After a very interesting first day of HR Symposia ’17 organized by MBA (HRD), Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, day two saw the excitement and enthusiasm of the participants soaring high! It was a bright
Sunday morning of 24th of September, 2017 and it marked the beginning of a day which turned out to be full of excellent discussions and interactions.
The first session of the day was a panel discussion. In keeping with the theme of the event- “Techcelerating HR: Forging Integration”, the topic of discussion was “Optimizing HR: Augmented Workforce. The panel included Mr.Ashok Kumar Rai, Director Human Resources at Aricent, Mr. Biplob Banerjee, Executive VP – HR and CSR at Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd., Mr. Sanjeev Sharan, Director- HR- Globalization at ZTE Telecom Ltd, Mr. Douglas Peter, Director at Michelle Adrian Consulting and Mr. Manoj Sharma, Senior VP – HR at RG Group.
The discussion began on a very interesting note where the moderator, Mr. Banerjee introduced the panelists and opened the discussion by delving into what augmented workforce means. The discussion was taken forward by Mr. Douglas Peter who put forth the observation that in today’s changing industry, it is the HR manager who holds the power to actually implement policies and add value to the business in the bigger picture of things. The rest of the panelists spoke along the same lines, agreeing to the common fact that while the change is really fast-paced, the role of HR is all about adapting to that change.
The second session of the day was another highly intriguing panel discussion on the topic, “Digitalization and Disruptive Leadership”. The panelists included Mr. Mukesh Batra, Head HR at MothersonSumi Infotech & Designs Ltd., Mr. Anurag Srivastav, Co-founder of PayReview, Mr. Vikash Dubey, Head HR – Services BU at Persistent Systems, Mr. Ashutosh Sharma, Head HR at Paras Buildtech and Mr. Snehashish Bhattacharyya, VP-HR at VLCC Person Care Ltd. The panel gave some insightful views on the topic, with Mr. Batra moderating the session for the house.
The topic of discussion for the session is a highly relative one with more and more organizations moving towards Disruptive Leadership. This is impacting the role and functioning of the HR manager majorly as organizations today are becoming boundary-less, making them very susceptible to the technological changes happening in present times. The key takeaway from this session was that prospective HR professionals need to be ready to think of the unthinkable to survive this disruption and simultaneously work towards improving the experience of the end-user.
The panel discussion was followed by Mr. Vikash Dubey, Head HR – Services BU at Persistent Systems addressing the house. Taking a cue from the discussion that took place in the previous session, Mr. Dubey went on to explain more categorically how the role of an HR is evolving. He emphasized the importance of staying conceptually strong and tech-savvy at the same time for any HR manager today. Maintaining that human connect will always be the core responsibility of an HR manager is what he concluded his address with.
The final session of the day and the event saw an extremely interactive and exciting panel discussion on the topic- “Cognifying HR and Social media”. The panellists comprised Mr. Narendra Chandel, Head, Talent Acquisition, North India at Tata Consultancy Services, Mr. Rakesh Seth, Director of ICPI, Ms. Harpreet Datta, Sr. Vice President / Head – Human Resources at The Princeton Review, Mr. Deepak Bharara, CHRO at LANCO, Mr. A.K. Munjal, VP-HR at Maruti Suzuki and Ms. Amrita Singh, Senior Manager- HR at Godrej. The discussion was moderated by the high-spirited veteran speaker, Mr. Deepak Bharara.
The session started with each panelist presenting their take on the topic of discussion. They all agreed to the fact that data today is the new oil and social media has changed the way we are communicating in our personal as well as professional lives. HR roles have been transforming to accommodate all these changes, and while the use of technology has eased out things, it can in no way replace the HR manager.
Mr. Bharara made the session very interesting by giving the panelists a pop quiz. It was really interesting and informative to listen to the panelists answering his questions to the best of their abilities and experience.
Day 2 of HR Symposia ’17 ended with the Convenor of the organizing committee, Student Development Cell, Khushboo Mandal declaring the event officially closed. The participating students were definitely left richer by the experience and knowledge shared by the speakers of the event. HR Symposia ’17 concluded on a successful note, with the anticipation of something bigger happening in the coming year!