March, 2011 SCMHRD Volume 3 Issue 3

HR MESH Special Edition

Editorial Team

Isha Chandra

Aditi Naik

Karanbir Singh

Designed By

Aby J Kottukappally

We are pleased to release the first special edition of HR Mesh, a theme

based magazine of HR Forum @

SCMHRD. We appreciate the

overwhelming response to the same from the alumni & students of all the

B-Schools. We have tried to maintain

a trade-off between the number and

the quality of the articles. This being our first attempt, we would like to

have your valuable inputs &

suggestions on the same for the success of its future endeavors.

Team HR Mesh

Contents Page No

1 Knowledge Management case study

Kishore Poduri, Head - Human Resources, e-Clerx

3

2 Inclusivity of HR into mainstream operations

Sweta Mohapatra, HR Business Partner, Barclays

12

3 Workplace Romance

Ritu Kumar,PGDM-HR,2010-12, IMT-Ghaziabad

15

4 Workplace Romance

Sharad Gaur, PGP,2010-12, MICA

18

5 New generation brainstorming model for knowledge management

Swapnil S Bhure, PGDIE,2010-10,NITIE

21

6 Workplace Romance

Meera Mohandas, MBA-HR,2010-12, SCMHRD

25

7 Workplace Romance - The third dimension

Rahul Phadke, Sr. Manager & Head of GHRO & India HR

Direct, Symantec Corporation

28

8 Workplace Romance

Sonali Rout, PGDM-HR, 2010-12, IMI

32

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Kishore Poduri

Head - Human Resources, e-Clerx

Overview

eClerx is a specialist Knowledge

Process Outsourcing (KPO) company

that provides data analytics and

customized process solutions to global

enterprise clients from its offshore

delivery centers in India. eClerx

provides service solutions using a mix

of custom designed data processes,

delivery teams comprising generalists

and domain specialists, and in-house

software to automate processes.

Currently, services are offered to

clients that are from the following

industries: high tech & industrial

manufacturing, online and brick and

mortar retail, media & entertainment,

travel & leisure, software vendors,

capital markets & financial services.

Some of the firm‟s largest clients in

terms of revenue contribution include

FORTUNE 500 leaders with whom

eClerx has multi-year partnerships.

eClerx is India‟s first and only

publicly listed KPO company, and is

today traded on both the Bombay and

National Stock Exchanges of India.

KM Practices

Organizational Learning

At the strategic level, KM is often

times clubbed with organizational

learning based on the alignment

between their objectives, methods

deployed and the organizational

factors that recognize and value

employees‟ collective knowledge. At

eClerx, the learning function is a part

of KM. The premise is that learning is

more than vanilla classroom training.

It‟s not always possible or optimal for

people to have to disengage from work

each time they need support. Also, the

dynamic nature of eClerx‟s business

means that waiting for explicit

knowledge (to be documented) before

acting is inadequate. Spontaneous,

“learning opportunities” are created by

leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to

connect consumers with creators of

knowledge.

All offline and online learning

programs are consolidated under one

umbrella – a virtual university with

over 3000 courses. The in-house

university supports:

Domain-specific knowledge on

areas such as:

– Derivatives (credit, equity,

commodity, FX, weather and

energy), risk management,

trade processing, regulatory

environment

– Online retail (content

development and management,

pricing, merchandizing, web

analytics using platforms such

as Omniture, Google Analytics

and WebTrends, customer

experience management and so

on)

Business process training that

delivers process execution know-

how. The emphasis here is on

application rather than mere

acquisition of knowledge of

processes.

Functional knowledge that‟s core

to the eClerx business, programs

on data mining and warehousing,

advanced business statistics,

Business Objects, SQL Server

2008

Training on supporting

competencies including analytical

thinking and problem solving,

team work, interpersonal

communication, strategic

orientation, leadership, time

management, quality management,

and project management

eClerx has deployed Microsoft Office

SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007).

The MOSS 2007 implementation has

enabled:

Content Management

Enterprise Search

Team Portals

Collaboration

Cloud Content Management –

Box.net

Like many service providers in the

outsourcing space, managing

thousands of RFPs (request for

proposals), contracts, business

process documents and client

presentations is „business as

usual‟. Even though we had a

successful document management

system based on SharePoint 2007,

two online platforms have

completely taken over the entire

document management lifecycle.

eClerx is successfully and

extensively using Box.net and

echosign.com for managing

documents and contracts. Multiple

folders are created with relevant

documents in each folder.

The folders are usually project specific

with access controlled by an

administrator (to secure confidential

information). The document can be

locked / unlocked for editing and if

editing is needed by a specific person,

a „task‟ can be assigned to him / her

with relevant comments and details.

Apart from project and core operations

folders, dedicated folders are created

for sharing relevant industry and

domain knowledge

and Offshore eClerx Managers

competitive information and

activities that enhance business

development opportunities.

Even though these files are stored

in a secure environment, if needed,

can be shared with other

stakeholders through an online

link.

Echosign.com is one of the add-ins

for Box.net that eClerx‟s uses to

sign documents online. Echosign

is a reputed cloud application that

has helps process

owners digitally sign high-value

contracts without mending any

legal compliances. The entire

process becomes digitized without

any hard-copy exchanges.

People-to-People Knowledge

Sharing

Prior to institutionalizing a

methodology around sharing

business process improvements

(BPIs), the process was inefficient

for the person looking for

information as well as the person

who had the information. There

were several cases where a

manager would implement a BPI,

assuming it had never been done

before, only to discover later that

in fact someone else had done so

previously.

Also as the organization grew it was

increasingly likely that multi-

disciplinary client facing delivery

teams would be made up of several

people who were new to eClerx and /

or who did not have experience

working together. The central KM

team institutionalized a meeting for

sharing BPIs. Once a month, the KM

team facilitated a meeting where

knowledge champions would present

BPIs to a panel of senior leaders. The

presentation would be in a

standardized DMAIC (component

of the six sigma methodology) format

shown. The standardized format

enabled stakeholders to leverage the

benefits of a common language. The

BPIs would be assessed on a number

of parameters; some of the key

questions that would be raised

included:

Is the process improvement a

part of process deployment?

What is the validity and

sample size of the data set used

for measuring the

improvement?

Is the improvement a request

from the client?

What is the investment? If a

tool was developed by the in-

house software team or a

macro by a subject matter

expert on the team, how many

hours did it consume and how

strong is the return on

investment proposition in light

of the cost-benefit analysis

As with all other KM initiatives, the

central KM team markets the BPI

meeting through mailers, posters, flash

banners on the home page of the

Intranet. Two samples below:

Innovation - Eureka!

At the heart of eClerx‟s core

competency is process excellence.

Constant improvement and innovation

is essential for the survival of each

process – achieved by capitalizing

employees‟ idea generation

capabilities. For this, with the

assistance of the in-house IT team, an

end-to-end idea lifecycle management

platform was developed in 2007.

Ideas are logged under two categories:

Initiative: An idea that is managed

from the ideation to successful

implementation phase is logged

under the „Initiative‟ category. The

initiative is studied with the help

of operations and process

excellence teams, and if found

feasible, the knowledge

management and the ideator

collaborate to make the initiative

a successful project. KM team

helps the ideator with resources,

reusable components, expert

meetings and if needed, training

sessions as part of his competency

development and training plan.

Suggestion: Any suggestion which

improves a process, but the

implementation is not necessarily

undertaken by the contributor is

logged under the „suggestion‟

category and becomes a part of the

„idea bank‟ repository.

Development, showcase and reuse:

Every month selected members from

each of the departments attend

(physically and over video conference)

the BPI panel meeting. The BPI panel

meeting is a two hour event where

best-of-breed BPIs are showcased and

rated at an organizational level.

Departmental representatives ask the

ideators questions around technology,

execution and implementation,

measurement and metrics, et cetera.

The intent of having representative at

this meeting is to enable rapid re-use

and greater awareness of best practices.

The best and most reusable BPIs and

awarded with certificates and

recognition from the senior

management team along with other

tangible incentives.In a nutshell,

eUREKA! works in three stages as

represented by the flowchart shown

below:

Since inception, 1653 ideas have been

logged in eUREKA!, contributed by

the current headcount of over 3000

employees. Regular analysis across

multiple parameters is conducted by

the central knowledge management

team.

Solution of the Fortnight

Alternate Friday‟s the central KM

team e-mails a „solution of the

fortnight‟ to all managers. The intent

here is to use a push methodology, that

is, push best practices into the mail

box rather than wait for employees to

access the repository periodically. A

manager from the central KM team

speaks to operations managers to

discover new innovative solutions that

have been deployed recently. For the

shortlisted solutions, the KM manager

then does face-to-face interviews to

draw out the background and

description of what was deployed.

And finally the documentation

specialist from the central KM team

refines the write up.

Business Development Idea

Challenge

The objective of this initiative was to

access the knowledge and creativity at

the day-to-day operations level and

seek out the best ideas and potential

new service lines to continue to grow

the firm‟s sales and marketing side of

the business. The three best ideas, in

addition to winning prizes like an

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, were

given the opportunity to work with the

onshore leadership team to convert

their ideas into solutions that can be

pitched to existing and / or prospective

clients. In a very competitive process,

w 23 entries were received

these were scored on five parameters:

uniqueness, practicality, compatibility

with existing business model, revenue

generation potential, completeness and

clarity

INCLUSIVITY OF HR INTO MAINSTREAM OPERATIONS

Sweta Mohapatra,

HR Business Partner, Barclays

'Inclusivity' is an interesting term and

really means 'to be treated as a part of

the whole'. So logically, if HR as a

department exists among various

departments each of which is a part of

the whole organization, its inclusivity

is unquestioned. And most

professional organizations today, be it

Indian or Foreign based firms do have

full fledged HR divisions, HR teams

or at least standalone representatives

of HR. And those start-ups and

entrepreneurial firms who can't afford

any of these permanent arrangements

opt for some form of HR outsourcing

or HR consulting services. So this

establishes the fact that HR is a sure

shot part of the scheme of business in

most organizations in some or the

other form. But can this be the

ultimate proof of inclusivity of HR,

obviously not! If what is on paper is

what was always followed in spirit,

most of us would not have faced the

role dissonance and value dilemmas

when we joined a new organization

after thoroughly researching about the

firm.

So what am I getting at? I am getting

at the fact that the 'Symbolic

Inclusivity' of HR is unquestionable in

today's corporate world. And the proof

of that are the highly paid HR heads,

smarter and more intelligent students

taking up HR as a career and also the

innumerable people-centric projects

being taken up as pet projects of CEOs

and Directors. These among many

others, give outsiders an impression

that HR is important, that a lot of

money is being spent of people

processes and projects and also that

this stream of management is

attracting a lot of talented

professionals. But what seems to be

may not always be. And I only wish

ensuring inclusivity for HR was all so

simplistic. And in saying this, I am not

one bit undermining the importance of

symbolic inclusivity because I am sure

it has been one whole journey for

many of our fellow professionals for

the function to reach there - From a

point where founders, promoters and

entrepreneurs thought of themselves as

proficient in handling all people

related aspects of a business to a point

where they appreciate the need for an

HR department.

However, if this inclusivity was not

just symbolic but in spirit, then we

would not have had instances where

business heads decide a termination of

an employee and call in HR merely to

inform and execute the termination.

And CEOs decide to ramp up in a

matter of months without

understanding from HR what the

challenges of right talent pool could

be. Or furthermore, other instances

where mainstream operations and

finance together decide to delay

bonuses and ask HR to manage the

communication. Most of these

decisions impact morale of employees,

the employer brand and people

proposition of employees and HR

must be at least involved. And true

inclusivity of HR would be when they

are not just involved but have a say in

the business and operational strategy

right from the start when the

chessboard is being laid. In

organizations where inclusivity is

extended in true spirit, it translates

into highest levels of collaboration and

synergy. In these firms, HR is not just

a part of the whole, but HR leadership

is engaged right from the think tank

inception stage and not somewhere

midway when the business desperately

needs to recruit people on board.

These are the companies with

benchmark HR and people practices

and the CEOs of these firms take it

upon themselves to champion large

scale human resource initiatives. Also,

business heads and HR leaders work

hand-in-glove to lay the organization's

strategy and people strategy and both

are able to add value while doing so.

So why can't most organizations

model themselves against these

benchmarks? There are ample

challenges that prevent inclusivity of

HR in mainstream operations. Firstly,

if the HR division is unable to deliver

on basics like payroll, recruitment and

statutory compliances, then it is

unlikely that it would gain the

credibility and respect of business

heads in the boardroom. In most cases,

HR function needs to graduate many

levels before it able to demand or

deserve inclusivity. To be able to add

value to strategic discussions, HR

professionals need to understand the

business thoroughly and not just keep

toying with HR jargons. HR

leadership needs to define various

metrics and get into seeking buy-in

through scenario building and various

HR solutions need to come across as

multiple options. This is because

business heads and stakeholders are

the customers and customers in this

era of abundance like to be spoilt for

choices. Lastly, HR will have to play

the role of championing the cause of

managing and growing talent and

organizational capability in an

organization, which in turn would

translate to sustainability of the

organization over a long term period.

Suppose if inclusivity could have a

scale, the scale would begin from

having a HR division and go on finally

to having the HR leadership on the

board of Directors and on every major

decision-making table. If we try to

place our respective organizations on

this scale, the fact is we may find

ourselves anywhere on this scale. And

obviously we, the passionate HR

professionals, need to wear our

'influencer' caps and be the advocates

of change to get to those highest

degrees of inclusivity!

WORKPLACE ROMANCE

Ritu Kumar

PGDM-HR, 2010-12, IMT-Ghaziabad

Romance is when you are not simply

close to a person, but it‟s a feeling

when you do not know where one

ends and other begins. When you have

a special person in your life, people

will say that you have found romance

in your life. And when that special

person is from your office it leads to

Workplace Romance. Romance is

more of an act and, and sometimes it

is tangible or visible. It is extremely

powerful because it has the power to

make or break relationship

A survey conducted by TeamLease

services reveals the figures on

Workplace Romances in India. It was

carried out in 7 cities which included

metros, Bangalore, Hyderabad and

Chandigarh. Overall 16% of those

polled say they have been

romantically involved with someone at

their workplace. Delhi had the highest

percentage of 28%. Most working

executives feel that the organization

should not interfere in an employee‟s

romantic involvement work. Office

affairs impact work productivity

negatively and opposed to the general

belief it‟s not men who always initiate

romantic liaisons at workplace. We

cannot reach to a conclusion based on

the results but this gives us a fair idea.

If it‟s just about sex, a dalliance, an

extramarital affair, or a relationship to

move an individual up the career

ladder, coworkers and companies tend

to frown on love relationships in the

office. If a couple is genuinely serious

about dating and building

a relationship, popular opinion is more

favorable. And, these days, with the

number of hours employees spend on

work-related activities, they are likely

to meet their friends and eventual

spouses at work. Office provides a

pre-selected pool of people who share

at least one important interest. People

who work together also live within a

reasonable dating distance, and share a

location, so they see each other on a

daily basis. Coworkers in similar jobs

may also be approximately the same

age, and share similar interests both

inside and outside of work.

This however poses potential

problems for the employers like if one

employee is managing another

employee and they are dating, one

employee's job needs to change. What

if performance problems arise later

with one person in a married couple?

The life and work balance was hurt

also, because couples went to work

together, worked together, went home

from work together, and talked about

work - together, all the time. Most

employers do not have formal written

policies related to workplace romance.

A survey done by Society for Human

Resource Management states that out

of the 617 members who responded,

72 percent do not have a written

policy; 14 percent say they have an

unwritten, but well understood, norm

in their workplace. Thirteen percent do

have a policy. Major concern is with

respect to the future potential sexual

harassment claims, retaliation and

workplace disharmony if the

relationship should end.

Two kinds of romances have the most

damaging effect on group morale and

organizational effectiveness –

“hierarchical romances” in which one

participant directly reports to the other,

and “utilitarian romances” in which

one participant satisfies

personal/sexual needs in exchange for

satisfying the other participant's task

related and/or career-related needs.

Organizations should draw a fine line

between ensuring employee

productivity and interfering in the

private affairs of their employees.

Workplace romances cannot be

legislated away and should be ignored

unless they present a threat to

individual, group, or organizational

effectiveness. Decision makers in

most organizations recognize that

some form of managerial intervention

is required when a workplace romance

presents a serious threat to the conduct

of work or group morale. As an HR

professional, you also want employees

to perceive your staff members as

advocates for their well-being and

high morale, not as the rule-making,

interfering, systematizing arms of

management.

Organization should provide proper

training for supervisors and managers

about how to discreetly address overt

sexual behavior in the workplace. In

US we have heard numerous incidents

when the organization has looked

down upon homosexual relationships.

In India, however, we have not heard

many cases but there is a possibility as

people are becoming more open about

their sexuality. Supervisors should

know how to address these issues

should they arise. Office relationships

are often the focus of intense gossip,

so supervisors need to know how to

keep their ears open for work and

career damaging behaviors.

Supervisors need to know the

appropriate disciplinary actions to take

if the romance derails and resultant

employee. Organizations should have

a formal, written sexual harassment

policy that is posted, appears in the

employee handbook, and is listed on

all company policy documents. At the

same time, employees need to

understand that it is okay to ask a

coworker out on a date. Harassment

occurs when the employee indicates

no interest and the unwanted attention

continues. All employees need to

understand where the line occurs.

Most organizations ask employees to

sign a document indicating they

understand and will abide by the

sexual harassment policy.

I would just end by quoting an

incident discussed by one of our HR

professor who has had industry

experience. There was a couple in

their office and things were fine till

they had a happy relationship. The

lady was quite infamous for her harsh,

abrasive attitude and the guy had a

good reputation. So when their

romance was over, the situation got

complicated and since the lady had a

bad reputation everyone was blaming

her but as the organization cannot

afford to take sides based on rumors.

Any action taken should be equally

applicable for both. Initially people

were favoring the guy but later HRs in

the above case decided to go with the

same action for both. We need to be

more open about Workplace Romance

as it would definitely increase in

coming years; we just need to be

better prepared with proper policies in

the organization.

WORKPLACE ROMANCE

Sharad Gaur

PGP, 2010-12, MICA

One of the toughest tasks for the

Human Resource Department in any

organization is framing policies to

deal with workplace romance. I‟m not

trying to categorize workplace

romance as good or bad, but keeping a

check on it becomes necessary

because like everything else, when

romance at workplace exceeds a

certain limit, it starts affecting the

decorum of the place and efficiency of

the employees. And keeping a check

on it is a devil of a job because there is

a very thin line between bantering,

flirting, romance and harassment.

Since none of the above can be

measured on a quantitative scale, it

becomes extremely difficult for the

policy makers to come up with

guidelines regarding the same.

Workplace romance isn‟t an eerie

thing. An organization which is

completely devoid of workplace

romance is likely to be an exception.

In fact, research indicates that one-

third of all relationships between

professionals start at the workplace. It

is normal human tendency that when

employees spend long hours together

at the workplace, they start knowing

each other better, both personally and

professionally, and in that course they

tend to become good friends. In

certain cases, when employees of

opposite sex are involved (taking

exception of gay and lesbian

relationships which are yet not so open

in India), this friendship might further

develop into feelings for each other.

These feelings are the germination

ground for the seeds of love and

romance. Workplace romance is on a

rise these days because of more and

more women entering the corporate

arena compared to a decade ago.

I personally know scores of my friends

who owe their relationships to their

workplace. And for them, there seems

to be no other way to feel about their

relationships which started at their

workplaces then to be happy. But the

way organizations feel about it might

not be the same. This is because; many

times the onset of a romantic

relationship between certain

employees of an organization creates

an unprofessional environment. Those

involved might start being casual

towards work while spending long

hours with each other. This infection

(pun intended) might even spread to

their friends and colleagues, and a lot

of time might get wasted in bantering

and leg-pulling. Many a times, it

might even lower the morale of the co-

workers around those involved in

romance. Generally the organizations

turn a blind eye to office romance as

long as it is kept subtle. But the real

issue arises when it starts affecting the

productivity of the individuals

involved.

Many a times, such incidents of office

romance might actually prove to be a

boon for the organization as the

individuals involved might work hard

to prove them and hence impress the

lover. In that case, the organization

must take a breath of relief to have got

sensible and wise employees. As I

have seen in a lot of cases, the

organization even gives them a chance

to work in the same department to

make them and others around them

feel comfortable.

But when does the real trouble start? It

happens when a long romantic

relationship with some colleague ends

on a sour note. This is a real time and

the worst kind of situation faced by

many organizations. It creates a very

awkward kind of environment for the

couple and for those close to them. As

it is said – “friendship often results in

love, but love never results in

friendship”. Once a relationship ends,

it is very difficult to strike a chord of

harmony among those involved. A lot

of complex issues arise. Those who

are directly involved might go in a

state of emotional breakdown and

depression, which would affect their

performance at work. Forget being

friends, it becomes difficult to even

face the one you were once involved

with. In some cases, the ex-lovers

might even try to retaliate through non

co-operation. Then there‟s the issue of

common friends, who are around you

all the time, but content and tone of

conversation changes abruptly. People

try to act in a manner as if everything

is fine, but by doing so they make the

atmosphere even worst.

A major reason why most

organizations discourage workplace

romance is because such relationships

have a potential for claims of sexual

harassment in case of

misunderstandings or when things go

really cranky on any side. That‟s a

reason why many organizations even

make its employees sign a „consensual

relationship contract policy‟ to save

itself from getting sued in case things

go out of control. When such a

situation arises, there‟s no direct

remedy or solution to it. It might take

a lot of time for those involved to

return back to a normal routine. These

people definitely suffer because of

their reduced efficiency, but the real

sufferer is the organization. The

organization faces the brunt as its

overall productivity reduces as a result

of decreased efficiencies of so many

individuals. That is the reason why an

organization has to come up with

policies on workplace romance. If the

organization notices budding relations

between two of its employees, either it

turns a blind eye on it, or starts

keeping a check on them. In case of

any negative deviation, it becomes the

responsibility of the HR managers or

their immediate head to summon them

and take notice of the situation. But as

long as there hasn‟t been any

disruption in their capability to deliver,

the organization might not need to

bother.

Similar might be the case when certain

employees are affected due to badly

ended relationships. In such cases, the

HR managers try to help out these

employees and might even suggest

measures like taking a few days off or

shifting the departments of the

affected individuals. Counseling might

also be organized for the effected

employees. Most organizations would

not take drastic steps like termination

or demotion of the employees because

they understand that employees are

not machines, they are human beings

and that relationships are likely to

evolve between like-minded

employees at the workplace as people

seek warmth, support and compassion

in other human beings. Also

companies spend a lot of resources on

the training and well being of their

employees. From that point of view

also, termination of an employee

seems illogical until and unless no

other option is left.

Thus we can say with significant

conviction that most organizations

discourage romance between its

employees, at least during the working

hours, because of the hassles

associated with it as we have

discussed above. Also organizations

should give proper training to its

employees regarding the company

policies concerning issues like

workplace romance, liaisons and its

consequences. As a precaution,

companies should make its employees

sign the so called „love contracts‟ which helps in avoiding any sort of

misunderstandings between the

company and the employees if at all

certain stringent steps have to be taken

at any later point in time.

NEW GENERATION BRAINSTORMING MODEL FOR

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Swapnil S Bhure,

PGDIE, 2010-12, NITIE

Abstract

The objective of this article is to

describe a new generation

brainstorming model of Knowledge

Management that, for the first time,

has the potential to meet people‟s

expectations.

It is divided into the two categories:

• Methodology

• Information technology

and builds on the idea of applying

knowledge to work, though not on the

conventional brainstorming model.

Instead, it extends to Knowledge

Workers and gives answers to the key

question of Knowledge Management:

How can the productivity and

motivation of knowledge workers be

increased?

Introduction

Managers are watching keenly for

how they can align the employee‟s

goal with the goal of their company.

The most important job for any

company is to utilize the potential of

their workforce. As the companies are

expanding it becomes a challenge for

them to handle their most powerful

weapon the knowledge. A common

workforce planning concern is to

determine how to identify, codify and

preserve key knowledge and the

“institutional memory” before all the

people in whose heads the knowledge

resides leave the organization.

Company invests in Knowledge

management to build a knowledge

capability that facilitates the effective

management and flow of information

and knowledge in the firm. The motto

of knowledge management is not to

find a replacement for a job who may

leave the organization but making that

knowledge accessible to the one who

will perform the same job in future.

The primary thing is to not reinvent

again and do the same mistakes which

occurred in the past. Working with

knowledge is a known as Knowledge

process that includes knowledge

acquisition, knowledge conversion,

knowledge protection and knowledge

preservation.

There are some knowledge

preservation tools used like mentoring

programs, job shadowing, job rotation

etc. Behavior of employee plays an

important role in making HR policies.

Organizational structure is comprised

of organizational hierarchy, rules,

regulations and reporting relationships

which is considered to be the mean of

coordination and control. Many a

times it happens that in hierarchical

organizational structure the knowledge

of a person is underestimated and that

creates frustration among the

employee. There are many techniques

that are practiced in organizations to

face this problem. Many organizations

practice brainstorming sessions in

which the Senior Manager, the Project

Manager and the employee takes part

where all have the equal right to speak,

to disagree someone, to question and

to support someone. But this doesn‟t

happen if no one take part in the

session with free mind. There is a gap

in the ranks of participants. When

Senior Project Manager gives an idea

no one disagrees him even if his idea

is not feasible, everybody follows with

his solution, no one dares to express

his or her strong contradiction because

they fear that it will be deleterious to

their career. On the other hand the

Manager thinks that he gave a very

good idea and implements the concept.

So, what is the result? Of course the

results are painful. Even if someone

had excellent solution he or she would

never speak up which creates

frustration. This situation lead to

attrition and ultimately the most

important assert of any organization,

their employee and the knowledge is

lost. Many companies are facing this

problem. This is a very serious issue,

as this is directly affecting the growth

of the company. According to my

view we can overcome this problem

with a model based on Information

Technology

About the Model

Concept – Brainstorming

Based on – Information Technology

Participants – All the members of

brainstorming group will be the

participants. It may have Senior

Manager, Project manager and the

employee (basically the group may be

of the person having different ranking

in the organization). Apart from this

the server, computers and the software

will also be the participants.

Assumption – It is expected that every

participant have basic knowledge of

computer and chatting.

Explanation – In this model every

person is having a laptop or PC and is

connected to the local intranet.

Everyone will have a nickname (not

known to everyone and unique) which

must not be their real name or

surname and a password. All these

detail the real name, nickname and the

password (in encrypted form) will be

stored in the server. The participants

need not to be seating together. The

boss may be seating in his cabin and

the others may be somewhere else.

Now they join a same chat room

where every comment written will be

displayed with the nickname of the

writer. Everyone is free to say

whatever in their mind and no one

knows, What is the rank of the writer?

Everyone will just know the nickname

and his views. In this way everyone

express their views, disagree with

someone, and support too without

knowing whose view they have

supported or disagreed. In this way an

online brainstorming session will be

done and the best solution will be

chosen.

After the process is over, now it

depends on all the participants if they

want to reveal their names or not.

Each one in the group should be

willing to reveal the real name. To

reveal the names the computer system

will ask for the password from all the

participants and will display the real

names only when all submit their

password to the system. Even if one

person is not willing to reveal his or

her real name then the person have the

right to not to give the password to the

system and at the end no real names

will be revealed. The system will

display the real names and the

corresponding nickname only when all

the players accede their password to

the system. It may happen that all the

participants not submit their password

and wait for the results of the solution

suggested. In this way at the end

whenever the names are revealed we

get the person whose idea was

implemented and can be praised or

rewarded

(Participants – Aditya, Mahesh,

Omkar, Pratik, Sunny)

In this example the above mentioned

people are taking part in brainstorming,

each participant selects a nickname as

shown in fig and a password. Now this

is like a chat room, the views of every

person will be displayed on everyone

computer screen with his nickname.

At the end of the brainstorming you

get the free views of everyone and

now the disclosure of all the

participants will depends on every

participant. The system will ask each

participant whether you want to

disclose your name or not. If you want

to disclose names, then provide your

password to the system. Now if White,

Orange, Blue, Red are ready

to publish their names and Green not

then the real names will not be

displayed. Whenever Green feels that

it is the right time to disclose his real

name he will put in the password in

the system and a message will be sent

to all the participants showing real

names and nicknames

.

Conclusion

This paper provided a high level

overview of a new generation

brainstorming based on two categories

the methodology and the information

technology which eliminates

shortcomings of conventional

brainstorming. Many companies are

heading towards the Knowledge

management and some are leading like

Wipro Technologies who received

Information Today‟s KM World-KM

Reality Award in the year 2002[1].

Knowledge Management is clearly the

crown jewels of a firm. Processing a

data can be performed by a non-living

machine, but the knowledge and

information can only be processed by

human mind. It is an ocean of great

opportunities where a lot of research is

needed to be done.

WORKPLACE ROMANCE

Meera Mohandas

MBA-HR, 2010-12, SCMHRD

Sahil had been noticing this girl in the

marketing department for quite some

time now and had actually wanted to

ask her out for a date. It was only

yesterday that he got a chance to talk

to her via a common friend. She was

fun to talk to and was no doubt pretty.

“Why don‟t I give it a try…will ask

her out for a cup of coffee tomorrow”

Next day Sahil asked her out for a

coffee. She agreed. They had a nice

time together. Even the girl seemed to

like Sahil a lot. It was not long before

that they started dating each other.

They initially tried to keep it a secret,

but weren‟t successful. Their

relationship started affecting their

performance. It was difficult for both

to concentrate on their work when the

other was around. This came to the

notice of the HR department. The HR

manager called both of them

individually and asked them the

reason for their declining performance.

Despite the initial hesitation to let out

their secret, both of them confessed.

They were given a warning. The

company was not against them dating;

however a decline in their

performance as a result of it was not

acceptable to them.

With people spending more hours at

work place, they have lesser time for

life beyond work. This combined with

the fact that more and more women

are now entering the workforce, the

number of workplace romances are

increasing. According to a recent

„Office Romance survey‟ conducted

by Vaults.com, about 41% of their

respondents have accepted the fact

that they have been a part of office

romance sometime or the other.

Workplace romances have both

positives and negatives and the effect

on the organization has been found to

vary. On the one hand in some cases,

like the one given above, it leads to a

decline in the performance, while on

the other hand there have been cases

wherein dating on workplace has

improved people‟s performance as a

result of improved teamwork,

coordination etc.

There are companies which have tried

to cash in on this fact and actually

encourage dating at workplace, as it

can be used as a tool for employee

retention. Some of them even went to

the extent of giving dating allowances

to the employees to encourage dating

between co-workers. NIIT was the

first company to introduce the same in

2005. The same concept was

apparently adopted by WIPRO too. A

housewife alleged that her husband

left her because of this scheme and

sued the company for running such a

scheme! However, WIPRO denies the

fact that it even had such a scheme in

place.

A success in the league of companies

encouraging workplace romance is

Southwest Airlines in the U.S., where

1,600 of Southwest‟s 26,900

employees are married to each other.

Most of them met each other while

working for the airlines. The company

thus proudly calls itself the „Luv

Airline‟.

Just opposite to such companies are

those which are anti- dating and ban

dating between co-workers. A major

concern among them apart from the

decline in productivity is the fact that

dating relationships have

unfortunately transitioned to sexual

harassment cases. But even this

concern has taken a back seat and

what the employers now are

concerned about is the consequence of

a break-up, the conflicts that arise

between the couple as a result and the

impact this has on their performance.

Some companies resort to intimating

the existing couples from the very

beginning that in case of such conflicts,

one out of the pair will be transferred

to a different location of the company

and who among the two will be

transferred is entirely to the discretion

of the organization.

According to an SHRM and

Careerjournal.com survey, only 9% of

the companies who participated in

their survey have an anti-dating policy

in place. The rest of the companies are

those which are indifferent towards

workplace romance. These are like the

company in the above described

scenario. They do not encourage

workplace dating neither do they have

an anti- dating policy in place. In such

companies dating is not a problem

until and unless it affects the

organization‟s performance. If it does,

action might be taken against the

involved workers. However, a major

problem with such companies is that

the managers even after getting to

know about such incidents do not take

the necessary actions and are unaware

of or untrained on how to deal with

such situations. This is because in the

absence of written policies on intra

office dating, neither do the employees

have an idea about what exactly is the

company‟s stand on the matter nor do

the managers know how to deal with it.

According to the survey conducted by

Vaults.com, out of the total number of

companies participating, about 70% of

the companies have no formal policy

banning workplace romance.

Having said all this, the employees

have a best time dating a co-worker.

Not only are the chances of them

getting caught dating very sleek but

even if they do, they have managers

like those described above, who at

times completely ignore the

relationships blooming in their

organization. This apart the office

lovebirds also have at their disposal a

number of articles written just to guide

them on how to make their workplace

romance more effective. A simple

Google search on workplace romance

gives you more articles instructing

employees on how to go about dating

a co-worker rather than giving

companywide policies on dating.

According to these articles, a strict

„no-no‟ as far as work place romance

is concerned is dating your supervisor.

This can lead to a lot of tension within

your group. Even your star

performance may be attributed to the

“good” relationship that you have with

your immediate head. Around 34% of

the respondents in the „Office

Romance survey‟ conducted by

Vaults.com felt that a coworker

gained a professional advantage

because of a romantic relationship

with a supervisor. Also the survey

shows that only 19% of the

respondents have dated their

supervisor and only 25% say that they

have dated their subordinate which

means that while dating at workplace,

employees actually try avoiding dating

their supervisor or subordinate for the

above said reason.

Given all of this, it is equally

important to consider the stand of the

other employees in the organization,

as to whether they are comfortable

with their co-workers dating or

whether it distracts them. According to

a survey conducted by

OfficeClick.com, it was found that

only 30% of the employees think that

workplace romance is appropriate,

which means that the rest 70% are not

comfortable with it. This can cause

tensions between employees at

workplace and therefore should be

considered by the company while

framing the dating policies.

Workplace romance is thus a very

important area which companies today

have to consider seriously. They can

either try to look at it positively and

gain out of it or can ban it if they think

that the negatives overweigh the

positives. All this is entirely up to the

discretion of the organization.

However, whatever be the case it is

very important that the company has

in place policy guidelines which make

their stand on the matter clear, not

only to the employees but also to the

HR managers, thus making their work

easier.

WORK PLACE ROMANCE - THE THIRD DIMENSION

Rahul Phadke

Sr. Manager & Head of GHRO & India HR Direct, Symantec Corporation

“Love is blind”. The sightless nature

of Love is actually less physical but

more intellectual in nature. This

intellectual blindness empowers love

to be omnipresent without any

geographical or social boundaries and

hence we witness romantic encounters

anywhere and everywhere, including

workplace. Conventionally, love has

only 2 dimensional effects while

contemporarily it involves third

dimension as well, especially at work

place. What is important is to

understand its impact in the

professional world of other work

mates.

So let‟s see what happens when cupid

strikes at work place.

Subodh meets Sakhi

Subodh was recently promoted as a

India Centre Head of an European

MNC, after completing a successful

stint as a Production Head for past 4

years. During these years Subodh

recruited many talented individuals

including Sakhi for professional as

well as personal interests. Sakhi‟s

selection provided never ending

supply of spice to the gossip starving

staff. The gossip debut was that

Sakhi‟s selection was more a result of

the relationship chemistry experienced

by Subodh, during their initial

meetings of the otherwise boring

selection process. The on boarding

was even more engaging with Subodh

taking all possible steps to make Sakhi

comfortable in “every sense” few best

practices were frequent exclusive

lunch meetings at romantic getaways,

personally looking into work space

arrangements, of course the rose

bouquet on the table could not be

missed…what happened subsequently

was a love tale that others and

Anirudha witnessed for years to

come……..

Romance unveiled.

As many employee engagement

theories advocate for having “friend at

work place” soon Subodh left no stone

unturned to convert these theories into

practice at least in case of Sakhi.

Friendship blossomed into romance in

no time with meetings, social

gatherings, taking international calls

becoming a routine, where Subodh

always ensured they were together

irrespective of whether Sakhi was able

to value add or had any relevance to

the meeting. As quarters passed by the

relationship performance moved to the

next level, calls meetings got

transformed into domestic &

international travels, professional off

sites, conferences, needless to say this

romance was on company cost,

proactively budgeted in the quarterly

business plan.

Romance also made Subodh traffic

immune and inflation proof…

dropping Sakhi to Boravli (W) from

BKC became a routine & the most

important task, conveniently ignoring

the fact that his own house was at Vile

Parle (E).

The rise and the fall

Subodh‟s intense desire to impress

Sakhi was the most powerful force and

the sole motivator in his life. He

worked tirelessly to achieve newer

professional heights and eventually

became India center head. Naturally

his promotion was followed by

Sakhi‟s leaving other deserving

candidates in a thwart.

For Sakhi, her new job was a major

breakthrough in her career. She was

cherishing all the love and care

showered on her and conveniently

concluded it as a work environment

any MNC would sport as against her

previous “Desi” employer. Sakhi‟s

career and confidence was at its all

time high and her love submerged

heart rarely left any opportunity for

her brain to think and understand the

genesis of all the goodness happening

to her.

With Sakhi by his side, Subodh

conveniently ignored his other directs.

Team encountered biasness; all

decisions were in Sakhi‟s favor,

budget approvals, incentives…the list

was never ending. While the romance

was at its peak, team‟s morale and

Subodh‟s ability to manage them

fairly was at the nadir. Aniruddha the

quality head was the worst impacted,

he was Subodh‟s direct and Sakhi‟s

counterpart.

Third Dimension

Love is blind, was reinstated since

Subodh could no longer see his team‟s

sad n frown faces and also Sakhi‟s

incompetency to manage the team. But

the workplace love was not only blind

but deaf too…as Subodh refused to

hear any grievances, voiced by Sakhi‟s

team against her.

Anirudha who was earlier confused

and later concerned on the sheer

negligence about his team‟s

performance and achievements, made

several futile efforts to shrug Subodh.

He believed that only talent and hard

work will survive in long run and one

day Subodh will recognize his

potential. With such high hopes in the

Organization and trust on self

competencies, Anirudha pulled

through his professional journey.

For team it was like an emotional ride

on stock market sensex, with complete

uncertainty but never dying hopes.

Every day they get a new addition to

their collection of spicy stories on

Subodh and Sakhi. Sometimes these

juicy additions made them giggle but

most of the time left a long lasting

frown on their face and morale. For

them it was even more difficult to

come to terms, as they never

possessed loud hopes as Anirudha did

nor they could ignore outside career

opportunities. The outcome was quite

well predicted… “Farewell gatherings”

found their permanent place in

everyone‟s calendar.

In such a positivity dearth

environment, team could not

remember when was the last time they

received any encouraging or praising

words from Subodh. It appeared that

the only person who was working at

India Centre was Sakhi as Subodh

tagged her name on all the good work

team delivered. Sakhi‟s praise spree

had always been Global in nature and

destined to impress the overseas

bosses too!!

It came true

Anirudha was sailing through a rough

sea and as a good captain he always

kept his courage and team together.

He made several attempts to improvise

the situation or at least make it no or

less impactful for his team. Till the

time a giant wave of Sakhis‟s

aspiration to become the Operation

Head, struck and shattered him

completely. For him it was his worst

nightmare turning into reality… he

would be required to report to Sakhi.

While Sakhi‟s aspiration had its own

logical progression, from her

induction to her out of cycle fat salary

increase, she was always made to

believe that she is the best. All

overseas accolades, and courteous

responses from generous oversea

bosses due to Subodh‟s continuous &

unconditional support in essay mails

praising Sakhi, were also screaming in

her otherwise deaf ears that she is the

first amongst the equals. For her it was

result of all those small and big

achievements which she achieved or

propagated to be achieved by Subodh,

what so ever…now that was a reality

for Sakhi.

That evening, Anirudha silently

promised to the glass of scotch that he

will move out with the very first

opportunity he get in this recession

struck market, but will not report to

Sakhi.

And true to his word Anirudha found

himself a better opportunity and

moved on…….

Today, when we review the whole

situation we find Subodh and Sakhi

very much in their characters…..the

love tale continues along with

enormous operation issues at India

Centre. The twist in the tale is that

Sakhi is struggling to manage the

undeserving role she acquired by all

her feminine charms and delivery

pressure is building on Subodh as well.

The latest spice churned from the

gossip mills is that Subodh is busy

hiring new operations Head for India

Centre to stabilize the currently

troubled operations and frequently out

for lunch meeting with a potential new

entrant…..

Love is blind but the office staff is not

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

Sonali Rout

PGDM-HR,2010-12, IMI

“Workplace romance” is defined as a

consensual and mutually desired

relationship that includes physical

attraction between two members of the

same organization, characterized by

desiring to be with the other person

and feelings of emotional and physical

attraction, which may lead to a sharing

of personal information, mutual caring

and respect, and quite likely sexual

behavior. Since more women are

entering formerly male-dominated

professions and assuming positions

involving frequent interactions with

men, workplace romances are

flourishing as never before.

The positives to this phenomenon are

many. There is related research on

workplace friendship suggesting

reduced stress, increased

communication, better workplace

outcomes, and even greater acceptance

of organizational change. In addition

some organizations experience lower

turnover because married employees

who work in the same company tend

to stay with the company.

The workplace has always been a

major place for individuals to meet

and learn about each other. Seeing

your prospective partner at his/her best

does induce greater interest in the

person. This proximity further leads to

attraction and romance, which, in case

of the relationship turning sour, may

lead to productivity losses for the

organization, charges of sexual

harassment, perceptions of employee

favoritism, the potential for breaches

of privacy, and even workplace

violence.

Very few organizations include

workplace romance and related issues

resulting from workplace romance in

employee orientation and training,

preferring instead to ignore the

problem in the hope that those

involved will at least be professional,

discrete and modest and thus potential

negative consequences will be

finessed with a mature practical

approach towards such problems. Due

to this lack of preparation, many office

managers find themselves dealing on

an ad hoc basis with the negative

aftermath of failed workplace

romances rather than effectively

responding to and managing these

romances.

Workplace romance between peers,

that is employees who work in similar

positions in terms of the

organizational hierarchy, are often

thought of as being more benign in

terms of consequences to the

organization. These affiliations result

from the fact that most of the

individuals spend more time in the

workplace than in any other setting,

including social settings such as

restaurants or public venues, the gym,

community meetings, church work, or

volunteer projects and meet people

with similar interests, education,

and/or background there. Employees

involved in a peer workplace romance

often keep their relationship a secret,

at least in its early stages. Issues may

involve inappropriate or explicit

sexual behavior in the workplace or

even the more mundane problems of

spending inordinate amounts of time

together instead of attending to work

tasks. An over-riding concern from

managerial perspective is that if the

workplace romance ends badly there

might be disruption to participants'

and co-workers' job performance or

the ubiquitous fear of resulting sexual

harassment claims.

Workplace romance may take a

serious turn when a subordinate enjoys

undue favoritism on being involved

romantically with the supervisor. If the

relationship sours, the subordinate

may retaliate by claiming sexual

harassment, or the supervisor may

block further rewards for the

subordinate. Such situations may

result in litigation against the

employer.

Romances involving individuals at

different levels in hierarchical

position-or when one of the employees

is a manager or executive and the

other his subordinate-can create really

complicating issues well beyond those

involving peer employees. These

hierarchical romance/relationships are

often viewed as inappropriate and or

unfair by the majority of employees

because of the power dynamic and

supervisory relationship and the

potential for abuse or advantage to the

lower ranked employee. Other

employees tend to see supervisor-

subordinate romances negatively due

to the potential of unfair influence in

work-related outcomes such as

specific assignments, promotions, pay

raises, and bonuses, which may have

components of discrimination against

them because of the perceived benefits

to the participants. Thus, these can

lead to legal action or detriment to the

firm from those not directly involved

in the workplace romance including

lowered morale.

If one or both of the employees are

married, the negative outcomes to the

individuals involved and the

organization can be further increased.

The number of stakeholders affected

by this romance expands to include

others outside the boundaries of the

organization; thus liability for the

company expands as well. Steps that

maybe taken by the HR include

implementing a proactive workplace

romance (WR) policy. This ought to

be a policy meant for all, without any

prejudice/unfairness/element of bias

involved. A safe point that can be

noted is intolerance towards an

unprofessional relationship between a

manager and his subordinate,

unprofessional meaning any

relationship that has no effective

contribution to the organization.

Hence it should prohibit supervisors

from dating subordinate employees

who are in the supervisor‟s direct

chain of command, because of the fact

that there is an inherent conflict of

interest in a supervisor dating a

subordinate, since the supervisor will

not be able to maintain objectivity

when giving the employee evaluations

or discipline. Even if the supervisor

can maintain a neutral position, other

employees could perceive favoritism

stemming from the relationship and

bring a lawsuit if they are passed over

for a promotion or their employment is

otherwise negatively affected by their

supervisor‟s personal relationship.

Again there is an element of

subjectivity that still remains, in

deciding the nature of the relationship,

since the participants generally don‟t

own up. For this, a cross-departmental

panel maybe involved in its execution.

Then it maybe left to the couple to

decide who would volunteer to

leave/get posted at a different location,

to assure fairness to the subordinate.

Other strict actions maybe developed

as per the HR policies of the

organization.

“Love contracts” are another form of

disciplinary action in use these days.

This is a form of written contract in

which both of the employees involved

in a relationship sign a contract with a

supervisor, claiming that it is a

voluntary relationship and pledging

that they would be involved in any

sort of offensive workplace behavior.

This contract acts as a testimony to

their agreement and can be produced

by the supervisor later on to the

concerned HR manager, if the need

arises. The employees maybe educated

on unlawful harassment prevention,

including the organization‟s policies

and procedures on workplace

relationships, on at least a yearly basis.

New hires should be trained at the

onset of employment. In the past,

conducting such training has been

administratively challenging for many

HR departments, but it has become

much easier to deploy and administer

such ongoing training with the rise in

usage of Web-based training. Again,

such training should be comprehensive

and cover all the protected categories,

not just sexual harassment.

Supervisors should be regularly

trained in their dual obligations to both

follow their organization‟s no-

harassment policy and administer the

policy in the workplace. Supervisors

should also be trained to assist in

identifying, receiving, and reporting

harassment claims to HR. Their

training should clearly specify the

organization‟s policy on intimate

workplace relationships and the steps

that must be followed in enforcing the

policy. Senior employees need to

understand that the organization‟s

policies apply to them and that the

consequences for violating the policies

could be personally devastating, as

well as catastrophic for their

organization.

Employers should communicate

openly with employees regarding

office romance and create an

environment of trust and support. Due

to the significance of counseling as a

responsive action on behalf of the

employer, and its popularity among

workers, managers should be trained

on how to counsel individuals

involved in a workplace romance and

on the risks associated with it.

Additionally, all employers should

make sure that the guidelines in the

policy are clearly written and include

coverage of sexual harassment

concerns. Employers should also be

careful not to invade employee

privacy. There should be a line always

maintained between supervisory

action and grant of personal space to

an employee. A policy should be job-

related, matching corporate actions

with disruption in office workings.

Moreover, policies should be updated

often and in a timely manner.

Corporate policy should also be put in

information packages and distributed

from time to time. In addition,

managers should be trained how to

effectively administer the policy fairly

and consistently. One way to address

the issue of consistency and access is

to place the policies and guidelines in

the company handbook. Finally,

employers need to make sure that the

policy as well as the efforts of

managers remain ongoing, by

continually updating the policy,

providing training and ensuring the

clarity and conciseness of the policy.

In this way the organization can profit

from the work of the managers and

realize the value of a required

corporate policy on romance.

For Feedback or Suggestions

HR Forum

Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) Symbiosis International University Symbiosis Infotech Campus,

Plot No. 15, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, MIDC, Hinjewadi,

Pune-411057 INDIA

Email: hrforum@scmhrd.edu