FORE School of Management, New Delhi organised its 5th FORE International Conference in the OB&HR area i.e., FORE International OB and HR Conference (FIOHC) 2016, on November 24-25, 2016. The conference theme was “Riding the New Tides – Navigating the Future through Effective People Management”. The conference brought together the corporate and the academia who shared their experience on the theme. The conference in its different events like Inaugural, Plenary sessions, HR Leaders’ Conclave, and Technical tracks, etc., delved into real life anecdotes, shared ideas, talked about the trends in the industry, presented research papers and business case-studies making it a truly enriching endeavor for all the participants belonging to both corporate and academia.
The ball started rolling with a pre-conference workshop on ‘Theory Building’ on November 23, 2016, where the resource person was Dr. Stewert Clegg, Professor, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. He talked about data analysis, interviews, audio and video recordings and role of focused groups during the workshop
November 24, 2016 of FIOHC 2016 began with an auspicious lamp-lighting ceremony in the Inaugural Function and Conference Theme was introduced by the convener of the conference, Dr. Prachi Bhatt. Dr. Bhatt was joined by esteemed dignitaries on the dais and she invited Dr. Jitendra Das, Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi for his Welcome Address. He introduced and welcomed Dr. Stewert Clegg, Professor, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, Chief Guest of the inaugural function. He also welcomed Col. (Dr.) S. P. Wahi, Guest of Honour of the function. He is the member of the Executive Board of FORE and Former Chairman – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
Dr. Jitendra Das in his address said “Some of the changes happening in the OB & HR sector are not visible. It is important to understand the changes and disruption happening due to technology,” he said. Col. (Dr.) S. P. Wahi in his special address shared his experience and said, “Leadership is ability, not a position”. Given his experience as a corporate leader, he shared a very realistic and contemporary definition of leaders’ attributes. Dr. Bhatt then invited Dr. Clegg for his Keynote address on ‘People and Management in the corporation after the Global Financial Crisis’. Dr. Clegg’s address covered interesting topics including economic neoliberalism, recent historic events, digital age and changes after global financial crisis. “In 2014, the richest 1% of the people in the world owned 48% of global wealth, leaving just 52% to be shared between the other 99% of adults on the planet,” he stated.
As per FORE International Conference tradition, Co-conveners of FIOC 2015 along with the dignitaries unveiled the conference book entitled ‘Competing through Operations Excellence’. The function ended by extending the token of appreciation to the dignitaries followed by a Vote of thanks by Dr. Prachi Bhatt.
The inaugural function was followed by three parallel technical tracks with 8 to 9 with papers/cases were presented in each track. After paper presentations, we had an opportunity to interact with the guests during the lunch break.
The gathering reconvened for the Plenary Session on ‘New Trends in HR’. Dr. Bishakha Majumdar, Convener welcomed the esteemed speakers, i.e., Mr. Soumen Chatterjee, Global Lead-Strategic HR and LOB People Practices, HCL Technologies, Ms. Shaaista Quettawala, Head – HR, Bain & Company, Gurugram and Mr. S. Y. Siddiqui, Chief Mentor, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Gurugram. Mr. Chatterjee talked about the innovation in HCL and said, “Today most leaders are suffering with the dichotomy of business – whether to optimise current business or re-invent and innovate.” Ms. Quettewala focused on Design Thinking and added, “People don’t stick to a company because of compensation, foreign trips or promotions. They do because they identify with the values of the company.” Mr. Siddiqui, who also was the session chair, looked back on the changes in the field during his expansive career and revealed how he took HR from a support function to the Board Room in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. This session ended with an interesting Q & A round.
Then followed by a tea and a networking opportunity, participants reconvened for the ‘HR Analytics workshop’ conducted by Prof. Ashok Kumar Harnal, Operations Area at FORE School of MAangement. SHRM Workshop on HR Certification was conducted by SHRM facilitator and provided valuable takeaways, and information for participants interested in HR certification. That brought the exciting day of activities to end on a high note.
Dr. Rishikesha T. Krishnan Director, IIM Indore started Day 2 of FIOHC 2016 with his Keynote Address. He talked about the concept of The Rider, The Elephant, and The Path by Heath Brothers. “The heart is an Elephant, the conscious mind is the Rider, and the environment is the Path. You have to direct the Rider, motivate the elephant and shape the path to sustain change,” he said to a huge round of applause.
Later, HR Leaders’ Conclave: The Next Big Idea started as schedule, where Dr. Priyanka Jaiswal, Convener, welcomed the speakers. Mr. Ashwini Mehra, Former Dy. Managing Director & Corporate Development Officer, State Bank of India, Mr. Ravi P. Singh Director (Personnel), Power Grid India Ltd., Ms. Veena Swarup Former Director, Engineers India Ltd., Delhi, Mr. Prakash Rao, Founding Member and Vice-President, Multi-Process HR Outsourcing, People Strong, Gurugram, were the other leading corporate speakers on the panel.
Dr. Yasho V. Verma, Former Chief Operating Officer, LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd and also Board Member of FORE played a very important role of Session Chair of the conclave. Dr. Verma started the discussion with the challenges posed to the generation to come. Mr. Ashwini Mehra added, “HR is the heart of an organisation. Companies where people management is done efficiently tend to excel. Global competition, innovation has brought the need for revamp and e-HR is leading the way.” Dr. Ravi P. Sharma stressed on the importance of employee relationship as he offered examples from his role as the Director of Power Grid India Pvt. Ltd. Ms. Swarup concluded the conclave by talking about Business Strategy. “Major challenges that employees will face is a good work – life balance.
To come up with a well defined roles and variety at work will be another challenge,” she said. Mr. Prakash Rao, the next speaker of the conclave, took the discussion to another interesting side of HR i.e., Neuroscience in HR, Artificial Intelligence and Destructive Technology. “Future work forces should be customer-centric, knowledge intensive, networked, highly productive, process excellence and a member of an agile team,” he stated. At the end, Dr. Verma, encouraged Questions from the participants and concluded the discussion of the conclave acknowledging the changing environment and critical role of HR professionals.
Three parallel technical tracks for case and paper presentation followed the lunch.
In the Valedictory function of FIOHC 2016, Prof. Subir Verma, convener, presented the conference summary and thanked all those involved in organising FIOHC 2016, including thanks to the team conveners of FIOHC 2016 i.e., Dr. Prachi Bhatt, Dr. Priyanka Jaiswal and Dr. Bishakha Majumdar. Also, three best paper award and one best business case award was announced and a prize-money of Rs.10,000 each, were distributed to the winners.
The conference ended with the Valedictory function in the presence of honourable dignitaries. Dr. Jitendra Das, Director, FORE School of Management, in his address appreciated the overwhelming participation of corporate and academia and research scholars in FIOHC 2016. He also mentioned about the upcoming FIOHC 2016 Book to be published by Emerald group of publishing, India. Chief Guest of the Valedictory Function was Mr. Suresh D. Tripathy, Vice-President – Human Resource Management, Tata Steel India, Jamshedpur.
Dr. Vinayshil Gautam, Sr. Managing Director & Principal Economic Adviser Protiviti India Member Pvt. Ltd, and Member, Executive Board, was the Guest of Honour. Dr. Gautam made a Special Address on the occasion where he reminded that HR has been defined differently in different times. “The future lies in dealing with managing people’s skills. We need to understand that no individual is hired – it is the skills which are hired,” he said. Mr. Tripathy in his Valedictory Address talked about digitalization and hinted to what lies ahead. “Prepare yourself for the tide, foresee it”, he said. Mr. Tripathi also added “Job descriptions are fluid now. Going forward, only few employees will be part of the core teams, rest will be on contractual work for their skills. Managing people is a challenge but also an opportunity”. The event ended with Prof. Subir Vermas’s Vote of Thanks, followed by networking session and tea.