On the 11th of August, 2018, Vinod Gupta School of Management, Kharagpur had the privilege of hosting Mr. Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Chief People Officer of ABP News Network, under the banner of ‘Pratyaksh’ guest lecture series. Mr. Bhattacharjee, a stalwart in his field of Whole System Transformation, has a vast gamut of experience. He has been associated with various diverse brands such as Motherson-Sumitomo Group, IBM amongst other. Presently, he is with ABP News Network and has been here for the past 11 years. The core expertise of Mr. Bhattacharjee lies in Dev Process, business process re-engineering, strategic people management & development, and delivery of all core human resources function to meet the business needs. Mr. Bhattacharjee addressed the batch of fresh MBA aspirants, providing meaningful insights on organization structure & design.
In a two hour interactive session with the batch, he started off by explaining what goes into business process re-engineering. Drawing from his 25-year long career, he contrasted theoretical teachings of Hammer & Champy with ground realities. He identified cost, quality, services, and speed as the four crucial keys to any business. However, he also identified the fifth key. The fifth key to any business is its people. Through his carefully crafted instances from life, he narrated a story of two fathers, of which one identified with his responsibility towards his daughter against another who choose to identify with his role as a father. The one identifying with his role as a father took time off of his busy schedule and shared in the little joys of his daughter. In contrast, the one identifying with his responsibilities made sure that his daughter wasn't left wanting for anything and tended to her through his servants. Mr. Bhattacharjee through this narration beautifully contrasted the difference between roles and responsibilities.
He explained the theory of whole system transformation, drawing a vivid picture to supplement the understanding of the students. He explained the concept of closed systems wherein each system is enclosed within another and changes in one changes the very nature of the system across all the levels. He concluded the informative session by quoting Heraclitus, "The capacity to change is a measure for the living". He also answered questions put forth by the students and left them to positively reflect.
Perhaps there couldn't have been a better set of examples put forth before the batch which helps in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the changing needs of the organizations in the 20th century and the extent to which our actions impact the society.