10th issue!

November-09
 When the bold branches, Bid farewell to rainbow leaves -
Welcome wool sweaters.
-B. Cybrill
We know this familiar chill in the air and the warmth of the wool..Oh Yes ! Its Winter again..
Unlike the cliché I feel that winter with all its chill is warmer than one realizes. Winter embraces
one into its blanket of warmth. After all, winter is all about keeping yourself warm, your house
warm, a touch of a friendly hand or a talk beside the fire… it is about conversations over a brewing
cup of coffee, about mistletoes and turtle doves.. About the plump man clad in red suit.. About the
spirit of Christmas and about the ushering New Year with newer hopes and aspirations ! And we,
team E-mag!ne truly believe in a quote from a famous movie of yesteryears that Winter is only cold
for those with no warm memories !

With all that warmth and a little more, we welcome you all to this issue of E-mag!ne which
would take you through yet another slew of articles on management and the world of
HRM. This issues has a special coverage on PRAGYAAN 09-The panel discussion,
conducted by E-mag!ne and the Department of MHRM, IISWBM. Also covered is
CONFAB 09, the annual alumni meet of the Department of MHRM in the CAMPUS
BYTES section.

Also special to this issue is the fact that this is the 10th issue of E-mag!ne, so a brand new layout greets
you this time around!!Here’s hoping that you would enjoy this issue of E-mag!ne as much as
the previous ones. Happy Reading.. and until next time… keep it warm !!!

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From the faculty desk...................................................4

From the alumni desk..................................................7

Friends from yonder...................................................10

Baapu...........................................................................12

Pragyaan 09.................................................................14

Q-Quotient..................................................................16

Ace the Case...............................................................17

Campus Bytes.............................................................20

Voice Box....................................................................21

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-
 F RO M S O C I A L C A P I TA L TO S O C I A L P RO F I TS :
D I S CO U R S E S O N CO R P O R AT E E T H I C S , G OV E R N A N C E ,
C H O I C E A N D VA L U E S

(continued from last month’s issue...)

NEGOTIATING TRUST
From the management of human values to the management of corporate trust is a long, arduous and unenviable journey that
requires out of the box thinking matched with the capacity to relate to the empathy of individuals. So rapport-building would
appear to be a crucial requirement in this context of trust management when business leaders should be able to overcome the
tedium of Human Resource Development overkill in order to efficaciously enter into revolutionary dialogues with both blue
as well as white collar workers to make them chant the mantra of their respective organizations underpinned by their rational
choices (Chloupkova et al 2003)

IDEAS / IMAGES
It may appear to be rather far-fetched to deploy a highly specialized social scientific theoretical category like Social Capital in
the area of Business Management and Industrial Relations. The latter is a network of relationships that enter into professional
dynamics with one another in the highly charged world of business informed by factors such as the profit motive, ethical
applications, Corporate Social Responsibility, conflict resolution and a sense of accountability vis-à-vis the environment,
sustainable development and inclusive growth.

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So innovative ideas supported by creative images are required to streamline Industrial Relations in the post-globalized scenario
that predicates upon both a breakdown of barriers as well as establishment of new and difficult barriers in the cyber world of
netizens, their perceived expectations and their ever-increasing sense of achievements and complex role performances
(Coleman 1984).

So we have to understand the problematique of the increasing hiatus between business managers and their employees in the
context of relative deprivation that may be either incremental or else decremental in nature. The critical ploy that has to be
strategized in this connection is the network of inter-dependence that depends upon the fluctuating degrees of trust and
cooperation and overall organizational health of any given industry.

RATIONALITY OF CHOICE
It is somewhat difficult to estimate the rationality of a choice until the outcome of that choice is perceived either in material or
else in psychological terms. Exactly how rational a choice is would have to be decided subsequently when the question how
utilitarian that choice was would emerge in the future. The issue of Industrial Relations is all about the management of choices
in the workplace. Why should workers obey the management? What are the concerns of the management that are reflected in
its style of leadership? Is loyalty related to motivation? Or is loyalty a function of the chain of command? What are the effective
outputs of hierarchy?

The entire discourse on Discipline and Punish is predicated upon the assumption that the State (in this case the Management) is
always monitoring and evaluating the actions (and the consequences of such actions) of its Citizens (in this case the
Workforce). This social scientific approach to conformity rests on the hypothesis that individuals as rational actors would
intelligently choose between the options of conformity and non-conformity. While the former leads to the area of Reward
Management the latter leads to theories of penology i.e. how to mete out punishment that would rectify and improve upon i.e.
re-condition errant behavior.

So the question of effective communications arises at this juncture. How effectively can managers communicate with their
workers is a serious issue. Here emerge the concerns of dialogue versus pedagogue. What are the qualities of dialogue that
distinguish the channels of communications from the aspects of the power-authority discourse?

CHOICE AS A PARADIGM
The model of multiple preferences is rather complicated, as it entails different types of choices in different space, time, culture,
knowledge and power discourses. The choices before a Trade Union may not always be uniform, and may be influenced by
considerations like a global economic meltdown, local political tension, national emergency, social problems, regional
discrepancies in development, bad economy of scale, retrenchment, cost-cutting etc.

But the critical central issue still remains the anatomy of choice: why do men and women ordinarily behave in one manner and
why do they tend to behave otherwise under duress? This in itself constitutes an interesting universe of research where various
factors such as values, beliefs, attitudes, inclinations, orientations, opinions etc come into play in the wider area of choice
influenced by an inchoate regime of deterministic / indeterministic chaos (Coleman 1988a).

OWNERSHIP / TRUSTEESHIP
The management and the workers have to mutually entrench an ethos of cooperation that would both create and sustain the
values of Ownership / Trusteeship in their given organizations. One has to belong to and long for one's organization simply
because organizations are the institutions of collective behavior where people associate and interact to pursue certain set goals.

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The very fact that these targets have to be achieved and new targets innovated point to the fact that the organizational health of
any given industry is sound. The point of saturation has to be ably and creatively transformed into an arena of new possibilities
that lead to new challenges and innovative gestures..But achievement of targets is critically dependent on team performance,
and so the team players have to share different degrees of responsibilities and have to be burdened with different measures of
failures and successes. The most important consideration at this point is to determine who can shoulder what amount of burden.
So the question of authoritative allocation of values has also to be pondered upon actively by the management concerned.

The issue of Ownership / Trusteeship is also almost organically related to the issue of institutions. Each business organization, in
sociological terms, is an institution replete with a history of evolution, work culture, Trade Union ethics and typical management
practices. So the study of business organizations as dynamic institutions of power, authority, repression, obedience, reward and
punishment may lead to an ulterior understanding of Industrial Relations.

Actors and their interventions become criticalities that have to be objectively factored into the discourse of polemics that center
on issues / concerns of Industrial Relations. The credo of loyalty is also another ponderable that may be studied or else addressed
in order to appreciate the different dynamics of Social Capital, Rational Choice and Value Management.

VALUE MANAGEMENT
The question of moral values and business values may occasionally come across as a dichotomy, especially when the role of social
values such as commitment, traditions and loyalty is concerned. The recent economic recession worldwide has prompted Big
Business in India to retrench, cut costs, economize on operations, production, marketing and other strategic areas of their daily
activities. But there have been instances where probationers given the pink slip were again brought back home, so to say.

This is perhaps a truly Indian phenomenon that has been also somewhat motivated by external political pressures. But this event
is not to be identified with the somewhat out-of-vogue concept of Asian Values. The issue of Industrial Relations as sustained
(hypothetically) by the arrangement of trust and cooperation in business is also perhaps a function of traditional Indian family
values that happen to rely much more on loyalty and feudal ascriptions rather than the rational-legal structure of legitimacy and
authority (Coleman 1988b).

(To be continued...)

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 I M P O RTA N C E O F A N A LY T I C S I N H U M A N
R E S O U RC E :
The Evolution is Underway-
Globalization.
Shifting labor pools.
Fluctuating economies.
These—and many other issues—are radically transforming the workforce and increasing its value as a business asset. The vast
majority of employers will soon need new strategies, tactics and tools if they want to effectively manage their most valuable
resource—the workforce.
This evolution is about much more than a new role for the human resources (HR) department. The entire organization now has a
stake in how effectively workforce strategies support its business goals. And the shift is well under way. According to recent IBM
findings, 48 percent of respondents are already planning to deploy tools that make it easier to analyze human capital data and
information.
This brief describes the Workforce Analytics solution that is designed to enable employers to align their workforce strategy with
business objectives and to maximize the impact of these resources in achieving these objectives.

Why now?
The ability to build analytic capabilities is not new. But in the past, the pace of business was more predictable. Employers enjoyed
relatively stable workforces and could choose from large pools of talented replacements. Consequently, there was little need to
invest in analytic capabilities.
In today's globalized, dynamic business environment, however, employers are challenged to build, retain and manage flexible,
agile workforces. It has become abundantly clear that investing in processes and tools focused on managing workforce
performance is now more than justified—it is required.

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Why workforce analytics?

With flexible, agile workforces an acknowledged requirement for business success, analytics is increasingly cited as a key enabler
for managing these assets. But while employers recognize the importance of analytics, many have limited experience in its
implementation, and few integrate it into an effective business process. Low adoption and success rates among companies surveyed
by IBM highlight this gap:1
Only 6 percent of respondents think they effectively use human capital data to make workforce decisions.
Only 30 percent use human capital metrics to evaluate business transformation efforts.

What is workforce analytics?

Workforce analytics encompasses a number of components and outputs, including:

Combining process, technology, people and organizations, data and metrics
Providing reliable, consistent information regarding workforce demographics, compensation, attrition and costs in the context of
business strategies and goals
Enabling stakeholders to monitor and explore workforce performance, develop insight into underlying causal factors and,
consequently, make better decisions.

Why workforce analytics is important—the larger business picture

Many employers have already realized major administrative cost reductions within their HR departments using techniques such
as employee self-service and shared personnel and payroll services. Workforce costs such as compensation, benefits and staffing
are commonly believed, however, to account for well in excess of 30 percent of total employer operating expenses. As a result, it
has become increasingly clear that future savings will require a different approach—such as workforce performance
measurement and supporting analytics.
Outside their HR function, many organizations already use key performance indicators—often on a near-real-time basis—to
monitor finance, manufacturing and supply chain activities. With the present and projected supply and demand for talent,
employers need to acquire similar capabilities for workforce assets now. Without the deep, detailed visibility that analytics
provide, they may be left flying blind.
Employers must also move beyond the notion that HR is the sole stakeholder in this arena. Corporate executives as well as line-
of-business executives and managers all need easy, reliable, trusted access to the indicators and details of how talent is being
deployed and what it is contributing to business goals.

But simply providing better access to workforce information will not be sufficient. Organizations also must integrate technologies
with processes designed to align strategies, goals and actions across the organization. Achieving this goal can require significant
organizational, process and policy change.

The workforce analytics gap

For years HR organizations have implemented specialized point solutions such as dashboards, scorecards and audits to gather,
disseminate and analyze workforce data. But these standalone approaches cannot provide the consistent, integrated views across
the organization that are necessary for sound decision making. They also do not meet the information and usability needs of many
of today's stakeholders, especially those beyond the HR organization.

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Many traditional custom-built workforce analytic systems have failed because their design process consumed an inordinate share of
available resources just to build the infrastructure. This often has shortchanged the development of business applications, which
are the most visible and valuable part of the investment for many stakeholders.
Finally, point solutions, whether purchased from a vendor or developed in-house, can also be difficult to integrate into existing
technology environments. In turn, a lack of integration can make it impossible for the organization to get complete cross-
functional views of its workforce. Many earlier workforce analytic initiatives failed to deliver real business benefits—often leaving
a negative legacy that future analytics acquisition efforts must overcome.

ATI's perspective
Given these factors, it is ATI's view that employers need new capabilities to successfully address their workforce analytics
requirements. To meet this need, an effective solution must provide:
A consistent, reliable source of workforce information and analytic capabilities that enables fact-based decision making in
support of organizational business goals
The ability to continuously monitor, measure and analyze workforce activities and the return on HR initiatives across the
enterprise
Capabilities and skills to interpret business goals, align them with corresponding workforce metrics and select the appropriate
analytic tools to monitor and measure them
Reduced risk, in the form of predictable implementation time lines, costs and time to value for the organization.
The ATI's Workforce Analytics solution contributes real business value
The Workforce Analytics solution addresses the serious challenges and risks employers face in implementing workforce analytic
initiatives and technology by offering the following benefits and capabilities:
An enduring foundation
Lowered costs
Rich content
Usability and flexibility
Summary:
Innovation that provides your organization with critical capabilities
The ATI's Analytics solution is a new and efficient way for employers to acquire workforce analytic capabilities. It employs
optimized services and innovative technology to provide:
An extensible, robust enterprise-level analytics platform and analytic application set
Optimized information access to meet the needs of a broad range of stakeholders
Knowledge transfer, HR management consulting, and support for alignment, linkage and visibility between an organization's
business and workforce strategies and goals,Value, affordability and low risk now and in the future.
Contact us at :Amit Sharma
ANALYTICS TRAINING INSTITUTE [ATI]
www.analyticstraining.in

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“THE BRAND NAMED PARIS IN THE BRAND
OF HILTON.”
Many people have a personal reputation but a select few have a genuinely valuable personal brand. That is, there is real
brand equity in that person's name; and it can be measured using the same methodology that one would use to measure
corporate brands. Paris Hilton thrives on a personal brand – one very distinct from her famous hotel surname – and it is
big business. There are estimates that in recent times, she has made US$30 million each year from simply lending her
name to products, organizations, and places.

Fans and detractors claim that she is famous for simply being famous but she is arguably the most recognized and
photographed 'celebrity' not just in America but in the world. Her actual and reality TV life is a magnet for the press. She
might have been born with a very shiny and large silver spoon in her mouth but exploiting her personal brand has made
her a vast fortune on top of her already (inherited) large fortune. We might not want to take Paris Hilton the person
seriously but the personal brand that is 'Paris Hilton' – from a marketing point of view – needs to be taken seriously.
Anyone who is given US $50,000-$75,000 just to show up at a night club has a seriously powerful brand.

Dismissed as a brainless bimbo, Paris Hilton was more an international joke than an successful girl. But now the
professional party girl is enjoying the last laugh, emerging as one of the most powerful players in America's celebrity
landscape. Hilton has created a huge, lucrative business empire which includes nightclubs, her own clothing brands, an
energy drink and, of course, herself. She's also a canny money- making machine. Her business interests stretch far beyond
posing for paparazzi. She has her own perfume line and is planning brands of make-up and a men's cologne. She sells her
own jewellery, clothing and handbag lines. As befitting an heiress with the Hilton name, she will soon launch a chain of

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hotels. She co-owns the Club Paris nightclub in Orlando, and is expected to roll out a chain of similarly branded
nightspots in other cities, including Las Vegas and Miami. Hilton also has a record deal in the works, stared in the horror
film House of Wax and is to shoot the series of her reality-TV show --The Simple Life.

She has become this amazing American story. She is a complete 21st-century celebrity, using all these. Some are even
comparing Hilton's burgeoning success with that of another master of self-promotion, Donald Trump. Despite all this, a
series of controversies have made her extremely infamous.

Opinion suggested that Paris was anything from the 'Most Hated' celebrity to the person that best represented what
was 'Most Wrong' about America. Anger and ridicule will subside but it remains to be seen what longer term
damage this will do to the 'Paris Hilton' personal brand. If nothing else, the Paris camp is certainly worried.
Meanwhile, even if the media becomes morbidly fascinated by Paris' struggle to redefine herself which is likely
hence guaranteeing more of Paris on magazine covers – there is no doubt that she would have lost significant
control over her personal brand. That is a branding risk which any brand manager would be afraid of.
Relinquishing control and letting the media redefine her new image is something her PR consultants were hired to
prevent. The PR consultant will tell Paris what to talk about, how to sound intelligent about it, and when to talk
about it. Perhaps this will again help rebuilt her brand image.

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Page - 12
.S
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 PRAGYAAN – the panel Discussion

E-mag!ne, the official E-magazine of the department of Masters in Human Resource Management (MHRM) of
Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) recently held a panel discussion
,PRAGYAAN 2009, on the 20th of November, in the college Auditorium to strengthen the industry-academia
interaction and bring out pressing topics in the world of management to their spotlight so that they can
deliberate upon them in unison.

E-mag!ne was conceptualized nine months back with the intent to not just enlighten the dark corners of our
intelligence but also to ignite the blaze of thoughts and facts that lie inert inside our grey matters.

The theme for the panel discussion, PRAGYAAN, was HR tools & techniques: The ultimate differentiator

The distinguished guests for the panel discussion were:

* Mr. P.K. Chatterjee- Managing Director, Indo-Asahi Glass
* Mr. B.J. Mukherjee- Chief People Officer, Magma Fin Corp
* Mr. D. N Shangari - VP, P&IR, Lafarge India Pvt. Ltd.
* Mr. A.K. Basu- Ex-President HR, Hindalco

The panel discussion was moderated by Mr. Ram Koner, Professor, IISWBM.

The discussion went off to a flying start with Mr. D. N Shangari introducing the topic to the audience and
shedding light on the current norm when it comes to HR tools and techniques. He emphasised that
performance differentiation is very subjective; it varies from person to person. It's the person applying the HR
tools and technique in an organization that can really make a difference. He also put forth the point that
around 35% of the managers in his company are from non HR background. So it's not necessary that HR jobs
needs a person from HR background. It “HR” aspect must be ingrained in the mentality of an HR person.

Next Mr. P.K. Chatterjee spoke about the necessity of HR managers being Business managers first. They must
constantly ask themselves “why do we exist as an organization?” and try and find out the answer by
enumerating HR's significance in the growth of the organization. He too was of the opinion that “people” are
the ultimate differentiator in an organization, they differentiate between surviving and not surviving,
competition and no-competition. Elaborating further on the type of people needed in today's HR environment

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he said that a good HR manager must know about the basic traits of people & should have genuine appetite for
knowledge to understand what is really happening in this world. Adding to the pool of valuable thoughts Mr. B.J.
Mukherjee went on to elucidate a bit on the various major HR tools & techniques. Stating that all HR
processes must begin earnestly with proper manpower planning based on productivity norms and
organizational objectives. The hierarchy of the organization must also be clearly stated out via well designed
supervisory norms. Then he also deliberated a bit on the various Performance, compensation & talent
management techniques. Finally he concluded by saying that implementation of HR policy is a key factor to
be taken care of, but it's the people in charge of implementing HR policies and practices that can really be
the ultimate differentiator.

Finally Mr. A.K. Basu, adding on to the other speakers, said that apart from the tools and techniques, 3
qualities differentiate between average HR person and an excellent HR person. The first quality Is that an HR
person must possess analytical ability and mathematical skills, since an HR job requires a lot of number
crunching when it comes to compensation and related matters. The second quality is the ability to write
decent English, and also be able to speak in a simple yet lucid manner. As the job of an HR manager involves
quite a lot of interaction with people from throughout the organization, these skills are highly needed. Lastly
he said that the quality of being able to engage and get involved in healthy gossips can also serve as a bonus
in a HR managers' skill set. It's only through gossips that people really do come forth with their problems
and viewpoints, and being an HR manager its important to get an insight into all this to be able to really
connect with the people in an organization.

Summing up all the speakers the panel discussion came to a conclusion that HR tools and techniques are
really important in today's world to monitor and manage HR effectively and efficiently, but more important is
the need for an HR manager to possess all the necessary skill set to be able to deal with people in a genuinely
concerned way, because it's the HR person who is the ultimate differentiator, since it's the way HR is

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 Emag!ne would like to thank Mr. Debjit Basu for
being the quizmaster for this edition of Q- Quotient.
Answers to October Q-Quotient-
1. MAHINDRA
2. ABBOTT LABORATORIES LIMITED
3. MICROCREDIT
4. INCOME TAX APPELLATE
5. TRIBUNAL
6. SNC LAVOLIN Inc.
7. HINDALCO
8. THE BANK OF HINDOSTAN
9. KODIAK NETWORKS
10. KEKI DADISETH
UPAID SYSTEMS
NOVEMBER Q-QUOTIENT :EUROPEAN WONDERS
1)The world’s first commercial airline was started in 1910 by a
German national. Who was he?
2)Which country is also known as “emerald islands” in Europe?
3)In terms of cargo carried, which is the busiest river in the world?
4)The countries of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg together
share a special name in Europe. what is that?
5)Which stretch of water ,by its shape is also known as LA
MANCHE, French for “the sleeve”?
6)In 1969,in which European city did John Lennon and Yoko hold
their first “Bed-in for Peace”,a seven day exercise to promote world
peace?
7)France is the second largest country of Europe as the iron-ore
reserves are Concerned. who is the first?
8)Name the small village near Vauxholm, in Sweden which gives its
name to four chemical-elements(Erbium,Terbium,Ytterbium,Yttrium)?
9)Which ruling dynasty was overthrown by the Russian Revolution of
1917?
10)After which Portuguese explorer is the strait connecting the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, named?
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 This month’s Ace the Case section has
two of our friends
Ms. Kirti Agarwal, & Ms. Malini Sengupta
preparing the case study for us.
The answers to the questions posted at
the end
of this case study shall appear in the next
issue of E-mag

OCTOBER ACE-THE-CASE SOLUTIONS

Answer to Question No.1
Lemuel Greene's unhappiness despite his high income can be explained with the help of different need
theories as illustrated below:
From the viewpoint of Maslow's theory, Greene was getting a very high pay as well as bonus but that would
satisfy only the first and second level of motivational need hierarchy i.e. physiological need and the safety
need but according to Maslow, once a given need is satisfied it no longer serves to motivate and the next
higher level need has to be activated in order to motivate the employee. But in this case the social and the
belongingness need or more appropriately the self esteem need was not activated or being met. Greene felt
that he was no longer needed in the organization. He had no sense of achievement which explains the
reason behind his unhappiness.
From the viewpoint of Herzberg's theory, the company paid attention only to the 'Hygiene' factors such as
salary, bonus etc. but these factors only prevents dissatisfaction. They do not lead to satisfaction. Motivating
Factors such as achievement, recognition, work itself etc. were not present in his job. He felt that he was
repeating the same things over and over again in his seminars and business memos weren't as interesting as
the literature he had been trained on. Thus a monotony had set in his work and he did not feel any sense of
achievement in doing it.
From the viewpoint of Vroom's theory, it can be said that Greene's valence (i.e. the strength of an
individual's preference for a particular outcome) had not only become zero but turned negative i.e. he
preferred not attaining an outcome to attaining it. Here Greene just did not want to work in the training
department where he felt that he was no longer needed. His motivational force (= valence*expectancy) had
therefore turned negative or he had no motivation to continue with his present task which explains the -

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reason for his unhappiness.
From the viewpoint of Porter-Lawler theory, Greene's Effort moderated by his abilities and role perceptions led
to performance but the Intrinsic and Extrinsic rewards (in terms of higher salary and bonus almost every
month) that followed were not perceived equitable specially the Intrinsic reward that was almost nonexistent
as Greene himself said "They don't need me!" Since the memos filtering down through the company were now
flawlessly polished, and the annual report was 20 percent shorter but said everything it needed to, Greene's
desire to be needed was not fulfilled. Thus it did not lead to Satisfaction and explains his unhappiness.

Answer to Question No.2

From the motivation theories that have already been dealt with in the previous answer, it can be stated that
after Lemuel Greene started taking classes with the floor workers, his self-esteem need was activated and was
being met too. This is because he had a sense of achievement from the fact that the floor workers who knew
nothing but to just write their names, were now expressing good interest in his classes. Infact, he had received
bonus from the VP-Production because employee turnover had dropped, and
for the first time in over a year, some of the floor workers had begun to apply for supervisory positions.
However from the case it can be observed that the bonus money hardly mattered for Greene. It was the
appreciation and need for his abilities in the organization that made him happy and not his bank balance.

From the above, it can be concluded that Greene was actually enjoying his teacher's position with respect to the
floor workers more than his job as a trainer with the supervisors, managers, and executives. However, whether
the profession of teaching is the most appropriate for Greene cannot be said with conviction because time plays
a very important role. He might lose interest if he realizes that his potentials are no longer valued by the
people. So, any job where he can utilize his skills of communication and English language to the maximum
extent would be the appropriate profession for him whereas an ideal one would be when he would be able to
contribute to others development through his abilities.

NOVEMBER ACE-THE-CASE
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL-A SOURCE OF FRICTION
Unique Funds Ltd. is a reputed finance company having 10 branches in different parts of the country. Its staff
includes 290 operatives and 70 executives. The company has a rating plan under which the staff members are rated
at the end of each financial year by a committee of 2 executives by means of graphic scale. The qualities considered
are:
# Responsibilities
# Initiative
# Dependability
# Leadership potential
# Cooperative attitude
# Community service

After the performance is evaluated, the ratings are discussed with the concerned employees by their immediate
boss and are used to counsel them and arrange further training for them. The ratings are also used in granting or
withholding of increments and promoting of meritorious staff.

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Recently, two employees at the head office have been denied annual increments due to comparatively low
ratings. They have made a representation to the chief executive of the company expressing the dissatisfaction
with the appraisal system and insisting that community service is not a part of their job and it should not
influence their ratings. The employees seem to organize a union and demand that annual increments should
be granted automatically.

The chief executive feels that performance appraised is a dangerous source of friction and so it should be
discontinued altogether.

QUESTIONS

1.If you are the human resource manager how would you defuse the problem?
2.How far would you agree with the chief executive's view that performance appraisal should be
discontinued?
3.On what lines would you recommend modifications in the performance appraisal system of the company?

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This has been a month full of frolic and frantic activity for the entire MHRM department. Apart from PRAGYAAN,
this month also saw another MHRM mega-event unfold, CONFAB 2009!
With CONFAB every year the alumni of the department of MHRM comes back to college to reunite with their
batch mates and also to interact with the current breed of students who are going to be the future of this department.

CONFAB 2009 was held in the college auditorium on the 21st of November 2009. The events started off from
5.30pm as the alumni started filling the seats. It was indeed nice to observe that alumni from the very first batch of
MHRM till the immediately preceeding batch of MHRM were present for the occasion. The welcome committee
comprising of Charu Anand & Khusboo Choudhury invited the guests to the auditorium as they kept entering the
college with a nostalgic look on their faces. The hosts for the evening Debjit basu and Asmita Gupta then took over,
taking the alumni through the evening's event in a soft and lucid manner. The alumni were first given a memento
and Gift to welcome them back to the college, and also to value their efforts in taking out time from their busy lives
to join us in the celebration of togetherness.

The program began with a welcome address being given to the alumni by the Head of the department of MHRM,
Dr. Kumkum Mukherjee. Then the cultural program began with a classical song performance by Aishwarya K
Sundaram, which was followed by classical dance performance by Kusumika Ganguly, Sneha Krishnan & Swarnali
Sinha. Then after an impromptu game, where the alumni were asked to participate, a rock song was performed by
Varun Raj Singh, Varun Gujhadhar & Aishwarya Sundaram. This was followed by another little Game cum Quiz
where the alumni were shown various pictures
taken of discreet locations in the college and they
were asked to identify those spots.

The cultural program ended by 7.30 pm and the

alumni were ushered to the Students Activity
Centre for dinner. Dinner was followed by a Jam
session where the alumni and the students of the
department of MHRM both let their hair down
and danced together in the jam session to
conclude the event.

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I am very much indebted to all IISWBMs for
giving me a good professional life and and
also to allow me to share my studentship,
and present professional life. The zeal I
have seen with the team MHRM is really
enchanting and i Iook forward to seeing
some great managers form them and above
all wish a grand success to EMAG!NE team
in all domains of Life.
Best of Luck!

Arnab Biswas.
General Manager: HR
VISION RX Lab
(GKB Rx Lens Private Limited).

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