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Dear Reader, In the present world of long working hours, strict deadlines and constant travelling, the young professionals are under constant pressure to deliver. The balancing act they have to do between devoting quality time to work and to the family adds on to the stress. Many organizations are realizing the importance of creating a congenial workplace environment to garner the best out of the employees. Success cannot, or rather should not, be defined just by the ability to meeting sales targets or crunching heavy numbers. Feeling satisfied in what one is doing to further ones own as well as the organizations growth is more important above anything. The HR function plays an important role in creating the right pool of talent and the right environment in any organization. It can help employees chart the best path to success by unleashing their fullest potential. Nowadays HR is redefining itself from being a mere support function to a strategic partner in an organizations decision making process. HR as a function is complex as it cannot be easily quantified, for it involves the human mind. HRegatta will feature contributions from the Corporate, Faculty members and the bright young students in its attempt to understand and appreciate the dynamic world of Human Resources. In the first edition we discuss about leadership, recent HR trends, employee engagement methods, the impact of modernization on employee relations among many. In the future as the series moves on, we seek to address newer and relevant issues. We hope to continuously reinvent ourselves and grow with your valuable inputs. For any suggestions please mail us at hregatta@fms.edu. Happy Reading.

Satyajit Bagchi President, HRSoc, FMS Delhi Team The HRSoc Team Joint Secretaries Amit Srivastava Manish Mandal Shruti Agrawal Tarun Arya Associate Members Anshika Jain Aurobindo Mukherjee Mansi Pakkhidey Priya Paliwal Satwinder Singh Shashank Arya

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Acknowledgement

This to express our sincere gratitude towards Dr. Mala Sinha for taking out time and contributing the opening article for the first issue of HRegatta. We also thank Prof. Tanuja Agarwala from the bottom of Agarwala arwal our hearts for judging and grading the articles contributed by students from various colleges. This newsletter would have been incomplete without their cooperation.

Regards, Team HRSoc FMS Delhi

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Contents

Anatomy of Work: View from Bhagwad Gita (article by Faculty member) There's more to look for, than profits, during Mergers and Acquisitions Impact of Technology on Employee Relations Employee Engagement and Retention in Indian IT Sector Recent Human Resources Trends Behind the BARS (Behaviourally Anchored Ratings Scale) Unskilled now enrol into transformational school! Technological Environment and Employee Integration

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Anatomy of Work: View from Bhagwad Gita

In the work centric society of today, it is important to differentiate between work well done and that which is poorly done; as progress in the external world depends on this difference, as would the quality of the life you lead. Organizations routinely calibrate individuals on their potential and capacity to work and on this basis recruit, terminate and promote, thereby impacting satisfaction, meaning and fulfilment in life. The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the only scriptural philosophy in the world that talks about work and has presented a holistic model explaining the anatomy of work. Following its principles is likely to help individuals not only manage work life better, but make work joyful and rewarding experience, as opposed to it being burdensome and ineffective. Human beings are not like plants, animals, bees, flowers, clouds and the sun; because of which rarely can they work with the ease of nature. But human beings possess the twin gift of self-awareness (ability to think, feels and understand) and will power (capacity to exert); and it is this uniqueness that ends up becoming a bane or a boon depending on how it is used. For example, sometimes we avoid doing work because we think it is below our status, while at other times we may like work, but do not work well, because we feel someone is not rewarding us enough for it. It is also possible that we are not even aware of the kind of work we should be choosing as a vocation and end up doing things where the heart is not present. These problems exist because we do have answers to three principle issues related to work like: 1. Work that I should be doing 2. Factors related to accomplishing work 3. Barriers in the way of performing work effectively

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The Gita gives lucid answers to the above questions. Sloka 46 in chapter 18 in Gita responds to the first query as: Sve sve karmanya bhiratah samsiddhim

labhate narah; Svkrama niratah siddhim yatha vindati tac chrnu (A person intent on own natural
work reaches perfection). Simply interpreted it means every individual is gifted with a unique quality called Svabhava, which seeks expression through word and deed, and this is the work one ought to be doing. Svabhava driven work is called svadharma; and our talents, interests, natural endowments along with cooperation from external agents help executing svadharma. The unborn mango tree is the Svabhava (innate nature) of the seed, and growing into a mango tree is svadharma (work) of the seed. Hence a painter must paint, a doctor must heal and a teacher must teach. This is the only definition of work according to The Gita. The problem with most human beings is that they are unaware of their Svabhava and chase work that others are doing or that which has the stamp of social approval. People are just not interested in exploring their own uniqueness and take comfort in becoming clones of others. But being aligned with Svabhava makes us work freely, without being troubled with desire for rewards, remuneration, appreciation, and social conformity. We become like flowers, where the act of blooming is unmotivated and complete in itself. The best way to be in touch with the Svabhava is to pay attention to your interests, talents, calling, insights and intuitions and the opportunities that present. The rule is to focus inwards while embracing the environment.

The second question relates to factors involved in accomplishing work. And Gita says effectiveness depends on five causes elaborated in Sloka 14 in chapter 18 - Adhisthanam tatha karta karanam ca

prthag vidham; Vividhas ca prthak cesta daivam caivatra pancamam. The five causes of work are:
ADHISTHANA which are body, sense organs and mind that give physical expression to work; KARTA or the sense of I (ego) which is ownership impulse and motivation to work; CESATAH ,the different kinds of efforts that make up the force of action; KARANA or the powers of nature - temperature, air, light etc essential for work DAIVAM which is universal intelligence (rta) that automatically aligns corrects balances and bestows synchronicity among all the elements involved to achieve order and equitability which translate as results and outcomes. When the five causes of work are optimized we are successful in our endeavours. Let is examine how work is done by individuals in organizations. When we are fit in mind and body (Adhisthanam), and motivated to work (karta), we still need to engage the cooperation of others, and use strategies, tactics, skills, competence and creativity (cesatah) to accomplish the work. In addition the right physical environment should be available (Karana) and finally synchronicity (daivam) is needed for final success. Ignoring or misusing any of the five causes will lead to failures or suboptimal work outcomes. A common mistake is to give too much importance to the mind, body, senses and ego (Adhisthanam and karta);

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and ignore the remaining three causes of work (cesatah, Karana, & daivam). The last issue is about barriers and human beings have to overcome these at two levels. At the first level you have to move towards obtaining clarity and awareness of your constitutive nature YOUR SVABHAVA. Else you will be busy climbing the wrong tree and all that you do will not match your constitution and therefore will not be done well. Discovering the Svabhava svadharma trajectory is the first step to achieving excellence in work. Choose the correct subject stream at school level, acquire commensurate higher educational qualifications and make job choices that go with the Svabhava is the rule. If mistakes are made, have the courage to correct and not live with them. The second level of barriers emerges when the five causes of work are not in balance leading to poor outcomes.

For example an unfit body and a clouded mind (Adhisthanam) will reduce efficiency. If the ego (karta) is dominant it makes the individual overly concerned about my rewards, my success, my feelings; and uncaring about others needs which impedes teamwork. Ego consequently affects efforts (cesatah) to accomplish work successfully because we are dominating, exploitative; and ignorant in regard to human and physical resources available. Environmental factors too enable work efficiency, and misusing nature by polluting rivers, atmosphere or depleting the forest reserves, will significantly diminish the bounties` we can accrue from them. Lastly, if the work we are doing is not ethical and aligned with the larger collective intelligence we disturb the balance in the macro system and reap negative outcomes because synchronicity is disturbed (daivam). Kahlil Gibrans words resonate Gitas essence of work:

Always you have been told that work is curse and labour a misfortune.

But I say to you with work you fulfil a part of earths furthest dream, Assigned to you when that dream was born, And with keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with lifes innermost secret

We thank Dr. Mala Sinha for the above article. Dr. Sinha is a Ph.D. (Psychology) and a Professor at Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi.

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Issues in Merger & Acquisitions Organizations today are in the quest of growing fast and multi-fold and traditionally organic growth has been the way to move forward. By the end of 19th century, the trend has begun where one company buys another to create a combined shareholder value which is greater than the sum of the two companies. This synergy is the fundamental criterion for any merger or acquisition. Since last decade this trend has gained momentum. There are several issues involved in a Merger or Acquisition. Due to lack of time, various burning issues prevailing, resource constraints etc., companies might be tempted to bypass the human aspect in an M&A. However the costs of such a move far exceed the estimated benefits. Many M&A deals fail, with people & cultural issues lying at the heart of each deal. As per the survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2008, organizational cultural differences and people integration issues were ranked as the top two significant challenges in M&A transactions. Employee engagement, leadership retention issues ranked 5th and 6threspectively. No second thoughts in saying -- Organizations which proceed for an M&A deal without factoring in the people side are bound to be doomed in the future. It is interesting to note that every such transaction is unique with its own set of challenges and opportunities. The success of any M&A depends on the degree of collaboration between various functional and strategy teams involved in the transaction.
Winner, First Prize, January 2012 Issue

There's more to look for, than profits, during Mergers and Acquisitions

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According to a research 65% of the failed M&As are due to 'people issues'. Various studies confirm the failure rate of mergers higher than 50%. In spite of such disappointing odds of success, M&A is still considered glamorous and many large firms consider this as an option in their growth strategy. The strategic objectives of an M&A include consolidation, new growth opportunities, product portfolio extension, new intellectual capital, achieving critical mass, economies of scale, access to new capital etc.

early in the course can fill the gaps in M&A transactions arising from people and cultural issues.

HRs foot print at Different Stages of an M&A Pre-deal: In this stage the companys corporate Predevelopment team based on its growth strategy hunts for an appropriate target and starts assessing all the potential target companies and finally develops a plan for the merger or acquisition. HR can partner with this deal team early at strategy planning stage itself or at target screening stage so that it can give insights on possible people related challenges in the future. By involving in the early stages, HR team would have idea on the strategy behind the transaction and can develop a vision oriented organization structure at the implementation stage. Due Diligence: Once the offer is made, the acquiring company has to ensure that the deal has high probability of success and it is strategically and economically viable. At this stage the price of the transaction is assessed and various financial, structural, talent and cultural risks are identified. Audits are performed covering all the angles.
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Skilled HR professionals can play a vital role in this process and make the integration process hassle free and faster moving the breakeven point ahead of time. Having right talent in the HR team and involving them

When it comes to due diligence and other audits it is found that maximum amount of time is devoted to tangibles like IT systems, intellectual property, financial systems etc. However as per the UBS study, half of a companys value is attributed to intangible assets and among them Leadership capability stands out the most significant. In this stage HR can help deal team in identifying the information that must be collected from the target companies to calculate people-related costs, find out

and revenue. Organizational effectiveness reviews can be done at this stage. Culture audits also take place in this stage. Culture signifies the way things get done in an organization. It is evident in the policies, procedures, organization structure, daily formal and informal behaviours, inclination to change, etc. HR professionals maintain a check list while performing different audits related to the people and cultural issues.

integration issues and synergies. Some risks and liabilities arising from the people side include pension, total rewards, termination indemnities, jubilee payments, retiree medical and accrued unused vacation, etc. Costs related to retaining key employees, severance costs and any other people related costs are examined. The analysis encompasses the HR issues that can have adverse impact on the profit margins, balance sheet

Integration Planning: In this stage the acquiring company makes an inclusive plan for integrating the two companies. Generally this planning is completed within 100 days from the day it is decided to merge. Time can be saved if this stage starts during the due diligence stage itself but it might be risky. Some of the plans include employee communication, key talent retention, staffing etc.

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Implementation: HR has the onus of maintaining the productivity of employees, curtailing the loss of key employees and exerting efforts to streamline the cultures of the merged companies during implementation stage. There is a list of things which needs to be focused by HR in this stage.

ideal M&A An ideal M&A HR Team An M&A HR team member has to be a perfect collaborative team player, analytical, detail oriented and able to oversee a bigger picture along with an ability to work with conflicting priorities. To give beneficial and pragmatic inputs, HR team has to have thorough knowledge on their companys business and its goals, various functions, product/service development, etc. Very often HR professionals are overwhelmed with their day to day operational activities left with little time for participating in the strategy formulation of the company. Outsourcing some of the routine and administrative tasks would create a conducive environment for HR to focus on providing inputs like staffing, incentive plans, workforce strategy etc. Mergers and acquisitions visualize growth and fresh beginnings. They determine the corporate survival acquiring new expertise for the future. Communication forms the heart of this process which can no longer be stated as soft issue. It is an underlying requirement for financial success as low morale, turnover, compensation and healthcare costs can have far reaching consequences on the companys return on investment. Hence it imperative to take care of human side in addition to profits for assuring success in any transactions and M&A is no exception.

Author: Madhavi Alapaty Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies Mumbai

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How Technology impacts organization structure? Employee relations involve multiple layers of communication, from employer-employee relations to interactions among the workforce itself.

Impact of Technology on Employee Relations

To understand the effect of technology on employee relations we have to understand how the structure of an organization changes with the type of technology being used in the organization. We have various theories to study this phenomena, these are:
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Winner, Second Prize, January 2012 Issue

Joan Woodwards (1965) technology contribution which characterized the major technologies used in manfacturing organizations into unit, process and mass technologies. What we could derive from this theory was that routine technology (i.e. technology leading to more routiness in work) like mass meant a more formalized structure and vice versa. Another one was Perrows(1967) knowledge technology contribution which divided technology into 4 types routine, non routine, craft and engineering types based on task variability and problem analyzability factors used in the technology. The third major contribution was Thompsons Technology structure that divided technology into Long linked, mediating and Intensive technologies, with long linked corresponding to standardization of operations, tools, parts and machines.
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Focusing on the Knowledge Technology contribution of Perrow, since the world has moved on to become a knowledge based economy. Its two main dimensions are:

Task variability that describes the number of exceptions individuals encounter in their work. Problem analyzability which describes the type of search procedure employees follow in responding to exceptions. standard/same technology and the other being NonRoutine technology which is Constantly updating/New technology. 1. Routine technology leading to mechanization: Due to standardized work and repetitive tasks employees:
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The four technology categories in his theory are: 1. ROUTINE: characterised by the lack of exceptions and its depth of comprehension. Traditional manufacturing technologies such as assembly lines belong to this category. 2. CRAFT: characterised by its lack of exceptions and unpredictable outcomes that are difficult to analyse. Construction work that demands the drafting of new designs to resolve building problems is an example of applied craft technology. 3. ENGINEERING: characterised by many exceptions and its depth of comprehension. Standard and accepted methods are available to provide solutions to problems. Accountants, most engineers and laboratory technicians use engineering technologies. 4. NON-ROUTINE: characterised by many exceptions and poor comprehension. Problems appear frequently with no existing solutions. Commercial space engineering is an example of a non-routine technology. Organization How Organization structure affects Employee relations? Perrows classification can be divided into 2 main divisions one being Routine Technology made up of Routine and Engineering classification that is
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Are less able to talk with each other during work thus employee are not able to make any new friends at work. The standardized technology means that each employee has fixed set of duties and doesnt need to talk to anyone regarding issues faced with the handling of their technology; he/she has a manual etc. to solve their difficulties. Tend to confine their communications to workrelated matters Since socialisation is very less, topics other than work related matters are not discussed much. Generally tend to make fewer friends at work and feel socially isolated all the above factors increase stress level of the employees as they feel socially isolated and they do not have any outlet for the tensions accumulated at work time.

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2. Non Routine/New Creativity:

Technology

promoting

among the employees as everyone knows what is being communicated. 2. Leadership strategy using technology: Division of work should be according to what technology the person is comfortable using. Technology can also be used to encourage healthy competition at work as employees can be encouraged to learn latest technology or achieve mastery in the technology already in use. 3. Promoting Knowledge Worker strategy in the organization: As Peter Drucker believed that dissemination of information would be most important for the organizations working today to survive, it is imperative that technology plays an important part in making all the employees knowledge oriented workers. This would boost employee morale and help them perform better in the organization. It would also help them to improve relations amongst themselves due to increased motivation and knowing what is going around them.

Due to autonomy, the employees involved with using non-standardized technology:

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Likely to become involved in conflict with other departments - there is stress on efficiency since not using a routine technology leads to a loss in efficiency. The employee-employer relationship is not that congenial as there are bound to be creative differences amongst the two.

How technology strategy combination can affect Employee relations? A combination of strategy and technology can impact Employee relations in an organization. 1. Strategy of Transparency in communication using Technology: Exchanging information through emails, social networking software for the office employees can be a way of disseminating information amongst them. These are also an important way to improve the relation

Author: Vipul Bali Indian Institute of Management Rohtak

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Introduction The most valuable assets for the Indian IT industry are their employees. Retaining these employees and getting the best talent possible to join their organisation should be one of the top most priorities for the IT industry. In the IT industry talented employees can well serve as a competitive advantage for the companies and can be a major differentiator between companies. Mr. Narayan Murthy, ex-CEO Infosys, once famously quoted "Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next morning." I believe that not only should the employees come back the next morning but they should come back the next day, equally motivated and energised.

Employee Engagement and Retention in Indian IT Sector

Above figure shows the attrition rates of some major Indian IT companies during the 2nd quarter of 2011. As can be seen all IT companies are facing a huge attrition. Below listed are some of the major disadvantages of a high attrition rate
"Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next morning." -Mr. Narayan Murthy

Loss of talent & movement of talent to a competitor Disruption in smooth flow of project activities due to employees moving out of the organisation Increase in operating costs due to increased hiring, training and firing costs.

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Retaining and Engaging Your Workforce The aim of the HR and top management should be not only to retain employees but also to engage them and keep them highly motivated, so that each one of them works to their full potential. On time promotions and increasing salary based on growth of company are more of hygiene factors that are expected by employees and the company should look to providing these. But just focussing on increasing monetary compensation and benefits to reduce attrition is nothing but a mediocre strategy to tackle attrition - A strategy that is highly short term in its orientation, which would not yield any significant results in the long run. Five steps that can be taken to improve employee satisfaction and reduce attrition rates in Indian IT Companies i. Focus on a Strong Performance Management System Performance Management is not just about the final rating that is given to the employees at the end of the year. Project leaders and managers should look at the Performance Management System as a tool to groom employees, to understand their strengths and weaknesses, to identify the right training program for the employees and to continuously motivate them through feedback and rewards. In short the Performance Management System should be looked at as a career development and motivational tool and not just as a compensation system. One of the most important things to be kept in mind while designing a Performance Management System is to have a strong feedback mechanism to ensure that both the appraiser and appraise get relevant and timely feedback. One of the ways to ensure that managers take performance management of their employees seriously is to link the attrition rate of the managers project team with his performance incentives. This means that if attrition rate of a managers team increases then the monetary benefits he receives decreases. Companies like Wipro have already started this practice. ii. ii. Onsite opportunities: A major cause of dissatisfaction amongst IT employees in India is not getting an onsite opportunity. By the very nature of the Indian IT business model, the workforce is offshore heavy. To maintain high margins it is definitely not possible to have a large onsite team. But what can be done is to have proper rotation programs by which every employee gets a chance to visit the client location abroad for a fixed time. Also if employees do not get an onsite opportunity after being in the project for a defined period (say about 18 months), then they should be given an option of being released from the projects and efforts should be made to provide them with an onsite opportunity elsewhere. Instil Creativity To Break From Monotonous Work Most IT engineers join Indian IT companies with a view of working on cutting edge technology, developing new programs and building next gen software. However Indian IT companies projects are highly skewed towards maintenance and support or testing projects. Working on these

iii. iii.

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projects becomes monotonous after a point of time as employees do not find the work intellectually challenging. Hence organisations should focus on increasing creativity within the projects and Project leaders must motivate employees to look at creative ways of solving the problem. Example Can we design an automated script that will perform the test cases instead of manually performing them? Such creative solutions will not only continuously challenge employees and keep their skills updated, but will also help increase nonlinear revenues for Indian IT Companies. iv. iv. Employees: Listen To Your Employees While it is important to listen to the grievances of your employees. It is even more important to act quickly on the feedback collected from your employees. This shows that the organisation is actually interested in listening to you and the employee survey is not a farce. Organisations like Tata Consultancy Services (through their employee survey PULSE) have listened to their employees and also catered to their problems. Example TCSs Bouquet of Benefits which allows employees to design a part of their salary structure was a result of employee feedback received via PULSE. Also exit interviews should be looked at not just as a formality but as an opportunity to understand employees grievances and to ensure that employee feedback can be implemented to reduce attrition. Creating A Millennial Friendly Workplace: The average age of employees in most Indian IT companies is around 28-30 years. This young

generation or the millennial generation as we know them as, have a very different work style and IT companies should focus on creating policies and rules keeping in mind their work behaviour. Todays young work force likes flexible work timings, is one who likes constant challenges, strives for fast growth and instant recognition for efforts, does not like too many restrictions applied on them. Keeping in mind this behaviour of the millennial workforce HR policies need to be drafted. Example - Facebook and Twitter has become a part of the life of the millennial lifestyle, companies need to look at providing employees access to these systems in their workplace albeit with a few restrictions and with a strong social media policy in place. Companies like Wipro are also working on BYOD (bring your own device) by which employees can use their own devices be at Tablets or iPhones in their workplace. Soon, all employees at Wipro will be able to get corporate data access on the device of their choice, be it iPads, Windows Phones, or iPhones. By doing this the company wants to make Wipro a trendier place that appeals to a younger audience. Thus through the above mentioned pointers Indian IT companies can focus on retention and engagement of employees. Thereby improving employee productivity and reducing employee attrition rates.

v.

Author: Amit Kaundinya Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar

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Trends in Reward/Compensation As the global economy is undergoing economic recession, it is really getting tough for the organizations at large to develop, reward and retain their key talents. Appropriate reward not only helps in retaining and motivating (intrinsically and extrinsically) employees but also depicts the value system of that organization. It can be in the form of financial benefits like increase in salary, merit pay and occasional bonuses, or non financial benefits like praise or recognition from supervisors, achievement, promotion and personal growth. It is really important to align rewarding system and talent management with strategic goals of the organization. To achieve this Integrated Reward Approach is being followed. In this approach rewarding is being done on the basis of job size, job evaluation and profiling, performance, market value, key performance indicators, skills and flexible benefit plans.

Recent Human Resources Trends

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This approach helps in aligning the rewarding system with business goals and providing benefits to each employee segment while having flexibility for further alterations in future.
Use this Integration To improve Risk Management Segmentation Return on Investment Agility Achieve Sustainability

Few of the financial rewards are being described henceforth: Travel Awards: It is a better way of rewarding an employee which creates a lifetime experience in his life. It is a great form of reward because of its versatility and also this reward can be given irrespective of the business size or budget for the reward. Instead of providing the employee with a big reward, small holiday packages can be given at certain occasions which motivate them to a great extent. But it is important to customize the travel packages from employee to employee as everyone does not want to visit the same place. Employee Stock Option Plan: Employee Stock Option plan is an opportunity provided by an organization to its employees to purchase certain number of stocks at a predetermined price at future point in time. The predetermined price is expected to be lower than the market price at the time when the employee uses this option. When the contrary happens, this option is considered to have no value. This scheme can be exercised by an employee after certain period of employment which is known as vesting period which is 1 to 5 years generally. If an employee leaves the organization before this period, the stock option lapses. The tax is charged on the profit being made by the employee after selling or transferring the stocks to another employee. This creates a sense of belongingness and motivates employees to provide value to the organization. It also helps in retaining employees for a longer duration.
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Pay Transparency: After globalization, India has been experiencing a hike in employees salaries abruptly and contrary to the traditional scenario, people are keener to know their pay structure which averts them from being getting cheated. People now can access unparallel amounts of information online and many website provides access to salary survey freely. It helps employee: a) Surrogate trust in management b) Employee engagement c) Reduce turnover d) Competitive Advantage People want to work where the organizational goals align with theirs and where they feel their worth is being recognized .In such a case the retention and productivity of the employee increases thus creating competitive advantage for that very organization.

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Recent trends in Training and Development: After globalization Indian workplace is changing rapidly. Earlier employees went to workplace to perform certain tasks but now employees perform as well as learn. Workplace is slowly becoming a learning centre where employees are being trained on certain skills, provided with resources and information and are free to share their ideas. Huge amount of money is being invested into it. Two types of training are being provided recently to the employees: Multiskilling: 1. Cross training or Multiskilling: With rapid increase in competition and change in market trends, companies are feeling the dearth of training employees for doing multiple tasks and trained over large number of skills. If there is an immediate requirement, the any employee of being supplemented by the same skill can fulfil the need. It also reduces cost especially in small and medium sized companies by reducing the number of employees to perform different tasks. According to an article in the London Financial Times (October 5, 2005), a flexible workforceincluding a multiskilled onecan help a company expand its business capabilities while not necessarily expanding its staff. Just-in2. Just-in-Time Training: This is a short term training program which suffices to solving the concerned problem. It is generally provided onsite which ranges from 20 minutes to 2 hours. The employees are trained with only those skills and guidelines which are essential for doing the concerned job. It requires less time and is cost effective.

Warning (EWAT): Early Warning Attrition tracker (EWAT): EWAT helps to know the attrition pattern among the employees. It is a tool used by the employers to categorize their employees so as to know what their future actions might be. It is a three step methodology:

1. Periodic reviews:
Here reports are being made after certain intervals about the employees working habits and behaviours. It is done to estimate the future actions that can be taken by the employees.

2. Divide them accordingly:

After the analysis of the employees is being done, they are divided into three categories: LOYAL, MIDWAY and THREATS. Loyal employees have no intention of leaving the organization for a long duration. Midway employees are slightly confused towards their loyalty to the company and would not intend to leave immediately but also are not sure for staying for longer duration. Threat employees have plans ready to leave the organization in a short duration.

3. Corrective Measures:
After categorizing the employees, corrective actions should be taken for Midway and Threat employees to motivate and retain them. This method though being new has proved to reduce the attrition rate abruptly. Outsourcing of HR Functions: In order to motivate and retain employees, their wants and needs are to be fulfilled by the companies. These functions include retirement planning assistance, Pension administration, employee counselling, health care benefit administration, temporary staffing and so forth. Managing these human resource functions inhouse may highly increase the cost as well as may lead
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to inefficient functioning. So, these functions are outsourced. Outsourcing is being done to reduce cost, take technology advantage which is lacking in-house, focus on companys core competency and improve accuracy, provide services which otherwise would not be feasible. Outsourcing of Human Resource Functions is generally recommended for small as well as medium sized companies with employees less than 15 thousand. If the employees are more, then it is beneficial to have it inhouse. 360 degree Performance Management feedback System: 360 degree feedback or Multi Rate Feedback is process of appraisal where the employees receive competent and confidential feedback from the sources comes in contact with the employee while performing his job. 360 degree appraisal consists of four components: 1. Superiors appraisal 2. Peer appraisal 3. Self appraisal 4.Subordinates appraisal

Self appraisal enables employee to self assesses his/her performance and know his/her strengths and weaknesses. Subordinates appraisal assesses employee in aspects of motivation and communication skills while Superiors appraisal assesses employee on grounds of leadership qualities. Also known as internal customers, peer appraisal assesses the team working capability, co-operation and empathy of the employee. It is very useful when being done at short intervals as this approach helps in knowing the changing perception of others towards the employee. This appraisal system is most suited for managers to assess their leadership and motivational styles.

Customers and vendors feedback are also taken into account.

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Author: Archana Mishra Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies Hyderabad

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Behind the BARS The most talked about topic in an organization is almost invariably its performance management system, and most importantly its performance appraisal techniques. Infosys Ltd. was in the news when it implemented the CRR (Consolidated Relative Ranking) and iRACE in its appraisal systems, probably much more than what it would have liked itself to be! There have always been two evasive questions pertaining to Performance Appraisal First, whether is it right to view performance as a single overall composite index/number or a multi-faceted, nonnumbers way of appraising is better. The second question pertains to the dirty job of classifying the effective-ineffective performance. Here, there are 3 aspects of an employees performance his/her results, behaviours and personal characteristics, which make the job all the more difficult. While there are several methods of performance appraisal like the Forced Choice Procedure, Graphical method, Essay method, Critical Incident Technique, the Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale(BARS) method is one that supposedly addresses the shortcomings of all the methods so-far mentioned, and answers to some extent the evasive questions posed before. The BARS method of appraisal was developed as an answer to the traditional Essay type and Forced Choice Method of appraising employees, where a trait is measured by dividing it into several distinct bars, each bar associated with a number. The number is the numerical scale of a person on that particular trait.

Behind the BARS (Behaviourally Anchored Ratings Scale)

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The leadership trait on BARS, it would look like this: Scale Description When we evaluate a person on her leadership traits, the BARS gives certain directions as to what is considered to be Excellent leadership and what is considered to be Good leadership. But are these directions sufficient to appraise a person? What if a person is more pro-active in her leadership but doesnt give individual attention?? What if he/she doesnt personalize her leadership styles to cater to different kinds of followers? Do we rate her as good or fair in the BARS? The point to be understood here is the subjectivity that subtly settles in, in-spite of assigning numerical weights to descriptions. This type of subjectivity that creeps in will be more applicable in appraising KPAs (Key Process Areas) than KRAs (Key Result Areas). While almost all the methods will have no shortcomings for KRAs, the KPAs need a special treatment and personalized attention.

5 Idealized Influence & able to motivate Excellent followers with his/her vision. 4 Good 3 Fair 2 Poor 1 NA Gives individual attention & personalized care to each follower, by understanding & adapting to their style. Management by Exception intervenes when exceptions or flaws are witnessed. More reactive than pro-active leader. Laissez Faire Does not show leadership initiative, & lets followers take their own path. No sub-ordinates or followers at present. Working in the junior most cadre of the organization.

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A few ways of making BARS more effective for its use in appraising KPAs are listed below: BARS method of appraisal should be done only by the manager to whom the employee directly reports to. With the increasing advent of globalization, it is commonplace in organizations to have the reporting boss and an employee in different geographies. While this may hold good for KRAs, KPAs need more subtle observational inputs, which can be obtained only through spending time with the employee and understanding his/her working style. BARS should be always flexible to incorporate aspects very unique to a job role. Ex: BARS of a Manager should be significantly different from that of a Network Engineer, or a Consultant. While we see in most organizations that different job roles have different KRAs, they are almost similar for KPAs. Ideally, this should not be the case, as even the KPAs and soft skills that are expected from an employee are specific to different job roles. Ex: A manager and a clerk are not expected to have same levels of motivational skills The bars in place should be exhaustive and cover all possible scenarios. It should address all what-ifs and either-ors. If a trait needs more bars in place, adequate bars should be incorporated and there should be no overlapping description in each bar, to avoid confusion. Bringing in objectivity in KPAs is the most challenging task for any appraiser, and the BARS designed should help the appraiser bring in objectivity. This can be done by making the

description as comprehensive as possible. Each description should be very specific and directed at making the appraiser clearly demarcating employees into different bars. Even after implementing the above steps, while there could be few uncertainties and subjectivity inevitably creeping in, these steps would help eliminate the shortcomings of an otherwise ideal method of appraising employees with respect to appraising KPAs.

Author: Divya Gonnabathula Faculty of Management Studies Delhi

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Unskilled now enrol into transformation al school!

Introduction In most of the corporate houses and at several private limited companies, Human Resources (HR) department remains busy with its formal job functions like recruitment, retention etc. of skilled manpower resource. Sectors like IT, infrastructure and a few others attract and absorb a majority of skilled workforce. But in India about 63% of school students drop out at different stages before reaching Class-X 1. A huge percentage of such students cannot even enrol for any vocational courses at ITIs/ITCs due to several reasons like they do not meet eligibility criteria, cannot afford further studies etc. But then did we ever give a thought how does the budding renewable energy sector in India meet its manpower requirements for skilled workforce in operations and maintenance division. How does the HR team meet its formal job function of recruiting despite shortage of skilled resources? Is there any successful model from the renewable energy sector that targets the abundant unskilled manpower and transforms them to able resources? Biomass (BGP): Biomass Gasifier Program (BGP): The Challenge The impacts of on-going climate change and persistent energy crisis despite rising energy demand have opened gates for off-grid decentralized energy generation and distribution models in developing countries. The policy level debates and research at national and international levels have cleared the air that no one source of energy would be alone enough to meet future energy demand. In India, such decentralized models are mostly seen in rural and semi-urban vicinities. India now sees Renewable energy as a key alternative to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and the existing energy poverty as well, especially in rural India. The
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Captive

transformational

schools of the industry for unskilled tomorrow can of shape the

renewable

energy sector by grooming abundantly available

unskilled workforce.

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stress in the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on the solar program is a mere indication of the same. The strategic plan for New and Renewable Energy Sector for the period 2011-2017 of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) clearly states that Biomass based systems are commercially more viable in comparison to the solar based commercial systems. The Government of India (GOI) plans to electrify 10,000 villages by 2022 using the biomass based systems as part of Biomass Gasifier Program (BGP). MNRE expects more than 60,000 jobs through Biomass gasifier based systems by 2020 in O & M division alone at 10% growth rate/annum. But, unavailability of skilled manpower at biomass gasifier based ventures in rural vicinities is a big concern. For effective realization of the goals of GOI, skilled O & M level plant manpower is a primary requirement. At present, there is no standard government approved skill development curriculum at national/state level that caters to needs of the BGP and biomass gasifier based decentralized electricity generation business models. None of the ITIs/ITCs in India deliver any course specifically designed to train candidates for the Biomass gasifier based power generation plants.

gasification based off-grid decentralized rural power generation and distribution. Almost 3 years since inception, HPS owns and operates around 60 rice husk gasification based power plants in the extremely backward regions of West and East Champaran in Bihar. Bihar has an extremely high migration rate and a poor rural literacy rate relative to other states in India. For long HPS met its manpower requirements by grooming unskilled rural candidates at its in-house training centre. But it was not very late when HPS realized need for a commercially viable and sustainable intervention to carry forward grooming process of (O & M) level plant staff. The realization was for sure based on the figures of staff attrition and expansion plans of HPS. HPS has set-up Husk Power University (HPU). This is first of its kind transformational school for drop-outs in backward regions of Bihar. Rama, Shiva, Senior Director Training & Technical Aggregation (HPS) and his small HR team have smartly designed the grooming methodology for future/current employees and the HPS franchisee (figure below). This is for the first time in India when

school drop-outs and un-skilled labour are trained for renewable energy based industrial process in a fashion that promises self-development, technical soundness and prospects of growth over a period in terms of jobprofile and responsibilities to candidates. The best part,
training process develops a grade of professionalism in candidates which sets the manpower responsible towards host organization, colleagues, customers and the job. The HR team remains busy finding the candidate with basic abilities who shows commitment to enrol at HPU and develop skills for a position that offers growth.

Husk Power University: Evolving Model Husk Power Systems Private Limited (HPS), a for profit company, operating in Bihar has commercially viable and sustainable business model for rice husk
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Training at HPU The training methodology involves classroom based learning along with exposure to real time work environment. HPS continuously takes feedback from new and existing O & M staff to make record of

deployment. In coming years, HPU will enable HPS meet its captive manpower requirements for O &M division. It will also produce able manpower resources for the BGP program. HPS has already created around 200 jobs and brought about social change through its

operation/maintenance issues that surfaced as a challenge at any point of time. The training process ensures trainees are introduced to such challenges and are informed about how to tackle the challenge. A well crafted MIS system makes process management and record keeping effective. The HR team in coordination with the trainers ensure continuous re-design of the training material. Modern methodologies like use of simulations, e-learning: animations, illustrative images, videos etc. are key ingredients of the training process. The candidates also get a stipend during the training process but, after certain stage of training have been successfully completed. So it includes the goodies of earn while you learn practice. The figure 2 below highlights training design process at HPU. Conclusion The approach meets the parameters of sustainable development by empowering local resources for local
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business process endeavours to around 75 villages. The learning highlights the fact that upcoming ventures in the renewable energy sector do need smart HR practices and training methodologies to attract, retain and develop manpower resources to ensure sustainability and commitment from the employees. To a large extent, the challenge posed by unavailability of skilled manpower in rural vicinities can be tackled by targeting abundant unskilled workforce. However, the unskilled workforce may require training for modular employable skills before deployment. The training must be tailored to meet learning abilities of the candidates.
Authors: Martand Shardul & Megha Anukampa Singh TERI University New Delhi

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Technological Environment and Employee Integration

Triad Of Sociology, Technology And Organizations It is the combination of skills, knowledge, techniques, materials, machines and other equipment that people use to convert raw materials into valuable goods and services. Technology comprises hardware, software and brain ware. It determines the way employees interact at work. Today the most difficult task facing HR managers is to manage the interface between technological and human subsystems and find a fit

U.S. automobile industry tried imitating its Japanese counterpart by investing heavily in factory automation. Only to realize later that Japanese success was the result of technology as well as innovative employment practices which gave wisdom to the machine (MacDuffie & Krafcik, 1992)

Forces of technological innovation and employee relations exert reciprocal influence on each other. The process of Creative Destruction(The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels,1848)compel corporates to adopt new technologies to maintain a competitive edge enabling the management to reduce its dependency on labour, attain greater control and satisfy the client better through custom built products. Technological innovation is inevitable, therefore now unions and employees participate in change to minimize adverse consequences faced.
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Technological Evolution: Implications for Skill Requirement

Manufacturing (CIM), Lean Production (LP) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The diagram captures the transformation stages of technological progress in the last century. Small batch production entails craftsmanship wherein skilfulness of employees is primary. Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) is the ultimate automation using computer controlled machines, wireless technology and robots.FMS is the result of three subcomponents-CAD, CAM and Integrated Information Network. Flexible manufacturing combined with flexible management processes resulted in a system called Lean Manufacturing. And both of these paved way for computer aided craftsmanship-Mass Customization. On the other hand, automation defined the traditional processes devoid of human creativity and flexibility Businesses have moved to flatter and Team Based Organization (TBO) models which are fluid and flexible. This requires employees to unlearn the deeply entrenched attitudes, values and skills and adopt newer ones. Practices such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Just in Time (JIT), Computer Integrated
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have affected significantly not only employee attitudes but also organization design and employment structure Technological change and Changing Employment Structure In the past two decades increasing casualisation of jobs has been observed in Indian urban areas due to redundancy caused by technological compulsions( Source: ISID, New Delhi).Job polarization of occupation and wages has been observed in United States. Goos et al (2009) finds similar patterns for Europe. Routinization Hypothesis was coined to explain this-ICT complements analytical tasks performed by highly educated workers and routine tasks generally performed by middle educated workers (Autor, 2003).However, some argue that increased efficiency has generated growth sufficient to absorb workers whose jobs were eliminated and that technology itself would require more highly skilled

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maintenance workers and create new occupations such as technicians and computer programmers. In India, different sectors have been impacted differently. Employment in organized manufacturing sector grew in the early 90s but has shown a downward trend post 1996.It has also been found that increase in net value addition in a company is accompanied by increase in employment at the supervisory and managerial level but decrease in the workers cadre. In contrast, service sector gained during the same period

Case-in-Point: Indian Textile Industry Case-inTextile industry in India accounts for 20% of total employment in manufacturing sector. The introduction of newer looms and automated machinery has resulted in an integrated production process. The skill requirement of the industry has changed over time-from manual dexterity to supervising and troubleshooting the process. The interaction process of sub-ordinate and manager and of sub-ordinates among themselves has changed drastically. The organizations have moved towards flexible structure from mechanistic. Also, the workers in modern mills command higher wages because of higher skills which require investment and increased dependence of the organization on them. Modern mills follow decentralized bargaining whereas non-modernized ones went for industry wide

Employment in Organized Manufacturing Sector

Source: CMIE Data

Integration of Employees with Technology Empirical evidence suggests that success of the technological change depends on the extent to which workers are willing to accept it (Dayal & Aggarwal 1995, Gurtoo & Tripathy 2000). Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is used to predict and explain end user acceptance of technology. It suggests that decision to adapt to technological change depends on employees behavioural intentions which are affected by attitudes, ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology. All these variables can be affected to take employees and unions into confidence by education, information free flow and training.
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Employment in Services Sector

Source: CMIE Data

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The relationship between work environment and technology is two way. Job satisfaction, freedom and autonomy at work place determine the readiness for technological change and technology determines employee motivation and satisfaction.
Unions still have a significant hold over workers cadre. However, unions now rarely resist modernization except in the case of employment of contract workers. For example during the modernization of Indian Iron and Steel Company information was extensively shared and 30 options were discussed with unions before 6

water. Technology has helped improving those hidden elements. Companies employ HR systems to ensure that employees get paid out on time Knowledge management technologies help employees to share knowledge Work flow systems help to manage and coordinate the workflow Business information management technologies provide employees with up to date information Chief Executives use blogging as a means to directly communicate with employees Online self training courses help employees to stay updated with latest developments in industry Companies have performance measurement systems linked to bonus schemes Without adopting employee centred values, technology can become a destructive force spreading negative morale rather than a positive one.

Case-inCase-in-Point: Indian Banking Sector Computerization and modernization of Indian banks started in 1970s.The change was made possible by taking the unions into confidence. Indian Banking Association (IBA) and employee associations AIBEA and NCBE signed agreements defining compensation of employees, type and purpose of technology and containing clauses like pregnant women should not be forced to work on computers. The metamorphosis of Bank of Baroda from a PSB to a technology driven customer oriented bank was made possible on the back of clear, transparent communication and information flow. plants were shut down and 5000 employees redeployed. Latent Dimensions: Employee Relationships & Technology Employee relationships are like icebergs. Factors that determine the quality of a relationship are beneath the
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Authors: Rachita Rattan & Rama Kant Pandey Indian Institute of Management Lucknow
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