Tips on Stress Management

Dear Students,

• Take a time out. Walk slowly and without purpose. Don't worry about walking "to get somewhere and fast." It doesn't have to take long - but get away from the environment for a few minutes every hour or two if possible.
• As always, watch your diet. Try to eat sensibly and stay away from the over processed foods that do nothing to help the body.
• Use good posture. Slouching catches up with the back and the rest of the body in painful ways.
• Practice deep breathing. The body needs this oxygen. This can be done anywhere and can become a great habit after awhile.
• Give your fingers a break too. Stop typing - and stretch your fingers for a few seconds. Breathe in deeply, and imagine the stress leaving your body through your finger tips as you exhale.
• Feeling better already? Finally, leave work at work. Trust me, it'll be there tomorrow and nothing productive will come from reliving the entire work day on your drive home. Meditate to some peaceful music instead.

Best wishes,
Prof.D.P.Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Parkinson's Law of Prof. Cyril Northcote Parkinson

Dear Students,

Have you heard of Parkinson's law?

'WORK EXPANDS SO AS TO FILL THE TIME AVAILABLE FOR ITS COMPLETION'

This is, in brief, Parkinson's law.

In time, however, the first-referenced meaning of the phrase has dominated, and sprouted several corollaries for example, the derivative relating to computers:

Data expands to fill the space available for storage.

A second aphorism, attributed to Parkinson and sometimes called "Parkinson's second law", is "expenditures rise to meet income".

"Parkinson's Law" could be generalized further still as :

The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource.

An extension is often added to this, stating that the reverse is not true.

This generalization has become very similar to the economic law of demand that the lower the price of a service or commodity, the greater the quantity demanded.

Interesting, isn't it ?

Best wishes,

Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Avoiding Procrastination of Work

Dear Students

I recently read a book on how to avoid procrastination of work and I thought it would be good to share some ideas with you.

Plan on paper – Whatever you have to do should be listed out on a piece of paper. The activity may be big or small but should be taken down in writing.

Identify the most important task – This task should be something that is very important for your career/job. Unfortunately, this is the job, which we generally procrastinate on. For students, this may be an activity like reading newspapers, being regular with studies, attending seminars etc.

Begin straight away – Without having a second thought, start working on this activity straight away. At the start, it appears very daunting. Just begin one step at a time. As you get along the flow, you will find the going much easier and smoother. The better the progress, the more energy you will have to finish it even faster.

Do this consistently every day – The more you practice this, the more you will become better at this and soon you will realize that you can get a lot of important things done fast and efficiently.

Just try this out sincerely and check out the results for yourself.

Best Wishes
Dr. Meenakshi Khemka
(Globsyn Business School)

Murphy's Law

Dear Students,

In its simplest form, Murphy's Law states: If anything can go wrong, it will. However, as with many successful business theories, the original law has been extended over time to cover specialist areas, several of which are given below:

• Project Planning: If anything can go wrong, it will. Usually at the most inopportune time.
• Performance Management: If someone can get it wrong, they will.
• Risk Assessment: If several things can go wrong, the one you would LEAST like to happen will occur.
• Practical creativity: If you can think of four ways that something can go wrong, it will go wrong in a fifth way.

By applying Murphy's Law, and expecting the unexpected, you can remain in control throughout a week that would otherwise have proved to be very stressful. Try it yourself today!

Best wishes,

Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

The Path of Authenticity

By Melody Larson

What does it mean to live authentically? Authenticity holds a power that is almost mystical in nature. It's magnetic and we long for it now more than ever. Why? My view is that authenticity opens the doorway to a life of spirit. What does the path of authenticity look like? Let's explore the seven stepping stones that lead to a life of freedom and joy.

FIRST STONE: Be happy for no reason. There's nothing you need to become, nothing that needs to happen, in order for you to be happy. Happiness is simply a choice. Let go of the 'when/then' game: When I lose 10 pounds, then I'll be happy. When I'm in that perfect relationship, then I'll be happy. Here's the deal: Happiness doesn't come when you've achieved your goals--it's what allows you to achieve them. The happiness that you seek is not the reward waiting for you at the end of your journey. It's what makes the journey possible in the first place.

SECOND STONE: End the blame game. Do you blame others for the way your life has unfolded or is unfolding? Is it the fault of your childhood, your spouse, your boss, or the current state of world affairs that you are not happy? Are you giving away your power by seeing yourself as a victim? To become empowered you have to take responsibility for yourself and for the way your life is going. No person or event can determine the shape of your life unless you allow it. You allow it when you choose the safety of powerlessness over the risk of self-determination. The only failure in life is not choosing for yourself how you're going to live it. When you choose responsibility, a glorious thing happens: You stop living life in half measures and your life blooms in all its richness.

THIRD STONE: Simplify. Authenticity has a very hard time flourishing in the weed-strewn soil of complexity. You must pull out the weeds and make space for your soul desires to flourish. Simplifying involves ridding yourself of materials, activities, and people that drain or scatter your energy. Clutter is the most visible sign of an overgrown life. Go through your stuff and clear out everything that you don't use or that doesn't please you emotionally. After you've cleared some physical space, see if you can free up some time. Without time to slow down and connect to your heart, you won't be able to hear its whisperings. Finally, you've got to rid yourself of people who are toxic to you, who weigh you down instead of uplifting you. When you've cleared a clean, fertile space in your life you can plant the seeds of your authenticity and cultivate your passion.

FOURTH STONE: Relish being selfish. Oh no, I used the 'S' word! We've been told for so long that being selfish is bad. If you stop to think about it, anyone who says so is probably saying it out of a selfish desire for you to follow their rules! If you want to live freely you have to become selfish. There is nothing wrong with serving the Self. You have to put your own needs and desires above everyone and everything precisely in order to serve everyone and everything. It's exhausting to try to be all things to all people. You were never meant to apply your energy in this scattering way, but to concentrate your energy into the singular expansion of your own genius and uniqueness. Selfishness in the highest sense of the word is about being yourself so fully that you can share yourself fully with others.

FIFTH STONE: Do your healing work. Healing work is about confronting the habits, hurts, and fears that keep you living small. When you allow the fullness of who you are to step into the light, healing happens. The need for escapism, cures, and self-destructive habits diminishes. When you let go of any guilt, pain, anger, or unworthiness that you're experiencing you open up the channel of effortless being. Universal Energy can flow through and you become the instruments of spirit you were meant to be. There are many practices for doing healing work, from therapy to EFT to prayer. Find what works for you and commit to shifting any beliefs or feelings that are holding you back.

SIXTH STONE: Cultivate compassion. Compassion is a profound human emotion. It pulls us out of egocentrism, enabling us to experience oneness with another and with all things. This is another facet of authenticity because compassion removes the ego's false gods of competition, morality and judgment from their thrones. It allows us an expanded view of the world--as spirit sees it. There is nothing more freeing than allowing others their choices, than supporting them instead of trying to change them, or than honoring their own ability to guide themselves.

SEVENTH STONE: Hand over your keys. We've all heard the adage of surrendering to a higher power, of "letting go and letting God." The key here is to realize that this higher power is not something outside of you, it's within you. Surrender, then, is not powerlessness. Surrender is about turning over the driver's seat of your life to your soul--to the full, intelligent, powerful, creative being that is the true you. It's about freeing yourself from the reckless driving of your personality that keeps crashing you into one dissatisfying conundrum after another or that keeps speeding you right past all those lovely, magical roadside attractions. When you let your soul guide you, you surrender to the need to reach any destination, knowing that wherever you are in the moment is perfect.

The path to an authentic life is a journey inward to our inner being instead of outward into the world. It's about claiming the power within us instead of seeking our power externally. Authenticity means honoring the self, not the self-image. It means listening to soul rather than to ego. It allows our hearts, so long shushed by our intellects, to finally speak.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Source: Trans4mind

Change in Business – Implications of HR Globally

The business has possibly undergone the most varied change in the recent times due to several factors which are unique and dynamic in nature. The five most important factors as identified by Prof Dave Ulrich are – Globalization, Technology, Demographics (Customer: inside and outside), Organization response and Implications of HR.

In case of Globalization some of the key indicators has been – Emerging Markets (India & China), More worry about security post (9/11), Concern about trade barriers, tariffs, exchanged rates and global information, last but not the least Global R&D, manufacturing, distribution, customers, marketing brands etc.

In terms of Technology the areas has been connectivity, accessibility, collaboration 24/7, direct channels for distribution, uncertain future. As for Demographics (inside) it is all about mobility, diversity, personalization, and aging population in west, increasing affluence in east.

For Demographics (outside) the literacy, attitude and values of customers, disposable income increasing, attitudes and expectation, value perception, “Feature Lead” upgrading and the biggest of all having greater choice.

The Organizational change has been through various factors like talent, accountability, change, service, innovation, Leadership brand, culture/shared mindset, strategy execution, integration, collaboration and speed.

With all the above changes in our business there has been a major implications on HR which are – HR is part of value equation, 80% of CEO’s role, collaborating Competence, Commitment and Contribution, transactional to transformational and thus being the only business differentiator.

The above changes have redefined the role and responsibility of HR in the over all business perspective. To be more precise the implications on HR are with the Practices, Department and Professional.

In terms of practices the key focus areas is to align HR with strategy in terms of customers and investors apart from helping in Integration and Innovation.

For HR department there are increased financial demands by investors for Organizational performance. Transaction work and Transactional work to the proportion required. To manage the above scope for practices and department the HR professionals require new competencies on a regular basis to be successful in various roles as – Credible Activist, Culture & Change Steward, Talent Manager, Strategy Architect, Operational Executor and Business Ally.

Contributed By:
Mr. Ranjan Sarkar
(Vice President-HR & Corporate Communication, Acclaris)

Effective HR Due Diligence

Dear Students,

It is essential that a HR Manager identifies the right issues so as to carry out effective HR due diligence in organization.

Given below are the areas which she/he can address:

• Compare terms & conditions of employment and salary scales.
• Understand the skills of present HR team-are they adequate to coordinate proposed changes to the business?
• Understand the organizational structure.
• Identify what is required in terms of manpower plan to achieve the business strategy
  Identify key personnel-to what extent is the necessary knowledge & skill vested in staff critical to running the business?
• Identify which job descriptions need to be changed.
• Compare ways of working and identify differences which need to be addressed.
• Is the organization unionized or does the employee representation group have negotiations rights, and if so, what do these rights include?

Best wishes,

Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay

(Globsyn Business School)