|
COVER
STORY
Strategic
HR and Its Emergence
- - PVL Raju
The main objective of SHRM is to rescue HRM from its mundane
existence in routine recruitment process and training programs
that constitute the low end of the value chain. The boundary
for a new discipline that views change as an internal and
proactive approach to organizations is the new agenda for
SHRM. It should be regarded as a form of craft knowledge that
enables managers to develop an authoritative understanding
of the change process.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
COVER
STORY
Strategic
HR: Partnership in a Corporate
- - K Mallikarjunan
`Strategic HR' policy envisages well thought out management
of the most vital but least tangible item in the balance sheet,
i.e., `Human Capital', from the angle of exploiting the HR
potential to the maximum advantage of the business enterprise.
Hence, it is necessary to bring about the integration of HR
resources enabling coordination between HR functions and commercial
activities as a means to the ultimate end of achieving the
target of the enterprise. Consequently the whole HR management,
in addition to its traditional functions, necessitates an
active participation not only in identifying and defining
the overall business goals, but also in the resultant task
of formulating appropriate strategies to achieve those objectives.
It may therefore be said that the HR team should function
in such a manner as to attract all the attributes of a partnership
`in all policies, in all plans, in all controls, in all strategies'
of the business unit.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
COVER
STORY
Technology-driven
Corporate Governance: Reinventing the Role of SHRM
- - Radha Mohan Chebolu
The
growing `technology-mania' and the thrust for revamping corporate
governance strategies have to be located essentially in light
of `Strategic Human Resources Management' (SHRM), both in
the interest of the organization and the individuals. SHRM,
which is the latest buzzword among corporate managers, has
acquired more gravity in recent times in view of the rapid
growth of technology-driven services often ignoring the focus
to be given to the human element in the organization. The
growing gap between `invention' and `inventor' has to be minimized
by relocating the contribution and productive value generated
from SHRM in corporate governance strategies. This article
sheds light on the need for pursuing HR management as a strategy
in technology-driven organizations with illustrations from
public and private sectors.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
Understanding
Knowledge Workers
- - Dilip Das Gupta
Today,
everybody is talking about `knowledge' workers in a `knowledge
society'. If working with unskilled or skilled workers had
been such a `pain' earlier, will working with `knowledge'
workers be any different? Putting it bluntly, will the gains
outweigh the pains? What are we in for? What proactive steps
should we take to be ready for the future? How should we treat
our knowledge workers?
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
ORGANIZATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Organizations
Change!
- - Devika Varadarajan
In
today's time, when change is the order of the day, organizations
are struggling to manage their change process to make sure
that it leads them in the right direction. Change, whether
in an individual or in an organization, is organic and impacts
entire domains. It is inevitable, painful and mostly messy.
All change is about seeing the future as we would like it
to be and moving towards it one step at a time.
© 2005 Devika Varadarajan. All Rights Reserved.
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
The
Vibrant Organizational Culture
- - Chitra Mukunnan
Organizational culture has an effect on the entire organization
and is like the powerful undercurrent of ocean tides or the
hidden iceberg which can destroy a ship. Identifying the culture
prevalent in an organization is just the beginning. The coalescing
of cultures might throw up a new culture that might be better
or worse. Judging it is an uphill, but critical task.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
HR
STRATEGY
Contemporary
HR Practices to Vibrant Organizational Demands
- - V N Srivastava M Shafiq
The
dawn of 1999 shared several challenges of the new millennium
with enthusiasm and expectation for achieving great heights.
HR professional and practitioners also shared many HR challenges
across the country through seminars and conferences. It is
almost five years since the various organizations have not
only faced the challenges, but have also managed to tackle
most of them successfully. Major HR challenges were thrown
up because of the mounting pressures on organizations to cope
up with the turbulent and changed business environments as
a result of globalization and liberalization in the early
1990s. It did set new global trends with several implications
for human resource management and the proactive ways in which
HR professionals should respond. This article discusses the
state of those organizations, and their HR practices and functioning,
the changed HR practices in the context of the forced organizational
changes, the need today for conforming, aligning and synchronizing
the HR practices to the continuously changing and vibrant
organizational demands.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
GENERAL
MANAGEMENT
Performance
Appraisal
- - Adivarahan
In
the past, employees' performance was measured based on certain
parameters by the employee's supervisors only. Based on this
appraisal, employee growth was determined and, most of the
time, the employee was not even aware of the appraisal. In
the current situation many organizations have introduced new
methods that are transparent and effective like the Balanced
Scorecard and 360-degree analysis.
© 2005 K Adhivarahan. All Rights Reserved.
SOFT
SKILLS
A
Hard Case for Soft Skills: Gaining a Competitive Advantage
with Soft Skills
- - Laurainne Theogaraj
In
today's workplace the benchmark for excellence at all levels,
specially managerial, is not how intellectually qualified
one is but rather on a positive attitude, ethical values,
and personal and interpersonal skills which are collectively
termed `soft skills'. An organization should aim at a balanced
integration of soft skills, hard skills and a supportive Human
Resource Management System in order to gain a competitive
advantage.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
CASE
STUDY
Biocon:
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's Entrepreneurial Dream
- - Vivek Gupta and K Yamini Aparna
If
I can build a company like Biocon, anyone can... The first
step was to dream however big or small.... If you have a vision,
no matter how big or small, a plan, no matter if it is imperfect,
but if there is passion and conviction for it, success is
inevitable. - Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Managing Director, Biocon
India Limited.
© 2005 ICMR. All
Rights Reserved. For accessing and procuring the case study,
log on to www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk or www.icmrindia.org
BOOK
REVIEW
Levers
of Organization Design
- - Robert Simons
According
to Robert Simons,the accountability system in an organization
gets sidelined whenever factors influencing a firm's success
are highlighted. Hence, organization design evolves on its
own, without any conscious planning, which is a critical mistake
diminishing a firm's performance. In this book, the author
describes a new theory that talks about creating structures
and accountability systems. The four levers of organization
design are unit structure, diagnostic control systems,interactive
networks and shared responsibilities.These levers are influenced
by four key factors: Customer definition, critical performance
variables, creative tension and commitment to others. The
author also showcases case studies to show how this model
works in practice.
© 2005 Robert Simons. All Rights Reserved. The IUP holds the copyright for the review. |
