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