WHAT DO MARUTI, EICHER CONSULTANCY, PEPSI AND MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA
HAVE IN COMMON, APART FROM BEING PROFITABLE MARKET-LEADING COMPANIES?
->>A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT & IMPACTABLE
RESOURCE — THEIR EMPLOYEES
...By Harveen Herr
Corporate organizations have always had profit as their sole
objective. A prerequisite for profit is getting maximum results at
the least cost of resources. The most profitable companies are the
ones which do this best. It is not surprising then that in the muddle
of conflicting priorities, the human resource is largely taken for
granted. In fact, in most organizations, the role of the human
resource development manager is more of a compensation
administrator, "body"-buyer and arbiter in case of conflict.
Development in real terms is largely confined to management
doublespeak. That really is myopic, considering that most people
working in the corporate sector spend practically all of their
waking, conscious, productive and creative hours in their offices.
Moreover, stress is increasingly exacting a heavy toll. Says Dr.
Bimal Chhajer, who runs the SAAOL heart program in Delhi,
India: "What multiplies stress hundred fold is the fact that today
executives are constantly working against time, creating an
information and time overload." Fortunately, market leaders are
beginning to get wise to the need to better utilize their existing
human resources.
In the new global, competitive scenario where the old rules of the
game have changed faster than field hockey, the rules by which human
resources have been looked after had to change, too. Clearly only
quality people can produce quality goods and services. To that end,
programs catering to the physical and mental well being of employees
are getting institutionalized. These include stress-buster plans,
personal growth programs and communication workshops.
This is obviously going a few steps beyond the standard medical
expense reimbursement and motivation workshops. Many of the new
meditation and personal growth workshops being tried out are New Age
in nature. In fact, Deepak Chopra, the USA based ayurveda proponent
and best-selling author, commented that the first signs of New Age
consciousness in India first appeared in the corporate sector.
Opinion on the pace of change, however, varies. Lt. Gen. S.S. Apte,
PVSM, a consultant who strongly endorses the direct relationship
between corporate health and employee well being, doubts whether the
corporate sector sees employees as a resource to be nurtured. In the
public sector specifically, Apte feels that frequent top management
changes hinder growth schemes from getting the required gestation
period to take root. Nurturing the employee takes many forms, for
example, worker empowerment, facilities for physical exercise,
counseling and new approaches to the worker management interface. The
single most critical factor affecting productivity of workers is
stress.
Corporations are increasingly acknowledging it. As expected, they are
looking to traditional Indian systems such as yoga and meditation for
inducing peace and relaxation. The erstwhile DCM Co. of India, which
is now trifurcated, has a long history of introducing programs to
tackle executive stress. Siddharth Shriram, CEO of SIEL, is bullish
about yoga—he turned an enthusiast over six years ago, and never
misses his daily yoga session. He is willing to sponsor his employees
for memberships to clubs that teach yoga.
More than the industry dowagers, however, it is the leading edge
electronics and telecommunications companies that are increasingly
adopting the new approach. Weston Electroniks chief Sundar T. Vachani
is not only personally committed to yoga, he had employed full time
yoga instructors for the staff at his Kalkaji Headquarters in Delhi,
India.
Amul Behl, CEO of Logic Control, who follows Swami Parthasarathi in
using Vedanta in management, generously shares his farm with his
employees, which is the venue for regular retreats and workshops,
open even to people from other companies such as Vam Organics.
Another transformed company is Himachal Futuristic Communications
Ltd. (HFCL), and not just because of the volume of team service
business it has bagged. As the company grew rapidly, so did the
quantum of employee stress. Three years ago, Vinay Maloo, a promoter
of HFCL, introduced the meditative technique of preksha dhyan,
devised by the Jain Guru Acharya Tulsi, in the company.
The results reported by the management; greater teamwork and improved
individual effectiveness. Meditation, once considered the preserve of
Himalayan yogis, has proved to be very successful in a number of
organizations. Some years ago, DCM Shriram organized a series of
workshops on meditation, beginning with a common session for
employees, followed up with individual sessions that taught
techniques of stress management. The response was tremendous. In
Bombay, employees of Benzer have been taking a 10-day break to learn
Vipassana meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental
meditation too, is in demand because it is said to help boost
productivity, cut down absenteeism as well as medical bills. The
Maharishi Institute of Management (MIM), which teaches the technique,
has set up a separate cell to deal with corporate development
programs
Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals have got the full treatment from MIM.
Visiting professors from the Maharashi Vedic University in Holland,
conducted sessions at Tata Tea headquarters in Calcutta, and then
visited the company's tea gardens in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, two
Southern Indian states, for a repeat. ACC, the Oriental Bank, Indian
Petrochemcials Corporation and Reckitt and Colman are some other
companies that have called in MIM. Says N. Ramanathan, president TQM
and People Development, SRF Ltd. We chose the TM program to achieve
well balanced personality development. SRF conducted TM programmed in
its offices in Delhi, followed up with sessions at its plants in
Bhiwadi and Gwalior, other Indian towns. Its Chennai office, in
India, is next on the agenda. A preliminary session introduced
employees to the system, and they were invited to learn the technique
along with spouses and children.
Employing systems with religious or spiritual overtones raises the
issue of values, not quite unwelcome. Says Anil Sachdev, Managing
Director, Eicher Consultancy Services (ECS): "The single biggest
conflict for employees is their personal values clashing with the
values dictated by business practices. Often, ECS has willingly
sacrificed the interest of the company for a set of principles—
something that every new recruit may not be comfortable with.
Humanity and ethics are the foundation of ERCS", says Sachdev.
He believes that if the leadership of any company is willing to walk
the talk, it inspires everyone concerned. Personal growth,
communication workshops, yoga, group activity and meditation are very
much in place in ECS but ethics remains paramount. Management guru
Mrityunjay B. Athreya is often described as having developed the
Vedic style of management. He recommends the universal principles
from the scriptures or principles that are consistent with our
culture and ethos.
Professor S.K. Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta, is another guru who teaches a connection to Vedic
principles in management. He heads the Management Center for Human
Values, a research center of management through based on traditional
Indian ethos. He says that only after reading several Japanese books
on management did he realize that Indians could turn to the
scriptures for inspiration. The research center is supported by the
Tata Group , Union Trust of India, HDFC, the Bhilwara Group, and
Indian Oil. Like Athreya Chakraborty also points at a lack of
rootedness in the modern value system that leads to overwhelming
stress.
A number of organizations have been lining up for the programs based
on 18 years of research. A unique stress busting program developed by
him has been used by companies as diverse as TELCO, Shriram Fibres,
Salora and BHEL. The Japanese management principles, too, are finding
many takers in India. In today's push button existence, one is
reminded of the startling results of a study done by some Japanese
auto companies. In one plant, the assembly line system where one
worker put in one component, was changed. Instead, groups were formed
where one entire crew completed the assembly of one car.
The new system led to improved productivity, although logically this
should not have happened. It is well known that Maruti Udyog has
tried to copy the Japanese management ethos here. When it introduced
a common canteen a few years ago, it was considered revolutionary.
But today, argues R Vasudevan its DGM Personnel in a new company, the
same step would be received in a more matter of fact manner. The
standard uniform code (gray) also prevails, which makes the employees
equal and which is the first, external symbol of a flat organization.
The lower you are in an organization, the higher the sense of
satisfaction about commonality says Vasudevan. Similarly, everybody,
bar none, punches in the morning and punches out at the end of the
shift.
At the regular morning meetings, the supervisor or group leader also
leads the group for a few minutes of exercise. External faculty is
regularly called in to conduct stress management programs On the
first Wednesday of every month, the plant is stopped for one hour in
every shift for small group activity a total of 600 groups meet to
discuss changes, improvements and solutions, in their area of work.
Another company committed to worker empowerment is Belgaum-based
polyhedron, which manufactures hydraulic valves. Its managing
director, Suresh Kundre, was inspired by management books based on
Japanese principles.
Kundre tries to keep the company functioning totally transparent. The
120-odd employees do not have to be assigned task, as they set their
own targets, and handle functions such as placing purchase orders
without constant management vigil. Attitudes towards propriety,
personal and spiritual growth are changing widely. Earlier, the boss
had to be tough: the managers could not show that they were stressed
or worried. Says Swami Premananda of the Sivandanda Yoga Nataraja
Center in Delhi: They had to show that they were tigers in the filed.
And 10-15 years ago, if your boss revealed a spiritual side, or
talked about yoga, he was a weirdo.
Today, these qualities and extra value to the person. The Sivananda
Center has taught asanas, pranayama, and meditation to companies such
as NTPC and ABB. Swami Premananda recommends yoga as the more
holistic approach for, as he says. Allopathic medicine will cure the
headache, but not the stiff neck, not the root cause. You still wake
up with low energy levels. Another system, rarely heard of earlier in
corporate quarters, is reiki. To contain stress, the Bombay-based
Mahindra & Mahindra uses the Rational Emotive Therapy developed by
the US psychologist Albert Ellis. It works on the precept that a
small crisis engenders negative feelings stress and turmoil soon
balloon the incident out of proportion. The system requires that the
employees involved write down their negative feelings.
Then, a contrary statement is also written down, leading to
catharsis. Given the demand, seminar leaders, counselors and
consultants are moving in to work with the corporate sector. One
familiar names is Shiv Khera's who runs open house programs that have
proved popular. USA based Khera, who periodically visits India, has a
three pronged approach, to impact attitude, ambition, and action for
the transformation of people into Total Quality People in their
professional as well as private lives.
Dr. Salim Sharif and Dr. Shakuntala David, who run Sandarshan in
Delhi, started counseling the corporate entity with BHEL, Bhopal, as
their first client. They look at the holistic health of the
organization through counseling programs on personal growth,
interpersonal effectiveness, team building, and workshops in related
areas. They have worked with Escorts, Pepsi, Engineers India, DCM,
Max Page, Shriram Foods and Fertilizers, among others. Says Dr.
David: When the company moved from the trader to an organization, a
lot of institutionalization had to be done, but does that mean that
you lose the organizational values that the Lala had?
Sandarshan recently held a family communication and problem solving
workshop with the employees of Bluestar, and a workshop on counseling
skills and human resources with senior rung management of DCM
Consolidated. The Company's brief was that it wished to break the
hierarchical style. Sandarshan also ran a program for Pepsi Foods at
its plant in Patiala, where the spouses of employees were involved in
the workshop. Dr. Vanit Nalwa, director, Empower-Counseling
Psychologists, who had worked in the UK, encourages companies to work
towards developing the full potential of their employees, even if it
means completely relocating them.
She has found employees most responsive to workshops on parenting
skills and communication, followed by programs on assertiveness
training. Says Dr Nalwa The increase in output is incidental. We
monitored whether the employee felt that he was personally benefited.
Programs to improve the physical health of employees have also gone
beyond providing for table tennis in the common room. Companies such
as NIIT and Cynamid have set up fully equipped gymnasiums at their
corporate offices and the facilities are available before and after
office hours without any membership chargers.
A&M magazine and the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of
India were quite open to the idea when employees asked if they could
run aerobics classes within office hours. A happy median was reached
when the space was made available, and employees in both
organizations decided to forego their lunch break in favor of an
aerobics workout. It appears that there are today more innovative and
progressive pro-happy median was reached when the space was made
available, and employees in both organizations decided to forego
their lunch break in favor of an aerobics workout. It appears that
there are today more innovative and progressive programs for
employees as the human resource function is given more teeth in the
organization.
Most of these programs are designed to improve the overall life of
the employee and not just to improve a certain set of skills. Most
companies do not see these as additional costs when they do cost
benefit analysis. Apart from this communication being so sharp these
days, if, an organization shows commitment to the all round
development of its employees, the good word spreads fast, good for
PR. What remains true, however, is that most of the new programs are
usually confined to the top brass in a company. It is always the top
management that decides whether employees at lower levels too should
under go the same training.
Admits Anant P. Dehadrai, country head of Sumitomo Corp: Yes this
movement has to be top down, but in some instances, the top has no
problem; it is the down that may not be ready just yet. He quotes
examples of companies where there is suspicion about such moves being
some sort of management drama, and the union has not been entirely
convinced of any benefits accruing to workers. In such cases, where
the management is committed, it will decide to start a program with
only union committee members; different kinds of stresses operate at
different levels of work. At the other end of the spectrum are some
companies like NIIT, which try to impact the life of the employees
way beyond the work area. The company has evolved a personal
effectiveness program that allows each individual to prioritize and
work on targets in all areas of life.
Says Sanjiv Kataria, vice President, corporate communications:
Feedback suggested that a major concern was balancing work and
personal life. The company has evolved such schemes as the Granny
Gratitude Day (because values are learnt from parents and
grandparents), since the stability of the individual at home is
important to functioning well in office. Unlike other companies, NIIT
encourages employees to find a marriage partner within the
organization (We attract the best people, and they should make the
best partners too) and offers the couple two months basic salary as
gift apart from interest-free loans. Undoubtedly, companies have to
become more sensitive to worker issues instead of just paying lip-
service. The momentum has to be sustained, and if the organization
takes a step in this direction, the employees have to ensure that it
is nurtured.
Growing the employee will grow the organization but, like Kaizen,
these cannot be one-time inputs, they have to become a normal way of
life.
Source : Life Positive, April 1997 Lifepositive.com Inc.
From China, Beijing
1HAVE IN COMMON, APART FROM BEING PROFITABLE MARKET-LEADING COMPANIES?
->>A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT & IMPACTABLE
RESOURCE — THEIR EMPLOYEES
...By Harveen Herr
Corporate organizations have always had profit as their sole
objective. A prerequisite for profit is getting maximum results at
the least cost of resources. The most profitable companies are the
ones which do this best. It is not surprising then that in the muddle
of conflicting priorities, the human resource is largely taken for
granted. In fact, in most organizations, the role of the human
resource development manager is more of a compensation
administrator, "body"-buyer and arbiter in case of conflict.
Development in real terms is largely confined to management
doublespeak. That really is myopic, considering that most people
working in the corporate sector spend practically all of their
waking, conscious, productive and creative hours in their offices.
Moreover, stress is increasingly exacting a heavy toll. Says Dr.
Bimal Chhajer, who runs the SAAOL heart program in Delhi,
India: "What multiplies stress hundred fold is the fact that today
executives are constantly working against time, creating an
information and time overload." Fortunately, market leaders are
beginning to get wise to the need to better utilize their existing
human resources.
In the new global, competitive scenario where the old rules of the
game have changed faster than field hockey, the rules by which human
resources have been looked after had to change, too. Clearly only
quality people can produce quality goods and services. To that end,
programs catering to the physical and mental well being of employees
are getting institutionalized. These include stress-buster plans,
personal growth programs and communication workshops.
This is obviously going a few steps beyond the standard medical
expense reimbursement and motivation workshops. Many of the new
meditation and personal growth workshops being tried out are New Age
in nature. In fact, Deepak Chopra, the USA based ayurveda proponent
and best-selling author, commented that the first signs of New Age
consciousness in India first appeared in the corporate sector.
Opinion on the pace of change, however, varies. Lt. Gen. S.S. Apte,
PVSM, a consultant who strongly endorses the direct relationship
between corporate health and employee well being, doubts whether the
corporate sector sees employees as a resource to be nurtured. In the
public sector specifically, Apte feels that frequent top management
changes hinder growth schemes from getting the required gestation
period to take root. Nurturing the employee takes many forms, for
example, worker empowerment, facilities for physical exercise,
counseling and new approaches to the worker management interface. The
single most critical factor affecting productivity of workers is
stress.
Corporations are increasingly acknowledging it. As expected, they are
looking to traditional Indian systems such as yoga and meditation for
inducing peace and relaxation. The erstwhile DCM Co. of India, which
is now trifurcated, has a long history of introducing programs to
tackle executive stress. Siddharth Shriram, CEO of SIEL, is bullish
about yoga—he turned an enthusiast over six years ago, and never
misses his daily yoga session. He is willing to sponsor his employees
for memberships to clubs that teach yoga.
More than the industry dowagers, however, it is the leading edge
electronics and telecommunications companies that are increasingly
adopting the new approach. Weston Electroniks chief Sundar T. Vachani
is not only personally committed to yoga, he had employed full time
yoga instructors for the staff at his Kalkaji Headquarters in Delhi,
India.
Amul Behl, CEO of Logic Control, who follows Swami Parthasarathi in
using Vedanta in management, generously shares his farm with his
employees, which is the venue for regular retreats and workshops,
open even to people from other companies such as Vam Organics.
Another transformed company is Himachal Futuristic Communications
Ltd. (HFCL), and not just because of the volume of team service
business it has bagged. As the company grew rapidly, so did the
quantum of employee stress. Three years ago, Vinay Maloo, a promoter
of HFCL, introduced the meditative technique of preksha dhyan,
devised by the Jain Guru Acharya Tulsi, in the company.
The results reported by the management; greater teamwork and improved
individual effectiveness. Meditation, once considered the preserve of
Himalayan yogis, has proved to be very successful in a number of
organizations. Some years ago, DCM Shriram organized a series of
workshops on meditation, beginning with a common session for
employees, followed up with individual sessions that taught
techniques of stress management. The response was tremendous. In
Bombay, employees of Benzer have been taking a 10-day break to learn
Vipassana meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental
meditation too, is in demand because it is said to help boost
productivity, cut down absenteeism as well as medical bills. The
Maharishi Institute of Management (MIM), which teaches the technique,
has set up a separate cell to deal with corporate development
programs
Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals have got the full treatment from MIM.
Visiting professors from the Maharashi Vedic University in Holland,
conducted sessions at Tata Tea headquarters in Calcutta, and then
visited the company's tea gardens in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, two
Southern Indian states, for a repeat. ACC, the Oriental Bank, Indian
Petrochemcials Corporation and Reckitt and Colman are some other
companies that have called in MIM. Says N. Ramanathan, president TQM
and People Development, SRF Ltd. We chose the TM program to achieve
well balanced personality development. SRF conducted TM programmed in
its offices in Delhi, followed up with sessions at its plants in
Bhiwadi and Gwalior, other Indian towns. Its Chennai office, in
India, is next on the agenda. A preliminary session introduced
employees to the system, and they were invited to learn the technique
along with spouses and children.
Employing systems with religious or spiritual overtones raises the
issue of values, not quite unwelcome. Says Anil Sachdev, Managing
Director, Eicher Consultancy Services (ECS): "The single biggest
conflict for employees is their personal values clashing with the
values dictated by business practices. Often, ECS has willingly
sacrificed the interest of the company for a set of principles—
something that every new recruit may not be comfortable with.
Humanity and ethics are the foundation of ERCS", says Sachdev.
He believes that if the leadership of any company is willing to walk
the talk, it inspires everyone concerned. Personal growth,
communication workshops, yoga, group activity and meditation are very
much in place in ECS but ethics remains paramount. Management guru
Mrityunjay B. Athreya is often described as having developed the
Vedic style of management. He recommends the universal principles
from the scriptures or principles that are consistent with our
culture and ethos.
Professor S.K. Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta, is another guru who teaches a connection to Vedic
principles in management. He heads the Management Center for Human
Values, a research center of management through based on traditional
Indian ethos. He says that only after reading several Japanese books
on management did he realize that Indians could turn to the
scriptures for inspiration. The research center is supported by the
Tata Group , Union Trust of India, HDFC, the Bhilwara Group, and
Indian Oil. Like Athreya Chakraborty also points at a lack of
rootedness in the modern value system that leads to overwhelming
stress.
A number of organizations have been lining up for the programs based
on 18 years of research. A unique stress busting program developed by
him has been used by companies as diverse as TELCO, Shriram Fibres,
Salora and BHEL. The Japanese management principles, too, are finding
many takers in India. In today's push button existence, one is
reminded of the startling results of a study done by some Japanese
auto companies. In one plant, the assembly line system where one
worker put in one component, was changed. Instead, groups were formed
where one entire crew completed the assembly of one car.
The new system led to improved productivity, although logically this
should not have happened. It is well known that Maruti Udyog has
tried to copy the Japanese management ethos here. When it introduced
a common canteen a few years ago, it was considered revolutionary.
But today, argues R Vasudevan its DGM Personnel in a new company, the
same step would be received in a more matter of fact manner. The
standard uniform code (gray) also prevails, which makes the employees
equal and which is the first, external symbol of a flat organization.
The lower you are in an organization, the higher the sense of
satisfaction about commonality says Vasudevan. Similarly, everybody,
bar none, punches in the morning and punches out at the end of the
shift.
At the regular morning meetings, the supervisor or group leader also
leads the group for a few minutes of exercise. External faculty is
regularly called in to conduct stress management programs On the
first Wednesday of every month, the plant is stopped for one hour in
every shift for small group activity a total of 600 groups meet to
discuss changes, improvements and solutions, in their area of work.
Another company committed to worker empowerment is Belgaum-based
polyhedron, which manufactures hydraulic valves. Its managing
director, Suresh Kundre, was inspired by management books based on
Japanese principles.
Kundre tries to keep the company functioning totally transparent. The
120-odd employees do not have to be assigned task, as they set their
own targets, and handle functions such as placing purchase orders
without constant management vigil. Attitudes towards propriety,
personal and spiritual growth are changing widely. Earlier, the boss
had to be tough: the managers could not show that they were stressed
or worried. Says Swami Premananda of the Sivandanda Yoga Nataraja
Center in Delhi: They had to show that they were tigers in the filed.
And 10-15 years ago, if your boss revealed a spiritual side, or
talked about yoga, he was a weirdo.
Today, these qualities and extra value to the person. The Sivananda
Center has taught asanas, pranayama, and meditation to companies such
as NTPC and ABB. Swami Premananda recommends yoga as the more
holistic approach for, as he says. Allopathic medicine will cure the
headache, but not the stiff neck, not the root cause. You still wake
up with low energy levels. Another system, rarely heard of earlier in
corporate quarters, is reiki. To contain stress, the Bombay-based
Mahindra & Mahindra uses the Rational Emotive Therapy developed by
the US psychologist Albert Ellis. It works on the precept that a
small crisis engenders negative feelings stress and turmoil soon
balloon the incident out of proportion. The system requires that the
employees involved write down their negative feelings.
Then, a contrary statement is also written down, leading to
catharsis. Given the demand, seminar leaders, counselors and
consultants are moving in to work with the corporate sector. One
familiar names is Shiv Khera's who runs open house programs that have
proved popular. USA based Khera, who periodically visits India, has a
three pronged approach, to impact attitude, ambition, and action for
the transformation of people into Total Quality People in their
professional as well as private lives.
Dr. Salim Sharif and Dr. Shakuntala David, who run Sandarshan in
Delhi, started counseling the corporate entity with BHEL, Bhopal, as
their first client. They look at the holistic health of the
organization through counseling programs on personal growth,
interpersonal effectiveness, team building, and workshops in related
areas. They have worked with Escorts, Pepsi, Engineers India, DCM,
Max Page, Shriram Foods and Fertilizers, among others. Says Dr.
David: When the company moved from the trader to an organization, a
lot of institutionalization had to be done, but does that mean that
you lose the organizational values that the Lala had?
Sandarshan recently held a family communication and problem solving
workshop with the employees of Bluestar, and a workshop on counseling
skills and human resources with senior rung management of DCM
Consolidated. The Company's brief was that it wished to break the
hierarchical style. Sandarshan also ran a program for Pepsi Foods at
its plant in Patiala, where the spouses of employees were involved in
the workshop. Dr. Vanit Nalwa, director, Empower-Counseling
Psychologists, who had worked in the UK, encourages companies to work
towards developing the full potential of their employees, even if it
means completely relocating them.
She has found employees most responsive to workshops on parenting
skills and communication, followed by programs on assertiveness
training. Says Dr Nalwa The increase in output is incidental. We
monitored whether the employee felt that he was personally benefited.
Programs to improve the physical health of employees have also gone
beyond providing for table tennis in the common room. Companies such
as NIIT and Cynamid have set up fully equipped gymnasiums at their
corporate offices and the facilities are available before and after
office hours without any membership chargers.
A&M magazine and the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of
India were quite open to the idea when employees asked if they could
run aerobics classes within office hours. A happy median was reached
when the space was made available, and employees in both
organizations decided to forego their lunch break in favor of an
aerobics workout. It appears that there are today more innovative and
progressive pro-happy median was reached when the space was made
available, and employees in both organizations decided to forego
their lunch break in favor of an aerobics workout. It appears that
there are today more innovative and progressive programs for
employees as the human resource function is given more teeth in the
organization.
Most of these programs are designed to improve the overall life of
the employee and not just to improve a certain set of skills. Most
companies do not see these as additional costs when they do cost
benefit analysis. Apart from this communication being so sharp these
days, if, an organization shows commitment to the all round
development of its employees, the good word spreads fast, good for
PR. What remains true, however, is that most of the new programs are
usually confined to the top brass in a company. It is always the top
management that decides whether employees at lower levels too should
under go the same training.
Admits Anant P. Dehadrai, country head of Sumitomo Corp: Yes this
movement has to be top down, but in some instances, the top has no
problem; it is the down that may not be ready just yet. He quotes
examples of companies where there is suspicion about such moves being
some sort of management drama, and the union has not been entirely
convinced of any benefits accruing to workers. In such cases, where
the management is committed, it will decide to start a program with
only union committee members; different kinds of stresses operate at
different levels of work. At the other end of the spectrum are some
companies like NIIT, which try to impact the life of the employees
way beyond the work area. The company has evolved a personal
effectiveness program that allows each individual to prioritize and
work on targets in all areas of life.
Says Sanjiv Kataria, vice President, corporate communications:
Feedback suggested that a major concern was balancing work and
personal life. The company has evolved such schemes as the Granny
Gratitude Day (because values are learnt from parents and
grandparents), since the stability of the individual at home is
important to functioning well in office. Unlike other companies, NIIT
encourages employees to find a marriage partner within the
organization (We attract the best people, and they should make the
best partners too) and offers the couple two months basic salary as
gift apart from interest-free loans. Undoubtedly, companies have to
become more sensitive to worker issues instead of just paying lip-
service. The momentum has to be sustained, and if the organization
takes a step in this direction, the employees have to ensure that it
is nurtured.
Growing the employee will grow the organization but, like Kaizen,
these cannot be one-time inputs, they have to become a normal way of
life.
Source : Life Positive, April 1997 Lifepositive.com Inc.
From China, Beijing
Hi Anchal,
Quite an informative article and thanks for sharing the same. I wuld like to pick up couple of controversial issues in this post which (may not apply to large corporates) could apply to mid sized companies.
They are:::::
[quote="anchal"]WHAT DO MARUTI, EICHER CONSULTANCY, PEPSI AND MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA
HAVE IN COMMON, APART FROM BEING PROFITABLE MARKET-LEADING COMPANIES?
->>A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT & IMPACTABLE
RESOURCE — THEIR EMPLOYEES
Corporate organizations have always had profit as their sole
objective. A prerequisite for profit is getting maximum results at
the least cost of resources.
Employing systems with religious or spiritual overtones raises the
issue of values, not quite unwelcome. Says Anil Sachdev, Managing
Director, Eicher Consultancy Services (ECS): "The single biggest
conflict for employees is their personal values clashing with the
values dictated by business practices. Often, ECS has willingly
sacrificed the interest of the company for a set of principles—
something that every new recruit may not be comfortable with.
Humanity and ethics are the foundation of ERCS", says Sachdev.
He believes that if the leadership of any company is willing to walk
the talk, it inspires everyone concerned.
[quote]
It is the leadership walking the talk which matters. Only lip service is what I have seen with totally subservient HR manager in place to make the whole look authentic.
This is damn good. If indeed this has been achieved, hats of to all concerned.
Thanks
bala
From India, Madras
Quite an informative article and thanks for sharing the same. I wuld like to pick up couple of controversial issues in this post which (may not apply to large corporates) could apply to mid sized companies.
They are:::::
[quote="anchal"]WHAT DO MARUTI, EICHER CONSULTANCY, PEPSI AND MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA
HAVE IN COMMON, APART FROM BEING PROFITABLE MARKET-LEADING COMPANIES?
->>A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT & IMPACTABLE
RESOURCE — THEIR EMPLOYEES
Corporate organizations have always had profit as their sole
objective. A prerequisite for profit is getting maximum results at
the least cost of resources.
Employing systems with religious or spiritual overtones raises the
issue of values, not quite unwelcome. Says Anil Sachdev, Managing
Director, Eicher Consultancy Services (ECS): "The single biggest
conflict for employees is their personal values clashing with the
values dictated by business practices. Often, ECS has willingly
sacrificed the interest of the company for a set of principles—
something that every new recruit may not be comfortable with.
Humanity and ethics are the foundation of ERCS", says Sachdev.
He believes that if the leadership of any company is willing to walk
the talk, it inspires everyone concerned.
[quote]
It is the leadership walking the talk which matters. Only lip service is what I have seen with totally subservient HR manager in place to make the whole look authentic.
This is damn good. If indeed this has been achieved, hats of to all concerned.
Thanks
bala
From India, Madras
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