my company. Vijayan had all those qualities required for being considered for this position. A graduate degree in electronics and communication engineering from one of the premier engineering colleges in the country, followed by a masters from one of the sought after US universities and then about five years of relevant working experience in Silicon Valley with well known semiconductor companies. The technical interview panel already recommended his selection indicating his having very high degree of competence required for the job. In the HR round, I was very impressed with his clarity of thought, when he answered my questions, especially those related to his career.  Then he made an unusual request. He wanted to be employed part time. I was not prepared for this because I always thought a project leader’s job in an IT company has to be full time. But he was very firm in his decision. He said half the day he would like to work for an NGO committed to uplift the life-standards of village artisans. Initially I did not agree but later on after talking to my other colleagues I reluctantly agreed to give a try. Vijayan joined us and over a period of time, he emerged as one of the most successful project leads in the company. However, he continued to work for half the day. In due course, I gradually became aware about him as a person, his views about many things in life and what he wants to achieve in his career. I realised that the primary objective in his career was not to become a successful IT manager, but to help others for a cause and make the world a better place to live.

It’s a mere coincidence that I met Sarita1 during the same time. She had a MBA in HR from one of the premier institutes of the country. She was then looking for an organisation which could give her opportunity to work for part - time in the HR team. I interviewed her and found her very competent in her area of expertise. I offered her a part time job as a consultant in the HR team. She did her job very well and then I offered her to be a permanent member of the team with regular managerial responsibilities. She was very clear in her approach, she said she would accept the manger’s role but still would like to continue part time. I realised that she valued her family and personal life equally to that of her organisational career and professional achievements and was not ready to give up one at the cost of the others.  I was much wiser by then and I offered her a part time managerial job for a team of full time HR professionals. She not only excelled in her job but also was well accepted by her team members.

During the same time only I met Raviram1 in one of the conferences where both of us were co-speakers. We became good friends over a period of time and started meeting each other regularly to exchange our thoughts on subjects of mutual interests over weekends. Raviram was working for a multinational IT company as the software engineering head and was doing exceedingly well. He was being considered for heading the company for a major product initiative in the South East Asia region. Suddenly, in one of these meetings, he confessed about his intention of leaving his job.  He sought my advice. However, the passionate way he explained his future plans to start his new organisation, I somehow knew he had already made up his mind. As predicted, going against advices from almost all his close friends and relatives he decided to quit and started his own company.

These three real life incidents convinced me that many of the traditional theoretical concepts for explaining career phenomena seem less valid today in India than they did earlier. There were three significant changes that I was witnessing through these experiences. The first was the de-coupling of the concept of career to any one organisation (so entrenched in my mind set) and even from its exclusive association with paid employment. Second the departure from the usually accepted notion of career as regular progressions through ladder like job sequences. Third was the newer meaning of career that went beyond organisations and encompassed family, life-interests and personal accomplishment.

Interestingly enough, in all the three real - life examples that I narrated above provided me an interesting insight about the career and career success in today’s world. Whereas in earlier days in India, professionals were contended with the organisational view of career and the career success today’s professionals were looking for self-defined view of career and the career success. Therefore, I felt it was important for me to understand the crucial building blocks that defined career and career success for these professionals. Reflecting on these experiences, I realised that if we, the HR professionals continue to take a purely transactional view of individual-organisational relationship, see as any individual as largely replaceable in terms of skill set, and view all non-work interest as strictly the individual’s business unless they infringe on his/her daily work schedule, we will be focusing as usual with the organisation - driven objective and external perspective of career and ignoring the individual - driven, subjective and internal perspective of career.  Instead I thought could we address internal career needs of these professionals in organisational context.

In the backdrop of such realities, it calls for re- examining the changing meaning of career itself; the silent evolution that had already taken place in west and has already began in India, especially among the new generation whom I refer as “New Careerists”.

Career researcher Shepherd described this as a new career contact, which is not a pact with the organisation but more of an agreement with one’s self and one’s work. According to him, “these are the things that you can now or potentially could do with excellence, which are fulfilling in the doing of them, so fulfilling that if you also get paid to do them, it feels not like compensation, but like a gift”.

In this changing scenario, organisations in India need to realise that the time has come here too, where the work force are turning themselves into more pluralistic, where individual need fulfillment is as important as the external ones imposed by demands, possibilities, and limitations of the organisations. Success for these “New Careerists” will therefore depend to what extent organisations adopt creative and unorthodox HR practices that can effectively address internal career needs of these young and mobile professionals and create an emotional bonding between individuals and the organisation. This pluralistic framework of career recognises that there are markedly different ways of defining career success for an individual in the context of organisation, consequently markedly different approaches to career management to manage these “New Careerists”.

Are we ready to experiment?

[1] Real names have not been used to keep the anonymity

Business Knowledge, Change Orientation, Talent Management, Training & Development Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay

 During times of economic downturn, businesses tend to respond to short-term crises with counterproductive defensive tactics. Such knee jerk reactions ultimately hurt the only sustainable competitive advantage we have i.e. our employees.

Regardless of whether Companies are experiencing an economic slowdown or an economic upswing, the bottom line is that people power is the certain route towards gaining a competitive advantage.

In this context investment in talent development is one of the most effective ways for businesses to maintain their top talent’s loyalty and ability to continue delivering high-performance. HR leaders thus need to be proficient at developing talent and creating the congenial work environment to build a high-performing workforce. Today, one of the top priorities for HR is maintaining a talent pipeline, driving high performance throughout the organization and experimenting with new HR practices based on the needs of their people. This HR contribution becomes all the more prudent in a economic downturn environment.

One of the key roles played by HR is to develop the leadership pool for the organization. Shopping for Leaders in the open market will become increasingly risky and difficult on the contrary building leaders will be the only way to succeed. Over the years, HR has thus become strategic to business; there are many examples in Indian as well as global Companies where HR Heads have been made a part of the Board of Directors. Hence during the downturn a calm & balanced approach on people decisions becomes the pre-requisite to define the roadmap to normal times.

In the present business environment HR function has to demonstrate a strong relationship between workforce practices and business performance. This will be done through advanced data-mining and the predictive modeling of human resource processes i.e. talent development, Performance Management etc; to identify new business insights. In other words, HR would continue its focus on human resource measurements.

HR is accountable for driving performance at the organizational, team and individual levels. I think that today’s focus on high performance is a growing recognition through reward and recognition, performance management, and people development etc. Instead of focusing on individual motivators, HR functions must begin to look at driving performance as an end-to-end process that begins with goal-setting and alignment, ensures accountability for achieving results, includes thorough and consistent feedback, and ends with differentiated and targeted rewards and developmental opportunities..

While dealing with the downturn most of us negate or pay less attention to the people aspect in our business, as we are more interested in managing our bottom line. In the trying business circumstances similar to the one we are experiencing in the past 9 months, many organizations have found a short term solution in laying off their employees, while few have been able to actually demonstrate their belief in ‘People Power’ by retaining them and ensuring a long term competitive edge for their company. It is high time that we acknowledge the fact that employees are the key differentiating factor for any business organization, as they ‘Draw, Drive & Deliver’ the business results. The underlying principles of any business model, therefore, should always aim at, keeping the employees motivated & engaged. The leadership should take time out for employees & have one to one dialogue, communicate consistently & honestly, connect each employee to the organization by emphasizing their contribution. In fact the motto for top leadership should be “Be there” for your people & most importantly, “listen to your employees.”

A business has both internal and external customers. In an economic upswing or downtrend, everyone gets affected, though the extent may vary. The key to handle this is to get back to the ‘Basics’ - Strong leadership, investment in key resources, thorough planning, improving productivity, renewed focus, out of box thinking & innovations and customer obsession. However, this can actually happen only if one has a competent, engaged and highly motivated employees.

Unquestionably, the winners on the other side of this global downturn will be the organizations with the strategic leadership talent that can drive innovation and growth. Consequently, the nurturing and development of strategic leadership talent is vital and should be on the agenda of boards. The ability of a company to deal with difficult situations is to a large extent dependant on the mental strength & positive mindset of the top leadership, as well as the organizational culture. In my view looking at counter measures in the downturn situation is more of a reactionary approach. The organizations must look at up scaling the People Power through innovation & growth and stay focused on people processes when business environment is on the upswing.

To conclude, let me say Corporates have to choose between a short term approach of going for knee jerk reactions and viewing the employees as an overhead cost or talking a prudent view of people as the talent pool or people power which in the long term can help Companies to ride out hard economic times and improve their overall business performance and enable consistent organization growth.

From

SY Siddiqui

Managing Executive Officer – Admn (HR, Finance & IT), Maruti Suzuki India Limited And President – National HRD Network, Delhi Chapter

Building HR Strategy, Business Knowledge, Change Orientation, Strategic Thinking & Alignment SY Siddiqui

In a world that is becoming increasingly flat & globalization is the mantra for several organizations who have high growth ambitions, it is little wonder that many of them have set up an International Business team who can focus on the company’s global expansion plans. A key aspect of such plans is building a global work force.

This was the topic that I was invited to speak on in a HRM Summit organized by the ABV – Indian Institute of Technology and Management, Gwalior recently.

While the globalization bug has bitten Indian organizations till about a decade, several global MNCs have been managing a global pool of employees and have therefore implemented a number of best practices in this area.

Here are some common best practice themes in managing an international talent pool

1. Commit strongly to developing leaders with global outlook & capability

a. Set the tone from the top: Organizations betting global clearly establish that international exposure is a key ingredient for success in climbing the corporate ladder, e.g. P & G & Eli Lily ensure that their top executives have at least one international assignment. Colgate-Palmolive, PepsiCo and GE have a regular pool of Global Expatriates who build critical experiences outside their home country as part of their Leadership Development Program.

b. Invest in creating international cadre: HSBC runs a program for International Officers (IOs) that includes a 9-week residential training with emphasis on core values, five-year rotation through five areas of commercial banking in several countries and new postings every 2-3 years in an increasingly challenging environment.

c. Access the best talent pool, regardless of source: P & G uses its HRIS to seek out internal candidates for overseas assignments and develops case studies to be used in university training programs. ABB maintains the right to transfer top talent when negotiating joint ventures and has a mini-MBA program for Polish joint venture. Motorola University runs a China Accelerated Management Program.

2. Ensure rapid deployment of international managers to seize opportunities

a. Build mobility explicitly into value proposition: HSBC sets mobility expectations with their IOs from Day 1 and are managed as a corporate resource pool. ABB creates cross-border teams to solve problems.

b. Remove barriers to mobility: Colgate Palmolive has a spouse assistance program. Shell has programs like Spousal Employment Program and education allowance for children

c. Use bundled skills approach: Carrefour, the French retail giant develops stores in new emerging markets by sending in a team that stays on site till the operation is on its feet and then moves to a new site. P & G dispatched a high potential cross functional team to spend 3 years setting up operations in China.

3. Allay fears

a. Balance tenure with motivation: Coca Cola does not repatriate managers until they’ve had a chance to show impact. Several organizations maintain motivation through frequent senior leaders’ interaction.

b. Build connectivity with broader organization: Samsung assigns a senior home office mentor who periodically touches base to provide news about events in home country and offers career advice. Eli Lilly uses the corporate intranet to stimulate communication among expatriates

c. Ensure smooth and transparent repatriation: Komatsu has a ‘return ticket’ policy – an assurance that the company views international assignments as a broadening experience and that returning expats have a job waiting for them in Japan.

I am sure there are several best practices you’d have come across. So inviting you to share them, including from your own organization!

International HRM Madan Srinivasan

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

– Martin Luther King

We are indeed in the midst of an unsettling environment, fuelled by the rising cost of capital, falling consumer confidence, inflationary concerns, pressure on profit margins, decreased equity valuations, challenges which demand an unprecedented prudence from business leaders. Lessons learnt from past experiences of managing the road ahead in such difficult times reveal that the agenda to sustain and enhance performance requires an ideal balance between managing the “now” with a proactive well managed plan for the future.

As WH Auden aptly observed long ago about cancer, we are seemingly in the midst of a condition where “Nobody knows what the cause is, /Though some pretend they do; / It’s like some hidden assassin/ Waiting to strike at you.” Even as organizations revisit the strategy, the human resources function would be expected to align with the new realities. Announcing short term measures such as employee reduction apparently are transmitting the right signals to stakeholders at large that there is definitive focus on cost control. Is this conserving or destroying value is a question that confronts us.

The role of the HR professional is to be an alchemist. Intellect is the new form of property, and the HR function needs to play its part in ensuring that the human capital advantage of the organization is sustained, irrespective of good or difficult times.

Intellectual capital is not added overnight and the efforts must be recognized as an investment, not just as expenditure. The human resources function must be ‘like a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere’. The need of the hour for HR is to weave a strategy to convert this situation into an opportunity that can help the organization emerge stronger once the troubled times are over. How must the Human Resources function respond?

The first critical step is to examine the implications of current changes and ensure that the people strategies are relooked at from a ‘new’ point of view. This would provide the basis for a set of guiding principles that will help take necessary actions across the value chain.

Ø HR strategy refresh must reflect the new business strategy and broad directions being set to steer the company through choppy waters

Ø Implement high impact HR Interventions, to deliver business imperatives, and prioritize expenditure on various HR programs to conserve outflows

Ø Account for HR costs on people programs and tie them to financial returns to estimate the ROI and follow up with close monitoring of effectiveness

Ø Evaluate automation / outsourcing options actively of certain HR functions esp where resources can be conserved

Two decades of incessant growth is likely to have resulted into certain inefficiencies creeping in the way organizations are designed, particularly where there has been an insufficient attention on this critical aspect When it is time to make every move count, organizations need to review the structure to bring in more agility and flexibility in the system. Organization structures are indeed the bridge between strategy and execution, and the second key step is to enable it be even more effective.

Ø Restructure the organization in order to adapt to the new business environment

Ø Realign reporting relationships and delegation of authority for swift decision making

Ø Review of workforce planning as per changed business projections

Ø Examine alternatives such as redeployment/planned sabbaticals/ job sharing/ and rightsizing only as a last resort

The third vital step is to focus on Performance with a new lens. When the chips are down, each employee must be able to extract the maximum mileage of his abilities, and the environment created should nurture a high performance orientation. People can make all the difference if they feel committed. Strengthening the linkage of performance and reward has become the need of the hour.

Ø Identify critical skill sets and develop a focused talent retention and development program

Ø Identify high potential employees and focus on strengthening their capabilities

Ø Create a fungible workforce to enable quick re-deployment

Ø Drive a performance oriented culture

Ø Enhance linkage between individual performance and variable pay

The next step is to conserve the value inside the organization by recognizing people asset to be at the heart of creating a sustainable competitive advantage. It is important to preserve the fabric of the organization through sustained employee engagement and regular employee communication. The message that we are all in it together; that we can survive the times, and more importantly that the leadership has a clear plan creates ownership and cascades the ability to survive and thrive.

Ø Evolve a two way communication strategy to keep all employees and stakeholders updated about the business objectives, and new expectations

Ø Encourage an organizational culture that embraces learning and holds managers and employees accountable for the results

Ø Asses employee engagement levels and drive innovative employee engagement practices

Ø Engage in a Corporate Employer Branding exercise to reach a broad array of audiences

The HR function has a vital role to play in preserving and nourishing the human capital assets of the organization, and must measure up to meet the situation at hand. The primacy of HR must be wrought from the flaming forge of turbulence that besets us. In the words of Tennyson from Ulysses, the role of HR in such times calls for “One equal temper of heroic hearts /Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Building HR Strategy N S Rajan