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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With human capital increasingly acknowledged as an organizations strategic

asset and competitive advantage, the HR function is increasingly under pressure
to create value for the business. This statement has been repeated so often that
it has almost become clichs for the HR community. But there is more: todays
businesses are also constantly operating across borders, helped by advances in
technology and logistic infrastructure. For the HR practitioner, this means dealing
with a growing number of employees moving across borders for periods ranging
from a few days to several years.
As part of an organization then, HRM must be prepared to deal with the effects of
the changing world of work. Managing people in international settings requires
human resources to address a broader range of functional areas. It requires
more involvement in the employees personal life. The firm should establish
different human resource management systems for different geographic
locations. It must closely watch the moves made by external constituencies
including foreign governments, political and religious groups. A host of other
issues relating to employee compensation, health, safety, welfare etc., need to
be monitored carefully. Employees on international assignments represent
valuable assets and hence need to be managed systematically and strategically
so that they can easily adapt, survive and flourish in diverse cultures and
environments.
All this requires an understanding of the implications of globalization, work-force
diversity, changing skill requirements, corporate downsizing, total quality
management, reengineering, the contingent work force, decentralized work sites,
and employee involvement.

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ROLE OF HR IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

________________________________________________________________
Should we do away with HR? This is a silly question and senseless debate. Of
Course, we should do away with HR if it fails to add value and impedes
performance. If, however, it creates value or delivers results, we should keep HR.
As there should be more focus on what HR professionals deliver than what they
do, HR practices have been modified to incorporate this new concept. Current
HR thinking reflects what HR people do: staffing, development, compensation,
benefits, communication, organization design, high performing teams, and so on.
So, the role of HR department in organizations covers the following
aspects:
1. The role of the HR professional
2. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
3. The relationship of HR roles and management functions
4. Dimensions of change in the HR profession
A. Managing projects
B. Managing change
C. Managing third - party contractors
D. Managing technology
THE ROLE OF THE HR PROFESSIONAL:
HRM Definition
It is the design of formal systems in an organization that ensures effective and
efficient use of human talent, in order to accomplish organizational goals.

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Historical view of HR roles

Advisory
Assists line
managers with
HR functions.

Service
Assists
organization,
its employees,
and the public.

Control
Implements:
Policies.
Procedures.
Rules.

Current HR Roles

HR Dimensions of Change

Business partnering

Long-term, strategic perspective

Organizational change

New technology

Diversity and work/life balance

Shift in responsibilities to line managers

Decentralization of HR

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Outsourcing of operational and administrative HR

Off shoring

Measurement and quantification

Lateral movement

Social responsibility

Development of intellectual capital

Mergers and acquisitions

In general, the focus of todays HR Manager is on strategic personnel

retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches,

counsellors,

mentors,

and

succession

planners

to

help

motivate

organizations members and their loyalty.

WHAT IS BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION?
Business transformation is a key executive management initiative that
attempts to align People, Process and Technology initiatives of a company more
closely with its business strategy and vision to support and help innovate new
business strategies. Business transformation is achieved through efforts from
alignment of People, Process and Technology strategies towards a strategic endstate.
Business transformation can be achieved through new technology, business
models and management practices. Business transformation is now considered
an essential part of the competitive business cycle.
HR PRACTICES IN DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
Organisations and their HR departments are open systems and are affected by
the external and internal environment in which they operate. There are a number
of critical trends affecting the employment relationship that further affect how

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organisations need to manage their employees. The functional areas, structural
changes, specific cultural issues peculiar to a unit, HR systems, corporate
policies and a lot of other factors influence the way the HR function is carried out.
External and Internal Factors Influencing the Personnel Function
1. Technological Changes:
The impact of technology on HR can be profound. New technologies can
decimate organisational layers, low-end jobs and make existing employee
skill absolutely obsolete. Internet and intranet revolution have changed the
way business is carried out worldwide. HR managers need to handle the
people impacted by such sweeping changes carefully.
Impact of technology on HRM
a. New skills required: They need strong interpersonal and
communication skills as well as ability to handle customer
complaints in a flexible way
b. Downsizing: it means the planned elimination of jobs. The wave of
merger and acquisition activity, in recent times, has often left the
new, combined companies to downsize operations ruthlessly.
Managing a human resource surplus
Why downsizing?

Automation

Restructuring

Mergers

Acquisitions

Competitive pressures

Managing survivors of downsizing

Bitterness, anger disbelief and shock need to be handled

properly

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Give information as to why the action had to be taken

Tell how it is going to help the firm and employees in long

run

c. Telecommuting: the rapid advances in technology have led to the

relocation of work from office to home. Companies have been able
to increase the applicant pool through this mode.
d. Internet and intranet revolution: In HR, internets and intranets
are being used to handle training, benefits administration,
performance management and outplacement functions. Managing
virtual corporations and virtual workers in this technology driven
world is going to pose tough challenges for HR managers in the
year ahead.
Role of HR in a Virtual organisation
A assume virtual organisation is a network of companies of employees
connected by computers. Virtual workers work from home, hotels, their cars,
or wherever their work takes them. The human resource function plays a
unique role in a virtual organisation.

Psychological fit: the lack of face-to-face interaction in a virtual

organisation virtually compels HR professionals to determine the
psychological fit between different units initially.

System alignment: given the lack of physical proximity, it becomes

even more critical that an organisations mission, vision and measures
be aligned and that all parties are familiar with these issues; the HR
function can play an important role in this task.

Reconsider rewards: in a virtual unit, very few permanent positions

exist. In many cases, the organisation will be staffed with workers
having different motivational forces. So rewarding each entity in an
effective way becomes an important job.

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Reconsider staffing needs: in a virtual organisation, most employees

work on a contractual basis. Finding people with requisite skills,
knowledge, and motivation levels becomes an important activity.

Build partnerships: virtual teams have to be built from scratch,

paying attention to their unique requirements. The concept of
employment needs to be replaced by the concept of partnerships,
especially when most tend to work independently, away from the
permanent employees or owners of the organisation.

Develop leaders: leaders become the major forces for building trust,
creating a mission and instilling a sense of belonging to the
organisation. HR can play a major role in ensuring that leaders these
responsibilities and meet them in an effective way.

e.

Total Quality Management:

A way of creating an organisational culture committed to the
continuous improvement of skills, team work, process, product and
service quality and customer satisfaction.

f.

Improving productivity through HRIS (Human Resource

Information System)
A computerized system offers current and accurate data for purposes
of control and decision making. For e.g. most employers probably still
write their own job description, but more are turning to the internet to
find the desired job title.

2.

Economic, political, social and local factors also influences the way
in which HR managers meet their objectives.

3.

Workforce diversity: workforce is becoming increasingly diverse and

organizations are doing their best to address their employee concerns
and to maximise the benefits of different kinds of employees with
diverse educational, cultural and religious backgrounds.

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4.

From specialized to enlarged jobs

Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same level activities,
thus increasing the number of activities they perform.
Why managers dejobbing their companies?
Whether specialized, enlarged or enriched, however, workers still
generally have had specific jobs to do, and these jobs have required
job description. In many firms today, jobs are becoming more
amorphous and more difficult to define. In other words, the trend is
toward dejobbing.
Dejobbing- broadening the responsibilities of the companys jobs, and
encouraging employees not to limit themselves to what is on their job
description.
Here is a sampling of organizational factors that have contributed to this
weakening, and to encouraging workers not to limit themselves to narrowly
defined jobs.

Flatter organizations: instead of traditional, pyramid shaped

organizations

with

seven

or

more

management

layers,

flat

organizations with just three or four levels are more relevant.

Work teams: managers increasingly organize tasks around teams

and processes rather than around special functions.

Boundaryless organization: organization marked by the widespread

use of teams and cross-functional task forces that reduce and make
more permeable the boundaries that typically separate departments
and hierarchical levels.

Reengineering: The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of

business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical,
contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service
and speed. HR can play a great role in improving commitment of

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employees by hiring competent people, offering the right incentives
and installing effective two way communication practices.
2.

Competency based job analysis

Competencies are demonstrable characteristics of a person that
enable performance of a job. Competency-based job analysis
means describing a job in terms of the measurable, observable,
behavioural competencies an employee must exhibit to do a job well.
Why use competency analysis?
There are three reasons to describe jobs in terms of competencies
rather than duties:

First, traditional job descriptions (with their lists of specific duties)

may actually backfire if a high performance work system is your
goal.

Second, describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge, and

competencies the worker needs is more strategic.

Third, measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies are the

heart of any companys performance management process for e.g.
as at Canon, achieving a firms strategic goals means that
employees must exhibit certain skills and competencies.

Performance management is basing your employees training,

appraisals, and rewards on fostering and rewarding the skills and
competencies he or she needs to achieve his or her goals.
3. Replacing job description with the Skill Matrix
Modern, competency-based job analysis/job design techniques can help
companies implement high-performance strategies. In one firm- British
Petroleums exploration division the need for more efficient, flexible,
flatter organizations and empowered employees, inspired management to
replace job descriptions with matrices listing skills and skill levels.

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HR prepared a matrix for each job or job family such as (drilling manager).
The matrix listed (1) the basic skills needed for that job (such as technical
expertise and business awareness) and (2) the minimum level of each skill
required for that job or job family. As you can see, the emphasis is no
longer on specific job duties. Instead, the focus is on specifying and
developing the new skills (technical expertise, business awareness, and
so on) needed for the employees broader, empowered, and relatively
undefined responsibilities.
THE HR CHALLENGES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS

Deployment: easily getting the right skills to where we need them,

regardless of geographic location.

Knowledge and innovation dissemination: spreading state-of-art

knowledge and practices throughout the organization regardless of where
they originate

Identifying and developing talent on a global basis: identifying who

can function effectively in a global organization and developing his or her
abilities

Internal transition
People within the organization face a greater challenge during the restructuring,
mergers & acquisitions. They have to handle trust issues, learn new roles and
get the job done. Empirical data indicates that managers with task rather than
people focus tend to get recognized in the short run. Most merger/acquisitions ail
from this malady; bright managers who want to get on with the job when what
they need to do is to pause, listen to people, communicate and integrate. Most
merger/acquisition/restructuring efforts fail because the people side has not been
handled properly. One to one career coaching helps them to reflect, identify
sensitivities and key competencies required to become successful.

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Role of HR During Change:
A.

Showing personal commitment and positive attitude.

B.

Involve people in the change process.

C.

Ensures that top management is supportive.

D.

Communicating with employees and top management

E.

Reinforce change with incentives

F.

Anticipating resistance and finding ways to deal with it.

Mr. Brian Carroll, Director, Brian Carroll and Associates Pty Ltd, an Australia
based learning, training and development co., suggests the following strategies
which can be used by the managers to assist employees through the change
process:

Managers to consult with employees through the planning/implementation

stages and to explain the benefits/reasons for the changes.

Staff to reassured that adequate training will be provided.

Managers to encourage staff to raise their concerns and to make

suggestions for improvements.

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in
competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource
Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization.
Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents
may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be
outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources.

HR

PROFESSIONALS

HANDLING

BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION

THROUGH TALENT MANAGEMENT

.
How to Drive and Achieve Measurable, Sustainable Business Results

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Talent is imperative in todays economy and the increase in globalization means
the competition for global talent is rife. At Infosys, we recognize the
importance to invest in skills globally and provide opportunity for future
business leaders to understand the changing dynamics of a flat world.
-

Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technology

We need to define talent.

We need to measure talent.
We need to measure peoples' talent.
We need to hire people with the right talent.
Talent is what we bring to the job. We need to define talent.
We need to measure talent.
We need to measure peoples' talent.
We need to hire people with the right talent.
Talent is what we bring to the job.

Developing And Retaining Human Assets Through Talent Management:

Talent Management, often referred to as Human Capital Management, is the

process of recruiting, managing, assessing, developing and maintaining an
organizations most important resource-its people! Talent Management is the
end-to-end process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing, and
compensating employees throughout the organization. The 4 pillars of talent
management

are:

recruiting,

performance

management,

learning

management and compensation management.

Talent management implies recognising a person's inherent skills, traits,

personality and offering him a matching job. Every person has a unique talent
that suits a particular job profile and any other position will cause discomfort.

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It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR Department, to place
candidates with prudence and caution. A wrong fit will result in further hiring, retraining and other wasteful activities. Talent Management is a strategic
approach to Managing Human Capital- the most valuable assets of your
company.

"PUTTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT JOBS".

1. Overcoming Talent Drain:
People often speak of organizations and the management of organization without
first thinking about the employees who form the core of organization.
Reasons cited by employees for wanting to leave a company:

Better compensation package

Better career opportunities to utilize ones skills

Better benefits

More meaningful work

Thus, apart from addressing- theall-essential-issue-of-retention, companies

need to foster a deep level of employee commitment by offering opportunities,
teaching new skills, providing inspired leadership, effectively communicating
and introducing competitive pay package as their first step towards creating
an Engaged Organization

1. Managing Ineffective Workers

Dilbert Principle:
The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where
they can do the least damage, i.e. Damage management is the central
principle of Dilbert. The foibles and fallacies of the modern business world

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and rampant management fads which include such aspects as management
incompetence, overbearing egos, a cubicle view of bosses, a bottomless
bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, long hour meetings, confusion
of information super highways, ineffective teams, downsizing to grow sick,
absurd corporate re-engineering, quality free total quality, employee
empowerment drama, fictions styled vision statement, unplanned business
plans. This implies that a large number of people agree with salient
observations of Dilbert principle. Therefore, top managers in general and HR
managers in particular must see that their organizations will not become
victims of this principle.
Hence, the transition of employees moving out as well as staying in is a huge
challenge. In the western world which have been long inflicted by the
aftermath of mergers/acquisitions/restructuring, and employee service called
career transition support is well established. This involves providing a
coaching service for emotional and intellectual support to employees to
handle their transition challenges, take right career decisions and in effect
convert a crisis situation into a life changing opportunity. In India this service
is still nascent.

PEOPLE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (P-CMM):

People Capability Maturity Model has emerged in middle of last decade and is
called in short as P-CMM. Prior to this, there was no clear yardstick for
measuring

peoples development

in

an

organization.

Branding

the

organizations human capital processes and instituting best practices in

management is the key to corporate success in skill-intensive industries like
software and information Technology.
The aforesaid model P-CMM was appreciated by leading and progressive
organizations as one of the best guidelines for building organizational success
through best practices of human talent processes. The CMM provides an
organization with a clear cut vision to improve resource value through systematic

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application of global practices in high tech talent management. There are quality
consultancy firms that are helping organizations to get P-CMM grade
certification. Club Mahindra, L&T, Siemens are a few among the firms to obtain
the grade very early.
P-CMM not only provides a blueprint for talent acquisition, motivation and
development, but also list out important parameters through which organizations
can evaluate the effectiveness of their own human resource policies and
practices. This is done by categorizing into five levels of HRM that give a
feedback to the organization about its performance in HRM. Level 5 is the
highest and best possible grade.
SEI announced the launch of version 2 of P-CMM in Bangalore in
2001.Organizations in India started responding in numbers. Initially, it was the
software majors in India like Wipro, Infosys and others who stepped up for PCMM assessment by external evaluators. Some of these software service
companies even obtained a level 5 the highest possible grade under this model
that signifies an optimal level of learning and maturity in the organization. In the
software industry, P-CMM has become a standard and a hygiene factor for
getting into the big league
Now the trend is moving away from software, slowly and surely and the future is
promising. The concerned agencies or consultancies who are authenticated for
issuing P-CMM certification are working with industries
At the same time, P-CMM as an issue has not received a lot of attention among
organizations. Due to fast-expanding nature of software businesses, the shelf life
of an assessment has not been very high. But changes have been proposed in
the method of assessment and there can be a lot of discussion and debate about
P-CMM very soon in the near future.
Importance and the need of P-CMM
Microsoft has never gone in for P-CMM assessment and neither has Oracle,
outside of India. So why should any good organization need it?

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Experts opine the primary driver for acquiring P-CMM certification is getting
greater volumes of business. An assessment certification provides an objective
view to organizations and helps them strengthen themselves. It also helps a
company communicate to the external world that its HR processes are stable,
and hence the output that they receive is more likely to be consistent. Clients of
such companies who are worried about getting a consistent output are satisfied
that their source of supply is having a certification of P-CMM and may even be
willing to pay a premium for the work they outsource from them.
When certification becomes the entry condition, it helps companies obtain
business. It also builds the companys brand with customers. This is why
software companies have been very meticulous about getting themselves
assessed, since a large number of their clients are in the US. However, experts
also believe that when going in for certification, the driving motive should be to
take human capital human practices to increasing levels of sophistication where
learning, and not the achievement of perfection, is the main objective. This
certification will definitely create strong brands internally and externally. If
organizations do it just for the sake of it without proper implementation they may
not derive the benefits from it in the long run.

WORKING STRATEGIES OF TALENT MANAGEMENT COMPANIES:

Centralize talent management data with integrated best-of-breed

capabilities

Reduce time and costs of performance reviews by automating the

talent management process in an on-line, easy-to-use solution

Identify and close employee skills gaps by immediately turning

automated performances appraisals into training development
plans

Reduce time and money spent on non-strategic training by directly

aligning training demand with performance needs and strategic
goals

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Increase productivity by focusing employees on critical tasks by

clearly communicating goals implemented by a centralized goal
management platform

Monitor progress of review metrics and goals by analyzing

performance dashboards at any time

Identify and reward top performers and strategically develop

employees

by

implementing

integrated

succession

development plans that ensure success in filling talent gaps

Implement consistent, unbiased pay-for-performance initiatives

and

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CONCLUSION

HR activities abroad comes not just from the vast distances involved, but also
from the cultural, political, legal, and economic differences among countries and
their peoples. Studies show how such cultural differences can influence HR
policies.
HR

managers

seeking

to

standardize

selection,

training,

appraisal,

compensation, or other HR practises world wide will always meet resistance from
local managers who insist, You cant do that here, because we are different
culturally and in other ways. The local HR managers should be treated as
partners, not as implementers.
Differences in economic systems also translate into differences in HR practices.
For one thing, some countries are more wedded to the ideals of free enterprise
than are others. For instance, France- though a capitalist society-imposed tight
restrictions on employers rights to discharge workers, and limited the number of
hours an employee could legally work each week. The codetermination laws,
including the Works Constitution Act, largely determine the nature of HR policies
in many German firms.
HR must act as facilitators. HRs role is to facilitate the management of talent and
to act as coaches and consultants to the line managers. For it to be truly
successful, talent

management cannot

be

seen

as simply an

HR

initiative. The main responsibility of HR, therefore, is to develop the organization

as an 'employer of choice' and a 'great place to work'.

Looking Ahead
Change management comprises of many different factors. However, there are
some key solutions:

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Involve all employees, from junior staff to the CEO, through the change
process.

Encourage staff to make suggestions to assist with the smooth delivery

of the changes.

Provide training and clarification of any changes as they occur so that

there are no surprises for the employees.

Introduce some workplace fun activities for staff to enjoy the ride
through the changes.

Utilise the services of specialist recruitment and training companies to

assist employees with managing change.

Provide guidance, career transition, counselling and outplacement

services to retrenched employees, to assist them to move on and find
new work opportunities

If the organization has invested time and money in training people, try
not to let valuable talent go.

Find a place for them in the organisation and the will help the
organisation grow and prosper.