"Sure, M&As grab headlines for their multi-billion dollar deal values. But if you think it is only sale-price which is the key to success of such deals, you may be in for a surprise.
Talent management, executive rewards, coupled with governance and organisational culture have emerged as key factors to successful cross-border M&A, according to the results of Mercer’s 2012 Asia Pacific Cross-Border Post-Merger Integration Survey.
“Failure to address “people-centric” issues appropriately can jeopardise the overall success of a cross-border M&A deal,” the survey says.
"Planning and execution around critical areas such as talent management, executive rewards, governance and organisational culture are essential during all stages of transactions," said Mr Len Gray, Mercer’s Global & Asia-Pacific M&A leader.
Forty-one companies across Asia Pacific that had recently acquired a new overseas-based business were interviewed by Mercer. Those interviewed on a one-to-one basis from these companies include: Human Resource Directors, Business Development and Corporate Strategy Executives from forty-one multinational and large local companies across a wide range of industries (retail, energy, food and beverage, financial services, engineering and technology) participated.
Only 24 per cent of the respondents cited sale price as a critical success factor for their M&A.
The majority, 76 per cent, said that business and organisation integration was the most important success factor, followed by talent retention (59 per cent), pointing to a strong emphasis on people- related issues.
Interestingly, almost 60 per cent of respondents identified culture as a top key challenge during integration, but most companies’ integration plans lack the right kind of detail.
“Working with HR on a robust integration plan prior to deal-close is vital, and means that critical people-related details are properly addressed and managed,” the survey revealed.
The experiences of survey respondents indicate that engaging HR professionals from the outset helps protect against unanticipated people issues arising during integration.
It indicated that 66 per cent of companies see executive compensation and benefits as their primary focus during HR due diligence. However, many companies do not have a clear strategy for managing differing executive reward schemes. Handling discrepancies between pay packages on a case-by-case basis can lead to prolonged and costly negotiations.
Further, 61 per cent viewed governance of the acquired company as the second most important initiative during integration. Strategies reported range from taking majority board seats and appointing key executives, to leaving the new company in the experienced hands of its existing leadership. Either way, organisational governance is seen as a key consideration when mergers span borders.
The report also found that a culture integration strategy will not fly without the buy-in of senior leaders. Any successful plan needs to be developed, owned and driven by these key influencers.
Keywords: cross border M&A, merger and acquisitions, M&As, talent management, Mercer 2012 Asia Pacific Cross-Border Post-Merger Integration Survey, Mercer survey, Mercer."
(Source: ‘People-centric’ issues key to successful cross-border M&A: Mercer survey, by Richa Mishra, Business Line, July 27, 2012)
Monday, July 30, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Social Bankruptcy
Within a fortnight after the shocking incident of gang molestation & public stripping of an innocent helpless girl at Guwahati, comes another shocker…A young lady is sexually harassed, slapped and assaulted by four youth in a moving train, in broad daylight and in full public glare. The lady, an orphan, runs towards the other part of the compartment to save herself when the youths ask for sexual favours in return for money. She refuses and resists and is thrown away from the train. The lady lands 25 feet below on a dry river bed…
Not a single passenger protested the crime or came to her rescue. Her only fault was that she was travelling alone in the train (read as without a male counterpart, in our country). She survived miraculously, but suffered grievous injuries. The place (Maddur) where the incident happened is only about 80 kms away for the IT super city Bangalore.
What is common between the two incidents? No prizes for guessing…devilish behaviour of few men and total public apathy. Such behavior is spiteful, unfortunate, uncivilized, savage and uncultured.
I am not exaggerating or over-generalizing but most men folk in this part of the world behave like wild animals. For that matter ask any girl or women in this country, if ever they have encountered any kind of teasing or sexually laced advances or attempts by men folk. Almost every female will tell you that they have witnessed something of this sort (minimum is an uncomfortable bad touch) at one time or the other in their lives. The culprits are all around the streets, lanes and public places, and many times the tormentors are close relatives and friends. The victims are helpless, most of the times, and silently suffer because of taboo or fear of social boycott (as by default a lady’s morality is questioned in such cases in our culture) or because of fear of physical security of self and of family members.
I am not painting the picture black, but undoubtedly there are lots of ugly black spots & blotches on our social canvass.
Even pathetic is the response of the custodians of the civil society. They are insensitive, preach morality to female victims instead and do nothing more than lip-service.
Organizations, mini-society in themselves, are mirror images of the larger society. At the cost of repetition perhaps, but I wish to emphasize that they need to be more cognizant of the social dynamics that prevails in countries like India. Such prowling vultures, who see women as an object of desire, could inhabitate organizations as stealthily as they populate the larger society, in the garb of official cloaks. The organizational policy and machinery must be sharp and alert to detect such people with sick minds and deal with them in the toughest manner possible.
A Melbourne Business School report has found that sexist jokes negatively impact women’s performance at work. The report also indicates that organizations fail to tackle ‘low-level of sexism’ despite having policies in place that target ‘overt sexual harassment’.
In India, the situation worsens further because the policies not only fail to check the rampant ‘low-level of sexism; in organizations but also many a time fails to deal ‘overt sexual harassment’ with an iron-fist. Amongst many reasons for the same, lack of proper reporting mechanisms, management apathy (much like prevailing social apathy), long legal route and social harassment of the victim, are the primary reasons. It’s high time organizations do something about this issue that perhaps single-handedly erodes engagement in organizations, especially of the female employees.
Socially and culturally, however, I feel we are close to bankruptcy. Hopes of social and cultural transformation seem bleak at the moment and without the same, I do not see how our organizations would be able to deal with such menace.
Not a single passenger protested the crime or came to her rescue. Her only fault was that she was travelling alone in the train (read as without a male counterpart, in our country). She survived miraculously, but suffered grievous injuries. The place (Maddur) where the incident happened is only about 80 kms away for the IT super city Bangalore.
What is common between the two incidents? No prizes for guessing…devilish behaviour of few men and total public apathy. Such behavior is spiteful, unfortunate, uncivilized, savage and uncultured.
I am not exaggerating or over-generalizing but most men folk in this part of the world behave like wild animals. For that matter ask any girl or women in this country, if ever they have encountered any kind of teasing or sexually laced advances or attempts by men folk. Almost every female will tell you that they have witnessed something of this sort (minimum is an uncomfortable bad touch) at one time or the other in their lives. The culprits are all around the streets, lanes and public places, and many times the tormentors are close relatives and friends. The victims are helpless, most of the times, and silently suffer because of taboo or fear of social boycott (as by default a lady’s morality is questioned in such cases in our culture) or because of fear of physical security of self and of family members.
I am not painting the picture black, but undoubtedly there are lots of ugly black spots & blotches on our social canvass.
Even pathetic is the response of the custodians of the civil society. They are insensitive, preach morality to female victims instead and do nothing more than lip-service.
Organizations, mini-society in themselves, are mirror images of the larger society. At the cost of repetition perhaps, but I wish to emphasize that they need to be more cognizant of the social dynamics that prevails in countries like India. Such prowling vultures, who see women as an object of desire, could inhabitate organizations as stealthily as they populate the larger society, in the garb of official cloaks. The organizational policy and machinery must be sharp and alert to detect such people with sick minds and deal with them in the toughest manner possible.
A Melbourne Business School report has found that sexist jokes negatively impact women’s performance at work. The report also indicates that organizations fail to tackle ‘low-level of sexism’ despite having policies in place that target ‘overt sexual harassment’.
In India, the situation worsens further because the policies not only fail to check the rampant ‘low-level of sexism; in organizations but also many a time fails to deal ‘overt sexual harassment’ with an iron-fist. Amongst many reasons for the same, lack of proper reporting mechanisms, management apathy (much like prevailing social apathy), long legal route and social harassment of the victim, are the primary reasons. It’s high time organizations do something about this issue that perhaps single-handedly erodes engagement in organizations, especially of the female employees.
Socially and culturally, however, I feel we are close to bankruptcy. Hopes of social and cultural transformation seem bleak at the moment and without the same, I do not see how our organizations would be able to deal with such menace.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Social Media & Individual Liberty
Nothing is private on social media, not even when you try to ensure that it remains private by using closed groups or anything. Surprises on social media could be pleasant at times, and sometimes they may be definitely unwelcome. Like yesterday, someone tagged me to photo on Facebook without any knowledge of mine. When I checked my mail (that is my username for my FB account), I saw some 15 comments on that photo. The comments were not that good, worse some thought that I had posted that photo. However the good thing was that I could immediately clear the air by posting a comment and ensured that I could be untagged from the photo. Despite this the experience was not all that sweet. My right to express should not be hijacked by someone else who tags me to something that I neither know nor do I subscribe to.
Social media is a unique many to many communication tool that ensures messages, comments, news, events etc. becoming viral on the web in matter of minutes or hours. The impact is huge. The power of social media is unmatched and profound. It has given people like Justin Bieber superstardom status.
Having said this, from a user point of view one needs to be a little careful about one’s social media activity. Whatever one shares on social media could reach many intended and also to many more unintended in very less time. I am all for the free nature of social media. But I think both individuals and companies need to be careful of their social media activity that it does not breach any other individual’s liberty. No one has the right to trespass on the liberty of others, as much as they have right to protect their own.
Take for instance, late last year a British body that helps improve relationships with workers warned employers that they could end up being sued if they use sites like Facebook to spy on the private lives of their employees. The body found that some companies were using social media and web to glean personal information like religious belief of their employees and using it against them. While social media offers employers an opportunity to pre-qualify their candidates before hiring using social media and web information, technically called backchannel referencing; some companies seem to be trying to get hold of the personal information of their employees.
Social media is a unique many to many communication tool that ensures messages, comments, news, events etc. becoming viral on the web in matter of minutes or hours. The impact is huge. The power of social media is unmatched and profound. It has given people like Justin Bieber superstardom status.
Having said this, from a user point of view one needs to be a little careful about one’s social media activity. Whatever one shares on social media could reach many intended and also to many more unintended in very less time. I am all for the free nature of social media. But I think both individuals and companies need to be careful of their social media activity that it does not breach any other individual’s liberty. No one has the right to trespass on the liberty of others, as much as they have right to protect their own.
Take for instance, late last year a British body that helps improve relationships with workers warned employers that they could end up being sued if they use sites like Facebook to spy on the private lives of their employees. The body found that some companies were using social media and web to glean personal information like religious belief of their employees and using it against them. While social media offers employers an opportunity to pre-qualify their candidates before hiring using social media and web information, technically called backchannel referencing; some companies seem to be trying to get hold of the personal information of their employees.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Review Revisited...
An independent business daily review of my book 'Employee Engagement had apperaed in Business Line on Aug. 12, 2011. The review done by prominent journalist Anjali Prayag was a strong reinforcer - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2347571.ece
Today while browsing the web, I bumped on another independent review of my book, this time by a reader of the book. The link is - http://hrfundae.blogspot.in/2012/02/employee-engagement-by-debasish.html?showComment=1343021395834
Such reviews help and act as a strong reinforcement. Thanks!
Today while browsing the web, I bumped on another independent review of my book, this time by a reader of the book. The link is - http://hrfundae.blogspot.in/2012/02/employee-engagement-by-debasish.html?showComment=1343021395834
Such reviews help and act as a strong reinforcement. Thanks!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Black Thursday
Chief of National Commission for Women in India Mamta Sharma has advised females to dress carefully, in light of the Assam molestation incident. Disgusting! Is this the reaction that you expect from someone who is holding such an important portfolio and over and above is a woman herself? So the fault lies with females & their way of dressing not in the prying & lustful eyes of the men who engage in such dastardly acts! In effect what Mamta Sharma is trying to suggest probably is that the girl who was molested in Assam was at fault not the assailants, who are still at large. Insensitivity appears to be an understatement!
Nothing can justify a crime. Yesterday’s incident at the Manesar plant at Maruti is again a grim reminder of the spreading tentacles of workplace violence. Yesterday the violent workers at the plant engaged in armed arson and rioting and killed the GM (HR) of the company. Awanish Kumar Dev, HR GM, was burnt beyond recognition while 100 others were injured. The rioting workers seem to have broken both the legs of the Awanish and he choked to death. He received 100% burnt injuries.
Workplace violence disengages everyone. Some very prominent incidents in India in the recent times are:
2008 – Place: Greater Noida - the CEO and Managing Director of Cerlikon-Graziano Transmission India Pvt Ltd was killed by a agitating workers.
2009 – Place: Near Coimbatore – Roy Geroge, the Vice President (HR) of an auto manufacturing company was killed by a group of sacked workers in his cabin in the company's unit about 20 km from Coimbatore.
2011 – Place: Bolangir (Orissa) - the DGM (operations) of Graphite India Ltd – Powermax Steel division, was killed when some suspended workers staging ‘dharna' outside the plant stopped his car and allegedly set it on fire.
These are the ones which made headlines. But if one understands the entire gamut of workplace violence, as defined by ILO, then hundreds others go unreported every year, in India, and all over the world. Only some countries like Canada have strong and comprehensive legislation to deal with all forms of workplace violence.
Coming back to Maruti incident, workers have every right to protest & demand but no one has the right to engage in violence or to kill somebody. The slain GM (HR) has a family with a 10 year old son. Besides a young life being snuffed- away cruelly, the trauma that his family will face throughout their lives is unimaginable. Those responsible should be prosecuted and punished in the toughest manner possible to be a lesson for others.
Although the Maruti issue is complex, if one has followed the trail of strikes and incidents since last year. The company’s management and HR failed to assess right from the beginning the enormity of the HR problem and finally things seem to have exploded. However even this cannot justify what happened in the Maruti plant on Thursday. It is unfortunate, tragic and gruesome and calls for stringent actions. Maruti may even not see any reason to keep the Manesar plant running in the future!
Mamta and Maruti workers made yesterday a black Thursday for humanity!
Nothing can justify a crime. Yesterday’s incident at the Manesar plant at Maruti is again a grim reminder of the spreading tentacles of workplace violence. Yesterday the violent workers at the plant engaged in armed arson and rioting and killed the GM (HR) of the company. Awanish Kumar Dev, HR GM, was burnt beyond recognition while 100 others were injured. The rioting workers seem to have broken both the legs of the Awanish and he choked to death. He received 100% burnt injuries.
Workplace violence disengages everyone. Some very prominent incidents in India in the recent times are:
2008 – Place: Greater Noida - the CEO and Managing Director of Cerlikon-Graziano Transmission India Pvt Ltd was killed by a agitating workers.
2009 – Place: Near Coimbatore – Roy Geroge, the Vice President (HR) of an auto manufacturing company was killed by a group of sacked workers in his cabin in the company's unit about 20 km from Coimbatore.
2011 – Place: Bolangir (Orissa) - the DGM (operations) of Graphite India Ltd – Powermax Steel division, was killed when some suspended workers staging ‘dharna' outside the plant stopped his car and allegedly set it on fire.
These are the ones which made headlines. But if one understands the entire gamut of workplace violence, as defined by ILO, then hundreds others go unreported every year, in India, and all over the world. Only some countries like Canada have strong and comprehensive legislation to deal with all forms of workplace violence.
Coming back to Maruti incident, workers have every right to protest & demand but no one has the right to engage in violence or to kill somebody. The slain GM (HR) has a family with a 10 year old son. Besides a young life being snuffed- away cruelly, the trauma that his family will face throughout their lives is unimaginable. Those responsible should be prosecuted and punished in the toughest manner possible to be a lesson for others.
Although the Maruti issue is complex, if one has followed the trail of strikes and incidents since last year. The company’s management and HR failed to assess right from the beginning the enormity of the HR problem and finally things seem to have exploded. However even this cannot justify what happened in the Maruti plant on Thursday. It is unfortunate, tragic and gruesome and calls for stringent actions. Maruti may even not see any reason to keep the Manesar plant running in the future!
Mamta and Maruti workers made yesterday a black Thursday for humanity!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Ass(h)am(e) on us!
A mob in Guwahati, Assam, gropes, molests and strips a teenage girl in full public glare for 30 minutes before help comes in the form of police. No one comes to the rescue of the hapless girl. Reportedly, a TV journalist induced the mob to do the act. Some officers in the administration reportedly make light of the incident.
A U.P. Khap Panchayat has issued a decree according to which all girls and women under the age of 40 must stay indoors. The older ones who are allowed to step-out must cover their faces with cloth like that of a corpse. What more…a state minister has reportedly supported the Khap’s diktat.
A class VIII student is sexually assaulted by a bus driver in Hyderabad that leaves her traumatized. Despite the complaints by the parents, the authorities fail to act. In the past one month there has been series of sexual crimes against minors in India.
What kind of society do we live-in? A society that treats its girls and women as cattle, or may be even worse! All in the name of so-called our great culture. I feel ashamed! The unabashed boldness of the perpetrators of such crimes and the total apathy of the public is shocking!
Organizations when they engage female employees in this country must remember the cultural under-currents and dynamics that prevail here. They have to first fight the bias of their families, then are ostracized by the immediate society and ultimately face the apathetic and many times demonic society. Only then they manage to survive and achieve. Organizations in their attempts to engage female workers must not look at their efforts as any favour doled out to the perceived 'weaker gender'. On the contrary, they are engaging a class of employees who have faced challenge as a habit in their lives.
The only heartening thing in the recent Assam incident has been the rare public wrath against the incident and the administration and the pressure by social groups, like an NGO putting-up a hoarding with photos of the brutes who tormented the hapless girl. I salute all girls and women in this country who bravely face such challenges every day at home and away!
A U.P. Khap Panchayat has issued a decree according to which all girls and women under the age of 40 must stay indoors. The older ones who are allowed to step-out must cover their faces with cloth like that of a corpse. What more…a state minister has reportedly supported the Khap’s diktat.
A class VIII student is sexually assaulted by a bus driver in Hyderabad that leaves her traumatized. Despite the complaints by the parents, the authorities fail to act. In the past one month there has been series of sexual crimes against minors in India.
What kind of society do we live-in? A society that treats its girls and women as cattle, or may be even worse! All in the name of so-called our great culture. I feel ashamed! The unabashed boldness of the perpetrators of such crimes and the total apathy of the public is shocking!
Organizations when they engage female employees in this country must remember the cultural under-currents and dynamics that prevail here. They have to first fight the bias of their families, then are ostracized by the immediate society and ultimately face the apathetic and many times demonic society. Only then they manage to survive and achieve. Organizations in their attempts to engage female workers must not look at their efforts as any favour doled out to the perceived 'weaker gender'. On the contrary, they are engaging a class of employees who have faced challenge as a habit in their lives.
The only heartening thing in the recent Assam incident has been the rare public wrath against the incident and the administration and the pressure by social groups, like an NGO putting-up a hoarding with photos of the brutes who tormented the hapless girl. I salute all girls and women in this country who bravely face such challenges every day at home and away!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Resident Evil
"Over the last few years, Microsoft has gained a reputation as a rough place to work.Ex-employees have publicly complained that the company is political and bureaucratic.
Now a tell-all book published earlier this year depicts Microsoft as downright soul-crushing.
"Stack Rank This! Memoirs of a Microsoft Couple" was written by two married, ex-employees who left the company around 2008 and felt compelled to warn others about the Microsoft culture. They identify themselves only as Jason and Melissa.
While it's true that their stories are just the thoughts of two ex-employees, many of their complaints are still lobbed at Microsoft via employee reviews on Glassdoor and in our research when talking to former employees. We've read the book and skimmed out the most outrageous stories."
(Source: Microsoft Is Filled With Abusive Managers And Overworked Employees, Says Tell-All Book by Julie Bort)
SO WHAT IS THIS 'STACK RANKING'?
"Microsoft's Stack Ranking review process predetermines the number of good, bad and mediocre reviews the company gives to its employees.
Microsoft uses a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being the best and dictates that 20% of employees get a 1, 20% get a 2, 40% get a 3, 13% get a 4, and 7% get a 5. Those people probably get fired, explained anonymous Microsoft blogger Mini-Microsoft in one of his many blog posts about it.
This turns teammates into competitors. No matter how well a team does, most of them will get a mediocre review and a few will be scapegoats. It also means the best people at the company don't want to work together because only one person can be the top ranked employee in his or her group.
Patrizio's source, an unnamed Microsoft employee, also shared these details:
(Source: Microsoft Is Filled With Abusive Managers And Overworked Employees, Says Tell-All Book by Julie Bort)
SO WHAT IS THIS 'STACK RANKING'?
"Microsoft's Stack Ranking review process predetermines the number of good, bad and mediocre reviews the company gives to its employees.
- Although Steve Ballmer is credited as the architect of the review process, when top HR manager, Lisa Brummel, took over in 2005, she promised to fix it. Instead she's instituted a series of tweaks that sometimes made it worse. This made Brummel " perhaps the most universally hated exec in the place," the employee said.
- Employees who are in the lower rankings (3,4, and 5) effectively can't transfer to other departments within the company, the employee said. This is unfair because they might be struggling in one group, but would be able to flourish in another group. (Heck, they might not even be struggling, but someone has to get a 3, 4, or 5.)
- Groups are also ranked against each other. Managers then have to fight amongst themselves to get resources for them.
- There are two review seasons, meaning this process -- and the stress of it -- goes on almost all year long. It also means people are working with very short term goals in mind."
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Appreciated in Brazil, Booted In India
A homeless couple in Brazalian city Sao Paulo living under bridges & temporary shelter did something remarkable. On one of their night strolls they found $10000/- in a trash bin by the roadside and promptly returned the same to police. The man in the couple earns less than $7/- per day. When quizzed about his exemplary act, he simply stated that his mother had taught him never to steal.
Well..! quite inspiring at a time when integrity has become such a rare commodity. Not everyone is as upright as the Brazilian couple and even if they are, not everyone is appreciated as this couple. On the contrary they may get the boot. Take for instance, Mr. E.K. Bharat Bhushan who was removed from the post of DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) a couple of days back. His removal raises eyebrows considering the fact that only last week he had been given an extension for one year, effective from Dec. 2011, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent. So what transpired in this one week that turned the tables for Bhushan, who has the reputation of being a honest and strict administrator.
Is it incidental that only a day before his removal, Bhushan had issued orders to the debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines to either pay its employees their past wages (the airline is said to have not paid its employees’ wages since February) in the next 15 days or shut operations?
One hopes the two are not connected…having said that one has to be naively foolish to believe the same. The matter of fact is that Bhushan was not lucky as the Brazilian couple and the Airlines not as upright as them…
Disengagement of similar honest IAS officers like Bhushan and of the employees of these airlines, from their respective organizations, should not come as a surprise.
Well..! quite inspiring at a time when integrity has become such a rare commodity. Not everyone is as upright as the Brazilian couple and even if they are, not everyone is appreciated as this couple. On the contrary they may get the boot. Take for instance, Mr. E.K. Bharat Bhushan who was removed from the post of DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) a couple of days back. His removal raises eyebrows considering the fact that only last week he had been given an extension for one year, effective from Dec. 2011, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent. So what transpired in this one week that turned the tables for Bhushan, who has the reputation of being a honest and strict administrator.
Is it incidental that only a day before his removal, Bhushan had issued orders to the debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines to either pay its employees their past wages (the airline is said to have not paid its employees’ wages since February) in the next 15 days or shut operations?
One hopes the two are not connected…having said that one has to be naively foolish to believe the same. The matter of fact is that Bhushan was not lucky as the Brazilian couple and the Airlines not as upright as them…
Disengagement of similar honest IAS officers like Bhushan and of the employees of these airlines, from their respective organizations, should not come as a surprise.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
There are no best practices in Employee Engagement
There are no best practices when it comes to employee engagement. In fact best practice for one company may turn-out to be worst practice for another company. Take for example the case that one of my friends discussed with me some time back, regarding the people problems that they face in a business run by his dad. His dad owns a franchise for Britannia foods manufacturing, somewhere in Gujarat, a state on the western part of India. They manufacture breads and they face huge problem of attrition among the sales personnel that they have employed for bread distribution. These sales personnel are low-paid workers and often competition poaches them offering them paltry raise. Apparently it appears to be a compensation issue and we probably start getting some solutions in our head, most of which comes from the success stories from the trenches. These are the best practices. But hold-on, consider the next piece of fact before you jump to conclusion.
The bread business typically starts as early as 4 a.m. in the morning and by 11:00 a.m. everything is over. These sales personnel are at work between this period of the day and after 11 they have nothing to do. Most of them are doing other part-time jobs or nothing. Their engagement with the bread is for a limited time and they are paid accordingly. From the perspective of Bread Company, although they do want to let these people-off after 11, they have nothing to keep them engaged as well. So what do we now? Considering the fact the market is highly competitive, the sales personnel must be paid at a competitive rate. Despite this someone can add Rs. X and attract them. Added to this is another peculiarity of this bread manufacturing unit that my friend told me and according to him it is also a characteristic of most manufacturing units in Gujarat. The units are skeptical of employing labour from the state, considering the fact that most people of the state are enterprising in nature. Hence the labour employed comes from other state and is naturally scarce.
Take another example, this time of major retail giant. In one of my meetings with DGM (HR) of the company, he told me that they had serious problems in retaining the store executives. They would switch for as less as Rs. 500/- and they could hardly do anything about it. The engagement that store executives had was very low. Besides because of the frequent replacements the store executives were not every well informed. Training was an issue, especially in terms of their ability to help the customer, which could be sometimes as simple as helping them locate stuff on the shelf.
Take one more, my conversation with a HR head of a garment manufacturing company. Majority of the workers that they employed were females. Recently they had started experiencing a high attrition. The low wages, long working conditions and the few cases of harassments seemed to trigger and compound the problem. The cases of harassments have affected the perception of the public in general very negative and many have started considering it a taboo if someone from a family works in a garment manufacturing firm. Added to this more attractive retail jobs are also attracting the female workers.
The point I am trying to make is very simple. What works for the Bread Manufacturing Firm, doesn’t work for the retail giant and likewise for the garment manufacturing firm. Their problems are unique (although they may sometimes appear to be similar on the surface) and hence their solutions are going to be unique as well.
The bread business typically starts as early as 4 a.m. in the morning and by 11:00 a.m. everything is over. These sales personnel are at work between this period of the day and after 11 they have nothing to do. Most of them are doing other part-time jobs or nothing. Their engagement with the bread is for a limited time and they are paid accordingly. From the perspective of Bread Company, although they do want to let these people-off after 11, they have nothing to keep them engaged as well. So what do we now? Considering the fact the market is highly competitive, the sales personnel must be paid at a competitive rate. Despite this someone can add Rs. X and attract them. Added to this is another peculiarity of this bread manufacturing unit that my friend told me and according to him it is also a characteristic of most manufacturing units in Gujarat. The units are skeptical of employing labour from the state, considering the fact that most people of the state are enterprising in nature. Hence the labour employed comes from other state and is naturally scarce.
Take another example, this time of major retail giant. In one of my meetings with DGM (HR) of the company, he told me that they had serious problems in retaining the store executives. They would switch for as less as Rs. 500/- and they could hardly do anything about it. The engagement that store executives had was very low. Besides because of the frequent replacements the store executives were not every well informed. Training was an issue, especially in terms of their ability to help the customer, which could be sometimes as simple as helping them locate stuff on the shelf.
Take one more, my conversation with a HR head of a garment manufacturing company. Majority of the workers that they employed were females. Recently they had started experiencing a high attrition. The low wages, long working conditions and the few cases of harassments seemed to trigger and compound the problem. The cases of harassments have affected the perception of the public in general very negative and many have started considering it a taboo if someone from a family works in a garment manufacturing firm. Added to this more attractive retail jobs are also attracting the female workers.
The point I am trying to make is very simple. What works for the Bread Manufacturing Firm, doesn’t work for the retail giant and likewise for the garment manufacturing firm. Their problems are unique (although they may sometimes appear to be similar on the surface) and hence their solutions are going to be unique as well.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Cultural Tsunami Hits Engagement
Fukushima nuclear accident, the worst nuclear disaster after the Chernobyl accident was ‘man-made’! The findings of the commission probing the accident have elicited shock and fear amongst people all over the world. The enquiry report points to typical ‘reflexive obedience’ behavior amongst Japanese behind the accident. Reflexive obedience simply means a lack of questioning emerging out of strong bureaucracy and collusion of selfish interest. The result - People at Tokyo Electric Power put the interest of the organization before that of the consumers and let the safety slip. I look upon this case as a huge HR failure and more specifically a cultural failure. A culture of ‘reflexive obedience’ meant questioning was blasphemous & conveniently kept people so disengaged that no one cared while the plant condition deteriorated progressively. The leaders and the HR function of the organization were unable and unwilling to change the culture and the rot set-in deeper & deeper. In the end, the cultural tsunami was stronger than the natural tsunami.
But such culture of ‘reflexive obedience’ is not only limited to Japan or Tokyo Electric Power. Take the case of the Florida lifeguard at the Hallandale Beach who was fired after leaving his post to help rescue a swimmer outside his zone. How funny and ridiculous at the same time. When a lifeguard sees a person drowning outside his zone, what should he do? Stay in his zone and watch him drown, simply because the swimmer is not drowning in his zone? The head of the company later realizing the mistake put the blame on the haste of the supervisors and offered the job back to fired lifeguard. However the lifeguard refused the offer and instead decided to search opportunities elsewhere. If such things continue then it would not be long before which the lifeguard services company shall require life-support itself before it can save lives of swimmers in distress.
Culture of an organization is the basic fabric on which engagement of stakeholder, including that of employees rests on. And this is why engagement efforts do not sustain in organizations that do not have the right culture. Many such organizations see engagement in individual events and bashes. All of these do not work since in the first place they didn’t get the culture right. It’s easy to copy an engaged organization’s engagement practice but hard to replicate the culture that they built over years.
But such culture of ‘reflexive obedience’ is not only limited to Japan or Tokyo Electric Power. Take the case of the Florida lifeguard at the Hallandale Beach who was fired after leaving his post to help rescue a swimmer outside his zone. How funny and ridiculous at the same time. When a lifeguard sees a person drowning outside his zone, what should he do? Stay in his zone and watch him drown, simply because the swimmer is not drowning in his zone? The head of the company later realizing the mistake put the blame on the haste of the supervisors and offered the job back to fired lifeguard. However the lifeguard refused the offer and instead decided to search opportunities elsewhere. If such things continue then it would not be long before which the lifeguard services company shall require life-support itself before it can save lives of swimmers in distress.
Culture of an organization is the basic fabric on which engagement of stakeholder, including that of employees rests on. And this is why engagement efforts do not sustain in organizations that do not have the right culture. Many such organizations see engagement in individual events and bashes. All of these do not work since in the first place they didn’t get the culture right. It’s easy to copy an engaged organization’s engagement practice but hard to replicate the culture that they built over years.
Maharaja on Ferrari
It’s pay back time now. A luxury dream car almost became possible for the U.P. MLAs…courtesy the young new chief minister of the state. After spending 100 days in power it was time to consolidate. And what better way than to think of gifting a 20 lakh rupees worth car to each MLA. Smartly enough he decided to dole-out this perk to al the MLAs, and not only to his party MLAs. This move of the new CM would have been a ‘vrooming hit’ like the recent Bollywood flick ‘ferrari ki Sawari’ had it not been the widespread criticism of his decision from all quarters that forced him to withdraw his decision, atleast for the time being.
The exchequer has just escaped being poorer by some 100 crore ruppes. So where do you think this 2 million rupees for each MLA would have come from? Ofcourse from the poor taxpayer’s money. The arrangement was supposed to be where the MLAs would have to pay a depreciated amount of the car to the government after five years or return the car. Had this decision been implemented then we all know that all these cars would have depreciated sharply in the next five years, much faster than the depreciation of the average car bought by the taxpayer, by his own hard-earned money, during the same period. And for the wildly optimistic soul if ever MLAs would have returned some token money, in all likelihood that would also be from the taxpayer’s money. After all the car was also for public service!
Some MLAs had reportedly protested…no, no…hold your optimism again. They protested because this money was to come from the MLA’s area development fund. Well! You have to empathise with these MLAs, after all the area development fund was anyways their ‘share’; this 2 million windfall should have come form some other fund…damn loss! Anyways from the time being ‘brakes’ have ensured that any such dreams of a luxury car at the expense of the taxpayer has come to screeching halt. But I am sure that the great leaders shall find out some way... some jugar!
We are a nation that sits on its ruins and sings the Aamir’s ‘idiot’ song ‘all is well…’ Myopia in assessing a situation and making a decision always costs dearly. The result is disengaging and also results in a loss of face. The young U.P. turk. has not only been embarrassed by having to roll-back his decision in 24 hours but this move has for sure disengaged many people of his state from his government and party.
In its effort to become a lighter ‘maharaja’ the national carrier Air India sacked some airhostesses on ground of be coming overweight. Courageous step by the airline…must say, except for the fact that haste of taking such decision made them completely overlook the case of Salome Singsit. This lady working as Air Hostess suffered three abortions, a breast surgery and a uterus surgery in the last four years and was strictly advised not to undertake any physical activity. Reportedly, due to strong medication prescribed by the doctors she was not able to maintain the weight within the permissible limit. Instead of sympathetically considering her case she was sacked by the airline. Thankfully though, a Delhi court has upheld the lady’s petition and has advised the airline to reinstate her in the services and accommodate her in a suitable job. Air India has not only lost face in the public, but by taking such a decision has ensured that it systematically disengages more employees, when it perhaps needs their commitment most. The airline currently on life-support system after the 30000 crore rescue stimulus from the government can ill-afford such guffaws…not to suggest others can.
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