Human Values, Ethics, Spirituality & Corporate Governance

• Human Values consist of all those values that are universally applicable to all people. These values relate to truth, righteousness, peace, love, compassion, harmony, non-violence and appropriate ethical humane behavior.
• Ethics is concerned with the discipline of the right and wrong conduct of individuals.
• Spirituality is the ability of an individual to understand the innate divine nature of the human self that can realize its potential to reach the “Higher Self”. This is also known as the spiritual quest.
• Corporate governance is concerned with a set of relationships amongst the various sections of a company’s management, which include board of directors, shareholders and stakeholders. It lays down the structure and incentives for the board and management to pursue certain objectives, in the best interests of the company and its shareholders and thereby facilitates effective monitoring of the company’s operations.

Evidently, therefore, integration of human values, ethics, and spirituality would align the interests of investors and managers and ensure that business activities are conducted properly for the ultimate benefit of all classes of investors. This is what good Corporate Governance is all about. Good Corporate Governance means the extent to which companies are effectively functioning in an environment of integrity, honesty and transparency. Such governance always creates overall market confidence, ensures and enhances efficiency of national and international capital allocation and thereby productively and efficiently contributes to the nation’s progress welfare and wealth.

Examples are galore of companies which were at one point of time at the zenith of success but have ceased to exist now. Likewise, there are companies which have stood the test of time and stand above the rest through effective amalgamation of the three virtues in question. Perhaps the subject of human values, ethics and spirituality explains why certain companies gloriously perpetuate or unfortunately petrify. This may therefore be a research question for answers to ponder upon.

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

SPIRITUAL ANALYSIS OF 'NAMASKAR'

The word 'Namaskar' is derived from the root 'namaha', which means paying obeisance (Namaskar) or salutation.

By doing Namaskar to a deity or a Saint, unknowingly their virtues and capabilities are impressed upon our minds. Consequently we start emulating them, thus changing ourselves for the better.

By doing Namaskar the Deity's Chaitanya is absorbed to a greater extent by the body, as compared to other methods of doing Namaskar. This gives maximum distress to negative energies. The negative energies that have manifested in a person are unable to touch their thumbs at the mid-brow region in Namaskar.

Click here to read more about Namaskar

Ethnographic & Cultural Shifts in the current workforce

It is important to understand some of the major cultural shifts happening amongst the current workforce primarily comprising of Generation Y. There are differences in opinions but in general the findings indicate that PaPR researchers highlighted three socio-cultural trends –

1. The new WE
2. The new ME
3. Plastic Time

The new WE

• Blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 applications are revolutionizing the social order.
  - The Internet is not just personal information-finding, but a place of action.
  - People are coming together on and off-line to get something done: grassroots activism is among the winners in a Web 2.0 world.
• In our collective experience is that we’ve found new ways to come together, more efficient and powerful, enabled by our current technologies.
• We are not just passive web surfers, but social doers on- and off-line. The powerful actors are the collective, not the individual.

The new ME

• Media has become MEdia – both on-line and off, we are the creation of our own creations and consumptions.
• MEdia emphasizes media “expertise” as a cultural value to be performed.
  - Facebook applications, YouTube videos, playlists…are all about who you are.
• The expertise in media manipulation, practice & adoption that you demonstrate is more important than the content created.
• There is a shift - In particular, youth do not see technology as a special category that enables something, but one of many material possibilities to create their own selves.

Plastic Time

• Research first revealed that the issue of managing one’s own personal time zones was increasingly complex and fragmented - though this occurs differently in different parts of the world.
• Your time is shrinking, yet somehow, you happen to know the latest post on your favorite website; A jet setting life style – but you still keep up with your blog postings & email;
• Research showed that you are experiencing “plastic time.”
• The experience of "plastic time" frames modern life—it is an experience that is highly interruptible; shrinking and expanding around immediate concerns; and interleaving through multiple activities.

Contributed By:
Ranjan Sarkar
(Vice President - HR & Corporate Communication)
Acclaris Limited

Excellence

A Gentlemen once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency...

Contributed By:
Debasree Chattopadhyay
(HR Executive - Kotak Securities Ltd.)

Core Virtues

The handbook of Character Strengths and Virtues identifies six classes of virtue,-made up of twenty-four measurable character strengths, as shown below:

• Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective.
• Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality.
• Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence.
• Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership.
• Temperance: forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence, self-regulation.
• Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humour, spirituality.

Foregoing will create a positive psychological capital which will rest on: resilence,optimism, self-efficacy, and hope People will thus be healthier and happier, both physically and mentally.

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

Appreciation of employee sensitivities by HR professionals

It goes without saying that the executives of HR departments in any organization will have to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of people working in the organization. This need arises from the various departments when there are performance, attitude and disciplinary issues.

But quite often the managers of various departments like production, projects, operations, mainteanace, marketing, sales, Finance etc., who are also to act as HR managers (as every manager is an HR manager) as they are the people who directly engage the employees as action happens at their end, stay away from employee sensitivities. For example, it is easy to brand an employee to be an under performer and condemn him or her easily rather than to get into the root cause of his poor performance. It is so because it is too tedious and difficult to get into whole issue relating to its background and to do root cause analysis. It beats the logic when we accuse an employee to be a low or poor performer especially when HR people along with the concerned functional professionals quite often boast of high quality recruitment and selection. A very few HR professionals facilitate the process of making the leaders/managers of line departments to appreciate the behavioral aspects of the employees, what do they expect in turn to deliver, what is causing them to slow down or fail etc. Mostly the problem is two-dimensional, one, employee’s internal aspects (his/her assertion, interpersonal skill, personality traits like introversion, sociability etc.,) and the other the external aspect i.e. interface with his manager based on qualities of manager (like his personality traits, aggressive, no-nonsense approach, expecting employee to be totally self managed with high self discipline and self reliance, viewing employee as a ready made resource to perform at peak always and thinking that employee is paid for such position, being very logical and always expecting employee to be highly dependable etc , without even caring to ensure developing the employee’s ability).

Unfortunately neither the manager will be a person of high understanding about the employee nor the employee will be an assertive and an extravert person. Employees mostly expect their bosses to understand their feelings well and treat them accordingly. Before we look into as to which boss has that kind of time to spare we should look into whether managers have that kind of competencies to appreciate the feelings and mentor the employee. The bosses are either ill equipped to handle this or they donot have time for these issues.

Quite often the technical managers or leaders are only designated as so because of their excellence in their technical work or performance. But they really lack managerial, leadership and human relational competencies. This can be even checked by looking into as to how many soft skills and behavioral skill training programmes they attended, forget about their acquiring the competencies in those areas.The fault is not theirs entirely and it depends upon several other factors like top management’s commitment to develop leadership, the promotee’s ambition to lead etc.

Another aspect is even if the employee is a high performer his performance can be affected adversely for the reasons like,

1. Any personal crisis
2. Lack of clarity in the career growth
3. Lack of higher aspirations
4. Mismatch of personal values and organizational values
5. Mismatch between organizational objectives and personal objectives
6. Family problems
7. Health problems
8. Behavioral/psychiatric problems
9. Addiction to alcohol, drugs, and sex
10. Perceived difficulty in taking up stressful assignments though capable
11. Imaginative difficulties when the job demands relocation due to transfer etc.

There can be varied reasons because of which the employee may not be comfortable in the organizational environment and his/her performance may go down.

Being specialists in HR the HR professionals are equipped to go deeper into the behaviors of employees and this specialized skill should be applied without fail.

To develop these skills a high aptitude on the part of HR professional should be developed.

Hence the following approach is suggested,

1. HR professional’s individual aspirations should be mapped.
2. A strong value system has to be developed to focus on treating people with dignity, sympathy and empathy.
3. Effective communication skills have to be in place, with focus on the ability to listen actively and with empathy.
4. Strong counseling skills have to be developed.
5. Should also take the role of a coach and mentor.
6. Should be able to use Johari window to guide the employees.
7. To appreciate and care for the feelings of fellow humans, sensitivity training is suggested though organizations like ISABS,ISISD etc.
8. Out bound training to HR professionals and line managers are suggested through organizations like Pegasus, near Bangalore.
9. The HR professionals should use their creativity to design out bound and semi out bound exercises and games.
10. HR professionals within the organization should be able to conduct the learning programs and
11. Should take the help of eminent HR senior professionals to conduct the specialized programs.

HR professionals should be prepared to appreciate the sensitive areas of organizational working. Hence there is a dire need to make the HR professionals in the organization to be trained on the practical aspects relating to the following ares. The list is not exhaustive but indicative.

1. Mapping the aspirations of all the employees in each department with regard to their career and suggesting goal setting process.
2. Basic motivational process and goal achievement process in the organization.
3. Knowing blocks to the goal, appreciation of failure, frustration and defense mechanisms.
4. Vision exercise for each department.
5. Values exercise.
6. Principles of coaching and counseling.
7. Helping employees in their personal crises.
8. Cases for discussion.
9. Communication and presentation skills.
10. Negotiation skills.
11. Stress management and conflict resolution skills.
12. Using emotional intelligence.

In light of the current day pressures on employees due to challenging environment, appreciating the employee sensitivity and dealing with it effectively is a matter of paramount importance. Hence the HR professionals should rise up to the occasion to facilitate higher employee performance through addressing the key issues of diagnosing the pain areas of employees in behavioral aspects and help the managers and leaders of all other departments in an organization.

Contributed By:
Dr. A. M. Rao
Head – HR
Satyam Ventures Engineering Services

How Honest Are You With Yourself?

By Ron Balagot

"Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise." - Sigmund Freud

Have you ever asked yourself this question: "How Honest Are You With Yourself?"

Why is it so important to ask yourself this question? Because it could mean the difference between reaching your dreams and simply going around in circles (or always being confused why you're not getting anywhere). It could also mean the difference between getting what you "really" want and getting what "you only think" you want (meaning, you only think you want it, because deep down inside, others want it for you, and you want to please them).

If you think about it, if you're not completely honest with yourself in certain areas of life, you will not have the power (or will not be in the position) to change what's holding you back from success in those areas. Basically, if you don't admit to yourself that you're living a lie, you'll continue to live a lie. If you continue to deny the fact that you're being dishonest with yourself, you will not have the power to change the things that need to be changed.

On the other hand, the moment you become more honest with yourself, things will start to change. Positive things will start to happen. And it's because you will all of a sudden have the power to change things. Besides, not being your "true self," as well as pretending that you like doing certain things even when you don't, are tiring. Living a lie simply drains a lot of energy from you.

Could you please do me a favor and try a little exercise? Take a moment to answer the following questions and see how honest you are with your answers. In fact, after every question, ask yourself: "Am I being completely honest with myself about this?"

1. Is the career you pursued what you really wanted to pursue? (Or, did you only go in that direction because certain people in your life expected/wanted you to go in that direction and you didn't want to disappoint them?)
2. Can you honestly say that what you're doing in your life right now is what you know will bring you a great sense of fulfillment? (Or, were your decisions the ones that led to your present condition... influenced by what certain people will say? By how certain people - whose approval you seek - will react?)
3. Are you honestly taking the types of actions that will bring you closer to your goals? (Or, are you just keeping busy with non-productive activities so you can say to yourself and others that you're actually doing something?)
4. Are you saying YES to requests from certain people because that's what you really want to say? (Or, are you saying yes because you're too afraid to say NO for fear of losing the approval of those people? Or, are you also saying yes because it will allow you to procrastinate... to delay what you know you should be working on?)

Now, those are only a few questions but I'm sure you can come up with a lot more questions of your own. So, how did you "feel" about your answers? Did it feel like you were truly being honest with yourself? Like every fiber of your being was saying YES (without any opposing thoughts)? Or did you have that feeling in your gut telling you that you weren't being completely honest (where you could hear a tiny voice inside shouting out "LIAR!")?

You see, when you're not being true to yourself, something inside you doesn't feel right. And this affects many areas of your life in a negative way. You feel confused a lot of the times. You tend to procrastinate a lot (and tend to find ways to justify your behavior). You lack that sense of fulfillment you so desperately want. And more.

However, when you're honest with yourself, you tend to be more decisive. You feel more motivated to take action. You think more clearly. And you feel fulfilled in general (since you are more at peace with yourself... and are doing what you are supposed to be doing).

As you can see, your progress - and ultimately, your success - will be highly dependent on your ability to remain honest with yourself. I challenge you to take a closer look at your life and see which areas you are truly being honest in... and which areas you need to work on. Then act accordingly.

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

Source: Trans4mind