HRD-MFI: EMPLOYEE-BONDING --- “Respect”

The other day, my friends and I were discussing on how to generate the feeling of ‘belongingness’ towards the company among the employees. One of every HR department’s KRA.

We brainstormed on the subject and prepared a list of factors that will ensure employee-bonding-towards-his-organisation. Right salary, timely salary, right position, right job, clear job description, career growth prospects, working environment, respect, … are a few to name them.

RESPECT:
A friend stressed on the importance of ‘respect’ in employee-bonding by narrating his personal experience. He was working in a reputed and growing organisation, had a good position, was getting a good pay package, had a good team in his section, had good prospect to grow further in the company, had put-in over 5 years in the company, was a performing member, the top management had appreciated his performance, … but still he changed the job, one day.

Reason was the ‘respect’ factor. His new boss, though smart, knowledgeable, experienced, … had failed consistently in respecting him and his team.

Performing people do not work purely for salary. They primarily work for job-satisfaction. Right salary will naturally follow.

That reminded us the saying that people change jobs not because of the organization but because of their managers. I could understand my colleague because I too had experienced such a situation in my career earlier.

DISRESPECT &/or DISCONTENTMENT:
Then, we discussed how to avoid ‘disrespect’ and ‘discontentment’ in an organization. Both these aspects adversely affect job-satisfaction, even if a company pays good salary. Some tips on how to pre-empt ‘disrespect’ and/or ‘discontentment’ (and therefore the avoidable ‘attrition’) are:
· Avoid using abusive language while dealing with our team.
· Guide and correct instead of scolding a team member.
· Avoid scolding our team-member for minor issues.
· Encourage team members to perform.
· Praise a team-member in public but correct him in private.
· Discuss certain aspects in person (instead of in other’s presence).
· Be sincere with our team. Walk-the-talk. Testify through consistent actions/behaviour. Staff always take a cue from the top.
· Avoid loose talk. Use the right choice of words and the tone.
· Quote right and relevant examples, whenever we do so.
· Avoid sarcastic comments. Especially when others are present.
· Avoid comments that could have egoistic connotation though inadvertent. Ego attempts to be-little others. Thus, in spite of having all good qualities, a person with ego is (invariably) not liked by his superiors/peers/subordinates. Ego comes with success; therefore, we should introspect at regular intervals.
· Avoid giving an opinion on every aspect because nobody will know everything-about-anything.
· Be a good listener even when the other person talks nonsense. We might get a cue on some usable information.

We summarized that if every person (especially a leader) deals with his colleagues like he deals with his close associates, then he can easily avoid the disrespect and discontentment among others. That was an apt summation.

Bonding towards a ‘Person’ and ‘Company’:
Another aspect surfaced in the discussion and the brainstorming. My friend still respects his earlier organization but not the person (the new-boss because of whom, he and few others had left the organization). Employee-bonding “towards the company” and “towards individuals” are therefore two different aspects. The bonding the employees will have towards another person (say, a leader) depends upon the leader’s personal qualities, sincere behaviour, walk-the-talk nature, … that gets established over a period of time through consistent actions.

A good aspect for introspection, say once a year; because ego, pride, I-know-everything attitude, and the various factors that cause ‘disrespect’ mentioned herein above, … are negative qualities that creep into one’s behavior inadvertently along with success. (For example, my friend's ex-boss (new) would not have realized then that his behaviour was adversely affecting his team.)

We believe that the lowest line-manager to the top-most person in any organization could take a cue from this note through introspection (say, once a year, on a new year, birthday, ….)

The opinion expressed herein is purely that of my friends and I; not of the organizations that we work for.

Jaikishan
23rd Nov 2009

EMPLOYEE-COMPANY BONDING

Every management will want that their employees must have the feeling of belongingness towards the company.

What will generate that belongingness in an employee towards his organisation?

Employee must enjoy his assignment in the organization where he works. Factors that will make and keep an employee happy are:

Gets salary in time each month. Gets yearly increments.

Clear policy on Employee benefits (PF, Insurance, Medical Claims, ….)

Growth opportunities in the company. Proper appraisal system.

Respected in the company by all.

Job Responsibilities and Deliverables are defined. Helps is proper annual appraisal.

Adequate time to perform the job without undue pressure.

Adequate workload. Not to be overloaded.

No duplication or rework(s) in sending reports, statements, preparing letters,…. (This will arise when the requirement is not communicated properly in time or when the employee fails to understand the communication.)

Planned working instead of fire-fighting.

Reports to one person/boss.

In case of multiple reporting, the management must define them properly in writing with a copy to all reporting heads. (This is to pre-empt the conflicting priorities of the bosses that would adversely affect their direct reports.)

To provide a right and adequate team such that a Manager can deliver what is expected of him and his team.

To work with a good boss. It is the Company’s responsibility to appoint right persons to responsible positions such that the employees under him will enjoy their work.

Proper support and communication between the Head Office and branches.

A management that walks-the-talk.

Good and simple HR Policy covering all aspects.

Employee to be able to voice his concern/grievance(s) to superiors. To have a feeling that the management/superior will accord a patient hearing.


Management’s responsibility in generating in its Employees the belongingness towards the organization:

Consider all the points mentioned above (that every employee expects to enjoy his assignment in the company).

To be a better employer than others in the industry.

Walk-the-talk. Management must be sincere in what they say and must honour what they commit. Otherwise, employees will also ‘pretend’ the belongingness.

Employees must feel that they are working in a professional organization where they have scope for career growth.

Professionalism, Benefits, Respect, … must flow from the top-to-the-next- level. Employees take cue from their bosses and top management.

To have regular training schedules and relevant training contents for all employee levels. Inhouse as well as outsource training.

Top management and HoDs must regularly update/upgrade themselves to live up to the challenges ahead so as to guide &/or to motivate their direct reports.

Jaikishan (8th Nov 09)

HRD-MFI: 'STATIC' vs 'DYNAMIC' ORGANISATION

HRD-MFI: STATIC VS DYNAMIC
(MFI = Material For Introspection)

We come across statements from many eminent and successful personalities conveying that ‘CHANGE’ IS THE ONLY ‘CONSTANT’.

Understand that the ICICI Chairman, Mr V. Kamath, quite often conveys to his team that NO CHANGE CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN STATUS QUO. [Application: We all set some goals or targets to achieve like ‘we shall increase our turnover to 5000 crore by 2015”. Having consciously set the targeted turnover, we must prepare ourselves to the demands of a 5000 crore organization vis-à-vis our current status. We must do a SWOT analysis, brainstorm and eventually plan the strategy to reach the targeted position by 2015. Every department and every staff must be tuned towards the target set. Necessary resources, training, changes, … will have to be planned and provided. In short, there has to a conscious and planned effort to reach the target. All these will not happen in status quo. We have to bring-in and accept the desired change(s) continually.]

If an organization does not adapt to the changing business scenario, it would become a static organization.

A dynamic organization on the other hand adapts itself to the changing business scenarios, prepares every department within the organization to sync comfortably with the changes, harnesses the suitable technology to keep itself ahead of others in the industry, … and the like. All these are continual exercises and efforts in a dynamic organisation.

A non-dynamic organization would be static one. A static organization would initially imply ‘no further growth’ , followed by ‘gradual downfall’ and eventually to ‘extinction’ (if no action is taken to revive/correct).

Every organization must consciously imbibe and maintain dynamism in its attitude, culture and everyday activities. Organisation represents its manpower among other assets. Thus, every person working in an organization must understand dynamism and practice it. Only then, will the employees co-operate, collaborate and corroborate among themselves.

Moreover, the dynamism must percolate from the top level to the lowest level in an organisation’s hierarchy. Many a time, changes in attitude towards work and life are desired. A concerted effort is required in bringing-in such changes.

Human body is indeed a great source of inspiration. An analogy can be drawn on invariably any aspect of perfection, even in this ‘static’ vs ‘dynamic’ concept. For instance, let us take the case of a lunatic that we find on the roads; he does not take bath, lives is very unhygienic conditions, …. He will stink (at close distance) but his body does not decay in a week or month. But, when a person dies, no matter how hygienic and clean he was (throughout his life), his body will begin to decompose (immediately after his death), and within a day (if left unattended), the foul smell (due to the decomposition) will become unbearable. When the person was alive, his entire system was dynamic but, when he died, his system became static. Static thus entails decay and extinction.

If this analogy is applied to an organization, a static organization will eventually become bankrupt and redundant, if no corrective actions are taken.

Some such thing happened in General Motors, USA. It was a great organization earlier. All marketing books in 1970s and 80s quoted examples of General Motors, like we find reference to Infosys or Wipro in contemporary books. But, due to some ‘static’ aspects somewhere, General Motors (USA) recently approached the US Government for financial aid to revive and sustain. That’s the reason, dynamism in an organization has to be ‘continual’; not a one-time exercise. A (once) dynamic organization/individual can become static, if the ‘continual’ aspect is missed out.

A good example of dynamism is the ITC Group. Earlier, about 80 per cent of their turnover was from tobacco-related businesses. Few years ago, ITC management decided to reduce its dependency on tobacco-related business (foreseeing the anti-tobacco advertisements and campaigns). Today, tobacco division contributes less than 50 per cent to its turnover. This change did not happen in status quo; there was a conscious and concerted effort in ITC working --- right from the Directors, to the HoDs, to the managers, to the assistant managers, … to the last level in their hierarchy.

Problem with success is (that) it has high probability of complacency setting-in (unknowlingly) --- in an organization as well as in individuals. General Motors, USA is one such corporate example. Individuals who bask in their past glory (of excellent performance) could fall prey to the ‘static’ state (unknowingly).

Articles/notes of this nature (,I hope,) assist us (discreetly) to introspect (whether we and our organization are ‘dynamic’ or ‘static’) & take corrective action (wherever required).

Jaikishan (7th Nov, 2009)