I had the good fortune of meeting a senior HR professional the other day who has moved from a global IT major to a Family run 50000+ crore Indian MNC. I will leave the other stuff out and focus on the most striking aspect.
It seems there were a few employees who were neither working nor letting others work. Truly in the IT fashion, the HR head suggested "sack them". The Chairman (one from the family) flatly refused - instead SHOUTED for an hour at the guys who werent working and sent them back to work! Later in the day, he had lunch with them!
Look at the stark contrast. We seem to be forgetting the inclusivity found in Indian values and culture - instead trying to ape the "performance driven" culture pontified by the west.
This is much like a story I read when I was in school. A gentleman once consulted his neighbour on the rolls of wall paper needed for his home (both their houses were of the same dimensions and architecture). The neighbour most gladly prescribed 16 rolls of wallpaper since he had bought 16 rolls while papering his house.
Once the gentleman completed papering his house, he found to his dismay that 4 rolls were left unused. He rushed to his neighbour's house to 'investigate' this issue. The neighbour's eyes brightened up when he learnt of the 4 unused rolls and said "Oh! This is uncanny! Even I have 4 unused rolls fromt eh 16 rolls that I bought"!!
All I am trying to say is that in our eagerness to bring in business, we seem ready to forget our own wisdom and reasoning. And then we conduct concalls to discus worklife balance issues...
Happy Independance day!!
-Sid
2 comments:
Deep thoughts! Your blog on HR is so good, I wonder why anyone hasn't commented on it. As you said-People fall short of phrases when asked the 3rd time about their requirement-in this case, its the first!
I will have to go through your blogs three times more to fully understand the contexts. But I must say-either I am new to the HR field, or you are a brilliant HR manager.
Thanks Sid. :)
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