Sponsored Links

Sponsored Links PhD & Research Top choice. Excellent Faculty & Technical Infrastructure. www.amity.edu

Business Dictionary: Industrial Psychology

Area of psychology dealing with job analysis, defining and measuring job performance, performance appraisal, tests, employment interviews, employee selection and training, and Human Factors; also called personnel psychology. WordNet: industrial psychology Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning: Meaning #1: any of several branches of psychology that seek to apply psychological principles to practical problems of education or industry or marketing etc. Synonym: applied psychology Wikipedia: industrial and organizational psychology Psychology

Portal · History Areas · Wikiproject

RESEARCH Abnormal Biological Cognitive Developmental Emotion Experimental Evolutionary Mathematical Neuropsycholog y Personality Positive Psychonomics Psychophysics Social Transpersonal APPLIED Clinical Educational Forensic Health Industrial/Org Sport LISTS Publications Topics

Therapies view · talk

Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organizational psychology, W-O psychology, occupational psychology, personnel psychology or talent assessment) concerns the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. I/O psychologists are interested in making organizations more productive while ensuring workers are able to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives. Relevant topics include personnel psychology, motivation and leadership, employee selection, training and development, organization development and guided change, organizational behavior, and work and family issues. I/O psychologists who work for an organization are most likely to work in the HR (human resources) department. However, many I/O psychologists pursue careers as independent consultants or applied academic researchers. I/O psychology is one of the many domains that should be assessed when conducting psychological research when answering applied questions.

Overview Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology (Division 14 of the American Psychological Association) as a specialty area has a more restricted definition than Psychology as a whole. Guion (1965) defines Industrial and Organizational Psychology as "the scientific study of the relationship between man and the world of work:... in the process of making a living" (p. 817). Blum and Naylor (1968) define it as "simply the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry" (p 4). Broadly speaking, I/O Psychologists are concerned with human behavior in work contexts. According to Muchinsky, the applied side of I/O Psychology is concerned with utilizing knowledge gathered from scientific inquiry "to solve real problems in the world of work". Example problems include hiring better employees, reducing absenteeism, improving communication, and increasing job satisfaction. One of the tools I/O psychologists commonly utilize in the field is called a job analysis. Job analyses identify essential characteristics associated with any particular position through interviews of job incumbents, subject matter experts, supervisors and/or past job descriptions. Job analyses measure both worker facets necessary to perform the job adequately (aka KSAOs - knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics as well as unique facets of the job itself. Once a job analysis is complete, I/O psychologists will typically utilize this information to design and validate systems to select new applicants, restructure employee performance appraisals, uncover training needs, and analyze fairness in employee compensation. Though a thorough job analysis takes time, resources and money, its benefits tend to outweigh the costs. * I/O Psychologists are professionals seeking to address real-world issues or problems in the workplace.

o As scientists, they derive principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior through research. o As consultants and staff psychologists, they develop scientific knowledge and apply it to the solution of problems at work. o As teachers, they train in the research and application of I/O Psychology

I/O psychologists also may employ psychometric tests to measure the abilities and personality traits of prospective and current employees. These tests are commonly used for employee selection and other employment decisions. Employee attitudes such as morale, job satisfaction, or feelings towards management or customers are other commonly measured work-related person variables. Increasingly, people factors are recognized as a major determinant of organizational performance and a key competitive differential. Psychologists therefore may also advise senior managers on the management of organizational climate or culture, on dealing with organizational change, or on group dynamics within an organization. It is probably partly for this reason that management coaching is an increasingly popular part of the psychologist's work. Industrial and organizational psychology is a diverse field incorporating aspects of disciplines such as social psychology, personality psychology and quantitative psychology (which includes psychometrics) as well as less closely linked social studies such as law. As a diverse, applied field, influences from any branch of psychology, even clinical psychology, are not uncommon. At one point in time, industrial and organizational psychology was not distinguished from vocational (counseling) psychology or the study of human factors. Although the foregoing disciplines still overlap with industrial and organizational psychology, today they are formally taught in separate classes and housed in separate graduate-level psychology programs within a psychology department. Many industrial and organizational psychologists specialize in one of the following aspects: psychometrics; quality; employment law; personnel selection; training; leadership selection, coaching and development; organizational design and change. Many of these activities are referred to as talent management. Some I/O psychologists are academic (working in both business and psychology departments) or non-academic researchers, while many others are engaged in practice, holding positions such as the following: •

Board of Directors Chairman

•

Governing Board Chairman

•

Board Chairman

•

Personnel Committee Chairman

•

CEO

•

Technical Recruiter

•

Selection Committee Chairman

•

Vendor Services Executive Committee

•

Executive coach

•

Senior Personnel Officer

•

College of Business Associate Dean

•

Psychology Faculty

•

Employment Specialist

•

Staffing Specialist

•

Job Developer

•

Vocational Specialist

•

Staffing Consultant

•

Co-Producer of Professional Development and Training.

•

Academic Adviser

•

VP of Management Services

•

Vice President

•

Staffing Consultant

•

Recruiter

•

legislative compliance officer

•

labor relations specialist

•

ADA Trainer / Account Manager

•

Human Resources Assistant

•

human resources specialist

•

Process improvement consultant

•

Manager of selection and training

•

Employee Benefits

•

Counselor

•

Diversity Consultant

Job functions, duties and responsibilities carried out by individuals holding a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Business Administration with business minor emphasizing Marketing and Employee Relations graduate course work include, but are not limited to, the following. •

Use of Robert's Rules of Order parliamentarian procedures to facilitate and participate in orderly and effective corporate, organizational, committee and legislative meetings and training others on it.

•

Writing and editing.

•

Interface with the private and public for profit corporations.

•

Interface with private non-profit corporations and organizations.

•

Interface with several United States of America (U.S.A.) governmental agencies and stakeholders including city , county state and federal government agencies.

•

Introduce legislation and motions to various governing bodies.

•

Interpret and explain motions and resolutions to-be-introduced.

•

Review, approval, interpretation and oversight of implementation of organizational constitution, bylaws and articles of incorporation.

•

Sales and marketing strategies design, development and implementation.

•

Gain internal and external stakeholders buy-in on policy, referendums, procedures update.

•

Conduct needs assessment to define project scope, deliverables and implementation plan.

•

Create and drive the implementation of marketing strategies that increase technical recruiting, job placement and career services revenue.

•

Recommending top candidates to final hiring person.

•

Articulate organizational vision, mission and values.

•

Programs image re-positioning.

•

Chairmanship

•

Assist decision-makers and facilitate the decision-making process within several governing bodies.

•

Abide by the Brown Act regulations for posting notices of public meetings.

•

Governing board retreat strategic agenda development and retreat activities planning.

•

Foster a culture of and Improving performance, productivity and results.

•

Decrease micromanagement

•

Starting up new business units and penetrating markets to gain market share.

•

Interlocking board and or personnel matters committee members

•

Executive management

•

Governing Board relations.

•

Supervision of professional executive management and clerical staff

•

Strategic planning and work force restructuring

•

Using the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

•

Oversee, plan, direct, coordinate and / or participate in corporate operations.

•

Track & report billable hours; accounts payable (A/P) and account receivable (A/R) and expenses

•

Invoicing

•

Budgeting: Resource forecast, management, allocation and monitoring.

•

Starting up organizations, companies.

•

Run the full cycle of candidate recruiting and client company development and management.

•

Technical Recruiting

•

Developing and implementing direct and indirect technical recruiting strategies.

•

Consult with hiring managers, executives and founders about recruiting requirements.

•

Facilitate resolution of volatile political issues.

•

Liaison between employment services organizations, job candidates and client companies.

•

Individual human achievement coaching.

•

Interview, check references, match candidates and personnel needs, Schedule and coordinate interviews, follow-up and follow through to turning candidate down and / or extend job offers, and getting acceptance of job offer / candidate.

•

Personnel Management

•

Interpret and implement personnel policies and procedures.

•

Staff planning, direction, Recruiting, selection, hiring, new employee orientation and evaluation

•

Risk management (damage-control)

•

Interact with constituencies or stake-holders of diverging views.

•

Collect, review, approve and report multiple departments’ employees payroll to human resources accounting unit.

•

Review and recommend steps to bring consistency or congruency of employee handbooks with Human Resources Policies and Procedures.

•

Personnel Policies Administration

•

Personnel Research Design, Statistical Analysis and Interpretation.

•

General Statistical Analysis

•

University Teaching

•

Personnel Statistical Analysis.

•

Research Design and Analysis

•

Individual and group coaching

•

Design, develop and implement position (job openings) tracking systems.

•

General Management

•

Job Placement services

•

Analysis of and advice to management on complex personnel issues.

•

Design and administer weighted personnel selection tools.

•

Research and write labor relations manual

•

Utilize word processing, spreadsheet and statistical analysis software packages to present human resources projects data, statistical analysis and interpretation, conclusions and recommendations.

•

Research, review, summarize and present complex information in an understandable manner to audiences varying in education levels (ranging from Ph.D. to only 7th grade or GED) and fields of expertise.

•

Conduct wage surveys to determine prevailing wage.

•

Analyze and interpret data.

•

Entrepreneurship

•

Ensure validity and reliability of job analysis and

Job performance evaluation system and its tools whether using quantitative, qualitative statistical data and analysis, and / or weighted scoring type of tools; whether one-to-one evaluation, peer-to-peer or the more complex 360 degree job performance evaluation, ensuring the validity and fairness of the data and how its valid statistical analysis, interpretation and recommendations, pointing out the flows of the data in a 360 degree evaluation system such a political witch-hunt, comments or impute filled with personal

venderas or other irrelevant matters. This is s huge area where the backing of major corporate officers such as HR Head or the expert backing of a PhD with Statistical research and design analysis can be paramount to adding credibility to the person presenting the outcomes from such an evaluation system to say a board of directors or major committee evaluating a major key player in for example a head of an executive management team. •

Personnel compensation reviews

•

Review and increase validity and reliability of evaluation surveys to for example comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) U.S.A. Federal Law.

•

Communicate effectively with Exam and Testing Units Heads, Senior Personnel Analysts, Agencies Heads and / or representatives and EEO personnel to discuss and negotiate employment testing reasonable accommodations for job candidates.

•

Price Standardization of office support services.

•

Writing Excel formulas to track data and perform calculations.

•

Facilities safety and security coordination and standards.

•

Design and implementation of pre-employment testing via work sample.

•

Review and recommend vendors policies/procedures.

•

Vendor relations.

•

Review vendors contract performance and compliance.

•

Respond to RFP’s / RFQ’s submittals.

•

Quality assurance.

•

Communicate policies and procedures

•

Respond to employee grievances.

•

Research and interpret personnel laws, solve problems, explain requirements and make decisions often with the aide of legal council.

•

Employee Relations (e.g. Federal and State laws, regulations and or guidelines relevant to 1) Performance Management and Evaluation; 2) I-9 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; 3) Americans with Disabilities (ADA); 4) Sections 503 / 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; 5) Equal Employment Opportunity

(EEO); 6) Affirmative Action (A.A); 7) Racial, ethnic, multi-lingual, disability, gender, political and nationality diversity issues management.) •

Design, review and performance of records filling and management to meet and sustain strict confidentiality and documentation standards of certification by accrediting institutions

•

Research and write content of participatory seminars on professional development topics such as time management, implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), conducting effective job performance appraisals, stress management, anger management and conflict resolution.

•

Standardize sales price of Office support services.

•

Enhance R business processes (e.g. employment recruiting and selection, new employee orientation, staff development policies and procedures, catastrophic leave policy EEO and implementation of the ADA), customer service, and staff development.

•

Address staff inquiries about compensation grades

•

Employment and Classification (e.g. job candidate testing design and interview questions development, evaluation standards design, Job restructuring involving job enlargement and job enrichment.)

•

Shift differential policy.

•

Catastrophic leave policy.

•

Retirement benefits policy.

•

COLA's and MSA's requests, reviews and recommendations.

•

Office space management

Equipment and supplies policies. •

Responding to and requesting position reclassification.

•

Write job descriptions.

•

Coordinate and conduct job analyses.

•

Contact presenters to gain their commitment in principle.

•

Fostering relationships for a department in order to gain internal expertise cooperation and participation.

•

Design, and coordinate job performance appraisal (evaluation) systems.

•

Train professionals and clerical staff on providing reasonable accommodations to implement the ADA and / or sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act whichever laws were applicable.

•

Market post-secondary educational institutions and admissions requirements.

•

Manage & prioritize multiple projects.

•

Use Statistical Analysis Software such as Statview.

•

Use Emailing and Scheduling System such as GroupWise

•

Use Client and Program Management System such as Metsys software.

•

Introduce revised elections codes to governing bodies to meet ADA Federal Law requirements of programmatic and physical accessibility.

•

Monitor compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act

•

Monitor compliance with EEO laws and guidelines.

There are also a number of methodologies specifically dedicated to Organizational Psychology such as Peter Senge’s 5th Discipline and Arthur F. Carmazzi’s Directive Communication. These are a variety of psychological approaches that have been developed into a system for specific outcomes such as the 5th Discipline’s “learning organization” or Directive Communication’s “Organizational culture enhancement”. In an attempt to correct for statistical artifacts (i.e., sampling error, unreliability and range restriction) that compromise the ability of I/O psychologists to draw general conclusions from a single study, I/O researchers have increasingly employed a technique known as meta-analysis. Meta-analysis is a methodology for averaging results across studies. It has been used to address research questions involving various levels of analysis (i.e., individual, group, organizational, and/or vocational). Although the use of meta-analytic methods is not without controversy, its more frequent appearance in the I/O research literature has profoundly impacted the field. The most well-known meta-analytic

approaches are those of Hunter & Schmidt (1990, 2004), Rosenthal (1991), and Hedges & Olkin (1985). Financial compensation of industrial and organizational psychologists generally is among the highest in the whole field of psychology. While salary and benefits tend to be significantly greater in the private sector, academics who specialize in industrial and organizational psychology may command greater compensation than their faculty peers. Teaching (and sometimes research) opportunities exist in business schools as well as in psychology programs. Business schools typically offer more generous salaries and benefits than do psychology programs. Some academics choose to gain practical experience and access to data, as well as to supplement their incomes, by engaging in consulting work on the side.

History Frederick W. Taylor’ Contributions to Personnel Management and The United States of America (U.S.A) Government The author of Frederick W. Taylor: Father of Scientific Management”, Volume two (2) reveals to us how Frederick W. Taylor, also well-known us the engineer in management, after he advanced personnel management in various private manufacturing companies such as the Bethelhelm company, during the last several decades of the 1800’s, continued his efforts to promote and further give time and effort towards the furtherance of it. Taylor did advance core components, concepts, principles and applications or practices such as the following with the United States of America Federal Government during the first decade of the 1900’s and before 1907 of what we now call HRM, HRD, HR, Human Capital Management, Personnel Management, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Development or whatever we might call it now and or in the future and have called it in the past:

• Job Performance Measurement. • Job Analysis. • Job Design. • Job Enrichment. • Job Enlargement. • Job Restructuring. • Benchmarking / Standardizing

• Delegating • Change Process Management. • Classifications. • Cost-Benefit Analysis. • Applied Motivation at Work. • Organizational Re-Engineering / Reduction-In-Labor Force / Down-Sizing / RightSizing or Laying-Off. Taylor also brought into our field very good basic economics concepts, theories, and practices such as:

• Return-On-Investment (ROI). • Break-Even Point. • Feasibility Study and Analysis.

Although he might have had used different words to refer to the above terms, the meaning, the activity involved in, the information sought, gained and objective of its use were the same as what the henceforth mentioned contributed concepts, principles and practices of management usually mean. If you are able to see this in the content of the text book written about him, you might begin to see that our field is a spectacularly advanced science which has been around more than 200 years. In fact beginnings of the science of management introduced by Taylor were so well advanced for the time that Frederick W. Taylor Scientific Management enlightened a high caliber management team named “Vickers” brought from England which was going to be used in the NAVY in lieu of Taylor’s by one skeptic major division. According to the author of the text book about Taylor’s systems, there is no account of weather The Vicker’s System was ever used in the NAVY. Taylor’s certainly was adopted and used more by some than by others. This is not to say that our U.S.A. Government was behind the A-Ball before Taylor joined them. It was not at all. On the contrary, when Taylor executed his in-kind “government-efficiency” consulting service with the ARMY, he found that they were quite advanced already. In the first decade of 1900 The ARMY already “selected officers from the line by competitive examinations” or what we might now refer to as civil service process (Vol. 2; pp 328). Taylor’s first contributions to this science within The United States of America (U.S.A.) Government (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 210-327)

were with the engineering and manufacturing work of The NAVY’s yards and of The ARMY’s Ordenance Department (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 328 – 352). Now we are able to apply them to other industries, and business-sectors such as the non-profit sector, the for-profit sector, the public sector, the private sector, the start-up sector, City, County and state government agencies and more federal agencies and in entrepreneur endeavors.

In addition to the terms mentioned previously, Frederick W. Taylor alos contributed the term "First-Class Men", which in personnel selection is key. We look for the best fit between the job and the person. Taylor presented a House Committee a pretty nifty description of the meaning he inteneded when he used the term "First-Class Men." His description is as useful today as it might have been when he educated the house committee on the subject. In the following parragraphs, you will find an executive summary using methorphors and parallel thinking as opposed to linear, describing the term creatively. Furthermore,l it allows us to see how well developed and rich the Indsutrial and Organizational Psychology history is in its thought provoking ideas and yet simpllcity in its down to earth illustrations of its concepts. Taylor’s Definition of the Term “First-Class Men” Taylor’s definition of the term “First-Class Men” as he used it is furnished through an illustration, using the great capacity of horses. He used before the Special House Committee” this illustration in which he presented the “types of horses and the use for which they were intended. He explained how if you had 300 to 400 horses in a stable, you will have horses intended specially for hauling coal wagons, horses for hauling grocery wagons; you will have a certain number of trotting horses, a certain number of sattle (pleasure horses) and of ponies in that stable” (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 76 to 77). Let’s say you ran out of coal hauling horses on a given day and you decide to use grocery wagon hauling horses he continued. The grocery hauling wagon horse would not be a first-class horse for hauling coal wagons. Would it? No, it would not. It would be a second class horse. You may not even have a grocery wagon hauling horse available, in which case, you may decide to use a treating horse; this wouldn’t be a first-class horse either. It would be a second class horse, he explained, or maybe even third for they are less fit than the grocery wagon hauling horse and much less than the coal wagon hauling horse to haul such a heavy duty, high weight material as coal. Last resort if you ran out of all the horses, you, at times, may need to use a Pony he said. The least fit of the three to haul coal wagons. However, do not think ponies are not physically fit; I remember my father while training a pony he had bought for me and my brother before our teenage years got thrown off of it and dragged around in circles. While ponies are not fully trained, they can wrestle you to ground fast and using the element of surprise. They seem easy to get them to do whatever you want them to or to be quickly tamable but they are not if you move on too heavily on them or try to tame them with too much force or heavy weight per my own observation. A pony while very welcoming and easy going can easily bring a

tamer on his knees and drag him through the mud, hey, green grass and rocks. My dad was just hanging on to the rope. Luckily he did not get hurt when he pushed the pony too much or beyond the pony’s acceptable threshold of pain. Now, the grocery wagon hauling horse would be a first-class horse to pull grocery wagons just as a trotting horse would be first-class, and not second class, for riding pleasure. A pony might also be a first-class horse as far as say trotting for children and young adults under age 18 for gee 18 but not for adults over it. They may later on become firstclass trotting horses for adults, but not coal-wagon hauling horses. On a different dimension of objects from the henceforth mentioned, which used an animal kingdom specie, lets say now us that of an inanimate noun such as the coal wagons and grocery wagons. A coal-wagon is first-class wagon obviously for carrying coal, but not to carry groceries because it is not going to be very clean. Similarly with the case of grocery wagons, a grocery wagon is not a first-class wagon to carry coal for it might not stand the heavy weight. However, it would certainly be first-class to carry groceries. An easy, yet, impractical solution may well be to make the load of coal wagon so light that even a pony could carry it, or a task so easy, at which point you are making a fool out of yourself, that the task can be done by a second class animal when in fact to be effective and efficient it most be made by a first-class animal. And that is an illustration of using, in specie different from the human specie, the term “First-Class” by Taylor in management. Taylor’s metaphor was not intended to compare or diminish a worker or laborer’s dignity or value to that of an animal, namely, a horse, or of an inanimate noun such as a hauling wagon. It was nothing but a mere way of using a metaphor or parallel thinking to convey his point which took us as a variable out of the equation. He genuinely and savvyly took a scenario outside our own human species in a situation where human beings would decide which subject (i.e. horses and wagons) within their own categories would be best qualified to do or perform or achieve the job that required doing; which inanimate subject would be determined as first-class and on the basis on which the individual is determined to do the job is simply illustrated by the horses example. This utility of term is transferable personnel management and selection when used in determining who might be the best person fit or qualified to get a certain task or job done without regard to creed, skin color, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, political affiliation and gender. It is a nifty term for it allows you the broadest flexibility to view yourself as a “First-Class” at whatever it is you are very well qualified to do. And there can be I would think several first-class individual in any field which is very good. On the one hand when used well in personnel selection, it is a neat way to find and select the crème of the crop (the high-caliber people) to do whatever job needs to be done. On the other hand, if not used well by making jobs too complicated (lumping three into one)

or too simple that anybody can do it, one may end up wasting the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience of person doing a simple task which had it been delegated to a qualified person less experienced in breath and in depth it could have been done just as well or maybe better. You might end up, if the first-class men practice for the job is not used at all, having a poorly qualified person of narrow knowledge and shallow experience doing or overseeing a project or program or job which required wider or broader and more comprehensive (deeper) knowledge, skills, abilities and formal education. Thereby ending with negative or undesired results or no results whatsoever, and maybe even in the red from an accounting view point. You see he, Taylor, took us humans out of the equation in his metaphor to allow us to see his point more easily. His attempt perhaps to show us the classifying of horses and wagons into first and second class was, in my view, to help us with seeing beyond ourselves, straight ahead and forward so that he could keep our minds open just by giving us an example which did not set up into classifying us, humans, into first and second class. Once he allowed us to see his point in a different world, he then showed us how to apply it in ours. And hopefully we have seen beyond the “salad days” or childish, immature reactions such as “he is comparing us to horses, godsh” or he is anti-union No, no, no, he was not. His point simply was every person just as every horse in the horses example can be First-Class or many of the best to do a certain kind of job based on what the job requires and the person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, education and or experience. And he firmly believe that an employee could not just demand higher wages without decreasing cost of production and increasing productivity thereby benefiting the employer, too. Justly so, he too believed that an employer could not overwork their employees, exploit them and keep blinders on them so as not to find out of company which offered better opportunities. In fact as stated in the book about him, he is referred as having such a Yankee mind that he did not only not put blinder on their employees to find out about potentially better employment opportunities. He told them about it too; and that is what qualified his mind as Yankee mind (page 73, vol 2). He, too, took people back whom returned to him for they deemed Taylor’s practices fairer and more financially rewarding and with better working environments. Taylor was saying a machine can be first-class at his job like a CEO, Attorney, Surgeon can be at their respective jobs. And there may be second-class members in each profession, surely. Just like a CEO or doctor is not likely to become first-class in mechanic, where he would be only a second class mechanic, the mechanic would never be a first-class CEO or doctor. He would be second-class doing a CEO’s, doctor’s or attorney’s job. Nevertheless, this did not mean one cannot become first-class in another profession if one had the fortitude, self-discipline and consistency, and acquired the KSA’s (Knowledge, skills and abilities) and achievement results required to be deemed a First-Class individual in whichever profession, educational endeavor or sports.

Aside from concepts, principles and practices Frederick W. Taylor brought from the engineering and the accounting world to the field of Personnel Mangement and selection academic and practice sides of the field, he although not trained in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the time was formally educated in engineering and was known as the American Engineer in Management. Furthermore, he promoted and fostered the advamncement of formal academic education referred to him as "intellect" and also acknoledged that just education without common sense or without hands-on experience was aof little value to an individual. He furthermore ranked them and augmented the power of each by adding character or honesty. He ranked character at the top, common sense second and intellect third. This was not to dillute the value of education but just to provide perspective based on his own personal experience of the result he could get from those whe were formally educated without experience in contrast to those whom he trained for whever worked he needed done and and those who came to him with the tremendous combination of an academic education coupled with hands-on work or internship experience. The next Section on these henceforth mentioned valuss (i.e. Character, common sense and intellected) is revealed. Three Key Individual Achievement Traits by the American Engineer in American Management Three Individual Achievement Traits or learned behaviors if not traits are, according to The American Engineer in American Management and Organizational Development Science and founding father of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the United States Of America -- Frederick W. Taylor--are: 1) Character 2) Common Sense, and 3) Intellect Intellect without character Taylor pointed out makes many people end up in the jail/prison [i.e. the joint] (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management by Frank Barkley Copley, Volume II, 1923 and reprinted 1969; library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 68-55515). And character without common sense or without intellect, I would add, can become Puritanism or in other words just opinions without factual rational backing. It can become expecting people to believe anything just because some body says it. It can become deindividuation a concept in Group Psychology which leads to cults where the individual looses his or her individuality. You shall remedy by educating the group about groupthink and thereby breaking it up (Social Psychology by David G. Myers, Third Edition;

Copy Right 1990; page 292 to 298). This is the opposite of the good all American value of Individuality. The way to address de-individuation is to break group-think by making people aware of it. And letting the group know that it is perfectly fine and totally American to state a dissenting opinion about whatever without caving-in under political or peer-pressure. …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… EXECUTIVE PROFILE - WADE AZMY After moving into global organizations in 1982, Wade worked in a broad variety of privately owned and publicly listed companies, rapidly moving through a number of senior sales and marketing positions, to Director and General Manager levels. Wade Azmy started his professional career in 1981 as a graduate Engineer, where he specialized in Sales and Customer Service. Wade has held general manager and director roles for major international companies operating in the information technology, computers and telecommunication, medical systems, medical disposables and consumables, hospitals and infrastructure projects. His experience has been gained in some of the most turbulent and competitive markets, including Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific (incl. China, Japan), New Zealand and Australia. In his time with Hewlett Packard, Wade founded the Healthcare Professional Services Division in Australia and Asia Pacific. His sales and marketing exposure to international and global markets contributed to his considerable commercial expertise. Wade is known for his strong leadership and strategic planning capabilities. He has significant experience in organizational change, relationship development, sales & marketing, productivity and cost effectiveness, product development and branding. This experience has provided Wade with the unique ability to provide a broad range of insightful and innovative ideas in complex and challenging business environments. Wade has corporate governance, management and marketing qualifications. Wade provides training, development and coaching services in the areas of sales, marketing, business strategy, communication and leadership, as well as facilitation and team building. Wade is now using his broad range of business and management skills to provide Executive Recruitment services to his clients.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Indi a is being widely recognised as one of the most exciting emerging economics in the world. Besides becoming a global hub of outsourcing, Indian firms are spreading their wings globally through mergers and acquisitions. During the first four months of 1997, Indian companies have bought 34 foreign companies for about U.S. $11 billion dollars. This impressive development has been due to a growth in inputs (capital and labour) as well as factor productivity. By the year 2020, India is expected to add about 250 million to its labour pool at the rate of about 18 million a year, which is more than the entire labour force of Germany. This so called ‘demographic dividend’ has drawn a new interest in the Human Resource concepts and practices in India. This paper traces notable evidence of economic organisations and managerial ideas from ancient Indian sources with enduring traditions and considers them in the context of contemporary challenges.

Introduction Over many centuries India has absorbed managerial ideas and practices from around the world. Early records of trade, from 4500 B.C. to 300 B.C., not only indicate international economic and political links, but also the ideas of social and public administration. The world’s first management book, titled ‘Arlhãshastra’, written three millennium before Christ, codified many aspects of human resource practices in Ancient India. This treatise presented notions of the financial administration of the state, guiding principles for trade and commerce, as well as the management of people. These ideas were to be embedded in organisational thinking for centuries (Rangarajan 1992, Sihag 2004). Increasing trade, that included engagement with the Romans, led to widespread and systematic governance methods by 250 A.D. During the next 300 years, the first Indian empire, the Gupta Dynasty, encouraged the establishment of rules and regulations for managerial systems, and later from about 1000 A.D. Islam influenced many areas of trade and commerce. A further powerful effect on the managerial history of India was to be provided by the British system of corporate organisation for 200 years. Clearly, the socio cultural roots of Indian heritage are diverse and have been drawn from multiple sources including ideas brought from other parts of the old world. Interestingly, these ideas were essentially secular even when they originated from religious bases. In the contemporary context, the Indian management mindscape continues to be influenced by the residual traces of ancient wisdom as it faces the complexities of global realities. One stream of holistic wisdom, identified as the Vedantic philosophy, pervades managerial behaviour at all levels of work organisations. This philosophical tradition has its roots in sacred texts from 2000 B.C. and it holds that human nature has a capacity for

self transformation and attaining spiritual high ground while facing realities of day to day challenges (Lannoy 1971). Such cultural based tradition and heritage can have a substantial impact on current managerial mindsets in terms of family bonding and mutuality of obligations. The caste system, which was recorded in the writings of the Greek Ambassador Megasthenes in the third century B.C., is another significant feature of Indian social heritage that for centuries had impacted organisational architecture and managerial practices, and has now become the focus of critical attention in the social, political and legal agenda of the nation. One of the most significant areas of values and cultural practices has been the caste system. Traditionally, the caste system maintained social or organisational balance. Brahmins (priests and teachers) were at the apex, Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), Vaishya (merchants and managers) and Shwdra (artisans and workers) occupied the lower levels. Those outside the caste hierarchy were called ‘untouchables’. Even decades ago, a typical public enterprise department could be dominated by people belonging to a particular caste. Feelings associated with caste affairs influenced managers in areas like recruitment, promotion and work allocation (Venkatranam & Chandra 1996). Indian institutions codified a list of lower castes and tribal communities called ‘scheduled castes and scheduled tribes’. A strict quota system called, ‘reservation’ in achieving affirmative equity of castes, has been the eye of political storm in India in recent years. The central government has decreed 15 per cent of recruitment is to be reserved for scheduled castes, and a further seven and half per cent for scheduled tribes. In addition, a further 27 per cent has been decreed for other backward castes. However, the liberalisation of markets and global linkages have created transformation of attitudes towards human resource (HR) policies and practices (Khalilzadeh-Shirazi & Zagha 1994, Gopalan & Rivera 1997). Faced with the challenge of responding to the rationale of Western ideas of organisation in the changing social and economic scenario of Indian organisation, practitioners are increasingly taking a broader and reflective perspective of human resource management (HRM) in India. This manuscript has three main parts. In the first part is provided an overview of important historical events and activity that has influenced contemporary managerial tenets, the second part of the manuscript describes the emerging contemporary Indian HRM practices and indicates some interesting challenges. Much of the second part is also summarised on four informative Figures. The concluding section, the third part of the manuscript, succinctly integrates the two preceding parts.

Value of Context of HRM in India The managerial ideologies in Indian dates back at least four centuries. Arthãshastra written by the celebrated Indian scholar-practitioner Chanakya had three key areas of exploration, 1) public policy, 2) administration and utilisation of people, and 3) taxation and accounting principles (Chatterjee 2006). Parallel to such pragmatic formulations, a deep rooted value system, drawn from the early Aryan thinking, called vedanta, deeply influenced the societal and institutional values in India. Overall, Indian collective culture had an interesting individualistic core while the civilisational values of duty to family, group and society was always very important while vedantic ideas nurtured an inner private sphere of individualism. There has been considerable interest in the notion that managerial values are a function of the behaviours of managers. England, Dhingra and Agarwal (1974) were early scholars

who contended that managerial values were critical forces that shape organisational architecture. The relevance of managerial values in shaping modern organisational life is reflected in scholarly literature linking them to corporate culture (Deal & Kennedy 1982), organisational commitment and job satisfaction (O’Reilly, Chatham & Caldwell 1991), as well as institutional governance (Mowday, Porter & Steers 1982). Thus, understanding the source of these values and in particular societal work values (which link the macromicro relationships and in turn organisational practices) had become a popular line of enquiry, and a great deal of evidence has been presented to support the importance of national culture in shaping managerial values. One of the most widely read formulations of this literature is the seminal work of Hofstede (1980) who popularised the notion of clustering culture in generic dimensions such as power distribution, structuring, social orientation, and time horizons. In turn, these dimensions could be employed to explain relevant work attitudes, job incumbent behaviours and the working arrangements within organisational structures. Two of these dimensions were individualism and collectivism. The traditional social ethos from the ancient roots, which was developed over centuries, underwent profound transformation during the British rule. Consequently, in the contemporary context multiple layers of values (core traditional values, individual managerial values, and situational values) have emerged (Chatterjee & Pearson 2000). Though the societal values largely remain very much anchored in the ancient traditions they are increasingly reflecting corporate priorities and values of global linkages. But in the arena of globalisation where priorities of consumerism, technological education, mass media, foreign investment and trade union culture predominate, newer tensions are becoming evident. For instance, contemporary Indian multi national companies and global firms in India have started shifting their emphasis to human resources with their knowledge and experience as the central area of attention in extending new performance boundaries (Khandekar & Sharma 2005). Considerable research evidence attests to this trend with particular relevance to greenfield organisations with little or no historical baggages in their organisational culture (Settt 2004, Roy 2006). Within Indian traditions the choice of individualistic or collectivistic behaviour depends on a number of culturally defined variables. The dynamics of these variables are underpinned through three key elements guiding Indian managerial mindscapes. These three constructs are Desh (the location), Kaal (the timing), and Patra (the specific personalities involved). Sinha and Kunungo (1997) claim that the interaction of these three variables determines the guidelines for decisional cues. This managing or nurturing of the outer layer of collectivism in an inner private sphere of individualism is expressed in Figure 1 which demonstrates the behavioural anchors in Indian organisational life. Figure 1 Behavioral Anchors in Indian Organisational Life DECISIONAL Desh Kaal CUES (place) (Timing) SPIRITUAL Sattava guna Tamas guna ORIENTATION (Virtue focus) (Negative focus) INTERPERSONAL Sradha Sneha RELATIONS (Upward respect / Loyalty) (Downward affection)

Patra (Actors) Rajas guna (Action focus) Bandhan (Bonding)

Figure 1 also presents another powerful insight of the Indian tradition of the notion of ‘Guna’ dynamics. According to Sharma (1996), this culture based framework, which has

three types of gunas (attraction), is being increasingly used in employee assessment and organisational team building strategies. The contention is that each guna is a separate contribution to the core of human personalities. The Sattava (or truth orientation) is the sentiment of exalted values in people, organisations or society. Alternatively, the Tamasik guna depicts a negative orientation which can be expressed behaviourally as ignorance, greed or corruption. Those individuals with a Rajasik guna are inherently driven by a desire to make a worthwhile contribution to their surroundings. Collectively, these spiritual orientations, which manifest as Sattava, Tamas or Rajas gunas, articulate as positive or negative HRM functions such as leadership, motivation or other institutional behavioural activity. The third row of Figure 1 highlights the linking of HRM trends to socio cultural roots. The culture of Sradha (upward loyalty) and Sneha (mentoring with affection) outline the behavioural anchors derived from the civilisational roots. The acceptance of ‘Sradha’ by youngers and the display of ‘Sneha’ by the seniors have been the root of sustainability of all types of Indian oragnisations. This has a striking similarity to the concepts of ‘oyabun’ and ‘kobun’ in the Japanese cultural context.

Contemporary India In a recent survey of Indian CEO’s, it was suggested that Indian managerial leaders were less dependent on their personal charisma, but they emphasised logical and step by step implementation processes. Indian leaders focused on empowerment and accountability in cases of critical turnaround challenges, innovative challenges, innovative technology, product planning and marketing or when other similar challenges were encountered (Spencer, Rajah, Narayan, Mohan & Latiri 2007). These social scientists contend. Leaders in other countries often tell about why they chose a peculiar person for a certain role per task, detailing the personal characteristics that made that person right for that situation. They may also consider, in detail, how an assignment would help someone grow and develop their abilities. In general, Indian leaders simply did not discuss how they matched particular people to certain roles or tasks, nor did they usually consider in detail how the personal characteristics of individuals might shape or inform the best way to influence that person. (Spencer, et al 2007:90).

Indian HRM in Transition One of the noteworthy features of the Indian workplace is demographic uniqueness. It is estimated that both China and India will have a population of 1.45 billion people by 2030, however, India will have a larger workforce than China. Indeed, it is likely India will have 986 million people of working age in 2030, which well probably be about 300 million more than in 2007. And by 2050, it is expected India will have 230 million more workers than China and about 500 million more than the United States of America (U.S.). It may be noted that half of India’s current population of 1.1 billion people are under of 25 years of age (Chatterjee 2006). While this fact is a demographic dividend for the economy, it is also a danger sign for the country’s ability to create new jobs at an unprecedented rate. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007). When India’s young demographic bubble begins to reach working age, India will need far more jobs than currently exist to keep living standards from declining. India today doesn’t have enough good jobs for its existing workers, much less for millions of new

ones. If it cannot better educate its children and create jobs for then once they reach working age, India faces a population time bomb: The nation will grow poorer and not richer, with hundred of millions of people stuck in poverty. (p.133). With the retirement age being 55 to 58 years of age in most public sector organisations, Indian workplaces are dominated by youth. Increasing the retirement age in critical areas like universities, schools, hospitals, research institutions and public service is a topic of considerable current debate and agenda of political parties. The divergent view, that each society has an unique set of national nuances, which guide particular managerial beliefs and actions, is being challenged in Indian society. An emerging dominant perspective is the influence of globalisation on technological advancements, business management, education and communication infrastructures is leading to a converging effect on managerial mindsets and business behaviours. And when India embraced liberalisation and economic reform in the early 1990s, dramatic changes were set in motion in terms of corporate mindsets and HRM practices as a result of global imperatives and accompanying changes in societal priorities. Indeed, the onset of a burgeoning competitive service sector compelled a demographic shift in worker educational status and heightened the demand for job relevant skills as well as regional diversity. Expectedly, there has been a marked shift towards valuing human resources (HR) in Indian organisations as they become increasingly strategy driven as opposed to the culture of the status quo. Accordingly, competitive advantage in industries like software services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (where India is seeking to assert global dominance), the significance of HRs is being emphasised. These relativities were demonstrated in a recent study of three global Indian companies with (235 managers) when evidence was presented that positively linked the HRM practices with organisational performance (Khandekar & Sharma 2005). In spite of this trend of convergence, a deep sense of locality exists creating more robust ‘cross vergence’ in the conceptual as well as practical domain.

Figure 2 Drivers of Contemporary Indian HRM Trends

Figure 2 presents the key drivers for contemporary Indian HRM trends. In Figure 2 there are four external spheres of intervention for HRM professionals and these spheres are integrated in a complex array within organisational settings. The intellectual sphere, which emphasises the mindset transaction in work organisations, has been significantly impacted by the forces of globalisation. Indeed, Chatterjee and Pearson (2000) argued, with supporting empirical evidence from 421 senior level Indian managers, that many of the traditional Indian values (respect for seniority, status and group affiliation) have been complemented by newer areas of attention that are more usually linked to globalisation, such as work quality, customer service and innovation. The most important work related attribute of the study was the opportunity to learn new things at work. Such cross verging trends need to be understood more widely as practitioners face a new reality of human resource development of post industrial economic organisations. The other three spheres, of Figure 2, namely the emotional, the socio cultural and the managerial domains are undergoing, similar profound changes. For instance, the socio cultural sphere confronts the dialects of the national macro level reform agenda as well as the challenge of innovating by addressing the hygiene and motivational features of the work place. Consequently, this sphere, which is underpinned by the anchors of Sradha and Sneha, has the opportunity to leverage work setting creativity in dimensions of autonomy, empowerment, multiskilling and various types of job design. And the

emotional sphere, which focuses on creativity and innovation to encapsulate the notions of workplace commitment and collaboration as well as favourable teamwork, brings desirable behavioural elements of transparency and integrity into organisational procedures and practices. The managerial sphere provides the mechanisms for shifting mindsets, for in Indian organisations HRM is viewed to be closely aligned with managerial technical competency. Thus, understanding of the relativity of HRM to strategic intended organisational performance is less well articulated in Indian firms. The current emphasis of reconfiguring cadres (voluntary and nonvoluntary redundancy schemes), downsizing, delayering and similar arrangements will become less relevant as holistic perspectives gain ground. A hallmark of future Indian workplaces is likely to be a dominant emphasis on managerial training, structural redesign and reframing of institutional architectures to achieve enterprise excellence. Thus, a primary role of Indian managers will be to forge new employment and industrial relationships through purposeful HRM policies and practices. In Figure 3 is presented a variety of HRM practices that are being employed in Indian organisations. Figure 3 Key HRM Practices in Indian Organisations HRM Practice

Observable Features

Job Description

Percentage of employees with formally defined work roles is very high in the public sector.

Recruitment

Strong dependence on formal labour market. Direct recruitment from institutions of higher learning is very common amongst management, engineering and similar professional cadres. Amongst other vehicles, placement agencies, internet and print media are the most popular medium for recruitment.

Compensation

Strong emphasis on security and lifetime employment in public sector including a range of facilities like, healthcare, housing and schooling for children.

Training and Development

Poorly institutionalised in Indian organisations. Popularity of training programmes and their effect in skill and value development undeveloped.

Performance Appraisal

A very low coverage of employees under formal performance appraisal and rewards or organisational goals

Promotion and Reward

Moderately variable across industries. Seniority systems still dominate the public sector enterprises. Use of merit and performance limited mostly to globally orientated industries.

Limited in scope. The seniority based escalator system in the public sector provides stability and progression in career. Widespread use of voluntary Career Planning retirement scheme in public sector by high performing staff. Cross functional career paths uncommon. Gender Equity

Driven by proactive court rulings, ILO guidelines and legislature provisions. Lack of strategic and inclusion vision spread.

Reservation System

The central government has fixed 15 per cent reservations for scheduled castes, 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes and 27 per cent for backward communities. States vary in their reservation systems.

IR Challenge The Indian IR system has two main features. First, is the absence of the provision to recognise a union as a representative or agent for collective bargaining. Second, is the

total dominance of government in regulating the industrial relations (IR) domain. Though it is relatively easy for members of a work organisation to be registered as a union under the law, it does not lead to the legal recognition by the employer in dispute resolution or bargaining process. This contention was made by Kuruvilla (1996) over a decade ago. In terms of collective bargaining, industry wide bargaining occurs in certain industries where the employers are organized, but bargaining otherwise is decentralised to enterprise level. Although there are no restrictions on the subjects of bargaining, the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 restricts the ability of employers to lay off or retrench employees or to close business. (p.635). Indian industrial relations have evolved from political roots and labour market demands. An unique feature of Indian IR has been the dominance of political parties sponsoring unions. Union membership has been the most popular breeding ground for politicians, and political leaders have enjoyed the use of union platforms. Such politicisation has generated conflicts and rivalry creating mayhem and the hurting of labour interest. Nevertheless, in spite of wage determination by central government boards, and ad hoc industrial awards, enterprise level bargaining has yielded positive outcomes. Interestingly, during the 1970s in a period of the highest number of strikes, the registered number of unions grew fivefold. But a decade later profound economic and political reform movement saw a new direction in the trade union movement. A section of scholarly trade union leaders began to incorporate new global thinking in the union outlook. Since the 1980s, the Indian industrial relations culture has been considerably impacted by the intensification of globalised markets. During this time and beyond, there has been a clear departure from traditional personnel management. The shift has not only been in the general tone, but in the substantive visions. Adjustment to the global imperatives of an emerging service sector, sunrise industries, and demographic shifts in competencies has given rise to new thinking. In spite of most of the Indian labour laws being entrenched in a world view that is very different to the current realities, and the obvious urgency for them to be updated to incorporate more flexible, competitive work systems, the built in rigidities are still proving a formidable obstacle. The most alarming issue in the HR and IR context is the lack of job opportunities outside urban areas where more than 70 per cent of the population lives. As has been pointed out by Meredith (2007). While Indian university graduates line up for jobs that can propel them into newly vibrant middle class, per India’s rural and urban poor, change has been interminably delayed. Expectations, like incomes, are rising across India, and not just for those working in call centres. Even as the New India cohort thrives, much of the rest of India is making much slower gains or even being left behind, creating social and political tensions that cloud India’s impressive strides forward. The lowest paid workers in the off shoring industry those working in the call centres earn median wages of $275 a month. But most Indians still earn less than $60 a month or just $2 a day. (p.125).

Technical Services Recruitment and Retention There has been a dramatic shift in the expectations of employees in the organised and globally linked sectors of the economy. An unprecedented rise in the disposable income coupled with a declining dependency ratio, has led to young professionals becoming extremely mobile. The problem is critically evident in the off shoring industry where the average retention period of an employee is considered to be around six to eight months. And the retention of senior level executives is an additional challenge. The attrition rates are highest in information technology (IT) (30-35%), business process outsourcing (BPO) (35-40%), insurance (35-40%), retail and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) (20-30%), and manufacturing and engineering (10-15%) (Chatterjee 2006). Over the past decade, there has been a sea change in the area of Indian technical services and the associated HRM practices of recruitment and retention. While the higher education system in the country has remained overwhelming poor in infrastructure and weak in becoming revitalised to grapple with the global imperatives, there has been a mushrooming of private educational institutions. The recruitment problem is further deepened by the emergence of a new culture of ‘job hopping’ amongst employers who can demonstrate their world class competencies. This phenomenon of turnover has seen a chain reaction in entry level salaries, and an increase in graduates has created significant social and economic disruption to the Indian labour market. A likely scenario from this rampant activity is that the Indian HR scene will be negatively impacted in the next decade unless the deregulation and autonomy of the higher education sectors is initiated somewhat immediately. An example of this widening gap between the university system and market need has become a serious impediment in several new industries in India. For an example, it has been reported in the popular press (Time 2007), “…out of 13 million people who applied to work at IT company Infosys last year, just 2% were qualified indicating a sign of stress in the university system that graduates 2.5 million a year.” (p.33). One of the most concerning issues for HR managers in India is the high staff turnover. In industries like call centres, staff attrition is the single biggest issue. The industry has grown from zero employment to an employer of quarter of a million young English speaking, well educated and ambitious people. The point is well made by Slater (2007), who wrote. Attrition is highest in traditional customer service jobs, where young people find themselves having to spend all night on the phone, often with irate callers. In other areas such as claims processing or accounting, the turnover rate is much lower. More worrying for many companies is the ‘merry go round’ in supervising and management jobs, as new centers are only too willing to pay higher salaries to hijack experienced staff. (p.34). The issue of retention is much more critical in the high value adding BPO sector such as R&D activities. This $40 billion industry has one of the highest attrition rates of around 20 to 25 per cent. The service laden BPO and Hord industry have the highest attrition rates. Many companies are developing innovative incentive packages in countering this job hopping phenomenon. Figure 4 illustrates some of these initiative by leading companies in India.

Figure 4 Examples of Retention Strategies for young Professionals in India’s BPO and Services Sectors Name of the Company

Retention Strategy

•

Impact

A choice of working in over 170 offices across 40 countries in a

Tata Consulting Services(TCS)

variety of areas.

• •

•

Significant impact on

Paternity leave for

job hopping

adoption of a girl child

achieved

Discounts on group parties

•

Identification of

•

able to

potential talented staff ICICI Bank

•

achieve

Alternative stock

higher

options

•

Quicker promotion

•

‘Wings Within’ programme where existing employees get

WIPRO

Have been

retention rate

•

Has led to a higher

a chance to quit their

retention

current job role and

rate

join a different firm within WIPRO

•

Fostering a sense of belongingness, creative artistic and social activities for the

INFOSYS

•

•

Moderate

employees and their

Retentions

families.

rate increase

Initiating one of the

achieved

best ‘corporate universities’ in the world Microsoft-India

•

Excellent sporting and

•

Struggling to

Figure 4 Examples of Retention Strategies for young Professionals in India’s BPO and Services Sectors Name of the Company

Retention Strategy

Impact

wellness facilities

•

Employees allowed to choose flexible working schedule

•

minimise job

Moving people across

hopping

functions and sections in assisting employees find their area of interest

•

Culture change valuing innovation and talent over age and experience

Mahindra & Co

•

Institutionalising a practice called ‘reverse mentoring’ where

•

Stabilised job hopping significantly

young people are given opportunities of mentoring their seniors

A dramatic shift in recruitment practices has been taking place as globally pretend Indian companies as well as global technical services rivals have made India a battlefield of recruitment for the best workers. For example, IBM’s workforce in India has more than doubled in two years to a cadre of 53,000. This outcome has come with the elimination of 20,000 jobs in high cost markets like the U.S., Europe and Japan. The R&D centre of IBM is staffed by 3,000 world class engineers and is being recognised for its ability to innovate on all areas from simple processes, softwares, semiconductors as well as supercomputers. It is interesting to note that IBM has dominated the recruitment market in technical services in India during 2006. This leading company recruited 10,000 employees out of a total of 25,000 people who were recruited to the technical services industry. The prominence of IBM as an employer of technically qualified personnel has been acknowledged in the popular press (Business Week 2007). In Pune, a rapidly developing IT centre near Mumbai, the company has been dispatching vans with signs saying, ‘IBM is hiring’, to the gates of the rivals at lunch time. Their hit rate is pretty good laments a manager at a tech firm that has lost employees to IBM.

Conclusion The World Competitiveness Report rated India’s human resource capabilities as being comparatively weaker than most Asian nations. The recognition of world class human resource capability as being pivotal to global success has changed Indian HRM cultures in recent years. While the historical and traditional roots remain deeply embedded in the subjective world of managers, emphasis on objective global concepts and practices are becoming more common. Three very different perspectives in HRM are evident. Firstly, Indian firms with a global outlook; secondly, global firms seeking to adapt to the Indian context; and thirdly, the HRM practice in public sectors undertakings (PSV’S). As the Indian economy becomes more globally linked, all three perspectives will move increasingly towards a cross verging strengthening. Interestingly, within the national context, India itself is not a homogenous entity. Regional variations in terms of industry size, provincial business culture, and political issues play very relevant roles. The nature of hierarchy, status, authority, responsibility and similar other concepts vary widely across the nations synerging system maintenance. Indeed, organisational performance and personal success are critical in the new era.

Author