HR Continuum 2016 At Shailesh J. Mehta School Of Management, IIT Bombay

Continuum, the rolling seminar series, is the flagship event of the annual industry interaction sessions at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. The Continuums are held across the various domains of management like Consulting, Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Operations and Systems. This event aims to cover the latest trends in management by inviting eminent speakers from the industry and academia. Every seminar focuses on the issues and challenges faced by a management function, and aims at drawing insights from the knowledge and experience of the speaker. Human Resources Continuum was the first continuum of the year with a theme reflecting the current trends and challenges faced by the HR managers. The Human Resources Continuum 2016 saw a series of lectures centered on the theme: “Enabling Evolution of HR practices with the changing corporate scenario in India” and the following subtopics like “HR trends in the fast emerging start-up culture”, “HR challenges in manufacturing sector” with initiatives like ‘Make in India’, “How is the introduction of Big Data changing the HRM scenario?”, “Building talent pools to transform organizations with human resources as the business driver”. The speakers for the event were: 1) Mr. Vineet Kaul, Advisor, Group Human Resources Aditya Birla Group 2) Mr. Harsh Bhosale, Head HR Essar Oil Ltd. 3) Ms. Rakhee L.Malik, Head HR, A.T. Kearney Ltd, India 4) Ms. Pooja Malik, Vice President – HR Development, Anand Automotive Private Ltd. 5) Mr. Sanjay Singh, EVP and Global Head, Crompton Greaves 6) Mr. Swaminathan R, Chief People Officer, WNS Global Services 7) Mr. Raj Karunakaran, Director – Human Resources, Philips Healthcare 8)  Mr. Ajith Nair, Director – Engagement and Cultural Practices, Aon Hewitt India

       Mr. Vineet Kaul started the continuum by stating “Change is a part of life”. Mr. Kaul explained what is productivity mindset. i.e., getting better and getting more. Also about squeezing a dried towel. i.e., best productivity comes out often when one is tired. He also focused on skill shortage and challenges in attracting talent.

Mr. Harsh Bhosale, Head HR Essar Oil Ltd., explained that in India the variation in fuel prices does not affect the manpower planning as we are not a producer of oil, rather we are a consumer of oil. He next described the process followed by Essar Oil to align individual and organization strategies and allocating the duties to each department and trickle down of responsibilities or cascading of responsibilities till last man. Ms. Rakhee L. Malik, Head HR, A.T. Kearney Ltd, India gave various examples from her own life and that of other renowned persons to aid her in explanation on how an individual can achieve the greater heights they aspire for. Ms. Pooja Malik, Vice President – Human Resource Development, Anand Automotive Private Ltd. commenced her talks with a brief mention of the challenges faced by the VUCA world followed by the change in global talent pool and population dynamics of India in 2020 and beyond. She pointed out that Managerial Coaching and Change Management are one of the basic needs of the hour. Mr. Sanjay Singh, EVP and Global Head, Crompton Greaves started the session addressing the audience with his past experiences in the civil services, which included brief stints with the Railways, Customs & Excise. He then talked about his transition from public services to corporates, with Dr.Reddy’s being his first employer, followed by Tata Motors, only to end up with Crompton Greaves, where he has been for a while now. Mr. Swaminathan R, Chief People Officer, WNS Global Services began with sharing his ideas over the evolution of the industry from front-room consulting to jobs concerning data analytics. The discussion then proceeded to the varying present-day brand progression strategies, drawing an analogy from Starbucks. He laid emphasis on the relevance of data and its varied definitions, and the extent of its usage in sense making of contemporary markets, thereby also pointing out the traditional inability of HR professionals in comprehending quantitative information. Mr. Raj Karunakaran, Director – Human Resources, Philips Healthcare talked about how the technology has driven the digital revolution in healthcare through remote monitoring, real time analytics etc. He also talked about software industries where the requirement is agile. Mr. Ajith Nair, Director – Engagement and Cultural Practices, Aon Hewitt India, started the discussion by explaining the reinvented role of human resource professional on the context of changing corporate scenario. He also explained how the role of HR had became boundary less. In the future, “everyone will be the HR”. The session came to an end with the focus that “HR is no longer HR’s problem. It is everybody’s problem.”