E-magazine Of The Department Of Mhrm, Iiswbm_october 09

“What, then, is the true Gospel of consistency? Change. Who is the really consistent man? The man who changes. Since change is the law of his being, he cannot be consistent if he sticks in a rut.”

Mark Twain

Change is the only constant… And adapting to change is a step towards that consistency! E-mag!ne since the day of its inception, has been trying to incorporate change in the form of innovation, in every single issue. Be it with the introduction of a new column or working for a new format altogether, you, the friends of E-mag!ne, have been with us throughout, inspiring us and encouraging us at every step of the way. And we just hope that this heartening support only grows with time !

E-mag!ne October 2009 brings to you yet another issue filled with enlightening articles on the current business milieu. This month features the article by the two eastern region finalist’s – Dibyendu Roy & Khusboo Choudhury of National Competition for Management Students organized by AIMA.

Also in accordance with the interest shown by our readers in Ace-the-case section we have come up with detailed answers for the questions posted in the Case study published in the September issue of E-mag!nne. The answers have been framed by Ms. Kirti Agarwal & Ms. Malini Sengupta who also happen to be the authors of this month’s Case Study in that section. A special note of gratitude and appreciation to Prof. A.K Basu, Guest Faculty, IISWBM, for his contribution in this regard.

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We are pleased to inform you that our faculty member, Dr. Prasenjit Maity, has consented to the publication of his prestigious paper - FROM SOCIAL CAPITAL TO SOCIAL PROFITS: DISCOURSES ON CORPORATE ETHICS, GOVERNANCE, CHOICE AND VALUES. This shall appear in a series of articles in this and the following issues of E-mag!ne.

On a concluding note we would like to request our readers, i.e YOU, to write back to us with any Query/feedback/suggestions that you might have, as it is your input to our initiative that helps us to come up with better content and design delivery.

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# From the Faculty Desk……………………..………….....…....5 #From the Alumni Desk…………………………………..…….9 # Friends from Yonder……………………………….……..…12 # Modern!!!...Are we???………………….………….………...15 # Innovate restructure reorganize&challenges ahead for India inc.……………………..................................................................….....17 # Q&Quotient……………………….......................................,,.........22 # Ace the Case………………………..………..……,,….……..24 # Campus Bytes……………………………………...,,…..…....29 # Voice box...………………………………………….,,,.……..30

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FROM SOCIAL CAPITAL TO SOCIAL PROFITS: DISCOURSES ON CORPORATE ETHICS, GOVERNANCE, CHOICE AND VALUES INTRODUCTION Social Capital as an analytical tool can be used in the field of Business Management to facilitate different business practices from both an ethical angle and a utilitarian perspective (Bjørnskov 2004 and Beugelsdijk 2004). Business managers should try to entrench networks of trust, loyalty and cooperation within and without their organizations. This also makes good business sense in terms of rational choice theory. Good business is also about establishing customer&friendly images in a manner that highlights values such as reliability, trustworthiness, quality, economy and durability. These values evolve over time and are underpinned by a sustained relationship of confidence. So specific products more often than not become identified with brand names either for niche or for broadbased markets. Brand equity and positioning so generally depend upon the successful merchandizing of products and their images (Boix and Posner 1998). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The problematique of this paper is structured around the polemic of civil societal institutions (networks and embeddedness) and democratic governance (inclusive growth and participatory development) among other critical areas of social scientific research. This line of theoretical

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research is expected to contribute new knowledge and facilitate innovative research to better understand the interactions and interplay between actors and their institutions (Bourdieu 1979). The politics of everyday life and human development are generally informed by the dynamics of choice and the strategies of cooperation. This tension can be somewhat resolved by adopting the social capital approach, as inclusive growth can more often than not be ensured by empowered choices and delegated actions. The above contention is supported by the World Bank’s perception of social capital. The Bank tends to apply the lessons learnt from various projects funded under its auspices in the light of community fabric, collective trust and networks of cooperation sustained by the ethos of multi& stakeholder dialogues. This highlights the importance of social capital in all our grand as well as small narratives today in a world where economic signifiers and their signified meanings are more or less in a state of constant flux provoked by the marketplace of politics and the social as well as cultural rhetoric of glocalization. The Bank has also championed the Think Globally Act Locally slogan while the Millennium Development Goals themselves are a construct of social capital that require meaningful negotiations with the perceptions of disengaged civil societies and panoptic state systems. TRADITION OF TRUST A perspective analysis of the dynamics of trust in any business organization happens to be a most problematic exercise that has to be carried out over a period of time and that involves multiple stakeholders as well. Why should one trust his / her peers, superiors and subordinates? Is trust a construct of culture specifics? Can trust be equated with the given socio&politico&economic realities of any spatio&temporal context? Can trust be learnt or emulated? Can trust be analyzed in terms of cost&benefit calculations? These are rather disquieting questions with no unilinear answers. Business leaders have to realize that the pedagogics of trust and resilience of professional relationships can only be tested against either hypothetical or real life situations where the actual motivations, aspirations, perceptions, preferences and culture root paradigms of individuals or groups are explicitly exposed in the given context of their informed self&interest (Bourdieu 1986).

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Trust happens to be a matter of choices that is not altogether different from the various other choices we make during the course of an ordinary day. But choices are also inspired and conditioned by values that are established standards of social interactions and constantly relearnt during the life of organizations and the professionals who sustain such organizations. But trust is also a societal resource that is limited by its very nature, as individuals more often than not put their own self&interest first rather than the interest of their respective organizations. The core challenge is to translate these small narratives of power into a grand narrative of preference that would ultimately facilitate a transition of business culture of given organizations. So the game that is to be played by the different parties concerned would be to transcend the actors

and institutions model to the actors in institutions prototype. This would be a game that requires a multiplicity of stakeholders and a plethora of their interests that would finally be integrated in an overarching design of motivations, aspirations and role performance (Burt 2000). When disjointed players start to commence upon the game upon a somewhat level play field then emerges the ever&critical issues of entitlements and capabilities. Each and every player has got entitlements to improve upon his / her own material conditions of life, status of empowerment, value systems and catalyze the politics of everyday life. These entitlements have then to be qualitatively upgraded to the level of capabilities. So from professionals to stakeholders is a long journey of accomplishments that would institutionalize a culture of trust and cooperation in organizations for the mutual benefit of all the concerned stakeholders. TRUST AND ROLE PLAYING Trust and cooperation happen to be dynamic aspects of human behavior that are both acquired as well as achieved during the course of everyday interactive exercises. One has to appreciate that trust as an interface is perhaps more potentially real and tangible rather than trust as a construct, as the former is an arrangement of convenience, connivance and knowledge while the former is a living entity that comes across our daily social interactions as a concept that works in real time. In essence, therefore, reciprocation sustains trust while trust facilitates cooperation. Why should one cooperate with another? Is it a learnt reflex or is it based on enlightened self& knowledge and self&interest? Would cooperation lead to intense creativity, new images, different ideas and better emotional and stress management? These questions and their answers have to be delved into and dwelled upon before we even try to garner an entire array of new knowledge on this subject.

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Relationships can be built upon cooperation, competition and conflict. Each such mode will explore new models of interface and would finally lead to an inchoate world of new possibilities where men and women in the industry would steadily learn how best to unlearn past lessons and deschool themselves from the cultural baggage handed down the generations. For one lesson is almost clear at this juncture of empirical findings i.e. actors will only cooperate if there are elements of confidence and potentialities of profit to be found in such bilateral or even multi&modal discourses. The architecture of social knowledge that fosters industrial relations and the microphysics of power that acts as a conducive ensemble in the background of labor welfare are, after all, situation&driven and culture&specific realities that need to be continuously re& examined against the context of changing politics and economics of the body social (Burt 2007). But what about the body corporate as a whole? This is an entity that can neither be enticed nor be allured into rash decisions and myopic strategies. If cost&cutting is the order of the day and free rider expenditures are on their way out, then it is also the duty of business managers to adequately sensitize their industrial work forces and integrate them in a culture of consensus without which the entire complicated domain of trust management would be severely disempowered.

(To be continued in the Next Issue…)

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LAND ACQUISITION Since the dawn of civilization, territory has been a mark of power and authority for men and animals alike. Even today land has not lost its importance as an economic factor of production. In order to achieve the “2020” dream of our former President, Dr. A .P. J. Abdul Kalam, rapid economic growth rate is needed. To reach this target, industries need to be set up, which requires huge acres of land. Hence a very fine tuned policy is required for land acquisition to cater to the growth needs. There are two ways a company can get land:& 1.

2.

Directly purchase land or lease land from private owner by executing individual contracts. This is the best way as it is based on free consent of either parties and does away with the cost of rehabilitation.This policy was followed by Sahara Group for setting up Ambi Valley. As a natural consequence the entire process was hassle free and smooth. The concerned industry applies to appropriate government for land. After going through the Project Report submitted by the company the government sanctions it land acquired by the government or allot it a land in SEZ (Special Economic Zone). As per the rules specified in SEZ Act, 2005. The government is empowered to acquire land for “public purpose”, as defined in Sec.3 (f) of Land Acquisition Act 2005. The definition is not exhaustive and therefore open to abuse. However, it has certain developmental and welfare implications for the people at large as against private individual. If the acquisition does not serve the “public purpose” it is liable to be declared ultra vires (beyond jurisdiction) and set aside by the court.

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The Land Acquisition process consists of the following steps: 1) 2)

Identification of location Giving of notice to landowners by District Administration.

3) 4)

Fair hearing Awarding compensation

5) 6)

Evicting the owners and settlers from the possession of the land unless they voluntarily do so. Rehabilitation of land oustees.

7)

Dealing with litigation arising out of such acquisitions.

Officially though, rehabilitation is an integral of the land acquisition process and funds are allocated for it, in practice it is a secondary issue which the government and the industry want to wash off their hand. However to minimize the people resistance to the industry, the government and the industry should come out with proper plan of action so that the new undertaking is set without any hassle and at minimum cost. Preparing a proper compensation and rehabilitation package is very critical as the success of the project. The oustees get compensation but they lose their livelihood and home and virtually everything. This creates a feeling of discontentment among them. Sometimes it snowballs into an anti&acquisition movement. To prevent such consequences the following measures can be adopted. 1. Conduct Pre setting up surveys by industry. The industry should conduct a survey of geographic and demographic distribution, socio& economic and political conditions of the area before the acquisition of land. On the basis of the survey, they should frame a policy, a confidence&building measures to be adopted by companies to prevent a backlash from the local community. This strategy was followed by Exxon Mobil by setting up pipeline from Chad to Cameroon in Africa. The Exxon Mobil hired a famous anthropologist Ellen Brown to explain to the people how the pipeline would change their lives. Exxon build schools, health clinics, dug wells and carried out other activities to create an environment of mutual trust and obligations. 2.

Estimation of compensation. For estimating the cost of the compensation that is to be paid to the land oustees it should be remembered that the compensation awarded is generally higher than the market price of the land. Besides the land owner other stakeholders are also given compensation. In case of land acquisition in Singur for Tata Motors, the share croppers were also given compensation .Thus the number of stakeholders play a vital role in determining the amount of compensation. 3.

Providing Avocation Avocation

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The ideal provision would be one job per family of the oustees. This has practical impediments. Generally the oustees outnumber the vacancy. Moreover they are generally unskilled & illiterate& therefore unemployable .This leaves the company with the following options. • To train the unskilled people for the semi&skilled work in the firm & recruit • • •

them. To give them vocational training to enable them to be self&employed. To enter into an agreement with the financial institutions to provide cheaper credit to the displaced person to set up their own business To form a conglomerate of cooperative where the oustees produce intermediary or semi finished good (who are given training by the industry for manufacturing them) for the main industry. The main industry purchases the

majority of the products of such cooperative ancillary unit. 4. Land for land Providing an alternative site to the displaced people can be one type of rehabilitation process. In case of Sardar Sarovar Dam an alternative residential township was set up for the displaced people .This policy however has practical difficulties of relocation & settlement. In a nutshell compensation & rehabilitation process should have a strong human face & a multi pronged approach. Industries are setup to earn profit .If backlash & anti capitalist protests cripple the functioning of the industry there is no point in establishing it. It either has to be closed down or has to be relocated( this increases the cost of the project) as has happened in the case of Salim Group Of Indonesia where the proposed site had to be shifted from Nandigram to Nayachar (30 km from Haldia).So its absolutely necessary that the top management of the industry, bureaucrats, politicians ,media stakeholder & experts find out the golden middle path to carry forward the economic agenda of India.

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Social Entrepreneurship: The Success Story of a Common Man with an Uncommon Dream The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" Eleanor Roosevelt How do we define a social entrepreneur & how is he different from a business entrepreneur? Well, I see him as a change agent and as an innovator who implements practical and sustainable solutions to address challenges in numerous areas affecting the society. Now, then how is a Muhammad Yunus different from a Michael Dell for Both of them are extraordinary individuals who have come out with brilliant ideas and created new products or services that have improved the lives of the people dramatically. The answer lies in the fact that Muhammad Yunus through hi Grameen Bank Model brought about a social change & it is this imperative to drive social change, and it is that potential payoff, with its lasting, transformational benefit to society, that sets the field of social entrepreneurship and its practitioners apart. Social entrepreneurs are those rare breed of leaders who aspire to bring about a social change and develop new business models for same. The term Social Entrepreneurship may be new but the concept is very old dating back to the times of Florence Nightingale & Vinoba Bhave; who were also social entrepreneurs in their own right. Over a period of time this world has seen some notable social entrepreneurs’ viz. Bill Drayton, Ibrahim Abouleish, Vikram Akula etc.

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Here we profile the success story of one such social venture i.e. Solar Electric Light Co. (SELCO), a social enterprise that provides sustainable energy services to under&served households and businesses in India & the man behind it, Dr. Harish Hande. The Story of Harish Hande & SELCO In India there are over two billion people who currently lack reliable access to electricity. Many more lack access to clean cooking, water, telecommunications and productivity enhancing technologies. It is here that Dr.Harish Hande saw an opportunity to bring about a change & so he co&founded Solar Electric Light Co (SELCO) with Neville Williams in 1995.Initially, SELCO started operations in Bangalore & primarily dealt with sale and service of solar lighting systems in areas lacking access to reliable electricity. Currently, it uses small&scale modular wireless technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV) and offers inexpensive lighting, electricity, water pumping, water heating, communications, computing, and entertainment to its users. Since its inception, it has expanded its operations to Andhra Pradesh & Kerala. The story behind the formation of SELCO is very interesting. Harish Hande went to IIT, Kharagpur for an undergraduate degree in Energy Engineering and followed it up with a Master’s and PhD at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, also in Energy Engineering. His PhD revolved around rural electrification & his fieldwork he concentrated on Sri Lanka and India. However, while he was pursuing his Master’s he had gone to Dominican Republic for a very brief visit. The person installing solar panels there later on became his friend. It was at that moment it dawned upon him that solar power was such a viable energy solution. When he came back to the US, and started preparations for field work in Sri Lanka and India, the questions about what was a reliable solution for rural electrification which was also feasible, emerged. There were various solutions which seemed could be applied, but while he was doing the actual solution design work, he came upon the solution that became SELCO. SELCO’s Business model revolves around providing innovative & sustainable solutions to the needs of the poor. Much of the credit for the success of this venture goes to his understanding of the needs of the various user groups & finding innovative solutions for same. For instance, a standard four light SHS costs approximately Rs.18, 000. To bring this technology to poor, SELCO works with banks and local MFIs wherein user will pay a small down payment and then pay monthly instalments of Rs. 300 to 400 over five years. The user can pay from extra income generated through additional work made possible with the solar light and through savings from eliminating costly kerosene (as much as Rs 420 a month). Flexible Collection schemes are also fitted for farmers or street vendors to suit their payment modules. SELCO has also forged partnerships with regional rural banks, commercial banks like Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, rural farmer co& operatives and NGOs to develop financing solutions. According to its website, since 1995, SELCO has: _ Built network of 25 energy service centres in Karnataka and Gujarat, India. _ Developed a dedicated, motivated, and skilled workforce of more than 180 men and

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women. _ Installed more than 75,000 solar systems in the rural areas. _ Provided lighting and electricity to more than 300,000 people. _ Achieved profitability on annual sales of $3 million. _ Built the capabilities to expand into new energy services for the poor. Apart from these achievements SELCO has been able to create a lasting social & environmental impact by enhancing productivity of the poor masses, livelihood generation & mitigation of greenhouse gases. Dr. Harish Hande has received several awards in recognition of his pioneering work in the field. He was named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation. Some other awards that he has received include Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy 2005, Tech Museum Award 2005 and World’s Leading Green Energy Award from Hon. Hillary Benn, the British Secretary of State. Harish Hande was chosen by Business Today as one of the 21 young leaders for India’s 21st century He was also the featured attendee and speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative 2007.

REFERENCES _ MITRA Sramana (2008), “Lighting The Way In India”, Forbes.com _ SEN Snigdha(2007), “Lighting Up Rural India”, Business 2.0.Magazine C

money.com _ Homepage of SELCO (http://www.selco http://www.selco&&india.com) _ Other Resources on Web like Wikipedia, PROWESS and EBSCO Database etc.

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Modern!!! Are we…??? The new technical and non technical changes throughout the globe occur every now and then. We know that the changes need to be incorporated into the system, into the business processes. The concept of change is itself a vast area. A number of parameters constitute change. These parameters are again influenced by a number of factors and sub factors. One of the important factors of the change is innovation and originality. If we look back we see most of the champions of the market rely on the past formula of success and continue to gain the larger market share by following those formulae bluntly. Very rare they try to experiment something which is not compatible with their system. They build their concept and knowledge on the basis of these experiences. In comparison when we look at us we find our Indian business system doesn’t work like that. Instead of being innovative and original in our approach Indian business executives fear to do something new. What we do is that we try to follow those global norms of success and try to apply those formulae in our business processes which are not compatible with our system at all. We loose our originality to become modern in global standard. A very good example of this is that present Indian telecom industry is similar to that of what USA’s automobile industry once had been. The total retailing system of USA developed around the automobile industry as the price of fuel was a bit low when the automobile sector in USA flourished. Indian business processes can never be developed if it follows the same technique as they way Indian business processes operate is quite different from that of USA. But we forget this fact and end up in a chaos, a system that don’t understand what do customers demand and what do company come up with. We try to be modern by applying some arbitrary concepts about market which actually are not fit for Indian market. Some very good examples could give us a better idea about it. Where the

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Australian retail market tries to promote local goods, some malls in Dubai have their own flavor which is why they are popular throughout the globe; we do not do the same. Here the question arises and that is& Are we really modern in our approach? We have our own culture, our own way of doing things. But we do not apply those techniques in our business processes. We talk about success but we do not know our core competency. We talk about maturity but we do not show it by our deeds. The reason is also quite simple. We rely upon those age old formulae of success instead of the fact that it doesn’t matches with our system, our culture, and our values. This is why we rarely see a women wearing salwar kameez in a high profile corporate meet. This is why we cannot see Indian flavor in vogue. If we can really show the courage to innovate and try to be original in our approach we would leave a footmark. The world’s most successful business organizations follow the same technique. They believe in the culture of their country, the culture of their organizations. They be original and do not apply something which is a misfit. We should also follow processes which are very much of our own. We can be modern if we really want to be. We just need to show the courage. The gate needs to be opened. The world will follow us.

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Innovate, Restructure, Reorganize: challenges ahead for India inc. W HAT IS INNOVATION? It is an idea useful to mankind which can be implemented on a large scale to bring about a change, a change that can revolutionize the way we do things. INNOVATION is of two types: 1. DISRUPTIVE or BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION 2. INCREMENTAL INCREMENTAL INNOVATION INCREMENTAL CHANGE Product Improvement Increase market share

BREAKTHROUGH CHANGE New Product Create new market

Innovation at industry level Innovation at industry level can be of three types. 1. Change in structure: Work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization, formalization, job redesign. 2. Change in technology: Work process, methods and equipments. 3. Change in people and culture: Attitudes, expectations, perceptions and behavior.

Need of restructuring and reorganization when we are talking about innovation Ideas are generally not considered unless people are ready to accept those ideas. People may be employees or may be customers or other stakeholders.

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For ideas to be implemented, employees must learn and understand the importance of ideas brought about while customers must understand how these innovative products would benefit them. Infact various studies have shown that successful new products are result of better understanding of customer needs and better collaboration between various departments of organization. HORIZONTAL LINKAGE MODEL Richard. L. Daft in his book “Organization and its Design”, has proposed this concept through the HORIZONTAL LINKAGE MODEL.

EXPLANATION OF HORIZONTAL LINKAGE MODEL Horizontal linkage model consist of three components:& 1. Department specialization 2. Boundary spanning 3. Horizontal linkage SPECIALIZATION: Each department whether R&D, Marketing or Production must have specialized knowledge in their respective fields. BOUNDARY BO UNDARY SPANNING: Each department must have excellent linkage with relevant sectors in the external environment. HORIZONTAL LINKAGES: Each department should share ideas and information.i.e. work as a fluid information team rather than a static team.

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CHALLENGES AHEAD AHEAD FOR INDIA INC. Increasing competition: There is increasing competition because of globalization, shift towards capitalism, lots of small firms coming up etc. Great pace of change: New discoveries and inventions are quickly replacing standard ways of doing things.Org. need to modify themselves not just from time to time but all over the time and that too, merely to survive in this world of increasing competition. Economic slowdown: India being an open economy is not decoupled from the globe and is feeling the ripple effects of recession. 1. Decline in demand from mainstream markets. 2. Shortage of funds as banks are unwilling unwilling to lend due to fear of default WHAT SHOULD BE THE STRATEGY FOR INDIA INC.? As India inc. is suffering from declining demand, one of the strategies it could adopt is BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY given by Chan Kim. According to the strategy: “Great Great companies are built on creating new markets and not increasing market share in existing ones”.

Therefore org. should explore new markets which can create demand in this period of economic slowdown. But the moot point is that, that, is there any such market? YES, there is.

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The rural & semi& semi&urban markets of India Fortune at the bottom of pyramid Acc. to C.K.Prahalad, C.K.Prahalad the great economist, fortune of industries now lie at the bottom of the pyramid i.e. the rural & semi& semi&urban markets. markets In words of C.K. Prahalad: “We can’t think of poor as victims, or as burdens & should start recognizing them as potential and value conscious consumers”. consumers Why BOP only the future market According to NCAER NCAER, in 2009&10, there will be close to 100 million households with annual income between Rs. 90000&5 lakhs. This is the consumer group which has been identified as value conscious & whose propensity to consume is more. Another reason is the slowdown, which has affected consumer spending in middle and higher income groups. But the rural and small urban economy has largely remained insulated from the slowdown .As well as they are the people who are getting the benefits of various govt. schemes like NAREGA, sixth pay commission etc. BHARTI AIRTEL SHOWS THE WAY: WAY: BHARTI AIRTEL’s net profit for the April& April&June 2009 quarter has surged 22%. 22% It has added 8.5 million new subscribers in this quarter increasing its total subscriber base to 105 million. The striking point is that 60% of the revenue has come from the rural and semi&urban markets. PHILIPS ENTERS BOP MARKET: The electronics major PHILIPS IS also trying to enter the market whichno multinational lifestyle company has seriously served so far. The company is looking at commercially rolling out low& low&cost LANTERNS LANTERNS and WOOD STOVES (chullahs) aimed at rural and semi&urban markets.it costs only Rs.2500 and is also eco friendly (chullahs which is a major need today THE UNIQUE NANO EXPERIENCE Then the unique experience which whole country is feeling in form of NANO. It brought not only product revolution but also distribution revolution. It turned the dream of a middle income person of owning his own car into reality. PEOPLE AND INNOVATION In this era where any material resource can be easily brought, it is the people who can provide the competitive advantage. People of any organization play a very important role in bringing about innovation.
Any new idea is difficult to implement until people use the new idea.
Any kind of change whether technological or structural involves people changes as well.

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Employees must learn how to use new technology or market new products or work efficiently in a team& team&based structure. Organizations should therefore create a CULTURE where NEW IDEAS are prospered and encouraged. WAY AHEAD FOR INDIA INDIA INC. So what we conclude from our presentation is that there is a way ahead for India Inc. in form of BOP and semi&urban markets. But serving these markets is itself a challenge. There is lack of infrastructure, delays in approval of SEZs, ambiguity regarding land acquisition policies etc. But despite these challenges, immense opportunities lie there. The need of hour is to recognize & utilize the opportunities lying in these markets which till now has been very much neglected because these BOP markets which were earlier considered to be yellow weeds are actually the green shoots of Indian economy. “AND THAT’S WHERE THE STRENGTH OF GREAT COMPANIES LIE&&& LIE&&& IDENTIFYING NEW MARKETS AND ELIMINATING COMPETITION”.

(The authors are the Eastern Region Finalist’s of National Competition for Management Students Organized by AIMA)

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Winner Q-Quotient August 2009!

Malini Sengupta, MHRM 2008-10 Answers to September Q-Quotient •

Francis almeida

•

Sir george oxenden

•

August kranti maidan

•

Orient

•

Flora fountain

•

Old woman’s island

•

1661

•

King george v

•

1996

•

Pav bhaji

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October 2009 Q-QUOTIENT Emag!ne would like to thank Mr. Debjit Basu for being the quizmaster for this edition of Q- Quotient. 1) Which group has planned to expand the “world city” concept to more locations in Tamil Nadu,Rajasthan and Maharashtra?

2) Wockhardt sold its nutritional business and a few facilities to which US based firm for around $130million in cash?

3) What is the term given to describe the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans? 4) What does ITAT stands for?

5) Reliance infrastructure ,in consortium with_________________ of Canada and Reliance Communication was awarded Mumbai-Metro II project on BOT basis for a concession period of 35 years.

6) Which is India’s largest non-ferrous metals company? 7) Which was the first bank to introduce paper money in India in1770?

8) Reliance Communications has partnered with an US-based telecom solutions provider to roll out nationwide mobile conferencing service.Name the company.

9) Who was recently appointed as the new Chairman of Sony,India?

10) Which UK based company sued Satyam Computer Services for damages in excess of US $1billion for forgery and breach of contact?

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ANSWERS TO SEPTEMBER’S ACE THE CASE Ans 1) The revamping strategy and the organizational restructuring was not only regarding operations & recruitment but also regarding various other functions therefore instead of putting the whole responsibility on HR, the CEO should have formed a small task force comprising his senior managers who could have prepared a comprehensive time & bound plan to bring about the change in a phased manner which would have been beneficial and yielded desired results. Ans 2) Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging and conducting the interviews and requires sufficient amount of resources and time. A general recruitment process is as follows &

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As indicated by the definition and the flowchart, the recruitment process is time consuming and there should be a proper requirement requisition in place. But in this case the recruitment and staffing target period itself was insufficient because of which they had to make adhoc and rushed decisions. Furthermore, recruitment was probably done from industry insiders without proper background check because of which the competitors were able to plant their informers in Premier Chemicals. Infact, when a company is going for a revamping and restructuring exercise, it may be worth the while to look for non&industry new blood to bring in change. Ans 3) 3 HR Consultants are responsible for assisting clients with strategically integrating effective HR processes, programs and practices into their daily operations. Their role is also to maximize the client's performance related to human resources by introducing or marketing "best practice" products or services as well as to provide periodic feedback to clients regarding their performance related to annual management objectives. To accomplish this, the HR Consultant may need to perform needs assessments or audits and make recommendations or proposals, proposals coordinate the creation and implementation of an action or corrective plan, and when required, organize and coordinate cross& cross&functional Human Resource teams to assist the client with developing and implementing performance improvement corrective plans, programs or processes. In this case, given a period of 3 months to bring about the revamping/recruitment exercise, VP (HR) was justified in engaging the services of the HR consultant but to bring about this change in the organization, the classical implementation model of change should have been followed. The flow chart of the model is shown below: Role Player 1 and Functions

Corporate Management Legimitizing function

Energizing function

Gatekeeping function

Role Player 2 and Functions

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Role Role Player 3 and Functions

Counterpart / Chief Implementor

Collaboration building

Gate Keeping

Reviewing

In this case the Corporate Management as well as the chief implementer or VP(HR) should have performed the gate keeping function (i.e. accepting and implementing those recommendations &suggestions which were feasible for their organization) when engaging the services of the HR consultant which they did not. Moreover most of the work should have been done by the departmental seniors along with the HR head (Internal change agents/chief implementers), especially succession planning. This responsibility was abrogated to the consultant. It appears that the latter was not even vetted but was blindly followed in promotion. Thus the chief implementer failed to carry out its gate keeping as well as reviewing functions. Ans 4) 75% on the CEO since he is finally accountable for the organization’s well or ill & being. Furthermore he has very important role to play in bringing about organizational change and as shown in the flow chart above he failed to perform one of the most important functions of gate keeping which resulted in the organizational debacle. 25% of the responsibility rests on the HR head since he should have suggested the formation of an inter & disciplinary team instead of taking the easy route of appointing a consultant to ease out his own job. Infact even after engaging the services of the consultant, he should have played the role of the internal agent or chief implementer to perfection, a responsibility which he again failed to handle.

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OCTOBER ACE-THE-CASE This month’s Ace the Case section has two of our friends Ms, Kirti Agarwal, & Ms. Malini Sengupta preparing the case study for us. The answers to the questions posted at the end of this case study shall appear in the next issue of E-mag!ne.

More Than a Paycheck Lemuel Greene was a trainer for National Home Manufacturers, a large builder of prefabricated homes. National Home had hired Greene fresh from graduate school with a master’s degree in English. At first, the company put him to work writing and revising company brochures and helping with the most important correspondence at the senior level. But soon, both Greene and senior management officials began to notice how well he worked with executives on their writing, how he made them feel more confident about it, and how, after working with an executive on a report, the executive often was much more eager to take on the next writing task. So National Home moved Greene into its prestigious training department. The company’s trainers worked with thousands of supervisors, managers, and executives, helping them learn everything from new computer languages to time management skills to how to get the most out of the workers on the plant floor, many of whom were unmotivated high school dropouts. Soon Greene was spending all his time giving short seminars on executive writing as well as coaching his students to perfect their memos and letters.

Greene’s move into training meant a big increase in salary, and when he started working exclusively with the company’s top brass, it seemed as though he got a bonus every month. Greene’s supervisor, Mirela Albert, knew he was making more than many executives who had been with the company three times as long, and probably twice as much as any of his graduate school classmates who concentrated in English. Yet in her biweekly meetings with him, she could tell that Greene wasn’t happy. When Albert asked him about it, Greene replied that he was in a bit of a rut. He had to keep saying the same things over and over in his seminars, and business memos weren’t as interesting as the literature he had been trained on. But then, after trailing off for a moment, he blurted out, "They don’t need me!" Since the memos filtering down through the company were now flawlessly polished, and the annual report was 20 percent shorter but said everything it needed to, Greene’s desire to be needed was not fulfilled.

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The next week, Greene came to Albert with a proposal: What if he started holding classes for some of the floor workers, many of whom had no future within or outside the company because many could write nothing but their own names? Albert took the idea to her superiors. They told her that they wouldn’t oppose it, but Greene couldn’t possibly keep drawing such a high salary if he worked with people whose contribution to the company was compensated at minimum wage. Greene agreed to a reduced salary and began offering English classes on the factory floor, which were billed by management (who hoped to avoid a wage hike that year) as an added benefit of the job. At first only two or three workers showed upUand they, Greene believed, only wanted an excuse to get away from the nailing guns for awhile. But gradually word got around that Greene was serious about what he was doing and didn’t treat the workers like kids in a remedial class. At the end of the year, Greene got a bonus from a new source: the vice president in charge of production. Although Greene’s course took workers off the job for a couple of hours a week, productivity had actually improved since his course began, employee turnover had dropped, and for the first time in over a year, some of the floor workers had begun to apply for supervisory positions. Greene was pleased with the bonus, but when Albert saw him grinning as he walked around the building, she knew he wasn’t thinking about his bank account. Case Questions •

What need theories would explain why Lemuel Greene was unhappy despite his high

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income? Greene seems to have drifted into being a teacher. Given his needs and motivations, do you think teaching is an appropriate profession for him?

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This month saw the classes resuming in full flow post the puja Vacations. The Students were back after a refreshing break from academics. Activity, as usual, never ceases on the MHRM campus, and this month was no different. With the placement season drawing close preparations for sitting in interviews and GD’s was at it peak. Students regularly went though the grind of sitting for mock interviews to prepare themselves for the inevitable. Also keeping the students busy was preparations for the annual alumni meet of the department of MHRM – CONFAB 2009. Calling up the alumni to invite them for this occasion, preparation for the cultural program to be held during CONFAB, and managing other things related to this event kept the students of the department on their toes. The first year students were getting a first hand experience of organizing an event. They too learnt how much valuable a learning experience organizing these events can be. All management skills are put to test when the students step out of the domain of the college and go about doing everything themselves. From organizing to planning the students are in charge of everything. These events give the students an avenue not only to showcase their talent (during the cultural events) but also to bond well with each other and learn the most basic and vital component of Human resource management – Networking. As the clock keeps ticking the D&day for the event draws closer, and all MHRM&ites look forward to it with great expectations, and a happy gleam in their eyes!

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