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The IIM Ranchi HR Business Conclave 2019

Ranchi, Jharkhand | January | 12, 2018 :: The IIM Ranchi HR Business Conclave 2019 began with invocation of Goddess Saraswati by the Honourable Director, Dr. Shailendra Singh and all the invitee speakers amidst lamp-lighting ceremony.
To begin with, Dr. Shailendra Singh, in his address to the gathering, welcomed all the speakers for the occasion. He proudly mentioned that IIM Ranchi is the first IIM to have a separate programme for Human Resources and pointed out learning as the primary motive of the event. He mentioned how the curriculum of IIM Ranchi has been modified to integrate all the three broad HR functions into a system perspective, and to from the students to enhance their abilities, leading to more opportunities and better performance.
This was followed by the first address by keynote speaker, Mr. Nishith Upadhyaya- Advisory and Knowledge Head, SHRM India. He expressed his appreciation for the theme of the event and discussed that learning through system perspective is about dealing with complexity and looking at the whole picture while devising solutions to every problem, big or small. He illustrated the fact that everyone sees only a part of the story through an interesting anecdote, reiterating that the same happens when system approach is missing. He engaged one and all mentioning his rich professional experiences which made him realise that an ostrich-like approach can be damaging. He highlighted the importance of systems thinking in mistake- proofing work deliverables, advising the students to train their minds to think from a systems perspective. Drawing examples from his work life, he urged students to think why they are doing what they are doing and to maintain that awareness, irrespective of the task size, and to understand the overall purpose of doing things. “When you have a hammer in your hand, every problem appears to be a nail”. He talked about the complexity in talent management, mentioning the danger of specialisation being the failure to notice how the system works! He also gave an example of his restructuring assignment to advise that it’s better to live with a long term simple problem than to create a complex solution we cannot live with.

Mr. Hemang Jauhari, Senior Program Manager- Global Brands and Attraction, Amazon was the next in line. He talked about HR as an Ability Enhancement System. He called the same a typical make or buy system (i.e. hiring versus developing talent). He further mentioned two kinds of fit- Person-job fit (demand-ability fit), and PO fit (need-supplies fit).
He discussed how one also needs to evaluate a candidate’s ability to perform under pressure apart from mere capability, and how attraction, being the first part of hiring, is crucial to get the required talent. He advised all participants to attract good talent by building a good employee value proposition, illustrating how Amazon ties up with education institutes to provide learning, which is talent development before talent acquisition. He also talked about automation in recruitment tools and competency evaluation at leadership level roles, and novel methods of testing team fit. He discussed how organisations balance between hiring and developing talent which is determined by the company’s culture, attrition rates, adaptation of change by companies. He also discussed 70-20-10 model of learning and how micro learning modules can expedite employee learning.
Next was Ms. Kamalika Deka, Regional Head HR, Domino’s- Her topic of discussion was Right Talent at Right Place which she beautifully illustrated through her real life experience of losing a talented but misplaced employee. She began with discussing the evolution of HR from being a personnel department to a domain that talks business language. She discussed the challenges she faces in her retail business, to keep HR strategy aligned to her business strategy, understanding the overall budget sales projection vis-à-vis manpower budget and its alignment, which is vital to the organisation’s profitability. She pointed out the ultimate agenda of her business as customer satisfaction, about thinking outside in rather than inside out, which necessitates keeping the customers happy to take the brand forward in its journey. She brought home the point that employee happiness is crucial to create happy customers. She talked about manpower sufficiency to cater to customer needs. Wherein employees quote work pressure as the reason of exit, retail organisations must analyse the availability of manpower. She mentioned people in her organisation who progressed in their career ladder from being delivery staff members to zonal managers, reiterating the importance of skill development for employee retention. She talked about how crucial motivation, recognition and providing career advancement opportunities are, for retaining talent, along with other factors like employee safety, that cannot be compromised. She said that in an era which is talent centric, technology and gig economy are changing the face of HR, making traditional sourcing channels obsolete. Taking care of the employees creates a buzz through word of mouth and positions the company as employer friendly. She further mentioned how her employees went beyond the call of duty because of Domino’s employee-centric and customer centric culture.
This was followed by an Open Forum Discussion with students and speakers Ms. Kamalika and Mr. Hemang, moderated by Prof. Gaurav Marathe, Chairperson, PGDHRM, IIM Ranchi.
This was followed by addresses from eminent speakers including Mr. Rajdeep Bhattacharya, Lead of Corporate HR, Mr. Subesh Bhattacharjee, Team Lead-Learning and Development, Pidilite Industries, Mr. Ramaswamy V, Chief Manager, Compensation and Benefits, AJIO and Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, HR Lead, Mondelez International.
Mr. Rajdeep Bhattacharya has over 8 years of experience in various HR functions including compensation and benefits, talent management, coaching and facilitation, employer branding and learning and development. He gripped the attention of the audience by sharing the story of an employee, a B-School graduate who joined a company and invoked the audience to describe his expectations from his job at various stages of his career. He thus delineated the point that an employee’s expectations vary at different point of his career and it is vital to understand his changing needs in order to retain him and keep him motivated. He further explained that eventually people will leave but one must take care that our top talent doesn’t leave because the company couldn’t provide him the right role to keep him engaged.
Mr. Subesh Bhattacharjee comes with an experience of around 16 years in the industry. Having worked with various reputed companies such as Essar, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and many others he brings with him the the practical knowledge and industrial experience of providing learning solutions as per organization needs, design, develop and execute organization wide change management & people development initiatives.
Mr. Ramaswamy V is true believer of HR as a business partner, Ramaswamy V is a passionate HR professional who thrives in challenging roles and ambiguous environments. With nearly 10 years of experience in multiple domains of HRM including Compensation and Benefits, OD and HR-BP, he has worked closely with CEOs, Department Heads and inspirational leaders to propel his own growth and versatility.
Mr. Krishna Chaitanya is a passionate HR professional who brings with him almost 10 years of rich active experience. An engineer turned HR professional, he is an advocate of creating & nurturing High Performance Working and has implemented the same in his current organization. He was a part of the “Seed Team” to establish the Green Field site for Mondelez at Sricity, Andhra Pradesh, one of the company’s large investments which envisaged to have state of the art technologies with complete HPWS ways of working for enabling self-sufficient teams. Also he has worked extensively for developing a Diversity Powered site with 50 % women employees and many other path breaking practices.

The program ended with a discussion between speaker and alumni Ronak Johari and Swatilekha Chowdhury from 2013-15 batch.

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