HR Era, Issue # 57,
May 15, 2005
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CONTENTS
1. Moderator's Space
Human
Resources Management
2.1
Human Resource Planning : Importance, Steps & Actioning - by
N Vareta
2.2
Retention Strategies for BPO Industry
- by Rajat Joshi
2.3
Organizational Transformation: Summary of Talks in 33rd World Conference of
IFTDO
– by RBB
2.4 Why Employee Satisfaction Surveys and
Employee Exit Surveys Make Good
Sense
- by Martin Day
2.5
How Our Brains Can Act As Barriers To Innovation
- by N. S. Srinivasan and
G.
Balasubramanian
3.
My Lessons in Life - by Azim Premji - received
from Barkha Jain
4.
Timeless Classics on Self Help : Brief Outlines
- by Alka Bhatnagar
Meditations - by Marcus Aurelius
5.
Delegation of Responsibility
- compiled by
Varsha Sarda
6. Presentations on Japanese System of 5 "S"
6.1
5S - sent by Suhas Kulkarni
6.2
Housekeeping and 5 S - sent by S Sampath Kumar
6.3
5 'S' Program - sent by Gaurav Singh
7. Aims of HR Era,
How to Contribute Articles.
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1. Moderator's Space
The layout of our websites having free
presentation for you has become more user-friendly. You will now
find 73 presentations, ebooks
etc. Please visit any one of the following links and send
us your comments.
http://geocties.com/hr_era
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warm regards
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Rajeev@HREra.com
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2.1
Human Resource Planning : Importance, Steps & Actioning - by N Vareta
Vareta strongly feels
that HR Planning is mostly avoid by practioners in big and small organizations.
In this 6 page article, he defines HR Planningt, brings it's importance,
describes the steps involved, and finally talks about actioning on it.
Author: N Vareta
Mr Vareta is Human
Resources Assistant, World Health Organization, Brazzaville, Congo. He has done
Diplomas & Advanced Diplomas in Personal Management, Training & Development,
Human Resouce Management.
Contact:
varetan@yahoo.com
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2.2
Retention Strategies for BPO Industry - by
Rajat JoshiIn this 7-page
article, Rajat gives about 50 suggestions & tips on what HR Managers in BPO
Industry can think of doing for reducing attrition. The article obviously rooted
in his personal experience in the industry, deep study, & long hours spent
documenting them.
Click Here to download & read.
Author: Rajat Joshi
An MBA from SCMHRD in 1995, Rajat has 9 years of
experience in HR. He is currently on sabbatical. Besides reading extensively and
consulting, he conducts Workshops on Business Creativity in B-Schools.
Contact: rajatjoshi@yahoo.com ,
Phone: 9870258896
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We invite you to
use HR Era as your medium of self expression, sharing, and growth.
Email your articles & contributions to
Alka@HREra.com or
Rajeev@HREra.com
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2.3
Organizational Transformation: Summary of Talks in 33rd World Conference of IFTDO
– by RBB
The Conference was attended by over 1200 delegates from 32
countries in 5 continents. There were 133 speakers.
Here are summaries of 2 more talks on Organizational Transformation. Both talks
are by senior executives who have themselves lead huge transformations.
Mr.
R.V.Shahi, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India on Leading
Organizational Transformation in Power Sector
Dr.
Chandan Mitra, Managing Director, The Pioneer Group on Leading
Organizational Transformation
These, alongwith Mr. Damodaran's talk, were the best
examples of sharing personal experience amongst the 20 talks that I heard in the
Conference.
Click Here
to download / view.
[Credit for all inaccuracies is mine - Rajeev.]
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2.5 Why
Employee Satisfaction Surveys and Employee Exit Surveys Make Good Sense
- by Martin Day
In a competitive world with the need for businesses to be more streamlined and
productive, a company can often find itself with a workforce working under
pressure resulting in low moral and high staff turnover. The benefits of a
company having a highly motivated workforce can be considerable and the two
goals of having a workforce that is both motivated and productive should not be
regarded as being mutually exclusive to one another.
Left unattended employers run the risk of alienating their employees, events can
cause employee frustrations to boil over resulting in employers finding
themselves on the back foot, faced with a problem that cannot be ignored.
Ideally employers would take time to understand the needs of their employees and
learn from their experiences of working on the front line, but employers are
often themselves tied up day to day fighting their own fires.
By automating much of the intelligence gathering process and providing the
findings in a format that can be readily analysed, online surveys provide
employers with an efficient, effective and low cost method to help achieve a
pleasant working environment, where staff satisfaction and productivity is high.
Dissatisfied & Unproductive
The are many reasons why employees may be dissatisfied with their job and more
often than not staff frustration is channeled into a demand for higher salaries
and less hours. Employers who tackle these issues head on, making it all about
salary and hours, will often find themselves dealing with the symptoms and not
the root cause.
It’s not about Money
The following are common barriers to achieving productivity, none of which are
likely to be resolved by increasing salaries or reducing hours:-
• Inadequate training
• Out of touch management
• Out of date working methods
• Lack of proper tools and equipment
Many studies have shown that salaries are rarely the number one priority of
employees and providing an employer is paying market rate they would be
fundamentally wrong to think that paying higher salaries is the answer to all
employee problems.
Take the case of a single mother who is juggling a full time job with the need
to look after two children. Out of frustration she may demand more money so that
she feels that she is able to cope where a better solution, for both her and the
company, may be more flexible working hours.
It is About Communication
It is important for any company to encourage communication. Company's that make
communication between personnel and management difficult, or take the view that
if personnel have a problem they will say something, can often delude themselves
into thinking their workforce is content when it is not. It only takes one small
problem and one disgruntled employee to feel aggrieved for an entire workforce
to develop a destructive ‘them and us’ attitude.
Improving Communication
One to one meetings between employer and employee would be ideal but in practice
only practical for very small businesses.
Regular meetings between management and worker representatives are good in
theory but they often become talking shops and can begin to loose their edge as
the participants become familiar with one another and the forum runs the risk of
being hijacked by the more extrovert personalities.
Suggestion boxes are useful but can be viewed as token efforts by management as
they wait for personnel to highlight a problem.
Newsletters can be a positive step, but their purpose is generally to inform and
not discuss issues.
Keeping the Initiative
An employee satisfaction survey run on a regular basis is able to ask each
employee specific questions and represents a pro-active management initiative
where the whole workforce can be consulted on various issues. Surveys are able
to provide a level playing field between the quieter and more vocal employees.
Consultation should not be seen as a sign of weakness, a confident manager will
take counsel from all quarters before making a decision. By issuing a survey and
keeping the initiative the employer is able to tackle problems from a position
of strength as opposed to waiting for problems to fester and then develop out of
proportion.
Small problems left unresolved can lead to a situation where a minor problem
might break the camels back and the workforce mood change from positive to
negative over night.
It’s Quick and Easy
For the majority of companies online surveys represent a proactive and low cost
solution. They are quick to design and for many companies, where the majority of
personnel have desktop computers, they are quick to deploy direct to the
individual.
In situations where individuals do not have personal access to a computer there
are still many options available to implement the online survey solution such as
giving access to a shared computer, operator input or, as a last resort, a
hardcopy survey.
Job Satisfaction
There are many elements that go towards providing an employee with job
satisfaction, from the working environment, working methodology, working ethos,
company ethics to having good and effective management. Job satisfaction brings
benefits through improved motivation and productivity from a workforce that
feels that they are treated as individuals and not a commodity item.
Inform and Educate
An online survey can also be used to educate and pass on to the workforce
important information, the ‘message’ is consistently delivered and does not
suffer from the Chinese whisper phenomenon where a message can be distorted as
it is handed down.
An online survey can explain a difficult situation and get valuable feedback
from the employees as to the best solution. It is rare in this situation that
the workforce would appear negative and more likely that they will feel informed
and empowered that might in itself turn a potentially negative problem into a
positive challenge that unites the workforce.
Exit Surveys
Exit surveys are an excellent way of ensuring that when personnel leave an
organisation they are leaving for the right reasons and not due to reasons that
if appreciated earlier could have been addressed and resolved by management.
Although identifying a problem may not prevent a person leaving it could solve
an unappreciated issue that may, if left unchecked, result in other key
personnel also leaving.
Analysing the Results
Having consulted the workforce with an online survey the results are available
for instant analysis. Common and specific problems can be easily identified and
brought to the attention of senior management who will then have the opportunity
to address the issues that have been raised.
Summary
Used regularly online surveys represent a simple and productive method of taking
the pulse of an organisation and an easy way to establish a two way
communication channel between employer and employee with the results providing
management with vital, accurate and significant information.
For a Sample of Surveys
Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1163
Sample Employee Exit survey
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1165
Author: Martin Day
Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd, a web site that allows anyone to
create, design and publish online surveys. For more information please visit
http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com
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2.5
How Our Brains Can Act As Barriers To Innovation
- by N. S. Srinivasan and G. Balasubramanian
The
message of this complex looking article is simple. Authors say that Innovation
is crucial for organizational survival & growth in today's demanding world.
However, innovative ability reduces continuously overtime because of a
biological process in
the brain - called "reward mechanism." This happens both at individual as well
as organizational levels.
Constant
innovation depends on training / provision of knowledge about innovation to
individuals and fostering an organizational culture that stimulates & sustains
higher level mental abilities. Authors provide training & mentoring in this
area.
Click Here to download & read.
Authors : N. S. Srinivasan and G. Balasubramanian
Contact:
nss@mom-darshna.org
, bala@ifmr.com
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3.
My Lessons in Life - by Azim Premji
- received from Barkha Jain
Famous & inspiring
address by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation, in the "Shaping Young Minds
Program" (SYMP) organized by AIMA and BMA on Feb. 9, 2004 in Mumbai.
Received from Barkha Jain
Contact:
barkhajain2001@yahoo.com
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4. Timeless Classics on
Self Help : Brief Outlines
- by Alka Bhatnagar
Meditations - by Marcus Aurelius
Alka
will be preparing brief outlines of the best books on self help.
These aim is to let you find whether the book is to your
personal liking.
Click Here to download and read the outline.
Luckly
this particular book is available in full-text at following
links as free download.
http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/marcuaurelius1.html
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5.
Delegation of Responsibility - compiled by
Varsha Sarda
Tips you
can post in your work area to remind yourself about this important leadership
skill. Compiled by Varsha for participants of her project on 360 Degree
Feedback.
Click Here to download.
Compiled by: Varsha Sarda
Contact :
varshsarda@rediffmail.com
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6. Presentations on
Japanese System of 5 "S"6.1
5S - sent
by Suhas Kulkarni
Brief
intro to 5S, describes each S, advantages, and whetre it can be applied. 15
Slides, 68 KB.
Contact:
k.suhas@aplab.com
6.2
Housekeeping and 5 S - sent by S Sampath Kumar
Housekeeping is more than cleanliness, intro to 5S & each S, emphasises
the role of top management, middle & line management, and employees. 26 Slides,
276 KB
Contact:
Audco
India Limited, Chennai .
sskr@audcoindia.com
6.3
5 'S' Program - sent by Gaurav Singh
Detailed
presentation, ready for use to give training on the subject. 34 Slides, 113 KB
Contact:
gaurav_singh12@yahoo.com
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http://geocities.com/bhatnagar_alka
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7. Aims of HR Era and How to Contribute Articles
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:
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Copyright (C) 2005 by HREra.com
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