THE HUMAN TOUCH
Understanding people is an art. No one knows this better than HR graduates.
In 2011, a hundred HR students spent 3 days in a remote village in Orissa as part of their MBA programme at XLRI, Jamshedpur. With no phones and no internet access, the exercise was an attempt to introduce this group of future HR managers to the realities of rural India.
“We need socially responsible and aware managers. No matter what type of office, everyone ultimately functions in the same way. An HR manager must be attuned to the basic human psyche,” says Prof. Pranabesh Ray, Dean of Academics, XLRI.
Human resource management isn’t simply the art of managing employees but that of managing business issues related to employees. This is where an MBA in HR comes handy. All HR courses in India aim to teach students four main concepts. These are organisational behaviour ( employee psyche), performance management ( yearly increments), compensation ( salary packages) and diversity management ( cross- cultural office spaces).
Globalisation has brought its share of changes to the field of Human Resource management. “Ten years ago the idea of a working culture was non- existent. But the arrival of companies like Microsoft, HSBC, Amazon and Google have brought with them a new perspective to the way Indians look at employee management and workplace happiness. Now workers want more rights and a better working environment. This is a great time to join the field, it is challenging and changing continually,” enthuses Anusheel Shrivastava, who is presently studying for a Post- Graduate diploma in Human Resource Management from XLRI ( 2011- 2013). HR is also becoming increasingly relevant when it comes to handling trade union politics and industrial relations. “Strikes and politics also involve human beings. A successful
“THE ARRIVAL OF MNCS HAS CHANGED THE WAY we look at employee management and workplace happiness.”
HR manager should be able to relate to how such movements operate. If you can keep your employees happy, you will find very little disturbance in the path of day- to- day business. That is why this field is so relevant and helps towards building a brand,” says Ray. For this article Aspire sought the opinions of Solanki Ishita N, manager, Global
Partnerships at IIM- A, Anusheel Shrivastava, secretary, External Linkages at XLRI, Sarath Nair, an alumni of IIM- C and Prof. Ashok Panjwani, dean academ
ics at MDI Gurgaon