tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132424832024-03-13T23:50:12.875+05:30HR FUNDANews,views and thoughts from the world of Human Resources and beyond.Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-68124971280229053212012-10-08T20:04:00.000+05:302012-10-08T20:05:05.105+05:30How to resolve Employee conflicts <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><b>Guest Post</b> by
<a href="mailto:patrick@oc.edu.au.">Patrick Del Rosario</a> </i><br />
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It can be tempting to turn a blind eye to pesky employee squabbles and hope they simply work themselves out. Unfortunately, though, workplace disputes rarely work themselves out on their own, and even the smallest disagreements can escalate into more serious problems if left to fester for too long.<br />
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According to recent research, between 24 and 60% of management time is spent on dealing with conflicts and anger in the work place.<br />
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While it may seem like all this time would be better spent on some other aspect of running a business, it is important to keep in mind that employees are the very thing that keep a company going, and in order to keep your workforce productive, happy and stress-free, interventions are often necessary.<br />
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Here are a few tips to keep in mind when settling conflicts in the workplace.<br />
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<b>1. Stay neutral and listen to both sides of the story</b><br />
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When dealing with conflicts amongst your employees, it is important that you stay neutral and don’t pick sides. Picking sides will only worsen the problem and prevent you from coming up with a workable solution that sits well with both parties involved.<br />
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In a small business setting this may be more difficult, because you work so closely with people that the line between your professional relationship and your friendship can become blurred.<br />
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Before you even attempt to mediate a conflict, ask yourself whether or not you will be able to stay neutral and keep an open mind. If you don’t feel that you will be able to do this, for whatever reason, you should seriously consider bringing in a third party mediator, who can leave their personal opinions and feelings out of the matter.<br />
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One good way to help keep things neutral is to take the mediating outside the office. This will prevent other employees from feeling caught in the middle of it, and being away from the office during the discussion can help everyone feel more at ease.<br />
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During your meeting, try to give both parties a chance to speak their part without being interrupted by anyone. Then, once everyone has had their say and gotten the grievances off their chest, they will be more willing to listen to what others have to say and see the situation from another perspective.<br />
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<b> 2. Stick with the facts</b><br />
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Most employee squabbles are very emotionally charged, so it is important that you as the mediator are able to keep the emotions out of the picture and listen only to the facts that are being presented.<br />
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You will probably hear lots of feelings and assumptions, but while these may be very valid concerns to the person in question, what he or she assumes or perceives may not necessarily be correct. For example, you may be told things like “I feel like he doesn’t respect me…” or “I know that he doesn’t like me…” While these are certainly real concerns, you cannot do anything with assumptions and emotions.<br />
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So, in order to get to the bottom of it, ask questions like “why do you feel that way?” or “what makes you think that?” In this way, you can learn more about specific actions and behavior that might have caused the problem.<br />
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You will also have concrete facts to go on, rather than vague assumptions about what another person may be doing or thinking. Once you are aware of any problems (whether real or perceived) you can go about helping your employees to see areas in which they need to improve or change.<br />
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Keep in mind that while you do want to get the straight facts, you will probably have to wade through a lot of emotions to get to them, which will take time and patience. Always try to be understanding of your employee’s predicament, and don’t downplay their issues by telling them to get over it or move on.<br />
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<b>3. Ask your employees what they would like to do to resolve the conflict </b><br />
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Even once you have heard both sides of the story, you may still be at a loss as to where you should begin. Sometimes, asking the employees themselves what they would like to do to resolve the issue is a good way to come up with a workable solution that both parties are in agreement with.<br />
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Also, you should always consider the possibility that the company’s practices or management methods may have played a part in the dispute. If this is the case, try to get feedback from your employees about how you could improve the team’s morale and encourage better collaboration in the future.<br />
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Try to help your employees become part of the solution rather than looking at them as the problem.
If you are able to approach conflicts in this way and stay open to suggestions and feedback from others in the company, your mediating will be a whole lot easier in the future.<br />
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<b>Guest Post</b> - About the Author:
<a href="mailto:patrick@oc.edu.au.">Patrick Del Rosario</a> is a Filipino business and career ninja. He works at Open Colleges, one of the pioneers of Online education in Australia and one of the leading providers of <a href="http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/business-management-courses/certificate-iv-in-human-resources-course.aspx">human resources courses</a> and <a href="http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/business-management-courses/certificate-iv-in-training-and-assessment.aspx">cert iv training and assessment</a> <br />
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Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-54494147855882909062011-08-31T08:58:00.002+05:302011-08-31T09:00:39.494+05:30HR in an age of austerity<div style="text-align: center;">
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Debbie Meech, HR Director, Cable & Wireless and Graham White, HR Director, Westminster City Council discuss some of the issues facing HR personnel in a difficult financial climate. Interesting observations about Human Resources functions on generating positive sentiments about organizations during times of downturn and job cuts. Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-24229389155511398292011-08-14T21:37:00.002+05:302011-08-15T05:02:40.046+05:30What really motivates us<div style="text-align: center;">
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Adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. Interesting research work showing how higher rewards not always leads to higher or better performance for knowledge workers. </div>
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Makes you wonder if we need to review and redesign performance management philosophy and Organizations reward approach. Higher performance need not always be driven by higher rewards, economic behavior is also a function of purpose of work and inherent satisfaction which a job provides.</div>
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I am reminded of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Simon">Herbert Simon's</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing">Satisficing </a> approach where he pointed out that human beings lack the cognitive resources to maximize: we usually do not know the relevant probabilities of outcomes, we can rarely evaluate all outcomes with sufficient precision, and our memories are weak and unreliable. A more realistic approach to rationality takes into account these limitations: This is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_rationality">bounded rationality</a>. </div>
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These observations & studies are good indicator why our approach towards human behaviour model continue to be a limiting approach due to perceptual / cognitive behaviour which is more heuristic, unique and situational.</div>
Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-12113051159454382262011-08-02T06:16:00.003+05:302011-08-02T06:17:18.843+05:30Future of work 2.0<div style="text-align: center;">
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Tom Malone, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the HBR article "The Age of Hyperspecialization," explains why breaking jobs into tiny pieces yields better, faster, cheaper work -- and greater flexibility for employees.Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-9760199249779115742011-06-10T08:57:00.000+05:302011-06-10T08:57:44.355+05:30Getting it right at the Interview<div style="text-align: justify;">An insight into what recruiters look for in a candidate, why candidates fail to clear the interview, the importance of soft skills and more. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://info1.shine.com/Career-Advice-Articles/Shine-Experts/Interview-panel-focuses-on-key-traits-and-behaviour/5138/Aty18.aspx">Part 2 of my interview</a> published by <a href="http://shine.com/">Shine.com</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>What mistakes do candidates generally make during interviews?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One must try and put his/ her best foot forward for the interview. Very often, candidates fail to clear the interviews due to inaccurate or incorrect information given in their resumes. Interview panel focuses on key traits and behaviour, which a candidate must demonstrate to succeed in the position being interviewed for. Sometimes, candidates end up discussing about areas in which they have little knowledge and experience. Too much of self-talk can also be seen as a negative attribute if the role needs a good team player. This shows them in bad light.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It’s always better to start with areas of your strength, show a positive approach and accept wherever you are unsure of the right answer. Interviewers do not expect candidates to answer every question; they also assess the forthrightness, professional behaviour, team work and work ethics of the candidate. One should avoid bad mouthing previous employer or talk negative about previous work experiences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Often candidates start discussing compensation and benefit related aspects even before the final offer has been made. These questions should be taken up only when asked about or when the final round of interview is conducted. One must keep his answers succinct, focused to the subject in discussion to avoid any long rambling conversations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Do you expect the candidates to have a fair idea about the company and the position they are applying for?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It’s always better to know the background of the company where you have applied for and understand the job profile as well. This shows the seriousness of the candidate for the interview. It also demonstrates that it’s a planned career move to align long term career goals with the organisations future strategy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>How important are soft skills (team work, communication, leadership etc.) in selecting a candidate?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Soft skills are very critical for individual success in any role. Interviewers focus on assessing the team work, group behaviour and leadership ability of individual through various case studies, questions on past experiences and also seek examples where the candidate has displayed these key attributes to successfully accomplish the goals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To perform a role successfully, one must display fair understanding of behavioural aspects and good communication skill. As one moves up in career ladder, soft skills become critical differentiator to perform senior manager and leadership roles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>How important are the background/reference checks? Do you hire people without these checks?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Background check and reference check is mandatory in most organisations today. This is a non-negotiation aspect of hiring today. NASSCOM, which is the trade association of all the IT / ITeS / BPO companies in India has taken up a significant initiative called “Trusted Sourcing”. This initiative aims to develop and project the industry as a safe and trusted destination for sourcing, development, outsourcing and process work so that overseas clients develop confidence with the safety of our industry and assign more work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NASSCOM, has developed a robust information infrastructure about all present and prospective employees of the industry called “National Skills Registry (NSR)”. NSR facilitates development of fact sheet of credible, permanent and accessible information about each registered person. You can refer to the <a href="https://nationalskillsregistry.com/faq-for-companies.htm">link</a> for more details on NSR. This clearly explains how important background check is in today's times. </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-84236636607193008322011-05-25T10:29:00.001+05:302011-05-25T10:34:02.804+05:30What Hiring Manager really want in a resume<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>An insight into what hiring managers looks for in a resume and what are the mistakes candidates generally make. </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://info.shine.com/Career-Advice-Articles/Featured-Articles/Best-resumes-are-not-longer-than-two-pages/5127/cid2.aspx">Part 1 of my interview</a> published by <a href="http://shine.com/">Shine.com</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>How important is a cover letter when applying for an IT job?</b></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s important to provide a brief cover letter, which outlines an individual’s interest and candidature for the role being applied for. A cover letter should be specific to the position, give an overview of one’s strengths and suitability for the role. A good cover letter helps in attracting recruiter’s attention. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>How much time do you spend reading a resume?</b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> This depends on the recruiter and the position being considered. For senior and niche positions one does spend considerable time going through the resumes for shortlisting. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What according to you are the loopholes a candidate should avoid while creating a resume?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">One must highlight the suitability for the position being applied. Recruiters always focus on finding the right fit for the job; profiles which match the role position have the best chance for being interviewed. Few don'ts in a resume: </span></div><ul style="font-family: inherit;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid lengthy resume, best resumes are of 1-2 pages. Don’t make it verbose, keep it brief and relevant. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid repeated reference of past achievements, should focus on recent experience and achievements. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid fancy fonts and bold letters, spelling and grammatical errors. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t include personal information on age, height, weight, date of birth, marital status, gender, health, religion, state or political affiliations in the resume. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">More that 7-8 years of employment history is avoidable and redundant for the recruiter. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Salary information should be avoided, provide only if asked for. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reference should be provided only when asked for. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid usage of personal pronouns (I, my, me). </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid generic information; provide specific and quantifiable values wherever possible. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t put hobbies and non-relevant information as it’s often seen as space filler. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t provide incomplete information on anything being mentioned in the resume. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t overemphasize your academic background or one particular experience. Don’t start with academic background, unless you have started your professional career in the last 1-2 years. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t just provide the start date of your previous job, provide complete tenure detail. Any incomplete information must be avoided. </span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What are the key must haves in an IT professional’s resume?</b> </span></div><ul style="font-family: inherit;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Provide details of your job title, current and recent positions in detail. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Details of projects worked on, skill set and job responsibilities performed. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Highlight the technology and domain experience. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Provide summary table which provides number of years of experience in a particular technology. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Highlight achievements and core areas of expertise from future career interest perspective. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Descriptive summary of how particular skill set like Java or Oracle was applied for a particular project. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Organise tech skills into appropriate areas such as operating systems, networks and programming tools. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Depending on the job title, one must highlight specific areas relevant for the position. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avoid too much of technical language, explain it appropriately with right balance of technical terms to ensure that even a non-technical persona can understand the profile. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Highlight competency development initiatives like certification, programs undertaken or participation in technical forums, white paper submission </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Must provide summary of key achievements of each role, improvement in productivity, scheduled adherence, TAT etc are few examples.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>How do you assess a candidate’s credentials?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Assessment for fresher’s who are hired through campus hiring is usually through a written aptitude test followed by an interview. These objective type tests are designed to assess the quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning and problem solving ability. Applications are pre-screened based on academic background and marks secured from high school onwards. Short-listed candidates are usually invited for an interview as part of the selection process. One has to meet the required proficiency levels for both the assessments to be selected for the role. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">For lateral entry, profiles are short listed which is followed by a panel interview to assess the technical and behavioral competencies of the candidate and fitment for the position applied for. Usually there are two-three rounds of interviews by technical team, HR and senior managers to assess the candidature for the position. Technical interviews focus on assessing the candidate's depth of knowledge and expertise level in a particular technology, skill set or domain. These are panel interviews which involves technical experts to assess the technical expertise and role fitment of the candidate. This is followed by human resources interview to discuss personal preferences and compensation, benefits related aspects before the final offer is made. Some organizations also administer psychometric tests to test the role fitment for the role. </span></div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-82377700833321874102011-04-06T11:23:00.000+05:302011-04-06T11:23:24.098+05:30Leaders Inspire – Perspective on leadership style of M S Dhoni & Nitish Kumar<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auM8jt_YH8g/TZv-CLV8uxI/AAAAAAAAIOo/8ubBvre72DU/s1600/Picture2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auM8jt_YH8g/TZv-CLV8uxI/AAAAAAAAIOo/8ubBvre72DU/s400/Picture2.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It takes moment in life to make it special, dream of a generation, imagination of a nation, heartbeat of billions, and then the prayers finally were answered. India lifted the world cup 2011 with great pride and emotions. What Dhoni and his men have achieved will remain etched in the memory of our generation forever. Tears of joy, cries of triumph, and a sense of gratitude filled our hearts as the realization of world cup victory finally sinks to the nation. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Celebrations still continue and what really stood out was the cool and razor sharp finesse which Dhoni displayed in his leadership style throughout the tournament. Perhaps he summed it up himself when he said how his decisions could have been questioned. But as lady luck had it, Dhoni will smile all the way to the glorious annals of cricketing history, perhaps the most successful India captain ever.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One can’t help but draw parallels of his leadership style with another great leader Nitish Kumar who was the Man of Year 2010 for bringing a ray of hope and faith in the murky theater of Indian politics. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, won his world cup (Bihar elections) consecutively by transforming the electoral dynamics in Bihar. Both Nitish and Dhoni have uncanny similarities in the way they operate and bring out few unique dimensions of their leadership style in their own sphere of influence. They have displayed remarkably identical traits and style which really demonstrates similarity in their leadership style and ability to influence outcomes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Communication is the key </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dhoni has always spoken his mind out on every aspect of Indian cricket. Often criticized for being too blunt, he has never been a favorite of his bosses in BCCI. Nitish Kumar also stands out for being upfront and plain talks, he has often earned wrath of media, alliance partners and even his own team members for speaking his mind out. Another interesting aspect that stands out of Dhoni and Nitish is the way they have been humble and open enough to admit weaknesses. Dhoni didn’t mince any words in castigating his fielders publicly and even accepted that few decisions didn’t work to the plan. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Likewise, Nitish has publicly rebuked his own party men and allies on many programs and policies. At the same time, one must acknowledge that they have set right goals, worked with their teams to strive together as a team. As the captain of the team, both have been articulating there plans and vision for the teams.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Get the best out of limited means</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the most inspiring aspects of both these leaders has been how they have struck to the basics of managing their teams. With limited resources at hand, they have ensured that they get the best out of each situation to work to their team’s advantage and thereby imbibing the culture of self-belief and resilience. Despite India’s limited bowling attack, Dhoni marshaled team well and always had an ace in his weak link whenever opposition came to bat. Though Indian bowling attack never looked lethal, but it was very effective and result oriented when it came to the crunch. <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-13/interviews/28685347_1_chawla-and-harbhajan-mahendra-singh-dhoni-dean-jones">Dean Jones</a> went to the extent of saying that Dhoni must be dreaming to win this world cup with current Indian bowling attack. With this victory, he has really proved that dreams do come true if only we work as a team.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similarly Nitish has always worked under constraints, he never had the luxury to spend on public welfare programs, with limited resources and little financial aid he has been able to transfer a state by just ensuring that limited resources are put to optimum utilization. He has proved that good governance can lead to electoral success and one need not always fall back on petty politics of caste and chicanery to achieve political victory. Despite low per capita income & investment, lowest Credit deposit ratio in the country, Bihar has had the 2nd highest growth rate in the country for the last 5 years. Bihar chief minister got applauds from none other than Melinda Gates for his achievements in increasing the immunization rate in Bihar . “In 2005, when Nitish Kumar became the chief minister of Bihar, the burden of disease in the state was massive. It also had a low immunization rate, 33 per cent compared to the global average of 70 per cent. By 2010, however, Bihar’s rate had risen to 66 per cent,” <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/03/23/melinda-gates-praises-bihar-chief/">said Melinda</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Lead from the front</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boy.. who can question Dhoni on his ability to lead from the front ( though he remains behind the wicket). When it came to the rubber hitting the road, Dhoni stood up for the challenge like a true champion. Not only did he score well and took the battle back to the opposition, he ensured he is there till the end to give the final punch, and what a thump it was. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nitish, just like Dhoni has always taken things head on and confronted his party members, policy makers on every public policy decision. He was the first one to come out and declare his assets when he enforced public declaration of assets and wealth owned by all public servants. They have both inspired there teams by their actions and has also given them hope in times of despair. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What’s even more surprising is that both Dhoni and Nitish has been called the Obama of <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/page2/content/story/499144.html">cricket</a> and <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/specials/cwg/Story/119042/renowned-historian-dr-ramachandra-guha-said-that-nitish-kumar-is-indias-obama-do-you-agree.html">politics</a> respectively. Despite many parallels, both are believed to be inspiring leaders in their own rights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Delegation, Decentralization & Team work</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gary Kirsten went on record to state how Dhoni gave him complete freedom to work in his areas. He said “Dhoni was the man in charge once they crossed the rope” while he continued doing his job off the field. Great leaders are not the most talented; they realize they realize that as long as they get the best from everyone there job is done. Dhoni as a batsmen and wicket is not the greatest of all, but he helped the team achieve its peak with help of Kirsten and Sachin and other senior players. He has allowed every one the space to breathe and creating a sense of joint ownership with harmony.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike both Nitish and Dhoni predecessors, there was no noise in public space to display sense of being in control or vulgar display of authority on trivial issues. Nitish Kumar has delegated few key responsibilities to his key advisor N K Singh ( Rajya Sabha MP & Economist) & Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi. Just like Kirsten, N K Singh is believed to be the master strategist and close advisor of Nitish Kumar. Kumar also re-energized the local governments in the form of panchayats or assemblies, by giving them more responsibility for areas such as education.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Dare to dream and take risk </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both Dhoni and Nitish have been non-conformist in their decision making style. They have dared to risk their own stake by taking decisions that may have backfired. Dhoni’s decision to drop Ashwin and take Nehra may have backfired but it proved otherwise in the match against Pakistan. Similarly, the decision to promote himself in the batting order during the final match would have come for severe criticism if he had failed to perform with the bat. His ability to back his team and stand for his decisions has really earned respect from his team and peers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nitish has also charmed his followers and critics with his ability to implement out of box ideas which have had significant impact on social development in Bihar. Who would have imagined few years back that girls in Bihar would ride all the way to school and women’s will get 50% reservations in panchayat. Today, Bihar’s leads in various many initiatives, which other states are emulating. Programmes like Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal scheme, NREGS and innovative schemes to suit marginal sections, setting up of District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) are few firsts which Bihar has stood out under leadership of Nitish Kumar. His party has often warned him of losing his vote base but Nitish has always implemented his ideas of development.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Humble beginning and private family life</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both Dhoni & Nitish have humble background and they continue to keep their family life very personal. Dhoni’s father worked in MECON and his brother and sister have also stayed away from public eyes. His close friends still count on him for any support. Nitish has also kept his personal intensely private; his family has always been away from media eyes, not much is known about his brothers and only son. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With all the glory and achievements, both of them there feet firmly stuck on the ground. They are indeed role models for today’s youth and inspire everyone to dream the impossible.</div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-22812831242670098182010-12-20T21:12:00.001+05:302010-12-20T21:12:35.357+05:30HR Knowledge: Job Analysis_How to Figure Out What the Job Actually EntailsHR Funda on Job Analysis<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_6169798"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/shrmindia/hr-knowledge-job-analysishow-to-figure-out-what-the-job-actually-entails-shrm-india" title="HR Knowledge: Job Analysis_How to Figure Out What the Job Actually Entails - SHRM India">HR Knowledge: Job Analysis_How to Figure Out What the Job Actually Entails - SHRM India</a></strong><object id="__sse6169798" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=jobanalysisfinal-101214231232-phpapp02&stripped_title=hr-knowledge-job-analysishow-to-figure-out-what-the-job-actually-entails-shrm-india&userName=shrmindia" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse6169798" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=jobanalysisfinal-101214231232-phpapp02&stripped_title=hr-knowledge-job-analysishow-to-figure-out-what-the-job-actually-entails-shrm-india&userName=shrmindia" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/shrmindia">SHRMIndia</a>.</div></div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-67584466998780129262010-08-17T23:11:00.001+05:302010-10-01T08:54:06.406+05:30Employee Retention - Getting it right<div style="text-align: justify;">Changing times needs different strategies to engage and retain key employees. Organizations adopt different approach towards managing talent and working towards improving deliverables for business profitability. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Retaining_key_employees_in_times_of_change_2654?gp=1">Mckinsey study </a>shows that too many companies approach the retention of key employees during disruptive periods of organizational change by throwing financial incentives at senior executives, star performers, or other “rainmakers.”The money is rarely well spent. Many of the recipients would have stayed put anyway; others have concerns that money alone can’t address. Moreover, by focusing exclusively on high fliers, companies often overlook those “normal” performers who are nonetheless critical for the success of any change effort.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the key observations are:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Find the “hidden gems”</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once HR and line managers have generated a thoughtful and more inclusive list of key players (usually 30 to 45 percent of all employees), they can begin to prioritize groups and individuals for targeted retention measures— 5 to 10 percent of the workforce. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The key is to view each employee through two lenses: first, the impact his or her departure would have on the business, given the focus of the change effort and his or her role in it; and second, the probability that the employee in question might leave.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Mind set matters</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One-size-fits-all retention packages are usually unsuccessful in persuading a diverse group of key employees to stay. Instead, companies should tailor retention approaches to the mind-sets and motivations of specific employees (as well as to the express nature of the changes involved).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Retention is about more than money</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executives mustn’t view employee retention as a one-off exercise where it’s sufficient to get the incentives packages right. Rather, best practice approaches build on continuous attention and timely communication every step of the way to help employees make sense of the uncertainty inherent in organizational change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, what many employees want most of all is clarity about their future with the company. Creating that clarity requires significant hands-on effort from managers, including the ongoing work of tracking progress so that companies can quickly intervene when problems arise.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Targeting retention measures at the right people using a tailored mix of financial and nonfinancial incentives is crucial for managing organizational transitions that achieve long term business success; it’s also likely to save money.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" target="_blank" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!"><img alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" border="0" height="24" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-41474430416075407062010-04-09T21:45:00.001+05:302010-04-10T00:18:42.153+05:307 Talent Management Practices to Help You Survive a Downturn<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Guest Post by Sean Conrad</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To weather an economic downturn, companies need to focus on their core business and strengths, reduce unnecessary costs and be more efficient. Here are 7 talent management practices every company should implement to get the most out of their workforce. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<strong>1. Align Goals and Track Everyone's Progress</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">You need to make sure that every employee's goals are aligned with organizational goals. You also need to regularly monitor progress on goals so you can take corrective action as required. Finally, you need to be able to quickly and effectively communicate any change in focus, priorities or tactics. Your talent management system should allow you to quickly communicate changes that impact organizational goals to everyone who has a linked individual goal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>2. Conduct Regular Employee Reviews to Keep Employee Performance On Track</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Employee performance reviews give employees an opportunity to talk with their manager about what they are doing well, areas for improvement, skill gaps, career plans, goals, competencies, development needs and more. It's one of the most effective ways to keep performance on track. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">They also help managers and HR identify low performers and take action to improve their performance, so the company can get the most out of all its resources.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, employee reviews make it easier for managers and HR to make critical decisions about workforce restructuring and right-sizing if/when needed. By providing a history of employee performance they allow managers and HR to accurately identify high and low performers and employees with critical knowledge/experience/skills. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>3. Provide Ongoing Feedback to Maximize Performance</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ongoing feedback helps everyone maximize their performance. It allows for quick corrective action, so managers and employees can address any issues while they are still small. To formalize this process, you might want to do quarterly or semi-annual reviews instead of just annual ones. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>4. Invest in Performance-Based Development</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Make sure you're getting value from your investment in employee development. Start from your employees' performance appraisals and use them to identify skill gaps, so you can be sure you're offering the right, targeted learning activities. You should also consider which competencies are key to your organization's success and target training to build strength in these. Finally, you should always measure the change in employee performance ratings that results from a learning intervention to make sure your training is effective.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>5. Identify and Reward High Performing Employees</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Knowing who your high performing and high potential employees are is always critical. While you may not be able to reward them with salary increases, bonuses or other monetary rewards during an economic downturn, you can still demonstrate your organizational commitment to them and recognize their contributions through other means. These are the employees you can't afford to loose; make sure you're acknowledging their performance and potential.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>6. Have a Succession Plan</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Your organization needs to be prepared to replace people in critical roles at all times. It's even more vital in a downturn, when a vacant leadership position or shortage of a critical skill could cripple your organization. A talent pool based succession plan helps your organization to identify the critical skills and competencies it needs to succeed over the long term, not just the leadership roles it may need to fill. It then helps you identify and groom your high-performing and high-potential employees to fill these needs when they arise. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>7. Be as Efficient as Possible</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an economic downturn, no organization can afford inefficient processes. Systems that automate your talent management processes make these processes more efficient and cost effective. Many companies realize a return on their investment in talent management software in the very first year – often enough to more than cover the cost of the new system. They also usually see an increase the quality and value of their processes, typically resulting in higher employee satisfaction and engagement. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Sean Conrad is a Senior Product Analyst at <a href="http://www.halogensoftware.com/">Halogen Software</a>, one of the leading providers of talent management solutions. He can be reached at </em><a href="mailto:sconrad@halogensoftware.com"><em>sconrad@halogensoftware.com</em></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" target="_blank" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!"><img alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" border="0" height="24" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" /></a></div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-3354070236903924692009-07-17T07:51:00.003+05:302009-07-17T07:54:56.132+05:30Good Boss, bad times...<p align="center"><object height="338" width="428"><param name="movie" value="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/App_Themes/v2.0/swf/external_player.swf"><param name="flashvars" value="assetsPath=http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/App_Themes/v2.0/swf/&xmlFileName=http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/xmlresources/videol2XML.aspx?assetid=229%26localeid=1"><br /> <br /> <br /> <embed src="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/App_Themes/v2.0/swf/external_player.swf" width="428" height="338" flashvars="isProduction=true&assetsPath=http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/App_Themes/v2.0/swf/&xmlFileName=http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/xmlresources/videol2XML.aspx?assetid=229%26localeid=1"></embed><br /> <br /></object></p><div align="justify"><br />Its difficult being a good Boss in bad times when layoffs, pay cuts, and restructing have hit organisations everywhere .In this video interview, management professor and author Robert Sutton offers his advice on how to be a good boss in today’s difficult climate.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-40823070175309481842009-04-07T08:17:00.004+05:302009-04-07T08:35:22.074+05:30Strategic Planning in Uncertain Times<div align="justify">Strategic planning becomes a daunting nightmare in challenging economic times. Anticipating change and creating framework for future growth needs in depth understanding of trends which can indicate future changes with fair degree of certainty. <a href="http://e.mckinseyquarterly.com/W0RT00D12A93883ED39302CE26F670">Mckinsey article</a> has few tips on planning during these transitioning times. </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>Be realistic about scenario planning</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><blockquote><div align="justify">In a highly uncertain environment, the advantages of scenario planning are clear: since no one base case can be regarded as probable, it’s necessary to develop plans on the assumption that several different futures are possible and to focus attention on the underlying drivers of uncertainty. Senior executives outside the strategic-planning group—even those accustomed to developing scenarios—may find the diversity and complexity of this year’s scenarios bewildering. It’s critical to bring such executives into the process early: for example, by kicking off the planning process with a scenario-development exercise involving the full senior team. Similarly, as the process of reviewing business units gets under way, a company can inculcate an appreciation of the threats it faces and of its collective strategic response by inviting executives from a number of divisions to participate in the proceedings—rather than hold one-off events between the senior team and the leader of each individual unit.</div></blockquote><div align="justify"><strong>Intensify monitoring</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><blockquote><p align="justify">The company’s strategy, in short, must account for many more contingencies than it has until recently. Since the effectiveness of such a strategy depends on an organization’s ability to adjust rapidly as the fog starts to lift, managers must identify and intensively monitor key indicators suggesting which scenario might unfold. </p></blockquote><div align="justify"><br /><strong>Look beyond the crisis</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><blockquote><div align="justify">Given the vastness of the economic change now under way, the temptation for many planners will be to gaze, mesmerized, at the unfolding crisis. That’s a mistake, for at least two reasons. </div><div align="justify"><br />First, devastating as the current downturn may be, it cannot roll back fundamental market trends—such as the aging of consumers in Europe and North America or the continued economic development of Brazil, China, India, and Russia—which will continue to create strategic opportunities and threats. Managers must focus their eyes—and resources—on these trends no matter what happens. </div><div align="justify"><br />Second, planners who become fixated on current economic events run the risk of overlooking a core responsibility: evaluating the effectiveness of current strategies. Although the crisis may force companies to suspend or redirect some of them, others will remain relevant even in the changed environment. </div></blockquote><div align="justify"><br />Given the background of the cataclysmic changes which have happened in the past few months, planners today are better prepared to anticipate and work towards a more change responsive plan of action.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-27054272478081889982008-12-23T08:04:00.003+05:302008-12-23T08:44:45.546+05:30Did you know ?<p align="center"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AC12igtyjJM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AC12igtyjJM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p><p align="justify"><br /><br />Interesting presentation on amazing facts which I’m sure we never come across in our daily lives. Few thoughts which immediately come to my mind are : </p><p align="justify"><br />• Population is actually turning out to be greatest resource for a nation to have. Human resource will be the biggest source of competitive gain even in the days to come. </p><p align="justify"><br />• At the same time the concept of a nation is blurring due to rapid exponential growth of technology, alternate sources of information like web based tools. </p><p align="justify"><br />• While nations will continue to have economic and political interest, the power of connectivity has enabled the current generations to tide over the barriers of language and culture. As we grow our cultures will continue to grow locally with global flavor( some say glocalisation) </p><p align="justify"><br />• If we do not connect the digital and real world at a rapid pace, we will be marginalizing a section of world’s population which would mean greater issues of governance and equitable distribution of wealth and resources. </p><p align="justify"><br />• Empowerment will acquire a new meaning as the power distance paradigm will change. </p><p align="justify"><br />• Future continues to be more uncertain despite all our efforts to predict and control changes. </p><p align="justify"><br />• Mere information does not enables human beings to take most informed and best possible decision as uncertainty will create more information asymmetry and thereby greater chaos.</p><p align="justify"><br />• Definition of specialization will surely change, people will get into multiple job, try multiple options before they decide to go for a vocation. </p><p align="justify"><br />• Formal education process will slowly become redundant as future continues to grow uncertain. Growing uncertainties will force education curriculum to focus on developing functional and generic competencies. </p><p align="justify"><br />• Small will continue to be beautiful. </p><p align="justify"><br />Any other thoughts?<br /><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" target="_blank" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php"><img border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" height="24" /></a><br /></p>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-17226434457244547512008-08-12T22:41:00.001+05:302008-08-12T23:07:57.376+05:30Managing Diverse Workforce<p align="center"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=42-17254892_24_36Diversity-Posters.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="WIDTH: 208px; HEIGHT: 334px" height="397" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/42-17254892_24_36Diversity-Posters.jpg" width="268" border="0" /></a></p><div align="justify">Managing a team with members from different <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_diversity">cultural background </a>and nationality has its own unique dimensions and challenges. Typically organizations have different training modules which train people on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_competence">cross cultural </a>aspects before they get exposed to the people of various nationality and culture.<a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=42-17254892_24_36Diversity-Posters.jpg" target="_blank"></a></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://vocserve.berkeley.edu/Summaries/1082sum.html">Research shows </a>that most of the organizations have few common issues which inhibit the advancement of diverse groups in the workplace : (1) negative attitudes and discomfort toward people who are different, (2) discrimination, (3) prejudice, (4) stereotyping, (5) racism, and (6) bias. </div><div align="justify"><br />In one of the <a href="http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/radjou/2008/07/clash-of-the-mindsets-how-indi.html">HBR series discussions</a>, Navi Radjou, VP at Forrester Research shares his insight on why Indians score over their western counterparts. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><blockquote><div align="justify">He asked senior execs at both Western and Indian multinationals with R&D operations across US, Europe, and India what challenges they face in managing their firms’ transnational innovation networks. They pointed out that the biggest hurdle is socio-cultural, as Indian engineers think and act completely differently than their Western colleagues. The former, growing up in a red-hot economy, are animated by a “growth mindset” whereas the latter, operating in mature economies, are stuck in a “settled mindset.” These two opposite approaches clash when they are asked to collaborate on a R&D project. Why? Because Indian and Western engineers completely differ in their: </div><div align="justify"><br />1) Reasoning. Unlike Western engineers,who reason with a predicate logic (a statement is either true (1) or false (0),Indian engineers solve problems using a fuzzy logic,the degree of truth of a statement can range anywhere between 0 and 1. </div><div align="justify"><br />2) Problem-solving. Given their average age (mid-20s), Indian engineers belong to the Generation Y, or the Millennials, who learn through hands-on experiments (think video-games) and peer-to-peer interactions (instant messaging anyone?). When solving a problem, these grown-up “kids” harness the multiplicative power of social networking tools to experiment with multiple solutions simultaneously, and select the optimal one based on peer input. You can call this problem-solving approach “Collaborative Darwinism.” By contrast, Western engineers, many in their 30s/40s/50s, theoretically weigh the pros and cons of every single solution before even trying it, and feel too proud to ask for help when stuck solving a problem. It’s the “ostrich-style” problem-solving. </div><div align="justify"><br />3) Market expectations. It’s hard for Western engineers living in rich economies with advanced infrastructure to design products for use by customers in developing economies with poor roads and unreliable electrical and water supply. But that’s second nature for Indian engineers in Bangalore, with its ever-congested roads and frequent power cuts. As a US tech multinational’s exec eloquently puts it: “Western engineers’ product ideas are shaped by laws of abundance whereas Eastern engineers’ inventions are motivated by the rules of scarcity.</div></blockquote><div align="justify">Just to add to this , it’s also interesting to look at the famous <a href="http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_india.shtml">Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions</a> when one tries to do a comparative assessment of diverse workforce. His assessment is based on five primary Dimensions to assist in differentiating cultures: Power Distance - PDI, Individualism - IDV, Masculinity - MAS, Uncertainty Avoidance – UAI and Long-Term Orientation – LTO.India scores fairly different when compared to western countries when one looks at all these dimensions, so the differences are expected. When it comes to product designing or any solution perhaps the awareness and better understanding of cultural diversity, language barrier and different socio economic approach towards consumption and consumer behavior drives Indian mindset.So instead of terming it mindset of scarcity versus abundance it would be appropriate to term it as informed and sensitized approach towards ideas and conceptualization.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-9460645558104026132008-08-03T20:47:00.003+05:302008-08-04T22:10:25.901+05:30Salary Compression – A HR Nightmare?<span xmlns=""><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14;">If there's one thing that's tipping the scales for fresh employees and leaving the veterans out in the cold, it's salary compression. There's no room for loyalty to the company when market conditions have to be taken into consideration and new hires have to be paid according to industry standards. With the internal annual rate of increase between 4 and 7 percent and the industry annual rate of increase touching 10 to 15 percent, there's a huge disparity between what more experienced workers earn and what their fresh-faced counterparts just setting foot in the company make.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14;">The situation is compounded year after year, as those with the company for a longer period of time continue to earn comparatively less than those who've come after them. HR professionals and managers have been put in a bind by salary compression – they're forced to pay the going rate for the best of the new talent to hit the market even as they risk the ire and resentment of individuals who have slogged for the company for more than a few years, but who are earning a significantly smaller amount than those coming in, even with the annual hike in their salaries.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14;">Older employees are forced to change jobs then, since they are likely to be paid the higher market rates by new employers, which means that more new employees have to be hired at current market rates, and more money has to be spent on recruitment and training costs and on higher salaries. This leads us to the questions - Isn't it more rational to increase the salaries of older employees on par or at slightly higher rates than those of their newer colleagues? Is it worth the low morale, frustration and reduced productivity that older employees exhibit when faced with the news that their juniors, people they have to take under their wings and train, are taking home more money than they are? Does this make for a workplace conducive to harmony and cooperation?<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14;">Employers are struggling to address these issues without emptying the company's coffers on salary alone. In an attempt to retain valued and experienced employees, they are offering perks like the use of company transport, phone bills at the company's expense, access to health clubs and paid vacations. Some companies are restructuring their pay levels in a new attempt termed broad banding where employers assume more flexibility in defining job descriptions and adjusting pay scales accordingly. Others offer bonuses and incentives on a performance-based model.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14;">A job market with a limited amount of skilled labor and a large number of jobs that require highly skilled professionals gives employees the upper hand – they are able to dictate terms and threaten to quit if they're not paid what they think they're worth. But then, too much of job hopping is seen as a sign of instability in industry circles, unless the employee has something really special to offer in terms of skill and ability. At the end of the day, it's up to organizations to affect the trade off between retaining experienced employees at a higher pay or spending more to bring in new ones and train them well.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">This article is contributed by Heather Johnson, who regularly writes on <a href="http://www.jobprofiles.org/bushrmanager.htm">HR manager</a>. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: heatherjohnson2323 @ gmail.com<br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></span></p><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-17336526789145540352008-08-02T21:44:00.000+05:302008-08-02T21:49:07.581+05:30On ROI, HR Skills & Perception about HR Function<div align="justify">ROI on Training and Leadership programs<br /><br />Training evaluation usually takes into account the following factors. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Reaction-How the participants reacts to the program </div><div align="justify"><br />• Learning-Depending upon the nature of the program ways to measure the learning has to be worked out. </div><div align="justify"><br />• On Job behavior -To access the effective changes for the desired result on the team and the individual. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Business result-how the change in behavior has positively impacted business result. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Calculating the return on investment (ROI). </div><div align="justify"><br />Most of the organizations focus only till stage 4 of the evaluation process. Typically there are 3 aspects which are considered to be looked at under ROI. </div><div align="justify"><br />• <strong>Desired Impact</strong>- has the training program been effective it facilitating change as it was desired. Training is one of the many tools available; it must justify its effectiveness as a viable business solution to remain relevant and viable. </div><div align="justify"><br />• <strong>Cost</strong> –to substantiate that the cost incurred leads to positive impact of profitability. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Improve the design and content of future training programs on the basis of feedback received. </div><div align="justify"><br />The best way to evaluate the ROI on training is to do a control group experiment and evaluate the performance of both the teams on the basis of pre identified hard and soft data points like absenteeism, productivity, morale, enthusiasm etc. Only if the pre determined targets are achieved for the group which has undergone training is evident it would be viable to have effective ROI assessment. However ROI assessment has its own challenges since the effectiveness also depends on individual willingness and openness to change behavior through structured intervention. </div><div align="justify"><br />In my personal experience the best training programs are run by people who have demonstrated exceptional leadership ability and have proven track record of being a performer and great achiever in any field of life. Only those who are exceptional achievers can inspire others raise the bar and achieve new heights. </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>New Skills for HR Professionals</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br />HR function in itself is the core of any entrepreneur activity. For any organization to be effective it needs great managers and great managers must be great team leaders having exceptional people capabilities. However Marketing (Business development and Sales) and finance are two functions which HR professionals must have to become quite essential entrepreneurs. In one of my earlier post on my blog I had opined on “<a href="http://hrfundablog.blogspot.com/2006/03/selling-skills-for-hr-professionals.html">selling skills for HR professionals</a>”. Cross functional expertise is a core competency for HR professional as it is involved in Hiring, training, mentoring, developing career path and designing robust performance management system and policies for all functions in the organizations. Unless it has the necessary know how of business, functional, operational and strategic goals of teams it will never succeed in performing its role effectively. </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>Perceptions about HR department</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br />Depends on what we are trying to achieve, we keep reading lot of surveys and findings on the role of HR in organizations and what is expected from HR teams .Perception of employees will change only if the expectations are aligned to the common goal. As long as HR leadership in your teams are able to differentiate and successfully execute the employee value proposition and integrate the same with organizations people’s philosophy ,in my view it would have done its core function. </div><div align="justify"><br />HR must re-define and change the way it sees itself, it ought to articulate its business value proposition and strategic contribution more effectively. It should become a viable change agent in driving the strategic goal of organizations. Only when these goals are achieved we can expect changes in the way HR function is perceived.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-87330741158563466262008-07-18T11:27:00.005+05:302008-07-18T11:33:04.025+05:30Inflation's impact on HR function<span xmlns=""><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Inflation is a cyclical economic phenomena, in a globalised world inflation in not just driven by internal economic variables but also get influenced by common economic concerns like global oil prices, entry and exit barriers to economies, food grain production etc. The current inflation trend is cost push inflation which is more driven by the rise in the cost of essentials goods and services. It even leads to rise in wages in excess of any gains in labor productivity, this leads to increase in unit costs of production and thus further spiraling prices.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Generally when Inflation is more demand driven (total demand for goods and services in an economy exceeds the available supply) it leads to increase in the production of goods and services. This means more employment opportunities and higher demand for skilled labour and if supply fails to match the demand for skilled and highly skilled labour, wages move northward and it also leads to higher attrition in organizations where even demand for labour is more.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">In case of Cost push inflation the demand for labour does not necessarily goes up,on the other hand organizations looks for ways to reduce cost and reduce redundant work force as the cost of services and managing a non productive workforce goes up. Cost push inflation also leads to demand for higher wages to meet the growing expenses and organizations face dual challenge of managing external as well as internal cost push .This often leads to wage price spiral which means increase in wages will drive cost of goods and services.<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">In such situations it becomes very critical for the HR team to take the right decisions on:<br /></span></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><ul><li><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Hiring the best talent</strong>-To ensure that the value added is more than the cost<br /></span></div></li></ul><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><ul><li><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Improving productivity</strong> - Initiate ways to enhance productivity per employee, to have better retention programs to engage the high performers.<br /></span></div></li></ul><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p><ul><li><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Review the compensation and benefits applicable</strong>: Change in economic scenario drive the compensation structure, too much of market uncertainty would mean that variable and bonus component of employees needs to be aligned to marked realities.<br /></span></div><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p></li><li><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Partner with leadership on decision making</strong>- Don't forget the role of the ear piece of senior leadership in your organization, HR has to come up with relevant findings and metrics which helps the organization meet challenges better.<br /></span></div><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></p></li><li><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Communicate effectively and timely</strong>: In such economic scenario it becomes very critical that right information reaches employees at the right time. Even if it's a decision which is likely to negatively impact the compensation or benefits of the employee, it's very critical that the rationale for change and how it will help the organization and its workforce to meet the challenges are well articulated by leadership and HR teams.<br /></span></span></div></li></ul><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-25080658565320896102008-07-10T21:35:00.001+05:302008-07-10T23:14:00.090+05:30HR benchmarking and systems<p align="justify">Recently <a href="http://scooponlive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=126">my interview </a>appeared in <a href="http://www.scooponlive.com/">SCOOP an online HR magazine</a>, it covers industry news , analysis and features the latest from the HR world. The interview covered wide ranges of issues ranging from HR strategies, processes and various other issues which organizations are grappling today. Here is the first part the interview. </p><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=union_bill.jpg" target="_blank"></a></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><strong>On Benchmarking in the field of HR.</strong><br /><br />Benchmarking in today’s business environment has different context for different organizations.HR practices have also been keeping pace with ever dynamic business environment and every industry presents unique challenges for HR professionals. There are two important aspects which every HR team must try and benchmark against: </div><div align="justify"></div><p align="center"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=union_bill.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/union_bill.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="justify"><br /><strong>Innovative HR Practices:</strong> HR practices needs continuous change and innovation, it is key to the competitiveness of any industry. HR teams have to lead in setting new trends in attracting and engaging talent. Today the best places to work are those which have Innovative and engaging HR practices. If you are looking at benchmarking HR practices you need to review the existing practices and then indentify high impact areas which you think are critical for the execution of your business goals and long term employee philosophy. </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>Humane Processes:</strong> I have deliberately used the word humane as we tend to standardize and reduce the human touch in the name of standard HR processes. This is especially true for large organizations as they find it difficult to resolve unique situations through their HR processes.HR teams must set up processes which are more fungible and responsive to employees need rather than just operation ease.HR process benchmarking should focus on creating unique employee experience, in this regard small upcoming companies can provide valuable examples to emulate. </div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>On successful HR system and its implementation?</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br />In my view it’s not just the successful “system” per say which makes the difference. It’s all about the people you have in your team and the way they go on to do their daily job with great excitement and enthusiasm which is the mantra for any successful system. Some of the best organizations have doomed after their best leaders and team members have quit while some of the very ordinary organizations achieve remarkable results by sheer team effort and promoting a culture of co-operation and collaboration. </div><div align="justify"><br />At present <a href="http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/a/hris.htm">HRIS (Human resources Information System)</a> is the critical backbone of any HR system. In most the of the organizations ccurrently Human Resource Management Systems covers following functions: </div><div align="justify"><br />• Recruitment & Selection(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applicant_tracking_system">Applicant tracking and short listing systems</a>)<br />• <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_Management">Training & Learning Management system<br /></a>• <a href="http://www.p-impact.com/tq.pia">Talent Deployment<br /></a>• Compensation and Benefit administration<br />• <a href="http://www.ppspublishers.com/articles/exit_interviews.htm">Separation and feedback process </a></div><div align="justify"><br />HR solutions like client-server (distributed system comprised of both client and server software), Application Service Provider, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_Service">SaaS(software as a service) </a>Human Resource Management Systems has enabled HR processes to be structured and streamlined. The manual effort has reduced considerably and helped HR operations to scale their services effectively. These HR systems have helped HR teams to focus more on engaging and developing employees more effectively.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-28793787515007464052008-07-01T00:30:00.001+05:302008-07-01T00:49:22.261+05:30Employee Performance Management System<div align="justify">Talent management is one of the most critical and ever challenging activities for any HR team. Sound performance management system is quintessential for the success of any talent management strategy for any organizations. While lot of organizations have automated their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_appraisal">Performance evaluation and rating</a> processes a large number of small and medium enterprises continues to struggle between legacy systems and new age Human capital management systems which integrates different aspects of performance measurement and also integrates it with other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning">ERP</a> and <a href="http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/a/hris.htm">HRIS (human resource information system)</a> .Some of the key factors which needs to be considered while adopting automated IT system based performance evaluation model are: </div><div align="justify"><br /><blockquote><div align="justify">• A well defined <a href="http://hr.web.cmu.edu/forms/managers/PerformanceReviewGuidelines.pdf">performance management tool </a>should focus on arriving at role based assessment and evaluation matrix which is duly aligned with the competencies defined for each role. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Ratings must translate into performance index scores and should follow the philosophy of the performance evaluation and distribution method generally followed, for example –<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_by_objectives">MBO</a>, <a href="http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/ARossett/pie/Interventions/forcedranking_1.htm">Force rating method </a>or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorally_anchored_rating_scales">Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales</a>. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Key tasks and related competencies for each task should be duly mapped and performance grading should have pre set values assigned to the tasks performed. </div><div align="justify"><br />• It must consider the various variables which have influence of the final deliverables. These variables will again be unique to the roles and competencies. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Performance index must be benchmarked for different <a href="http://careercompass.berkeley.edu/perfmgmt/resources/ratingscale.html">performance scales </a>(best, average and below average performers) </div><div align="justify"><br />• It should integrate metrics and milestones from any other HR or Internal systems, to enable evaluator assess more accurately with the help of readily available data for specific tasks. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Should capture qualitative aspects and clearly identify the strengths and performance highlights like client appreciation, key differentiators and initiatives etc. </div><div align="justify"><br />• It should help in identifying the developmental needs (training, mentoring etc) on the basis of the gaps, based on the assessment against the desired superior performance level. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Basis Performance management aspects like <a href="http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html">SMART Goals </a>(Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) needs to be factored and assessment must be done again pre defined goals and role based evaluation parameters. </div><div align="justify"><br />• It must cover relevant feedback and evaluation ratings from all stakeholders apart from the manager and next level reviewer to enable more holistic and 360* overview of the employees performance. </div><div align="justify"><br />• Periodic review and update features to give a comprehensive assessment for the performance calendar, should not necessarily be open during a particular time during the evaluation window but allow periodic ratings to be weighted for the purpose of cumulative index score. </div><div align="justify"><br />• It should help in identifying the readiness of the employee to perform a higher role and also capture the future career aspirations. </div></blockquote><br /><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN --><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a><br /></div><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END -->Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-9275373373769759182008-05-04T10:36:00.000+05:302008-05-04T10:52:58.570+05:305 ways to get more done in your Workday<div align="justify">A major complaint among HR professionals these days is a severe lack of time. This is a common concern across the professional landscape and something that we all combat every day. You probably find yourself hoping for more hours to get more done. This isn’t going to happen but there are ways you can make more productive use of your time to make sure that your “to-do” lists are completed by the day’s end. Here are five ways you can create this needed time:<br /><br /></div><blockquote><p align="justify"><strong>1. Switch your hours.</strong> If the 9-5 shift isn’t providing you enough time to get everything done that you need to then consider working longer. Wake up an hour earlier and get to work that much earlier. The earlier you get to work the less interruptions you’ll encounter. While your free time will be cut into you’ll feel more satisfied that you got more done.<br /><br /><strong>2. Multitask.</strong> This is the catchword of the day and it’s here to stay. If you’re trying to further your career then listen to audio textbooks while in the car. Waiting for a doctor’s appointment or your car to get fixed? Bring a book that is appropriate for your job or paperwork.<br /><br /><strong>3. Cut out activities that eat up time.</strong> Turn off the television if you have one in your office. Cut out the twenty-minute chit-chat session in the morning with your friends by the coffee maker. Don’t surf the internet for anything not related to your job. Resist these temptations! These extraneous activities can severely cut into valuable time that you could be spending on getting stuff done.<br /><br /><strong>4. Work faster.</strong> This may sound like a no-brainer but it’s hard for people to change their work habits. Learn to type faster by taking a typing course or tutorial online. Be a better reader as you scan for the details that you need and cut out the meaningless text that takes up your time. Make your own deadlines that are independent from the natural deadline attached to a project. This will create a sense of urgency that will make you work faster.<br /><br /><strong>5. Preparation is crucial.</strong> If you have tomorrow lined up before you leave work today then you’re in good shape. The worst thing you can do is come into the office in the morning and have little to no idea what you should be doing. It will take you an hour to plan your day. Be prepared with your tasks for the next day and you’ll get off to a running start when you arrive! </p></blockquote><div align="justify"><br />This article is contributed by <strong>Heather Johnson</strong>, who regularly writes on the topic of <a href="http://www.jobprofiles.org/" target="_blank">career exploration</a>. She wanted to share a guest post on HR Funda and I was more than happy to feature her post .She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email id: <a href="mailto:heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com">heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com</a> . If you have any guest post to contribute, please drop me a mail on <a href="mailto:ajitchouhan@gmail.com">ajitchouhan@gmail.com</a><br /><br /><br /><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button BEGIN --><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a><br /></div><!-- AddThis Bookmark Button END -->Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-34875958672097890022008-04-26T10:31:00.000+05:302008-04-26T10:51:44.840+05:30HR Challenges -Time to act<div align="justify">Prioritizing key activities and focusing on strategic areas of concern continues to be a challenge for majority of HR professionals. Most of the studies which focus on challenges faced by HR professional continues to highlight the ever increasing pressure of attracting, engaging in retaining talent. </div><div align="justify"><br />In a <a href="http://www.i4cp.com/i4cp/News.aspx?PostId=31204">recent study by i4cp </a>when respondents were asked about the main barriers facing HR in 2008, 44% of the 355 responding companies rated lack of time as having a high or very high impact on HR’s ability to achieve its goals. </div><div align="justify"><br /><blockquote><div align="justify">“HR professionals are singing a familiar refrain,” said Donna J. Bear, senior research analyst at i4cp. “They’re citing not <strong>enough time, talent or money and too many conflicting priorities as top impediments to accomplishing their employers’ goals.”</strong> </div><div align="justify"><br />Besides not having enough time, nearly four in 10 respondents cited <strong>“conflicting organizational priorities,</strong>” “scarcity of workforce talent” and “financial resources” as having a high or very high impact on achieving their goal of filling their employers’ ranks with high-potential workers. </div></blockquote></div><div align="justify"><br />Regarding their own ongoing development, HR professionals recognize the need to develop competencies that are both broad and high-level. The study’s respondents ranked leadership first among all the competencies needing further development, with 55% of all organizations ranking it as high or very high in importance. Also, 50% of organizations ranked change management as a high or very high priority, and innovative thinking is also a competency that HR professionals must develop, according to the 47% of respondents who said it ranked high or very high in importance.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-88868942259129256372008-04-05T11:16:00.000+05:302008-04-05T11:29:05.230+05:30HR links for the week<div align="justify">Here are some of the interesting posts from the HR blogosphere for the week. I’m sure readers will enjoy going through the posts. </div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://careerbright.blogspot.com/2008/04/be-self-directed-and-self-motivated.html">Career bright on working from Home </a>and how it is important to be self-directed and self-motivated to be able to work from home completely. </div><div align="justify"><br />David Zinger has an interesting post on <a href="http://www.davidzinger.com/employee-engagement-stairway-to-heaven-602/">Employee engagement</a> where he illustrates through this video on the concept of learned helplessness that contributes to disengagement at work.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><p align="center"><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MIaxCW9BsDs&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MIaxCW9BsDs&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></p><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://rising.blackstar.com/how-i-escaped-my-newspaper-job-to-start-my-own-business-and-how-you-ca.html">Heather Hughes</a> shares her personal experience of how she escaped her newspaper job to start her own Business -- and how others can leaern from her experience as well. </div><div align="justify"><br />Rowan hosts the <a href="http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2008/04/carnival-of-hr-30.html">Carnival of HR 30 </a>. </div><div align="justify"><br />A Bob Brady post on <a href="http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/archive/2008/04/04/Epinions_iPod_Music_Office_Policies_Work_Rules.aspx">no I-PODs at work </a>has most of readers disagreeing to the idea.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-11725143700042170452008-04-02T22:56:00.000+05:302008-04-02T23:04:54.944+05:30Alltop list and HR Guru<div align="justify">The new layout of this blog got some good news as well.HR funda got featured in the <a href="http://alltop.com/about/">ALLTOP</a> list under careers section. <a href="http://blog.guykawasaki.com/">Guy Kawasaki</a> took less than a minute to confirm the inclusion after my request. </div><p align="center"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=Alltop_125x125.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/Alltop_125x125.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="justify"><br />I also joined the <a href="http://www.hrguru.com/about">HR Guru </a>community (part of Monster group) and got the invite from <a href="http://www.hrguru.com/member/TessaT">TessaT</a> to contribute as a featured blogger. Looking forward to share and connect with the HR community on HR Guru. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=logo_site.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/logo_site.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="justify"><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-69865381351693925852008-03-29T00:41:00.000+05:302008-03-29T00:47:05.784+05:30HR Value Proposition<div align="justify">Where should HR focus more - on internal customers, business partners or external vendors .It’s a catch -22 situation which many HR teams are unable to crack, some just can’t figure out the areas the top areas of priority. They continue to be driven by change, rather than playing the change agent role.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.daveulrich.com/">Dave Ulrich</a> has called on <a href="http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/03/28/45119/business-guru-dave-ulrich-urges-hr-to-focus-on-outcomes-to-add-value.html">HR to be more in tune with business issues to deliver real value.</a><br /><blockquote>Speaking at a <a href="http://www.pwc.co.uk/eng/services/human_resource_services.html">Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) annual international conference based in Rome,</a> Ulrich told more than 400 HR practitioners to focus on outcomes - ie, what they deliver for their organisation and key customers, rather than what they do inside.<br /><br />He urged HR to have an opinion on external changes in technology, economic trends and demographics, and to understand their chief executive's expectations of the business.<br /><br />"The challenge in HR is not what we do, but what we deliver how we add value," he said. "For decades we have been too focused on what we do. The world of HR for the future should not start with HR it should start with outcomes of HR."<a href="http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/02/25/44575/good-human-resources-will-boost-your-company-profits-research-proves.html">Ulrich urged HR to ask how they can use the knowledge they have to help their business leaders.</a></blockquote>Ask any business leader and chances are that they will all agree that HR teams continue to deliver day in day out on transactional activities. They meet the expectations and partner effectively on all key deliverables, but when it comes to contribute in leading from the front on strategic areas they are just unsure of the role they can play. They just don’t dare to take up challenges which are up for grab; sometimes they just feel it’s not their cup of tea.<br /><br /><blockquote>As Ulrich rightly says that instead of starting a discussion with chief executives on training, staffing, recruitment and so on, it is better to start with the outcome - how what HR does adds value to the customers, which ultimately should shape the business agenda."It's important to get customer and investor focus - not what HR thinks should happen, but what's the external reality facing this company in the next 10 years?" </blockquote><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13242483.post-42229219235182972062008-03-27T00:30:00.000+05:302008-03-27T00:52:41.021+05:30HR @ Web 2.0<div align="justify">The evolution of web based social and professional networking has been quite interesting over the years. On an average I spend almost 40% of my time on net on many of these networking sites. In the early days we all started with <a href="http://ryze.com/">Ryze</a> and then <a href="http://linkedin.com/">linkedin</a>, face book and today I get almost 2-3 invites every week from different networking sites. Although as a user I clearly distinguish between a social and professional networking site but now the lines between the two is getting blurred. So be it <a href="http://orkut.com/">orkut</a> or its own desi cousin <a href="http://www.bigadda.com/">Big adda </a>our generation is increasingly getting hooked to web based networking.<br /><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/?action=view&current=So.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/ajitchouhan/So.png" border="0" /></a></p><div align="justify"><br /><br />Linkedin recently launched its new version which has more upgraded features and better integration options and even access via mobile phones and PDA’s. Increasingly I see more and more recruiters using web based networking tools for hiring middle and senior level managers. Members are also directly approaching employees from different organizations to explore options in the organization of their own choice. This is an interesting tread as more and more people are using the networking tools to directly get in touch with the prospective employers. LinkedIn is supposed to have more than 20 million registered users and with the new users joining every day it has a user base which allows plethora of options. Unlike facebook which started as a tool for connecting to campus buddies, LinkedIn is seen as a professional and no-nonsense application.<br /><br />Web 2.0 and hiring philosophies have been widely used by small and starts up as it gives them the depth and breadth to choose the selected few as they have some niche roles to offer. It’s interesting to note that <a href="http://facebook.com/">Facebook</a> hired many of its early employees through LinkedIn. <a href="http://www.collegerecruiter.com/weblog/2007/01/ernst_young_bec.php">E&Y has a page on Facebook</a>, through which it interacts with prospective employees<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=77275202">Consider this survey, entitled Recruitment Advertising</a>: Moving in New Directions, from companies ranging from $5 million to $5 billion in annual revenues (and from a variety of industry segments) -- said they would spend more on business-networking sites, social networking and employee-referral programs in 2008 than in 2007, but less on print and traditional job boards.<br /><br />On the other hand some argue that your social profiles on these sites may even backfire in case your prospective employer, client or even business partner decides to search your web footprints using goggle or social networking sites. This interesting conversation on <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/03/employers_get_o.html">Business week </a>has some interesting observations.<br /><br /></div><blockquote><p align="justify">A public profile is a vehicle for casually interacting with others in an informal setting, on personal free time. When companies use these profiles to find not only a professional but also an ideological match for a job, they’re misleading themselves and building ill will with talented prospective employees, who might decline to apply for a job for fear a comment about China on their blogs makes them persona non grata.<br /></p></blockquote><div align="justify">Meanwhile organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to make out the difference between and social and a professional networking site. It often seen a waste of time when people spend hours spending time on social networking site. Some sites like Linkedin have clearly articulated that it’s not meant for social loafing. LinkedIn vice president Patrick Crane told Portfolio.com in an interview "Because we're professional, we're not about having people waste time; we’re all about people saving time."<br /><br /></div><blockquote><p align="justify">A <a href="http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=59862038">recent survey of 700 HR executives </a>found that 64 percent said their companies block access to social-networking sites such as Facebook and <a href="http://myspace.com/">MySpace</a>, while 63 percent block access to blogs and nearly 70 percent prevent their employees from accessing video or photo-sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr. The study, conducted by Redwood City, Calif.-based security firm Clearswift, also found 54 percent of the HR professionals have had to discipline employees for "wasting time" on the Internet. </p><p align="justify"><br /></p></blockquote><div align="justify">While the use of these technologies in the open talent market is wide spreading I’m not aware of many organizations which also using these features of Web 2.0 to engage employees inside the organizations.<br /><br />I was just wondering how a <a href="http://twitter.com/">twitter</a>, facebook or linkedin will help organizations in creating a passionate community of niche users within the organizations. Bulletin boards and blogs have been tried but engaging them through intranet portal will be something really interesting. Given the size and spread of huge big organizations it may be a good tool for creating a more diverse and better connected workforce.<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=59862038">HRE article </a>has some interesting examples on the latest web 2.0 tools used by organizations.<br /><br /></div><blockquote><p align="justify">Some companies that have implemented Web 2.0-type tools in the workplace have found they're a useful way to spark creativity among employees and increase engagement and interaction among -- and between -- employees and customers. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard recently launched HP Uncut, a YouTube-like<br />system that lets HP employees make their own videos that demonstrate best practices for using and maintaining HP products and then upload them to the corporate Web site.<br /><br /><a href="http://taleo.com/">Taleo</a> has built its Taleo Business Edition application on Facebook Platform, which enables companies to integrate their recruiting applications with Facebook, giving them access to millions of users (and potential job candidates).<br /><br />Penny Davis, head of HR operations at mobile phone operator T-Mobile says “ it's time for HR professionals to take a fresh look at Web 2.0, and how it can help them tap into new talent pools, encourage staff to collaborate, and build their employee brand”.<br /><br />In the past year, for example, Davis and her team have used Facebook to help new graduate recruits make the transition to the world of work. "We set up a group on Facebook in May for the 2007 intake so that they could network informally with each other and the T-Mobile recruitment team before their September start date, enabling them to get to know each other and air concerns in a friendly, supportive environment. ."<br /><br />Management consultancy KPMG, for example, the Royal Bank of Scotland, or data storage giant EMC. All three held careers fairs in Second Life during 2007.<br /></p></blockquote><div align="justify">Exciting times ahead for HR professionals as they will find these tools really handy to overcome the challenge of attracting and engaging people.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=ajitchouhan&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" target="_blank"><img height="24" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" src="http://s9.addthis.com/button2-bm.png" width="160" border="0" /></a> </div>Ajit Chouhanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15086521895202280734noreply@blogger.com0