IMRVOLUME 3

ISSUE 1

DECEMBER 2015

THE JOURNAL OF I ILM INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

200

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International

Innovate in India

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training), Engineers India Ltd.

Leadership

By Anil Munjal, VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki

Time to Shift Gears in HR!!!

By Anju Sabharwal, AVP - HR, Vodafone India

Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex Business

Environment

By Rudolf D'Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting

Practical Road Map to Business Focused HR Analytics

By Siddharth Nagpal, SPHR, AVP - Talent Management & Organization

Development, Encore Capital Group

Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify It

By Prateek Srivastava, Stern Advisory India

New Approach to Performance Management System

By Indraneel Som, Director HR, Herbalife

IILM MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Book Review

Age of Sustainable Development

By Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia, Associate Professor, IILM Lodhi Road

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Board of EditorsRAHUL K. MISHRA

Director (Executive Education)

Professor of Strategic Management, IILM

RAKESH CHAUDHRY

Senior Director (Teaching & Learning)

Professor of Strategic Management, IILM

SANJAY SRIVASTAVA

Professor of Marketing, IILM

SHIVANI KHURANA

Professor of OB & HR, IILM

SHIVANI TEKCHANDANI

Director (PGDM)

Professor of Finance, IILM

SMITHA GIRIJA

Director (PGDM)

Professor of Marketing, IILM

SUJATA SHAHI

Senior Director

Professor OB & HR, IILM

TARUNA GAUTAM

Director , IGSM,

Professor of Economics, IILM

EDITOR: R. SRINIVASAN

Editorial Associate: Lekha Mukherjee

Publisher: Rajiv Kumar

Owner: IILM Institute of Higher Education

Design by: Cream Group

Printed & Published by: Rajiv Kumar on behalf of

IILM Institute for Higher Education and Printed at:

Pushpak Press Pvt Ltd., 153, DSIDC Complex, Okhla

Industrial Area - I, New Delhi and Published at: IILM

Institute for Higher Education, 3, Lodhi Institutional

Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Editor: R. Srinivasan

Copyright © 2014 IILM. All Rights Reserved

Contents

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study 06

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International

Innovate in India 11

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training),

Engineers India Ltd.

Leadership 14

By Anil Munjal, VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki

Time to Shift Gears in HR!!! 17

By Anju Sabharwal, AVP - HR, Vodafone India

Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex

Business Environment 19

By Rudolf D'Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win

Consulting

Practical Road Map to Business Focused

HR Analytics 25

By Siddharth Nagpal, SPHR, AVP - Talent Management

& Organization Development, Encore Capital Group

Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify It 29

By Prateek Srivastava, Stern Advisory India

New Approach to Performance Management

System 38

By Indraneel Som, Director HR, Herbalife

Age of Sustainable Development 40

By Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia, Associate Professor, IILM

Lodhi Road

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

The Editorial Mission Statement

IILM Management Review (IMR), the bi-annual journal of the IILM Institute for

Higher Education is intended to be research-oriented, scholarly in nature with

editorial contributions from the fields of management, business and economics. The

primary target of readers are professional managers. Another yardstick for potential

papers or articles in IMR would be whether they could be taught to a group of

business or management students. In a broad sense, IMR seeks to reach out to thought

leaders who influence leadership, management and practice through teaching,

consulting, managing and other professional activities.

Ideally, articles should be based on research evidence, either quantitative or

qualitative. Papers could include what we already know about academic literature

but advance our knowledge in the areas of business, management and economics, or

be reviews of themes of particular topics - those that have implications for society or

public policy and from areas that have been neglected largely in prior research.

India is increasingly becoming a global engine of growth and a lot of this growth is

being driven by Indian corporations. The country has several well-acclaimed

business schools, great managers and reasonably good academic research, but so far,

there is no single publication that captures this growing dynamism to disseminate

lessons from success and failure. Further, research from the business side is far and

few between. At another level, India is also grappling with issues of poverty and

corruption. This calls for greater focus on social sector management and governance.

Through the Journal, in course of time, we hope to:

provide a thought leadership platform for Indian business and non-business

managers, academics, policy makers and students of management.

create a world-class management publication to record, understand and

disseminate research and knowledge on best practices in Indian business and non-

business organisations.

create a forum for discussing and validating new research, ideas and management

innovation across the country and possibly in the future, in emerging economies.

build a knowledge network involving business schools, academic researchers,

business managers, government and other social institutions.

develop in part a global Indian view of management theory, research and practice.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

The global meltdown in the year 2008 redefined the way the business was conducted.

Frugality and lean management became the buzz words. Companies that had lot of flab, shifted their

focus on cost optimization and management of human resources.

Though the focus on HRM always existed; the relationship between the employer and the employed has

passed through various stages over the decades. The employees have been treated in different ways at

different times; and this relationship has evolved over the years. Employees have been treated as slaves,

servants, workforce, personnel, employees, and in some cases as partners.

In present times, there is realisation that no organisation can exist or operate efficiently without the

support of human assets. The focus on human resources (HR) has never been so high, as it is today. Human

Resource Management (HRM) is significant part of management education. Till two decades ago, the HR

function was generally referred to as personnel function, handling mundane jobs, like time keeping,

attendance, salaries, and payroll related jobs. In the recent times it has evolved as part of the corporate

strategy; and has assumed strategic role. It covers gamut of areas such as planning, organising, directing,

compensation, integration and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organizational,

individual and social goals. Today the focus of HRM is on HR Development, HR Analytics, so on and so

forth.

As the work domain increases, so does the challenge of managing all the related aspects. In the recent times

HR Analytics has assumed greater significance. As the organisations increase in size and go global, and the

number of employees become large, the diversity of the employees increases. This has increased the

related challenges. Due to increased diversity and size, huge amount of data is generated in the system.

Like any other department in an organisation, information technology has crept into the HR function as

well. HR Analytics is at a nascent stage. A huge amount of data is captured and processed, to understand

the specific skill-sets of its workforce, and use it to the advantage of the organisation.

This issue of IILM Management Review primarily focuses on issues and challenges related to the human

resources, ranging from HR Analytics, knowledge-led strategies, leadership, performance management

etc. An article by Ms. Anju goes one step further and talks about how HR analytics can be useful and how

HR function in the organisations are contemplating, the abandonment of the bell curve and focussing on

designing competencies in this VUCA world. Another article talks about shrugging off the past failures

and concentrates on positioning and branding of self to prepare for the job market. It also discusses about

being an intrapreneur rather being labelled just as managers. One of the authors has tried to attract the

attention to innovate in India, through which he is trying to advocate for India to focus on Research and

Development, rather just being another manufacturing hub. Finally, there is the review of the book on Age

of Sustainable Development, by Jeffery Sachs that focuses on the “interaction of three complex systems,

namely, the world economy, the global society and the Earth’s physical environment”.

From Editor's Desk

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study

Reversing the current mess and the ongoing pattern of

unsustainable growth will require a paradigm shift in

mindsets & planning and a herculean effort in

execution. Typically, sustainability is one of those

Important but not urgent topics. We worry about it but

actions around it rarely make it to our Monday

morning To-Do list. Friends, we just do not have the

luxury of time. We all have to act; because, it is such a

massive problem that government has neither the

intellectual thought process nor the resources to make

positive changes happen by themselves, certainly not

alone. If we don’t take urgent and significant actions,

the future of our businesses and families in these cities

is doomed.

I am sorry I have started off like a Cassandra and talked

about doom and gloom!! Let me now turn to the glass

half full side and focus on solutions. I have had the

opportunity to be a part of NASSCOM Haryana over

the past 4.5 years, initially as the Co-Chair and past 2.5

years as the Chairperson of the NASSCOM Regional

Council. This has given me the opportunity to come

across and work with a number of industry leaders

who have great awareness of the sustainability

challenge and are taking concrete actions around it.

Thus NASSCOM Haryana has set a charter for itself

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International

et’s start with why sustainability is a topic Lbusiness leaders need to worry about and do

something about. A recent ranking of top cities in the

world on sustainability, ranked Frankfurt, London,

Copenhagen and Amsterdam as the most sustainable

cities in the world. Further, it rated fast-growing cities

like Jakarta, Manila, and our own Mumbai and Delhi at

the absolute bottom of the list (Mumbai ranked 47th

and Delhi ranked 49th out of the 50 cities surveyed!). If

you search on Google “building sustainable cities”, the

first article that pops-up is a Harvard Business Review

article by John Macomber, and the case study he

mentions is on how not to build a city like Gurgaon!!

These global studies are an eye opener but at some level

we don’t need them to tell us what is wrong with our

cities. We live it every day. The traffic congestion,

pollution, power outages, law & order concerns, high

cost of living are just some of the problems we face on a

daily basis. While our fast-growing cities are currently

a magnet of economic opportunity, it is clear that if they

continue growing in this crazy, unplanned, unsustain-

able way, this party is not going to last. History is full

of examples of great cities that died. I give some of our

fast-growing cities like Gurgaon not more than 10-15

years in which they will become ungovernable and

unlivable, and will choke themselves to disaster.

Nitin Seth is the Managing Director and Country Head for Fidelity Worldwide Investment in India. He is responsible for Fidelity’s offshore

operations across India and Tunisia. Nitin was in McKinsey for 8 years where he was the Director of McKinsey's global knowledge center in

India. He is keenly involved in development of the IT and BPO industry and is recognized as an industry leader. He chairs the NASSCOM

Regional council for Haryana.

Nitin holds an MBA (majors in Finance and Operations) from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, where he was awarded the

Chairman’s Gold Medal for graduating first in the MBA program. He also holds an undergraduate degree in engineering (B.Tech) from the

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

06

B U I L D I N G A S U S TA I N A B L E C I T Y – G U R G A O N C A S E S T U D Y

Detroit struggled to find solutions to the loss of

manufacturing jobs and by 2013, it had become the city

with the highest poverty rate in the US.

Rapid growth of Gurgaon over the past 15 years has

been driven by the meteoric rise of the IT/BPO

industry. This industry is a strong economic engine as

India has a strong competitive position in it. However,

we need to be mindful of the mega technology trends

like social media, cloud computing, mobile and big

data that are changing the business landscape

dramatically. These could be a big disruption and

severely impact the headcount and cost arbitrage based

proposition that the IT/BPO industry largely relies on

currently. Gurgaon lags Bangalore in the start-up

activity. It is imperative that Gurgaon (and other

Indian cities) build a culture of innovation and

entrepreneurship. NASSCOM is trying to partner with

the state government to set up start-up warehouses and

develop a forward-looking IT Policy that encourages

innovation and start-up activity in Gurgaon. Much

more still needs to be done!!

2. Physical Infrastructure

The poor quality of physical infrastructure – broken

roads, water-logging in monsoon, traffic jams, and

exorbitant cost of housing – is the most visible

manifestation that our cities as they exist today are just

not sustainable. Transportation is the area that

requires the biggest paradigm shift. Our fascination

with bigger and more powerful cars is fatal. Cars are

the most inefficient way of transportation in so many

ways. They occupy large volume for the number of

Reversing the current mess and the ongoing

pattern of unsustainable growth will require a

paradigm shift in mindsets & planning and a

herculean effort in execution.

that is not just about developing the industry but also

contributing back to the Gurgaon ecosystem and

helping it develop in a sustainable fashion. There is a

sense of realization that with 350,000 employees, the

IT/BPO industry has become a very big driver of

Gurgaon’s growth and is uniquely positioned to help it

develop in a holistic manner. There is also a realisation

that if we don’t contribute, who else will? We have been

working closely with the state government at many

levels, with experts and with a number of citizen

groups. Based on my work in Gurgaon, I have

developed a framework of six action areas necessary to

build a sustainable city in the India context. These six

areas are: 1) Economic Engine, 2) Physical

Infrastructure, 3) Environment, 4) Social Ecosystem, 5)

Governance and 6) Citizen Participation.

I would now like to share brief perspectives on these 6

action areas. I have taken the context of Gurgaon but

the insights are perhaps relevant for many Indian

cities.

1. Economic Engine

Sustainability does not come at the expense of wealth;

they do not need to be at odds with each other. Every

city needs a vibrant economic engine that drives jobs

and prosperity. It is important that this economic

engine is sustainable and for that, it might need to keep

on reinventing itself. If the economic engine dies, the

city also tends to wither away. Good example of this is

Detroit. In 1960, it had the highest per-capita income in

the US, driven by its position as the manufacturing hub

for the booming automobile industry. However,

Six action areas necessary to build a

sustainable city in the India context are:

1) Economic Engine

2) Physical Infrastructure

3) Environment

4) Social Ecosystem

5) Governance

6) Citizen Participation

07

passengers transported and have high pollution

footprint. Our roads are bad and need to be improved,

but no amount of road construction can keep pace with

the growth of vehicles. There is no option but to

embrace public transportation and multi-modal

transportation in a very pervasive way.

If we look at some of the highest ranking cities on the

Sustainability Index like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and

Singapore, their success has been driven by their high-

quality transportation infrastructure. Metro in Delhi

and Rapid Metro in Gurgaon are good initiatives but

we need to scale them up and focus on the last mile

connectivity. This requires an integrated approach to

planning the transportation infrastructure. Currently,

we are hampered by multiple agencies often with

intersecting responsibilities. They tend to be focused

on this own piece and often at loggerheads with the

other agencies, as a result nobody is connecting the

bigger picture.

Special emphasis needs to be given to encouraging

walking and cycling. Many cities have managed

significant transformation in short periods of time.

London, a city where I spend a lot of time, I have a seen

a cycling revolution take place over the past five years.

We are slowly developing a culture of recreational

cycling in cities like Gurgaon. We need to build on that

and encourage more executives to start cycling to

work. Investing in cycling infrastructure and address-

ing road safety will be key enablers for that. Car-Free-

Day initiative in Gurgaon is doing a great job in raising

awareness, but it needs to be followed up with real

infrastructure commitments by the government.

3. Environment

Our natural environment provides conditions for

development and growth, but it can also cause danger

and damage. Quality of our environment is perhaps

the best lead indicator for how sustainable our cities are

going to be. We constantly interact with our environ-

ment and are damaging it so much that in turn, it is

going to be toxic for us. Let’s take the example of

Gurgaon. It has one of the highest air pollution levels

in the world. Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels are at

966 micrograms/cubic meter, which is four times the

concentration levels marked as unhealthy (based on

CSE study, state government study was much lower!!).

Therefore, children are developing respiratory

problems and many households are forced to install air

purifiers.

While air pollution is more apparent (and public

transportation that we have talked about earlier is

potentially a key solution), the depletion of the water

table is perhaps even a more serious existential issue.

Ground water levels are depleting in Gurgaon at 2-3

meters per year. At this rate, ground water reserves

will be all but extinguished by 2030. That is only 15

years away!! History is full of examples of cities that

died because they lost their source of water. I worry

that a similar doom will face Gurgaon unless we take

serious steps around water harvesting and rationaliz-

ing water usage.

4. Social Ecosystem

Healthcare, education, entertainment and law & order

are key elements of the social ecosystem that determine

the quality of life and the culture of the city. A new city

like Gurgaon has much to offer in terms of entertain-

ment (e.g., the CyberHub, various malls) and has a

nice, young buzz to it. The problem with Gurgaon’s

ecosystem is the socio-economic disparity. World-

class office complexes and high-quality condominiums

are interspersed with slums and shanty towns. While

there is a growing affluent class who are consuming

very visibly, there is also a large underclass of original

A city is nothing but an aggregation of our

indiv idual mindsets and behaviors.

Therefore, if we want to build a sustainable

city, it cannot happen if our individual

lifestyles are not sustainable.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

08

inhabitants who are now landless and of migrant

workers. This socio-economic disparity is a key

contributor to law & order problems. Gurgaon has the

perception of being an unsafe city especially for

women and children. They often live a cocooned

existence, afraid to walk around and being transported

around the city in cars. While police has an important

role to play in addressing the law & order problems, we

need to address the underlying social factors to have

sustainable solutions. Investing in skilling infrastruc-

ture for those displaced is important for them to find

gainful employment. Businesses have an important

role in helping develop their local communities. The

recent CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) provision

of the Company Bill is welcome in that context

providing impetus for investment back into social

causes.

5. Governance

Along with physical infrastructure, the element most

broken in Gurgaon is governance. Large parts of the

city have been developed by individual developers

with little integrated planning. There is multiplicity of

government agencies, which leads to little accountabil-

ity and lots of passing the buck. This multiplicity of the

agencies is a key reason why Gurgaon is in such a mess.

The so called ‘’millennium city’’ with aspirations of

being a ‘’smart city’’ came only 3rd behind Karnal and

Faridabad in Haryana government’s own assessment

on the smart city criterion.

To move Gurgaon forward, it is essential there be a

single body responsible for the administration and

development of the city. Ideally, that should be

achieved by empowering the elected Municipal

Corporation (MCG). If that cannot work for some

reason, then government should consider setting up a

single development authority like what Noida has

done.

One of the first tasks that such an empowered body

should do is to develop an Integrated Master Plan for

Gurgaon. It is critical that we move beyond ad-hoc

decisions and “band-aid” solutions and develop a

long-term vision and plan for the city. Cities that have

made significant transformations in recent decades

have often been led by strong leaders (often City

Mayors) who have set an ambitious vision and have

then been very persistent in executing it. This need for

leadership further points to the necessity of having a

single-point of empowerment and accountability for

running the city.

6. Citizen Participation

The task of building a sustainable city is so vast that it

just cannot be done by the government alone, it

requires strong citizen participation. In fact a

sustainable and “smart” city is one where citizens are

able to come together and find solutions to their civic

problems on their own. However, lack of civic

responsibility has been one of the banes of India in the

recent past. We are focused on our individual success

and that of our families but rarely take responsibility

for problems around us. This attitude has to change. I

have mentioned a number of negatives about Gurgaon,

but this is one aspect where I see a lot of hope for

Gurgaon. Increasingly, I am seeing citizens coming

together and taking proactive steps for the betterment

of their communities. Gurgaon is famous for its very

proactive Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). It

has also seen a citizen’s NGO build the Aravali

Biodiversity Park and help reclaim a forest. Perhaps

the most visible success story of citizen participation in

Gurgaon is the Raahgiri Day. This started as a

movement 1.5 years back to reclaim some of the roads

in Gurgaon on Sunday mornings for pedestrians. It has

turned into a real celebration on the streets where you

can see citizens from all walks of life enjoying walking,

running, cycling, yoga and much more. This event,

which was started by a couple of committed citizens in

Gurgaon has now become a full movement and spread

across multiple cities in India. This shows that in

today’s digital age, if you have a good idea it can go

viral very quickly.

The final point I want to make on citizen participation is

that a city is nothing but an aggregation of our

individual mindsets and behaviors. Therefore, if we

want to build a sustainable city, it cannot happen if our

B U I L D I N G A S U S TA I N A B L E C I T Y – G U R G A O N C A S E S T U D Y

09

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

individual lifestyles are not sustainable. This is easier

said than done. We are living in a hyper-consumerist

age with ever increasing wants and desires. Gandhiji

said it well, “there is enough in this world for

everybody’s needs but not for everybody’s greed.”

This in many ways is the final frontier. All of us need to

reflect on our individual lifestyles and see how we can

change and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

In conclusion, I would say that urbanization is an

irresistible force. We have seen a movement of people

from rural to urban centres and that is likely to

continue, or perhaps even intensify in this century. We

need to accept this trend and instead of dreaming of

utopian solutions (move back to villages), we should

focus on how we can build sustainable cities. The

challenges of doing so are huge but not unsolvable.

With the right vision, focus on execution, and

collaboration between the government, businesses &

citizens, we can make it happen. If we do so, we would

not only support in building a sustainable city but also

help in solving some of the greatest challenges facing

the world in the 21st century!!

10

The boost to "Make in India" will come from

three important developments - completion of

Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor, if

GST gets implemented and from arms and

defence equipment production.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Innovate in India

“Make in India” is the laudable objective of the present

government. The good part is that it may bring some

administrative reforms as the government is keen on

improving the World Bank ranking of India on "Ease of

doing business index”. Some complex and archaic laws

are going to be simplified in that process. The boost to

"Make in India" will come from three important

developments. The first is completion of Delhi-

Mumbai dedicated freight corridor which will reduce

the transportation of goods to 17 hours from the

present 48-72 hours. Along the freight corridor, many

industrial parks and manufacturing units will be

established and expanded. The second boost will come

if GST gets implemented, it will simplify and lower

excise and sales taxes which will boost profitability of

manufacturing firms. The third boost will come from

arms and defense equipment production. Companies

like Bharat Forge and Reliance have taken important

steps in this direction; though nothing can be sure

about India, till plan gets implemented on the ground,

these positive developments can give fillip to “Make in

India” programme.

But there is another perspective where economic

development and progress mainly comes from the

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training), Engineers India Ltd.

R. P Mehrotra is the structural engineer in ENERGY sector with proficiency in layout, onshore and offshore engineering in Engineers India

Limited. He has been associated with structural design and detailing of numerous domestic and overseas hydrocarbon refineries. He represented

Engineers India Limited as a committee member at the Bureau of Indian Standards. As an Engineering Manager, he oversaw, project

engineering of mega refinery/ strategic storage projects. He has presented papers on Quality Management and Structural Engineering at

National/ International workshops. He is also the Project Manager for selection and implementation of enterprise-level e-documentation

system.

Presently, he is the Chief - Learning & Development at Engineers India Limited and is responsible for organizing knowledge sharing technical

programs for domestic and international clients in ENERGY/ other sectors.

R&D and Innovation. Apple which is the most

profitable company in the world does not own a

factory. In a way, it does not manufacture its most

successful product I-phone. It relies primarily on its

Research and Development (R&D), Design and

Innovation, Branding and Marketing and comes up

with unique features in its phones and tablets and

charges very high premium from customers around

the world. The economic value is created mostly

through ideas, innovation and marketing. Companies

like Foxconn of China does low-end manufacturing for

Apple. In the same way, Nike does not have its own

factories. It defines its main activity as R&D, design,

branding and marketing. There are several Chinese

11

and Southeast Asian companies that are willing to

manufacture shoes on Nike's specification.

Technology, Design, Innovation, and Branding are the

new rules of the game where maximum value is created

and profit is made. Intellectual Property Rights are the

most important assets which a company can have more

than its tangible assets. This is creating both advantage

and crisis in the US. People who are highly educated

and creative are getting very high salaries and people

who low-end jobs are losing out as their jobs are getting

shifted to China, Vietnam and other low-cost manufac-

turing countries in the world.

It is not so easy to create an ecosystem of Innovation in

the country. But Modi government has taken certain

steps that need to be appreciated. NITI Aayog, the

planning agency of the Government of India, has

appointed a panel headed by Prof. Tarun Khanna of

Harvard Business School to suggest ways and means to

foster innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Newspaper reports suggest that the committee has

given its recommendations to the government. It will

be interesting to see how these recommendations are

implemented on the ground.

The committee has suggested creating research labs in

Universities in India. It has recommended the

government to give tax benefits to companies willing to

invest 1% of their profit towards research in India. The

committee has also suggested investing in incubators

which in turn would support early stage ventures. Yet

another suggestion by committee is to institute grand

prizes to foster innovation. These and many more

suggestions by the committee, if implemented, could

start innovation movement in India. Without this, there

is no redemption or any boost to “Make in India"

initiative of the Government of India.

The investment in R&D by the Public Sector

Undertakings (PSU) and Private sector are so low that

nothing much is happening in terms of original

technology and innovations. The only place where

innovation and R&D have happened in India is in the

space research and nuclear science establishments. The

massive investment has given benefits in terms of the

know-how to launch satellites at lower cost and also

fabricate satellites for our own use at much cheaper

cost. India needs such experiments in all other fields.

The key issues are investment and borrowed technol-

ogy. Beyond a point economic growth will lag behind

unless Indian companies (both the public and private)

undertake serious and important innovation and build

new technology and processes. This is serious long-

term stuff. To replicate Silicon Valley in India, India

needs to institutionalize the process of innovation.

India needs create and support Universities like

Stanford University, a multidisciplinary university,

the biggest strength behind the success of Silicon

Valley, where entrepreneurship, innovation and

research are fostered through incubation labs and

centers of excellence. In India, compare this with our

insular IITs and IIMs and our top grade universities are

not allowed to frame policies on their own. Some of the

Stanford professors are entrepreneurs, running

companies with market capitalization of billion dollars

and more.

Technology, Design, Innovation, and

Branding are the new rules of the game

where maximum value is created and profit is

made. Intellectual Property Rights are the

most important assets which a company can

have more than its tangible assets.

The key is to promote research, be it in

universities or in companies.

I N N O V AT E I N I N D I A

12

13

In Silicon Valley, apart from private venture capitalists

(VC) and angel investors, the US government and its

organisations have huge fund to the tune of over two

billion dollars to promote startups and research. The

other important part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem is

the close relationship with universities, research

organisations and companies. Strong relationship

between Industry and research fosters ideas, which can

translate into businesses. For example, the Google was

founded, when its promoters, while doing their Ph.Ds

from Stanford did a project of writing an algorithm for

searching library database on the US government-

funded project. Starting from that, the huge informa-

tion company called Google got started.

The key is to promote research, be it in universities or in

companies. In Indian context, we can take the examples

of pharmaceutical companies that have increased their

R&D budget. Companies like Tatas and Mahindras

have also started making investments in R&D.

Similarly, innovations cannot be restricted only to

manufacturing industries but also is required in school

education, agriculture and logistics, medical sciences,

sustainable and clean environment. Companies and

research organisations are building their intangible

assets through Patents and Intellectual Property Rights

(IPRs). Students are allowed to work as interns in

companies while pursuing their education. A lot of

flexibility and supporting infrastructure are needed to

get this culture of Innovation going.

The future of economic development depends on the

country's ability to create innovations which can have

global impact. Such innovation can bring in higher

productivity, consequently resulting in sustainable

economic growth.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

The future of economic development

depends on the country's ability to create

innovations which can have global impact.

Such innovation can bring in higher

productivity, consequently resulting in

sustainable economic growth.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

LeadershipBy Anil Munjal,

VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki

n today’s world, the leaders who scaled the ladder of I“Success with knowledge” are the people who

adjusted with firm stage and have changed world

realities.

These figures include Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson

Mandela, Martin Luther King and others. The Leaders

first, become aware of their thoughts, words, and

feelings. But, how did these individuals manage their

emotions and create a positive attitude; how did they

re-program themselves and bounce back time after

time, when they felt they couldn’t put any more effort

into their cause; what kept them motivated to take

action, to keep trying, and to never quit? The answer is

simple. They always practiced the Theory of

Simplicity. They believed in the Values of Life, building

strong connections inside and outside the culture,

knowing when to wield influence rather than

authority, and take decisive action, etc.

A leader can see the big picture and knows how to paint

the same. He knows where he wants to go with his

people. He devotes his energy and aptitude in fulfilling

that vision. It makes no difference how much time it

takes but what matters is, to achieve that goal. As an

example, it took 27 years for Nelson Mandela to free his

country. The leader always knows where the

movement is going; he keeps the eye on the ball. He is

focused to achieve what he has painted.

Some of the qualities the leaders possess are:

Trustworthy

The most trustworthy leaders are the most notable.

They appear with their intentions on their face and

make their vision clear. Trustworthy leaders are

reliable, hold diversity and inspire their people to share

their thoughts and principles.

Share Their Wisdom

The leaders give wisdom by sharing knowledge and

evolve intelligence. Leaders make you understand the

14

Anil Munjal is a Human Resources leader with diverse industry experience. He has significant Pan India exposure to all facets of HR and

organizational effectiveness. At present, he is the VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and is involved in Transformation and Leadership

Development of Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd. He has worked with Telecom for almost a decade with more than eight years of experience in

US Telecom MNC. He has also worked for more than ten years in manufacturing and consumer industry.

His specialized skills include Strategic HR, Transformation / Change Management, Leadership Development, Expertise in Setting up Green

Field Projects and Employee Relations.

L E A D E R S H I P

big picture and enable you to develop a sense of pride

in self. Leaders will put their time and knowledge up

for Auction. Notable leaders are those who enjoy

sharing their wisdom and secrets of success. They are

the Best Mentors and Tutors, and their ability to take

peoples’ involvement through storytelling alone

makes them memorable. The leadership lessons they

share is appreciable later in life.

Positive Attitude

A leader’s action is a reflection of his attitude. Leaders

manifest Positive Attitude by having a positive,

constructive and creative thinking; optimism;

motivation and energy to do things and accomplish

goals.

Encourage

Leaders empower their people. He sets the firm's

direction and motivates each person to get there on his

own. He gives them resources and opportunities to

grow and, thereby, the firm. He sets goals, and guides

people to achieve those goals. He masters the carrot

and stick, all the while knowing where the road leads.

Leaders recognise individual and team accomplish-

ments.

Ignite Enthusiasm

Leaders inspire self before igniting people. Every

inspired leader is abundantly passionate to unleash

people from within. Passionate leaders truly endorse

people as their most valuable asset by not letting their

ego get out of hand. They need people to buy-in to

implement their passion.

Behaviour

Leaders are coupled with personal accountability

exemplifies leadership. Leadership is evidenced by

those who openly accept responsibility for their

mistakes, and mentor and teach to enable the success of

others. Leaders consistently set the standard for ethical

behaviour and commitment to the organisational

mission and values through their behaviour and

words.

Confidence

Leaders lead from front, they don’t give up or panic in

odds and failure, by staying calm and confident. They

know how to put out fires and maintain the moral of the

team. Leaders keep up your confidence level, and

assure everyone that setbacks are natural, and the

important thing is to focus on the larger goal. The key

objective is to keep everyone working and moving

ahead.

Decision

Leaders are proficient decision architects. They enable

the dialogue to empower their colleagues to reach a

strategic conclusion or they do it themselves. They

focus on “making things happen” at all times – decision

making activities that sustain progress. Successful

leaders have learned the art of campaigning and thus,

don’t waste their time on issues that upset impetus.

Unleash

Leaders unleash your Leadership Potential, no matter

who you are; you can lead and lead well. The consum-

15

Some of the qualities the leaders possess are:

1. Trustworthy

2. Share Their Wisdom

3. Positive Attitude

4. Encourage

5. Ignite Enthusiasm

6. Behaviour

7. Confidence

8. Decision

9. Unleash

A leader can see the big picture and

knows how to paint the same. He knows

where he wants to go with his people. He

devotes his energy and aptitude in

fulfilling that vision. It makes no difference

how much time it takes but what matters

is, to achieve that goal.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

mate leader offers a succinct and inspiring framework

for enhancing the leadership abilities you already

possess. Learn how to follow your vision and bring

others with you, produce a lasting legacy, make

continual investments in the quality of your

leadership, increase your ability to influence and

empower others through mentoring and use of self-

16

discipline to improve your character and your results.

Leadership is the art of serving others, being bold

enough to have vision, and humble enough to

recognise achievements. Leadership is a belief,

intensity, life-force that brings the present with future.

17

Time to Shift Gears in HR!!!By Anju Sabharwal,

AVP - HR, Vodafone India

inston Churchill expressed a classic statement Wabout a forward-looking journey: “This is not

the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is,

perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Nothing can be

more apt than this for Human Resource (HR) profes-

sion journey. HR profession has been through many

transformations which can be classified broadly into

three. First was the administrative work of HR, where

HR (or Personnel Department) focused on terms and

conditions of work, delivering basic HR services, and

working on regulatory, labour compliances. Second

was, designing innovative HR practices in talent

acquisition, compensation or rewards, learning,

employee connect and so on. Third has been the

strengthening and aggregating these practices by being

strategic HR business partner. The fourth, which is

emerging, is using HR practices to respond to and

create value based on ever changing business situa-

tions and environment. One is hearing of HR analytics,

abandonment of bell curve, designing competencies

and policies for new age work force, leadership

development, coaching and succession planning in this

VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and

ambiguity) world.

HR professionals often say, “What’s next in the HR

organisation?” A report by the Cranfield Network on

International Human Resource Management, in

collaboration with the Society for Human Resources

Management (SHRM) revealed that HR is now more

likely to have a place on the board of directors or a

similar executive team (up from 41% in 2004 to 66 % in

2014-15). However, to reach there, we have the

responsibility to equip ourselves for the exciting and

unexplored difficult terrains ahead.

Innovations in recruiting through social media

platforms have made it easier to find and hire right

people. As HR fully embraces these changes and other

technological tools, it will free up to focus on the

strategy and play business partnering role. No longer is

a back office system used to house employee records,

the next generation of HR technology delivers human

capital solutions that integrates entire gamut of HR

activities. HRM is getting increasingly more tech-based

because of the business needs to streamline processes,

reduce administrative and compliance costs, provide

real time metrics and more. Without rigorously

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Anju Sabharwal is currently the AVP-HR for Delhi/ NCR circle at Vodafone. She is a HR generalist with over 20 years of experience across

sectors viz BFSI, IT, Telecom and Consulting. She has a wide and in-depth experience in all areas of HR be it acquisition, policies, leadership

development, diversity, rewards, talent management, coaching or HR operations. A post graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur she has also worked

with Companies like Fullerton Securities and Wealth Advisors, IBM Daksh, ICICI Pru Life Insurance, CitiBank, AF Ferguson.

Innovations in recruiting through social

media platforms have made it easier to

find and hire right people. As HR fully

embraces these changes and other

technological tools, it will free up to focus

on the strategy and play business

partnering role.

18

T I M E T O S H I F T G E A R S I N H R ! ! !

tracking HR investments and outcomes, HR decisions

and priorities remain whims, not science. HR from the

outside/in is a seismic shift in how HR thinks and acts.

We no longer create value just by serving employees;

we must also make sure that services we offer inside the

company align to expectations outside the company.

This positions HR not just to respond to strategy, but

also to help shape and create it. As HR has become

more aligned with business, evidence-based HR and

HR analytics have become increasingly important.

With HR analytics, line managers and HR profession-

als can better justify, prioritise, and improve decision-

making rigor. While HR practices enable sustainable

results, HR analytics document the value that HR

creates. This will help HR to become a decision science,

not a data warehouse.

There are many organisations which are drifting away

from the bell curve approach. Some of the reasons cited

for this move are lack of continuous, structured and

constructive feedback, promoting organisation

politics, ranking more competitive rather than

collaborative, rewarding individuals rather than team

performance, etc. However, organisations need to

ascertain the maturity level of leaders, readiness from a

culture point of view, designing alternate reward

systems, assess complexity and scale of operations etc.,

before doing away with the bell curve.

Lastly, HR should continue to be an active contributor

in developing and measuring the individual

competence, commitment and contribution of the

talent within the organisation. HR needs to measure

organisation capabilities within the organisation and

linking with the organisation identity inside and

outside the company. None of these can be created

without having the leadership depth. The journey

toward HR contribution will continue to be on-going

and sustaining.

With HR analytics, line managers and HR

professionals can better justify, prioritise, and

improve decision-making rigor. While HR

practices enable sustainable results, HR

analytics document the value that HR creates.

This will help HR to become a decision

science, not a data warehouse.

HR should continue to be an active

contributor in developing and measuring the

individual competence, commitment and

contribution of the talent within the

organisation.

19

Rudolf D’Souza is the Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting. His role includes facilitating companies to leverage their Intellectual

Capital for sustainable competitive advantage in order to grow profitably.

Rudolf D’Souza has immense experience as a Knowledge Management Specialist, consulting with leading Indian Corporates. He has served on

CII Knowledge Council. He has been the Speaker, Session Chair, Workshop Leader at National and International Conferences on Intellectual

Capital and KM. He is reputed for path breaking and innovative knowledge sharing programs. His work has been featured as cover story on

'Inside Knowledge' Journal published from US. He has also led the KM function to 9 MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise) Awards

and KM Hall of Fame and has been recognized by Observer Research Foundation for 'Outstanding Contribution to Mumbai Vision 2015'

Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex Business Environment

By Rudolf D’Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting

In the Agrarian Age, the key asset was land. In the

Industrial Age, the key asset and wealth creator was

capital. In the Information Age, those who unleashed

the power of information led the pack. We are well into

the Knowledge Economy and the key asset and wealth

creator is ‘Knowledge’.

The Knowledge Economy is entering into an exciting

phase – the Digital, Sustainable Age. We are right now

in the very early stages, one whose core is as fundamen-

tally different from its predecessor as, say, the

automobile age was from the agricultural era. There are

new dynamics, new rules, and new drivers for success.

It is all about envisioning and preparing for the future,

the capacity to create new products or services, the

courage to engage with customers in novel ways, and

the ability to transform organisations into new entities

that yesterday couldn't be imagined.

But, at its core, Knowledge will continue to be the key

asset. How do we know that? There are two stark

indicators that emerged this year.

A) ISO 9000: 2015 Introduces ‘Knowledge’ and its

Management as a New Separate Clause:

For the first time, Knowledge and its management are a

core part of one of the International Quality Standards,

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Fig 1. Key Assets/Wealth Creators over the ages. Fig © In-Kno-Win Consulting

oday, organisations exist in a complex environ-Tment. The key challenge that occupies the

attention of the Leadership Team is Growth, Profit

Margins, Leadership Development and creating a

Resilient Organisation prepared for the future. In their

quest to address these challenges, managements

constantly scan the horizon for new management

trends and strategies.

However, there exists within the organisation a

powerful resource – Organisation Knowledge, which,

if harnessed effectively, can become a sustained

foundation of competitive advantage. There is a wealth

of knowledge that is constantly being generated in the

organisation – in transactions with customers and

suppliers, in processes and in interactions among

employees. This knowledge is unique to the organisa-

tion context and the industry.

Why is Knowledge Important?

We are in the Knowledge Age and the key asset or

wealth creator is Knowledge.

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against which manufacturing and services businesses

around the globe will be audited. This is what it states:

Clause 7.1.6. Knowledge

• Determine the knowledge necessary for the

operation of its processes and to achieve conformity

of products and services

• This knowledge shall be maintained and made

available to the extent necessary.

• When addressing changing needs and trends, the

organisation shall consider its current knowledge

and determine how to acquire or access any

necessary additional knowledge and required

updates.

NOTE 1: Organisational knowledge is the knowledge

specific to the organisation. It is generally gained by

experience. It is used and shared to achieve the

organisation’s objectives.

NOTE 2: Organisational knowledge can be based on: a)

Internal Sources (e.g., intellectual property, knowledge

gained from experience, lessons learned from failures

and successful projects, capturing and sharing

undocumented knowledge and experience; the results

of improvements in processes, products and services);

b) External Sources (e.g., standards, academia,

conferences, gathering knowledge from customers or

external providers).

While knowledge was always seen as important, the

emphasis by the ISO 9000:2015 standards will make

organisations look at a structured approach to its

creation, protection and harnessing its potential value.

B) Managing Your Mission-Critical Knowledge,

(Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2015)

In the article, the authors, Martin Ihrig and Ian

Macmillan, note that leadership needs to focus on the

proper management of all their strategic knowledge

assets; i.e., the core competencies, the areas of

expertise, the intellectual property, and the deep pools

of talent. Leadership needs to have a clear understand-

ing of the knowledge drivers of an organisation’s

future success in order to create a sustainable

competitive advantage.

The authors believe that a knowledge-led strategy is

more relevant in today’s context with the potential of

Big Data and Analytics. However, in the absence of a

clear understanding of the knowledge drivers of an

organisation’s success, the real value of big data will

never materialise.

So, while the article goes on to provide a framework to

enhance the knowledge assets, the key takeaway is that

an organisation can actually map their knowledge

assets and craft a strategy to leverage these assets.

Knowledge-Based to Knowledge Driven: “The future

belongs to those organisations that best create and

leverage their knowledge assets,” said Ron Young,

Founder, Knowledge Associates, Cambridge UK.

According to Ron Young, who has been at the forefront

of Knowledge Management when it first emerged as a

promising discipline almost 20 years ago, a paradigm

In the Agrarian Age, the key asset was land. In

the Industrial Age, the key asset and wealth

creator was capital. In the Information Age,

those who unleashed the power of information

led the pack. We are well into the Knowledge

Economy and the key asset and wealth

creator is ‘Knowledge’.

By understanding which aspect of

Intellectual Capital – Human, Structural or

Relational is perceived by the customer as

providing most value, an organisation can

calibrate its emphasis to enhance customer

experience. This is the starting point to

becoming a knowledge-driven organisation.

In other words, the organisation is now

identifying its Key Knowledge Assets.

21

identifying the people with the right skill sets and even

deciding what growth opportunities to forgo to ensure

profitability. The group now has a market

capitalisation that is set to overtake the better-known

Bajaj Motors in a couple of years. Bajaj Auto Finance is

an example of a company with a knowledge-driven

mindset.

Shifting Gears to a Knowledge-Driven Organisation:

The starting point is to do a market capitalization

exercise. The exercise can initially be done in-house

before undertaking a full-fledged independent

assessment. The resulting valuation will throw up

startling disclosures, such as, how much of the market

value is based on tangible assets and how much is

based on the intellectual or knowledge assets can

become the starting point for a deeper study. This is the

Intellectual Capital Model.

In the Intellectual Capital Model (Fig. 2), Tangible

Assets are also known as Financial Assets while

Intangible Assets are associated with Intellectual

Capital.

Figure 2: Intellectual Capital Model

shift in thinking is required. Organisations need to

make that strategic step from being knowledge-based-

where knowledge is recognised as an important

resource within the current business operations, to

knowledge-driven i.e. recognising knowledge as the

key asset across the business. Only when this paradigm

shift happens, does the organisation begins to

appreciate its knowledge assets and put in place a

strategy to manage the knowledge assets like it

manages other physical assets.

There are enough examples of organisations that are

knowledge–driven. Elon Musk of Tesla famously

declared “You want to be innovating so fast that you

invalidate your prior patents, in terms of what really

matters. It’s the velocity of innovation that matters.”

Tesla is an example of a knowledge-driven company.

They are now unleashing the power of knowledge by

opening up their patents for free, to anyone, including

their competitors. Instead of hoarding their

knowledge, they have opened it to everyone. They

realised that on their own they were not making a dent

in ‘conventional’ automobile industry. So, instead of

keeping their knowledge assets to themselves, and

benefitting a miniscule population, they hope that by

sharing core knowledge, the industry will shift away

from fossil fuels much faster.

Closer home, Sanjeev Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto

Finance, transformed the company from a mono-line

auto finance company to the leading non-banking

finance company in the country, through a knowledge-

driven strategy. It included a multi-line strategy,

Leveraging the source of competitiveness is the

Holy Grail of a Knowledge-led Strategy. This is

where knowledge real ly provides the

organisation with a new source of revenue and

growth.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

To enhance the value of the Knowledge Assets is

the role of every leader in the organisation. A lot

of awareness, training and emphasis needs to

be placed on growing Knowledge Assets. It has

to emanate from the top leadership team. The

focus needs to shift from short term OUTCOMES

or immediate tangible business results like

sales, margins, market share, etc., and realise

that a knowledge asset strategy is about long-

term organisation sustainability.

22

Typically the skew will be 1/3rd Valuation in the form

of tangible assets and the rest in the form of intangible

assets, as shown in Fig. 2. However for pure knowledge

based companies the skew could actually be 1: 99. If the

market capitalisation details of other competitors are

available, an organisation can compare the outcome of

their strategies on the Valuation.

The Intellectual Capital Model provides an excellent

starting point. As depicted in Fig.3, the Intellectual

Capital is the sum of the Human Capital, Structural

Capital and Relational Capital of the organisation.

Figure 3: Intellectual Capital and its components

You can see Human Capital, Structural Capital and

Relational Capital at work in every industry. For

example: in the eat-out segment you have gourmet

restaurants which use a famous chef to indulge your

taste buds (Human Capital); McDonalds provides

standardised menu with uniform taste and experience

(Structural Capital); then there is your favourite

restaurant in say a club, perhaps not so fancy, but

intimate. The manager and hostess know you by name

and know your tastes. You feel relaxed and just like at

home. The food and ambience are to your liking

(Customer Capital). So you see how as a customer, your

preference to an organisation is shaped by the

experience. For the organisation, these become

stickiness factors for loyal customers and over time

translate into competitive advantages.

Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational

Capital are present in every organisation. It is just that

one of the three may be over-emphasised as compared

to the other two.

By understanding which aspect of Intellectual Capital –

Human, Structural or Relational is perceived by the

customer as providing most value, an organisation can

calibrate its emphasis to enhance customer experience.

This is the starting point to becoming a knowledge-

driven organisation. In other words, the organisation is

now identifying its Key Knowledge Assets.

Identifying the Knowledge Assets:

An organisation is able to function because of certain

competencies that it builds up. Customers experience

these competencies when transacting with the

company. Based on the experience, the customer

makes choices and forms preferences or opinions about

the company.

A clothing company launched ‘Ready-to-Measure’

stores. In this showroom a customer gets an outfit

tailor-made, stitched to his personal preference and fit.

There are customers who require this service and are

willing to pay a premium. The company is focussing on

its Human Assets.

When one visits an outlet of a clothing department

store, they experience the convenience of having many

brands under one roof. The chain of department stores

has created standardised formats and processes. The

staff is well-trained, polite, knowledgeable and

helpful. So whether you visit the store in one city or

another, you are confident of a uniform experience.

The chain is focussing on its Structural Assets –

standard processes, training, brands, etc., to provide a

uniform customer experience.

Near our home we all have our favourite ‘Kirana Shop’

– the neighbourhood grocery shop. The shopkeeper

has been in the business for a generation or more. He

provides you credit, packs and delivers odd quantities

of grain or whatever, and even delivers a single loaf of

bread, if required urgently. He knows the family

members and their quirks and takes back goods that

you suddenly decide you have no need for. While you

go to the malls for the monthly shopping, you still rely

on the good old ‘Lucky Stores Kirana Shop’ because

Manish, the shopkeeper, provides convenience no

‘organised retail’ shop can provide. The humble

‘kirana shop’ relies on Relational Assets to be relevant

to his customers.

K N O W L E D G E - L E D S T R AT E G I E S T O S U C C E E D I N T H E C O M P L E X B U S I N E S S E N V I R O N M E N T

23

It is not that it is recommended to do away with

“Today’s Results”. The EXCLUSIVE focus on this

month’s or this quarter’s results, without building in

the process for growing capacity, is what needs to be

changed. If for a complete year, an organisation can

ensure a rigorous emphasis on growing Knowledge

Assets, it can be assured that they will have built a

resilient, nimble structure capable of higher output

with lesser effort.

Where does one start? It is not too difficult to know

where to begin. Taking the help of Stephen Covey’s ‘7

Habits’ again, one needs to look at all the signals that

are emanating from clients, from employees and even

investors; and focus on addressing those concerns, in a

systematic manner. These are the Quadrant II issues

that are referred to by Stephen Covey.

Fig 5: Extending the connection between ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’

and Knowledge Asset Management

Management can form expert groups to identify the

recurring high-noise issues that are currently

addressed through ‘Quick Fix’ patchwork solutions.

These are issues that are important but the underlying

Knowledge Asset has not been developed. And

customers are giving you enough indications and

chances to change (Quadrant I). In Quadrant II,

benchmarking of the best practices in the organisation

can be initiated. Then a program to identify the

underlying Knowledge Assets needs to be

implemented. These are small indicative ways to begin

a High-Impact Knowledge Asset Management

Program.

Leveraging the Knowledge Assets:

Leveraging the source of competitiveness is the Holy

Grail of a Knowledge-led Strategy. This is where

knowledge really provides the organisation with a new

Like the examples above the company has to identify

which aspect of Intellectual Capital is valued most by

the customer. The next step in a knowledge-led

strategy is to identify the Key Knowledge Assets in

each of the three domains of Human, Structural and

Relational Capital.

There are specific techniques to identify the knowledge

assets. However, it needs to be dwelt on separately.

Knowledge Asset Management:

Once the Knowledge Assets are identified, it is

important to know that a Knowledge Asset is to be

managed exactly like a Tangible Asset.

It has a life cycle, generates income, creates tangible

value, requires maintenance and can be accounted for.

There is no difference in the management of physical

and knowledge assets.

To enhance the value of the Knowledge Assets is the

role of every leader in the organisation. A lot of

awareness, training and emphasis needs to be placed

on growing Knowledge Assets. It has to emanate from

the top leadership team. The focus needs to shift from

short term OUTCOMES or immediate tangible

business results like sales, margins, market share, etc.,

and realise that a knowledge asset strategy is about

long-term organisation sustainability.

Change in Perspective: The biggest challenge to

implementing a Knowledge Asset Management

strategy comes from the management. Implementing

Knowledge Asset Management requires a change in

the perspective. Instead of focussing on instant results,

one looks to build the capacity to produce results. This

aligns with the principles enunciated by the late

Stephen Covey in his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective

People’.

Fig 4: The connection between ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and

Knowledge Asset Management

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

24

source of revenue and growth. Walt Disney has a

division called Disney Institute that leverages its

Customer Capital. Built on the global success of

Disney, the institute provides expertise in their time-

tested best practices, their sound methodologies, and

real life business lessons that facilitate corporate

culture change by conducting training to other

corporate organisations. IBM realised that knowledge

business pays more than manufacturing and have

completely turned into a consultancy. Indian

companies too are leveraging their competencies and

reaping the benefits. An early example is RAMCO

group. They formed RAMCO Systems in the 90’s,

based on the expertise developed in implementing ERP

for their organisation. It is a standalone ERP solutions

company, in its own right.

Conclusion:

In the digital era, a Knowledge-Led strategy is vital.

Digital is a platform which can be replaced. But

Knowledge Assets are the bedrock for a sustainable

and profitable organisation.

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25

Practical Road Map to Business Focused HR AnalyticsBy Siddharth Nagpal

SPHR, AVP - Talent Management & Organization Development, Encore Capital Group

ollowing a data-driven approach to build smarter Fworkforce!

The domain of HR analytics has gained a lot of

popularity in the recent past - and rightfully so. HR

analytics, when leveraged the right way, has the

potential to provide deep insights to senior business

leaders around direct impact of various HR processes

and initiatives on business outcomes. In other words,

HR analytics is the application of analysis and data

processing procedures to HR/people data to provide

information and insights about the nature of individu-i als in organisations and the value that they add.

HR analytics is fast becoming the next big thing in the

field of HR, rapidly improving technological capability

and providing easier access to people-related data,

thus creating the perfect conditions for the use of data

to make HR and business decisions. Many organisa-

tions are now waking up to the potential of analytics to

shed a light on the aspects of the workforce's human

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

capital which could provide them with true competi-

tive advantage over their peers.

On a global scale, many established organisations are

increasingly leveraging HR analytics methodologies to

gain insights into various aspects of the HR processes

and strategies. From recruitment of key talent, and

retention of critical roles, through to the development

of targeted learning and development interventions,

HR data is guiding how modern organisations should

make important human capital decisions and deriving

maximum value from the same.

Despite above mentioned evolution, HR analytics

continues to be at a nascent stage across the globe,

primary reasons for the same could be a dearth of

requisite talent and capabilities in this field or lack of

IT/data infrastructure; and more often than not there

are several misconceptions around what HR analytics

is and what it is not.

As a result very few organisations have been able to go

Siddharth Nagpal currently, leads Organization Development at Encore Capital Group

Earlier he worked as a Senior Consultant in Talent & Organization Consulting team at Aon Hewitt. Prior to joining Hewitt, Siddharth used to

work as Operations and Human Resources lead for Jaypee Capital Services. He was responsible for setting-up of Human Resources processes,

systems and practices from scratch.

Earlier at Ernst & Young, he has been working on several engagements in the areas of Organization structuring, Post Merger Integration, Job

Evaluations, Compensation & Benefits, Performance Management (including implementation of Balanced Scorecard), Competencies and

Reward Management. His area of interest is in the deployment of business strategy through organization design and HR processes.

Siddharth has worked in teams to solve strategic, organizational and operational issues for global organizations across varied industry sectors.

Diagnosed issues, conducted analyses, developed and syndicated recommendations and assisted with implementation.

Specialties: M&A related HR integration work, Change Management, Organization Design & Restructuring, Performance management,

Competency Profiling and Development of Competency based HR applications, Compensation & Benefits, Equity linked Incentives, Job

Evaluations, HR systems, policies & processes, Ramp-up support, Recruitment support.

26

HR analytics is fast becoming the next big

thing in the field of HR, rapidly improving

technological capability and providing easier

access to people-related data, thus creating

the perfect conditions for the use of data to

make HR and business decisions.

A Comprehensive, Practical Road Map to

Business-Focused HR Analytics

Step 1: Focus on Critical Business Outcomes

Step 2: Build Cross-Functional Analytics Team

Step 3: Understand Data Availability

Step 4: Structural Equations Modelling (SEM)

beyond the operational level and produced high-

accuracy, business focused predictive analytics. Most

organisations are instead focused on Efficiency

Metrics/Scorecards and ensuring that they report

robust HR data on a consistent basis. In the more

evolved organisations, HR teams are focusing on

reporting gap analysis vs. benchmarks and

correlations between key HR metrics, which in all

fairness are valuable and critical steps in the right

direction but they still lack the evidence-based direct

connection with business outcomes.

The next step in the evolution for HR may well be a

radical shift to focusing on driving business results by

improving the workforce performance by using fact-

based insights from science and analytics. This new

developmental phase of HR will fundamentally

transform the function, not only in terms of the

practices and processes it advocates, but also in terms

of the people and roles it comprises. It might do iinothing short of revolutionise the field of HR.

A Comprehensive, Practical Road Map to Business-Focused

HR Analytics

For organisations intending to take the next leap in the

field of HR data and analytics, here is a suggested

practical roadmap that could be considered:

Step 1: Focus on Critical Business Outcomes

An organisation must first identify the top two to three

most critical outcomes to focus on. These could be key

financial indicators that the Chief Executive Officer

(CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) are focused on;

for instance financial indicators like EPS, EBITDA,

profitability, costs, market share, etc. Focusing on these

business outcomes also helps in generating adequate

support and buy-in from the business.

Step 2: Build Cross-Functional Analytics Team

This team should not only be formed out of the HR

personnel, but should comprise of data owners/

reporters from various business functions; one of

which could be HR. The teams should comprise of

analytics experts, who are needed to determine data

requirements, to scientifically link the necessary

datasets, and to conduct the requisite statistical

analyses.

Step 3: Understand Data Availability

It's tempting to start with the data you have rather than

the data you need. At Google, the People Analytics

team tries to understand the challenge before choosing

what to measure to try and solve it. Asking the right

questions and developing clear hypotheses are critical

before starting to think about the right data and iiimetrics.

This step should focus on understanding the current

sources of reliable data within the organisation and

further identify the depth of data available; for

instance, frequency, level of detail, data cuts, accuracy,

validity, reliability etc. Understanding these data

characteristics is critical before the framework for HR

analytics could be established. Robust HR data

architecture will facilitate building a strong foundation

for the HR analytics framework. This step often turns

P R A C T I C A L R O A D M A P T O B U S I N E S S F O C U S E D H R A N A LY T I C S

27

out to be the most challenging step in the entire

journey.

ivStep 4: Structural Equations Modelling (SEM)

This part of the process will require advanced

statistical knowledge to link the data. If organisations

don't have access to internal talent /capabili-

ties/resources, then hiring an expert statistician is

strongly suggested. This analysis should work on

Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), a statistical

analysis approach that econometricians and market

researchers have used for decades and more recently

by industrial/organisational psychologists. This

approach provides you with the opportunity to:

1. Consider multiple independent and dependent

measures concurrently;

2. Imply cause-effect relationships;

3. Calculate a more robust Return on Investment

(ROI); and

4. Correct for measurement errors.

The first point is important because we know that each

individual piece of employee-related data does not

exist in a vacuum; and organisations measure

numerous outcomes. The second point is critical

because, as mentioned earlier, correlations do not tell

you what came first; for example, did financial

improvements take place after employee satisfaction or

the other way round? By following the guidelines of

SEM, we can uncover cause-effect relationships. By

demonstrating cause-effect relationships, the third

point becomes much more defendable to other senior

leaders, because ROI will be shot down if based on

correlations (we've seen it happen). Finally, the point

number four is technical, but important too. People-

data collection brings with it a portion of measurement

error that is typically shown through a reliability

assessment. Unfortunately, correlation analysis

assumes that everything was measured without an

error, which is a flawed assumption.

Using structural equations modelling provides us with

the ability to determine, for example, whether

employee attitude about work-life balance has the

cause-and-effect relationship with that of increased

customer satisfaction. This implied cause-and-effect

relationship is important for understanding how these

different measures relate to each other as well as for

calculating an expected ROI for the initiatives.

The statistical component of this step accomplishes

three things:

1. Understanding the relationship between employee

initiatives, skills, behaviours, attitudes and

meaningful business outcomes.

2. Prioritising the types of interventions (i.e., deter-

mine where to spend time, money).

3. Calculating the expected ROI to determine levels of

investments and returns.

This work is designed to allow you to determine your

HR priorities and how much to invest in them. The final

result generated from the data analysis step is a list of

priorities that have data and analysis behind them to

ensure an impact on the business. It will also show

which initiatives are not having their desired impact

and could be candidates for cost-cutting.

Transforming HR Analytics into Actionable Insights

Building a robust HR analytics framework is only an

academic exercise and doesn't realise value until and

unless the business leadership buys-in to the

framework and the recommendations are auctioned

through front line leaders. In a nutshell, this becomes a

pivotal change management challenge in most

organizations, wherein the way HR team communi-

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

By using HR analytics, organisations can

more effectively manage and improve

performance. HR analytics can help an

organisation to improve its profitability

through more effective workforce, cost

control, balancing the lowest effective

headcount, while ensuring satisfactory

service delivery, thereby appealing to the

CFO.

27

cates the framework and builds commitment towards

the same becomes critical. HR teams should focus on

making HR analytics available, simple, easy to

comprehend and actionable for front-line leaders. This

will expand the impact of robust HR analytics

framework in the organisation.

By using HR analytics, organisations can more

effectively manage and improve performance. HR

analytics can help an organisation to improve its

profitability through more effective workforce, cost

control, balancing the lowest effective headcount,

while ensuring satisfactory service delivery, thereby vappealing to the CFO.

The HR analytics framework proposed here is logical;

and multiple organisations have leveraged it to gain

competitive advantage. It is time for HR leaders to start

solving business challenges, in contrast to just focusing

on employee engagement score. A robust implementa-

tion of HR analytics framework is imperative to

making HR a strategic functioning in any organisation.

References:

i Evolution of HR Analytics: A Middle East perspective, Research Report, CIPD, April 2015

ii Talent Management Meets the Science of Human Behavior, Colin Sloman, Janice Simmons and Susan M. Cantrell, Future of HR Research ,

Accenture Strategy, 2015

iii Choose your data and metrics, Re:work (https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/analytics-adopt-an-analytics-mindset/steps/choose-your-

data-and-metrics/)

iv Maximizing the Impact and Effectiveness of HR Analytics to Drive Business Outcomes, Scott Mondore, Shane Douthitt and Marisa Carson,

Strategic Management Decisions Volume 34/Issue – 2, 2011

v HR Analytics: Driving Return on Human Capital Investment, An Oracle White Paper, September 2011

P R A C T I C A L R O A D M A P T O B U S I N E S S F O C U S E D H R A N A LY T I C S

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify ItBy Prateek Srivastava

Stern Advisory India

t is the last lap of submissions, preparations and Iexaminations and as if this was not enough that you

need to pull up your socks for the real world out there.

The world which leaves you no time for preparation

and presents everyday as an examination in itself, at

least that is how the society defines it. As a result, you

are a bundle of nerves till the interview door and

finding yourself at the mercy of interviewers while

mustering up the courage to answer their “Why should

we hire you and how are you different” question.

Now this is one of those moments when you feel that

the cat caught your tongue and are busy ransacking

your brain for the right answer. Stop there, rewind and

rethink, maybe something you could have done in

college that would have made you avoid all this

embarrassment….

Many of us are of the belief that there is not much that

we can do in our student days that will place us in a

distinct light during our corporate pursuits. This is

where we go totally wrong and the below example of a

22 year-old will throw all your preconceived notions

out the window.

Build Your Brand Now, Get Hired Later

Lindsay Shoemake believes in the above line. While

being engaged in her college classes, she took out time

and acted upon the teachings of her personal branding

class. She created a blog – That Working Girl for young

women eager to jump start their careers in the public

29

During his tenure as a security expert at Stern Advisory Group, London, Prateek Srivastava had an epiphany of forming a

stringent corporate risks solutions umbrella for organisations spread across the globe; which would provide a pool of multiple risk

advisory services to businesses of varied scales. This umbrella would neither have any geographical confines nor be curtailed to

handling risks specific to one business function but would shelter all critical business functional units. This zeal instituted his

business concept and to work towards which he up-scaled his intrapreneurial approach to that of an entrepreneur. Further, the

conceptualisation of his business benefited him beyond a skill set, it was endowed with financial assistance from his employer

company.

In today’s time and age we are well aware that businesses circle around its “people” as they are the biggest asset of any and every

organisation but the biggest asset can also transform into the biggest liability and there is a very thin line between the two. With

adversities like corporate frauds, economic warfare, corporate espionage, data theft, geo-security political risks, reputation risks,

global expansion risks, compliance risks and the most infamous terrorist activities constructing their path on the corporate

landscape; it is imperative to identify the root cause and that again is “people” – your organisation’s biggest asset and liability.

These elements get infused in organisations by way of employment, business partnership relationships, business transactions and

the list is endless, as their very existence forms the existence of your business.

At this junction, Stern Advisory India aka STERN INDIA comes into play where their vision is to align with the vision and

values of organisations across the globe by acting as risk partners who secure not only all business functions but also safeguard the

supreme most aspect of an organisation – “reputation”, most laborious to make and most easy to lose.

30

relations and media industries.

This scheme spread like wildfire and soon attracted the

attention of a public relations company which made

her an internship offer; the company was already quite

impressed and did not think twice before contacting

her. Needless to say, she has been bombarded with job

offers from across the globe and is busy picking out the

best one for her.

As many college students fail to think strategically

about their online presence, they do not take the time or

effort to cultivate their web presence, consequently, the

few who make the effort are the ones who steer clear of

an uncomfortable interview environment and

eventually reach bigger heights, leaving their mark.

Personal branding puts you ahead of the curve. It

eliminates a majority of the competition. Think about it

- you have well established yourself over the digital

world and have highlighted your expertise, skills and

passion. A company would be thoroughly impressed

by your presentation and the great content that you

have displayed to promote yourself. Unknowingly,

you make yourself come across as “recruiter-friendly”.

This endeavour puts you in the spot where companies

want to hire you and know more about you.

Additionally, modelling your personal brand/ website

as per the desired industry/company assignments can

ameliorate your chances of getting selected by a

manifold. Given the age of Millennials, employers are

no more expecting the traditional outlay of qualifica-

tions on a piece of paper, they want to know who you

are as a person and what makes you tick for their

company.

It is a simple logic: if you do not want a snail’s pace

repetitive job, then show that in your approach. Break

the ice unconventionally, for example: a candidate

asked to be interviewed in Spanish to showcase his

language skills, having social profiles in correlation

with the company’s vision and mission, indulging in

positive social interactions with the company, etc.

Refrain from taking these online social interactions

lightly as they can make or break your career. Data

Personal branding puts you ahead of the curve.

It eliminates a majority of the competition. Think

about it - you have well established yourself

over the digital world and have highlighted your

expertise, skills and passion. A company would

be thoroughly impressed by your presentation

and the great content that you have displayed to

promote yourself. Unknowingly, you make

yourself come across as “recruiter-friendly”.

shows that 93% of hiring managers will review a

candidate’s social profile before making a hiring

decision. Hence, it is imperative to have a social media

strategy because it is the primary medium of communi-

cation. The impact of social media is such that it can

contract or dilute your message; it has to be used

strategically as your online profile is part resume, part

portfolio. Build it in a manner so that it resonates with

your personal as well as professional image to attract

recruiters. For instance, LinkedIn is strictly a

professional channel but Facebook or Twitter can be

used in the personal sphere; highlighting volunteer

experience (if any), your heightened awareness for

certain causes, preferred sports, etc. All in all, it has to

reflect a favourable and enthusiastic image of yours.

Having drunk photographs or even the slightest

inclination towards a drug can make you lose the job.

Experts say that though there is a plethora of privacy

settings but it is called the World Wide Web for a

reason, so do not post anything that you would not

want your employer to see or would be ashamed of at a

later stage. Additionally, always focus on quality over

quantity – it is one thing to be super active on all social

media accounts and another to copy-paste mindless

content and share it on all the channels.

It is perfect to have two or three social accounts,

provided that the content is well-drafted and meaning-

ful. Copying and pasting any information can be

identified easily by employers for whom social

screening is more of a staple diet. You need to

understand the role and complexities of each social

D O N O T J U S T S TA N D O U T, J U S T I F Y I T

31

In one week, she put up a website which had not an

ounce of her past work experience (as that is easily

traceable on LinkedIn). Instead, she had conducted an

in-depth research for Airbnb’s marketing venture,

listing out the gaps to be fulfilled for an overall

penetration. For which she chalked out a chart for

Middle East penetration along with outlining its

importance, drafting out a step-by-step approach for

penetration and enumerating the challenges and

solutions. This information spread highlights both, her

knowledge base about the Middle East and close

assessment of Airbnb’s locational expanse. She

combined her travelling passion and knowledge for

creating an action plan for her preferred employer

company.

But this also speaks volumes about Airbnb’s

charismatic culture as Nina was first a loyal customer

of this company and then its contagious enthusiastic

culture spread to her, she states that she was

“enamoured by Airbnb’s internal culture”. This is a

classic example of effective employer branding which

paid off by converting a loyal customer into a

prospective candidate. Airbnb’s service and warmth

have been instrumental in attracting and engaging a

steadfast like her. She got encouraged enough to

publish a white paper in which she states as to how to

apply the foundations of marketing to creating a

successful career opportunity. The white paper breaks

down the approach followed by Nina for creating the

campaign as – the hurdles, the reasons behind the

hurdles, the solutions, results, her achievements and

takeaways for the audience.

media channel and post information accordingly. You

do not need to fill in jaw dropping lengths of content.

Instead, you have to fill in eye opening content.

Nobody is going to follow you if you paste the same

content on all social channels, let there be a differentiat-

ing factor among all. Further, even Google’s SEO

(search engine optimisation) rankings will completely

disown you. So be original, keep it simple and effective.

However, there are two sides of a coin; acceptance and

rejection go hand in hand. It is not about being put

down, it is about getting up after having faced that. The

story of Nina Mufleh is the right example:

Dead On Target – Creating Multiple Opportunities

Nina recently moved from the Middle East to San

Francisco and fell in love with Airbnb. She had

previously worked for Jordan’s Queen Rania Al

Abdullah from 2006 to 2009, after having work for a

decade in the marketing industry.

She tried every possible means of interaction, from job

boards to emails to telephonic conversations.

Thereafter, she even networked with some of Airbnb’s

chief employees but that did not result in a job offer.

Then she did something disruptive which caught not

the CMO’s but also the CEO’s attention – she created

her resume in the format of the host page of Airbnb.

This garnered massive attention of not only Airbnb but

also Uber, LinkedIn and Dropbox. Most importantly,

she got support from strangers who like her were

involved in applying for jobs but were unable to make

the cut.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Today the cream of the cream is

passionate, motivated, hardworking and

innovative, but the differentiating factor is

that of continuous innovation and hard

work which needs to be disseminated

across the right network as presentation

and positioning matters.

The fundamental point is to do justice to what

you have asserted in your CV, not only in your

eyes but in the eyes of your employer too. You

need to weigh the statute of the employer, his/

her background and then decipher the

expectations. More importantly, in a bid to

meet those expectations, refrain from

overshooting your image and experience as

it does not have to be in accordance with your

judgement but with that of the employer.

32

Nina strategically not only showed that she is aligned

with the goal and values of Airbnb but also used this as

a platform to be available to other prospective “high

impact technology companies that have a stellar team”.

By showing her dedication for the Airbnb venture, she

opened dialogue with several other industry giants –

she created a win-win situation for herself by even

showing her dedication and keeping all her options

open. This has been pointed out in her results of the

campaign.

Moreover, Nina4airbnb campaign has been

unsparingly used for her publicity which has garnered

support of various other candidates who are looking

forward to making similar disruptions to get their

dream jobs. Everyone talks about innovation but no

one is aware of the formula and this is well explained

by Nina in her campaign. She profited her image by

setting herself as an example for several, in turn

increasing her fan base and followers. For her future

endeavours she shall always be encouraged by them

and her every tweet or post would spread at enormous

speed. This is an immediate boost given to her social

media presence, giving her a status of no less than that

of a celebrity.

Here, she built opportunities for herself as that of a

marketing guru as she openly invites her “readers” to

connect with her for more marketing insights. Hence,

generating a plethora of opportunities in one go. The

ripples of these opportunities can be felt across the

following domains:

• Getting an interview with the dream company –

Airbnb

• Interviews in the pipeline with other “high impact

technology companies that have a stellar team”

• Amassing a large base of followers and ardent

supporters

• Boosting her social media presence

• Attaining a celebrity status

• Establishing a demand for her marketing insights

This is what marketing yourself is – positioning

yourself as the product and strengthening your brand

with the inputs of impeccable content and design,

which needs to be supplemented with well-researched

information. But are these efforts enough to achieve

your primary target, in this case, the dream job at

Airbnb or are there some more steps that a prospective

candidate has to take?

The Verdict – What Do Employers Look For?

Now, many of us would be of the opinion that Nina

would have surely got her dream job with Airbnb as

this was quite a disruptive innovation and the

formulation of a rare CV, which does not entail the

traditional layout but serves as a platform which

focuses on the target company growth.

Despite these efforts, she did not get hired by Airbnb.

She had everything going right and rolled the balled in

her favour by demonstrating passion, motivation and

sharing it across the right connection i.e. the right

network. Having worked in the Queen Rania’s

By building a credible identity, an image that is

true and is easy to connect with while carrying

an authentic seal: A seal which reaffirms your

unique stand and voice, and automatically

makes you a preferred choice over thousands

of other candidates.

The devil is in the detail – refrain from

profanity or from making grammatical

errors as these are sure turn-offs for

recruiters and they would not even

consider viewing your profile any further,

forget about making an impression or

getting shortlisted.

D O N O T J U S T S TA N D O U T, J U S T I F Y I T

33

communication team, got her in loop with the right

media personnel who guided and maybe to some

extent even shaped her digital presence.

But that was not enough. It was surely enough to grab

eyeballs and build a launch pad into the C-suite but the

“contextualisation” that she has spoken about in her

entire campaign and white paper was not evident to the

Airbnb interviewer as “he was unable to contextualise

her experience because she had not worked at

Facebook or Google or studied at Stanford”, as

mentioned in the blog post titled “the good, the bad,

and the ugly” of Nina’s blog – eatwritewalk.

She describes that she was not been able to comprehend

such a reason and even her several attempts at

explaining her decade-long achievements in marketing

and social media did not come to her rescue. She was

helplessly trying to convince the interviewer but it did

not work to her advantage.

Some can say that this was the interviewer’s shortcom-

ing to only stay pivoted on association with brands

whereas some C-suite interviewers agree with the

problem of being unable to contextualise without

having in place a constructive candidate background.

Either way, none of them are right or wrong. Every

company and for that matter, every candidate has their

reasons as per their experiences, circumstances and

expectations. For Nina, everything was unfurling in the

right direction – from the strategy implemented to her

presence to the response generated and so much so that

she bagged an interview with Airbnb.

But, at the interview location, when she and the

interviewer sat together, the interviewer unlocked a

different paradigm wherein he put forth his questions

as to how Nina can contextualise her experience for the

desired position. Having stated that she has not

received a formal marketing education and has not had

a corporate holding of a similar nature, made the

interviewer question the contextualisation that she had

been talking about and that was the aim of her

interview. This contextualisation can carry varied

connotations – for Nina it was implicit in her campaign

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

and experience and maybe for the interviewer it had to

be explicit in the context of his industry and its

workings.

The fundamental point is to do justice to what you have

asserted in your CV, not only in your eyes but in the

eyes of your employer too. You need to weigh the

statute of the employer, his/ her background and then

decipher the expectations. More importantly, in a bid

to meet those expectations, refrain from overshooting

your image and experience as it does not have to be in

accordance with your judgement but with that of the

employer. The worst that can happen is not being able

to do justice with what you have written, the employer

automatically loses interest and will not be concerned

about the other parameters that you fulfil. Understand

that once you have let down the employer on the main

point, then he/ she would not be interested in the rest

of your dialogue.

Secondly, once you have furnished a rare CV and

presented your ambition for the company, you need to

continue working i.e. your research on the company

and your desired contributions to it cannot end, it

needs to be continued. It means that you do not have to

sit back and relax after creating a CV and wait for the

interview day, keep working, keep refining your

search and make it more appropriate and recent to the

company’s advancements and projects. This attitude is

the most cherished attribute by an employer. Your

work will precede your reputation and demonstrate

your skills prior to you being on board.

Today the cream of the cream is passionate, motivated,

hardworking and innovative, but the differentiating

factor is that of continuous innovation and hard work

which needs to be disseminated across the right

network as presentation and positioning matters. Do

not advertise yourself as that will show the desperation

for a job but rather focus on marketing yourself as that

shows your intelligence, your approach and

confidence. You need to be subtle in your efforts and

keep the tone of your achievements mild instead of

overbearing.

34

Putting the pieces together – studying the job terrain

One can be disappointed but not outraged at Nina’s

rejection by Airbnb. As a candidate, you have the right

to put yourself out there to the best of your potential

and exhibit your skills and efforts in the most alluring

and engaging manner. Besides, as you need the job so

you are the one who has to toil. No matter how simple,

complex, enriching or predictable your attempts are,

they do not put the employer under any obligation to

owe you the job. If you get selected then you have

proved your worth and if not then the competition is

cut throat and maybe you are better suited for another

environment. Do not lose hope; instead create multiple

ripples of opportunities just as Nina.

The Various Elements That You Need to Get Right are as

Follows:

1. Innovation

The predictable and stable job market conditions do not

exist. So running the same basic script for years will

serve no purpose. Same basic script = clerical job.

Searching on job boards, applying and waiting will

take you nowhere. You need to jump the queue, as

while you wait for a reply on your job portal, somebody

else jumps the queue by presenting themselves via an

influential network. Such people do not go out and say

“I want this job”, instead, they build and foster a

corporate network through which they are introduced

to the desired company executives. Here, the right

networking and being with the right set of people

comes to play. This shows innovation in your approach

and thinking. Use this network to spread your work

and campaigns.

Nina has beautifully exemplified this by creating a

strong campaign which caused not only one but several

employers to act upon the profile displayed by her. But

obviously the network was an add-on; the campaign

built by her was what went forward. Serving to the

company in their format is innovative; it gives the

company a sense of belonging and also makes it feel

that this candidate is dedicated towards bringing the

company forward and is serious about its initiatives

and projects. Further, search close assessment of the

company’s workings are commendable as it makes the

job of the candidate much simpler as they have already

surpassed the orientation and educated themselves

with the company’s logistics. So once on board, such

candidates will take their tasks spiralling towards the

company’s success.

2. Separation of efforts from results

Your effort does not entitle you for anything from

anyone and does not demonstrate that you are the right

person for the company. You can come up with the best

of ideas and share them with the company but that does

not mean you get hired solely on the basis of these or

that the company cannot implement them without you.

The value of work is not received when you get

reactions from that one group of target people. The

value has to be more and more intrinsic, for which it

needs to attract a boarder audience and take into

consideration the reactions of all domains of people.

This, in fact, demonstrates your capability which is not

limited to the one task that you performed but the

initiative that you took to start off this task.

3. Adaptability

Rome was not built in one night and therefore, it is not

necessary that your effort has to pay off in one go. Like

for Nina, it did not happen. Airbnb did not take her in

as an employee. But that does not mean that life ends

there. No. You have to create multiple opportunities

from one; it is about learning the art of being aligned

with one goal or vision but at the same time, keeping

yourself open to other avenues. This can be done by

nurturing that one goal or vision in such a way that it

paves a path for other avenues by way of giving a

positive impression of yours, a person who is

adaptable and indispensable for any and every

industry type.

Master your subject, your line of work and represent it

with such enthusiasm and detail that your proficiency

is up for grabs. Create competition among the

employers to have you as their resource.

D O N O T J U S T S TA N D O U T, J U S T I F Y I T

35

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

4. Hard work

Hard work is done by all, even the labourers who are

involved in the daily construction. But it is the right

kind of hard work that gets paid in unexpected ways.

Hence, it is a mixture of hard work with smart work.

You need to do the right kind of work at right intervals

of time.

The Solution

The fix to the above stated problems and how to

cumulate them under one roof lies in the following

pillars:

• Efficient management of social accounts

• Personal branding efforts

• An element of authentication

1. Efficient management of social accounts

As per a survey conducted in 2014, 55% of the recruiters

use social media for recruitment and as per an analysis,

the spending of recruiters to view social profiles is to

increase by 73%. Hence, hiring is supposed to become

more competitive in the next twelve months.

This means that you need to up your game in both

online and offline networking. Stay active with your

status and comments and indulge in networking

offline in live meetings and informational interviews.

However, if being active on social media gets you

overwhelmed, then be active on LinkedIn as that is the

place where most employers are continuously

searching. Keep all elements of your profile complete –

photo, headline, summary, etc. Also, join groups so

that you can stay abreast of trends and network easily.

You absolutely need to stay on top of your digital

footprint, set Google alerts on your name so as to

ascertain the internet searches on a regular basis.

Additionally, staying active on social media will help

you fill the internet with positive information about

you and your brand. Your tweets, your posts relating to

your industry or knowledge area will help you earn

brownie points. Further, look at the LinkedIn pages of

your desired companies, they have a mammoth of

posts, discussions and employees referrals; in the same

breath you need to show yourself – collect recommen-

dations, get endorsements, have posts and discussions

and frequently comment on those of your desired

company.

Most importantly, the devil is in the detail – refrain

from profanity or from making grammatical errors as

these are sure turn-offs for recruiters and they would

not even consider viewing your profile any further,

forget about making an impression or getting

shortlisted.

Hint: recruiters use social media for vetting purposes.

2. Personal branding efforts

Social media activities constitute a very minor part of

personal branding efforts. Perceptions run deep and

one needs to modulate brand value across the spectrum

to remain authentic and credible. You need to take the

stakes higher as today, employers are not looking for

mere “employees” who perform instruction-based

tasks, they are looking for intrapreneurs – an absolute

resource for the company who promotes the

company’s products as their own and works in the

capacity of an entrepreneur i.e. taking responsibility,

being innovative, coming up with solutions rather than

problems, etc.

To present yourself at such a scale you need a personal

website that is a reflection of you and effortlessly shows

as to how personal pursuits complement your

professional ones. A platform where you showcase

yourself as a brand – your blogs, video interviews,

discussions, networking needs, engagements, etc.,

need to be collected at one place. Your website will

complement your social profiles and eventually

transform into a leadership board of your digital

presence.

Personal branding allows you to establish a reputation

and an identity while maintaining a personal level of

trust and interaction. Moreover, employers hire you

and not your skill sets alone, so your attitude matters

which can be perfectly gauged from your personal

36

branding efforts – how seriously you take yourself. It

helps you create a signature image, a unique voice and

a recognisable stand.

The failure to build a personal brand not only leaves

you out of the competition, but also keeps you away

from coming across as credible. Also, do not just be

active once in a blue moon, be consistent because if you

lose consistency in maintaining yourself then what

good can be expected out of you for a company?

I&Me helps you achieve your personal branding goal,

its goal can be read as follows:

Do you know why few become celebrities… & leave a mark?

Because we cherish, we value, we want, we see …

For… what they are, what they did and what they believe.

We know them because they make it impossible to

ignore…….

Do you want people to see who you are, what you do

and what you want to be…..

Your life, your dreams, your vision…

Say I & Me

Say I&Me and establish yourself as a brand…..

3. An element of authentication

Being your authentic self is a mandate if you want

success in any realm of your life and so this definitely

holds true for your digital presence. After all, if you are

looking for honest connections then first start by being

honest with yourself. Moreover, it is you who knows

that you are being honest, whether it is a case of over

achievement of under achievement, you have blurted

out your true story. But how can you convey this to the

other person? Will they buy in your story and contact

you?

Plus with the cases of fraud and over the top exaggera-

tions increasing by manifold you cannot blame anyone,

even the people who are giving a session for the first or

second time label themselves as “inspirational

speakers”. At the top off your head even you can

enumerate a few examples wherein you have had a

tough time believing someone and have been sceptical

of being associated with them. So how does one

ascertain that you are being genuine?

By building a credible identity, an image that is true

and is easy to connect with while carrying an authentic

seal: A seal which reaffirms your unique stand and

voice, and automatically makes you a preferred choice

over thousands of other candidates. After all, it is a

known fact that companies conduct a thorough vetting

on their employees, first via social screening aka social

profiling and then, a formal, stricter and legal

procedure which authenticates all your whereabouts.

Having such a pre-screened persona spread over the

digital space makes you stand out and also, it shows

how prepared you are for the job interview and the

company. You are being considerate as your pre-

screened profile will save the company of time and

money and create a positive impression of you;

automatically you put yourself out as the best.

This will be beneficial for you as well because it saves

you of:-

1. Possible mistakes in the authentication procedure:

As you will have the opportunity to review negative

information, as you will be able to take action on

information that is incomplete or inaccurate. As you

represent the original source of information, you can

request for recheck and this issue is resolved within

your domain without besmirching your name in front

of the employer.

2. Exposure of lies or past mistakes: If you have a

history of lies or past mistakes then when these are

uncovered in your authentication results, you can

readily provide explanation or proof for these. Explain

your ground and state in advance at that point in time

when you made a blunder and additionally mention-

ing a resolution that you have worked upon for the

same and how will you apply to the future positioning

for which you are aiming.

3. Concerns about privacy: An authentication

procedure is more or less invasion of privacy. It goes

back to your past credentials in order to ascertain their

credibility and reliability for those of your present and

future. Instead of sharing such confidential informa-

D O N O T J U S T S TA N D O U T, J U S T I F Y I T

37

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

tion with an unknown third party, you can share it with

a known entity while holding the right over its usage

and dispersion.

It is a breakthrough in personal branding and authenti-

cation. It is beyond being competitive, it is about being

indispensable and proving your worth and reach before

your hiring. It is about having your facts sealed in via a

medium of authentication channel working in

collaboration and supporting your personal branding

efforts.

About the solution provider

Stern Advisory India is a corporate risk advisory firm,

and a part of the Stern Advisory Group Ltd., United

Kingdom with a strong multi-location presence in

India, holding vast global experience in providing

bespoke research and investigative solutions to

corporations as well as private clients.

It has been actively involved in various assignments

that pertain to facilitating Mergers & Acquisitions,

investigative due diligence, market research and India

market entry services, alongside has a separate business

vertical which covers the background screening at a

global level covering checks across any geography. This

also extends to compliance and risk management issues

that most businesses now have to deal with and be

auditable. All these services are backed by a strong in-

house specialist research team, robust network of

sources spread throughout India and South Asia and

tie-ups with various enforcement agencies in the

region.

At the moment, the company is at the verge of

synthesising a technological solution for meeting the

authentication and branding needs under one roof. The

demand for such a unique platform has been assessed

over the months. People are unable to present

themselves in the desired manner and this in turn

severely affects their branding efforts. They have the

information but lack its proper presentation skills and a

platform where they can be visible while amalgamat-

ing their social media presence and thus expanding

their digital footprint.

Furthermore, trust as an attribute has gone up in

vapours and to regain and maintain the same in one’s

digital endeavours is no less than of a task in itself. If

there are several benefits attached to creating your own

credibility, then all individuals will sign up for this. As

it is no more about standing out, it is about justifying it.

To know more about us and our projects, please look

up sternindia.com, fsin.in and iandme.me

38

New Approach to Performance Management SystemBy Indraneel Som

Director HR, Herbalife

he year 2015 will probably be remembered by HR Tprofessionals as the year of redefining

Performance Management System.

For quite some time, most organisations have been

managing their performance appraisal using the Bell

Curve Methodology. They adopted the methodology

to drive high performance culture in their organisation

so as to retain and reward high contributors, develop

moderate contributors and let go of the bottom/ low

performers.

What is Bell Curve?

General Electric was the first to adopt the Bell Curve

Methodology wherein employees were categorised

into three groups and were differentiated strongly so as

to encourage high performance culture in the organisa-

tion. The three groups were:

• Top Contributors: The top 20% who received merit

increase, promotions and stock options.

• Moderate Contributors: Employees who meet the

expected goals at their level. Majority of the

employees, 70%-75%, were bucketed as Moderate

Contributors.

• Low Contributors: The last, 5%-10%, of the

employees who do not receive any reward and are

unlikely to stay.

Pitfall of the approach

Slotting an organisation into layers of top, moderate

and low contributors was the most arduous task for

any organisation that was taking up performance

assessments to closure via the bell curve.

The challenge of adopting the methodology was:

Firstly, the bell curve, more often than not, is a difficult

process to implement in complete fairness. In the name

of a continuously improving organisation, the bell

curve is designed into slotting a team into layers of top,

middle and bottom performers, so what if the manager

felt (& knew) that his team comprised all top perform-

ers. Therefore, performance has often been sighted as

‘compromised’ in the name of relative ranking.

Secondly, Bell Curve is often not applicable in smaller

teams where slotting performance got difficult,

considering a smaller headcount. Therefore, the bell

curve process comes in with its own shortcomings with

smaller teams.

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

Indraneel Som is currently the Director of Human Resources at Herbalife. Prior to this he was the Director, Human Resources for

Cognizant Technology Services. He was also with IMRB as Group Director, HR. He has been associated with IBM from 2006 to

2011.

For quite some time, most organisations have

been managing their performance appraisal

using the Bell Curve Methodology. They

adopted the methodology to drive high

performance culture in their organisation so as

to retain and reward high contributors,

develop moderate contributors and let go of

the bottom/ low performers.

39

Thirdly, the bell curve is logistically a mammoth

project for large organisations to complete. The bell

curve is linked deeply with several HR initiatives – be it

an accelerated program or engagement for the top

talent, as defined by the bell curve, or phasing out of

bottom performers, as highlighted by the curve. Very

simply put, an organisation with, say 1000 employees

will typically have 150-200 top performers and an equal

number of bottom performers. Now to churn an

accelerated program for top talent year on year (this

200 will become 400 and so on) will also mean some

factual outcomes for the top talent. Therefore,

organisations need to be in a position to create such

outcomes at the same pace at which they identify top

talent. Similarly, bottom performers will also

constitute around 150-200 employees. To phase off a

number as massive as that has its own people related

challenges – organisation could be perceived as the one

that ends up firing employees. This is just one of the

problems. Whether the organisation should hire back

fills for the employees being phased out (this is another

debate that has two distinct and diametrically opposite

voices), the messaging going out into the market on

account of phase offs, client feedback v/s actual

performance, exceptions, billability of identified

bottom performers and how the organisation justifies

revenue loss in the name of improvement, etc., – these

are all big ticket debates that consume weeks of

leadership time.

Lastly, the bell curve has not resonated as a very

positive process with managers. There are several

stories and examples of how managers have not taken

the performance compartmentalisation well in their

stride. The bell curve outcome often becomes like a

Supreme Court judgement – you respect it but not

necessarily agree with it! There is a tendency for

managers to feel their assessments get lost in

translation simply because people had to get slotted.

The New Approach:

Most of the well-known IT organisations such as

Accenture, HP, Dell and IBM have gone back to the

drawing board and are developing their Performance

Management System which is based on identifying and

developing employee strength and provide feedback

post project completion which is more “In-The-

Moment” feedback for the individual and is more

accurate than the year-end appraisal system.

Priorities for organisations to manage their

performance in the coming 12 months will be to focus

on:

1) Coaching for development;

2) Giving in-the-moment feedback; and

3) Increasing alignment of performance goals with

business goals.

In conclusion

For Management to agree on a paradigm shift from the

current model of Bell Curve to the new approach was

not an easy decision as most organisation’s rewards

policy were aligned to the bell curve methodology.

However, the pain every organisation went through in

terms of the man-hours spent and the dissatisfaction of

employees post every review cycle, which would lead

to attrition or disengagement made them realise the

need for a different and more transparent approach.

And we as HR professionals have an extremely

challenging time ahead to ensure the new framework is

able to align itself to the organisation’s objectives and is

able to create a culture of development for the

employees.

N E W A P P R O A C H T O P E R F O R M A N C E M A N A G E M E N T S Y S T E M

Most of the well-known IT organisations such

as Accenture, HP, Dell and IBM have gone back

to the drawing board and are developing their

Performance Management System which is

based on identifying and developing employee

strength and provide feedback post project

completion which is more “In-The-Moment”

feedback for the individual and is more

accurate than the year-end appraisal system.

40

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

The author Jeffrey Sachs, Professor at Columbia

University and the special advisor to Secretary General

Ban KI-Moon of the United Nations, provides a timely

book on the topic of Sustainable Development. The

subject of Sustainable Development is discussed in

relation to topics such as Inequality, Historical

Perspectives of Economic Development, Differences

between Rich and Poor Countries, Extreme Poverty

and How it can be Mitigated, Planetary Boundaries,

Social Inclusion, Education, Universal Health, Food

Security, Resilient Cities, Climate Change, Biodiversity

and Sustainable Development Goals.

The author begins by pointing that the world

population has increased nine-folds since the start of

Industrial Revolution in 1750. The rising population

would be detrimental to planet Earth unless we follow

the path of sustainable development. Sustainable

development is defined by the author as “interaction of

three complex systems, namely, the world economy,

the global society and the Earth's physical environ-

ment” (page 28). Author provides various other

definitions of sustainable development, citing

resources such as Brundtland Commission and the UN

New Approach to Performance Management SystemBy Indraneel Som

Director HR, Herbalife

Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia is Associate Professor in Economics. He is PhD in Economics from National University of Singapore. He completed

his M Phil from IIT Bombay. He had earlier worked in State Bank of India.

41

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

The author gives utmost importance to the role of

technological changes in sustainable development,

citing these as the main driver of long-term economic

growth (page 40), but the world needs to combine

economic growth with social inclusion and environ-

mental sustainability.

Prof. Sachs argues that the topic of extreme poverty is a

multidimensional concept, essentially characterized as

incorporating not only a lack of adequate income, but

also the inability to meet essential human needs for

“food, water, sanitation, safe energy, education, and a

livelihood” (page 77). The author suggests the idea of

Community Health Workers (CHWs) who bring health

care to citizens in poor villages with extreme poverty.

The climate change has resulted in environmental

calamities like flooding that has resulted in economic

damages worth millions of dollars. On the other hand,

drought conditions in parts of world like the USA has

had devastating effect on crops. It is ironic that the

manifolds increase in world output is the cause of

climate change. The author mention a number of

climate-related catastrophes but at times seem to

i n t r o d u c e v e r y a c a d e m i c c o n c e p t s l i k e

“hydrometerological disasters”, which are weather

and water-related disasters. Fossil fuels have been

identified as one of the chief culprits of CO2 emitters,

the gases chiefly responsible for climate change and

global warming.

The author warns that changing climate pattern will

negatively affect the industry and would require

technological innovation to cope with its negative

effects. The chapter also introduces the concept of ten

major planetary boundaries that humanity is in danger

of surpassing. These are climate change; ocean

acidification; ozone depletion; nitrogen cycle;

phosphorus cycle; global fresh-water use; change in

land use; biodiversity loss; atmospheric aerosol

loading; and chemical pollution.

On the topic of inequality, Professor Sachs discusses

the inequality within countries based on rural and

urban population where the latter enjoys higher

standard of living. Richer parts of the world tend to

have higher density of urban population, as a result,

the quality of public services also differ within a

country. But the author considers the governments as

great equalizers, wherein they can use revenues to

promote universal access to education and health c

The author then goes on to discuss six waves of

technological change, the latest being the wave of

sustainable technologies, which helps in producing

and mobilizing energy and transporting the teeming

millions of people such that there is minimum human-

induced destruction of the Earth's ecosystems. An

example of these technologies is alternative ways of

producing energy sources like geothermal, hydro,

wind, and solar.

Eight millennium development goals (MDGs) are

discussed in subsequent chapters. It is also pointed that

Global market forces fail to ensure sustainable

economic growth, mainly because those who impose

planetary damages don't end up paying for these.

Topic of social inclusion is also discussed in great zeal

by the author.

The author provides ten basic recommendations for

primary health could be achieved in the next decade.

These are broadly characterized as Financial, setting

up of Global Health Fund, funding health in low-

income countries, G8 country's need for a commitment

to provide antiretroviral medicines to the developing

world, a global plan to eradicate TB, funding for access

to sexual and reproductive health services, providing

finance for fighting tropical diseases, a universal heath

window and provision of mass prevention and

treatment for non-communicable diseases.

The author ends the book with elaborate definitions of

ten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as

recommended by the UN Sustainable Development

Solutions Network.

N E W A P P R O A C H T O P E R F O R M A N C E M A N A G E M E N T S Y S T E M

Editorial Policies and Guidelines for Contributors

IILM Management Review (IMR) is open to contributions that could

be case studies, qualitative research, statistical studies and trendy

analysis broadly in the areas of business, management and

economics.

Authors interested in publishing articles in IMR must, preferably,

first submit a short proposal (of about two pages) outlining their

work and get feedback before submitting the full manuscript.

However, if the contributors prefer to send full-length manuscripts for

submission, we could consider that too.

The proposal should ideally include an introduction and summarize

the general structure of the planned paper that could address: the main

message and theme of the paper; the potential audience for the article;

the research basis; its potential implications and whether the paper is

based on original information or findings.

The manuscript under review at IMR should not be for review

elsewhere and should not be submitted to another publication entity

during the review period at IMR.

The submitted manuscript should be in a Word file. IMR adheres to the

British style of writing. Authors should submit a cover sheet with

names and complete contact information of the primary author and

any co-authors. It should also include an executive summary at the

beginning of the paper. Detailed references should be included at the

end of the paper. Typically, an article should be about 4000-5000

words; but interesting articles on contemporary issues of shorter

length can also be considered for publication.

On receipt of the manuscript, after the initial screening by the editor,

it will be sent for two reviews. On completion of the review process,

the author will be informed of the status of the paper. Typically, in

most cases, the entire review and acceptance process should be

completed in about three months. Accepted contributions will carry a

modest honorarium.

Additional questions may be directed to the IMR editorial office.

Email: editor.imr@iilm.edu

I I L M M A N A G E M E N T R E V I E W

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