The first session began with a welcome address by SIIB’s esteemed Director Dr.Rajni Gupte. She went on to explain the rationale behind the day’s lectures to the guests and the audience, by citing examples of the old age challenges of strikes and VRS faced by many industries over a long period of time. In the present context however, with the boom in the business world, the impact of HR on recruitments alternatively is immense. Thus, the topic of discussion for the revered speakers, “Challenges for HR – The Changing Spectrum.”

A flowing tribute from Dr. Majumdar, Chancellor,Symbiosis International University followed, where he mentioned the times and experiences he shared with Late Mr. H.K Firodia, back when they were on the institute’s first advisory board together. From his former colleague’s life, he cited examples of exemplary leadership and noble ideas which helped make SIIB the brand that it is today. The founder of the Symbiosis society expressed immense satisfaction & delight that the institute continues to remember and honour one of its greatest stalwarts year after year.

Speaking on the eleventh HK Firodia Memorial Series in the memory of his father, Late Mr. H.K Firodia, held at SIIB, Pune, on 7th September 2007, Mr. Arun Firodia, Chairman, Kinetic Group, began with a tribute to his father and thanked Dr. Majumdar, Founder, Symbiosis Society and Dr. Rajni Gupte, Director, SIIB for commemorating his father every year for the past decade.

As a keynote speaker for the event, Mr. Firodia dwelled on the issue of the lecture series, Challenges for HR – The Changing Spectrum. He began by citing examples from the past, the strike problems caused by various labor forces and the VRS scheme as challenges for HR managers. HR mainly dealt with inter-industry relationships as well as intra-industry relations, in short, trying to make the work environment a better place was the only prerogative of an HR manager.

But with the changing times in the business world, the winds of change have also blown across the HR spectrum. Citing the example of Infosys, he emphasized that retaining the work force rather than recruiting was now the major issue the companies are faced with. This was valid for all the changes that our society has seen and not only at the work place. The biggest example of this can be seen in the form that none of the current generation can count back on the knowledge acquired in school days as the times have undergone a complete make over which renders that part inadequate.

Thus he re-iterated the need for one to keep learning as they moved on in life. An example of medical electronics playing an important role in our lives was cited as earlier the medicos were completely unaware to electrical systems. However with changing times and technology, these two now go hand-in-hand. So much so that one can’t do without the other.

Mr. Sanjay Muthal , President HR, Nicholas Piramal, was the first speaker of the day and keeping in mind the points raised by both, SIIB director and the keynote speaker, Mr. Arun Firodia, Mr. Muthal talked about the paradigm shift in not only the mindset of the people as the workforce but also the coming up generation. India’s population may have once been considered a curse but today demography is the major force behind the Indian economic revival. Today’s age is of the generation of abundance as compared to the mindset of scarcity in the past. A monopolized market changed to a market economy to further a consumer economy as the consumer became king. He emphasized on the fact that it is the consumer who makes or breaks a brand as he picks and chooses on the basis of both the quality as well as cost.

Stressing further on the point of the paradigm shift, Mr. Muthal cited the example of recruitment policy in almost all the organizations today, so much so that even the most erratic of employees are in huge demand. Not only the human resources but also the intangible assets and technology that an organization possesses are the driving force for its way ahead. Coming to the point of challenges being faced by the HR managers, attrition was highlighted as the focal point given the fast moving business world of today. The reasons discussed for such high rates of attrition have moved beyond money as the new generation takes charge. Another highlight if this discussion was about work culture as the speaker stressed that none can be taught the work habits of an organization in one day. It always has to begin at the top level of the hierarchy and only then will the rest follow. .

Ms. Kumkum Nongrum, Vice-President Learning and Development, ABN Amro, continued the lecture series in the second session of the day and her take on the issue at hand, challenges for HR was a five point discourse for the students. She began by asking them to channelize their thoughts and compartmentalizing their minds. She asked them to mutli-task almost all the time and added that this will only help them add skills in their repertoire. Further more on her list was the point of innovation. Everyone must have some ideas at different point of time in their personal or professional career. The need is always there to be different but more than that the need is there to be able to stand up for those ideas especially when the going gets tough. The next point was actually a complaint against the Indian mentality of working. Adherence to time is of vital importance when one enters a professional career. She emphasized on the need to be a literal person and not only an educated one. Education comes from books but the qualities of being a literate person can only be acquired if one has an open mind. Last but not the least she outlined the importance of one’s own self to the company. An HR manager’s job becomes a lot easier if the labor force can actually evaluate their usefulness to the cause of the company and then either put in more effort or submit their resignation.

The last lecture of the pre-lunch session was taken by Mr. Suresh Pillai, Head HR, Saint Gobain. He shared his own experiences as they were very much the challenges for any HR manager. As he entered his current organization, he was asked to bring about a major change in the work culture of the organization. As a result, exit polls and surveys among the employees themselves were conducted, which enabled his organization to formulate various policies, which in turn helped not only the organization but also the people working there. The main question facing him was whether the decision to be taken was to restructure the entire company or just redesign the entire structure. The scenario in the Indian market was just opening up to the global players and thus the time frame decided for any action was just one year. The strategies employed by the team then completely turned around the fortunes of the company. And this is where Mr. Pillai stressed again and again. To innovate and inspire the labor force by different strategies, in order to get them to work together.

the post lunch session began with Mr. Suvamoy Choudhury , Regional HR Director, South Asia, Reckitt Benckiser. The core problem identified by him in the changing spectrum was the skill gap which was beginning to emerge in the industry especially in the mid-level of the hierarchy. This was happening because the inter-personal relations were beginning to become non-existent within the organization. In order to over come the problem, he stressed on the re-organization of the labor force and the only solution is to transfer people and practices across different sectors of the organizational structure.

The last speaker of the day Mr. Vijay Rai, Chief HR Officer, Apollo International recognized the talent management on global competitive level as the major problem. First of all he emphasized on the fact that any HR challenge was a shared responsibility of the organization and the employees. They have to identify that it is the talent of the individual and not the person who is the missing link in the structure of the company. The solution provided to this posing problem was to brand the talent and not the individual. Branding the talent means to make the skills of the labor force as the flag bearers of the company. However this can be only done if the top brass of any organization is directly involved in its HR operations. Furthermore there is the need for the individuals to come out with their skills, i.e., to say in terms of their innovations and ideas. Any company would need these and there would be obvious perks and bonuses offered in exchange. Thus, both value and gain to the employer and as well as the employee. Last but not the least, he emphasized on the need to train the work force to enhance their skills without which none of this is possible.

As the evening approached and the lecture series eventually came to a close, the in-charge faculty, Prof. Avinash Purandare thanked the speakers for sharing their insightful experiences with the audience, commended the students’ organization committee for a good job done and thanked the director of SIIB, Dr. Rajni Gupte for her un-ending support. Until next year.