Culture Shock Challenges – Liluah to London Syndrome

Culture issues are the utmost critical challenges for all the Industry in this world of globalization and most of the companies are taking several measures to address them. However it’s got a different dimension for the IT and the ITeS companies who have a unique challenge of employing fresh engineering/science graduates out of college in large nos.

With my personal experience in both IT/ITeS space I have seen companies recruiting fresh engineers/science graduates etc who are brilliant in their studies and have been extremely competent in terms of knowledge and skills as required for their jobs.

However many of the fresh recruits have grown up in small town and villages from where they moved out to Engineering Institution/Colleges at Kolkata and other big metros for their professional studies. Upon completion of their course they have been recruited in large IT/ITeS companies and within few months they were given overseas assignments of importance based on their technical skill and initial performance at work.

This makes absolute business sense for the company considering the candidates potential to deliver and career sense for the individual as this opportunity will surely add immense value to his/her profile. However in this perfect win-win situation lays a challenge which I call “Liluah to London syndrome”

To explain this better lets take an example of a situation where the employee happens to be a bright student studying in any of the good district schools and cleared the State Joint entrance examination successfully to get through in any of the leading Engineering Institution in the city for his/her BE/BTech degree.

In this entire process he was primarily restricted to his village or town and might have traveled from his home town to the city by local train or bus. In cases of exception he might have traveled by express train but surely have not availed high end express trains like Rajdhani or Satabdi and certainly not the domestic airlines to visit other places far off.

The reasons are clear and more or less the same where the employee’s family could not afford to go for intermittent vacation due to financial constraint.

With this backdrop he is now being suddenly asked to board either British Airways/Lufthansa or Singapore Airlines to leave for London/New York or Singapore on official assignment for a reasonable period of time. This is actually a huge paradigm shift for someone who was never been exposed to adequate domestic traveling which is usually the basics and foundation for an overseas travel.

This situation or the (so called syndrome) is unique for the industry and creates major culture shock challenges which leads to initial confusion, misunderstanding, apprehension, adjustment problems which might lead to attrition, dissatisfaction, unhappy and disillusioned employees.

Most of the companies have realized this (I am not sure about syndrome :)) in different form and shape and today several organizations have a well placed grooming session for all employees leaving for overseas assignment. However keeping in mind that on the job exposure is better than classroom learning it would be a wonderful suggestion to make people travel first to domestic destinations before asking them to leave for overseas locations.

It is always better to hop onto Lucknow in between before leaving for London from Liluah !!!

Contributed By:

Mr.Ranjan Sarkar

(Associate Vice President-HR, Acclaris)

Creative Touch

Contributed by:
Dr Meenakshi Khemka
Globsyn Business School

Managerial Functions

Dear Students,

Quite often we use the words: Management, Manager, Managerial Effectiveness.

You will find tomes of literature to elucidate each of the above.

In simplistic terms, what does each of these actually mean? Here is a succinct connotation.

Management: Management is the art of directing, conducting and administering the work of others to achieve desired objectives.

The Manager:

1. A manager must plan – decide the goal, forecast, scan the environment analyze problems and evolve strategies, review/evaluate the efficacy of strategies, modify strategies in the light of the feedback received.
2. A manager must organize – decide what activities are required to achieve the desired results. Classify activities into different categories, divide the task and assign specific tasks to groups and individuals.
3. A manager must motivate – enthuse the staff working under her/his control to give their best for the achievement of goals/objectives. Create a sense of loyalty and belonging to the institution. Communicate effectively with staff and influence them to work well.
4. A manager must control – check performance against plans, measure performance and extend guidance and counseling and set high standards of excellence.
5. A manager must lead – constantly endeavor to bring out the best in them, help them to strengthen their integrity, sense of devotion to duty and urge for excellence.
6. A manager must develop – improve the capabilities of systems, processes and people –constantly.
7. A manager must have a self-concept – ambition, enthusiasm, achievement, growth and self-development.

Managerial Effectiveness: The effectiveness of a manager can be measured in terms of her/his success in optimum utilization of all available and potential resources – material, human and financial –towards their sustained, long term functioning.

Look around and study the achievements of people who have been successful in management and you will find the above conspicuous in them.

With best wishes,

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

Conflict Management

Each individual is unique. An individual’s thoughts are guided by his/her past experiences, education and culture. These bring distinctiveness in the thought-process as well as in the behavioral expressions of the individual. In present organizations we have workforce hailing from diverse backgrounds and they are required to leave behind all these differences and work in teams to achieve organizational objectives.

No two individuals will have the same opinion on a common topic. But if one has to work in teams one is expected to sort out the differences and come to a consensus.

But, how to sort differences?? For this, one needs to develop certain skills for handling differences of opinion. This in management language is called “conflict-management techniques”. This kind of skill is not restricted to working professionals only. It is an essential pre-requisite for each and every person or else we need to develop the skill.

Herein are 4 fundamental things you are required to do to improve your conflict management skills:

• Understand yourself .


• Manage yourself


• Understand others.


• Manage others.

The more you reflect on these will help you to be a better individual. You will be able to tackle situations and handle people effectively and thus contribute towards your growth as well as the growth of the organization.

Ms. Ipsita C. Patranabis
(Globsyn Business School)

HR Manager as Business Manager

In today’s business, people are the key differentiator and sourcing right quality human resources and retaining them have assumed greater significance in all the performing organizations. The organization with long term vision and commitment for step change growth must have capable talent pool to actualize the vision.

Belief of profitable and sustainable growth stems from the strategic intent of the organization and must form an integral part of the business strategy. In order to make indelible mark in the society, apart from earning higher profits and growth, the organization has to be well respected institution. An organization’s reputation is understood by its value propositions and employee behavior in keeping with those value propositions.

Role of HR professional is therefore central to achieving this. He must be able to understand the key business processes, challenges and opportunities and deliverables. HR has to take keen interest in understanding competition, environment in which business operates, technology need for the future, labor market, both at global and local level, innovative compensation structure and retention strategy. Should be able to forecast talent requirement based on the growth plan and devise sourcing strategy. All these would be possible if and when HR fully align itself with the business and understand the underlying processes.

Having recruited the right people and created talent pool, HR must embark on retention strategy where organization values the employees and provide them with challenging and meaningful task. A new entrant must be able to sense that the organization walking the talk in terms of its value. It treats its employees with dignity and ensures highest level of transparency.

HR must foster a culture of performance orientation where individuals and groups are rewarded and appreciated openly for their superior performance. There should be feedback mechanism where both the boss and subordinate understand each ones expectation.

In today’s highly competitive world, job satisfaction comes from the knowledge and skills offered in the workplace and opportunity to acquire superior knowledge. In a fast changing demographics of the workforce, we have more and more knowledge workers whose motivation do not really rest in year end performance appraisal but in opportunity in learning new skills and developing capability. Satisfaction of having made worthwhile contribution in the organization and celebration of success through timely and competitive rewards. Hence it is of paramount importance to have individual development plan of the employees along with performance appraisal. Career development and performance appraisal can be more meaningful for organization and employees when each one draws on the strength of the other.

In any high performing organization there is high employee engagement and the job of the manager is to identify the strengths in employees and move them in the right job.

HR has to act as catalyst in this process and inculcate this performance culture in the fabric of the business where each manager has to play his role in the development of his people.

HR, therefore, need to focus more on transformational issues and less on transactional one.

Contributed By:

Mr.P.K.Chatterjee

President-HR,
Duncans Industries Limited

Quotable Quotes

Not one to mince words or hide behind a façade, read up on Charlie Chaplin’s views on life, his acting and more…

• Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.
• A day without laughter is a day wasted.
• We think too much and feel too little.
• Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
• The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.
• I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.
• I am for people. I can't help it.
• I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
• I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.
• All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
• Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles.
• To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!
• To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.
• It seems our laws are always telling us what not to do - are always keeping us from enjoying ourselves. Human beings are made just as much for having fun as goose-stepping and sweating in factories.
• I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. Make everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.

Contributed by:

Rupee RoyChawdhury,

Wipro -HR (TED:Talent Engagement Development)

GBS Alum

The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

Hi

A nice speech by Ms. J.K. Rowling, novelist, at Harvard University earlier this month. I tend to agree with her on the positive features of failure in life.

( http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html )

Happy viewing

Dr Meenakshi Khemka

Globsyn Business School