HR - Insights

Conflict Management Skills

2007-08-07T11:32:00.000+05:30

Wherever choices exist there is potential for disagreement. Such differences, when handled properly, can result in richer, more effective, creative solutions and interaction. But alas, it is difficult to consistently turn differences into opportunities. When disagreement is poorly dealt with, the outcome can be contention. Contention creates a sense of psychological distance between people, such as feelings of dislike, bitter antagonism, competition, alienation, and disregard.

Whether dealing with family members or hired personnel, sooner or later challenges will arise. It is unlikely that we find ourselves at a loss of words when dealing with family members. Communication patterns with those closest to us are not always positive, however, often falling into a predictable and ineffective exchange

With hired personnel and strangers, we may often try and put forth our best behavior. Out of concern for how we are perceived, we may err in saying too little when things go wrong. We may suffer for a long time before bringing issues up. This is especially so during what could be called a "courting period." Instead of saying things directly, we often try to hint.

It takes more skill, effort and commitment--and, at least in the short run, more stress--to face the challenge together with the other person involved in the dispute. Certainly it seems as if it would be easier to fight, withdraw, or give in. Yet in the long run, working through difficulties together will help us live a less stressful and more fulfilling life.

A recruiter's dream team .......

2007-07-04T15:13:00.000+05:30

Mergers, buyouts and takeovers are changing the face of business .......here is a sample study about the Chicago survey.....

Read Here

Is Recruiting a Profession by Kevin Wheeler

2007-07-04T14:54:00.000+05:30

Taking out myth from all the people starting their profession in HR, let us all be very clear that recruitment is not an entry level job to get into the HR generalist role.........Recruitments has its own significance

Improving the fragile relationship between HR, hiring managers, and recruiters

Many people do not regard recruiting as a profession. HR generalists are prone to think that anyone can do recruiting. Managers expect unqualified people to act as interviewers and to give them advice on whom to hire. Even recruiters have mixed opinions, as many of them were not formally trained and were also HR generalists at some point.

Within many organizations, there is an uneasy relationship between human resources generalists, recruiters, and management. HR generalists often try to intermediate among everyone, sometimes creating confusion or generating animosity. Recruiters tend to work alone or to bypass the HR generalist, also creating bad feelings. Managers go to whichever one they have the best relationship with.

In some organizations, hiring managers simply bypass both and go directly to third-party recruiters outside the firm. They do this because these agency recruiters are seen as professionals. They meet three requirements: they are perceived as experts who have access to the right candidates, they are able to immediately respond to the hiring manager's needs, and they are free of corporate politics and bureaucracy.

While this problem has existed for decades and is probably a normal part of corporate life, it can be different. Part of the problem is that HR is in the midst of changing from being administrative and transaction-centered to being value-centered.

HRIS systems have automated many of the administrative tasks of HR, and intranets and self-service philosophies have taken over some of their service elements. This has led to a need for fewer people within most HR functions and to an identity crisis for HR professionals who now have to re-establish a value-adding role for themselves. Many people see recruiting, or finding the right talent, as one of these and want to be part of the process.

Recruiters are faced with daunting challenges as well. They can no longer rely on volume to meet demands. For some positions, few people, if any, apply. For others, there are hundreds of applicants. The recruiter has to source people for the tough positions and screen them for the others. And they have to do the screening and assessing in a deeper manner than before and are held to tighter quality standards.

To be successful, they too have had to adopt technology that removes much of the clerical side of their work. They find that it is critical to know who the best performers are and what their competencies and skills are. Yet the HR professional often won't facilitate an interaction or can't identify the best performers and throw up procedural blocks to prevent recruiters from doing it themselves.

Hiring managers don't care about any of this. They just want good people fast. Because the HR professionals most often have the relationship with the hiring manager, they should be able to act as a broker between the hiring manager and the recruiter. Yet the two often work at odds to one another. Many HR people feel threatened by their own systems and by the recruiting technologies and easily fall back into their more familiar administrative roles of regulator and police.

Professionals usually have some set of established qualifications that give them the right to call themselves professionals. HR has struggled to formulate these criteria and has done so with the Society of Human Resource Management's Professional Human Resources and Senior Profession Human Resources certificates.

No one has done this yet for recruiting, although there has been talk among groups such as the old Employment Management Association (now part of SHRM) and other such groups to create standards. Until some organization creates the standards, recruiters need to self-regulate. They need to formally learn skills such as how to conduct a behavioral interview, how to recruit ethically, and how to use the Internet and other tools to source candidates. They need to have formal training in the laws of their state and government. Recruiting is getting more difficult and more complex every year.

Flying by the seat of their pants is rapidly becoming a liability to both the recruiter and the organization who hires them. Until such standards are defined, here are five things to improve the fragile, difficult relationship between HR, hiring managers, and recruiters:

1. Be responsive. Hiring managers want (and should get) attention and focus on the positions they have open. The HR professional is in the perfect position to facilitate the communication process between hiring managers and recruiters. In one organization, the HR professional acted as a team leader for a group composed of hiring managers, recruiters and a few technical experts. Together they identified competencies, developed interview guides and even made referrals.

2. Educate. Make sure that hiring managers understand the market and appreciate how easy or difficult a particular placement may be. Agencies do this by negotiation and price. Internally, HR professionals and recruiters have to do more explaining. Recruiters need to know and explain the talent marketplace. The HR professional needs to facilitate and broker relationships, gather and share information about people and make sure that the talent of the organization is "managed" in a way that maximizes productivity and minimizes turnover.

3. Reduce bureaucracy, employ technology. Make sure that the recruiting process is clearly understood by all the parties involved. Be sure that roles and responsibilities are well defined. Whenever possible, develop a service level agreement to actually spell out what each party will do (or not do) and when they will do it. Remove administrative responsibilities from the hiring manager and from recruiters and HR professionals by employing technology more effectively. Make sure whatever you want a manager to do with technology works flawlessly, quicker than it did before, and yields better quality. Would you use an ATM if it were twice as complicated and took more time than to go inside to the teller?

4. Measure what you do. Just because the HR professionals and the recruiters have taught the hiring managers about the market or redesigned roles does not mean that they all understand the impact those changes have. Both HR professionals and recruiters need to gather data, test hypotheses, establish metrics and make the recruiting process as empirical as possible. Managers will understand and respond to hard data. Show them the cost and time saved and the value added.

5. Use an evolutionary approach. Take things one step at a time. Don't expect hiring managers to become recruiters, at least not right away. Don't expect HR professionals to give up all their recruiting tasks. Those tasks will eventually disappear anyway. Don't expect recruiters to become completely versed in all the rules and politics of the organization. Make people want to use the new approaches because they are faster, better, or cheaper. Remember to start by giving hiring managers what they want and need: good talent as fast as possible.

None of this is rocket science, just some very basic things that are often overlooked. Change is difficult for both HR and line management, so guide and teach managers about how to recruit while you continuously figure out how you can support their efforts from a behind-the-scenes, value-added approach.

Finally, lobby to get a set of professional standards in place so that you can truly say you are a professional and not just an amateur subset of HR.

Entrepreneurship.....

2007-04-10T15:17:00.000+05:30

Becoming an Entrepreneur:

This article is one to be of some help to people who think and take risks and those who risk then think.....

In details

HR is a 24/7 day work!

2007-02-01T03:06:00.000+05:30

Was not getting sleep for a long time,so just thought of doing something that would put me to sleep soon...........what else but searching and surfing the net at the wee hours of the nigyt....Its 3am.

When I logged on to my messenger just to find out who all are insominiac like me .......was dumbfounded to find a lot.

And there I had one of my intelligent, successful friend logged on.Out of curiosity enquired what was he up to at this hour of the night.........and expected a most thrilling answer.To my dismay he was winding up his work for the day and was still in office.

He being employed with one of the biggest Statistics and Research Firm ,an HR to the core............

So anyone of you still think HR is a cool and relaxing job?

An interesting Resume-Content writing

2007-01-09T16:30:00.000+05:30

A little humour at the start can only portend auspiciousness

Tell me something about yourself……… asked the interviewer

I believe that an interview is a meeting point for the both the prospective – employer and the employee – on an even platter and gauge the suitability of a “marriage”. This section will deal about ME, should you risk shortlisting me. You will hear my ideas laid out in the open so that when we meet, nothing will come as a shock to either of us.

Educational Background: B. Sc. PGDBM

Studied in a Jesuit convent and hence I have a spoken English with an accent that can do a Rajdeep Sardesai proud (BTW, isn’t he too loud?).

I went on to graduate in Maths, Physics and Chemistry but if you ask me to prove Pythagoras theorem now, I will be stumped which a 5th standard boy will happily supply without fuss. Despite the brilliance of my Physics lecturer, I never fully understood the derivation of Einstein’s famed equation. Yet, I mugged myself to a first class.

At my MBA, the scene was all too similar. I never understood the intricacies of consumer behaviour, took ages to understand segmenting and targeting and research; just forget it. I would rather starve myself to death or turn barber than being condemned to conjoint analysis and what have you.

I was extremely lucky to get a management degree in 1992, as I now see it. This is no self deprecating humour but misplaced honesty.

Work Experience: Contract, Ulka, Mudra, Rediffusion

For one so ill prepared at Ghaziabad, I have no complaints.
I had the best of agencies and best of bosses. Some were
truly inspirational: Mr. John Kuruvilla, a man who could lead any industry through sheer force of personality.

Ambi Parameswaran started writing books for idle professors in Harvard, Prasoon Joshi turned worldly by shifting attention from penning verses to coining slogans and the best was Pushpinder, who shared a room at YMCA, Mumbai. All these people thought nice things about me before they became celebrities and I, for once, felt sad being left out of the spotlight.

They could only be one lesson: despite being one of the best “Account Planners”, destiny had not earmarked me in the advertising space. This gets reinforced almost on a daily basis when I visit “Agencyfaqs dot com” where they painfully describe my friends’ achievements without any regard to my feelings.

Mentally, I lost my way too. A heart surgery at the wrong time threw such fears that I mentally gave up on ever returning to normalcy – a dosage of teas and cigarettes after the surgeon had left his trails all over your chest was something I couldn’t fully recover up to.

Make no mistake, I love the industry but it had no space for me sadly.

The Bahrain Experience:

I was in Bahrain for a little less than 100 days and my attitude took a somersault. For the first time in my life I loved to wake up in the morning to work. Brushing shoulders with Brits, Arabs, Yanks, Filipino and obviously the Mallus, who had grown more than the natives, makes you international in your outlook and work efficiency. More than that, you realize your own sense of worth and aware of your efficiencies.

My work was appreciated so much so that my Arab client said in a meeting which was recorded as minutes in govt. autonomous body: “Sathya knows his subject well and he is a man of integrity. So, lets put him in charge…….”.

I have been a recipient of varied compliments but this one is the most memorable. BTW, I still blush and still think that Arabs can teach us a lesson or two on hospitality and efficiency.

There is God, finally……. as I find direction

I was always blessed with a cynicism and this makes me a ready-to-serve writer. Once, I have an idea, my skills with the pen will add that right ambience and emotion. Actually I am cook with words: cook a thought or an emotion and the reader as no choice but to swallow the falsehood (remember we live in a world of propaganda and selling. Haven’t you realized that in today’s age everybody selling something to everybody else and no one buying anything? Otherwise why in hell should I waste my time making a case that I will be your best recruit ever)

I sometimes flatter myself that Anthony’s speech on Caesar’s death was written by a clever speech writer, who could have only been me in that birth. It not only saved his skin but also anoints him to a higher position which would have made a jackal proud. BTW, friends either call me “eagle” or “jackal”.

Copy editing is more taxing and one need “eagle eyes” to spot errors and also withstand the stress of staring in to a stupid Silicon screen. I have the aptitude and a little skill but I would rather indulge in “content generation” for web sites, portals, and what have you.

I would love to have a column in a newspaper and weekly share my humour, observation, and cynicism which the janta will come in large numbers to appreciate. For it’s high time that I give a reason to my bankers for keeping me on the records. I promise that they never made a penny on my account and I love to correct that imbalance and injustice ASAP. With your help, of course.

What’s wrong with the Indian job scene?

- Too much of servility, expected by the man who signs the check.
- Immature Job market
(I can’t for the life of me swallow the fact that fresh IIMs and IITs take home such obscene salaries)
- Software industry has raised the bar for salaries and over heated the economy. Which means that people working in other sectors grow poorer by the year to their cousins in software.
- For one job, there are 3 people working. This means every Indian company whether it generates some work or not dishes out din in the form of gossip and politicking without fail. Sometimes the office resembles a college canteen with a group of overgrown man boasting the new lifestyle talk.

(I would wish to join any company for only 4 to 5 hours of drudgery a day. Only in an exceptional case and necessity would I be inclined to a 9 to 5 slavery. But rest assured, I shall deliver on what I undertake)

On my salary day

The philosophy is that there would not be any change in quantum and quality of work irrespective of what I am paid – be it 10 K or Rs.100 K a month. Except in the former, I will be actively seeking a change to get a job that meets my threshold expectation.

I will be 38 this summer and I feel confident that I am atleast worth that much. One thousand for each year of my life is the simple Math. So, a take home of 38 K with flexible hours would be appreciated and we can start transacting.

Conclusions

Having read this egoistical piece if you are still interested then you are my employer, beyond doubt. Let’s meet and set world class standards and ideas in your firm. As Karan Johar says stupidly: It is not a promise but a guarantee as I borrow his line, for once.

Sathyanarayanan A

Chennai
Sherlock.holmes.gcc@gmail.com
Crowneagle33@hotmail.com

Everything I stated here in these pages is absolutely true and there has been no misrepresentation. Please laugh to your heart’s content!!!!

World's top search firms....

2007-01-01T12:17:00.000+05:30

As I happen to come across a magazine called Search-Consult........I was curious to visit their website.

Amazingly I had no idea what huge contribution these national and international search firms have towards the recruitment industry and the HR world as a whole.......

A must visit!
Read Here

Headhunting Is A $1Bn Industry Now

2006-12-06T16:15:00.000+05:30

Outsourced hiring, or hiring through third party recruiters, will be an over $1 bn industry this year. It grew slowly initially, but in 2005-2006, the business saw exponential growth, posting a turnover of Rs 3,922.32 crore, against Rs 630.98 crore in the year before. The industry this year is seen to be growing at about 40 pct. So by the fiscal-end, it would go well past $1 bn, according to a study by the Executive Recruiters’ Association (ERA). The ERA has culled out information on manpower recruitment in consultation with 93 different service tax collection points across the country, the major commissionerates being Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Since recruitment firms pay service tax, the annual figures are arrived at on the basis of the tax paid. The study looked at performance of the recruitment industry for last nine years.

Source: 30 Nov' 06 The Economic Times New Delhi Edition

India Top Destination In Global IT Cos' Hiring Spree

2006-11-13T13:00:00.000+05:30

As the talent hunt for skilled technology workers intensifies worldwide, India has emerged as the top destination for global IT companies' hiring spree, a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals. In order to hire people with required skills, more than 68 pct of IT companies globally have started or planning to start business operations in India in the next three years, the global consultancy and research major said in a report. The growing appetite for Indian talent pool comes on the back of rising concerns over severe skill shortages and fattening salaries that are looming over the local IT sector. However, the major risk for the country comes in the form of skyrocketing salary levels itself, which might cost it the position as a key low-cost location. The global talent hunt for IT workers could lead to severe skill shortages and further rise in salary levels, PwC found in a survey of 153 top executives at IT firms worldwide. Growing competition for skills has led to a sharp jump in technology sector salaries in emerging markets.

Source: 08 Nov' 06 The Economic Times New Delhi Edition

Why employees are less committed

2006-11-11T13:59:00.000+05:30

Here is an intereting article published in Economic Times.

Why employees are less committed. Here they have tried to project the employee and employer satisfaction level, the expectations both have and what would be the result of a mismatch.

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"Why should I work more than what the company pays me for?" You must have heard this comment in your workplace. Even my friend cribs, "When the company doesn't recognise our work and doesn't acknowledge it monetarily, then, why should I work beyond its expectations?"

Increasingly, such an attitude appears to be the new gospel at workplaces and ought to be recognised as a trend that is haunting most employers.

"Most of us work and wait for month-end salary because we are recruited and paid for that. It's a give and take relationship we share with the company and there is no emotional bonding."

Read More

Are you Managing your Stress?

2006-11-09T14:20:00.000+05:30

Stress being one of the common factors for health problems, lower productivity, reduced efficiency, frequent mood swings and so on....Do we really manage stress or how effective are we in handling stress?
The following article gives you an insight into dealing with stress,and how do you rate your stress levels:

Read here

PeopleSoft and Zensar to offer outsourced HR services

2006-11-07T15:38:00.000+05:30

This article gives an insight into "HR shared services" and the entire range of hr functions from 'recruitment to retirement'.

PeopleSoft is king in the HR applications arena, while Zensar is known for its enterprise application implementation strengths. The two have teamed up to target the domestic HR market, says VENKATESH GANESH.........

Read Here

THE ANT PHILOSOPHY

2006-11-07T12:22:00.000+05:30

Everfelt downtrodden, disheartened, wonder why your work didnt pay off, what should you do to boost your motivation level. Here is an interesting ANT Philosophy by Jim Rohn.

What on earth motivates these ants ?? We should take them as an inspiration .. the natures way of telling

You should move on

THE ANT PHILOSOPHY by Jim Rohn

Over the years I've been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept - the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants.

They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer. An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to be realistic. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun. Think ahead.

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-that-you-possibly-can" philosophy! Wow, what a great seminar to attend - the ant seminar. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

How to retain your most valuable players?

2006-11-03T17:26:00.000+05:30

Where in today's senario of growing attrition rate, body shopping, job hopping and other setbacks and dilemmas in the job market , its is the biggest challenge to retain the most valued employees of one's organization.......

Read here

10 reasons why there is attrition?

2006-11-03T17:16:00.000+05:30

1. people don't get integrated. Most organizations have an orientation program which is more of data-dump or focussed on compliance trainings being completed. The focus should be more on enabling employees to form networks within themselves.

2. Performance goals are unclear. In a fast growing team or business the focus is on getting the thing done today, but rarely are performance goals thought through and employees told as to which resources to approach for help.

3. Development is always tomorrow's job. Culturally Indians are focussed on learning. If learning adds value only to the job and not to the overall career goals of the individual then the organizations seems too transactional for the employee.

4. The personal touch is missing. How comfortable are managers building personal bonds with their subordinates? A lot of managers shy away fearing a bond will make delivering hard messages difficult. I would argue that it's the other way round! Knowing employees on personal level makes a manager know their strengths and weaknesses. Work allocation and employee development become easier.

5. Reward systems are not transparent. Most employees who get salary increases because they have a rare skill at a particular point of time think they got their raise for excellent performance. Can you share details about how they have been compensated?

6. Percieved equity of reward systems is low. Like it or not, employees discuss salary details and if there is any percieved lack of equity then you have an issue !

7. Goal setting process is not scientific . Most organizations impose a normal curve fitment, but do not train managers to set realistic goals or goals that tie up with organizational or functional goals. This also leads to point number 6.

8. External equity is missing too. Don't do an annual compensation survey when the market moves every 3-4 months. If your practitioners feel that externally comparable professionals are being valued more, then they will leave.

9. No communication around total value. If you offer benefits apart from only monetary terms do you communicate that to employees too. Things like being a global or niche industry leader, value of the brand of the organization, should also be made explicit.

10. No career planning. Are people aware of the ways in which they can grow in the organization? Who are the role models within the organization? Do they know what they have to do to gain the competencies to move to various levels?