New Approaches

Modern business practices in India or other parts of the world have been modelled on the Western approach of securing profits for the shareholders. Management education is also more or less dovetailed to meet this objective. Although lip sympathy is given to the interests of other stakeholders be it the employees, customers, suppliers or the society in which the organization is operating, the major driving force is the bottom line. When you have such an approach, you can downsize thousands of employees at the drop of a hat without bothering to see what they would do for a living from the next day. You also pay no attention to whether they had served the organization loyally for many years.

Under this approach, similar can be the fate of suppliers who may have supported you for many years in the initial phase of growing the business.Some time back I had read about the plight of an employee working in the services sector who was informed by HR that his services were no longer required.

"But I have received 'outstanding' grade in the appraisal for the last three years..." he protested.

" Well, it is a corporate decision based on current business reality.There is nothing that can be done."

" Can I talk to corporate office?"

" I don't think it will make any difference. It is a decision that has come from the corporate office"

In earier times, HR spent time with the employee to soften the blow and to examine with him the alternative possibilities on the way forward. Now, it seems to have become an acceped norm to "give it as it is and move on". Needless to say that this approach of treating people like curry leaves for the flavour while cooking, only to be discarded has generated mistrust and to that extent employees are also no longer loyal to any organization. They are only too willing to move instantly to better their interests.

This approach to doing business and dealing with people in an impersonal manner can result in a big price to pay in the long run. It goes against the grain of the universal laws which state that "one cannot prosper or be happy at the expense of another as we are all connected". In my maiden book " Straight from the Heart- Thoughts and Experiences of an HR Professional" published in 2015, I have pointed out that the traditional approach to management of 'saying things, good to hear' like importance of team working and practising empathy but doing the very opposite when it comes to behaviour on the ground has to change.

The HR professionals, particularly have to take the lead to introduce concepts that would make the work place less stressful and less violent, psychologically. In this connection I had suggested in the book, adopting "Appreciative inquiry" propagated by David Cooper Rider and his research guide Suresh Srivastava. Many organizations cutting across sectors have benefited from its application.

Similarly NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) founded by Richard Bandler and John Grinder have not been extensively used and benefits reaped by corporations. It has been attempted only in small pockets such as by sales departments. Another concept we can profitably use at work for reducing conflicts and enhancing harmony is "Non violent communication" developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, which has 'empathy' as the core of the process.

Having an "Attitude of Gratitude' at the core of all our activities would change the way we look at targets, goals or competition. Desperation and frenzy woud be repaced by a sense of calmness enabling employees to focus on the tasks at hand instead of fretting and worrying. Here EFT (emotional freedom technique) a tapping technique can be very helpful in reducing stress. 'Mind Reprogramming' is another tool that can be profitably used to replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations on the tasks at hand. I have shared my experience in trying out some of these techniques in earlier blogs as also in my book. (can check one such blog here )

If we continue to do the same things, we will continue to get the same results. As HR professionals, the time is long overdue to persuade and convince the senior management team of the futility of the old approaches such as the carrot & stick to deal with the new challenges. We need to focus on initiating new interventions and approach that can ensure an effective and harmonious work environment as opposed to a battle field, where even the winner ends up feeling like a loser.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023