H R Era,     Issue # 11A,       May11th, 2002

1. Moderator's Space

2. Out Sourcing HR: Issues to Consider - by Tarkesh Gupta

3. Tomato Soup for the Soul

4. Creating Killer Presentation Transparancies - by Mike Delaney

5. Attitude - by Ramakrsihnarao

6. Buhari's Quote Corner

7. More from Members and HR Era's Website

8. Finger Tips (The Successful Side of Failure) - by Rajababu

9. Aims of HR Era, How to Contribute Articles, Legal Stuff.

If only the sweetest bird sings, then the jungle will be a very boring place! Similarly, if only the perfect writer write articles for HR Era then HR Era will be a very boring ezine.

I invite each and every one of you to contribute and share your experience & knowledge.

Regards.

Rajeev B Bhatnagar

Why Outsourcing ?: Beacuse of the evolving role of HR

The human resources function is increasingly involved in strategic management decisions.
Economic pressures have forced HR to be smaller, more business-like and to provide value-added services.
HR must have in-depth understanding of the business.
Organizations must now use their people to achieve a competitive edge and take a serious look at how their HR policies and practices are contributing to the total business strategy.
HR has to communicate what it does and how it contributes to the organisation’s goals and demonstrate its value to the line.
The competencies required by HR professionals are changing; gone are the days when HR can dictate the rules and policies and expect them to fly. HR staff must now form alliances with line managers and involve them in the development of HR practices.

What are the risks to outsourcing?

Low quality of work
Lack of understanding of organization culture on the part of contractor
Unmet timeframes
High cost
Difficulty in identifying competent contractor

Most important issues to address in order to ensure that an HR outsourcing initiative is successful?

Make sure you have service delivery standards, reasonable cost, and availability of service providers, service orientation, clear accountability, and good communication.
Ensure timeliness, quality of product, cost, and ask "does it add value to the organization?"
Current knowledge, expertise, availability, accuracy, achievers, and honesty.
Contractor must have experience; knowledge of organization, understanding of how small organizations function, flexibility.
Select a service provider who follows best practices; ensure it has a "service" orientation; ensure its philosophy of HR management is consistent with your corporate management style.
Outsourcing should be used selectively and discreetly. However, outsourcing can appear to be too convenient an option which can seriously undermine an organization’s ability to deal with its own human resources needs. Outsourcing should not compromise organizational effectiveness.
Outsourcing will be the future of routine HR functions.
Outsourcing is a solution which allows for flexibility without compromising other organizational demands.
Be accurate and honest with the consultant about your needs, your situation, your workload and your expectations.
The HR activity should not be outsourced when it is important to retain the associated internal knowledge.
Outsourcing is only one way of doing business and should not be considered the solution in all cases.
We need to establish a repertoire which lists names of consultants and firms by HR discipline and type of activity.
Deciding what to outsource
Which areas within the organization are not core? What are the best candidates for outsourcing?
What are the sets of services … the set of capabilities that I want to go outside for?
Who is capable of delivering the services that we’re looking for?
Which of the potential providers are world-class?
Do I integrate my requirements and go with a single provider, or do I separate them and put together a group of suppliers?
Where will I get the best return on the investment from an outsourcing decision?
How do we benchmark the providers? How do we benchmark against other companies in the industry?
What’s the right scope?

Conclusion

Don’t forget that outsourcing is a strategic business decision. Finance (as well as legal) departments have a crucial role to play in supporting the objectives of this decision. The financial and legal terms of the relationship should be aligned with the business objectives.
Establish clear roles and responsibilities: who does what, where, when and how? Outsourcing partnerships require ongoing definition of roles and responsibilities. How much control does the organization give up, and how much does it keep?
Define precisely what constitutes non-compliance and make sure that you include provisions and/or penalties addressing the vendor’s failure to comply with these standards.
The contract must delineate the total cost as well as the payment method. Look for hidden costs; specify bonuses, incentives and penalties.
Ensure a good reporting system. The contract should stipulate a reporting system between the organization and the vendor.
Have an escape route. In addition to setting an expiration date, specify contract renegotiation, arbitration or early termination procedures. Provide for disengagement procedures for both parties.
Specify how the transition will be accomplished. Before signing the contract, review the change management process with the vendor. All participants must understand and agree to the processes outlined.
Address personnel issues. Don’t forget your people.

Contributed by Tarkesh Gupta, Executive -HR, Dabur India Limited, Delhi
Email tarkeshg@dabur.com

  

Goal Oriented Kid

Father sends a small boy to bed.

Five minutes later....
"Da-ad...."
"What?" "I'm thirsty. Can you bring drink of water?" "No. You had your chance. Lights out."

Five minutes later: "Da-aaaad....."
"WHAT?"
"I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??"
"I told you NO!" If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!"

Five minutes later......"Daaaa-aaaad....."
"WHAT!"
"When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"

Life Long Learner

A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before.
"You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant.
"No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house
without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"

Why Did You Die?

When Ted was putting flowers on his Grandmother's grave he noticed a man, very distraught, in front of a tombstone several yards away. The man was on his knees, hands tightly clasped in front of him, rocking back and forth, head tilted upward to heaven, tears streaming down his cheeks, moaning softly, "Why did you die? Why did you die?" Over and over again.

Ted was overcome with emotion at this sight and went over to the poor man to try and console him. "Why did you die? Why did you die?" bellowed the man again and again.

Ted gently put his arm around the man and half whispered to him, "My Grandmother is buried just over there. Is a loved one of yours buried here?"
"No," sniffled the man, "It's my wife's first husband."

From the Net

Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines you can use to create high-quality, yet unobtrusive transparencies. Remember the obvious: if it enhances your message, it's good; if it distracts from your message, it's bad.

1. Limit the work area to 7.5" by 10" to allow room to mount the transparency.

2. Appropriate type size. Generally, use an 18-point type size or larger. To get an idea of how your text will look on-screen, hold your transparency at arm's length.

3. Generally, one transparency equals one idea. If the one idea has several components, consider using overlay transparencies to build upon the first. Too much initial information overwhelms the viewer. As a rule, remember "five by five": limit each transparency to five lines with no more than five words per line.

4. Limit your fonts to two or three simple bold faces per series of ideas. Avoid ornate font faces, such as the script and fantasy families. If you must use more than one idea on a transparency, use type size and weight to relate the relative importance of ideas. Sans-serif faces are easier to read on-screen at smaller type sizes.

5. Mix upper and lowercase. It is more readable than all-caps.

6. Avoid vertical lettering. It is requires too much effort to read.

7. Use color and graphics, but sparingly. They should be used to enhance your ideas, not overwhelm them. With graphics, think "loosely-related". For example, a car or a hammer might be used beneath a message "to drive" something, such as "driving customer service home", or "the driving force behind ..."

8. Use clip art bullets, arrow, boxes, and checkboxes instead of numbers in lists. Most transparencies are designed on a desktop computer, and clip art is readily available.

9. Trim, trim, trim. Review your transparencies several times looking for unnecessary words. Cut them ruthlessly. Leave your work overnight, them review them again with a fresh mindset.

Keep these few tips in mind next time your are developing your presentation materials and you will find that your presentations will be much more effective.

About the Author:

Mike Delaney is a shoplifting prevention trainer with over 20 years experience as an expert shoplifter, and almost 10 years stopping them. He is the author of "How to Beat Shoplifters and Increase Profits", offered by Bison Creek Desktop Publishing, http://www.zianet.com/bisoncreek

Harvard and Stanford Universities have reported that 85% the reason a person gets a job and gets ahead in that job is due to attitude; and only 15% is because of technical or specific skills. Interesting, isn't it? You spent how much money on your education? And you spent how much money on building your positive attitude? Ouch. That hurts.

Now here's an interesting thought. With the "right" attitude, you can and will develop the necessary skills. So where's your emphasis? Skill building? Attitude building? Unfortunately, "Neither" is the real answer for many people. Perhaps if more people knew how simple it is to develop and maintain a positive attitude they would invest more time doing so. So here we go.

Five steps to staying positive in a negative world:

1. Understand that failure is an event, it is not a person.

Yesterday ended last night; today is a brand new day, and it's yours. You were born to win, but to be a winner you must plan to win, prepare to win, and then you can expect to win.

2. Become a lifetime student.

Learn just one new word every day and in five years you will be able to talk with just about anybody about anything. When your vocabulary improves, your I.Q. goes up 100% of the time, according to Georgetown Medical School.

3. Read something informational or inspirational every day.

Reading for 20 minutes at just 240 words per minute will enable you to read 20 200-page books each year. That's 18 more than the average person reads! What an enormous competitive advantage . . . if you'll just read for 20 minutes a day.

4. The University of Southern California reveals that you can acquire the equivalent of two years of a college education in three years just by listening to motivational and educational cassettes on the way to your job and again on the way home. What could be easier?

5. Start the day and end the day with positive input into your mind.

Inspirational messages cause the brain to flood with dopamine and norepinephrine, the energizing neurotransmitters; with endorphins, the endurance neurotransmitters; and with serotonin, the feel-good-about-yourself neurotransmitter. Begin and end the day by reading or doing something positive!

Remember: Success is a process, not an event. Invest the time in your attitude and it will pay off in your skills as well as your career.

Think of it.......

Contributed by: Ramakrishnarao, People Excellence, Tata Telecom Ltd - Gandhinagar
Tele : 079 - 3221773 / 3246467, Extn. No. 290 (Lease Line No. 281)
Email: rthallam@tatatelecom.com

If people were important yesterday and important today, by God, they will be extremely important tommorow. Therefore, the priority should be to attract the very best talent. We are going to do it in two ways. One is through remuneration. But the important thing is to make the company an eciting and vibrant place to come and work.

M. S. Banga, Chairman, Hindustan Lever Limited.

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.

Conrad Hilton, Founder Hilton chain of hotel.

Selected & put in by Moderator

Funny Brain Teasers, sent by Ramakrishna Rao, Gandhinagar

Appear to be very easy & fun. But appearances can be deceptive.

Lateral Thinking Puzzles, sent by Dipa Anand, Tata Infotech Limited, Bangalore

If you can solve even one of Dipa's puzzles, then your IQ is certainly higher than mine. If not IQ, at least creativity is higher than mine. Check out!

Foreword by Rajababu

Today morning, I recd a mail from one of the recipients of my e-Mails. Through a thinly coated veneer of manners, he told me in no uncertain terms that my mails which I am sending out were all trash and that if I don't have any respect for my time, atleast I should have respect for his time. I felt depressed for 15 minutes, then I actually smiled and started feeling happy. Because I had positive proof that out of all my e-mail recipients, atleast one of them actually read my mail. That's failure for you then. Success in disguise. Please read on.................

A Serious Start ...Failure !

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure;
It means you have not yet succeeded.

Failure doesn't mean you accomplished nothing,
It means you have learned something.

Failure doesn't mean that you have been a fool.
It means you had a lot of faith.

Failure doesn't mean you've been disgraced.
It means you were willing to try.

Failure doesn't mean you don't have it.
It means you have to do something in a different way

Failure doesn't mean you are inferior.
It means you are not perfect.

Failure doesn't mean you've wasted your life.
It means you have a reason to start afresh

Failure doesn't mean you should give up.
It means you must try harder

Failure doesn't mean you'll never make it.
It means it will take a little longer.

Contributed by Rajababu, HR Consultant, trainer & author based in Mumbai. See his articles at http://www.mumbai-central/likhaai/rajababu.htm and at
http://www.aicmas.com

Aims of HR Era:
It aims to enhance CAREER GROWTH of its readers by bringing to them practices & ideas they can apply in their work, opportunities to network with other Professionals, training opportunities, jobs available, and techniques for self-management.

Contribute Articles & Other Contents:
Contributions from readers are wholeheartedly solicited. Contributions are the things that enable sharing of learnings. Lead Article should be about 800 words, others 400 words. Please send details about yourself also as we would like to post them along with the article. Kindly note, no honorarium is paid now! Please email contributions to HREra@rediffmail.com

Legal Stuff!
All information in HR Era is presented in good faith. However, before using, please consult relevant experts. We do not accept any financial responsibility for accuracy.

Visit our Website at http://hrera.tripod.com 

Copyright (C) 2002 by Rajeev B. Bhatnagar