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by HR Bangladesh

Managing the Motivation Equation

November 28, 2011 in Articles

by Bill Sherman
Learning professionals can leverage motivation theory to reduce learners’ intention-action gap and achieve stronger post-training outcomes. But first they must make learner motivation a core competency – for themselves and their teams.
Many organizations needlessly leave learner motivation to chance. As a result, some training solutions fail spectacularly. Often, learners find ways to do anything but learn. However, there’s a more subtle problem that plagues even the most popular courses: After training, learners may report that they loved the course; they may even demonstrate that they have mastered the content. Still, these seemingly satisfied learners never apply their new knowledge and skills. They soon fall back into old habits, often because they lack motivation.
Therefore, chief learning officers often ask, “What makes training sticky?” It’s the million-dollar question that distinguishes successful learning programs from ineffective training boondoggles. Certainly, learner motivation plummets whenever the training deploys weak instructional design or ineffective delivery methods. However, neither strong design nor cutting-edge delivery methods can guarantee learner motivation.
Therefore, learning professionals must simultaneously understand the dynamics behind learner motivation and manage them for both formal and informal learning. Learner motivation cannot be an afterthought that receives a hasty plan just before the implementation phase.
Learner motivation requires a coherent strategy at every phase of the learning process. Whenever an organization identifies a learning need, one of the first questions should be, “How will we motivate our learners to change?” The answers to this question must shape the entire training solution – its design, development, rollout and post-training support strategy.
Many organizations lack precise ways to define, manage and measure motivation. Worse yet, organizations often rely on imprecise or antiquated theories of motivation. One model, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, introduced in 1943, offers an interesting way to think about individual needs and behaviors, but it fails to provide a reliable predictive model of human motivation. As an example, a 2007 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study showed that the poorest Americans (lowest quintile) donated 4.3 percent of their income to charity while the richest (highest quintile) donated 2.1 percent. Maslow’s model would predict the opposite behaviors.
Evidence-based research on motivation has advanced substantially within the past few decades. Here, we examine two distinct questions within the sphere of learning:
1. How can we currently define motivation?
2. How can we manage motivation within the learning function?
These two questions are critical to improve the quality of training programs. Learning professionals need, but currently lack, a common language to discuss motivation. This language must align with current research on motivation and, most important, it must provide effective ways to motivate learners.
Defining Motivation
Piers Steel, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, has extensively researched the concept of motivation and its destructive counterpart, procrastination. Steel has determined individuals struggle to understand and manage their own motivation, let alone that of others. According to Steel, “Procrastination is our natural state of being; however, when you understand motivation, you can consciously choose to close the intention-action gap.”
Steel has identified four key factors that influence an individual’s degree of motivation:
1. Outcomes
All of the rewards and losses associated with a choice.
2. Probability
The likelihood that those rewards and losses will occur.
3. Delay
How long an individual will have to wait for the outcomes to occur.
4. Impulsiveness
The individual’s natural degree of distractibility toward other options.
According to Steel, these four factors explain why we put off actions, such as important changes, even when we know they will benefit us. We often underestimate the power of our impulsiveness. We delay important actions because the rewards or losses seem distant, and we are naturally wired to prefer choices that deliver instant gratification.
When learners return from training, they face a tough choice. If they follow the old process, they will rely on their well-developed skills to complete the task. They may complete the task quickly and have a few minutes to spare to chat with a colleague or grab a cup of coffee. On the other hand, the new process will improve their proficiency in the long term, but it will take a lot of time to achieve mastery. In the interim, they expect the task will take longer to complete and may generate errors or delays – both of which would irritate their bosses. More important, they would be sacrificing their chance to chat or grab that cup of coffee.
Unless learners make a conscious choice to change, they may default to old habits because they value immediate rewards more than long-term benefits. They tell themselves they will try the new approach tomorrow, when they have more time. However, they never seem to have more time.
How can we move these learners from a state of procrastination to a highly motivated state? Let’s take a look at what Steel calls The Motivation Equation.
While this model may initially seem complex, it gives learning professionals several ways to influence motivation within an individual or within the organization:
a) Increase the outcomes by making rewards or losses larger.
b) Increase probability by making outcomes seem more likely to the learner.
c) Reduce delay by making goals more proximate and outcomes more immediate.
d) Recognize if someone has a high degree of impulsiveness, meaning he or she is highly distractable, frequently giving in to temptation for short-term gain and having trouble prioritizing tasks.
These four factors shift motivation from a vague abstraction to a definable, manageable process. This allows organizations to plan a motivation strategy proactively before launching a training intervention, and it also allows learning professionals to respond when they detect a motivation gap within an individual or a group of learners.
Motivation Before Training
If we look at pre-training through the motivation equation, then the organization must perform three tasks. It must clearly communicate the training program’s outcomes, explain the probability of success and demonstrate that effort will produce proximate benefits.
Here are two ways organizations can improve how they frame the course and communicate value before the course starts.
In the world of formal training, the pre-training communication is often a woefully underutilized tool. Some organizations enroll learners into a course without explaining the “why” behind the course. Other organizations provide a laundry list of learning objectives that will confuse most learners. However, the realistic course preview (RCP) provides a learner-focused preview of the course. It clearly explains the course’s content and the relevance to both the learner and the organization. Often a well-designed RCP will be supported by statements from learners who have already gone through the process and experienced the post-training benefits. Learners tend to believe their peers, especially when they speak candidly. The RCP also strengthens the psychological contract between the learners and the organization. When learners experience a difficult learning challenge, it’s easier for them to say, “Hey, this is hard right now, but you told us to expect it to get tough here; we’ll work through it because we want the reward.”
Research published in 2003 by C. L. Holladay also has shown that clever course titles can sometimes make it much harder for learners to predict the course content and understand the course’s relevance. Therefore, when selecting a course title, share the proposed title with a few sample learners. Ask them what the title tells them about the course. Then ask them to rate the course’s apparent relevance to their role. You may be surprised by the results.
Motivation During Training
Steel, in his forthcoming book The Procrastination Equation: The Science of Getting Things Done, describes several strategies that can be used by organizations during training to improve long-term motivation within individuals.
First, be sure to explain the immediate benefits. Individuals need concrete benefits that seem tangible and attainable. Help learners see value by linking the outcomes with one of their already established needs. Tap into the desire to achieve results; attain power or status; develop social ties; or increase their utility to others, such as colleagues or clients. In addition to communicating value, be sure to leverage the power of probability. Tell stories about others who mastered these skills and achieved success. Humans learn through powerful narratives: “If that person can do it, then so can I.” Make a clear connection between the rewards, or outcomes, and stories of success. If possible, consider asking the successful person to tell his or her story firsthand - either live or through a recorded video. Your goal is to create a strategy that works the entire top half of the motivation equation.
Often, training initiatives don’t give much guidance to learners about what to do post-training. Therefore, Steel recommends that courses encourage learners to set concrete goals tied to both a time and place:
1. Introducing a new process
“When I boot my computer tomorrow morning, I will …”
2. Teaching customer service
“When a customer complains to me in the store, I will …”
This if/then or when/then trigger seems simple. However, recent studies have been able to raise performance behaviors fivefold – from 10 percent to more than 50 percent – by guiding learners through a specially designed exercise that established concrete implementation intentions.
These short-term goals help learners overcome the inertia and background noise. According to Steel, “Choosing to act, rather than procrastinate, is an artificial choice; therefore, we must use every advantage we can to stack the deck towards action.”
Motivation in Action
Recently, a national motorcycle distributor had to guide change through its entire retailer network. The change would impact the behavior of the independent retail owners, their managers and even front-line employees. These individuals were asked to perform additional tasks where the outcomes, or rewards, would only appear at year-end, after a significant delay. Procrastination would be easy and instinctive.
Because of the relationship between the distributor and its retailers, change could be encouraged but not directly required. Therefore, the training solution incorporated an extensive learner motivation strategy that included pre-training, training and one full year of post-training support. Learners also received direct training about the motivation equation. The learner motivation strategy has been critical to producing lasting change. One year later, more than 90 percent of the retailers that participated still organically embrace these procedural changes.
Next Steps
Learning professionals can leverage motivation theory to reduce learners’ intention-action gap and achieve stronger post-training outcomes. But first they must make learner motivation a core competency for themselves and their team:
a) Establish a common language of motivation within the team.
b) Require that all new learning initiatives include a learner motivation strategy.
c) Analyze current learning programs to identify reasons that produce motivation gaps.
Will you make these changes? The motivation equation suggests that you are probably tempted to turn the page right now. The next article appeals to your impulsiveness. If you’re genuinely serious about managing learner motivation, then set an implementation intention for yourself.
Complete this sentence: “When I next meet with my team, then I will …” Envision yourself in that space and acting.
OK, now turn the page.
[About the Author: Bill Sherman is co-founder and managing partner of Intulogy, a provider of outsourced training programs.]
Regards,
Harvinder

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by HR Bangladesh

Self-Introduction is Your Key to Interview Success

September 3, 2011 in Articles, Recruitment & selection

Once you have been invited to an interview you must get ready to create the image of someone they will surely want to hire above all other job applicants. Everybody has an opinion as to how you do that, but what do you actually do and what do you say? Self-introduction is your key to interview success because you are starting from a baseline position where they have no experience of who you are or what you are like.

Yes, they should have read your resume and cover letter you sent in, but that only gave them enough for them to want to see you in person. Now you are going to meet the hiring manager in person, you have a one-off make or break opportunity to get them to see you as the only person they want to employ.

As you know, interviewers will often rely heavily on their first impressions, to the extent that the interview becomes merely a confirmation of that first impression, either good or bad. So if self-introduction is your key to interview success, the first and most important aim is to create a positive first impression. Everybody has an opinion as to how you do that: look ‘em in the eye, give ‘em a firm handshake, speak up and don’t mumble; know your stuff. All good ideas, but what do you actually do and what do you say?

Create A Favorable First Impression

The way to create a favorable first impression is to be sure you appear confident and open. When you meet your interviewer for the first time, make eye-contact at the introduction and repeat the interviewer’s name as you shake hands and thank them for inviting you to the interview. As you get seated, smile to indicate you are ready to get down to business.

Because self-introduction is your key to interview success, you must have previously prepared exactly what you are going to say. This is not some lengthy story about your life, but a short focused statement that sounds interesting to the listener. You make it interesting by keeping it short (less than 3 minutes) and by showing that you are interested in both the job and the organization. This means you need to do some research about the business beforehand.

Strengths And Achievements

In your self-introduction you will include some examples of your strengths and achievements which relate directly to the requirements of the new job. This must also demonstrate your personal qualities that you apply when you are doing the job because the type of person you are is often far more important then just having the ability to do a job.

The way you outline your self-introduction, in particular the way you speak, tells the interviewer whether you are confident in your abilities so you must rehearse it well, but don’t try to be what you are clearly not – you’ll only be found out at a later date. Get a friend to listen to your self-introduction with a critical ear, because if it sounds false it will set the alarm bells ringing with the interviewer who will detect that it is not the real you and destroy the rapport you were building up. Practice speaking faster or more slowly, louder or quietly and try to vary it throughout.

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by HR Bangladesh

Human resources development in Bangladesh

August 22, 2011 in Articles

Mohammed Abul Kalam

The concern for policy and action planning guideline for human resources development in Bangladesh stems from the recognition that the economic progress of the past several decades, notable as it has been, has not led to the eradication of widespread poverty in the country. This is due, in part, to the limited attention paid to human resources as a crucial means as well as the ultimate end of development.

The concept of human resources development emphasises the integration of human capital and human needs aspects of human resources in development. The various components of development — health, education, environment, employment, manpower development, and science and technology — are not new. What is new is their combination in a unified approach to development policy making and planning that focuses on the role of human beings as both a critical input to, and the ultimate beneficiaries of, the development process.

In Bangladesh, development programmes touch on virtually all aspects of human resource development, but the integrated approach has not yet been generally adopted. There has been a tendency to emphasise either economic-dominated or social welfare-dominated strategy — the human capital approach or the human needs approach. In several cases, a strong commitment to social development concerns has encountered serious budget constraints associated with disappointing performance. Where there has been a strong human capital orientation, failure to address the critical quality-of-life issues have contributed to manpower bottlenecks, low productivity growth and social instability.

Few national development plans currently include any explicit human resource development. Human resource development is dealt with sectorally in separate sections of national planning documents and typically implemented by several agencies. There is currently no single unified policy or plan for the development of human resources. Thus, the essential element of integration is generally absent at the conceptual stage of policy making and planning.

A central goal of development should be to effect an equitable distribution of human resources development opportunities and benefits. At the same time, priority should be given to those population groups which could benefit most from such opportunities by virtue of either the emergency of their needs or their ability to put them to best use, not only for themselves but for the development of priority sectors.

Bringing the concerns for equitable distribution opportunities for the fullest possible development of individual potential into balance would be an important strategic challenge in human resource development policy and planning. Priority should, therefore, be given to the disadvantaged, including the rural and urban poor, women, youth and ethnic minorities, who generate the highest social rate of return on human resources development investment.

Human resources development strategy changes would be appropriate at given stages of socio-cultural and economic development. Human resources development programmes based on different strategies would bear fruit at different points in time, and their impact over time would vary. For example, narrowly focused skills development programmes might serve certain immediate development objectives, but such skills could quickly become obsolete.

On the other hand, programmes designed to develop basic and self-regenerating capabilities would be effective over a longer period of time and their human resources development impact might be wider ranging and longer lasting.

While the participation of public and private institutions in human resources development overlaps in Bangladesh context, non-market human resources needs (for example health, education, housing) falls primarily within the public domain. If human resources development policy and plans were to be effective, they would need to incorporate a carefully thought-out role distribution between the two sectors and their respective sub-sectors, as well as a method of coordination between them.

Human resources development activities were recognised to be most effective in the following types of social environment: (i) when the impulse for individual or collective self-development received stimulation under a favourable social estimate, such as in the aftermath of the war; (ii) when the national leadership was responsive to the majority needs; and (iii) when the interest of various sectors converge with overall development needs.

Given the social environment a human resources development strategy could take either an active or a passive stance. In the former case, creating the social conditions favouring the attainment of desired human resources development goals could be an important aspect of a human resources development strategy. In the latter case, existing social condition might be taken as given and the best possible use might be made of them.

Top-down rather than bottom-up development policy and planning appeared to continue to be the general rule, rather than the exception. For a human resources development strategy to be effective, direct participation of a broad cross-section of the people in the formulation of the pertinent policies and plans will be necessary. The people should, therefore, be provided every opportunity to participate in human resources development policy and programming decisions as well as in the feedback processes.

The quality of human resources in Bangladesh remained very low despite the fact that policy and planning infrastructures existed and certain facilities were available. That suggested the necessity for a demand-oriented human development strategy. It was necessary to ensure that the socio-cultural constraints on human resources demand, particularly among disadvantaged population groups, be removed. The question also arose whether capabilities development should always be subject to available employment opportunities, which tended to turn servants of employers.

We can consider the following issues in guiding policies and planning for human resources development: (a) sequential and long-term approach; (b) assessment of the efficacy of formal and non-formal approaches; (c) strengthening of political and administrative infrastructure for promoting and supporting popular participation; and (d) ensuring adequate levels of resources.

Public awareness concerning the people’s participation as an aspect of human resources development is relatively new in Bangladesh. Almost all government and non-government agencies operating in the social development sector are currently organising people at the grassroots and even competing in their effort to enhance their delivery of service. This competition is not necessarily promoting the people’s welfare or self-reliance.

This calls for a policy decision as to whether or not to lodge the responsibility over capability building for popular anticipation with a single parent agency. An important consideration in this respect is that community organisation requires specialised skills. As such, the question is raised about whether the agencies which are manned by staff with the necessary specialisations and which are basically concerned with the socially disadvantaged sections of society should be turned to as the “natural” implementation of this aspect of human resources development.

In Bangladesh, most of the development projects are financed through external assistance, so the role of international support for human resources development is significant in terms of both funding and of introduction of new ideas and strategies. Internal human resources development has already made an important contribution to national capacity in realising the potentials of human resources.

Significant opportunities exist for further expansion of this contribution. However, the implications of the role of international support for integrated, participatory and multifaceted nature for human resources development need to be carefully considered and incorporated into future programmes of international assistance.

Mohammed Abul Kalam, PhD, is Principal Scientific Officer and Head, Department of Medical Sociology, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). E-mail: makalam@btcl.net.bd

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by HR Bangladesh

Industrial Relations

June 15, 2011 in Articles, Industry Relations


Industrial relations is used to denote the collective relationships between management and the workers. Traditionally, the term industrial relations is used to cover such aspects of industrial life as trade unionism, collective bargaining, workers’ participation in management, discipline and grievance handling, industrial disputes and interpretation of labor laws and rules and code of conduct.
In the words of Lester, "Industrial relations involve attempts at arriving at solutions between the conflicting objectives and values; between the profit motive and social gain; between discipline and freedom, between authority and industrial democracy; between bargaining and co-operation; and between conflicting interests of the individual, the group and the community”.

The National Commission on Labor (NCL) also emphasize on the same concept. According to NCL, industrial relations affect not merely the interests of the two participants- labor and management, but also the economic and social goals to which the State addresses itself. To regulate these relations in socially desirable channels is a function, which the State is in the best position to perform.

In fact, industrial relation encompasses all such factors that influence behavior of people at work. A few such important factors are below:

Institution: It includes government, employers, trade unions, union federations or associations, government bodies, labor courts, tribunals and other organizations which have direct or indirect impact on the industrial relations systems.
Characters: It aims to study the role of workers unions and employers’ federations officials, shop stewards, industrial relations officers/ manager, mediator/conciliators / arbitrator, judges of labor court, tribunal etc.
Methods: Methods focus on collective bargaining, workers’ participation in the industrial relations schemes, discipline procedure, grievance redressal machinery, dispute settlements machinery working of closed shops, union reorganization, organizations of protests through methods like revisions of existing rules, regulations, policies, procedures, hearing of labor courts, tribunals etc.

Contents: It includes matter pertaining to employment conditions like pay, hours of works, leave with wages, health, and safety disciplinary actions, lay-off, dismissals retirements etc., laws relating to such activities, regulations governing labor welfare, social security, industrial relations, issues concerning with workers’ participation in management, collective bargaining, etc.

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by HR Bangladesh

Interpersonal Skills – Good Boss

May 3, 2011 in Articles

So you have got your promotion, moved up the ladder, have a larger team to handle now – well many congratulations to you. But the question is, are you prepared for such a role right now? With the skills you possess, the knowledge you hold and the great insights you have, are you able to encompass interpersonal skills and pay heed to the needs of your team? or allow me to  put it this way- Do you have the appropriate interpersonal skills to become a good boss?

As we move up the ladder we believe that all the things that we have acquired so far along with all the success will continue to foster further success in the future as well, though this might not be the case always. With growing success and positions we need to cultivate certain behaviors or skills which will help us in managing the large work force with a high success ratio.

We have had enough discussions on bad bosses, bosses who abuse; as they are the legends of the game :)…but why not for  change talk about those who played a key role in making us what we are.

I have been fortunate enough to have some good bosses too, and will share some of the experiences with you all.

Here is a Story: I met Patrick during the interview, immediately after the first meeting we both decided to work together, the gelling was such that the enthusiasm could be seen in the eyes. Even when we were in a different locations (he was placed in Germany (HQ) and I was in India), he made sure that the learning curve grew consistently over a period of time. He never interfered in any of my decisions but made sure that I did an analysis of all the pros and cons; helped me in understanding global HR practices, so that I could prosper in the company. With high EQ, he taught me to empathize with people and then reconsider decisions, policies and procedures. He was truly a people’s person-humble and very popular amongst all the employees in various regions as he was the Director HR Asia Pacific.

Similarly, have you ever considered what are the qualities you appreciated in your ‘good’ boss? In order to inculcate the same in yourself just enlist them and start working. Some of these are:

Communication skills: As a boss how you interact with team members can be seen from your communication skills and it could either make or break the interpersonal relations. The tone, pitch and choice of words can easily express the behavior and interpersonal skills. Special emphasis on honing listening skills is empirical to be successful with people around you. Team members want to know if they are being heard.

High on EQ: In order to progress, one must have shown all the intellectual skills with consistency, now is the time when one needs to sharpen the skills of being a people’s person, and the best way out is empathy and genuineness. Think from their viewpoint, what would be best for them and also for the company. Provide solutions keeping in mind the team member’s welfare and growth. Appraise them- just a pat on the back may be, or occasionally sitting with them and having lunch, just like Mr. Adi Godrej started taking lunch once in a week in the Company’s cafeteria with all the employees.

Proper delegation: Delegating the right amount of authority with responsibilities is actually an art, and very rarely are people connoisseurs of this art. It only comes when the Manager knows the strengths and weaknesses of his/her team members properly, and then delegation happens with appropriate skills. Practice also makes people perfect in the art of delegation, initially there are times that one might not get the desired results and make mistakes but it does not mean that the chosen one is not the right person for the assigned work. Give them another chance and then rate them on the scale of success.

Cheering: Encouraging taking of initiatives, thinking out of the box and every time you have given an idea instead of refuting it down (S) he ensured that you understood the repercussions and then decided to go ahead with those ideas. Cheering reflects the vision of a person, how he plans to take his team ahead and thinks about their growth path and succession planning too. As I say, a compliment a day can make your employees happy and gay!

Decision Making: Though it has been talked about in delegation, but we will deal with it as another interpersonal skill required in a ‘good’ boss. They not only take good decisions themselves with people’s participation but also inculcate the same in their teams as well. Learning comes from trial and error and such bosses will always encourage taking some ‘not so good’ decisions too, although not at the stake of their business.

Less Interference: Personally, I really liked this in my boss that he hardly ever interfered in my work areas, however he taught me a lot, and still he used to manage to keep himself away from many things which now a days is a difficult task for some insecure managers/bosses or the legends referred to as the ‘bad’ bosses.

Sense of humor: One should know how to keep healthy humor flowing in the team, with some witty remarks, sometimes sharing of anecdotes and good jokes. While giving feedback to the team one should always keep some humor handy so that things can be handled positively.

Interpersonal skills depend a lot on your intra-personal skills! So make a preference and instill these aforementioned qualities and skills in yourself and who knows you may end up being the next ‘GOOD’ BOSS!

Tagged as: decision making, delegation, good boss, interpersonal skills, leadership, skills. communication

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by HR Bangladesh

Why Globalization?

May 3, 2011 in Articles

Developing strategies for expansion on a global scale is not an easy task. Managers have to learn other languages, understand host country laws, deal with foreign currencies, and redesign products to suit different customer needs and expectations.

The firm may have to incur heavy losses, if mistakes occur due to negligence or over confidence. For example Coca-Cola had to withdraw its two-litre bottle in Spain after they discovered that very few Spaniards owned refrigerators with compartments large enough to accommodate those bottles. Without the global thrust, therefore business would be easier and safer. United Airlines discovered that even colours can be a bane for a product. The airline initially used white carnations as their brand symbol when it started flying from Hong Kong, only to discover that for many Asians these flowers represented death and bad luck.

Factors such as the rising income levels  growing awareness of new products, services available in other countries and fascination towards items that are not available in the domestic markets (such as luxury cars, tennis rackets, cellular phones)  have compelled many firms to look at international markets quite seriously. They are forced in a way to realize the fact that people’s desire for products and services are becoming steadily more uniform. Uniform demand means that irrespective of where the customers are located physically, buyers are likely to prefer the same kind of product or service with certain similar characteristics. The tastes, preferences and desire for different products– gives the manufacturers a great opportunity to come out with products that would meet the expectations of customers world-wide (e.g. Sony Walkmans,  Nokia’s Cellular phones, Levi’s jeans, soft drinks such as  Coke and Pepsi etc).

Firms and industries that face an escalating R&D  cost, are compelled to spread their operations globally. Commercial Air craft manufacturers  for example  are forced to secure orders from different national airlines before building a single plane. The large markets provided by international expansion are attractive and in other cases also (e.g. computer hardware, biotechnology, electronics, medical equipment , fibre optics, semiconductors) because they expand, the opportunity to recover a large capital investment and large scale R&D expenditure is possible.

Firms can expand the size of their potential market, quite dramatically by moving into global markets. Faced with limited growth opportunities in their home country, soft drink manufacturers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have entered the international arena to take advantage of new growth opportunities. Over 75 per cent of Coke’s revenues come from overseas markets (mostly Asia) now. The secret behind Coca-Cola’s enormous popularity and market success lies with the company’s continuous desire to innovate, bring out new products and enter new markets.

Benetton decided to expand outside its European base because it had a firm belief that its brand value could be extended to other geographical markets. Likewise, when Wal-Mart’s market in the United States became saturated, it sought to apply its competitive cost advantage by distributing branded products to Latin America and Asia (not in India, though).

Firms need a large customer base to achieve economies of scale. Global markets offer exciting opportunities to firms to exploit the demand there and expand their production volumes to profitable levels. For example Japanese automakers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan are able to penetrate international markets, offer their products at commercial prices and maintain their low cost position compared to their rivals, quite successfully.

Support from the government in the form of subsidies- preferential  tax treatment, export incentives could spur domestic firms to expand their operations globally. Generous loans, subsidies etc. have helped South Korean firms such as Samsung, Daewoo, Lucky – Gold star (LG) to invest huge sums  in new technology and build global sized plants  for export. Low corporate and personal tax rates generally encourage an inflow of capital. Ireland and Puerto Rico offer two compelling examples. Each offers corporate tax rates that are considerably lower than those in many industrialized nations and as a result has attracted considerable foreign direct investment.

In India each state is offering its own incentive to foreign and local industries to set up their industries in their state. There are several advantages these states are deriving like large employment of locals, finance induction, development of small and auxiliary industries and finally the increase in tax revenues and the overall growth of that State.

One of the important reasons that has prompted many firms to go beyond their national boundary is the prevalence of low cost labour and resources in various parts of the world. Countries such as India, Taiwan, and Israel are becoming important engineering, manufacturing and development centres for key skills such as software and computer design. India is becoming an auto hub. Availability of cheap labour, cheap land prices, low energy costs etc in countries such as China, India, Indonesia and other South East Asian countries has encouraged many Japanese, Korean and American companies to build factories there. The resultant savings in costs would help such firms to compete quite effectively in the international markets.

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by HR Bangladesh

Industrial Mind – Innovation in Indian engineering

May 3, 2011 in Articles

All the private-public partnership projects are highly complex, high tech and  impact a phenomenal number of Indians. As more such initiatives get under way, the effort will require an enormous increase in the engineering workforce.

Corporate India is becoming professional, it is also eager to go global in several industry sectors. In the sunrise sectors, the scale  and ambition of vision are very different  from what they were about a decade ago. As these sectors transform  themselves, there is a golden opportunity  for professionals to lead this transformation-build world class companies and create enduring value.  Along with this are financial  gains. The opportunities available in India, together with the recession in the US, are in fact luring Indians working overseas back home, to join Indian companies.

This pace of growth is not without challenges. Because organizations and the environment in which they operate are changing fast, the chasm between the skills required and the skills available is widening rapidly. In the power sector additional manpower required is not able to meet the demand. In Power Generation related projects where there is a requirement for entry level people, the shortfall is about 31% . At senior levels the shortfall goes up by 34%.

There is a demand for 8000 to 10,000 engineers in the embedded software and chip design space but the supply is far less than the number. In telecom, under the wireless segment, there is an annual shortfall of 8,000 engineers.

To get better a assessment on the problem, IIT Bombay undertook a study on the engineering  landscape in India. The study aimed to answer questions such as:

Has the engineering education system been able to provide quantitatively and qualitatively engineers required for the growth of the Indian economy?

The study shows that against  the sanctioned seats of 6.57 lakh for Under Graduates in India only 40% engineering degrees were awarded in 2007-08 . This is clearly not enough! The  awarding of degrees is also not evenly distributed across India. Five states  — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala are said to  account for almost  69%  of the country’s engineers.

It is estimated that about 30% of the fresh engineering graduates are unemployed even after one year of graduation; and this  is when many sectors complain about the lack of talent. This clearly shows that there is  definite scope to improve the quality of engineering education.

Let us also look at the gender factor. At IIT Bombay, the percentage of women graduates to the total  is about 8% at the B Tech level , 9% at the M Tech  level land  about 17% at the Doctoral  level  including Science, Humanities and Management. Similar disparity exists  among the faculty – only about 10% of the IIT Bombay faculty comprises of women.

Special efforts are being made by the Government, institutions and professional organizations to rectify this, not just in India but the engineering stream around the world. Some Indian states  have provided incentives like free tuition to women studying engineering.

Overall, the study rightly points out that  India has the potential to be a leading  research and design  hub in the world. For this we need to have a mechanism to identify important areas and disciplines that should grow and develop.

Globalization has enabled a new place for India. The challenges faced by our country are new, and the market is highly dynamic and complex. In this scenario, the industry demands new kind of engineers.

This difficulty demands a new way of thinking. There are many challenges and requires Engineers to keep a track of the big picture even as they tackle specific tasks. This provides a conceptual frame work that helps to make full patterns clear and helps one to see  how to modify the patterns more effectively. This type of  thinking is tricky to most of us because we are taught to break problems  apart, to fragment the world. This initially appears to make complex tasks more manageable. When we want to see the big picture we try to reassemble the fragments and organize all the pieces.

India’s future growth will be driven not by cost but by innovation in terms of   product offerings, process efficiency,value engineering and cost reduction. This has resulted in areas, such as engineering design and product  development to become the focus.

The creation of TATA Nano, a great feat of engineering was possible because conventional wisdom was challenged. Similar handles and mechanisms  for the left and right side doors; a small engine which could be placed under the rear seat enabling a smaller overall package, putting the instrument cluster in the middle, not in front of the driver, all of these were innovations that were low cost and future oriented.

The Chandrayaan at 360 crore rupees is the world’s cheapest Moon craft. Its success is also a testament to the importance of innovation and planning in the success of low gestation drawing  board to development of projects.

All of these signal the era of Innovation in Indian engineering and they also have had the world look at us with a renewed respect.

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by HR Bangladesh

Mentor Mentor – Cure me!!

May 3, 2011 in Articles

Tolerance towards mistakes and especially towards repeating the same mistakes is very less in the contemporary times. Companies can’t afford to have employees who don’t learn from the experiences of others. A steep learning curve calls for a good mentorship programme.

A mentor must ideally possess adequate experience in the domain(s) one is planning to move into or wishes to explore as a career option. The mentor must have the requisite domain expertise, industry exposure and industry contacts.

Mentoring is an intensive OD intervention. It focuses on the development of a high potential junior under the continuous auspices of a senior leader. Their relationship is voluntary and not from the same chain of command. It is a long programme – typically ranging from three months to a year.

The qualities of a good mentoring programme should be:

Discussion around the protégé’s goals – both professional and personal. Goal-setting leads to the mentor assessing the protégé’s developmental needs. Then the rigour of regular meetings, face-to-face discussions, home assignments. Action learning begins then and is mainly aimed at bridging the developmental gaps of the protégé. Documenting of the action plan is empirical to ensure tracking since the timeline is short and specified.

No personal Matters – The mentor should act like an advisor and not as a friend or boss and the communication between the mentor and the protégé should be informal but it should be kept in mind that personal matters should always be avoided unless they are harming the performance of the protégé.

Confidentiality is kept – Matters discussed in mentoring programmes, weaknesses and development areas of the participants should be kept confidential.

Managers are not made in class rooms, instead, the practical, on-the-job exposure coupled with a blend of the churn and rigour enforced by a mentor enhances the growth potential and shortens the time frame of transition of an executive into a manager.

What should mentors possess?

You do not necessarily need to have your supervisor as your mentor. Instead, you must look for a person who has richer experiences and exemplifies the qualities that you admire. Find the smartest person who can help you in your particular needs. It is the individual’s responsibility to work hard to not only find the right mentor, but also maintain an ongoing mentor-mentee relationship. The best way to find a mentor is to be a part of as many forums and attend as many industry events as possible. In such events, you can make contacts and explore possibilities.

Suggestions and counseling: Mentors help in exploring various career options so as to find the best suited path, as per one’s skills and interests. With an in-depth domain knowledge, experience and industry exposure, a mentor can help the mentee in deciding the career path best suited for him/her. For instance, if a professional needs mentoring, the mentor can enable the person to list out all options clearly and evaluate the same. A good mentor can suggest the pros and cons of all options, based on the individual’s interests, experience, education, attitude and the market trends, both current and future.

Mutual Learning: The contemporary mentoring style is different from the traditional in the sense that now it is a two way process.

Conventional Mentoring ? Protégé

Contemporary Mentoring ? protégé

Through mentorship, one gets an exposure into the decision-making and leadership styles of the seniors. Additionally, it provides an access to organisational knowledge and networking opportunities, expansion of knowledge of skills and practices, an increased sense of safety while learning and a more focused development.

Feedback management: Mentors are an effective sounding board for venting emotions, views and feelings. Since it is on a one-to-one basis, there is a scope for personalized learning owing to an honest and constructive feedback. Overall, it leads to increased self-confidence and heightened career aspirations.

Listening Skills: Whenever we talk about listening skills, these lines of Ginny Barnes comes to my mind

“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” Ginny Barnes.

One must ensure that they are reading the words but not missing out on the gestures, body language and reading between the lines is also important.

Art of problem solving: A mentor should explore what kind of problem a protégé is facing, is it more of ability –skill lacking related problem or motivational – where the mentee lacks willingness to do something. The solution then depends upon the kind of personality, behaviour and aptitude.

The concept of mentorship does not apply only to organisations as a whole, but to the micro units as well, the individual employees themselves. Hence, care must be taken to carefully select and approach the right person as your mentor, specific qualities must be looked into for a Mentor. All this will surely result into a successful mentoring program.

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by HR Bangladesh

Case Study – Mismanagement of Leadership

May 3, 2011 in Articles

There are efforts made to mimic the ‘best practices’ globally, by many companies, however, many a times these are merely thoughts. What is uncanny though is that even though there are numerous statements made about management practices, there is little or no leadership at various places, Big Brands and Name.

High potential talents, highly experienced professionals are sharing their thoughts with us on how they have been ridiculed and mismanaged by the leaders of the Organisation which boast of their vision and leadership. One such case which is shared by a silent reader is presented here.

Rajat, was looking after the over all operations and expansion plans of the company. He has enjoyed the past several years and have found the assignments, to be both intellectually stimulating and experience wise rewarding, and as he also worked in diversified fields, departments and organizations ranging from engineering, domestic appliances, pharmaceuticals to cosmetics and FMCG. The total Span of experience is 35 years.

He joined this company as Unit Head of their factory and was reporting to Unit Director. He was given full charge of the Unit and took over the systems which were almost non existent. From introduction of new techniques and more than 100 needs based systems to training the whole team to follow and implement systems he made almost all departments of The Unit, right from Accounts to Production started to function smoothly. In a year or so the Unit Team learnt to work on systems and not on personal commands.

Discipline of systems & maintenance of hygiene resulted in considerable growth in Production as well.

Since all operations were looked after by Rajat, the team approached him for all issues and solutions. His decisions were quick and clear.

Although in every thing development Director was kept informed verbally and in writing too, yet he felt neglected and isolated, despite the fact that all vital powers were still with him. Earlier he was handling all issues and was surrounded by people always. But now the things have changed, rather transformed but he did not take it positively and started complaining against Rajat to the top bosses. He encouraged some employees to extract and convey to him in age old style and language, “Whats going on, eh? Kya khabar hai”

This was enough to divide the team in two groups i.e. Rajat’s team and his team.  Quality of operations deteriorated. And to control the situation before it hampers more Top bosses interfered and decided a way out. They said,” Rajat has introduced and implemented the systems now he should hand it over to the Director and start looking into audit of the quality of systems he follows.” Rajat agreed and kept sitting in his cabin and asked for documents to audit. For one full month none came nor could The Director respond to the queries raised by Rajat. Now the problem is Rajat is writing daily to Top Bosses about the serious irregularities but no action.

Now no body is interfering. Why? May be, because they have their own kind of compulsions which stops them from being involved, Rajat kept sitting in his cabin and waited for documents, as he was told not to communicate with any one.

Now Rajat says that, “the lesson I get is that if hierarchy cannot make a team, it is myth. Because it takes lot of depth, experience and maturity to decide and implement division of powers and rolls judiciously. If hierarchy operates like age old caste system, then anarchy and dictatorship is much better an option. I am truly appalled by this mismanagement madness, and constantly strive to find some semblance of sanity”

So what caused the hue and cry, the attribution of responsibility, blame, credit, the attribution of causal connections and the attribution of simple mismanagement? Which one?

In such companies, people are not allowed to think only a limited and tightly regulated repertoire of beliefs, behaviors and emotions is permissible.

I would not give the solutions for this case study, this time demand from all of you a solution/s. Is the organisation at fault, can’t be as it’s a mere entity, when this kind of mismanagement blends with learned helplessness, it reinforces even further people’s already strong inclination to over-identify with the norms that have been decreed by the group’s leaders. The leaders, meanwhile, have adorned themselves in the garb of omniscience and infallibility.

Thus, the accounts of organisational actors cannot be read simply to discover an invariable and unyielding objective truth about organizations and their mismanagement, but rather to explore their meaning for the actors(specially leaders) involved, their attributes, how they perceive and handle situations, such actors who would like to flaunt but are shallow beneath.

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by HR Bangladesh

HR Article :- Employee Turnover – What is Poor Employee Retention Costing You?

April 26, 2011 in Articles

Employee turnover is unavoidable.  It is a fact of business life as are its associated costs.  Or is it? The costs of employee turnover can be staggering, ranging anywhere from 1/2 to 5 times an employee’s annual wages dependant upon his or her position.  It is neither possible, nor desirable to completely eliminate turnover from your organization.  Some of the costs associated with employee turnover are unavoidable and must be expected to occur in the normal course of business.  BUT NOT ALL THE COSTS!!!  You can do something about these turnover costs…

Before you can start to combat the costs of employee turnover, you must be aware of what these cost are and what they entail.  There of course are some obvious costs that come quickly to mind, but there are also numerous other costs that you may have never considered that can have a serious impact on your bottom line.

The Hard Costs:

Turning over one employee can cost around ½ of a low skilled hourly workers annual wages plus benefits, while losing a member of C-Level upper management can cost 3 to 5 times his or her annual wages and benefits.

Consider this:  if your firm has a turnover rate of 25% (about the national average) and employs 40 employees each earning Rs.2,50,000 annually, your costs of turning over 10 of these employees over the course of a year will be at least  Rs. 12,50,000!  What could you do with an additional Rs. 10,00,000+ in resources?

Severance pay can also be a huge part of employee turnover costs.  This is especially true with highly skilled employees and high-level management.  These are wages on which you will never see any return on you investment!

The costs of recruitment:  Each time an employee is lost the hiring and selection cycle must start again.  These costs can be significant:  advertising costs to announce your job opening to the masses, cost of recruitment agencies, background checks, reference checks, drug testing, cost of overtime pay, temporary help and much more.

Hiring costs:  Once you’ve made a hiring decision, the costs of turnover don’t stop, but rather continue. Sign on bonuses, relocation costs, and any increases in salary level necessary to attract new talent all add up quickly.  The time spent by HR managers to orientate and train the new employee can also be costly and unnecessary.  These are all tangible costs that could be avoided with a better employee retention.

Other Costs:  Some Food for Thought

There are clearly a number of turnover costs that can be easily quantifiable, but these costs often times are just the tip of the iceberg.  There are numerous turnover costs that will never appear on any balance sheet or income statement that can have a serious impact on your firm’s bottom line.

Low_productivity First of all consider the affects on productivity that are caused by turnover.  It takes on average 8 weeks to recruit and hire a new employee.  During this time production can seriously falter.  Other employees have to pick up the slack in production, often taking on tasks and responsibilities they are unfamiliar with or untrained in.  This can drain team morale and further hurt production.  The negative affect on production caused by turnover doesn’t stop when a new employee is hired.  There is always a learning curve associated with any job; for some it can be short and insignificant, while for many others it can be a considerable period of time.  During this time it takes a new employee to “get up to speed” with the rest of the team, production will never be as good as it could be.

There can also be a significant loss in business due to employee turnover.  Many employees enjoy a loyal following of customers with whom they share a real connection.  The father of a close friend of mine is a great example.  As a parts dealer for an automotive service center he worked with many customer on a regular basis and formed a real bond with these customers.  They trusted him and knew they he would do whatever possible to help them.  When this individual left that position and went to a competing service center, so did almost all of his loyal customers.   Little did the firm know that the customers were loyal to the employee, not the company – and they paid dearly when they were unable to keep him on board.

Another serious cost to companies when they loose employees is the loss of organizational knowledge.  Many employees are able to become experts in the field they work in and when they leave, so does that knowledge.  These employees are no longer available to share this knowledge and mentor junior members in the company.  Once again these costs are near impossible to quantify, but there is sure to be an affect on the bottom line.

What You Can Do About It

The stakes are clearly high when it comes to retaining good employees within your organization.  Undoubtedly some industries are more susceptible to experience higher turnover than others.  Turnover in the Accommodation and Food Service and Leisure and Hospitality industries average over 50% annually.  If you compete in these industries, or any other industry susceptible to high turnover rates, you know and expect that turnover is going to be a challenge, but it doesn’t need to cripple your company’s ability to be successful.

A Harvard University study reports that 80% of employee turnover can be attributed to mistakes made during the hiring process.  The implications of this are huge: up to 80% of your turnover can be blamed on hiring mistakes.  The problem lies in the employee selection process.  Simply put the wrong people are being hired for the wrong jobs.

A Michigan State University indicates that traditional hiring techniques – résumé reviews, interviews, and reference checks only provide a 14% likelihood of a successful job hire.  ONLY 14% !!!  Your odds of winning a hand at Blackjack are significantly better at around 40%.  If you rely only on traditional hiring practices you are truly gambling with the future success of your organization.

Chart_up_2 The Michigan State University study does offer hope in regards to these horrendous odds of hiring the right employee.  The effective utilization of powerful personality assessments are shown to increase the likelihood of a successful job hire to 75%!!!. The power of these assessments is staggering and provides a powerful insight into the values, behaviors, and attributes the job candidate possesses.  This information can than be compared against a Benchmark established for the job position and an informed hiring decision can now be made.   The results are incredible.

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