INDIAN BUSINESS - WINDS OF CHANGE (HR) - PREFACE

Jun-2003 WINDS OF CHANGE – HR –

Article by Ashutosh Labroo

PREFACE - BEGINNING THE UN-ENDING

I believe Indian business today is entering an age of ‘Un-Reason’ -- a time when the future in so many areas is to be shaped by us and for us; a time when the only prediction that will hold true is that no prediction will hold true; a time, therefore, for bold imagining in private life as well as public; for thinking the unlikely and doing the so called ‘Unreasonable.’ In Unreasonable times the traditional and old ways of thinking are no longer enough; take an example of any HR strategy.

When the future was ‘predictable’ – or at least, when we believed it to be predictable – companies could chart their people-strategies with confidence. Today, however, we cannot talk of change and future separately because it is the change which leads us to what we term as future.

The people dimension has come a long way from being considered as a mere pawn to a tool or component in the pre-industrialization era, to today being considered a resource, asset or capital.

However attractive the statement though, as an HR professional, I clearly disagree with people in an organization being called ‘Assets’ or as ‘Capital’. To me, people in any organization cannot be merely understood by a definition. Our biggest challenge in India today, is to get over this mindset of people as Assets or Capital, for these are meant to depreciate. People are neither of these and thus, should purely be considered a Resource.

Human Resource is a paradigm and a system in itself and probably the most important in today’s business; if companies utilize the talent of their people well, they can bring about a revolution in any dimension or perspective.

We have seen the Japanese do it; we are seeing the Chinese Dragon rising sharp and high today. How is that for a reason enough to believe that people themselves are capable of becoming more powerful and strong to rewrite/ change ‘predicted’ future! But can we talk about the ‘Winds of Change’ in HR and not look at its past as a function or as an integral part of business processes today? We need to understand HR in the context of its past, its present and ‘staring in our faces’ future:

INDIAN BUSINESS - WINDS OF CHANGE (HR) - HR Roles And Responsibilities Today

HR Roles And Responsibilities Today :
• Personnel Administration : This is largely an operational role, dealing with welfare activities, administration of company, workers, staff, security, well-being and upkeep of people policies.

• IR (Industrial Relations) : Deals with labour union interface, negotiations, litigations if any, pro business labour policy design and implementation. This HR function is probably the most challenging. Yet, it is usually under-estimated to be a merely operational function, though it plays a strong and critical role in company’s labour strategies. With the outsourcing of major processes under this umbrella, there is a popular notion that IR is an unimportant and unattractive career option. However, if one wants to be an HR professional of repute, one needs to spend a fair amount of time in IR as an HR professional; there is no other function which teaches you real people skills at the grassroots level.

• Human Resource Development : Largely a role which caters to skills, competency and talent development in the company by tapping the inherent capabilities, attitude and behaviour of people and making sure the gaps between required levels and present levels are mapped scientifically. This is a highly specialized field today and is considered a science (I still don’t know why, because to me it is just a study and interpretation of human behaviour to make it better suited to the business environment). However, with the reality of Assessment Centres, Behavioural Training and Competency Modelling, HRD as a function is on an unending journey of discovery and exploration.

• Learning & Development : This, to me, is the lifeline of any Company and the sooner we realize this, the better. From a business perspective, there still exist companies where training is seen as an expense. But we are soon approaching a ‘Mutual Understanding Arena’ where training will be understood as important as the job itself. There are companies where the concept of a learning organization has come of age and they have made training and learning a concrete part of their existence, for e.g., HLL, P&G, Castrol, etc.; and yet there are companies which are hugely successful and yet, have not realized the value of what they can achieve by training their employees. Finally, to come back to the point, learning is now like ‘breathing’ for the business world. No business today will remain unaffected by opportunities to learn / develop. Here are just a few refuting facts -- almost 40 per cent of the companies which comprised the fortune 500 list a decade ago, no longer exist. Of the 1970 Fortune list, 60 per cent have disappeared (either acquired or out of business). Out of the 12 companies which comprised the Dow Jones Industrial Index in 1900, only General Electric survives as a giant. Of course, GE itself made learning and development and Six Sigma a way of life quite early, when in our country we had probably not even thought about it. The results are for everyone to see - with GE’s huge success and its pride - now famous boundaryless organization, and workout methodology.

• Knowledge Management : With e-business becoming a reality and the Internet coming of age, all businesses and related functions including HR have been affected. Gone are the days when ‘what you already know’ was sufficient to ensure that you have arrived. Information today has grown in magnitude and proportion and its impossible to know everything; yet, from a business perspective, it is critical to ensure that we know what we need to ‘at the right time and at the right speed’.

With market giants in ERP, implementations like PEOPLESOFT, ORACLE, SAP, etc. e-HR has come of age. Imagine, sitting here in India, I can find a replacement for a position in Egypt; or, I can ensure that a person from the US who is excellent in a particular function or skill with respect to my business processes can come down and train my employees; or better still, I can arrange a Video Conferencing and put my batch of people to learn from the person himself!
Knowledge is infinite and it is up to us to explore the relevant and required portions of it. In many companies, HR has successfully transcended from a ‘Limited Knowledge Sharing’ towards ‘available to all for use’ and better for ‘Innovation Capability’. HR Intranets today play a big role on the platform of ‘Knowledge Sharing’ and ‘Knowledge Management’.
What we know will always be less than someone else out there who knows better; so it is up to us to share and explore knowledge. If you look at Indian businesses, you will realize that we are bad planners but excellent executors.

We are also extremely good at Theorizing Change, though in practical context we give up easily on the implementation. We, Indians, need to be inspired, motivated and retained to give our best. Look at any MNC’s business statistics in India; if they are doing good, it is as much because of our ability as it is their failures too. Indian business still has a long way to go. The seeds of change, though, have already been sown in many places -- due credit to some people and organizations. Change is being justified to the ‘T’ in many ways by some and totally denied or faked by others.

Let’s understand the simple phenomenon from the following : If you put the frog in cold water and start heating the water slowly, the frog will eventually let itself boil to death, since the change is gradual. By the time it realizes what is happening, it is too late. We too will not survive if we are not ultra sensitive to the radical way in which the world is changing. From now on success will come to those who understand the ‘Boiled Frog Syndrome’. Change today, is worldwide issue, which, naturally affects our country too. In the context of a larger framework, we too are rapidly emerging as a Knowledge Economy from a Skilled Manpower Economy.
At the same time the challenges confronting the Indian HR Fraternity today, are multi- dimensional and multi-focused fight inconsequential labour practices and ineffective labour legislations, cut through bureaucracy, unethical behaviour and red-tapism ...... the list is endless.

INDIAN BUSINESS - WINDS OF CHANGE (HR) - CHALLENGES

Challenges Confronting HR Professionals Today:
1] Establishing Values: The Indian population suffers from the ‘short cut mentality’ and the ‘sab chalta hai’ attitude. It is up to us, the HR professionals to ensure business is done -- but not at the cost of values. Let us remember the time is gone when the results justified the means. In today’s time only those businesses will survive which believe that the means justify the ends and not the other way round. The Enron and Arthur Andersons stories, are examples of the same worldwide issues.

2] Corporate Social Responsibility : A few companies of the likes of Wipro, Infosys, Castrol, Tata Honeywell, etc. in India have also realized the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility and how strong a role it plays in building the character of a company. HR today, has started placing the necessary emphasis and focus on ‘Business with Values.

3] Global Resourcing & Talent Management : We need to work on selecting and cultivating a ‘Talent Pool’ of efficient and effective manpower. It is as easy to talk about as much difficult it is to exhibit; but if one has to look at examples -- Castrol, P&G and INFOSYS amongst many others, who are true to life examples of companies who have invested time, effort and money into building such talent pools.

4] Flat Organizations : We need to cut flab and hierarchy and make our Companies leaner and flatter, to work with speed and flexibility. Talent retention would be the key challenge for Indian businesses.

5] People : New skills, new competencies, knowledge base, careers and challenges for top talent by grooming them for senior positions.

6] Society: Building channels for employment and demonstrate high social ethics.

7] National : Building fair, ethical, upright, committed, dedicated and a patriotic work force which not only adds value to us but to the country as well. Finally, if HR has to implement change, it has to directly involve and alter the perceptions and behaviour of people. It also has to carry people along with it, as they will implement the change. All of us as Indians have to play a strong role in the country to ensure that the ‘Winds of Change’ take us forward into a new direction of growth and prosperity.

In the end I will just say that all of us need to remember : “A Butterfly is not more caterpillar, or a better caterpillar, or improved caterpillar; it is simply a different creature !” HR today needs to create butterflies and not caterpillars every time and any time.
ASHUTOSH LABROO

INDIAN BUSINESS - WINDS OF CHANGE (HR) - Milestones

Milestones In The History Of HR

1920’s :

Labour Union Movement in India got its impetus; around the same time, the term Labour Officer was coined.

1950’s :

Saw the emergence of Labour Unions as a powerful force; a force that will probably have the most interesting, if not dangerous, impact on Indian businesses and the way people in them are managed. Perhaps during the same time the term Labour Officer was interchanged with many a term and some of them are used till date.

HR Roles And Responsibilities In The Pre-Liberalization Era :

• Labour Officer – Largely dealt with recruitment of labour, general welfare and upkeep of labour class in big plants and manufacturing sites. His / her regular jobs were to plan and implement processes pertaining to salary, wages, welfare, etc.

• Safety/Security Officer – Generally dealt with regular security and safety (understood as welfare conditions today) in the plant to ensure proper and safe working conditions.

• Welfare Officer – Generally a cross role between labour officer and safety / security officer.

• Personnel Officer – A high-end version of Labour Officer’s role with added responsibilities of general administration in the plants.

• Administration Officer – Dealt with general administration and maintenance of the plant. • HR Officer - Very few companies had the role of HR professionals as it is understood today. This role actually evolved in a major way only post liberalization and globalization in the early 90’s. The biggest dilemma for HR as a function in the past (perhaps till today, in some companies) was that it was never considered a ‘line’ function and always given the status of a staff role; thus there were hardly any positions like that of HR Managers or Vice President or Director - HR.

1980’s :

It was during this decade (till the 90’s) that the term HR came into being and the function which had the mere responsibility of taking care of the needs, general well being and security of the labour class, started getting a phenomenal thrust in role responsibility and job classification. Businesses during this time started realizing that people management is not an easy task and it needs specialized attention. Thus came into reckoning the erstwhile term HR; a term which served the longest tenure till date, to recognize people who are doing everything but were seldom seen as a line function. However, that paradigm is coming to an end with HR being further converted into a strategic function largely playing a developmental role in the company’s future. 1990’s : In the last decade HR has come a long way -- from being merely a function which was an interface between unions and workers and Management, merely doing operational and administrative jobs in a company, to a function which has classifications with a range an umbrella of job roles and responsibilities today.