E-magazine Of The Department Of Mhrm, Iiswbm_june09

“If I can delay that for a moment and bring a little joy. . . and help them to see things a little differently , then I'll be successful.” Bobby McFerrin That was the idea on our mind when we started planning about this month’s issue of E#mag!ne. We were ready to compromise on the timelines to bring in the tinge of novelty in our enterprise. The June issue has a new look and feel to few of its sections plus also a surprise element to psyche you up. First up, the growing enthusiasm in the Quiz section, compelled Team E#mag!ne to awaken the quizzer in you. Yes, friends its time to prove your mettle, to test you “Q#Quotient” Every month, we would be posting 10 selected Business questions. If you think, you have the grey matter that matters, then write in to us with the correct answers and witness your name and picture on the next issue of E#mag!ne. “From the Alumni’s Desk” section features an article from our Annual Departmental Journal, “Manav” This comes as a note of appreciation to all the faculty & the students body who conceptualized this and also to those who work very hard every year to ensure that the effort is flawless and one of its kind.

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E#mag!ne comes to rescue to those of you who find it difficult to download the entire E#mag!ne due to faulty networks and erratic connections. Now, you can view the entire issue online. Just click on the link given in the welcome letter you found this issue of the E#mag!ne in. Don’t you think its time for you to voice your opinions? We mean, this is a free country and you have your freedom of expression. So why not exercise it?? E#mag!ne gives you your personal “ShoutBox”! To access this feature simply check out this link http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cnQ5eWJYZ3Uzc TJXZGlnQzFkRzVZcFE6MA.. and fill in the form with your views.

Praise, Complaints, Reward, Ridicule…. We are game for all. Because we believe, every expression of yours is invaluable for us. Awaiting a plethora of your responses ☺ Warm Regards, Team E#mag!ne Srimoyee Ray & Bikram Sarkar MHRM 2008#10

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# From the Faculty Desk…………………..5 # From the Alumni Desk………………….8 # Friends from Yonder…………………..12 # The concept of Competency…………...16 # HRM in Recession……………………..23 # Q#Quotient………………………....…27 # Ace the Case…………………………..29 # Campus Bytes…………………....……32 # Voice Box……………………………..35 Page-4

Professor P.K. Misra Work is not where you go but what you do The employment of MBAs, in last few years is showing a very disturbing pattern, especially those who are taking up jobs in marketing and finance streams. The ‘Quality of Work Life’ and ‘Work Life Balance’ which are most important for the organizations and its employees have taken a backseat. The work environment prevailing in many companies is a cause of concern. Traditionally, there are three ways to make employees perform. These are – 1. Threaten employees 2. Pay employees lots of monetary incentives. 3. Make employees work in an environment which makes them happy. Page-5

Many companies today are using the first two options i.e. paying employees lots of money for achieving high targets of revenue and those who fail, to be harassed and axed. Take the case of private banking. The reputation of the bank and the targets for the pay or ‘cost to company’ package have been co related. The reputed banks demand a revenue target of 8 to 10 times of the CTC package. The lesser known may settle for a revenue target of 5 to 6 times of the total package. The young MBA starts at a lower pay package. Once he/ she gains experience, confidence and tricks of the trade, he changes job for a higher pay package and consequently higher revenue targets. Finally, he reaches a stage where he is not able to achieve the target. He is first threatened, humiliated, insulted, and placed on so called performance improvement plans. Some over sell their products by telling subtle lies, promising returns on investments which can never come. But by the time the results come, they move out. Some, unable to cope up with all this, resign as a burnt out, frustrated and broken person. There is hardly any growth in terms of nature of work or career. The situation is likely to worsen further with the recent RBI stipulation regarding entry load in respect of mutual funds coming into effect. The concepts of employee engagement, retention of talents etc. do not appear to be relevant to these organizations. For them Maslow, Herzberg and McGregor are irrelevant and concepts propounded by them are best forgotten after examinations. The organizations, adopting these methods do make quick progress in terms of turnover and profits. But the issue is that whether these organizations want to stay in the markets for long term or crash after few years. A very large bank, which spread in India very fast and became a multi product and multinational organization, practiced these policies, but soon got into trouble. It will be no surprise that few more such organizations following same methods may get in trouble soon. The Page-6

crash of several banks in USA should have made the world to sit up and analyze, as to what was the reason for this. Everyone agrees that the greed of top management led to present financial meltdown. It is not that the organizations, where employee engagement was given due attention did not prosper. They did progress albeit slowly but steadily. These are the organizations which will weather all types of storms and make hay in the long run. The MBAs passing out from management institutes should also examine the ‘Quality of Work Life’ of the companies and not only the pay package alone. The working hours normally being put in by the executives daily, the ratio between targets and pay package and attrition rate should be enquired into when the companies make presentations before starting placement process. The alumni of the management institutes should be made use of in selection of companies for placements. The objective of writing this article is not to dwell on what elements contribute towards maintaining a good quality of work life. The objective is to caution the young aspirants from the pitfall of taking employment on the basis of ‘CTC’ alone overlooking the culture of the organization.

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Aishwarya Singh , Raymond Limited Why HR? Once upon a time in the history of business the product was the Differentiator in the market. The entire business process or the entire market evolved around the Product. A product was created, and in order to maintain the economies of scale, the production was made in large quantities and then the customer was targeted to sell these products and make profit. The concern or expectation of the customer was alien till this period of time. This was due to the sudden increase in the pace of industrializa tion where there was no time, except to produce a product which had an economic value. Page-8

Then came the concept of Customer Satisfaction and the markets changed into a customer driven market where the customers were identified and their needs and expectations were taken into consideration and then the product was made and sold to these targeted customers. This was the turning point in global business. This lead to the increased importance of various disciplines like Marketing, Sales, Customer Service etc.

Soon the concept changed from Customer Satisfaction to Customer Delight! The market soon adopted and lead to an extensive research in the behavioral pattern and the factors which Delight the customers and not only make them satisfied. This was taking the next evolutionary step in product design and development and capturing the customer base which was of the arch rivals. This lead to a war like situation within the corporate jungle of organizations and economies. All this lead to the identif ication of the key areas where an organization could capitalize and have a competitive edge over its competitors. Earlier capitalizing in one field could leave an organization so well ahead that they found it useless to capitalize over the other areas. An organization during the initial industrial revolution phase if had a competitive edge in the production process would certainly be a market leader even if it had a poor marketing strategy. This in today’s world would be fatal. An organization in today’s 3G environment has to have a perfect co# ordination in all the dimensions like Finance, marketing, Human Page-9

Resource, Logistics etc. A lacuna in any one department or dimension would lead to a wide scale downfall and the situation would quickly get out of control and the organization would soon become an example of mismanagement. The Organizations and its mentors with the passage of time and the evolution of business processes have realized that they can get the same technology, capital, assets etc as these are now available in the free trade markets and the only competitive factor that remains organic , which cannot be produced , is the human capital. Also that with time this human factor appreciates and yields higher returns and profitability. This has lead to the famous talen t war within the organizations. The people associated with this discipline of Human Resource Management have gained a position right from the sub#function to the core#function of the organization and business. This has resulted to the HR’s secured position in the board room and the HR People are now a Strategic Movers of any organization which has kept pace with recent times. A healthy organization, motivated workforce, delighted customersOare all part of a cyclic phenomenon. A dedicated and loyal workforce will reflect, in a positive way, the company and its value, keeping up the brand name. They will work towards taking the company towards the growth path.

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The mighty organizations have realized the importance of the Human dimension and the impact, which its workforce can have if given the right climate and opportunity. The first in the line to realize this were the organizations in the areas of Research and Development and areas involving a creative set of people. Soon in the line of realization were the IT Mighties and today the concepts of Human Resource management has become the Buzz word.

It would not be too early to say that the change has begun from Customer Delight to Employee Satisfaction and would certainly lead to the Employee Delight! Delight!

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2007##09 Saurav Bansal, PGDM 2007

International Management Institute, New Delhi GLOBALIZAT ION VS. AMERICANIZAT ION

“Are we going Americanized?” The question may seem to be ridiculous but a little stress on our mind would reveal the answer in an affirmative sense. In the name of globalization we are blindly following American

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ways of living as from Education to Entertainment, from music to machinery and from food to fashion, we are simply copying America. The direct consequence of such a freaky activity is that we are now unable to inherit our rich and exquisite culture and vivacity. Since its inception, our culture had shown that it is flexible enough and can bear touch of all the cultures prevailing in the world and hence can harbour Globalization also. So Globalization itself is innocuous but fervently adopting Americanization would succumb Indian culture and the very first victim would be India’s youth because it is their facile thinking that only increases in materialistic possessions would bring happiness in their lives. But money can’t buy happiness and this truth is supported by World Values Survey also which revealed that economically underdeveloped Nigerians are the happiest people in the world. Different countries rated different factors for happiness. This survey revealed that Indians cite family, society values and friends as important for being happy while for Americans it was personal success, pride and self#esteem. Americanization has not only affected our socio#economic values but also our economy as most of the MNCs active in India are America based. Coca#Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, GM etc. are few names in Page-13

the long list. These MNCs have intangible effect on our thinking as these MNCs get only services from Indians, who are already known for their quality service. Condition is still getting worse as we are forgetting our indigenous industries in the light of these MNCs. The dominance of Coca#Cola or Pepsi over Dabur Real Fruit Juices, Levi’s over Arvind Mills etc. are the clear indica tion in this context. So we can say that things had taken an ominous turn and posing threat to viability of Indians. America, being the only super power of the world, has its affect only on developing but also on developed nations like France, Italy etc. The difference is that the developing and underdeveloped are affected severely because of their comparatively more dependence on America. According to IMF, only America is the nation which is in a position of taking substantiated steps to improve the economic conditions of the underdeveloped and developing Asian and African countries, So we can very well imagine the role of America in the world. So the question arises as to how to check the rising influence of America in our country. This can be done only when some bold and stern steps are taken in two basic systems of our country i.e. educational system and financial system. As far as education is concerned Page-14

it is admitted that western education is the need of the hour but along with it our own ways of education and enlightenment like Vedas, Upanishads etc. must be taught to the students so that they could themselves dignify them and in future could reflect Indian ethos. On the Financial grounds our Government should bring in such reforms that MNCs could not make our indigenous setup obsolete. In

nutshell,

we

admit

that

we

can't

escape

Americanization but its affect can be controlled to some extent which demands some reforms in already set up systems. These steps should be taken firmly so as to develop the feeling of oneness amongst Indians.

The writer is the student of PGDM 2007# 2007#09 batch of International Management Institute, New Delhi. He can be reached at [email protected]

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The Concept of Competency A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a person which enables him /her to deliver superior performance in a given job, role or a situation.

# Knowledge: The technical or professional information, acquired through formal education, training, Personal experience needed to perform the job.

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#Skills: The proficient application of knowledge & behavior in completing job tasks or duties. They describe actual physical or mental activities. #Attitude: The observable actions an employee uses to achieve job# specific results. Some definitions... definitions Boyatzis (1982) “A capacity that exists in a person that leads to behavior that meets the job demands within parameters of organizational environment, and that, in turn brings about desired results” Albanese (1989) – Competencies are personal characteristics that contribute to effective managerial performance.

Iceberg Model

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COMPETENCY COMPETENCY vs. COMPETENCE Competency: A person# related concept that refers to the dimensions of behavior lying behind competent performer Competence: A work# related concept that refers to areas of work at which the person is competent

Types of Competency Competency Generic Competencies Competencies which are considered essential for all employees regardless of their function or level. Managerial Competencies Competencies which are considered essential for employees with managerial or supervisory responsibility in any functional area including directors and senior posts. Technical / Functional Specific competencies which are considered essential to perform any job in the organization within a defined technical or functional area of work. Example

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Ethics & Integrity Integrity Earn the trust, respect, and confidence of coworkers and customers through consistent honesty, forthrightness and professionalism in all interactions.

Behavioral Indicators • •

Confidentiality Honesty

• • •

Role model Integrity Avoid inappropriate situations

• • •

Core values/beliefs Ethical behavior Avoid misrepresentation

•

Appropriate use of resources

Why use competency? Help companies ‘raise the bar’ of performance expectations. Help teams and individuals align their behaviors with key organizational strategy Each employee understands how to achieve expectations. Concept of Competency Mapping

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It is about identifying preferred behaviors and personal skills which distinguish excellent and outstanding performance from the average.

Techniques

• Critical Incident Analysis • Interview • Questionnaires • Psychometric tests

Critical Incident Technique Respondents are asked to rela te specific incidents, which highlighted exemplary behaviors in critical situations. This is based on the assumption that the best and the worst of a person surfaces in a crisis. Interview technique Interaction with the interviewer and interviewee followed by iden tifying areas with proper agreement and disagreement thus resulting to a tentative decision about the candidate Questionnaires Questionnaires Page-20

Questionnaires are written lists of questions that users fill out formulating questions based on the type of information one wants to know.

Sources of Questionnaires: •

Common Metric Questionnaire (CMQ)

•

Functional Job Analysis

•

Multipurpose Occupational System Analysis Inventory (MOSAIC)

•

Occupational Analysis Inventory

•

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

•

Work Profiling System(WPS)

Psychometric tests A psychometric test is a standardized objective measure of a sample of behavior Types Page-21

•

Aptitude Tests

•

Achievement Tests

Applications of Competency Map • Candidate appraisal for recruitment • Employee potential appraisal for promotion or functional shift • Employee training need identification • Employee performance diagnostics • Employee self development initiatives.

Competency Mapping is not a Rocket Science

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Sanghita Ojha, MHRM 2008# 2008#10 Human Resource Management in Recession Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.” The above definition of Human Resource Management shows single face of a coin which has limited HRM involvement but HRM leads to survival of an organization in recessionary period In India, Recession has not taken its toll likewise in U.S, indirect effects like exports decline and Funds crunch has made Indian economy shaking. Tough times call for tough measures and you will have to figure out how to hold on to your employees, while staying on budget at the same time. Most of the countries all over the world are going through this phase of economic recession. Many old and big companies have already been Page-23

brought down on their knees to bite the dust. Many companies as well as countries have become bankrupt or are on the verge of it. Millions and millions of people have lost their jobs. Many people have lost millions and billions of dollars. People in general are scared and fearsome. This is not the first time that the global economy is going through recession and this is also not the last time. This article is an attempt to highlight some of the issues involved and some of the possible solutions. In such times of global recession when everyone is trying hard to survive and pass through one of the toughest phase of their life, no one thinks about making the profit out of adversity. Everyone is trying to survive and it will be survival of the fittest. Anyone who will be able to pass through this will come out as a stronger entity or person or country. Companies are no exception to this rule. They are also trying hard to survive. With them they are also trying to float and swim through as many people as possible but cer tainly not all. There is a set process that needs to be followed at the time of laying#off 1) Freezing the recruitment 2) Last in, First Out 3) Average performers or difficult employee will also be shown the door 4) Outsourcing to increase It is not important to know what is happening across the world but it is important to know what is happening in your company. It is also important to keep an eye on the market situation and keep yourself updated with the latest. Below are seven human resource strategies that are easy to implement and can make a big difference

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1.) Lead with Confidence# During the period of recession companies need better leadership to prosper. Providing direction inspires confidence in employees and helps build a faithful staff. 2.) Communicate effectively# Making sure people have the information they need is the foundation for any good relationship. Being honest and open with employees is especially impor tant at a time when they may be dealing with serious concerns outside of the office. 3.) Recruit purposefully# Companies who make severe staffing cuts and don't keep their HR people connected to poten tial hires will be caught severely short staffed. Companies have a great opportunity right now to hire talented people who have been down#sized by other organizations. 4.) Make cuts strategically# Outsourcing some functions can reduce costs but people who have been eliminated should be taken care of. Generous packages create goodwill and increase loyalty from those who remain. Generous packages might seem out of the question in tight times but a serious consideration should be given regarding the packages as much as possible. 5.) Be strategic about delivering Personnel Development#In tight times technical and personal skills can be given to the employees to better equip them and keep them engaged. 6.) Take great care of customers# Instead of seeing business declining, employees should be trained for better customer services. It’s the right time to get customer centric. 7.) Avoid layoffs with creative strategies#Alternatives apart from lay#offs should be looked for. A day off without pay, work sharing arrangements, worker sharing with other companies, salary cut# backs are few options that can be taken into consideration.

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The recession provides a great opportunity for HR professionals to use the economic challenges to emphasize fundamentals of human capital management. Fear and the drive to keep your business up and running can unify an organization and become a great motivational tool for employees. A shared challenge enables team members to set aside their individual concerns and rally around a greater common cause. Employees should be motivated enough to stick with their leaders during tough times and put in the extra effort required for the business to come out of the storm unscathed. But above and over all the fact that no one can deny is that trust is the most important element in today’s world of business, at the personal, institutional and global level. Why a financial crisis on Wall Street and Main Street? We are living a crisis of trust. The success of any enterprise depends largely on the amount of trust existing among its members. High productivity is almost always related to an organization's team spirit and an environment of trust among its members. Lack of trust is associated with high stress, low satisfaction and low relationship commitment, and low perceived task performance. Trust is a dynamic concept: trust does not always remain stable. Trust changes and evolves as organizations change and need to adapt to the constant challenges of the market. These changes affect the relationship with employees creating fears, instability, and distrust between individuals. So as future HRs we must try more to keep trust and faith among employees and create a win#win situation for all and thus play the strategic role in bringing back days when “boom” used to be the buzz word.

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If you think you have the grey matter that matters, then mail us the answers to the following questions at [email protected]. The entry with the maximum number of correct entries will witness his/her name and picture in this space in the next edition of E#mag!ne. So its time to let the world know your Q# quotient

1. Which brand of Scooter when translated into Italian means “wasp” 2. With a presence in 27 countries, name of which company means “three oceans” 3. How many mutual funds are there n India? 4. What do you call a stock trend market which is neither Bullish nor Bearish? 5. By what name is “Phiroze Jeejebhoy Towers” better known as? 6. What publication advised itself with the line “Softwares for the most advanced microprocessor on the planet? 7. Which was the first bank to start ATM service in India? Page-27

8. Name the autobiography of JRD Tata. 9. If Power & Simplicity is the tagline of Tally, then Sense & Simplicity is the punch line for? 10. Harmony is the name of the Textile brand of which renowned company?

Reference : http://www.quizquestions.in

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Motorola: Employee financial education The issue All employees need to make important decisions about their financial situation at some point in their lives, such as how to save for retirement or how to achieve competing financial goals. While Motorola’s benefit plans emphasized a ‘shared responsibility’ philosophy, a general lack of understanding by some employees about their benefit options made it difficult for them to take control of their financial situation. Motorola wanted to run financial education workshops for its staff in approximately 23 locations throughout the USA, to: • create employee awareness and appreciation for company benefits • increase usage of company benefits • increase employee productivity • retain key employee talent • increase employee goodwill by providing tools to achieve a sound financial base. PWC approach Motorola appointed PricewaterhouseCooper s, to advise on and implement the employee financial education programme. Being their Page-29

preferred adviser for several HR issues, including their international equity plan, they already had a strong understanding of Motorola, including its culture and benefits. Their team had several discussions with Motorola to learn about their existing employee education schemes, to set priorities for future training and agree the key messages to convey to employees. Based on these discussions, they designed a programme called ‘Take Charge of Your Financial Future’ to truly fit Motorola’s needs. The programme comprised workshops, a telephone counseling service, ‘CounseLine’, and a web#based tool called PwC eAdvisor, which also includes ‘PwC planner’, an on#line financial plan generator. To gain buy in and trust from both Motorola management and employees, they held initial training sessions with PwC telephone counselors, workshop presenter s, and a pilot workshop. This allowed the client to meet our people and gain confidence in their team. At PwC, the per sonal financial services team is dedica ted to employee education and does not sell any products. Their independence in this respect was vital in gaining the employees’ trust. One of the most challenging aspects of this project was creating a financial education programme that appealed to a diverse audience in terms of education, age, seniority and income levels. By providing a programme with various tools and services, they had created a solution with something for everyone. The outcome Employees are more aware of the excellent company benefits Motorola provides as well as better equipped to proactively control their financial future. ‘Take Charge of Your Financial Future’ is seen as an overwhelming success at Motorola: • Over 1,500 employees attended the workshops during a three month period. Page-30

• 96% of attendees were satisfied they could now make a positive difference in their financial future. • In the last eight months, there have been 700 requests from employees through the PwC financial counseling service, and hits on the web#based tool, PwC eAdvisor, exceeded 300,000. PwC eAdvisor works well for Motorola, and is being considered as a financial education tool for its worldwide workforce. Reference: http://www.pwc.com/extweb/newcoatwork.nsf/docid/86FD4D81F5C 48D5D8525712F00577BFB/$file/motorola.pdf

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These have been testing times for the Studen ts of the Department of MHRM. Early May marked the beginning of the Summer Internship projects (SIP) of the First year students. We all were excited and anxious in equal measure over what lay in store for us in these coming 60 days and what met our senses could not have been farther from the vision we had in mind for our SIP’s.

The general situation has been that the students on reporting to their Organization were appointed a mentor to be a guide along their SIP route, they were then briefed on the Organization culture, norms, rules and regulations that they are supposed to adhere to and then after a brief period of being introduced to the who’s who in the Organization they were informed about their project titles# the domain where they are going to exercise their efforts. The mentors appointed to guide the students in their Organizations have been very supportive and, in most cases, have been instrumental to the progress that their wards are making. Some of us have been blessed with a proper office Page-32

environment, Chair#tables, the confines of 4 walls and an air# conditioned roof overhead, whereas others have been sweltering off in vast but spectacular Iron ore Mines, gigantic factories and rusty warehouses. Many of us have been awarded a strict 9 to 5 office routine while others have been given flexible office reporting and leaving times, often the ones with the best of the offices to work in have also been the ones to get the 9 to 5 routine! But come what may the students have embraced all with a smile, nothing has been a deterrent to the real purpose of these 60 days# gaining as much insight and experience about HR management in the “REAL” corporate scenario.

College life didn’t come to a standstill in this period though. Students have been regularly visiting college premises to catch up with friends and have discussions about how their respective SIP’s are progressing, exchanging notes and picking up tips to make their projects better in every way possible. They have also been regular visitors to the accommodating and benevolent faculty members of our department, who have guided the students a lot on matters relating to their SIP’s and everything else. As such it has been a common incidence to spot groups of first years gathered together in the college premises Page-33

enthusiastically discussing their Projects and the experience adjoined to it.

Second Year students have already begun the Journey into their work lives and are busy acclimatizing to the respective work & organization culture of the firms where they have joined. They all hope to progress fast along their career tracks and we wish them the very best in all their endeavors. We also hope that they do maintain their bond with this college and visit us often to share with us the wealth of knowledge and experience they shall gain as a result of their corporate life exposure.

Meanwhile College administration has undergone a sea change in this period, and we all look forward to a bright and prosperous future for our college with this fresh administrative machinery in place. The next batch of students (2009#20011) is also going to start its academic session soon and we all are putting our best foot forward to greet them with a warm heart and a big smile on our faces, to welcome them to the world of MHRM, where nothing is impossible and the only requisite to attain the unattainable is to : E# mag!ne !! Page-34

Please write to us at [email protected] with your suggestion and feedback Page-35