HRMS Essential Check List

 

 

Organizations are looking for more ways to increase productivity and profitability and human resources departments are being asked to step up and provide more strategic input than ever before. Additionally, HR must work to increase employee engagement and retain talent. In order to support executives and managers, HR needs to have the right tools in place to improve access to timely, accurate information that helps produce informed business decisions.

Many organizations are turning to an HRMS solution to help face the many challenges, economic pressures, and tactical issues that arise every day. However with multiple HRMS vendors all having advance features and tools, it becomes difficult to evaluate the right software.

Even before you explore meeting any HRMS vendor, check out the following information:

v  How long have they been in business?

v  How many installs do they have?

Typically any good HRMS solution must be integrated and should have these essential elements:

Enterprise Structure:

This module forms the foundation of HRMS application. The hierarchy and positions that make up the organization and the related attributes, as well as the reporting relationships should define the framework of the org structure, business units; cost centers, enable Manpower planning, analysis and requisitions.

It should also feature comprehensive information about various positions as mentioned below:

 

• Company structure


• Org structure


• Cost centers


• Grade structure


• Job Family


• Job codes


• Job Titles/ Designations,


• Job descriptions


• Employee codes


• Position code


• Vacancy Planning


• Contingency planning

 Workforce Planning:

Workforce planning module must take into consideration the movement of workforce within organization resulting from manpower forecasting, head count budgeting, recruitment, transfers, redeployment, deputation/ secondment, promotions, job rotation, retirement etc.

It should include capabilities such as:

• Define HR plans based on project expansion and companies growth strategy based on company wise, location wise, division wise head count addition or deletion etc.


• Budgeting & Re-budgeting – Annual with variance analysis


• Monthly and Annual head count requirements


• Assist downsizing and expansion of head count


• View current supply of employees including their profiles


• Category wise recruitment analysis ( FTE, Temp, function, cost centers, entities, designations, salary grades) requirement analysis


• Automatic link to recruitment module

Position Management:

Position Control system addresses many HR needs of your organization.

• A position should exist in the organization for the incumbent


• The profile of the position should be well defined


• The position should be represented by an unique ID


• Information about the position can be tracked over time


• It provides the means to transfer benefits and salary projections into the organization's financial system during budgeting and also facilitates the user to control the hiring process to board sanctioned positions.


• The navigation screens of the position control system should display the status of each and every position from initial setup, to adding incumbents, to tracking history in a streamlined fashion.


• The unique position ID must facilitate the system to effortless track the planning, budgeting, and incumbent's data associated with each position.


• Safeguards against position over-assignment


• Eliminates the time-consuming task of getting information about vacant positions


• Saves approval time for different HR-related activities615.329.4448

Position Impact
A position's impact is determined by actual expenditure from the beginning of a fiscal year plus amount set aside to cover appointments for the same, for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Why Position Control?

• Easy to budget or to analyze employment levels, regardless of vacancies, part time or shared positions, etc.


• Position Control system is better than traditional Employee-based system.


• Employee-based system is very difficult to budget or to analyze employment levels regardless of vacancies, part time or shared positions, etc.

Position data

• To identify vacancies in the organization,


• To identify whether the position is over or under the budget, and also recognize the category the position falls into.


• Position information also acts as a determinant for vacancy tracking, budgeting, and history tracking.

Position Control System should feature:

 

Multiple position tracking

The system should track incumbents who hold multiple positions in an organization. It manages to hold a separate employee record for each incumbent.

Multiple positions per incumbent

The system should track positions that are available for each incumbent at any point of time

Multitudinous account distributions per position

 The system should allow you to create multiple account distributions per position

Full position requirements

The system should display complete job description with full position requirements at the click of a button

Reports

The system should allow you to generate custom reports by providing various filter drop-down options relevant to position control
Date/Calendar driven

The system should be calendar driven to track incumbent's hire date, joining date, termination date, and vacancy statistics like total amount of time a particular position is vacant, number of times it is vacant, etc

Position Control System Integrates

• The system should display automatic and seamless integration with applicant tracking to show current and historic information of applicant status at any point of time


• Human Resource Department for HR information


• Accounts Department for Budget Development


• Payroll Department for payroll related data


• Finance Department for salary and benefit projections

Recruitment & Selection

The Recruitment module must be closely integrated with the Organization Structure module.

It should include capabilities such as:

• Post vacancies on the internal job-board and with external consultants / media to invite applications.


• Track and record resume, resume data bank


• Track referral programs, job application online, pre-screening tests by user-defined search criteria,


• Communicating with candidates, issuing offer letters to selected candidates,


• Generation of Employee Ids, automating repetitive tasks, reporting on results and much more.


• Create templates for applicant correspondence for acceptance, rejection and status at various stages

 Test Administration

This must be a comprehensive module that enables quick and efficient administration of:

• Psychometric Profiling tests for employees.


• Functional and Aptitude tests for candidates and employees


• Tests at various levels depending on the needs of the organisation.


• Test can be conducted during selection and hiring and also during training programmes


• The Test Results must reflect in related modules

On-boarding & Induction

The best companies know that the first day of work for a new employee should be memorable. Yet, in most cases, new employees still spend much of their first day filling out forms.

On-boarding module must links new joinees to forms, company policies, goals, performance management, talent management guidelines, other dept policies, communities and other employee onboarding resources.

Employee Information System (EIS)

The Employee Information System (EIS) should be a central repository of comprehensive information about an employee from his / her joining to his / her leaving the organization, covering adequate number of data fields with provisions to easily create or modify information.

The EIS must support and take inputs from all the HR modules and dynamically track:

• Employment dates,


• Record basic employee details e.g. personal, contract, contact, membership, pay and bank details , employee benefits


• Job position history


• Previous employment history


• Full employee history e.g. of salary, promotion, contract, location


• Education and academic qualifications


• Employee life cycle movement,


• Career progression,


• Performance records and


• Development programs of the employee.


• EIS must maintain, archive and retrieve employee information of all past Employees.

Time and attendance / Workforce management

Time Management module must provide a central point for collecting, editing, balancing, and managing time and attendance data prior to submitting to HRMS for processing. This module must automatically generate time transactions based on specified criteria. Manage attendance of employees who are out of office for office work by manual entry and manage employee tour details. Integrate with bio-metric system for capturing attendance. It should maintain detailed employee history and reports must reflect current time and attendance information for any point in time.

It must essentially cover the following:

• resource (workforce) planning, forecasting, scheduling


• work breakdown structures


• schedule variations


• flexible time sheet design


• integration with data capture equipment


• capturing time data


• configurable data processing rules


• monitoring and analysis


• working time directive (WTD)

Absence management

• track employee absences


• absence rules, types, categories, details, reasons


• holiday / leave entitlement and amendment


• leave requests, authorisation and tracking


• maternity / adoption / paternity leave and tracking


• sickness recording and monitoring


• other authorized and unauthorized absences


• absence cost calculation

Time Collection

Acquiring time and attendance information must be the first stage in the Time Management process. Wherever possible, time Management module must be develop to accept time and attendance data from access card / and or swipe card system.

Table and Policy Setup

To edit, balance, validate and approve time data requires that the tables in HRMS Time Management module be properly set up to reflect company’s holiday calendars, earning codes and policies, overtime, compensatory days, shift duty,  differential shift policies, work and rotation plans, eligibility and interaction.

Exception Management & Variances

If exceptions to regular work schedules exist, they should be handled through exception data entry. HRMS must generate exception report.

Time Management module must allow the setup of ranges in earnings, locations, and organizations, so that this information can be used to notify users that the maximum numbers of earning hours have been reached.

Project Accounting

• HRMS module must help Projects to track hours and prepare reports.


• These reports can be used for projections and forecasting.

Scheduling (Roster Management)

HRMS Time & Attendance must provide unlimited user-defined schedules that can be assigned to groups or to individual employees. This process would enable companies to effectively manage their workforce.

Scheduling features must allow companies to:

•  Mass assign schedules


•  Define alternating schedules


•  Ensure adequate schedule coverage at all times

Leave Management

§  Facilitates the work flow from Leave applications to final sanctioning or cancellation of leaves.

§  Different leave set up for different grades within the organization.

§  Automatic Leave Balance calculation with carry forward to next year with prior set up of maximum leaves applicable.

§  Generates Leave History report for all employees.

§  Maintains the Leave records under different leave categories.

Leave Requests & Regularization

Employee absenteeism can be very costly to a company if not managed properly. HRMS Time & Attendance must offer unlimited attendance history and online viewing of real-time transactions such as clocking events and leave requests. In today’s legal environment, compliance and reporting are critical to an organization’s success.

HRMS Time & Attendance leave request must feature:

•  Access employees’ leave hours and attendance history


•  Enable employees to view leave balances and request time off


•  View employee leave display by month


•  Regularize leave management

Difference in Leave Policy

There may be differences in policies among various departments and among individual employees within an organization.

• HRMS Time & Attendance must allow user-defined business policies at the company, organization, and/or employee level.


•  Configure policies for date/time, overtime, rounding, and much more based on company, organization, and/or employee.


•  Establish grace periods for each transaction type to trigger notification of schedule violations


•  Determine valid transaction types such as clocking for meals, breaks, and transfers

Policies

HRMS Time & Attendance should ideally eliminate paper timesheets and other error-prone manual processes which increases payroll efficiency and accuracy.

HRMS Time & Attendance time record feature will allow companies to:

• Approve time records daily / weekly/fortnightly or at the end of each payroll cycle

• Display actual and rounded time as well as employees’ scheduled time

• Create user-defined authorization codes with assigned point values for perfect attendance and disciplinary tracking

• Accumulate employee hours by position code/ job number or job class

Roster & Shift Management

• Create multiple shifts per branch per day, configure late arrival and overtime calculations, manage Lunch and Tea breaks timings, system should manage both day and night shifts in 24 hours rotation and provision of Straight / Split Shifts.


• Holidays and Leave Management


• Manage the information of all allowed HOLIDAYS per year, manage Leave Applications, their approval or rejection status and assign allowed leaves and unpaid leaves will be deducted from salary.

Employee Management

Manage all details of each employee per department along with Photo upload feature, assign Shifts so created to employees and Departments, manage Employee Transfer / Resignation and search Engine for all data of Employees.

Master Reports

Company / Branch / Department/ Business Unit/ Shift Master Report, Holiday and Leave Report.

Daily Analytical Reports

• Daily Attendance Report,


• Early Arrival Report,


• Late Arrival Report,


• Early Departure Report,


• Overtime Report and


• Daily Absence Report.

Monthly Analytical Reports

• Monthly Attendance Summary,


• Employee Summary Report,


• Individual Employee Monthly Attendance Report,


• Individual Department Monthly Attendance Report and


• Detail Present Report with total overtime calculations.

Payroll Reports

• Salary Package Report,


• Permanent Employee Monthly Salary Report,


• Monthly Salary Report of employees on Contract, Bonus Details Report, Bonus Summary Report,


• Generation of Late comers and Absenteeism,


• Generation of Salary Slip in prescribed format,


• Overtime Report,


• Payable Summary,


• Annual Leave Dues Per Employee,

Define Elements

 

• Define Time and Attendance Related Elements


• Attendance format as per labour laws


• Format as per payroll report

Define Time Management Tables

• Plan Table Information


• Define Holiday Calendars


• Define an Shift


• Define Shifts for process/BU


• Define Work Plans - rosters


• Define Rotation Plans


• Define Project Accounts


• Define Exceptions and Variances


• Define Earning Groups

Define Time Management Policies

 

• Plan leave and attendance Policy Information


• Define leave deduction policies


• Define Hour Deduction Policies


• Define Shift Differential Policies


• Define Eligibility Policies


• Define Earning Policies


• Define Overtime policies

People and Policy Assignment

Complete entry of the Assignment / Project Time Information. It is necessary to design a form/template to capture this data.

 

Payroll Configuration

Manage Allowances and Deductions, Bank Setup for Each Employee/Company/ Department, Employee Salary Generation and maintain required details of Transaction Year.

Vendor (Contract staff) Management

• HRMS should manage data of Contract staff separately


• The screen should also feature the details of contract signed


• Attendance system should also manage count of workers coming daily on work.

Performance Management

PMS must be on-line and available at a click of button via intranet. PMS must be efficient and archive old records. It should include the following information:

• Goal setting, KRA & Competency Review, Balance Score Card templates


• Performance and Behavioral Rating, Score Calculation, Deviations,


• Training Needs Identification and Potential Evaluation.


• The PMS must generate post-event reports related to Increments, Promotions and Company averages,


• Empowering HR personnel with a spectrum of valuable MIS to make prudent business decisions.


• Organisational & individual goals, plans and scores must be archived to tie compensation and rewards to performance


• Employees can identify and set goals aligned to corporate strategies


• Goal status and modifications required by business requirements so as to review periodically


• Employees must get a chance for self appraisal and to update accomplishments


• Managers must get a chance to track milestones and progress


• Necessary update of self appraisal and review templates/fields

Training & Employee Development

The training and employee development module must be linked with PMS and Talent management module. Skills and Competency development must be an integral part of the Training module, which gets a feed from the PMS. The Training Calendar, Training Budget, Online Resource Builder, and Training Feedback are important aspects of this module.

• Capture Training needs and budgets


• Create training courses across locations, functions and seniority; to build an annual training calendar


• Internal and External programme training calendar


• Induction training calendar


• Track attendance


• Faculty and participant Training feedback


• Calculate cost for training


• Communicate schedule and full course details to employees; and invite nominations from employees, managers or HR


• Assign trainers and venues and generate related correspondence


• Conduct training courses


• Track courses and view response  


• Generate reports to track effectiveness of training programme and budget spends

Employee Self Service (ESS)

 HRMS must provide an Employee interface where each employee has access to all the information that would otherwise have to be sought from HR. It should empower individual and help him align with the overall objectives of the organisation.

There following modules should be considered in the HRMS: 

• Leave Management


• Loan Management


• Payroll


• Benefits Administration


• Talent Management


• Succession Planning


• Travel Management – optional


• Employee surveys


• HR professional portal / knowledgebase


• Grievance and discipline


• Employee identity cards


• Employee correspondence


• Exit interview

Manager Self Service (MSS)

Manager self-service helps in HR devolution to line managers. It essentially empowers business managers to oversee their employees, manage HR work flows and authorization process more efficiently. Any MSS should enable business teams to pull data and perform transactions to make better, smarter decisions for building and developing your workforce for future success.

Manager Self-Service puts the information managers need at their fingertips giving them the ability to more closely monitor and direct their team towards the strategic goals of the organization. Ideally all workflows of HR function must be part of MSS

HR MIS & Analytics

HR analytics plays a vital role in establishing effectiveness and efficiency of HR Practices and helps HR to act as a strategic business partner. HRMS must be able to deliver various MIS required by business.

Some common reports that should feature are as follows:

• Comprehensive set of reports for line managers and HR from each module


• Skill mapping tools


• Attrition


• Joining


• Employee cost


• Training reports


• Creation of customized reports to suit business requirements


• Availability of interactive graphic reports that can be exported to PPT/ Microsoft Excel / Adobe PDF / MSWord/MS Access.


• Full online enquiry and drill down / around capability


• Multiple search and select facilities


• Standard reports that can be tailored to the user requirements, saved and then reused when required


• Reporting across modules


• E-reporting ie reports that can be prepared, reviewed and sent over the internet


• Easy to use, flexible report writer either from within the HR software or provided by third party software

Business intelligence tools e.g.

• advanced analytics


• OLAP


• data warehouse


• data mining

Health and safety records administration

• employee health tests, assessments, records, programmes


• accident and incident recording, reporting and follow up


• risk management

Fleet administration

• vehicle details plus financing, details for taxation purposes


• vehicle usage and costs


• driver details

Talent Management System

In recent years, Talent Management has become critical in organisation. Although the various HR practices and initiatives conducted under the aegis of Talent Management are difficult to capture in the system. However HRMS system must be able to capture employee records and define talent matrix as per business requirement.

HRMS must include the following reports:

·         Competency profiling tool and training systems

·         Job evaluation, competency and skills management

·         Talent Matrix

·         Resource Management, allocation and optimization

·         Career Management

·         360° feedback mechanisms to assess behaviour.  If organisations are ready they must include this feedback mechanism in performance management module.

·         Employee development - Individual development plan ( IDP)

·         Succession planning

·         Link to appraisal / training

Employee Connect

(Helpdesk, Discussion Forum, HR Policies)

 

This module should enable effective employee relationship management and help HR to connect: 

• With the employee individually, or as a team,


• To keep employees in touch with the organization by building a virtual close-knit community.


• To resolve employee queries and grievances

Workplace Communication

(News, Announcements, Events, Documents, Birthday, Anniversary, Chat, Video Message, Blogs, Polls, FAQ, Calendars, Knowledge portals, Surveys, Greetings)

This module should establish encourages employees to visit the HRMS site and use it to create an open, transparent and vibrant organisation. More importantly communication module helps leadership to reach across all employees. 

• By providing a range of activities such as News, Poll, Employee surveys, feedback forms, fun time, café, greetings and announcements.


• This should establish a link with company intranet

 HRMS Workflows: 

• Recruitment workflow- Hiring/ Selection – should be part of recruitment workflow


• Induction - Employee Joining formalities/ On boarding/ announcement


• Employee code generation


• Time, Leave and Attendance


• Probation/ Confirmation Process and appraisal including letters


• Transfer – Intra dept /Inter dept/ Location/ BU wise/ Company wise


• Redeployment/ Secondment/ Resource allocation


• Career Progression


• Lateral Movement (Horizontal)


• Vertical Movement (Promotion)


• Performance Management, capture appraisal forms, ratings, normalisation, increment letters, Performance Improvement Plan templates, letters


• Talent Management


• Training


• Compensation and benefits,


• Payroll


• Salary – Stop/ Release, salary certificates


• Exit – Resignation/ Absconding/ Termination/ F&F


• Re-joining/Re-initiation


• HR Analytics / MIS

  Integration and Interface:

These terms are constantly discussed during any IT software project. Both refer to the interaction of two systems, but there are differences and it’s important that you understand them.

 An interface usually requires work on your part and data changes do not happen in real time. Integration, however, is automatic and requires no work on your end. Either provides the capability to eliminate time consuming, error-prone double entries but because an integration generally means less work, you should select systems that integrate whenever possible.

HR Software Solutions Interface

Almost all business software applications on the market today should be able to create and accept some type of import or export file. This allows you to transfer data to and from numerous independent solutions. Interfaces require extra work and will not be real time, but they are an important means of tying two systems together, eliminating repetitive double entry, and reducing manual entry errors. While an interface may not be the perfect solution, it does sometimes offer the easiest method of eliminating time consuming double entry.

HR Software Solutions Integration

Integration is always the best-case scenario, but it’s rarely offered. An integrated HRMS requires no work and changes happen in real time; the two systems share the same database, so you only have to add or update data once. If you are going to want an integrated HRIS you will probably have to get all of your HR software products from the same company.

 

Global HRMS 

The requirement for global HRMS generally constitutes the following: 

·         Global system should be able to share data seamlessly. This is possible with cloud computing and Saas based HR applications.

·         Multi-lingual - Ensuring that the system enable managers and employees to work in their respective languages.

·         Evaluate if the system can accommodate the Unicode and double-byte character sets that are required for Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, etc. -  The Cyrillic alphabet used in Eastern European languages like Russian, the Chinese characters of Mandarin, the Arabic alphabet and more represent significant challenges for many global HR systems

·         Evaluate if the system meet Safe Harbor laws, data transfer laws and security protocols from region to region.

·         For cloud based solutions evaluate if the data on the system is stored in private or public cloud or on single tenant or multi-tenant systems.

·         Will the vendor provide 24/7 global support to accommodate your locations around the globe.

·         Since many global companies have established system which are country specific, while selecting the HRMS, verify if the system allows to run reports based on your global organization otherwise you will spend time running individual reports and then merging them together manually.

·         HRMS must enable validation tables that translate into different languages to accommodate users in different parts of the world.

·         HRMS must manage currencies and compensation plans from different countries or regions, e.g. expats.

·         Evaluate if the system allows for different benefit plans in different countries and can the attendance and electronic calendars be configured to reflect different work days and holidays.

·          Evaluate if the system can do one global payroll export or must it export payroll country by country with multiple data conduits.

HRMS & IT Security

When selecting an HRMS solution, ensure that the vendor has all the necessary security certifications and adheres to all compliances. Web based system must utilize a secure transmission method such as Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) for encrypting data as it flows over the public Internet.  Ensure you have buy in from your own IT leadership team by integrating them into the evaluation process with potential vendors in terms of security policies, data access, and backup and recovery procedures.

To balance security with accessibility and scalability, you should discuss your integration needs with potential solutions providers as well. Skew toward vendors with open database platforms (ODBC compliant), such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, as opposed to proprietary or mainframe systems. This will offer the most flexibility particularly when you require integration with other applications as an immediate need or in the future as your company grows.

Look for other features including XML (Extensible Markup Language) support and robust reporting capabilities to ensure that you can easily pass information from one application to another. This is critical with a payroll application as you’ll likely require feeds to accounting packages and third parties including retirement plans and benefit providers.

Best Practices in implementing – HRMS 

Before you start implementation, it is necessary to:

• Identify centralized functions


• Identify decentralized tasks


• Conduct a workflow analysis


• Determine when and what forms and processes can be automated for efficiency


• Review workflow and work systems for ways to improve efficiency (decision making, resource allocation, time assignment, priority alignment, and fiscal accountability)


• Check data that needs to be integrated.

Conclusion

Effective human resource management (HRM) is a great way to streamline the human resource functions of any sized business, making overall operations run more easily and efficiently. This is only possible by using HR technology solutions. However prior to selecting an HRMS solution, you must identify your business needs, processes and short and long-term goals. Including HR professionals, who manage your current HR operations, in the process are also critical.

To conclude, any HRMS must have the following general features:

General Features of HRMS:

• Application must be built on thin and /or thick client architecture.


• Supports Multi-lingual, multi –currency and Multiple Business Units within an organization


• Provide adequate Data and Multi-level Security and compliances


• Company-wise and Group-wise Reports and Analysis


• Integrates easily with legacy systems for hand-offs


• Workflow-based, comprehensive HR system.


• Integrated, multi-technology sign-in / attendance


• Role-base Visibility Control / Differential Access for strong security


• Reduce user-training time and costs due to intuitive workflow content and GUI design


• Scalable to suit growing IT and business needs


• Current mail system as single point of workflow approvals


• Automates critical HR workflow


• Extend IT investments cost effectively


• Integrate seamlessly with most current IT systems


• Reduce HR and implementation costs


• Ensure low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Tips for buying software:

The ease of use and functionality of the HR software you choose are both the most important considerations. These can be determined by simply effectively reviewing, comparing and testing the HRMS products you are considering.

While setting up workflow processes, it is often tempting to add in more approvals, but you need to think carefully about who needs to approve, and which transactions need approval.

No HRMS is complete and the functionality will vary from manual to complete automation. However it is critical to do proper references to get an idea on support and problems during setup or potential bugs in the HR product. Ask the reference how often they call support and how long they are typically on hold. How helpful are the tech support people? Are they usually able to solve the technical problems?

Before you decide on any buying any single or multiple modules, check with references if there are any important problems or software defects of which you should be aware.

Insist on getting the implementation done from certified and experience professional and ensure your organisation also has certified professionals working in your team.

 

The key to finding the right HRMS system is selecting an HR business solution that is secure, well-supported, and equipped to help you reach your goals. With a SaaS based HRMS platform you have the ability to successfully track, manage, and control your most valuable asset, your employees.

MTCHRO Event – A New Beginning !

Nowadays there are several conferences happening around and with exigencies of work, it becomes extremely difficult to attend. Also some of the conferences are quite boring especially when the topics are not contemporary, thought-provoking, research based and futuristic. However when it comes to conferences organised by the talented team of More Than HR (MTHR Global), there is always something unique and different. Therefore when the invitation for the maiden MTCHRO Event came to me, I was determined to attend it. The theme of the event was Lessons in Leadership and saw attendance from several imminent personalities just to name a few; Vivek Paranjpe, Ulhas Page, Dr. Sanjay Muthal, Vijay Kanbur, Anubha Parekh Kini, Anand Pillai, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Deepak Deshpande, Ophelia D, Shamik V, Tanaya Mishra, etc and therefore despite heavy rains and traffic, I was glad I didn’t miss it. Surprisingly there aren’t many CHRO forums and therefore I was delighted to see MTHR organising its maiden MTCHRO Event. With HR professionals playing a key strategic role on the executive leadership team and even on board, it was imperative to establish an exclusive, coveted forum to bring senior HR leaders and other CXO’s together. The MTCHRO Event is an invitation-only forum that provides networking and education opportunities for C-level Executives not just within HR but even for other CXO’s. More importantly it promises to disseminate knowledge, share experiences and promote collaboration to seek solution on various contemporary HR and management issues. The value of MTHRO Event is the information, interaction, insights and inspiration one gains by hearing other people’s perspectives on a host of topics. Since it was the first event, the organisers were also interested to solicit ideas from all attendees which could help further shape the forum and even plan future events to elicit maximum participation. With the inimitable Rajesh Kamath compeering the event with his characteristic humour and wit, there wasn’t any dearth of ideas, suggestions and they came in abundance with lot of enthusiasm, just like the incessant rains outside the conference hall. Many of these ideas aimed to impart knowledge management strategies and discuss the megatrends shaping the HR and various business strategies. The event started with Amber Wigmore from IE Business School, Spain speaking about international trends in B school Talent scouting. Her speech was indeed insightful. Amber emphasised that we must,” Devote most resources to those who show maximum interest in their careers!". She further hit the nail on the head by stating "A Business School is an educational tool, not a placement service!" The next session had the amazingly talented young leader Jithin Krishnan, Founder Director, Make a Difference. Make A Difference is a voluntary organization with over 12000 GenY volunteers, with less than 10% attrition! Incredible! Today CSR has become extremely important and it is here where HR professionals can play a critical role in promoting community service. Jithin’s speech would definitely motivate everyone to practise volunteerism. In his speech he brought to light the plight of orphans and orphanages. He further added,” What orphanages really need is family support - Family our first conduit to the world!” Jithin narrated a touching story and expressed how youth are tired of being told that they are selfish. As a matter of fact, he stated that younger generation is striving to make an impact and the fact that 12000 volunteers in 23 cities devote their weekends to volunteerism attests this. Jithin also spoke about the 3 M’s: Being M.A.D., Mallus and Mass volunteerism. The final session saw the unassuming, humble and experienced Sunil Gupta, COO, Net Magic speaking passionately about his experience and emphasizing the importance of Balance. Working in large process, system based organisation for many years and then moving to a mid size organisation was a challenge. However Sunil perspicaciously shared his personal experience and educated us as to how leaders must adapt and find the perfect balance and harmony. He shared some interesting examples of office life at Net Magic which ‘possibly’ (the pun un-intended) made the audience realized the importance of finding and maintaining balance between who we are and what we want to be! Sunil also spoke about the importance of process and managing by exceptions provided there is a customer need and then regularizing it immediately is so that it doesn’t become a norm. In the same breath, he also mentioned that all Processes can be quantified but having a human touch is very important. It was an exciting event, organised at plush Courtyard Marriott hotel in Andheri Mumbai and had about 40-50 leaders and senior professionals attending it. The organization was spot-on, the dinner was delectably delicious and the speeches were very incisive. After the short speeches, everyone was busy with individual networking over fantastic cocktails. It was wonderful to come across different leaders and the evening provided them with a splendid opportunity to relax, make new acquaintances and enjoy a few in-depth conversations. Well what really started as an idea has truly transformed into a massive movement. It makes me immensely proud to see MTHR Global blossom into a sought after forum not just by HR fraternity but even by professionals from various walks of life. The fact that MTHR has been in existence for more than a decade and relentlessly continues its mission to disseminate knowledge freely is indeed remarkable. While the co-founders and core members deserve umpteen compliments, the success of MTHR Global largely rests on the prolific speakers who speak on various contemporary issues and subjects. At the same time its success is also dependant on the various sponsors and the audience who ardently attends in large numbers and participates in various deliberations and discussions. Let me profoundly thank the organisers and sponsors for their efforts in making the MTCHRO Event a great experience for all. So when you get the invitation for the next MTCHRO or even MTHR Global event, don’t hesitate; just sign up – it's definitely worth attending! Until then…Cheers !

Leveraging Social Networks for Recruiting !

“The secrets of twenty-first century economics lie in the servers of the companies that are all around us…”
– From ‘The Long Tail’ –Chris Anderson

From the development of telecommunications to emails, chat rooms, instant messaging, discussion boards, group calendars, blogs and social media, internet has come a long way revolutionizing our lives and shrinking a boundaryless world into our cosy rooms. Come to think of, social media isn’t new but rather, an intelligent combination of various applications using latest technology that appeals to human desires and foster interactions in real time. It works better, faster and is accessible from mobile phones making Social Networking truly pervasive.

We have witnessed Social Media spark revolutions, establish connections, renew old relations and even topple governments. Social networks have facilitated easy content creation and publication which aids organisations in establishing deeper levels of engagement amongst users. The rapid mobile revolution in Asia will yield significant increase in mobile internet and social commerce thereby making social networks to become major shopping centres. The manifestation of social media will have tremendous implication on economy, business, organisations, consumers and individuals. Social networks seamlessly integrate the virtual and real world thereby making it a catalyst for change and defining the future of internet technology. Little wonder, organisations, business and individuals are relentlessly striving to capture space on various social networks.

Today social network generate strikingly different set of challenges for individuals and organisations. The laws for social networks are not properly defined. There are grave concerns about data privacy and inappropriate usage of personal and professional information. But this hasn’t deterred people from subscribing to various social networks.

Interestingly Social network propels ‘disintermediation’ wherein companies approach customers directly with their products and services instead of any intermediaries or partners or resellers.

Disintermediation appears advantageous because companies can directly learn more from customers by engaging them and such interactions help to serve customers better. While traditional branding focused on logos, social media branding essentially is focused on users. This aspect of engaging with users can be extended and creates an opportunity to develop a strong employer brand.

With millions of people subscribing to various social networks, leveraging these networks to tap potential recruits is popularly known as ‘Social Recruiting’. To harness these networks, it is extremely important for HR to understand the various social networks and develop an effective social recruiting strategy. At the moment, these “Big Five” social networking sites viz; ‘Linked In’, ‘Facebook’, ‘YouTube’, ‘Twitter’ and ‘Google +’ are very popular.

LinkedIn is the leader in connecting experienced professionals from around the world, while Facebook at the moment is the largest of the social utility sites with over 700 million users that connects people with friends, family and professional colleagues. Facebook has also included connections to organizations, businesses, and interests. YouTube provides individuals and organisations with amazing opportunity to stream videos. Many organisations have started showcasing real life videos that displays their work culture, work ethos, business practices, domain expertise, case studies etc. These videos are created to provide compelling reasons for customers to do business and for candidates to apply. Twitter is more of information networking service and acts as microblogs that shares user experience using 140 characters ‘tweets’ or messages. Google + appears similar to Facebook and promises to be much more in future.

Biz Stone, CEO of Twitter once said that “Openness is important for the future of a company”. This means social network is no longer a trend but a necessity, a tool not just for recruiters but predominantly a resource for candidates to research information about companies. It provides recruiters with a wide pool of readily available talent, allows them to target passive candidates and develop talent pipeline. Social networking is also cost effective tool that enhances communications by developing good content, providing online updates using blogs, podcasts, and videos. The number of “likes” helps organisations to monitor perception about their brand

HR professionals have gradually started realizing the impact of social network for employer branding. But before they subscribe to social media, it is extremely important to delve on the following aspects:

 Create an effective global social media policy: A social media policy outlines for employees the corporate guidelines or principles of communicating in the online world. HR must play an active role along with communication department to design and roll out an effective social medial policy.

 Train Employees: Invest in training employees on different social media platforms. Educate employees to respect privacy, protect information and follow the law. A great example is ‘Zappos’ where employees are encouraged to have Twitter accounts so they can interact with current and potential customers. Interestingly they also train their employees on the proper use of Twitter during new-hire orientation. ‘Dell’ has a social media university that renders certifications across different platforms to employees once they complete their training.

 Create Content: With content becoming the king, it is critical that organisations invest in creating high-quality content which can benefit the organization. This can be done by using leadership and employee blogs, podcasts or uploading videos that help in improving employer branding. Remember videos encourage more sharing than text.

 Advertise Jobs: The simple way to use social media for hiring is by posting job vacancies and search for candidates. Linked In also has separate hiring solutions and exclusive suite of tools for recruiters. You can even post a job for free in the Facebook Marketplace.

 Transparent Information to candidates: HR must ensure that candidates are notified, in writing, about the companies use of social media to gather information, e.g., on job applications. Ensure employment decisions are made based on lawful, verified information. Follow hiring policy or incorporate best practices in identifying a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the hiring decision with the documentation supporting the decision.

 Provide company information: Regular information and updates must be provided on social networks. This can be done by creating a Twitter account for the organisation. The objective of tweets is to communicate about the organisation and what topics are important to organisation. This will help in reaching out to customers and potential hires. This will also help to engage with potential candidates and see what topics they tweet about.

 Focus on building communities of talent: This is done by encouraging job seekers, subject matter experts and hiring companies both to participate in a dialogue using discussion boards. The quality of discussions and community membership is important for HR. HR and line managers must join various interest groups to connect with potential candidates.

 Reputation Management and Monitoring: The emergence of social media and arrival of tech savvy millennial generation at workplace has made it important to monitor perception of company brands. This can be done by subscribing to agencies that provide reputation management service and by even conducting online polls and feedback surveys.

 Facilitate collaboration: Web 2.0 technologies promises to spread social media amongst employees and interest groups. HR must facilitate such collaboration and become a change agent in promoting this technology.

Demography, attitude of the potential candidate, Generation Y and Employer branding are compelling companies to change recruitment methodology. Social networks can improve communication, bring greater efficiency to the workplace and provide great insight about people’s interests and motivations. It offers immense opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing. It is therefore imperative that HR has to adopt and integrate social media quickly. At the same time, HR has to subtly integrate both social recruiting and traditional recruiting including job boards, company sites and search firms to evaluate talent. Social media is here to stay. Both marketing and HR will have to play a crucial role in becoming leaders in harnessing various social networks to build brand and recruit talent.

Destructive Organisational Deviance: Workplace Bullying !

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

Workplace bullying might have been in existence even before the advent of industrial relations, when work was conducted in guilds and homes. The master – disciple relationship that existed would have used bullying tactics to induce fear and increase productivity. However people who may have suffered the ignominy of such ill-treatment preferred to have remained silent.

It was Heinz Leymann, a Swedish Professor who pioneered research on psychological abuse, and coined the term ‘mobbing’ to describe hostile behaviour targeted at workers. This was based on his studies of nurses who tried to commit suicide due to events at the workplace. Later in 1992, Andrea Adams, a British journalist, brought to notice, the harassment meted at work and coined the term “Workplace Bullying”.

Today bullying is not just an individual or psychological problem but more importantly an organizational problem since it stems from organisational culture. Often employees who become victim are likely to quit. But in reality and based on research it’s not only the victim who is likely to quit but even the co-workers are also likely to leave their jobs.

Bullying and harassment often arises when managers try to hide their incompetence with intimidation. There is some distinction between bullying and harassment but essentially both are forms of personal abuse. Harassment, whether it is racial, sexual or otherwise, is usually incident specific, while bullying is persistent and unwelcome behaviour which impacts the emotional, psychological and mental health of the victim besides ruining their careers.

Bullying also increases due to gloomy market conditions, recession, insecurity, cultural clashes and collisions of generations at workplace. Counter cultures, deviant behaviours, impatience and intolerance fuel workplace conflicts. Bullying can cause damage to individual employees and even greater damages to organisations. It disrupts peace at workplace which causes antagonism, distractions, poor teamwork, lowered productivity, increased trust deficit amongst employees, and makes the environment toxic. Victims often become diffident, and suffer from low self- esteem. Workplace bullying has indeed become a serious destructive force that vitiates the professional lives of employees and makes organisations toxic.

It is not necessary that only a manager or immediate superior bullies their subordinates. Bullying can occur wherever people work together. There have been instances of even subordinates ganging up against managers and bullying them.

Often performance is intertwined with our emotions. Employees do not perform at their best in an environment riddled with fear and oppression. Organisations that fail to monitor and create an environment which is conducive, healthy, congenial and free of bullying suffer from increased absenteeism, turnover, recruiting problems, poor reputation and lawsuits.

There are several definitions for Workplace Bullying but with the changing nature of work, it becomes little daunting to acutely define the term. However to put it simply, workplace bullying is the repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee or group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety.

A broad range of direct or indirect behaviours can be classified as bullying.

Examples of direct forms of bullying include:

• Verbal abuse

• Berating or putting someone down

• Spreading rumours or innuendo about someone

• Interfering with someone’s personal property or resource or work equipment.

Examples of indirect bullying include:

• Unjustified criticism or complaints

• Hiding or withholding information that is vital for effective work performance

• Deliberately denying access to information or other resources

• Deliberately excluding someone from workplace activities

• Causing inconvenience to a particular worker or workers

• Setting timelines that are very difficult to achieve

• Excessive scrutiny at work.

Preventing Workplace Bullying:

In recent times, few countries have introduced numerous legislations to prevent workplace bullying and have rightfully enforced severe punishments. In addition it is necessary for every organisation to come up with a comprehensive workplace bullying prevention policy and guidelines. There are various agencies and forums that strive to highlight these issues and find solutions to prevent bullying at workplaces. Organisations like Workplace Bullying Institute and International Association on Workplace Bullying & Harassment (IAWBH) are doing phenomenal work in preventing workplace bullying. There are few steps that organisations must take to prevent workplace bullying.

Workplace Policy: It is important to implement an emphatic policy on preventing bullying at workplace. The policy should define standards of acceptable and non acceptable behaviour and make a clear statement that inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated and warrant disciplinary action.

Workplace Procedures: Workplace procedures should outline how reports of bullying will be dealt with, and should set out broad principles to ensure the process is objective, fair and transparent. The procedures for registering complaints must be shared with all employees along with the names, designations and contact details of individuals who are authorized to receive complaints. The process should also encourage and provide support to both the parties – the victim and the perpetrator.

Evaluate Deviant Behaviour and not just Results: It starts with leadership and managerial behaviour. Behaviour determines action and therefore it is important that along with business results greater emphasis is also given to interpersonal skills and evaluating deviant behaviour.

Avoid Hiring Tyrants: Using behavioural interview techniques, psychometric tests, assessments, reference checks and gathering feedback will help in hiring the right people in organisation.

Single Incident: Bullying thrives in environments where input from employees is limited. Even a single incident of unreasonable behaviour may have the potential to escalate into bullying and therefore shouldn’t be ignored as it can probably create a risk to employee morale, health and safety. When employees realise that no one will bother to investigate, correct, or curtail the problem they soon recognize that by speaking up they may actually increase the risk of repercussions from the perpetrator. Therefore a single incident has to be investigated.

Acknowledge: It essentially starts by calling bul¬lying by its proper name and not concealing under the guise of “tough managerial style”, “task master” or explain it away on supposed cultural grounds or gender proclivity. It is possible that the harasser may not be aware that his or her conduct is offensive. A simple request to cease the offensive conduct may be all that is required to correct the situation before it becomes severe.

Training: Bullying has been linked to situations of role conflict, role ambiguity, parochial and ethnocentric attitude. Employers should make sure that employees understand their role, role expectations, levels of authority and empowerment and have the appropriate skills and resources to do their job. Organisations must therefore encourage and promote diversity. Regular training on conflict management, counselling, managing difficult employees, social skills and interpersonal skills to employees will go a long way in preventing deviant behaviour. All employees including managers and leaders must undergo training so as to acquaint themselves about behaviours that constitutes bullying and harassment.

Skip Level Meetings: Organisations should introduce skip level meetings to encourage employees to share their grievances with higher ups.

Coaching & External Counselling: Sometimes bringing an external counsellor, behavioural trainer, and leadership coaches can help in counselling employees who are victims of bullying and also those who are the perpetrators of bullying.

Encourage reporting & Non-victimisation: It is important to protect and ensure that anyone who raises an issue of bullying including the witnesses are not victimised or punished for doing so. Former employees must also be protected. Documentation is important to any formal investigation. Even if the matter is not formally investigated, a record should be made of all meetings and interviews detailing who was present and the agreed outcomes.

Confidentiality: The process should ensure complainant confidentiality and also ensure confidentiality for other parties involved. Details of the matter should only be known by those directly concerned.

Natural justice: The principles of natural justice should be followed in all formal investigations.

Monitoring and Review: To best prevent bullying at work, risk control measures must be regularly monitored, evaluated and reviewed.

Robert Sutton, professor of management science and engineering from Stanford in his famous Mckinsey article, “Building a civilised workplace" highlights that there is more financial damages in having jerks and bullies at work. The article also brings to light that company with jerks and bullies may suffer from reduced level of creativity and innovation, as well as impaired or dysfunctional cooperation within and outside the organisation.

Workplace bullying can be curtailed by creating an egalitarian structure. Organisations must relentlessly strive to foster a workplace culture, where everyone treats colleagues with dignity, trust, respect, and where all process and systems are established to minimise the occurrence of bullying and harassment.

Ruminations- 2012 !!!

Each year that passes seems to have its own character, and as I look back over these past twelve months, I know that it has been about as eventful and difficult year as it can be. Last year had been quite daunting and if the first month of this New Year offers any indication, there seems to be no respite either!

Nonetheless New Year is the perfect time for reflection and rejuvenation of hope for the future.
Whilst I struggle to spare time to blog, thankfully I did manage to rummage through several interesting books. Let me start the New Year 2013 by ruminating upon books that I enjoyed reading last year.

Well 2012 started with ‘The Ascent of Money’. Like 2011, I have again listed the books under various categories.

Books on Politics/ Society / Economy etc:
India: From Midnight to the Millennium– Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor continues to remain one of the prominent newsmaker with his witty and sardonic tweets and clearly testifies that the pen (key pad) will continue to remain mightier than the sword! Undoubtedly Shashi Tharoor is intelligent, charming and a learned politician but more than that he will always remain a prolific author. His books are evocative and extremely objective. Although there are innumerable books on Incredible India, Shashi Tharoor has presented a wonderfully researched book, ‘India: From Midnight to the Millennium’ where he shares his views on diverse topics like caste, Indian democracy, the legacy of Indira Gandhi, the partition of India and India’s transition from a socialist economy to a free market economy.

Radheya – Ranjit Desai
Ranjit Desai’s incredible book in Marathi language “Radheya” on Karna, one of the principal characters in Mahabharata is a must read for all. This book has been translated in many Indian languages. Karna is the most fascinating and tragic of all Mahabharata's heroes. Raised without the love of parents; target of great envy and hatred; falsely ridiculed for being of low birth; constantly humiliated at the hands of his inferiors; Karna is at once the most riveting character in the Mahabharata! Karna was generous beyond generosity, made immense sacrifices, and was brave to the point of foolhardiness and therefore the author feels that every man can resemble himself with Karna’s life.

Mahabharata – A modern rendering - Ramesh Menon
The Mahabharata is The Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. Two years ago, Ramesh Menon’s two thick volumes caught my attention at Crosswords. The volumes were neatly bundled in a box and ever since I bought them, I never had the time to read. Finally last year, I managed to read both the volumes and realised that I should have read it earlier. The book is written in a lucid language and each chapter is a revelation of sorts. Menon has indeed done an extraordinary job rendering this 5000-odd year old epic that describes a Great War and the events that led to it into powerful, simple, resonant prose. The book is intriguing, incisive and informative and it’s difficult to put down.

Books on Cricket:
Standing my ground – Mathew Hayden – Hayden’s book is similar to his captain Steve Waugh’s beautiful autobiography “Out of My Comfort Zone”. The book narrates his struggles to get inside the champion Aussie side, compete with Mark Taylor for his place in the team and finally retire as one of the Greats that brought aggression as test opener.

While Hayden came across as an arrogant, hefty and belligerent player often loathsome of other international opponents however in his autobiography you get to see the other side of his personality- a likeable, adventurous, hard working, resilient and sensitive human being. Unlike other south paw there wasn’t much of elegance and style but Hayden went on to become a prolific batsman who disdainfully clobbered fast bowlers and cleverly used his feet and pads against quality spinners. In his autobiography, he also shares his passion to cook and surf in deep waters around the world.

A Year in the Sun - Michael Vaughan
This book is an interesting read. Described as the most exciting batsman to emerge since David Gower retired, Michael Vaughan provides a view of his own achievements during 2002. He also contemplates the controversy that surrounded England's ill-fated World Cup mission, and discusses the real story behind the decision not to go to Zimbabwe. Vaughan's thoughts about Nasser Hussain, the captain he has served most, and his other international and county colleagues are also shared. Every aspect of an intense and exciting year gets Vaughan's complete consideration - from being given out handled ball in India to clean bowling Sachin Tendulkar, from being targeted by Glenn McGrath to winning the Player of the Series award in the Ashes battle, and on to the World Cup fiasco.

The Devils Pack – Balwinder Sandhu & Austin Coutinho
This is an exciting short book and I am glad someone has finally published a book on India’s maiden World cup win. The book will bring fond memories to all those who had witnessed Kapil’s Devils making history. I can still distinctly remember as a child, how many crackers I burst with my friends on Sunday on the night of 25th June 1983. Balwinder Singh Sandhu provides some interesting insider account and describes the events, the match plans and everything that happened as India won its maiden World Cup victory. In the book Balwinder has devoted one chapter for every member of the winning team and the book therefore seems similar to another book Idols by Sunil Gavaskar which is indeed fascinating.

Bishan - Portrait of a Cricketer by Suresh Menon
“Jim Laker once remarked that his idea of heaven was Lord’s in the sunshine, Ray Lindwall bowling at one end and Bishan Bedi at the other.” With a foreword by Anil Kumble and a flow that makes it as easy to read as, Bedi was to watch, this is a cricket book worthy of a place on the shelf. The author is a prolific writer but somewhere I felt Menon has restricted himself to about 190 odd pages. May be he could have been more descriptive. Nonetheless Menon’s incisive insights make the book especially readable. He makes no attempt to gloss over Bedi’s flaws and idiosyncrasies.

Sach by Gautam Bhattacharya
The book beautifully describes the journey of Sachin Tendulkar, “The demi- God of cricket" from his early childhood till date. Hopefully there will be many books deservedly written about Sachin. Till then this book is a collector’s item for some rare photos. The book features about 83 interviews by eminent personality on what Sachin means to them. There are many interesting anecdotes. You feel sad to learn that Sachin’s brother who was instrumental in making Sachin a cricketer had to struggle and stand outside the stadium while someone tries to organise a pass.

Bradman and the Summer That Changed Cricket: The 1930 Australian Tour of England - Christopher Hilton
In 1930 Bradman arrived in England, a callow youth whose lack of technique, or so the English thought, would be mercilessly exposed. By summer's end he had redefined the possibilities of the game and changed it forever. This fascinating book reconstructs that Australian tour from the first day to the last, in the liveliest detail, including every run in Bradman's legendary 300 scored in one day during the Leeds Test. Using a host of contemporary sources - from regional Australian newspapers and original score sheets, to English provincial and national newspapers and players' memories - Christopher Hilton brings all aspects of the 1930 summer tour vividly to life and also revisits every controversy surrounding one of the sport's most momentous occasions.

Inside Out: Writings on Cricket - Gideon Haigh
Inside out is a remarkably written by one of the best living writers on cricket- Gideon Haigh.
The book features some interesting pieces on cricketing greats from Don Bradman to Sunil Gavaskar, inferences about the enduring significance of the Bodyline series, informative history of Baggy Green Cap and much more.

Classic Cricket Clangers - David Mortimer
This volume is an amusing collection of accounts of cricket players who have thrown away victory for all kinds of embarrassing and highly regrettable reasons. It covers two centuries of cricket.

Book of Cricket - Barry Norman
Barry Norman's Book of Cricket delivers a wealth of information about every aspect of cricket and how its rules developed from its 18th-century beginnings till date.

Management Books:
I sometimes find it a drudgery to read management books especially when there is nothing new. However the books that captured my attention last year:

Managing Organizational Deviance - Roland E. Kidwell
This is an exceptional book and brings to light the various deviance and dysfunctional behaviour in organisations. The book features incisive short cases and draws together contributions written by recognized experts and thereby offering practical guidance to those faced with ambiguous situations of deviant behaviour in the workplace.

The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson
If the author concludes by saying “Markets are like the mirror of mankind, revealing every hour of every working day the way we value ourselves and the resources of the world around us. It is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty" then definitely this book is worth reading isn’t it. The book provides fascinating history of money, markets, banking and is indeed riveting.

Six Disciplines of Execution - Gary Harpst
This book is short, enriching and worth reading. The author provides an excellent guide on managing business growth through strategy and execution. While the book is designed for entrepreneurs and smaller firms to become better at execution, the lessons in the book are equally relevant and applicable for even larger organisations to anyone who wants to think and become an entrepreneur or work like an intrapreneur.

Firms of Endearment (FOE)- Rajendra Sisodia, David Wolfe, Jagdish Sheth
The book authored by three imminent management thinkers identifies 30 companies which are called Firms of Endearment. The basic premise of the book is that with consumers and employees seeking more in life than simply money, companies need to adopt more meaningful goals than the simple pursuit of profit. These firms treat their employees well and inspire them to be innovative, respond readily to consumer needs and complaints, show interest in their community and maintain high moral standards. The authors have done fabulous research and the book reveals some startling insights into the workings of organisations that are great employers, great corporate citizens and highly successful.

Classics
The Waves - Virginia Woolf
'I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot', Virginia Woolf stated of her eighth novel, "The Waves". Widely regarded as one of her greatest and most original works, it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time. Six children - Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny and Louis - meet in a garden close to the sea, their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore. The subsequent continuity of these six main characters, as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions, is interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature. In pure stream-of-consciousness style, Woolf presents a cross-section of multiple yet parallel lives, each marked by the disintegrating force of a mutual tragedy. "The Waves" is her searching exploration of individual and collective identity, and the observations and emotions of life, from the simplicity and surging optimism of youth to the vacancy and despair of middle-age.

Fiction:
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri
I enjoy reading Jhumpa Lahiri and find her book evocative and sensitive. In Unaccustomer Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri presents heart rendering stories of immigrant families that reveals how even the most ordinary lives have their dramas and tragedies.
Very Good Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse

“To dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language.” - Ben Schott

It's been ages since I picked up a P G Wodehouse and to come across the adventures of the British dilettante Bertram Wilberforce Wooster a.k.a. Bertie Wooster and his wry valet Reginald Jeeves, who is often the cause of his salvation from increasingly entangled social situations is simply ecstatic. I guess everyone’s during their college years must have rummaged Wodehouse books and no matter how many times you read, his writing remains immortal, and keeps you in splits. Very Good Jeeves is a superb book and just like all his 92 books including 11 novels, another literary treasure.

Books on Travel & Adventures:

The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica - Stephen J. Pyne
Stephen Pyne's book on the stark and largely unknown continent combines a geophysical examination of the ice with an inspirational survey of how one of the most alien landscapes of our planet has shaped and affected man's life on earth throughout the centuries. The sheer immensity of the ice sheet is staggering. Its weight is sufficient to deform the globe. This book is an all-encompassing guide to the continent which remains the ultimate symbol of the natural world.

The Middle Passage - V.S. Naipaul

I have enjoyed reading Sir Naipaul’s book and find his writing sharp and thought-provoking.

Naipaul's first work of travel writing is an account of his journey in 1950 from London to his birthplace, the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is both a journey to the familiar and to the strange and Naipaul records it all with immense sensitivity, honesty and clear analysis. He journeys to British Guyana, Surinam, Martinique and Jamaica and forms a provocative and at times piercingly funny study of societies whose common heritage of colonialism and slavery is examined with unique insight.

A Turn in the South - V.S. Naipaul
"A Turn in the South" is a reflective journey by V. S. Naipaul in the late 1980s through the American South. Naipaul writes of his encounters with politicians, rednecks, farmers, writers, ordinary men and women, both black and white, with the insight and originality we expect from one of our best travel writers. Fascinating and poetic, this is a remarkable book on race, culture and country.

India: A Million Mutinies - V.S. Naipaul
V.S. Naipaul's fascinating account of his journey around India approaches this shifting, changing land from a variety of perspectives. Through interviews with people from many different walks of life, he builds an oral history of a country constantly on the move.

Man-eaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbett
This is the best known of Corbett's books, and contains ten fascinating stories of tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalaya during the early years of 20th century.

Autobiographies/ Biography / Memoirs:
Along with Biography and Memoirs of cricketers, there were others books, which were far enriching and exciting.

Margaret Thatcher: v.1: The Grocer's Daughter - John Campbell
When Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly emerged to challenge Edward Heath for the Conservative leadership in 1975, the public knew her only as the archetypal Home Counties Tory Lady, more famous for her hats than for any outstanding talent. Yes almost overnight she reinvented herself. Journalists who set out to discover where she came from were amazed to find that she had grown up above a grocer's shop in Grantham. Within weeks of her becoming Tory leader an entirely new image was in place, based around the now famous corner shop beside the Great North Road; the strict Methodist upbringing; and her father, who taught her the 'Victorian values' which were the foundations of her subsequent career.

Being a Scot – Sean Connery
Being a Scot has many beautiful pictures, is well-presented, and is an informative. The book focuses less on Sir Sean, and more on his interests and causes. In its own grindingly literal fashion, Being a Scot will tell you a lot about Scotland. However, there is one enduring mystery the book sheds no light on: if Connery likes the place so much, why doesn't he live there?

Books on Science:

The Sun: A Biography - David Whitehouse
This is a comprehensive biography of the sun, written by David Whitehouse. Since man first became conscious he has sought to understand the nature of the sun; he has worshipped it, been inspired to produce great art about it, researched it and even died for it. Understanding the nature of the sun is key to understanding our universe and to life on earth. The author skilfully weaves his extraordinary scientific knowledge with history, philosophy, archaeology and religion to produce this fascinating account of the life and future of the sun.

Books on Gourmet Delights

The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food and Ritual in Bengal - Chitrita Banerji.
Eversince I read ‘Eating in India’ by Chitrita Banerji, I have started enjoying the delectable Bangla food. Chitrita is a splendid food historian and In ‘The Hour of the Goddess’, she describes her memories of food, its associations with Hindu rituals and the roles of women, contextualized within the broad culinary traditions of Bengal. The book is composed of a collection of short essays, coupled with mouth watering recipes and personal anecdotes.

Music (Biography)
A Secret History - Alastair Taylor
Alastair Taylor was with the Beatles right from the beginning. With this book, he offers his inside view on the band's highs and lows, and reveals exactly what split the band apart.

Read Again:
Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy by Partha Bose. This book is ain interesting and must read for all.
Books by Sunil Gavaskar - Sunny Days, One Day Wonders & Idols

And again this year, I hope to spare some time to read books that are pleadingly looking at me from the shelves. Until then, Have a Great Year Ahead!!

Sledging - It Ain't Cricket !

"How's your wife and my kids?" asked Australian wicket keeper Rod Marsh from behind the stumps to the Ian Botham who had come into bat. "The wife's fine," replied Ian, "but the kids are retarded."

Well aren’t sledging and Ashes like two sides of same coin! Come to think of, Cricket is not just a mere contest between bat and ball, but it’s largely a battle of wits. No wonder players with good temperament and cricketing intelligence become world champions. It is this mental ability and temperament that opponents like to test.

Well as long as this is challenged in a fair manner, Cricket still resembles a Gentleman’s game. But there are times when players use humorous banter to distract their opponent and sometimes tend to cross the line using orchestrated personal abuse and derogatory language. This is generally referred as sledging.

Basically sledging describes the practice whereby players try to get under the opponents skin by provoking, insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing player. The objective is to disturb the opponent's concentration, thereby causing them to make mistakes or underperform.

Sledging, banter, remonstration, abuse, ripostes have been an integral part of the game and like everything in cricket, it also has ancient antecedents. For instance, when W.G. Grace was given out leg-before, he refused to walk and told the bowler: "They came to watch me bat, not you bowl". And the innings continued.

In his riveting book ‘Stiff Upper Lips and Baggy Green Caps’, Simon Briggs presents a succinct history of sledging. He states that, Englishmen were the pioneers and Dr W.G. Grace was an early leader, and believed they had the divine right to use any methods to beat the colonials. Interestingly in the same age of cavaliers, Warwick Armstrong from Australia gave it back to them. In the modern era, sledging was blatantly practiced by Aussies. Ian Chappell’s mob labelled as ‘Ugly Australian’ were the leaders and later Allan Border, Merv Hughes, Steve Waugh continued this practice. Steve Waugh even coined a new cricketing neologism - Mental disintegration!

Its not just sledging but we have also witnessed players getting into argument with the umpires. There aren’t many players like Gavaskar and Gilchrist who walk even before the umpire has raised his finger. Instead of emulating these legendary players or even for that matter, the batting skills of Dr W.G. Grace, the modern batsmen seem to emulate Grace's ability to stand his ground. Once, when the ball knocked off a bail, he replaced it and told the umpire: "Twas the wind which took thy bail orf, good sir." The umpire replied: "Indeed, doctor, and let us hope thy wind helps the good doctor on thy journey back to the pavilion."

The best W.G Grace sledge was on him, though, not from him. Charles Kortright had dismissed him on few times in a county game - only for the umpires to keep turning down his appeals. Finally, he uprooted two of Grace's three stumps. Grace stalled, as though waiting for a no-ball call or something, before reluctantly walking off with Kortright's words in his ears: "Surely you're not going, doctor? There's still one stump standing."

While many of us appreciate the technical side of cricket, it is equally true that good humoured banter spices up the game and can also be counter-productive. Remember Javed Miandad imitating Kiran More and jumping on the wicket to express his irritation with More’s constant chattering behind the stumps. Who can forget Dravid’s brilliant century against the Proteas when Allan Donald ruffled him? And in the Nottingham test, Zaheer Khan ended up taking nine wickets after he was greeted by the English players with jelly beans on the wicket. Venkatesh Prasad uprooting the stumps of Aamer Sohail immediately after being sledged and clobbered for a boundary will always remain etched in our memory.

Here’s a list of some good cricketing anecdotes, witty banter and sledging … What's somewhat unique is the angle from which one looks at them - mainly, funny or provocative things that were said, and brief looks at the personalities who said them.

Graham Gooch got a chilling welcome to Test Cricket. In his debut test, as he wandered out to bat, Gooch greeted Ian Chappell, the Australia captain, with a polite, “Good morning, Ian.”
“What’s so f**king good about it?” came the immediate reply. Gooch was then dismissed without scoring.

Harbhajan must have slapped his own countrymen, but there are also instances of teammates sledging each other. Now this one’s simply hilarious that involved Fred Trueman and Raman Subba Row. England were playing Pakistan and, at what turned out to be a crucial moment later on, Trueman managed to get an outside edge off a Pakistani batsman after the batsman had been frustrating them on a hot sweaty day. The ball went right through the hands of Raman Subba Row who was standing in first slip and through his legs. After the over Raman heads over to the bowler and says, "Sorry Fred, I should've closed my legs." Fred Trueman, who didn't find any of this amusing, quipped back, "No, you bastard, your mother should have."

Another instance of same team members having fun.

David Gower: Do you want Gatt (Mike Gatting) a foot wider?
Chris Cowdrey: No. He'd burst.

England were set a huge target by Australia and Maurice Leyland batting with a youngster was being made to run hard for singles. Leyland said, "Steady up lad, we can't get them all tonight, you know".

Or savour this - "In my day 58 beers between London and Sydney would have virtually classified you as a teetotaler." - Ian Chappell on being informed that David Boon had consumed 58 beers on team flight to England in 1989. Boon claimed that he was afraid of flying.

Even umpires come up with humorous banter. This is "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird.

"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, they used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing and equally inept runner; "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!"

Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucestershire, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES" "NO", eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and inform the bloody scorers!"

Well this is just the beginning, for the best sledging and banter with some fruity dialect takes place during The Ashes…

1. Bill Woodfull, Australia’s captain in the Bodyline series of 1932-33, responding to Douglas Jardine's complaint that a slip fielder had called him bastard: “All right, which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard?”

2. “Take a good look at this arse of mine; you'll see plenty of it this summer.” - David Steele to Rodney Marsh

3. Australia fighting for a win nearing the end of a Test Match, Fred Trueman at the crease. The Aus captain has plenty of close in fielders, whose shadows fall on the wicket. Fredie finds this objectionable. 'Ere, if you lads don't back off, I'll appeal for bad light!"

4. Sometimes sledging can be quite subtle. Imagine, for example, how England’s Phil Edmonds felt when he took guard to bat and heard the Aussie wicketkeeper Timothy Zoehrer chirp: "At least I have an identity. You're only Frances Edmond’s husband."

5. Mark Waugh: F**k me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing out here, there's no way you're good enough to play for England.
James Ormond: Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family.

6. “Don't bother shutting it, son, you won't be there long enough.” - Fred Truman to incoming Aussie batsman as he opened the gate on his way out to the middle at Lord's

7. Tap that one down you little b*stard. - Tony Lock bowls a bouncer at Richie Benaud following a prolonged spell of gardening

8. You are a damned lot of sneaks.- WG Grace to Midwinter, The Oval, 1877

9. Well bowled Harold! - Douglas Jardine after Larwood fells Woodfull with a ball in the chest

10. Hell, Gatt, move out of the way, I can't see the stumps. - Dennis Lillee

11. Mate, if you turn the bat over, you'll see the instructions on the back! - Merv Hughes to Grahame Hick

12. Merv Hughes: You can't f**king bat.
Robin Smith after hitting the next ball to the fence: Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't f**king bat and you can't f**king bowl.

13. Warne bowling to Atherton in Australia during an Ashes series. Atherton nicks one into Ian Healy's gloves but doesn't walk and is given not out. Healy: "You f***ing cheat"
Atherton: "When in Rome Old Boy" said in his best Oxbridge voice!!

14. Derek Randall to Lillee, after taking a glancing blow to the head: “No good hitting me there, mate, nothing to damage.”

15. Ian Healy, placing a fielder yards away at cover when Nasser Hussain was batting: “Let's have you right under Nasser's nose.”

16. Tony Greig, England’s South African-born captain, to the young David Hookes, 1977: “When are your balls going to drop, Sonny?”
Hookes: “I don't know, but at least I'm playing cricket for my own country.” Hookes hit Greig for five consecutive fours.

And its not just England and Australia but even players from other countries resort to such banter.

 Gavaskar had decided to relinquish his opening position and come in at no 4 for that test. But, Malcolm Marshall fired out Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0/2. Viv Richards quipped, "Man, it don't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero." Gavaskar made 236*

 In another instance, during the tour of West Indies, a young bowler was trying to get under Gavaskar’s skin by sledging. Gavaskar, a senior player retorted "Son, don't waste time sledging at me. I have been sledged at more often than you have taken a piss".

 Greg Thomas, a Glamorgan fast bowler, thundered in and beat Vivian Richards's bat. "It's red and its round. Can't you see it?" the bowler taunted. The next ball was precisely the same; pitching three quarters of length on middle and off, seaming away and once again Richards was comprehensively beaten. "It's red and its round and it weighs four-and-a-half ounces. Can't you see it?” commented Greg Thomas. The next delivery was right in the slot, and Viv smashed the ball out of the ground and straight into the river that flowed around it. The batsman then said to the bowler: "You know what it looks like... go get it!"

There are also instances when players wait for the opportune moment and give it back.
 Ian Botham had long ago remarked, "Pakistan is the sort of place every man should send his mother-in-law, for a month, with all expenses paid."
In 1992 World Cup Final, when Pakistan defeated England, Aamer Sohail said to Ian Botham on his way to pavilion "Why don't you send your mother-in-law out to play, she cannot do much worse."

 South Africa’s Daryll Cullinan is famous for being Shane Warne’s bunny. Cullinan was batting, attempting a comeback from a complete bamboozling from Warne in earlier games. Cullinan played the first ball from the kiwi bowler Chris Harris very carefully back down the pitch, and keeper Parore yelled out "Well bowled Warnie!"

There is no doubt that playing against Aussies can be daunting and indeed intimidating. Just check this out.

1. Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath chided West Indian batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan "So, what does Brian Lara's dick taste like?" Sarwan replied "I don't know, ask your wife." McGrath lost his temper and yelled "If you ever fucking mention my wife again, I will fucking rip your fucking throat out!" (McGrath was upset because his wife had just been diagnosed with cancer)

2. Glenn McGrath to Eddo Brandes - "Hey Eddo, how come you're so fat?"
Brandes responds: "Cos everytime I sleep with your wife, she gives me a biscuit!"

3. Shane Warne: “I've waited two years for another chance to humiliate you.”
Daryll Cullinan: “Looks like you spent it eating. Go and deflate yourself, you balloon.”

4. “You convicts are all the same.” - Malcolm Marshall to Steve Waugh after he refused to walk.

5. Ravi Shastri v/s Mike Whitney the Aussie 12th man. Shastri hits it to Mike and looks for a single. Mike stops the ball and says "if you leave the crease I'll break your fucking head" Shastri: "If you could bat as well as you can talk you wouldn't be the fucking 12th man."

6. Inzamam-ul-Haq telling Brett Lee - "Stop bowling off spinners"

7. Shane Warne when bowling against Arjuna Ranatunga wondered aloud, what would draw him out of his crease. Wicketkeeper Ian Healy piped up "Put a Mars Bar on a good length. That should do it." Ranatunga not to be out done believed to have said "Then I’m sure Boony here will get it before me" referring to David Boon who was fielding at forward shortleg.

8. Merv Hughes & Javed Miandad: During 1991 Adelaide Test: Javed called Merv a fat bus conductor. A few balls later Merv dismissed Javed. "Tickets please," Merv called out as he ran around Javed. .

9. Merv Hughes was bowling to Hansie Cronje during a tour game in South Africa. It was an especially flat wicket and Cronje was hitting Hughes for fours and sixes all over the place. After the umpteenth boundary, Hughes headed down the pitch, stood near Cronje, let out a fart and said: "Try hitting that for six." It was five minutes before the guffawing stopped and play could resume.

10. Can you ever forget Ian Healy's comment which was picked up by the Channel 9 microphones when Arjuna Ranatunga called for a runner on a particularly hot night during a one-dayer in Sydney: "You don't get a runner for being an overweight, unfit, fat beep!"

11. Merv Hughes & Viv Richards - During a test match in the West Indies, Hughes didn't say a word to Viv, but continued to stare at him after deliveries. "This is my island, my culture. Don't you be staring at me? In my culture we just bowl." Merv didn't reply, but after he dismissed him he announced to the batsman "In my culture we just say fuck off."

12. Ian Healy asked Arjuna: "Got your legs shivering?"
Arjuna replied: "Yes, I’m tired after sleeping with your wife"

Sledging and abuse is very rampant between Pakistani and Indian Cricketers. And the best way to answer any sledging is demonstrated by none other than the ‘God of Batting’ – Sachin Tendulkar…

Sachin Tendulkar Vs Abdul Qadir - A baby-faced Sachin Tendulkar had just made his cricketing debut against Pakistan in 1989, when he was subject to abuse by his opponents and the crowd alike. Tendulkar was facing a formidable Pakistan bowling attack and the crowds were desperate to break him. They insulted him with banners that read "Hey kid, go home and drink milk", but when Tendulkar sent the then young leg spinner Mustaq Ahmed hiding for cover by smashing 2 sixes in one over, the frustrated mentor of Mustaq Ahmed the legendary Abdul Qadir barks "Why are you hitting kids? Try and hit me". A silent Tendulkar let his bat do the talking and duly obliged Qadir's request hitting 4 sixes in the over, which read 6, 0, 4, 6, 6, 6 - Many cite this incident as the day the legend was born!

Tasteless - The following style of sledging is unacceptable and must be condemned even by those who advocate its practice. Players caught using this style of tactic, risk hefty fines or suspension.

1993 - The Australian slip cordon allegedly greeted New Zealand batsman Chris Cairns with a chant of "Choo Choo" after his sister had just been killed in a train accident.

There is debate in the cricketing world as to whether sledging constitutes bad sportsmanship or good-humoured banter. As long as sledging involves real humour without any politics or racial abuse, it may continue. Ironically that is the kind of humor we are missing in today's cricket when nothing short of a crude family or racist reference and even expletives seems to satisfy few idiots masquerading as cricketers the world over. No wonder Gavaskar talks of severe punishment for those who use personal and derogatory abuse. Ironically sledging is intrinsic to some cultures, in sports like soccer and rugby and even part of daily lives especially in countries like Australia, South Africa, England and perhaps therefore difficult to avoid!.. But, “this ain’t cricket”.

Thankfully the game is always bigger than individuals! Even Robert Mugabe is reported to have said, "I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe. I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen”. Well, so long as you have batsmen and bowlers who will retort to the sledges through their performance, cricket will continue to remain a Gentleman’s game!