HR Challenges in Senior Management Exits

Friends,

This issue needs immediate attention of HR Managers. How do we deal with Senior Management separations happening at regular intervals.

Management comprises of eminent experts who play a key role in companies growth and thereby contribute significantly enhancing both business prospects as well as higher profitability. What happens if there are high profile exits of a Software 'services companies ? Can the management sit back and relax showing total indifference to the separations.

We could see the event turning out to be a dampener to the overall morale and productivity. Employees working under these leaders tend to become demotivated and there will be total lack of direction to move forward in both business development and project deliverables. HR plays a crucial role in analyzing as well as coming out with a quick action plan to back fill these positions or better still move people within the organization to fill the void left by these Senior level exits.

From business perspective the following are the implications of high profile exits

1. Customer Dissatisfaction :

For any of the roles where these Managers are SPOCs or Account / Delivery Managers the customers are bound to make it an issue and in most cases pressurize the management to ensure continuity and also minimize the risks by having either present incumbent to continue or have a quick replacements done to ensure continuity and smoother operations.

2. Shadow Impact

In most Software Development Companies the bonding between the Leader and Managers are quite strong. More so in case where employees who are quitting after spending substantial period in excess of 15-20 years in the same company. They develop a strong bonding and any separation will definitely have a rub off effect. Sooner than later we could see few more leaving the company and following their leaders in a new set up.

3. Continuity

Unless properly planned there is likely to be disruption in the service offerings due to the absence of senior management staff. HR has to grapple with this and try to have well thought out plan to ensure that there is a business continuity. Companies will discuss withe clients how they are going to deal with separations and discuss in detail action items for implementation to avoid disruption.

4. Transition

It becomes very critical for the companies to ensure that the deliverables are not impacted by the high profile exits, Since in most cases there is a window of 3 months from the date of communication of quitting and actual relieving , it becomes imperative that the new incumbent has to come to speed and fill the void created due to the resignations.

Let us evaluate what HR should be pro actively doing in these kind of scenario where the companies are witnessing high level attrition

1. Succession Planning

Preparing a list of possible candidates who can be either promoted internally or moved from within the company, Succession Planning plays a key role in withstanding any kind of shocks of quits from top jobs / positions. Being an ongoing continuous process SP can throw up interesting alternatives within a company paving way for smoother transitions.

2. Quick Back Filling -

Easier said than done. The recruitment cycle extends to minimum period of 4-6 months to select, induct a new incumbent. The hiring at senior levels is a time consuming process as there are very few candidates who match the job profile besides looking for a cultural fit

3. Team Morale

The team morale needs to be kept high and it should absorb any kind of shocks as a result of separations at the top level. Keeping the team in confidence in decision making helps in having sense of belonging and to a large extent helps in having higher morale.

4. Communication Management

Official communication management plays a key role at a time when the entire world and all stake holders - investors, employees and customers alike keep asking about these separations. A clearly worded statement from the top CEO as to the contributions made by the employees who are quitting and also reasons for separation (wherever possible) and a clearly defined future plans to meet the gap should be communicated in public. This goes a long way in better understanding of the situation and keeping the stake holders informed is key to their continued support in difficult times.

5. Expectations Management

As a leading survey most people quit a reasonably senior position only after they think through and often painful separation. Period reviews besides annual appraisals are opportunities which Management uses to gauge thinking of Senior Directors, keeping their career aspirations and mapping to companies growth and making efforts to keep them engaged are essential to curb attrition. An effort is always made to ensure that exits do not happen at regular intervals.

6. Exit Analysis

Through this exercise HR and Management will try to know the real cause for the separation. This happens once the employee made up his / her mind to quit. An independent and transparent discussions will help analyse root cause of un happiness. Follow up actions should follow to ensure that these exits are stopped to maximum extent possible.

This reminds me of a words of poet Alfred Tennyson wrote in "The Brooks" - "For Men may come men may go but I go on forever".

HR and Senior Management should not be seen as being indifferent and act as if they are not bothered and taking this in a casual manner will be disastrous as this kind of thinking will spread more unhappiness and lead to more and more separations at all levels - Senior Management, Middle Management and all. A right step at right time is bound to have a major impact and we all should be ready to face this challenge at all times.

Raghav HR Guru

Founder - HRinIndia

Re-skill must for IT Professionals

As the time changes so does the technologies.

What was hot in 2000s and 2005 is no longer relevant in todays fast changing IT Products /Services landscape.  Read the current trends to see the paradigm shift in tech stack !!

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/threat-of-job-loss-it-executives-re-skill-themselves-in-newer-technologies/articleshow/25663748.cms

Raghav
#HRinIndia

Oracle Buys Taleo For $1.9 Billion

Dear Professionals,

HR Services Industry is buzzing with activity. Oracle has made a smart move to acquire Taleo which is doing good with its suite of HR products.

Have a Great Weekend Ahead

Raghav
Founder

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10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

1. Assemble a dedicated team.
Your team needs to be committed to you and the business. Successful entrepreneurs have not only social and selling smarts, but also the know-how to hire effectively, says leadership trainer Harvey Mackay, who wrote Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive (Ivy Books, 1995). “A colossal business idea simply isn't enough. You have to be able to identify, attract and retain talent who can turn your concept into a register-ringing success,” he says.

When putting your team together, look for people whose values are aligned with the purpose and mission of your company. Suzanne Bates, a Wellesley, Mass.-based leadership consultant and author of Speak Like a CEO (McGraw Hill, 2005), says her team members rallied around each other during the worst part of the recession because they all believed in what they were doing. “Having people on your team who have tenacity and a candid spirit is really important," she says.

2. Overcommunicate.
This one’s a biggie. Even with a staff of only five or 10, it can be tough to know what’s going on with everyone. In an effort to overcommunicate, Bates compiles a weekly news update she calls a Friday Forecast, and emails it to her staff. “My team is always surprised at all the good news I send out each week,” Bates says. “It makes everyone feel like you really have a lot of momentum, even in difficult times.”

3. Don’t assume.
When you run a small business, you might assume your team understands your goals and mission -- and they may. But, everybody needs to be reminded of where the company’s going and what things will look like when you get there. Your employees may ask, “What’s in it for me?” It’s important to paint that picture for your team. Take the time to really understand the people who are helping you build your business.

“Entrepreneurs have the vision, the energy, and they’re out there trying to make it happen. But, so often with their staff, they are assuming too much,” says Beverly Flaxington, founder of The Collaborative, a business-advising company in Medfield, Mass. “It’s almost like they think their enthusiasm by extension will be infectious -- but it’s not. You have to bring people into your world and communicate really proactively.”

4. Be authentic.
Good leaders instill their personality and beliefs into the fabric of their organization, Flaxington says. If you be yourself, and not try to act like someone else, and surround yourself with people who are aligned with your values, your business is more likely to succeed, she says.

“Every business is different and every entrepreneur has her own personality,” Flaxington says. “If you’re authentic, you attract the right people to your organization -- employees and customers.”

5. Know your obstacles.
Most entrepreneurs are optimistic and certain that they’re driving toward their goals. But, Flaxington says, it’s a short-sighted leader who doesn’t take the time to understand his obstacles.

“You need to know what you’re up against and be able to plan around those things,” she says. “It’s folly to think that just because you’ve got this energy and enthusiasm that you’re going to be able to conquer all. It’s much smarter to take a step back and figure out what your obstacles are, so the plan that you’re putting into place takes that into account.”

6. Create a 'team charter.'
Too many new teams race down the road before they even figure out who they are, where they’re going, and what will guide their journey, says Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One-Minute Manager (William Morrow & Co., 1982) and founder of The Ken Blanchard Cos., a workplace- and leadership-training firm. Just calling together a team and giving them a clear charge does not mean the team will succeed.

“It’s important to create a set of agreements that clearly states what the team is to accomplish, why it is important and how the team will work together to achieve the desired results,” says Blanchard, who is based in Escondido, Calif. “The charter provides a record of common agreements and can be modified as the business grows and the team’s needs change.”

7. Believe in your people.
Entrepreneurial leaders must help their people develop confidence, especially during tough times. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Leaders are dealers in hope." That confidence comes in part from believing in your team, says Maxwell, who is based in West Palm Beach, Fla. “I think of my people as 10s, I treat them like 10s, and as a result, they try to perform like 10s,” he says. “But believing in people alone isn't enough. You have to help them win.”

8. Dole out credit.
Mackay says a good salesperson knows what the sweetest sound in the world is: The sound of their name on someone else's lips. But too many entrepreneurs think it's either the crinkle of freshly minted currency, or the dull thud of a competitor's body hitting the pavement.

“Many entrepreneurs are too in love with their own ideas and don't know how to distribute credit,” Mackay says. “A good quarterback always gives props to his offensive line.”

9. Keep your team engaged.
Great leaders give their teams challenges and get them excited about them, says leadership expert Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Free Press, 1989). He pointed to the example of a small pizza shop in a moderate-sized town that was killing a big fast-food chain in sales. The big difference between the chain and the small pizza joint was the leader, he says.

Every week he gathered his teenage employees in a huddle and excitedly asked them: “What can we do this week that we’ve never done before?” The kids loved the challenge. They started texting all their friends whenever a pizza special was on. They took the credit-card machine to the curb so passing motorists could buy pizza right off the street. They loaded up a truck with hot pizzas and sold them at high-school games. The money poured in and the store owner never had problems with employee turnover, says Covey, who is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

10. Stay calm.
An entrepreneur has to backstop the team from overreacting to short-term situations, says Mackay, who is based in Minneapolis. This is particularly important now, when news of the sour economic environment is everywhere.

“The media has been hanging black crepe paper since 2008,” he says. “But look at all the phenomenal companies and brands that were born in downturns, names like iPod, GE and Federal Express.”

Kara Ohngren

Kara Ohngren is a freelance writer and part-time editor at SecondAct.com. Her work has appeared in publications including Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Huffington Post and Business Insider.

Sowmya
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Work from Home

The last time Kumar, a sales executive working with IBM India, visited his company's registered office in Bangalore was some six months ago to get his broken attendance card replaced. Kumar, 35, is among nearly 50,000 IBM India employees who are working from anywhere, but the office.

"I do not have to show my face to my boss anymore, well at least for a few weeks or months at a stretch," says Kumar, who requested that his first name not be revealed. "I used to miss catching up with other colleagues at office, but now there are hundreds of us on the road for the company," he adds.

For nearly 50,000 employees at IBM India and some 15,000 tech workers at HP's India operations, work-fromhome is no more an HR incentive meant for women going for early maternity leave, or a privilege for few - it's now an integral part of their work life.

While over 40% of IBM staff does not have any space in office, a quarter of HP India employees across the functions of sales, marketing and customer support do not have to mark their attendance or swipe employment cards.

Rising real estate costs and travel time, apart from other complexities of maintaining office space for a growing base of staff, are making a real business case for multinational tech firms like IBM, HP, Cisco and Microsoft.

What was once an option taken by those with personal problems or medical predicaments has now become a norm in some companies with the option of working from home finding more takers than ever before. Employees at IBM even receive Rs 15,000 more a month for this. This is because they save the company walloping infrastructure costs, one of the perils of rapid expansion.

This way the company can also drive home the point that it truly promotes work-life balance. The company says it also increases the productivity of employees. "We know that if we can successfully address the challenges of work-life balance, IBM will certainly gain a competitive edge in the war for talent," a company spokesperson said.

The company, however, denied paying these employees extra. At HP, the number is anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000, and the company, which did not confirm the figure as it does not share its India headcount, says it leads to better employee engagement.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft last year formalised the policy which had been practised in the company for a few years. It reimburses the broadband and telephone costs but does not throw in any extra amount to keep employees at home. Microsoft gives employees a choice of various flexible work options, and they can pick what best suits their needs.

"Not only does this lead to a better work-life balance for existing employees, and a cause for retention, it is also an attractive aspect for potential employees," said Joji Gill, HR director of Microsoft India. The software firm provides three options to work from home which include flexible scheduling, teleworking and part-time basis. Flexible scheduling is when an employee has the option of working from home for a few of his business hours on a recurring basis.

Teleworking lets him choose a schedule of days where he would work only from home. Part-time is when an employee clocks in only a few hours for work. Networking equipment maker Cisco says employee location is increasingly losing meaning in an interconnected world. The company even helps its employees set up home offices. It creates an office with email and intranet-enabled smartphones, provides Cisco Virtual Office equipment, laptops and data cards for employees who do not wish to be within the office walls.

"IP solutions from Cisco and emerging technologies are making location irrelevant, making remote working feasible. Companies can also reduce office space, thereby reducing operational costs associated with real estate and facility management," said Seema Nair, co-lead for India HR operations, Cisco. Companies say it is not just women but even men who take up this option very often.

At IBM, the percentage of employees working from home is 40% while at HP it is 25%. Microsoft's India headcount is not very large when compared to companies like IBM and HP. Domestic firms also offer this option but it is more needbased and not as rampant as their global counterparts. However, to allow employees to work permanently from home requires a company to have precise job description and agenda.

"There can not be any flab in the KRAs and the managers have to craft the jobs carefully where everything is templatised," said Saundarya, founder-member of Flexi Career in Chennai. She said problems creep in when companies look at it as a work-life balance initiative and not as an option that could help in their business goals. While most companies say they trust their employees to do a good job, there are several checks and balances like managers and the employees working closely with a set of deliverables.

Quarterly reviews and a structured performance management approach are put in place. Companies like Cisco also advise remote workers to attend regular meetings with coworkers/internal customers and managers, etc, to ensure there is adequate interaction and the employee is not completely in isolation.

"For employees who opt to work from home over an extended period of time, the manager and the employee work out a clear set of deliverables, and a quarterly review is conducted keeping in mind the business situations," Gill said. Companies say some employees may find it tough to work in isolation.

"Absence of external motivation provided by the work environment can be a disadvantage. Employees used to working in a team might feel isolated and miss the interaction with co-workers," Nair said. Officials at HP point out that this can be a problem where teamwork is involved.

"Where large teams are involved, team management can be a challenge with a work-fromhome option. Ultimately, we don't monitor if employees are actually working. Employees need to be selfdisciplined and accountable for their productivity when they choose this option," said Srikanth Karra, director, human resources, HP India. But for employees like Kumar, it's an incentive worth going for. "I end up working more being away from office, but the freedom to work from anywhere is too good to be missed."

Source ET


Sowmya
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Majority unemployable - What next for India Inc

Rapid economic growth in the country is expected to generate 10-15 million jobs by next year but lack of suitable skilled candidates poses a major threat, a leading industry lobby said Sunday.

'Approximately 10 to 15 million jobs are expected to be created by next year, in which 75 percent will require vocational training. If not addressed properly it can lead to a slowdown in the country's economic growth,' said a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

According to the report, the principal reason behind India's growth is its youth force, the largest in the world. However, millions of young Indians are jobless because they do not receive proper vocational training.

'The huge numbers of Indian youth are not only unemployed but unemployable, whereas large numbers of white collar jobs are waiting for suitable candidates,' the report said.

It further said that though 90 percent of jobs in sectors like information technology (IT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES), biotechnology and the services sector are skill-based and require training, only six percent of the total workforce receive such training.

The report also predicted that 2011 will be a boom year for the IT & ITES sector, accompanied by a corresponding rise in salaries.

'The year 2011 is likely to be a boom for skilled workers in IT & ITES, biotechnology and services sectors. As against the 15 percent hike in salaries in 2010, it is expected to be registering 30 to 40 percent growth,' Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said.

Currently, IT and ITES industry alone provides direct employment to about 2.23 million people and indirect employment to a further eight million.

The report added that this sector in particular will experience a shortage of skilled manpower.

'The employers are trying to catch the highly skilled manpower and the salaries are going through the roof. It is expected that the salaries in this sector will be growing at a par of 30-40 percent during the year 2011,' the Assocham report added.

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Indian workforce is most mobile in world

a Foi Randstad, India’s largest HR services company, part of Randstad, world’s second largest HR services company released the first wave of their Ma Foi Randstad Work Monitor.

The Ma Foi Randstad Work Monitor is a quarterly review of “mental mobility status” of employees i.e. their readiness to change jobs. As part of this process, the state of mind of workers is studied in 23 countries across 5 continents, compared amongst countries and finally presented in the form of an index. The index shows the extent to which employees are thinking of changing their jobs in a short-term while compared to other countries in the world.

Apart from the Mobility Index, the survey deals with trust of employees in the job market, fear of job loss, job change and readiness to change in job. In addition to these 4 aspects, the survey also covers related aspects like satisfaction levels and personal motivation levels of the employees.

Below are some of the key insights from the Work Monitor:

Mobility index:

India’s mobility index is 140 and the highest in the world followed by Mexico, China and Turkey. And the lowest mobility among Luxembourg, Italy and Hungary. This index shows that Indians are most open about shifting their jobs in the next 6 months.

People in the age group of 35 to 55 are comparatively less open about a job change. This trend is quite different in countries like China and UK where the highest mobility is in the age group of 25 - 34. For Germany and the US, we see high mobility index amongst age group of 18 – 24.

Again, highly qualified people have exhibited lesser mobility than others in India. This trend is different in countries like UK, US and Germany.

Employees in the salary bracket of Rs. 5 – 10 lacs are the least mobile in India while in the US; the professionals in junior to mid career (USD 45000 – 50000 salary brackets) levels are the most mobile. Similarly, in the UK, mid to senior level professionals (GBP 52000 – 87000) are highly mobile.

Employees in Bangalore are the most mobile in India which means that they are most open for a job change in the next 6 months.

Factual job changes:

The 8 reasons for employees looking for change. These are - organizational circumstances, better employment opportunity, personal desire for change, personal ambitions to get into senior levels of management, personal ambitions in specific areas, personal circumstances, dissatisfaction with present employer and employer being dissatisfied with employee.

Mobility in the last few months was largely affected due to economic crisis. There has been extremely limited movement due to lack of better opportunities in the market. For most of the young employees, mobility has been due to their personal desire for better careers and ambition; dissatisfaction with the present employer played a lower role in their mobility.

In the recent past, most people in the age group of 25 to 34 have changed jobs for better employment opportunities.

Looking at a salary wise comparison, the major reason for job change in the higher income brackets is due to organizational circumstance.

Trust in market conditions:

Over 80% of the Indians are certain about finding a different job in the short-term. The people aged 25 to 44 are confident of finding jobs in the short-term. However, the younger people in the age group of 18 – 24 exhibit slightly low levels of confidence.

In the US, confidence level of people in age group of 25 – 44 is the highest. And in the UK, the confidence is high for the age group of 18 – 34.

People in the private sector are more confident of finding jobs within or outside their industry compared to those employed in the govt sector.

Fear of job loss:

The economic climate over the past few months has led to a greater fear of job losses across the globe and it is more common in the western world.

15% of the employees are more frightened about the job loss. And an additional 57% exhibit partial fear. This situation has been unprecedented in India.

Interestingly, China shows similar figures too. In countries like US, UK, Germany where job losses are not a new phenomenon, 7% to 10% of the workers are certain about losing their jobs in the short-term.

City-wise comparison in India show that people in Chennai are the most frightened about the job loss. People in the age group of 35 – 44 fear the most about job losses and people with mid-level qualifications (typically graduates and undergraduates) are more worried about losing the jobs than the others.

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'Software sector to generate 30 million jobs by 2020' - Som Mittal

The Indian IT industry that had taken a quantum leap, post liberalisation two decades ago, has matured over the years. Besides technology and domain expertise, cost has been a major factor in making India a software services powerhouse. But, for how long would India be able to sustain its competitive advantage when China and other markets are already making large strides to challenge its dominance in the sector? Changing dynamics of the macro-economic environment and the anti-outsourcing wave in the US continue to haunt the Indian IT sector. Nasscom president Som Mittal discusses the issues challenging the industry and lots more in an exclusive interview with FE's Ayushman Baruah. Excerpts:

Given that India faces stiff competition from China and other Asian markets like Philippines and Vietnam, for how long will it have an edge over these? What competitive advantage should India have to sustain its growth?

India has an advantage in terms of maturity, scale, robust process and customer confidence. However, we cannot afford to be complacent. India must focus on offering more value added services, build deep customer relationships and leverage innovation. We have to remain cost competitive as several companies already have outcome-based pricing. In several cases, these new emerging countries also serve as sites for business continuity programme. India needs to keep customers assured that it is a destination worth trusting. When work gets disrupted due to 'bandh' calls etc, it raises concerns.

Is Nasscom seeing any new shoots that keep India ahead? What potential does the domestic market hold?

Of late, our discussions with customers have been beyond outsourcing and offshoring. We have now shifted our focus to transform their business models and get countrywide increased efficiencies. There are new verticals like utilities and healthcare. Markets like West Asia and Latin America are still under penetrated. With regards to the domestic market, there are three broad segments: corporations, individuals/ small businesses and the government. The corporate spending in IT by corporations is increasing as they become more global. The scope to penetrate the other two segments is much higher. We estimate the government spend to be a big driver that is expected to reach $5 billion by 2011.

With changing dynamics in macro economic environment, do you see the number of applications for H-1B visas rising this fiscal?

This is a fairly complex issue. In the US or anywhere, jobs can be classified into two categories: temporary work that includes short-term assignments, and permanent jobs like account managers, system architects, etc. A lot of Indians work in the US on a temporary basis, mainly on application development and testing. Owing to talent availability issues in the US, maximum number of H-1 B visas applied for constituted applicants for temporary jobs. Now, the ability of Indian companies to hire locals is increasing. Hence, the need for H1-B visas may be lower. However, if the US economy turns robust, hiring by companies would go up, thus increasing the demand for visas.

Nasscom visited the US to meet members of the Obama administration in response to the anti-outsourcing wave in the US last year. What was the outcome of those meetings?

Given the sheer size of the market, the US is evidently where our focus lies. However, we continue to visit all markets to share our perspective. We spend a lot of time with law makers, executives, industry leaders and various think tanks in the US to prove how we can add value to them. With regards to the anti-outsourcing wave in the US last year, Nasscom believes that India adds to the competitiveness of the US market. Global sourcing —be it in manufacturing or services—has added to the US ability to grow as an economy. For example, the cost of a Barbie doll today is actually lower than what it was 50 years ago (accounting for inflation). This could not have been possible if talent and material was not procured from the most competitive locations. Many more such examples can be found in global markets.

How do you see the Indian software industry growing in the coming years?

Last year, revenue from exports of software and BPO services has grown 5.5% to $50 billion. Engineering services crossed the $10-billion mark. For FY 2010-11, export revenue is expected to grow 13-15% and the domestic revenue by 17-18%. Total revenue from the sector has the potential to touch $225 billion by 2020 and 50% of the total would come from currently untapped verticals like the public sector, healthcare, media and utilities and places such as the West Asia, China and Japan. This would have the potential to create 30 million jobs of which 10 million would be direct jobs. Nasscom has also projected that by 2020, 50% of the new entrants in workforce would be women.

What percentage of graduating software engineers are actually industry ready? How can this number increase?

Fresh graduates today are bright and trainable. However, in most of the cases they are not industry ready. This pressurises the industry to provide enormous training and re-skilling facilities. As an industry which is people-dependent and global, we need to equip our students with the relevant subject matter expertise and soft skills. Students are expected to have some basic knowledge but in most of the cases this is not happening. In our education system, neither the content nor the delivery is adequate. Education must be made relevant at the outset. The government is trying to make several changes, the impact of which would be felt in some time. Till then, we need the ecosystem of training institutes, schools and additional intervention (besides the in-house training) to keep things rolling.

Ayushman Baruah

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How is Salary Calculated ?

Sanjeev Sinha, ECONOMICTIMES.COM

Negotiating one’s salary successfully is a tricky thing. Simply because while the job seeker is generally interested in getting more, the job provider is usually keen on paying as less as possible. It is only for some job providers that salary is not an issue so long as the marginal contribution the employee is going to make is higher than the salary he or she takes. But how is one’s salary determined?

“Ordinary companies follow the 3,2,1 principle, which means hire three people, pay them the salary of two persons and get the work of one person. In contrast, extraordinary companies follow the 1,2,3 principle, whereby they employ one person, pay them double the salary and get the output of three persons,” says Dr C S Venkata Ratnam, director of the International Management Institute, Delhi.

According to Dr Ratnam, employees are interested in higher salary and good employers do not mind paying it so long as wage costs are lower through higher productivity or contribution that the person is willing and is able to make.

It is, however, difficult to put a price on one’s head. Similarly, it is equally difficult for one to estimate one’s own worth. A director of an IIT institute once said, “For some what I am paying is more than they deserve, for a few others, no matter how much more I pay, that is still not an adequate consideration because intrinsically they are so good.”

Thus, “while on the issue of salary, three types of equities become important. One is personal equity, i.e., what a person thinks about one’s worth. Here the expectancy theory says that a person can be unhappy not only when one gets less, but also when one gets more. For, the person may feel that if the company is paying him 10 per cent more than what he deserves, what is the guarantee that it is not paying someone 15 per cent more?” informs Dr Ratnam.

Some people also suffer by what is known as theory of relative deprivation. Here one’s happiness or otherwise is dependent on not how much one is getting, but in relation to someone else with whom one is making the comparison. Companies, therefore, try to figure out personal equity based on pay satisfaction surveys.

The second is internal equity which is about the relative worth of different jobs based on considerations of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions or as the Hay System measures in respect of professionals, know how, responsibility and problem solving skills.

“Job evaluation is the best method to systematically determine the relative worth of jobs. Proper job evaluation will help compare a nurse’s job with that of a police constable. Also, relative worth of different jobs can often be subjective,” says Dr Ratnam.

Thus, whether a gas cutter should get more or a grass cutter depends on the nature of industry and importance of the job. In an engineering assembly industry, welding being a highly rated technical job, gas cutters get more. But in a horticulture department, a welder may get less and a gardener more.

The third is external equity which is assessed through the survey of compensation practices across firms in the same or similar industries and region. Usually the comparison is based on the types of industries where similar skills are sought after.

Determination of pay

Thus, employers use three sets of instruments -- pay satisfaction, job evaluation and compensation surveys -- to provide the basis for equity and fairness in their compensation policies and practices. But ultimately pay is determined by different employers based on their policies (being the best pay master in the industry/region, for instance) and the dynamic equilibrium between demand and supply for the skill sets concerned.

The problem from the individual concerned is that if one gets what one wants, one wonders whether one should have asked more. Therefore, “if one is in the market, one should do some home work on the most recent/current trends in the market as far as compensation is concerned and accordingly pitch for it -- neither too low, nor too high,” suggests Dr Ratnam.

“At times, the candidate is hesitant on talking about the salary expectations. There is nothing wrong in expressing your expectations but of course, it must match the industry trend. 25–30% is the typical salary expectation one has, while contemplating a job change,” says Shrikant Dikhale, VP-HR, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd.

However, if you have adequate skill set for a job and are also very confident that very few can match your skills, you can even ask for more.

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from Government to Corporate

Indian Institute of Management campus in Lucknow (IIM-L), the 28-year-old is now adjusting himself to terms like “bulge bracket”, “black swan” and “boil the ocean”.

Mr Hussain used to be a scientist, part of India’s grand plans to be self-sufficient in defence technologies. During his four-year stint at the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Mr Hussain used to split his time between the air-conditioned lab and the scorching heat of the test fields tucked away in the Thar desert in Rajasthan.

And he is not in Lucknow to build a defence shield for India’s premier B-school. Mr Hussain wants to tip his resume with a management warhead, which could come in handy in future.

“DRDO was sure exciting. But I want to explore the private sector now,” Mr Hussain says, hoping that his two-year post graduate programme in management at IIM-L will help gear up for the challenges posed by his new job. He is set to join Mahindra Satyam as a programme manager for its aerospace and defence vertical, liaisoning with domestic as well as global clients.

Mr Hussain’s is not an isolated case. He is part of an increasing number of ambitious government employees who are enrolling in IIMs as a launchpad for careers in the private sector where they are coveted, thanks to their first-hand insight on how governments work. With experience of up to 17 years, many of them in fact opt for the two-year standard MBA programmes that these institutes offer.

The departments vary, and range from government ministries to the armed forces to state-run firms and government departments, but the goals remain the same.

Their numbers have gone up in the past two years. At IIM-L, for instance, the number of such candidates has gone up to 15 this year from 5 in the previous batch while IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) has seen it increase from 10 in the past year to 14 this year.

At IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), 21 such students will graduate from the 2010 batch as against 16 in the previous year. And not everyone is getting back to school with intentions of shifting to the private sector. While some want to reskill themselves and start their own ventures, others look for exposure to the private sector so that they can go back to their respective departments and implement those ideas. Then there are those who feel that an IIM tag will help their career regardless of where they work, even with the government.

“There is a lot of scope for defence-related research and development in the private sector and I didn’t want to miss it. An MBA from IIM seemed the best possible way to avail of such opportunities,” says Mr Hussain.

Others like Gali Sreedhar joined IIM-C after he realised the need to enhance his finance and management skills while executing crucial road projects for the ministry of road transport and highways. “The MBA will help me understand how the private sector works. This will help me execute ideas better,” says the executive engineer, who has signed a three-year bond to stick with the government, failing which he has to pay back Rs 8 lakh, equal to his two years’ salary.

Mr Hussain’s colleague at the IIM-L, Sharat Chander, says the opportunity to reskill is one of the unintended perks of being a government employee. “That’s the benefit of working with the government. Private sector employees generally don’t get this freedom. That’s why most of them opt for the year-long executive programmes,” says this former director at the I&B ministry.

Then, there are those like Deepak Arya, who was a deputy manager-electronic warfare at BEL. “I realised that if I start my own venture, an MBA from IIM would give me a broader perspective,” says Arya who is in the class of 2011 at IIM-K. He has already quit his job and plans to start his own business venture upon graduation.

Private sector players, too, appreciate a fresh pool of mid-career talent made up of Hussains and Aryas. The years spent by them understanding the processes of a government ministry and the edge acquired at the IIMs makes these people ideal picks for some firms. “If someone has spent a few years in a government job, he would have a deeper insight and wider perspective of the government’s working, besides knowledge of regulatory affairs.

In case such a person is brought on board, it helps our firm service the clients better,” says Deloitte India chief people officer Dhananjay Bansod.

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What it takes to be great !

What It Takes to Be Great

Fortune on CNNMoney.com

By Geoffrey Colvin

Research now shows that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success. The secret? Painful and demanding practice and hard work

What makes Tiger Woods great? What made Berkshire Hathaway (Charts) Chairman Warren Buffett the world's premier investor? We think we know: Each was a natural who came into the world with a gift for doing exactly what he ended up doing. As Buffett told Fortune not long ago, he was "wired at birth to allocate capital." It's a one-in-a-million thing. You've got it - or you don't.

Well, folks, it's not so simple. For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. (Sorry, Warren.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.

Buffett, for instance, is famed for his discipline and the hours he spends studying financial statements of potential investment targets. The good news is that your lack of a natural gift is irrelevant - talent has little or nothing to do with greatness. You can make yourself into any number of things, and you can even make yourself great.

Scientific experts are producing remarkably consistent findings across a wide array of fields. Understand that talent doesn't mean intelligence, motivation or personality traits. It's an innate ability to do some specific activity especially well. British-based researchers Michael J. Howe, Jane W. Davidson and John A. Sluboda conclude in an extensive study, "The evidence we have surveyed ... does not support the [notion that] excelling is a consequence of possessing innate gifts."

To see how the researchers could reach such a conclusion, consider the problem they were trying to solve. In virtually every field of endeavor, most people learn quickly at first, then more slowly and then stop developing completely. Yet a few do improve for years and even decades, and go on to greatness.

The irresistible question - the "fundamental challenge" for researchers in this field, says the most prominent of them, professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University - is, Why? How are certain people able to go on improving? The answers begin with consistent observations about great performers in many fields.

Scientists worldwide have conducted scores of studies since the 1993 publication of a landmark paper by Ericsson and two colleagues, many focusing on sports, music and chess, in which performance is relatively easy to measure and plot over time. But plenty of additional studies have also examined other fields, including business.

No substitute for hard work

The first major conclusion is that nobody is great without work. It's nice to believe that if you find the field where you're naturally gifted, you'll be great from day one, but it doesn't happen. There's no evidence of high-level performance without experience or practice.

Reinforcing that no-free-lunch finding is vast evidence that even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule.

What about Bobby Fischer, who became a chess grandmaster at 16? Turns out the rule holds: He'd had nine years of intensive study. And as John Horn of the University of Southern California and Hiromi Masunaga of California State University observe, "The ten-year rule represents a very rough estimate, and most researchers regard it as a minimum, not an average." In many fields (music, literature) elite performers need 20 or 30 years' experience before hitting their zenith.

So greatness isn't handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work. Yet that isn't enough, since many people work hard for decades without approaching greatness or even getting significantly better. What's missing?

Practice makes perfect

The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call "deliberate practice." It's activity that's explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one's level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.

For example: Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better. Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day - that's deliberate practice.

Consistency is crucial. As Ericsson notes, "Elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends."

Evidence crosses a remarkable range of fields. In a study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson and colleagues, the best group (judged by conservatory teachers) averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives; the next-best averaged 7,500 hours; and the next, 5,000. It's the same story in surgery, insurance sales, and virtually every sport. More deliberate practice equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance. The skeptics

Not all researchers are totally onboard with the myth-of-talent hypothesis, though their objections go to its edges rather than its center. For one thing, there are the intangibles. Two athletes might work equally hard, but what explains the ability of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to perform at a higher level in the last two minutes of a game?

Researchers also note, for example, child prodigies who could speak, read or play music at an unusually early age. But on investigation those cases generally include highly involved parents. And many prodigies do not go on to greatness in their early field, while great performers include many who showed no special early aptitude.

Certainly some important traits are partly inherited, such as physical size and particular measures of intelligence, but those influence what a person doesn't do more than what he does; a five-footer will never be an NFL lineman, and a seven-footer will never be an Olympic gymnast. Even those restrictions are less severe than you'd expect: Ericsson notes, "Some international chess masters have IQs in the 90s." The more research that's done, the more solid the deliberate-practice model becomes.

Real-world examples

All this scholarly research is simply evidence for what great performers have been showing us for years. To take a handful of examples: Winston Churchill, one of the 20th century's greatest orators, practiced his speeches compulsively. Vladimir Horowitz supposedly said, "If I don't practice for a day, I know it. If I don't practice for two days, my wife knows it. If I don't practice for three days, the world knows it." He was certainly a demon practicer, but the same quote has been attributed to world-class musicians like Ignace Paderewski and Luciano Pavarotti.

Many great athletes are legendary for the brutal discipline of their practice routines. In basketball, Michael Jordan practiced intensely beyond the already punishing team practices. (Had Jordan possessed some mammoth natural gift specifically for basketball, it seems unlikely he'd have been cut from his high school team.)

In football, all-time-great receiver Jerry Rice - passed up by 15 teams because they considered him too slow - practiced so hard that other players would get sick trying to keep up.

Tiger Woods is a textbook example of what the research shows. Because his father introduced him to golf at an extremely early age - 18 months - and encouraged him to practice intensively, Woods had racked up at least 15 years of practice by the time he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, at age 18. Also in line with the findings, he has never stopped trying to improve, devoting many hours a day to conditioning and practice, even remaking his swing twice because that's what it took to get even better.

The business side

The evidence, scientific as well as anecdotal, seems overwhelmingly in favor of deliberate practice as the source of great performance. Just one problem: How do you practice business? Many elements of business, in fact, are directly practicable. Presenting, negotiating, delivering evaluations, deciphering financial statements - you can practice them all.

Still, they aren't the essence of great managerial performance. That requires making judgments and decisions with imperfect information in an uncertain environment, interacting with people, seeking information - can you practice those things too? You can, though not in the way you would practice a Chopin etude.

Instead, it's all about how you do what you're already doing - you create the practice in your work, which requires a few critical changes. The first is going at any task with a new goal: Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it.

Report writing involves finding information, analyzing it and presenting it - each an improvable skill. Chairing a board meeting requires understanding the company's strategy in the deepest way, forming a coherent view of coming market changes and setting a tone for the discussion. Anything that anyone does at work, from the most basic task to the most exalted, is an improvable skill.

Adopting a new mindset

Armed with that mindset, people go at a job in a new way. Research shows they process information more deeply and retain it longer. They want more information on what they're doing and seek other perspectives. They adopt a longer-term point of view. In the activity itself, the mindset persists. You aren't just doing the job, you're explicitly trying to get better at it in the larger sense.

Again, research shows that this difference in mental approach is vital. For example, when amateur singers take a singing lesson, they experience it as fun, a release of tension. But for professional singers, it's the opposite: They increase their concentration and focus on improving their performance during the lesson. Same activity, different mindset.

Feedback is crucial, and getting it should be no problem in business. Yet most people don't seek it; they just wait for it, half hoping it won't come. Without it, as Goldman Sachs leadership-development chief Steve Kerr says, "it's as if you're bowling through a curtain that comes down to knee level. If you don't know how successful you are, two things happen: One, you don't get any better, and two, you stop caring." In some companies, like General Electric, frequent feedback is part of the culture. If you aren't lucky enough to get that, seek it out.

Be the ball

Through the whole process, one of your goals is to build what the researchers call "mental models of your business" - pictures of how the elements fit together and influence one another. The more you work on it, the larger your mental models will become and the better your performance will grow.

Andy Grove could keep a model of a whole world-changing technology industry in his head and adapt Intel (Charts) as needed. Bill Gates, Microsoft's (Charts) founder, had the same knack: He could see at the dawn of the PC that his goal of a computer on every desk was realistic and would create an unimaginably large market. John D. Rockefeller, too, saw ahead when the world-changing new industry was oil. Napoleon was perhaps the greatest ever. He could not only hold all the elements of a vast battle in his mind but, more important, could also respond quickly when they shifted in unexpected ways.

That's a lot to focus on for the benefits of deliberate practice - and worthless without one more requirement: Do it regularly, not sporadically.

Why?

For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder. Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done. That's the way it must be. If great performance were easy, it wouldn't be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

The authors of one study conclude, "We still do not know which factors encourage individuals to engage in deliberate practice." Or as University of Michigan business school professor Noel Tichy puts it after 30 years of working with managers, "Some people are much more motivated than others, and that's the existential question I cannot answer - why."

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will. Strangely, that idea is not popular. People hate abandoning the notion that they would coast to fame and riches if they found their talent. But that view is tragically constraining, because when they hit life's inevitable bumps in the road, they conclude that they just aren't gifted and give up.

Maybe we can't expect most people to achieve greatness. It's just too demanding. But the striking, liberating news is that greatness isn't reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone.

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Substitute for hardwork

The vice-chairman and gardener of MindTree and author of three business bestsellers, Subroto Bagchi believes that no matter how privileged you are there is no substitute for hard work. Here he shares his story of success.

We were raised in the tribal districts of Orissa where I studied in government schools, until Class 11. But as compared to countless other men and women in this country, I actually feel privileged due to my upbringing.

Most children walked bare feet, some wore rubber slippers, and if anyone ever wore shoes, the other children shunned them as snobs. Only in Class 11, my father could afford to buy me a cycle.

He told me that if I promised to score more than 90 per cent marks in optional mathematics in my final examination, I could have the cycle. The deal was done, I had the bike. It was my life's first forward trade.

But the reason I said I feel a lot more privileged compared to many other similarly situated people is that I had the opportunity to be groomed by parents and elder brothers who created a sense of higher purpose in everything I did. From the time that I was a little boy, I was asked to build very large, sometimes global ambitions. I was constantly told that there is a larger world out there and if I did my English, science and mathematics right, I could have it all.

There was no time for self-pity! But sometimes, we complained. We cited examples of children who went to English medium boarding schools, of children whose parents could afford to buy them cricket bats and children who lived in big cities. My mother, herself a matriculate of the 1930s but who took as much care to hold aloft the value of education as my father, would immediately hold aloft the example of a boy, a few years senior to me, who used to come from ten miles away.

His name was Maguni Barik. He did not have a father. His illiterate, widowed mother literally had no support. Maguni Barik had one pair of school uniform. But despite all that, Maguni Barik made it to the best 10 list among all high school students in the state in his year of graduation. He was not only among the poorest students, his name in Oriya literally means, the one seeking alms!

There was no arguing against that one. We would simply shut up and go back to our books. I wonder where Maguni Barik is today. But I know that the likes of him are all around. All we need to do is look.

From ordinary upbringing, today I have the privilege of co-founding and leading MindTree, which has emerged as one of India's [ Images ] most admired companies. Here, I am not alone. People like me and more importantly, people like Maguni Barik are celebrated.

We are together stepping into a future in which what you know is more important than who you know. More than ever before, the future belongs to us. This would not have happened but for the emphasis on education at an early life and an abiding sense of vision that substituted for everything else.

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The Seven Habits of Recession-Era Employees

The Fearful, The Delighted and The Apocalyptic, among those identified by new Queen's School of Business research

KINGSTON, ON, Nov. 11 /CNW/ - On-the-job employee behaviours in recessionary times can be grouped into seven categories, each with attendant challenges and distinct management requirements, according to new research from Queen's School of Business.

According to Douglas Reid, Associate Professor of Global Business at Queen's School of Business, employees in recession-era workplaces typically fall into the following behaviour patterns:

- The Terminated: while not physically present in the organization,
their memories linger and affect those that stay.

- The Fearful: these employees believe they will be cut next. They are
ready to search for a new job but cling tenaciously to whatever
certainty their existing situation affords.

- The Indifferent: this group is watching the recession occur and
believe it is going to affect someone else.

- The Delighted: high performers who delight in the improvement in
their situation relative to the average consumer via sales and
discounts in the marketplace.

- The Apocalyptic: a small group that believes that the recession
presents a necessary "reset" for a myriad list of failures in the
existing system of capitalism.

- The Longers: Hoping for a severance package and optimistic they'll
obtain rapid alternative employment.

- The Engaged: The core of a company's renewal efforts. They understand
the consequences of the recession and what needs to be done to help
the business recover.

"Managers encounter a wider range of on-the-job behaviours than simple economic reasoning predicts," says Professor Reid. "Relying on fear as a management tool is as poor a choice during a recession as it is during a boom."

Survey: Queen's Executive MBAs Weigh In

On a related note, a recent survey of over 250 managers enrolled in executive MBA programs at Queen's School of Business reveals that while half of the respondents (48 per cent) feel an increase in employment would be the strongest sign of recovery in their country, only one third (36 per cent) believe that their company will add employees over the next six months.

"Nervous employers want to ensure that the recovery is firmly established before adding to their workforce," says Professor Reid. "But employers also need to recognize that engaged employees will be the core of any organization's renewal efforts."

To read the full article :
http://tinyurl.com/7-employee-habits

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Do you think Role Definition Helps in creating better managers ?

Friends,

You will ind this paradox in the Indian context. It is strange that everyone our here wishes to become a Manager. This is whether or not they have the abilities to 'manage' their teams.

Question :

Does role definition helps in creating better managers ?
Do you think there should be an impartial 'assessment' prior to promoting as Managers ?
Can the company afford to loose good performers when they are told that they are not fit to be 'managers'
Do you think working for 6 years as per below article 'qualifies' to become a Project Manager ?

My personal view on this is - unless an employee has certain abilities he would not succeed as a Manager !

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---------

Article :

Infosys Technologies has decided that its staffers must have at least six years of having worked on technology responsibilities before being asked to head a project.

This is the latest move in a process that began 18 months earlier, after clients had complained that its project heads didn't seem to have enough of technological skills. That, in turn, was because of the industry's high growth and also the pace of attrition (employees quitting) in the sector.

So, many employees were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years of joining. However, from last month, all freshers joining the company will have to compulsorily stay focused on technology for the first six years of their career.

After this, they will have to choose to either grow vertically as a techie or take up managerial responsibilities.

Infosys [ Get Quote ] says this new strategy, termed 'iRace', aims to re-map the technology skills of its software professionals and offer them roles based on their current level of experience and technological know-how.

It appears to have already had some adverse effect, for a section of employees in the junior and middle levels are understood to have resigned.

"Because of the high growth in the industry, people were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years, making clients return to us and complain about the lack of their technology skills. We have now re-mapped the efficiency of our employees, as a result of which some high performers have been mapped upwards, while others have stayed in their previous positions," says Nandita Gurjar, Group Head for Human Resources.

By doing so, we will be able to meet the clients' requirements in a much better manner, she adds.

To make the task smoother, Infosys has created 25 career streams. An employee who does not wish to take up managerial roles but stay focused on technology has to identify positions like technical architect and technical lead till he goes up the ladder to become the unit technology manager, a position the company has created now. Henceforth, all 13 business units of the company will have UTOs, who will directly report to the chief technology officer of the company.

Infosys started the exercise almost 18 months earlier, following an internal assessment by consulting agency, Mercer. Based on the results, the company decided to implement what Gurjar terms a 'role structuring'.

Industry insiders concur that when the IT sector was booming and demand was high, people with very little experience were being given roles of project managers or technical leads, as it was difficult for the company to get experienced people.

However, with the greater supply of trained resources, especially in the wake of the economic recession, most Indian IT companies are busy redefining the roles.

"We have seen people becoming project managers with less than six years of experience, whereas in most global companies, especially product companies, project manager is a big role. A person who manages projects in those companies should have at least 14-15 years of experience, which helps him handle multiple projects and customers at a time.

Besides, when a person becomes a project manager in six years, this ends his chance to learn on technology platforms," says a person who works as a project manager in an Indian IT services company.

At the end of the second quarter in the present financial year, Infosys' headcount was 105,453, including 97,594 software professionals.

Praveen Bose and Bibhu Ranjan Mishra in Bangalore
Source : Business Standard