I I L M I N S T I T U T E F O R H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N

Vol-V, No. 3, July 2008

 FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK
F
or a young person planning his/her
career, entering a B-School is a major
decision. It denotes a long term
investment in terms of both time and finan-
cial resources with prospects of more than
adequate return. All good B-schools are
acutely aware of this aspect of student per-
ception and attempt to satisfy the aspiration
needs of its entrants.
We are no exception. The way we do it
has three components:
First is to develop domain knowledge.
Every pass-out must have adequate compe-
tency in general management, all major oper-
ational areas, such as marketing, finance etc.
and more than adequate knowledge where he
has opted for specialization.
Second, he/she must have the required soft
skills, such as good communication, social eti-
quettes etc. which are absolutely essential to
be a successful manager which eventually
involves teamwork and social networking.
Third, he/she must have enough confi-
dence on him/herself to take up responsibil-
ities which in reality comes only by dirtying
one's own hand. We try to give this oppor-
tunity of learning by doing through the
EDITORIAL BOARD EDITORIAL TEAM
Mrs Malvika Rai Sonam Phogat
Prof. B. Bhattacharyya Yashad Bajaj
Prof. Badal Mukherji Isha Gadhok
Shree Dina Nath Mishra
Shivang Mahajan
Prof. Kailash Tuli
Divya Sareen
Ms. Disha Dubey
Design: SUNIL KUMAR
extensive range of clubs and societies we
have set up which are totally managed by
the students.
Henny Ford once observed 'a business
which only makes money is no business.' It
shows that the concept of corporate social
responsibility that has caught the attention of
all the stakeholders in the recent past was
known and appreciated by the genuine busi-
ness visionaries about a century ago.
Businesses do not work in a vacuum nor do
the business executives. Society is what gives
legitimacy to business and business has to rec-
iprocate, by giving back to the society bene-
fits which go beyond monetary calculations.
These are essentially strategic visions
involving multidimensional engagements
between and among major stakeholders.
What a B-School does is to sensitize its stu-
dents' body to the larger goals in life,
beyond the balance sheet of a company or
one's own career graph. As an organization
which has embedded this philosophy in the
name itself, our curricula as well as extra
curricula program of activities take special
care of this aspect.
— B. Bhattacharyya
Published by
IILM Institute for Higher Education
69, Sector 53, Gurgaon-122003
Mobile: 9350860132, 9350821438
Printed by Avantika Printers Private Limited
194/2, Ramesh Market, Garhi
East of Kailash, New Delhi-110065
 The
Edge
CONTENTS
INHOUSE MAGAZINE FOR LIMITED CIRCULATION
Vol-V No. 3 July 2008

16 UNITY IN
DIVERSITY

04 ACHIEVERS ARE ALWAYS

READY TO LEARN

24 MANAGING THE
PERFORMANCE INDEX 10 EVOLUTION OF
HUMAN RESOURCE 42 BOOK
REVIEW

14 WORK
CULTURE 46 STUDENT
CORNER

19 ENCASHING ASCENDING
AFFLUENZA 54 CAMPUS
NEWS

29 EFFECTIVENESS
VS BALANCE

34 ACCOUNTING FOR
CONSUMPTION

38 BEING HUMANE
INSIDE OUT

45 CONGRATS!
ABHINAV BINDRA 40 HAPPINESS LIES
BEYOND GDP
GUEST VOICE

P
Dr. E. Sreedharan, the architect of the massive metro project rof. B. Bhattacharyya, direc-
tor-general and principal,
in Delhi, tells students what it takes to build a dream Prof. Badal Mukherjee, distin-
guished members of the faculty,

ACHIEVERS ARE
esteemed guests and dear awardees
and children, students of this elite
institution...
I have not come with a prepared
address but I would like to share
with the outgoing students of the

ALWAYS READY
institute some pet ideas that I have
which I thought will be very helpful
for them in their future career. Just
now I have performed a very satis-
fying and pleasant duty in distribut-

TO LEARN
ing the post-graduate diplomas to
the outgoing students. I wish to con-
gratulate them, for completing their
courses successfully here.
I also wish to congratulate the
recipients of the Dr. Kulwant Rai
Silver and Gold medals. You are all
very lucky to have this opportunity
to study in a very prestigious insti-
tution. What this institution has
given to you is only just a founda-
tion on which you will have to build
the edifice.
You must remember that learn-
ing is a life long process.

The
4 Edge
Throughout your professional
career you will be exposed to many
things and you have to learn.
Right at the doorsteps of your
big institution, a good demonstra-
tive performance in project man-
agement is taking place and that is
in Delhi Metro. I feel there are very
many things from the project man-
agement style that we adopted
which would be of great inspiration
and great guidance to all of you.
Delhi Metro is not the first Metro
in India. That distinction goes to
Kolkata where a 17-km Metro line,
mostly underground, was con-
structed in 1996. But the Kolkata
experience was not a pleasant one,
either for the city or for the nation
as a whole. For one thing, the
Kolkata Metro took 22 years to com-
pletion, and the cost for this 17 km
went up by 14 times.
Drawing a lesson from Kolkata,
we in Delhi Metro decided to imple-
ment the scheme here in an entire-
ly different style. In that process, we
were able to complete a world-class
Metro of 65.1 km, costing over Rs
10500 crore in record time of 7
years and 3 months. As a matter of
fact, when the first phase of the
Metro was handed over to us, i.e. to
the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Dr. E. Sreedharan lighting the auspicious lamp
(DMRC), the mandate from the
Government was to complete the than 1200 trains a day and earning nience. We did not want to do that.
project in 10 years. We did it in 2 almost a crore a day and I am We adopted special methods to see
years, 9 months ahead of schedule, happy to inform you that we have that our construction procedures
that too in the budgeted cost. been able not only to meet our oper- did not inconvenience the public.
What enabled us to achieve this ational expenses but set aside suffi- We have been able to achieve this
should be a good lesson to all of cient funds to service and pay back only because of a unique work cul-
you, particularly the management the loan, the interest rates as well ture that we have evolved in the
students passing out of this institu- as the installment loans we are organization and certain values
tion. I am sure many of you must paying back. This is a good business which have so assiduously been
have travelled Delhi Metro and seen plan, a model that has got to be developed and inculcated in our
that this is a world-class Metro. copied by any business enterprise. staff. It is this work culture and
What is more important is this Delhi Metro achieved the these values which I would like to
Metro has been constructed largely impressive record of completing the speak to you about because I am
with borrowed funds. Of the Rs project in time, and with minimum sure these values will be a good les-
10500 crore, almost 2/3rd has inconvenience to the public. As a son for all of you when you go out
come as loan and the Government's contrast, in Kolkata, when the and face your professional careers.
contribution is only 1/3rd. The Metro was being done, the main The main pillar of this work cul-
responsibility to service and pay artery, the Chittaranjan Avenue, ture is the organization's values. It
back the loan is with DMRC. was cut open and kept shut for is my earnest request that these val-
Today, we are running more years causing so much inconve- ues are imbibed by every one of

The
Edge 5
you. The first and foremost thing is
the value of punctuality. I was
happy to see that the entire pro-
ceedings of this evening are con-
ducted very punctually. This is a
good lesson.
For us, in Delhi Metro, punctual-
ity means not a minute late or not a
minute early but exactly on time.
This is important for us because we
realized that if we have to complete
our projects on time, every one of us
has to be very punctual in whatever
we do. And we also realized that if
ultimately our business is to run
trains and if we are to run our
trains punctually, we must be punc-
tual ourselves. This is a fundamen-
tal requirement. You will be happy
to know that Delhi Metro is the only
Metro in the world which counts
punctuality in terms of seconds. For
us, if a train is late by 60 seconds,
then the train has lost punctuality.
The world over, even in
advanced Metros like Tokyo,
Singapore, Hong Kong, the least
count is 3 minutes whereas we
decided to have this strict discipline
that if a train is late by one minute,
it has lost punctuality. I am happy to
inform you that in 1997-98, our
punctuality performance was
99.78%. And all that only because
our commitment to punctuality in
everything we do. More than any-
The
6 Edge
The crowning glory of thing else, I wish to remind you that
punctuality is nothing but a cour-
human character, the tesy to others. You can't keep people
crowning glory of life, waiting for you. It is a courtesy that
has got to be practiced by all of us.
is character. And if you The second most important
want to have a good ingredient in our work culture is
integrity. When I talk of integrity, it
character, the most is not merely honesty or lack of cor-
important ingredient ruption. Integrity covers a much
larger area of human endeavour. If
for that is integrity you see the Oxford dictionary, the
meaning of integrity is “having very
high moral values.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the
crowning glory of human character,
the crowning glory of life, is charac-
ter and if you want to have a good
character, the most important
ingredient is integrity. This is one
thing you should practice from day
one. As you go about in your pro-
fession, there will be very many
temptations; temptations which will
corrupt you. You have to keep away
from these temptations. You have to
show that none of these things will
influence your decisions.
What is in the best interest of the
organization is all that will matter to
you when you take a decision. This
is a quality which gives you a repu-
tation in no time. If you are honest,
if you have got high integrity, you
have a reputation for that. Right
from early in your career, you must
acquire this reputation and it
should be something like a passport
in your pocket so that wherever you
go, you will be recognized as a per-
son with very high integrity.
The third important thing is pro-
fessional competence. Knowledge is
strength. If you know your subject
well, nobody can assail you. If you
know your job well, people will
respect you. Your bosses will appre-
ciate you and your subordinates will
worship you. You must learn your
job well. I mentioned to you earlier
that from an institution you get only
the foundation for your career. You
have to build the structure above
and in doing so, do it brick by brick
very meticulously, and build up your
knowledge. And if you know your
job well, it gives you a lot of self-
assurance and confidence in facing
situations and hurdles.
A fourth thing which we are in
Delhi Metro is we are very particu-
lar about health. Please don't take it
lightly when I talk about health. You
can't achieve anything unless you
are very healthy. And if you are very
healthy physically and mentally,
that relieves, that gives you a lot of
stamina, it gives you a lot of self-
confidence and it relieves a lot of
worries of your parents, your
spouses and children. So, have a
systematic life which will give you
Unless you have the sta- good physical health. We practice it
very much in Delhi Metro, it is in all
mina and the health to our training schools for all our
stand the rigours of life, employees. We make it a sort of reli-
gion to them that they must develop
it is difficult to manage. good health. And I am happy to
Even if you are having a inform you that Delhi Metro is one
organization where our medical bill
desk job and not an may be the lowest. To give good
active one outside, good health, there are only three things
which are important. One is good
health is an important and adequate sleep. Normally what
requirement happens is that in student days you
tend to sit late, burn the midnight
oil and get up late. You will have to
change this habit. The old saying
‘early to bed, early to rise’ is a very
healthy way of spending your life.
You must have adequate sleep. In
institutions like this, particularly I
have seen in IITs and IIMs, this
burn the midnight oil syndrome has
become a habit. You must reverse
that habit hereafter. Try to go to bed
early, don't waste your time sitting
in front of the TV and have enough
sleep. That sleep will give you a lot
of not only mental health, mental
equilibrium but also a lot of physical
comfort.
The second most important
thing is nourishing food. You are all
educated people. Most of you, I am
sure must have been born with
silver spoons in your mouth. So,
having nourishing and timely food
The
Edge 7
Dr. E. Sreedharan autographs his portrait
is not a problem. This is important
for health.
The third and most important
thing is exercise. We generally
tend to underestimate the value of
exercise. We also tend to think that
because we do a lot of work there
is no need for further exercise. You
are mistaken. Exercise is very
important in daily life. This should
be a part of you nature. Aerobics,
walking, jogging or gymming and
yoga or a combination of both are
vital. Unless you are healthy, you
will not have that mental alert-
ness. If you are healthy, your out-
put is more, you have better stami-
na.
I come from a railway back-
ground where, very often, when an
accident occurs, we have to stand
at the accident site for hours, 72
hours, 80 hours, 90 hours without
sleep, without food. Unless you
have the stamina and the health to
stand to the rigours of such life, it
is difficult to manage. This is the
thing for everyone. Even if you are
having a desk job, not an active job
outside, a good health is an impor-
tant requirement.
The
8 Edge
Lastly, I want to remind you
that you have been very fortunate
to get education in a prestigious
institution like this one. You are
privileged to get such high class
education. I think you must learn
to impart some of these privileges
to society later on. Ultimately, you
are not working for yourself. You
are not working for your family
alone. As an individual you are
part of the family, in terms of fam-
ily you are part of the society and
in terms of society, you are part of
the entire nation.
Whatever you have received,
you must learn to give back to soci-
ety, at least a portion of it. I am one
who believes strongly that whatever
you get, at least 10-15% should go
for the benefit of society. Whatever
Set aside at least 10% of
your remuneration for
charity, for the poorer
sections of society. Only
then you can enjoy the
fruit of your labour
remuneration you get, set aside at
least 10% of that for charity, for the
poorer sections of society. Only then
you can enjoy the fruit of your
labour. Whatever remuneration you
get, gets purified. Otherwise, you
can go on amassing wealth but you
will find that you can't really enjoy;
either you are not well or your wife
is sick or the children do not do well
in education, these sort of problems
arise. But if your remuneration is
purified, whatever you get by shar-
ing with society, you will find that
you will really enjoy the rest of it.
You have a duty to society.
Remember that this institution has
equipped you well to not only serve
yourself and your family but also
society at large.
I have the honour to being the
chief guest on this occasion. I wish
to thank Prof. Bhattacharyya and
the Chairman and members of the
Board for giving me this opportuni-
ty, particularly to my friend Dr.
(Prof.). Rajendra Nair who is pre-
sent here. But for him, I would not
have been able to come here. I
thank you all for giving me this
opportunity. Thank you.

A VISIT TO THE IILM GURGAON CAMPUS
FOR THE INAUGRATION OF THE 2008-2010 BATCH
S
anjeev Bhikchandani, Co-
Founder and CEO, InfoEdge
(India) is an epitome of suc-
cess. After completing his PGDM
from the IIM, Ahmedabad, and
working in reputed organizations
like Lintas India Ltd and SmithKline
Beecham, he launched the job por-
tal naukri.com, which has become
India's largest web-based employ-
ment site.
How has this been possible? He
narrated his success story when he
visited the IILM, Gurgaon campus
for the inauguration of the 2008-
2010 batch on 17th of July.
It all started with a dream he
had nurtured since he was 12 —
that of being an entrepreneur.
Having being born into a middle
class family he had no idea how he
would become one. He qualified for
IIT twice after 11th and 12th but
did not join it as he felt that it was
not his dream but a label that he
was chasing.
Subsequently, he joined St.
Stephens College and after his grad-
uation from there joined Lintas
instead of joining IIM, Ahmedabad
which he did after working there for
three years.
Bear in mind that there are lots
of successful people who are not
from IITs or IIMs. It is more impor-
tant to do what you believe in than
to chase a label on money, he said
during his passionately inspiring
speech to our students.
It was while working at
SmithKline Beecham that he real-
ized that most of the employees
were looking for a change in job
and that idea was the beginning of
the enormous thing that is
naukri.com. He launched Naukri in
1997 after getting the server in the
US on a loan from his elder brother,
to whom he promised 5% share of
Sanjeev Bhikchandani
Co-Founder and CEO
InfoEdge (India)
[better known by its website
naukri.com, the country's largest
web-based employment site]
the company. Then, it was a job list-
ing board with 10 employees —
him, head of technology, head of
operations and support staff. It took
them six months to get their first
payment.
They got their first cheque in
September 1997. They had
launched the site in April the same
year. Until then, they had been
putting on free listings. In the first
year, they generated two and a half
lakh revenue from Naukri. In the
second year, the revenue increased
to 20 lakh.
The second year growth was
really good and that convinced
them that the business had a
tremendous future.
Today they get around 10,000
new resumes a day. They have a
database of about five million
resumes and get over 100 million
page views in a month. They have
over 20,000 advertisers/clients who
recruit through them.
From the feedback that they
GUEST VISIT
receive from clients, it is estimated
that every year around 7-10 lakh
people get jobs through Naukri.
When people talk about
naukri.com, it's basically about how
successful the portal is.
Now, they have over 900
employees and he thinks that the
greatest challenge is attracting the
right kind of people, retaining them
and keeping them motivated. He
emphasized that people remain the
biggest challenge for him. If you
have the right people, you can meet
all the challenges.
As for his new projects, he has
launched the job site
(www.mideast.naukri.com) in the
Middle-East. It's the Middle-East
version of Naukri. However, the
biggest business for them is Naukri.
Jeevansaathi, also one of their ven-
tures, is India's number three mat-
rimonial portals. It's a company
they acquired in September 2004.
He said, it is very important to
provide people education to enable
them to get jobs — a meaningful,
productive job that has work
potential and something for the
future. Education needs to be re-
oriented in India towards that end
because right now we are produc-
ing an army of unemployable BAs
and B.Coms. We need to reorient
that and give people skills that get
them jobs.
There is no success mantra. But
as a company they believe a lot in
innovation, he said. He believes in
coming up with innovations that are
relevant to his customers; innova-
tions that would give job seekers
and other visitors to our site a supe-
rior experience.
He summed up his inspiring
story by urging the students to do
something which they believed in
and are passionate about.
The
Edge 9
 MAN MANAGEMENT

EVOLUTION OF
HUMAN RESOURCE
H
uman resources refer to the be differentiated. (See Table). logically oriented ideas.
aggregate of employee From her review of literature, The strategic nature of HRM is
attributes, including knowl- Legge (1989) has identified three another difference commented
edge, skill, experience and health features that distinguish HRM from upon by a number of people who,
which are currently and potentially personnel management: in effect, dismiss the idea that tra-
available to an organiza-  Personnel manage- ditional personnel management
tion for the achievement ment is an activity aimed was ever really involved in the
of its goals. In other primarily at non-man- strategic areas of business.
words, human resources agers, whereas HRM is At the same time, there are
refer to the value of the less clearly focused but is many similarities as well and a
productive capacity of most certainly concerned sterile academic debate has been
the firm's human organi- with managerial staff. going on about the nature and dif-
zation. HRM is much more ferences between personnel man-
The concept and prac- of an integrated line agement and human resource man-
tice of Human Resource management activity, agement. To conclude, HRM could
Management (HRM) Shweta Khanna whereas personnel be described as an approach rather
are widely held to management seeks than an alternative to traditional
have evolved out of Associate Dean, Hospitality to influence line personnel management. However,
the prior area of per- management. concepts such as strategic integra-
sonnel management. The essence of  HRM emphasizes the impor- tion, culture management, commit-
this evolutionary process, according tance of senior management being ment, total quality and investing in
to Beaumont is that employees are involved in the management of cul- human capital, together with a uni-
now viewed as a valuable resource ture, whereas personnel manage- tary philosophy (that the interests
(rather than a cost to be minimised), ment has always been rather suspi- of management and employees
which if managed rather than cious of organization development coincide) are essential parts of the
administered effectively from the and related unitarist, socio-psycho- HRM model.
strategic point of view, will con-
tribute significantly to organizational According to Guest, HRM and IR, Journal of Management Studies, 24 (5), 1987,
effectiveness, and thus will be a p. 507, PM and HRM can be differentiated as follows:
source of competitive advantage to Personnel Management (PM) Human Resource
the organization concerned. Management (HRM)
The pre-dominant theme which Time and planning Short-term, reactive, ad-hoc Long-term, proactive,
is held to differentiate between HRM perspective and marginal strategic and integrated
and PM (Personnel Management) is a Psychological Contract Compliance Commitment
broadening or widening notion. The Control Systems External controls Self-control
leading advocates of HRM see it
Employee relations Pluralist, collective, Unitarist, individual, high
essentially as an organization-wide Perspective low trust trust
'philosophy' which is much broader,
Preferred Bureaucratic, mechanistic, Organic, devolved,
more orientated to the long run and systems/structures centralized, formal defined roles flexible roles
less problem-centered than person-
Roles Specialist/professional Largely integrated into line
nel management (Schien, 1987). management
According to Guest, HRM and IR,
Evaluation Criteria Cost-minimization Maximum utilization
Journal of Management Studies, 24 (human asset accounting)
(5), 1987, p. 507, PM and HRM can

The
10 Edge
 According to Armstrong, HRM is
regarded by some personnel man-
agers as just a set of initials or old
wine in new bottle. It could, indeed,
be no more and no less than another
name for personnel management,
but as usually perceived, at least it
has the virtue of emphasizing the
virtue of treating people as a key
resource, the management of which
is the key concern of top manage-
ment as part of the strategic plan-
ning processes of the enterprise.
Although there is nothing new in the
idea, insufficient attention has been
paid to it in many organizations. The
new label or bottle can help over-
come that deficiency.
A significant question which
typically emerges at this juncture is
the identification of the root causes
leading to HRM coming into vogue
in the 1980s. The answer to this
question lies in the following:
 The increasingly competitive,
integrated characteristics of the
product market environment.
 The 'positive lessons' of the
Japanese system and the high per-
formance of individual companies
which accord HRM relatively high
priority.
 The declining levels of work-
force unionization.
 The relative growth of service.
 The relatively limited power
and status of personnel manage-
ment function in individual organi-
zations due to its inability to
demonstrate a distinctive, positive
contribution to individual organiza-
tional performance.
HRM’s evolutionary history in India
There are three stages — 1900,
1940 and 1980. These pertain to:
 1900: Welfare Management
 1940: Personnel Management
 1980: HRM
Though the development of per-
sonnel management in the UK and
the US was largely voluntary, in
India it emerged because of the
Governmental interventions and
compulsions. In the beginning of
Personnel management
is aimed primarily at
non-managers, whereas
HRM is less clearly
focused but is most cer-
tainly concerned with
managerial staff
the 20th century, various malprac-
tices in the recruitment of workers
and the payment of wages were
prevalent which caused a colossal
loss in production due to industrial
disputes. The Royal Commission of
Labor in India (1931), under the
chairmanship of J H Whitley, rec-
ommended the abolition of the
'Jobber System' and the appoint-
ment of labor officers in industrial
enterprises to perform the recruit-
ment function as well as to look
after the welfare of the employees.
After Independence, a labor
welfare officer was identified as
personnel manager created by leg-
islation under Section 49 of the
Factories Act, 1948. The role of a
personnel manager was more of a
custodian of personnel policy
implementation and compliance to
different acts of the factories’ law.
Two professional bodies were
formed — the Indian Institute of
Personnel Management (IIPM) at
Kolkata and the National Institute
of Labor Management (NILM) at
Mumbai. In the 1980s, these two
bodies merged to form the National
Institute of Personnel Management
(NIPM), headquartered at Kolkata.
In 1990, another milestone was
achieved by renaming of the
American Society of Personnel
Administration (ASPA) as Society
for HRM (SHRM).
Models of HRM
It is important to review some
of the formal models of HRM from
academic literature. It was during
the 1980s that the first models of
HRM were produced. These pro-
vide us with an analytical frame-
work and act as an indispensable
tool to understand the develop-
ment of human resource strategy
and appropriate strategy content.
The Matching Model of HRM by
Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna
Fombrun et al, based in
Michigan, came up with the
'Matching Model' in their book
Strategic HRM (1984). They
believed there should be congru-
ence between HR systems, orga-
nizational structure and strategy.
They came up with the concept of
the HRM cycle which illustrates
four generic processes or func-
tions performed in all organiza-
tions:
 Selection: Matching available
HR to jobs
 Appraisal
 Rewards
 Development
The strength of this model is
that it provides a simple frame-
work to show how HR functions
can be mutually geared to pro-
duce the required type of employ-
ee performance (Torrington). For
example, if an organization
required co-operative team
behaviour with mutual sharing of
information and support, the
The
Edge 11
broad implications would be:
Selection: Successful experience
of teamwork and sociable, co-oper-
ative personality, rather than an
independent thinker who likes
working alone.
Appraisal: Based on contribu-
tion to the team and support to oth-
ers rather than individual outstand-
ing performance.
Reward: Based on team perfor-
mance and contribution rather
than individual performance and
individual effort.
This model has been criticized
because of its dependence on a ratio-
nal strategy formulation rather than
on an emergent strategy formulation
approach; and because of the
nature of the one-way relationship
with organizational strategy. It has
also been criticized owing to its
unitarist assumptions.
The Harvard Framework
The Harvard Model was pro-
duced by Beer, Spector, Quinn
Mills and Walton in 1984 and
being an analytical model rather
than a prescriptive one, has been
adopted more readily in the UK.
The model recognizes different
stakeholder interests which
impact employee behaviour and
performance and also lays empha-
sis on situational factors in the
environment which help shape HR
strategic choices. Although the
model is primarily analytical, cer-
tain prescriptive elements are
found in the HR outcomes box,
where specific outcomes are iden-
tified as desirable.
According to Boxall (1992) the
advantages of the Harvard Model
are that it:
Incorporates recognition of a
range of stakeholder interests
Recognizes the importance of
trade-offs, either explicitly or
implicitly, between the interest of
owners and those of employees as
well as between interest groups
Widens the context of HRM to
include 'employee influence', the
The
12 Edge
The soft approach to
HRM comes from the
human relations school.
It stresses the impor-
tance of high motiva-
tion, commitment, com-
munication and enlight-
ened leadership
organization of work and the asso-
ciated question of supervisory style
Acknowledges a broad range
of contextual influences on man-
agement's choice of strategy and
emphasizes on strategic choice.
Warwick Model
This model is based on the
Harvard model and was devel-
oped by Hendry and Pettigrew
from Warwick University. It has
attempted to eliminate the pre-
scriptive approach of the Harvard
Model and places an emphasis on
an analytical approach towards
HR strategy. This model gives full
recognition to the external con-
text of HR strategy and identifies
a two-way relationship with orga-
nizational strategy.
Storey's version of Hard & Soft
HRM
The hard approach to HRM
emphasizes the quantitative, cal-
culative and business-strategic
aspects of managing the head-
count resource in as rational a
way as in any other economic fac-
tor. It adopts a business-oriented
philosophy which focuses on the
need to manage people in ways
that will obtain added value from
them and, thus, achieve competi-
tive advantage. It regards people
as human capital from which a
return can be obtained by invest-
ing judiciously in their develop-
ment.
The soft approach to HRM
traces its roots to the human rela-
tions school. It emphasizes the
importance of high motivation,
high commitment, communications
and enlightened leadership. As
described by Storey (1989), it
involves 'treating employees as
valued assets, a source of competi-
tive advantage through their com-
mitment, adaptability and high
quality.’ It, therefore, views
employees, in the words of Guest,
as means rather than objects.
Attention is drawn to the key
role of organizational culture. The
focus is on 'mutuality', a belief that
the interests of employees and
management can, indeed, coincide.
The notion that commitment and
performance can be enhanced by
leadership style is based on high
trust assumptions of McGregor's
Theory Y.
It has, however, been observed
by Truss (1999) that, "even if the
rhetoric of HRM is soft, the reality
is often hard, with the interest of
the organization prevailing over
those of the individual".
Guest's Model
Guest (1989) has adapted the
Harvard model in a very different
way. His model is a prescriptive
one based on the four HR out-
comes. He has further developed
these into four policy goals defined
as below:
Strategic Integration: Ensuring
that HRM is fully integrated into
strategic planning, that HRM poli-
cies are coherent, that line man-
agers use HRM practices as part of
their everyday work.
 Commitment: Ensuring that resources to generate commitment Strategic Partner: HR should
employees feel bound to the organi- and also to enthuse subordinates become a partner with senior and
zation and are committed to high to innovate. line managers in strategy execu-
performance via their behavior. Finally, HRM emphasizes in tion, helping to move planning
Flexibility: Ensuring an adapt- theory, the importance of individ- from the conference room to the
able organization structure and ual human growth and developing marketplace.
functional flexibility based on the management team. Administrative Expert: HR should
multi-skills. HRM in the 21st century: A new become an expert in the way work is
Quality: Ensuring high quality mandate for HRM (Dave Ulrich) organized and executed; delivering
goods and services through high According to Dave Ulrich, HR administrative efficiency to ensure
quality, flexible employees. has never been more necessary. that costs are reduced while quality is
Guest emphasizes, these HRM The competitive forces that man- maintained.
policy goals are a 'package' and agers face today and will continue Employee Champion: HR should
each is necessary to ensure favor- become a champion for employees,
able organizational outcomes vigorously representing their con-
such as high job performance, Now cerns to senior management and
high problem solving, that intensifying at the same time working to
change, innovation, high increase employee contribu-
cost effectiveness, low demographic, tion; that is employee's
turnover, absence and macro-economic commitment to the orga-
grievances. nization and their abili-
The review of and hitech changes ty to deliver results.
HRM models are adding to the pres- Change Agent: HR
according to should become an
Bratton and Gold sure, companies need to agent of continuous
suggests, then, view talent management transformation;
that while it is shaping processes
obvious that simi- as a business priority, and a culture that
larities exist nurture talent at all levels, together improve an
between the nor- organization's capaci-
mative models of develop employee value ty for change.
HRM, whether the US propositions to attract, In theory, the man-
(Beer et al) or British agement of people is no
(Guest for eg) and those retain different kinds different from the manage-
of personnel manage- of workers and boost ment of other resources of
ment, there are qualitative the organization. In practice,
differences between HRM and HR role what makes it different is the
conventional personnel manage- nature of the resource, the people.
ment. Ten years ago, HR specialists
First, HRM assumes a non- to confront in the future demand were pre-occupied largely with for-
union or unitary frame of refer- organizational excellence. The mulating and managing standard
ence. efforts to achieve such excellence; processes, notably, recruitment,
The second difference is that through a focus on learning, qual- training, compensation and perfor-
HRM, in theory, is integrated into ity, teamwork and re-engineering mance. Now that intensifying
strategic planning. are driven by the way organiza- demographic, macro-economic and
The third difference is the tions get thing done and the way technological changes are adding to
importance given to cultural lead- they manage their people. Those the pressure, companies need to
ership in an organization. are fundamental HR issues. To view talent management as a busi-
The fourth difference is that state it plainly, achieving organi- ness priority, nurture talent at all
the role of line management is zational excellence must be the levels, develop a number of
given a different emphasis in HRM. work of HR. employee value propositions to
Much greater stress is placed on HR can deliver organizational attract and retain different kinds of
the line manager's responsibility of excellence in the following four workers and boost HR role and
co-coordinating and directing all ways: capabilities.

The
Edge 13
 OFFICE ISSUES

WORK
CULTURE
M
anaging organization cul- passed down from generation ered valid and, therefore, to be
ture is a key challenge for to generation of employees. taught to new members as the cor-
leaders of today. With the Basically, the concept of cultures rect way to perceive, think, and feel
trend toward downsizing and in organizations was alluded to as in relation to those problems.”
restructuring, maintaining organiza- early as the Hawthorne Studies, In an organization, culture serves
tion culture in the face of which described work four basic functions. First, culture
change is difficult. In group culture. The topic provides a sense of identity to mem-
addition, challenges like came into its own in the bers and increases their commit-
globalization, workforce early 1970s, when man- ment to the organization. When
diversity, technology and agers and researchers alike employees internalise the value of
managing ethical behav- began to search for keys to the company, they find their work
iour often require that an survival for organizations intrinsically rewarding and identify
organization change its into a competitive and tur- with their fellow workers. Motivation
culture. Adaptive cultures bulent environment. is enhanced, and employees are
that can respond to In a simple way, cul- more committed. This led to self-sat-
changes in the envi- SUJATA SHAHI ture can be defined as isfaction and as well as job satisfac-
ronment can lead the cumulative beliefs, tion. Second, culture is a sense-mak-
way in terms of orga- Associate Professor, OB/HRM values and assump- ing device for organizational mem-
nizational performance. tions underlying our transactions bers. It provides a way for employees
The concept of organization cul- with nature and various important to interpret the meaning of organiza-
ture has its roots in cultural anthro- phenomena. Schein defines culture tional events. Third, culture rein-
pology. Just as there is culture in as “a pattern of basic assumptions- forces the most important thing in
large human society, there is a cul- invented, discovered or deployed any organization — value.
ture within an organization. These by a given group as it learns to cope To give an example, the culture of
cultures are similar to societal cul- with its internal integration and Artimis Hospital in Gurgaon empha-
tures and they are shared and com- external adaptation that have sises patient care, cleanliness, time
municated through symbols, and worked well enough to be consid- management and continuous

The
14 Edge
improvement. The culture at this
hospital in Gurgaon, catering major-
ly to foreign patients, thrives on com-
passionate, holistic and high quality
care.
Fourth, culture serves as a con-
trol mechanism for shaping behav-
iour. Norms that guide behaviour are
part of culture. If a company wants
to promote team work, then its cul-
ture must reinforce that norm.
A strong culture perspective
states that organizations with a
strong culture perform better than
other organizations. A strong cul-
ture is an organizational culture
with a consensus on the values that
drive the company and with an
intensity that is recognizable even
to outsiders.
Thus, a strong culture is deeply
held and widely shared. It is also
highly resistant to change. One
example of such a strong culture is
IBM. Its culture is one we are all
familiar with: Conservative, with a
loyal workforce and an emphasis on
customer service.
We are aware of strong cultures
thought to facilitate performance.
Cultures are characterized by goal
alignment; that is, all employees
share common goal, side by side
strong culture creates a high level of
motivation because the value shared
by the members.
Organizational climate can be
defined as the perceived attributes of
an organization and its sub-systems
as reflected in the way an organiza-
tion deals with its member, groups
and issues. Climate, on the other
hand, is often defined as the recur-
ring patterns of behaviour, attitudes
and feelings that characterize life in
the organization.
Although culture and climate are
related, climate often proves easier
to assess and change. At an individ-
ual level of analysis the concept is
called individual psychological cli-
mate. These individual perceptions
are often aggregated or collected for
analysis and understanding at the
team or group level, or the division-
al, functional, or overall organiza-
tional level.
Studying the scope of culture and
climate globally brings up many
challenges. International collabora-
tions presuppose some understand-
ing of where others’ thinking differs
from ours. Exploring the way in
which nationality predisposes our
thinking is, therefore, not an intellec-
tual luxury. A better understanding
of invisible cultural differences is one
of the major contributions that social
science can make to practical policy
makers in governments, organiza-
tions and institutions as well as ordi-
nary citizens.
Identifying discernible
components of culture
allows organizations to
determine which tangi-
ble elements can be
managed to help imple-
ment change. Just as
none of the 10 compo-
nents alone define cul-
ture, none of them can
individually support
desired change
Organizational culture is a
mosaic of interrelated elements. As
these individual elements interact
each work day, they collectively
create an organizational culture.
For example, a manager who con-
tinually gives orders to subordi-
nates can be called authoritarian.
But a single manager’s leadership
style does not create an authoritar-
ian culture. In fact, many other
managers in the same organization
may frequently solicit input from
employees, collectively creating a
participatory culture.
There are 10 components that
together establish an operational
description of organizational culture:
Rules and policies
Goals and measurement
Customs and norms
Training
Ceremonies and events
Management behaviour
Rewards and recognition
Communication
Physical environment
Organizational structure
Identifying discernible compo-
nents of culture allows organiza-
tions to determine which tangible
elements can be managed to help
implement and sustain change. But
just as none of the 10 components
alone defines culture, none of them
can individually support desired
changes.
At last we cannot omit the role of
a leader in an organization. In every
organization, leadership creates
culture, systems and practices form
the infrastructure, and dynamics
among people stimulate energy,
conflict and productivity. No one
element exists in a vacuum, and
most workplaces benefit from an
integrated view of the organization.
In order to serve members in a
more holistic way, each organiza-
tion has to develop a new integrat-
ed approach for organizational
excellence. Culture is like a genetic
code of an organization and is sig-
nificant from various perspectives.
It is similar to individual personali-
ty traits. One person is different
from another due to specific traits,
like rigid or flexible, unfriendly or
supportive, innovative or conserva-
tive. The same way, one organiza-
tion is different from another
through specific domain cultures.
Indian organizations have evolved
by being culturally embedded, like
Tata, Reliance, Wipro, Infosys
which are in the same business, but
with unique feeling and character
beyond their structural characteris-
tics. If an organization wants to
stand out and create excellence in
the market, then it has to develop
its own identity through a unique
culture and climate.
The
Edge 15
TEAM SPIRIT

UNITY
IN DIVERSITY

A
ppreciation of the rich mosaic of In the Indian context, about 400 egy to remain competitive in the face of
difference within the workforce million women are working in various changing demographics and the rapid
fuels group dynamics and helps streams. In the IT sector women form globalization of business. Diversity in
create an environment where employ- around 30 per cent of the workforce. workforce, if managed well, acts as a
ees can perform to their full potential. As a result of the policy of reservations vital strategic resource for the organi-
The composition of the and concessions, socially zation helping the organization to nur-
work force is changing all disadvantaged people ture creativity and innovation, tap hid-
over the world. Today, it is (scheduled casts/ tribes etc) den capacity for growth and improve
one of the most extraordi- have entered organizations. competitiveness. (See Figures 1&2)
nary and significant chal- Old people are entering the Managing Diversity
lenges faced by organiza- workforce because of Diversity is otherness or those
tions worldwide. People improved medical and human qualities that are different
from different race, ethnici- health care facilities. Infosys, from our own or from the group, to
ty, geographic location and TCS and Wipro are actively which we belong, yet present in other
nationality are entering recruiting foreign individuals and groups. Managing
the workforce, making Dr. Shuchi Agrawal nationals and women, diversity is based on the concept that
it more diverse. In the both by choice and people’s differences are regarded as
US, 48 per cent of the Assistant Professor, OB & HRM design. an ‘asset’ rather than a burden to be
workforce comprises Apart from global- tolerated. As Stephen Covey (1996)
women workers. The percentage of ization, diversity is also increasing by says that valuing differences does not
Hispanics, Blacks and Asians in the design. Today, more and more compa- imply that one agrees with different
American workforce is on rise while nies are embracing diversity as a strat- views. It means that one should
the white non-hispanic percentage of
the population has decreased from
77.7 percent in 1990 to 73.1 percent in
Table 1: Demographic Trends Transforming the Workforce
2000 and it is projected to decrease fur- ◆ Greater diversity in the labor pool: By 2008, women and minorities will represent 70%
of the new labor force entrants, and by 2010, 34% of the U.S. workforce will be non-
ther to 69.2 percent by 2010. Hewitt's
Caucasian.
Survey, 2007, Preparing for the
Workforce of Tomorrow, shows that ◆ An aging workforce: By 2010, the U.S. workforce will have an increase of 29% in the
45-64 age groups, a 14% increase in the 65+ age group and a 1% decline in the 18-44
companies expect considerable demo- age groups.
graphic change in workforce age (60
◆ Globalization: In the next decade, 75% of new workers will likely be from Asia, while
per cent), racial/ethnic diversity (52per North America and Europe will have 3% of the world's new labor force.
cent), and gender (40 per cent) in the
next five years (Table 1). Source: Hewitt Associates, (2007, February). Preparing the workforce of tomorrow.

The
16 Edge
 Diversity — Challenges and
Figure 1: Percentage of Women Employment Region wise
Opportunities
Diverse workforce in organization
poses difficult challenge but it also pre-
sents new opportunities. It has been
linked with increased economic bene-
fits, return on investment, sales
growth, adaptability, higher quality
decisions, more imaginative ideas,
more creative problem solving and
increased productivity. But, it can also
lead to stereotyping, in-group/out-
group effects, affective conflict and
turnover. Also, group co-ordination and
control costs, such as increased com-
munication time, appears to increase
with diversity. However, these negative
effects diminish with time.
Arguments for creating a diverse
workforce are as follows:
R
Resource Acquisition: Companies
that have best reputation for managing
Figure 2: The percentage of women holding seats on the Board of diverse employees will have best
Directors in Fortune 500 companies. chance of hiring the best available
diverse personnel.
IIncreased Market: Increased
insight and cultural sensitivity
improves the development and market-
ing of products and services for diverse
segments of population. Hiring women,
minorities, disabled, etc. helps organi-
zations to tap the niche markets, eg,
today the buying power of ethnic groups
is increasing. In USA in 2007, the com-
bined buying power of African-

Source: 2007 Catalyst census of Women Board Directors

respect differences and see them as

opportunities for learning. Diversity
management is ensuring that factors
are in place to provide for and
encourage the continued develop-
ment of a diverse workforce by meld-
ing these actual and perceived differ-
ences among workers to achieve
maximum productivity. It involves
creating a supportive culture in
which each employee can pursue his
or her career aspirations without
being inhibited by gender, race,
nationality, religion, or other factors
that are irrelevant to performance.

The
Edge 17
Americans, Asians and American
Indians is more than $1.4 trillion. This is
more than 40 per cent greater than the
total buying power for 2002, and triples
the 1990 level of $453 billion. A diverse
workforce helps to tap this segment.
C Creativity & Problem Solving:
Diversity of perspectives improves lev-
els of creativity and problem solving
throughout the organization
SSystems Flexibility: Tolerance and
valuing of diverse perspectives
throughout the organization will make
the organization more fluid, more flex-
ible and more responsive to environ-
mental changes.
IIncreased Productivity: A more
diverse and team-based workforce
helps generate new ideas, enhance
flexibility and increases response to
change, e.g. Xerox plants using diverse
work teams are 30 per cent more pro-
ductive than conventional plants. P & G
achieves 30-40 per cent higher pro-
ductivity at its 18 diverse team plants
than at its non diverse plants.
Diversity helps organizations enter
the international arena.
ROLE OF HRM
Diversity in human capital serves
as a source for sustained competitive
advantage because it creates value that
is difficult to imitate and rare.
However, developing capability to
adapt, assimilate and thus to benefit
fully from the knowledge and skills of
this culturally diverse population is the
biggest human resource challenge that
any organization faces.
HR plays a key role in diversity
management to create and empower
an organizational culture that fosters a
respectful, inclusive, knowledge-based
environment where each employee has
the opportunity to learn, grow and
meaningfully contribute to the organi-
zation’s success.
Recruitment: HR should cast the
widest net in search of talent and should
conceive and deploy an international
staffing strategy. An organization gets a
competitive edge if it recruits the best
people. Since organizations often resort
to internal promotions to fill vacancies,
recruiting a diverse workforce at critical
The
18 Edge
entry points to the organization also
ensures that a diverse pool of talent is
available for promotion.
Most Fortune 500 companies like
Coca Cola, PricewaterCoopers and
American Express exhibit diverse
workforce at all levels. In Coca Cola, 33
percent of its managers and 20 percent
of its most senior managers are Black,
Asian, Latino and Native American.
Wal-Mart’s diverse resource base
shows 8,26,000 women, 2,37,000
African-Americans, 1,54,000
Hispanics, over 41,000 Asian-
Americans and more than 15,000
native Americans.
Training: It is easy to hire a foreign
national but very difficult to assimilate
them. Training and development pro-
grammes improve skills in dealing with
day to day diversity dilemmas.
Diversity training should include legal,
cultural and sensitivity training.
Globally, IBM conducts training ses-
sions in a variety of diversity-related
subject areas. Their programs like
‘Shades of Blue,’ ‘Quick views’ and
‘Learning clusters’ educate managers
on variety of diversity related issues
and to develop competencies for
engaging in business across cultures.
Encouraging Open Communication:
An HR manager should encourage
open communication with members
of the diverse group. In this way they
can learn more about the group’s
personal values and understand how
individuals like to be treated.
Performance Appraisal: The perfor-
mance appraisal system should be
objective, relevant to the job and the
company, fair to all employees and
offer no special treatment.
Organizations should integrate diversi-
ty into the overall performance evalua-
tion process. Many of the companies tie
diversity to managers’ compensation.
For example, at Verizon
Communications, 5 per cent of bonus-
es for directors and above are related
to diversity. At Motorola Inc., tracking
reports show the representation of
women and minorities within each
senior manager’s area of responsibility.
As a result in 1989, Motorola had two
women vice presidents and now it has
43. The company had six minorities at
the vice-president level nine years ago
and now it has 41. Overall findings
indicate that one-quarter of Fortune
500 companies link both compensa-
tion and performance to diversity
goals, while 10 per cent link only per-
formance and 6 per cent link only
compensation.
Developing Relevant Competen-
cies: To deal effectively with workplace
diversity, HR professionals need to
develop diversity management skills
and competencies. They need to devel-
op expertise in team building, change
management, conflict resolution and
cross-cultural communication.
Conclusion
Today’s organizations need to learn
the techniques to manage a more het-
erogenous workforce. For this, they
need to develop a diversity orientation
and integrate human resource policies
and practices that direct the organiza-
tion towards diversity management.
Just one or two activities in support of
diversity fail to constitute a diversity
orientation. What is required is com-
mitted leadership and aligning diversi-
ty programmes with strategic business
goals. It is the senior management’s
commitment and HR leadership and
competencies that determine how an
organization manages its workforce
diversity to give it the competitive
advantage in the global arena.
 UPWARDLY MOBILE

ENCASHING
Abundant money in young
hands has become one
of the most significant
phenomenon in modern
Indian society. New rich-
ness & affluenza is creating
ASCENDING
many opportunities for
business and management AFFLUENZA
C
hange and the spirit of the Young India
time (zeitgeist) often brings For the youth world, there is an
new, unique, distinct and exciting term which psychologists
exciting scenario. The last 18 years called YAVIS (Young, Attractive,
in India have been extremely sig- Verbal, Intelligent, and Successful).
nificant in kick starting This breed of YAVIS,
the open economy and seeped in credit and debit
consequently resulting in card culture is there in
various changes at the abundance in the market
socio-economic and arena with full zest and a
behavioral levels. The burning passion to live
benefits of enhanced eco- life to its fullest. In the
nomic opportunities, fat- backdrop of all these
ter pay packages, higher socio-economical and
capital returns from behavioral changes,
investments and far Prof. Kailash Tuli there are consequen-
better income from tial changes in mind-
small, medium and Professor, OB & HRM sets and lifestyles.
large businesses Radically different
which are quite distinctly visible in from the earlier generation, the
the domestic Indian environment. neo-generation and many in the
Outsourcing by European and transiting generation also
American companies has brought happily took over to
new money (converted from this changing psyche.
Pounds, Dollars and Euros) and ‘Enjoyment’ became
opportunities for thousands of the buzz word and the
youths, which is quite an exciting term ‘saving’ though
achievement for Indians. still very prominent in
In India, the below median age Indian psyche, became
population now leads the changes, secondary. Consumer
also proficiently controlling the orientation, spending,
‘change levers’ of the entire sce- living life to its fullest,
nario. As time will move forward, getting out of home
more progressive all-round and venturing into
changes will highlight the future the ‘new’ world
India. become popular
Sparkles of liberalization have with people
shown the transference from eco- below the
nomic to social and psychological nation’s medi-
arena. an age. Many

The
Edge 19
factors played a significant role in
this change of mindset. But it is evi-
dent both in the intrinsic and
extrinsic psyche of below median
age people.
This phenomenon was further
spiraled up by the ‘seductive tech-
nology’ which entered at the right
time to attract and allure them to
spend. World class indigenously
created, competitive advertise-
ments influenced youths and cap-
tured their behavior as per the
embedded messages therein. It
marked the beginning of a new
socio-behavioral dimension of
mass behavior.
Shining India?
The world’s top ten richest per-
sons have sparkling Indian names.
Forbes list is studded with India’s,
‘who is who’. Global Indians are
seen at almost all the international
airports of the world, often sitting
in lounges. People within India are
seen in more colorful dresses, con-
fident and anxiety free. Indian pro-
fessionals ranging from managers
to CEOs appeared on renowned
business organizations of the
world. Indian MNCs created brand
imaging and this time it was other
way round.
It is not like Unilever in India
but it is Tata in USA etc. They
(Indians) are shining far well than
what they used to be two decades
before. Indian stock had a drum
beating sound across the Globe.
Global investors literally flocked to
get optimal returns and in fact,
they did. Indian companies’ global
take-over bids were the highlights
of business press and media. Tata,
Mittal, Ambanis and many other
names figured Indians as global
business players. Image builders of
India created ‘Incredible India’ in
the minds of Western people,
resulting in re-visioning, re-rating
and re-esteeming of India. India is
far more visible in world media
than it used to be two decades
before. Perceptions of Indian peo-
The
20 Edge
ple are now erasing out of those
stereotype images as land of snake-
charmers, cows, slums and a
sadhu dominated country.
Restaurants and hotels are often
full to capacity. McDonalds had not
seen half km waiting lines in their
own country but in India they saw
the future in these long queues!
PVRs are not just walk-in places;
one requires advance bookings.
Media has changed Indian psyche
in the farthest corners. Mall cul-
ture courtesy Kishore Biyani and
Metro transport courtesy
Sreedharan, has exposed people
within India to the global world
which they had not seen till now.
Such largescale changes have
brought about a revolution in
India. Even the self perception of
Indians has undergone change.
However, ‘India shining’ is only one
side of the coin.
Mind-disturbing India
The other side of the coin is dis-
turbing and, often, the psychologi-
cal reaction is denial of reality.
Poverty is also visible along glitter-
ing affluence. Beggars and shanty
towns is widespread. Poverty, dis-
ease and hunger are commonplace.
In cosmopolitan places you can see
thousands of homeless people
sleeping on road-dividers and foot-
paths. Herds stamped by poverty,
ignorance and illiteracy mark
human landscapes in India. Data
pertaining to poverty, illiteracy and
shanty conditions is alarming.
Millennium development goals
show a blot on India with respect to
many indices. We should not forget
that our shining India (beneath the
bright lamp), has many dark zones.
To a typical Western tourist, this
poverty is a kodak moment.
However, news like death due to
hunger, famine and other food
problems is on the decline. All in
all, progress is there, though it is
not reaching equitably to everyone.
The human component is missing
in the holistic scenario of the coun-
try. There is an uneasy calm among
affluent Indians who are insecure.
The Gini index is disturbing India.
It shows a possibility of future
inter-group conflicts, which needs
visionary and prudential planning.
There is a silver lining to this
scenario and time will be a major
factor in that process. The prosper-
ity spiral is percolating to the lower
strata of society and is likely to
accelerate in future. India is one
country in the world which is a liv-
ing combination of many ages of
history. This is a unique turning
point opportunity for its entrepre-
neurs. This is what Prof CK
Prahalad describes as happiness at
the bottom of the pyramid.
AFFLUENZA
This is a unique term coined by
British psychologist James Oliver to
depict the aspect of human nature,
especially when there are so many
material gains for consumers.
According to De Graaf: “Affluenza
is a painful, contagious, socially
transmitted condition of overload,
debt, anxiety and waste, resulting
from the dogged pursuit of more.”
Authors like Robert Frank
term it ‘luxury fever’. It is a mirage-
like phenomenon in which the
search for happiness is sought in
material comfort. Then there is
greed and insatiable hunger for
possessing too much.
The fundamentally strong mass
production of consumer products
has made it convenient for the pub-
lic to enjoy the sickness of affluen-
za. It comes across as a positive
word for a materialistic, hedonistic
and consumer-oriented society.
Seductive technology, which
means tempting, alluring and
always innovative product form,
catches people, especially young-
sters, in its glitter. There may be
many criticisms of ‘affluenza’,
from ethical, philosophical and
moral perspectives, but it is an
exciting phenomenon which is
here to stay. This is explained by
zeitgeist (spirit of the time.)
If we look at the Indian sce-
nario, there is much to learn from
business, management, economic,
sociological and psychological per-
spectives. When the spending
power enhances, there is a new-
found thrill, joy and desire to be
buoyant and to explore more,
because it is all in the affordable
range. It is like hitting the jackpot
of a dream fulfilling machine.
In any case, these problems will
be resolved if we keep our opti-
mism. When such changes arrive at
the doorstep of any nation, there
are opportunities ahead which any
professional company will avail.
Whenever, human psychology
encounters positive change and if
there is enhanced money in the
hands of people, especially to be
spent with some element of excite-
ment, the spending behaviour
changes.
Normally, when employees get
this kind of extra money as bonus,
higher wage or arrears, they feel a
thrill in spending it. Money inflow
for some population is literally a
hyperbole the natural consequent
of which is high spending. This
thrill, especially in Indian culture,
is further pampered by family ties.
In the backdrop of this psychol-
ogy of human behaviour, I will like
to focus on interesting facts based
on objective observations, rather
than empirical data.
I discuss here a model which
focuses on the mindset of Indians.
It is somewhat of a misnomer to
call Indians a diverse population
clocking to almost 1,100 million
people. But this figure is extremely
vital because that is the size of the
present Indian population. It is
huge by any parameter. Even a
small 1-2 percent of that will be in
millions or equal to the population
of many European countries. As a
psychologist, I have various inter-
actions with people especially,
youths and I read their minds
about what they want. One unique
phenomenon is that ‘I wish’ is
changing to ‘IWISH’, abolishing the
space between I and wish. The
impatience of getting everything in
a short span is atypical of Indian
youth. Probably, rooted in the
unconscious level of insecurity,
such psyche does emerge. The pre-
sent urges, deep in Indian psyche,
are to live a life to fulfill millions of
dreams. In fact, there was a time of
‘not dreaming and suppressing,
dreams’. Thinking big was mocked
at. Now, the scenario is changing
and dreams are bubbling like
sparkling wine — and turning into
reality as well!
This is the age of ‘affluenza’ in
India. Call it a disease or the logical
outcome of having lived in suppres-
sive conditions of life or may be
improved social and economic sce-
nario. This is the time in which
people are feeling that, yes, they
have the potential to fulfill their
desires. Anyone can watch this in
malls, bazaars, tourist places,
restaurants/hotels, trains and
tourist coaches. The ‘Disneyland
psyche’ is building up!
What does this imply; especially
for business, corporate world and
budding mangers? The answer is
simple. There are n number of
opportunities. Now, it is for the
people with prompt reactions, clar-
ity, motivation and zest to cash in
on such mass behavioural changes
in the mindsets of people. Business
management students are taught
about innovation, novelty, creativi-
ty and management of change. In
India, there is a live scenario in
action. A mega case is being writ-
ten on this huge landscape, called
India. A mammoth number is expe-
riencing a new lifestyle.
The changing mindset and psy-
chological parameters which go
with the changing Indian psyche
are likely to create new areas of
entreprenureship and opportuni-
ties. Ascending affluence is likely to
lead to the following rapid
demands:
Tourism/travel: Viewers of Kaun
Banega Krorepati (KBC) will recall
the very common question which
Amitabh Bachchan asked people
on the hotseat was “if you get a
crore what will you do with it?” The
answer invariably was, “I will trav-
el.” That was followed by a wishlist,
depending on one’s geographical
and global awareness. One of the
The
Edge 21
booming areas in future business
pertains to travel & tourism. It is
increasing rapidly, both for domes-
tic and international travels. There
are many aspects of tourism which
are not merely applicable on
hotels, resorts or transport.
One should look for cruising,
ethnic resorts and family travel.
Healing and spiritual resorts would
also be in demand, both for nation-
al and international tourists.
Opportunities would be far more in
areas away from the maddening
crowd. Desire for leisure and plea-
sure often exceeds one’s means
and credit cards add a fuel to that.
Therein lies the psychological basis
of this booming phenomenon.
Eating out is becoming the new
fad, not for thousands or millions
but for all. Not only working
women but housewives want more
of eating out. There are abundant
opportunities in India’s own
emerging McDonalds but someone
has to be Kishore Biyani among
them. If I foresee from psychologi-
cal perspectives, I see that there
has to be finally some Indian Coca
Cola and McDonald to drink and
feed people globally. Speaking opti-
mistically, we shall see one day
Europe and America, being
Haldiram-ized or Roohafzafication
at places, so called foreign to
Indians. One criticism of
Americans is that they are Coca-
Colanizing the world by having
presence in more than 130 coun-
tries of the world. Indian potential
can outperform them, rewriting the
new history!
Education has already caught
the attention of entrepreneurs and
many business houses are flocking
to this. Already, many foreign uni-
versities and colleges have made
forays in promising areas. Don’t
forget that still about 400 million
people in India need to be taught.
Even voluntary campaigns and ini-
tiatives by The Times of India
group, like ‘Teach India’ are doing
The
22 Edge
well. Do not look for money only,
but see the future potentials it will
create. Some business enterprises
are not overtly for money but yes,
when carried out with integrity,
then profits are welcome.
The health sector is primary for
any nation. In India, the scenario is
rapidly changing. Because of the
profile of the entire population, it
may not be possible to offer expen-
sive medical care. Here, we need a
model in which millions can be
cared with relatively cheaper med-
ication, indigenous methods of
treatment and it is not necessary to
This is the age of
‘affluenza’ in India. Call it
a disease or the logical
outcome of having lived
in suppressive conditions
or even in an improved
social and economic sce-
nario. This is the time
when people are feeling
that they have the poten-
tial to fulfill their desires
have all five-star hospitals. We
need reasonably low to moderate
budget medicare.
Here, we need more creativity
and both public and private initia-
tives. Healthcare has yet to reach
properly in every nook and corner
of India. The cherished dream of
‘health for all by 2000’ failed mis-
erably and now it is our moral
duty to look into this dimension
both humanely and prudently.
There seems to be tremendous
hidden potential in professionally
improving and standardising
indigenous Indian systems of
therapy like Ayurveda and Unani,
which have remained under per-
formed and under utilized.
Entertainment and media: The
future in which affluence rises,
needs outlets. From time immemo-
rial, people have been entertaining
themselves one or the other way.
Technology is the key player in
these activities. If we analyse the
entire history of human entertain-
ments, then a close relationship
would be seen in technological
advances and gadgets. ‘Pursuit of
happiness’ is mystical. Not know-
ing how to be happy, we all pursue
to be happy. This mirage will go on.
Global manpower from Indian
powerhouse: With globalization
edging up its gears, there is really
good demand of Indian manpower
both blue and white collared.
Indian brain has made its strong
niche in places like Silicon valley. In
this age of aviation, it is not very
much of homesickness for young-
sters to go abroad. This area needs
more streamlining. We can create
those educational institutions
where such willing people are prop-
erly trained and emigrated through
right kind of channels, so that they
do not fall prey to wrong and uneth-
ical brokers. From global perspec-
tive India is looked as a country of
huge manpower potential. India
can produce proper skilled and
semi-skilled labourers. We can pro-
vide the manpower in a variety of
countries and professional areas
like nursing, construction, health
care, software, educators at all
levels. Indian workers abroad have
earned more or less a good reputa-
tion. India can go for universities,
institutions, colleges, technical
schools, or training hubs, which can
produce this kind of mass manpow-
er for ‘export’. The booming popula-
tion of India will shine more,
because in the present global sce-
nario and changing local conditions
therein, many countries are facing
right kind of manpower scarcity.
Prudentially speaking it is
essential to plan in advance; other-
wise unemployed population will
create more nuisances.
Search for safety via Insurance:
People are secure as long as they
have least possessions. But afflu-
ence, particularly affluenza, brings
so much that losing anything, threat-
ens to be perceived painfully and
dangerously.
The crime graph in India is fatal
for future, because somewhere we
have lost imparting value education
to our children. ‘Haves’ will be hav-
ing more threatening challenges
than ‘have-nots’, unless the differ-
ences are resolved. There is a clear
message that there will be a big
boom in the insurance sector.
Insurance business in the life, health,
travel, theft, fire, earthquakes, busi-
ness, property, art, commodities,
and crops is bringing in huge busi-
ness. India is awakening to this.
Insurance by percent of population is
desperately low in our country.
Counseling professions: There is
going to be a surge in professions
related to psychological help, coun-
seling, especially marital, family and
sexual. As the complexities of
modernity increase and tradition
breakdowns emerge, these kinds of
professions will be the natural corol-
laries of fast-paced changes. Rapid
changes in countries often escalate
demands for these so called ‘helping
professions’.
Daily we read enormous amount
of news related to unrest, anger, hos-
tility, resulting in variety of crimes.
At times, it is frightening to live in
cities at least. The society is so full of
vicarious stresses and fears that
makes people sleepless. When these
changes are witnessed then it
requires corresponding mental
adjustments and if these do not, then
the net result is depression, anxiety
or the host of so-called diseases of
civilization. Currently, in India, these
professionals are in scarcity, but they
would be required in big numbers to
meet the rising demand of the
changing social system. We need a
very powerful, adequate interven-
tional help centers all over the coun-
tries and more particularly in cos-
mopolitan cities.
Geriatrics care hubs: While
younger generations become afflu-
ent, family composition also
changes. Though the Indian culture
will exert its influence, yet there will
be more proportion of old but other-
wise healthy people, who will
require care. They, or their children,
will take care of finances. In India,
the concept of old-age homes has
arrived but is yet to get into top gear.
The future of these ascending
changes in the composition of popu-
From time immemorial,
people have been enter-
taining themselves one
or the other way.
Technology is the key
player in these activities.
If we analyse the entire
history of human enter-
tainments, then a close
relationship would be
seen in technological
advances and gadgets
lation and changing trends will show
more emergence of new and better
caring and facilities for respectable
living for this last quadrangle of pop-
ulation. Construction activity is
already in ascendancy, but making
such homes for a larger population
will require more innovative pattern
of housing, with a focus on the
Indian psyche of children and their
ageing parent.
Commercial Spirituality will
sparkle: We are witnessing rapid
changes in our thinking styles at per-
sonal, interpersonal, social, cultural
and even at global levels. The link-
ages of body, mind, society and spir-
ituality is very unique continuum. It
is common observation that when
there is everything in abundance,
the human mind gets more queries.
In the age of plenty, there is often ris-
ing spiritual hunger. India, by its
core civilization and psyche, is
inclined in these dimensions. So,
there would be more and more cults,
ashrams, spiritual gatherings and
sermons. Translated into business,
there would be tremendous scope of
these ventures. Commercial viability
of these spiritual phenomena will be
far more. In a nutshell, spirituality is
proportional to affluence (though not
affluenza).
Future prudence: With changes
in top gear, prudence is essential. If
things go wrong in a higher gear,
the resultant damages are bigger.
We all know any collisions at high
speed are far more fatal. India is a
diverse country. What, where and
how to do are critical factors.
We have cultural norms, but it is
vital to know about subtle cultures,
sub-cultures, diverse cultures or
even micro-cultures. Cultural
changes are absorbed if slow.
Otherwise, violation of culture
rebounds because values are based
on a deeper collective human psy-
che. A brand name can be there but
that should not defy the local cultur-
al sensitivity. It is like giving the
analogy of Indian currency notes,
accepted happily everywhere in
India, but with multiple languages
printed. I have not seen other such
currency in the world.
We are moving towards an excit-
ing time in Indian history wherein to
change prudentially is a challenging
task. India has that potential and is
on the brink of many radical
changes. The economic changes
envisaged and kick-started by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in 1991,
are now in full throttle and more
will be ushered in the decades to
come. The real change triggered in
1991, is now beyond economics
and it will be reflected in lifestyles,
social dimensions and culture.
The
Edge 23
RICH DIVIDENDS
MANAGING
THE
PERFORMANCE
INDEX
D
ue to rapid globalization, the nature
of work organizations is undergo-
ing transformation and the focus of
present day business organizations is to
attract, engage, develop and retain the
best and the brightest of their employees.
Successful organizations are those that
define return on investment in terms of
both tangible and intangible measures,
Sanyukta Jolly emphasizing on the development and
aggregation of human capital for a com-
Assistant Professor petitive advantage. Performance manage-
OB & HRM ment provides an important source of
information on human capital and its con-
tribution to business. More and more pre-
sent day organizations are managing per-
formance not just in terms of what people
do, but how well they do it.
With the changing nature of work, it
has become a prerequisite to evaluate
worker competencies that are different
from those that have been evaluated in
the past. The nature of work, worker
demographics, skills, values and beliefs
The
24 Edge
are changing, indicating that new genera-
tion employees will be different. They
may be computer literate but may be
socially illiterate. As a result of this, there
is greater emphasis on developing and
measuring competencies and building an
effective framework to measure perfor-
mance which is not based solely on orga-
nizational and personal competencies but
also on technical, interpersonal and social
competencies.
The focus has shifted to the “whole-
person” approach. The trend is focusing
on investment in human capital much the
same way as they invest in other forms of
capital. Therefore, maximizing perfor-
mance is top priority for organizations in
the constantly changing milieu.
The task of managers is to get things
done through other people to achieve
organizational goals, involving decision
making, allocating resources and directing
the activities of others to attain goals.
Managers are the most important partici-
pants of business organizations and their
work behaviour, thus, becomes important.
Managerial performance is related to fac-
tors such as organizational commitment,
job satisfaction and various skills and
competencies. There are certain individ-
ual characteristics also involved that are
related to work performance. One such
major factor is competence.
COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE
Competence is not performance, but is
a state of being, a qualification to perform.
It is in relation to performance, a neces-
sary but not sufficient condition. Workers
cannot perform up to standards without
competencies. Competency measurement
should not be confused with performance
management. Competencies are all about
being qualified to do work in a particular
position. Performance, on the other hand,
is the result of the actual work.
Performance is influenced by a number of
factors, including traits like factors inter-
nal to an individual (abilities and skills),
external factors (broken equipment) and
transitory factors (temporary distraction).
Industrial organizational psychologists
conceptualize work competence as a com-
plex function of four broad components —
knowledge, skills, abilities, and "other"
attributes (KSAOs). The interplay of these
components (knowledge, skills and abili-
ties) and their utilization in the workplace
are what differentiate a superior per-
former from an average or a poor per-
former. There is a shift in focus from what
people "have" or "possess" to what they
"can do" or "exhibit". Competencies are
components of a job, which are reflected
in behavior that are observable in a work-
place. The common elements that are
most frequently mentioned are knowl-
edge, skills, abilities, aptitudes, personal
suitability, behavior and impact on perfor-
mance at work. The criteria of competen-
cy are superior performance and effective
performance.
Competencies describe what people do
in the workplace at various levels and
specify the standards for each of those lev-
els; they identify the characteristics,
knowledge and skills possessed or
required by individuals that enable them
to undertake their duties and responsibili-
ties effectively and, thus, to achieve pro- Closely related to
fessional quality standards in their work.
They cover all aspects of management competency is
performance; particular skills and knowl- skill. Skill is an
edge, attitudes, communication, applica-
tion and development. an ability to
Closely related to competency is skill. translate knowl-
Skill is an ability to translate knowledge
into action that results in desired perfor- edge into action
mance. The essential managerial skills that results in
are technical, human and conceptual.
Although each skill is necessary for all desired perfor-
managers, its relative importance may mance. The
vary by level of managerial responsibility.
A technical skill is the ability to use a spe- essential man-
cial proficiency or expertise to perform agerial skills are
particular tasks. Accountants, engineers,
market researchers, and computer scien- technical, human
tists, for example, possess technical skills. and conceptual.
Technical skills tend to be most important
at lower levels of managerial responsibil- Although each
ity. The ability to work well, in coopera- skill is necessary
tion with other people is a human skill.
A manager with good human skills has for all managers,
high degree of self-awareness and the its relative
capacity to understand or empathize with
the feelings of others. Human skills are importance may
consistently important across all the man- vary by level of
agerial levels.
The ability to think analytically, to managerial
view situations broadly and solve prob- responsibility
lems for the benefit of everyone con-
cerned is a conceptual skill. As managers
move to ever-higher responsibilities, the
conceptual skills gain in relative impor-
tance to technical skills.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Today, the world is looking at perfor-
mance parameters to achieve competitive
advantage. However, studies reveal that
job performance is an abstract, latent con-
struct and no single manifestation can be
defined as job performance as there are
several constructs defining this concept.
There are several manifestations in which
this concept has been viewed. For exam-
ple, interpersonal competence could be
relevant in several contexts such as job of
a manager in Human Resource (HR),
lawyer, sales representative and teacher
but may not be for a computer program-
mer. The saying, "if you can't define per-
formance, you can't measure it" certifies
that performance is a multidimensional
The
Edge 25
Performance
management is
an important
concept to
understand for
academic study
and it began in
the late 1980s. It
has been under-
taken in several
fields such as
logistics manage-
ment, marketing,
human resource
management and
operations man-
agement, to
name a few
and complex construct the measurement
of which depends on a variety of factors.
Performance management is an impor-
tant concept to understand for academic
study and began in the late 1980s. It has
been undertaken in several fields such as
logistics management, marketing, human
resources management and operations
management, to name a few. The idea of
managing both individual and organiza-
tional performance is not new and the
exact date when a formal method of
reviewing performance was first intro-
duced is not known. The word perfor-
mance management was first used in the
1970s but did not become a recognized
process until the later half of 1980s. The
performance management literature can
be traced in three major phases — from
performance measurement to perfor-
mance management, from individual to
collaborative performance measurement
and from lagging to leading performance
management.
Performance management is a strate-
gic and integrated approach to delivering
sustained success to organizations by
improving the performance of workers
and by developing the capabilities of
teams. It concerns itself with outcomes,
outputs, processes, inputs, planning, mea-
surement, review, development, improve-
ment, communication and concern for
stakeholders. There are many factors
affecting performance, namely — person-
al factors like skills, competence, motiva-
tion and commitment; leadership factors
like quality of encouragement, guidance
and support provided by leaders and
managers; team factors like quality of sup-
port rendered by colleagues; systems fac-
tors are the work and facilities provided
and finally contextual factors which con-
stitute the internal and external pressures
and changes.
Performance includes those actions
that are relevant to the organization's
goals and can be measured in terms of an
individual's proficiency (i.e the level of
contribution). Effectiveness refers to eval-
uation of results of performance, and it is
beyond the influence or control of the indi-
vidual. Measures of effectiveness, while of
major importance to the organization, are

The
26 Edge

contaminated by factors over which the
employee has little influence.
Performance management looks at a
number of factors such as competency,
organizational culture and performance
appraisal systems. These behaviours may
depend on several factors such as emo-
tional make-up of managers, their person-
ality, emotional intelligence and perceived
occupational stress. This, in turn, may be
related to the background and culture of
the organization and organizational com-
mitment to name a few.
The performance management sys-
tem consists of processes used to identi-
fy, encourage, measure, evaluate,
improve and reward employee perfor-
mance and has been linked with organi-
zational strategy and results. A high
performance management model
emphasizes the importance of organiza-
tional performance through its people in
the areas of productivity, quality, cus-
tomer services, profit and delivery of
increased shareholder value. High per-
formance management practices also
involve rigorous recruitment and selec-
Performance
management
involves goal
setting; perfor-
mance appraisal
and reward sys-
tems that align
work behaviour
with business
strategy, employ-
ee involvement
and workplace
technology.
Companies like
BHEL, NTPC and
SAIL use perfor-
mance appraisal
practices for the
tion, extensive training, career planning
and incentive pay systems. Thus, perfor-
betterment of
mance management involves goal set- employees
ting; performance appraisal and reward
systems that align work behaviour with
business strategy, employee involve-
ment and workplace technology. The HR
department within organizations has
traditionally been responsible for the
implementation of performance man-
agement interventions. Companies like
BHEL, NTPC, SAIL, Colgate-Palmolive,
Frito-Lays, Nokia and Johnson &
Johnson in India regularly use perfor-
mance appraisal practices for the bet-
terment of employees. Thus, with the
changing paradigms of doing business
and managing people, the issues of pro-
ductivity and evaluation become top pri-
ority for every decision making agenda,
therefore performance management
comes to play an indispensable role in
helping organizations reach their pro-
ductivity goals and maximum efficiency.
Any organization can get a competitive
edge if its performance management
systems are in place.
The
Edge 27
 CONCLUSION
Individual perfor- Individual performance is important
mance is impor- for any organization and its staff. It is both
a behaviour as well as an outcome and, as
tant for any already stated, a multi-dimensional and
organization and dynamic concept. Today, organizations
are hiring individuals who perform well,
its staff. It is meet their goals, deliver outstanding ser-
both a behaviour vices and products and finally achieve a
competitive advantage.
as well as an Good performance is rewarded by
outcome and, a financial as well as other benefits and
perks and it has become a prerequisite for
multi-dimension- future career development and success. It
al concept. is well documented in literature that high
performers get promoted faster and have
Today, firms are better career opportunities as compared
hiring individuals to low performers. Organizations and
work are undergoing dramatic changes
who perform which have implications for conceptualiz-
well, meet goals ing and understanding performance and
the current trends focus on the impor-
and achieve a tance of continuous learning, pro-activity,
competitive teamwork, globalization and technology.
In today's fast changing world no one
advantage for has been left untouched by the advent of
the company emerging technologies, no organization
can survive for long if it does not change
with changing times. Thus, there has been
a paradigm shift from pure bureaucracy to
humanistic values. Today's organizations
believe in investing in their people as they
are their biggest resource to gain compet-
itive advantage.
Organizations, therefore, allocate a
good budget in training and retaining
their employees. They believe in knowl-
edge and talent management. Talent man-
agement, as the word implies, is choosing
the right person for the right job at the
The
28 Edge
right time, enhancing his potential and
use this strategy for succession planning
and developing human resources.
Talent management is essentially a
two-way process which includes aligning
people with roles and aligning roles with
people in such a way that it leads to the
following benefits: Selection, recruitment,
placement and promotion; learning and
development, succession planning and
career guidance. Talent management is
the new buzzword for present-day organi-
zations and is also referred to talent strat-
egy, succession management and human
resource planning.
Performance management, therefore,
emerges as a strategic and an integrated
approach to achieving success and sus-
taining a competitive advantage and it
concerns everybody in the business, not
just the managers. The essence of perfor-
mance management lies in the context
and culture of an organization aligning
that with job design and teamwork. This
fosters organizational development, keep-
ing in account the strategic human
resource management perspective. Thus,
as individual work requirements are con-
stantly changing due to the changing
nature of work organizations, there is
need for continuous learning and compe-
tence development.
The emphasis is on 'adaptive perfor-
mance' which is the new performance
concept in which learning constitutes a
major dimension. Proactive behaviour,
such as taking an initiative and being able
to work in a team, is the essential compe-
tency for managers today as having a
proactive personality is related to job per-
formance. Emphasis should be placed on
making performance measurement a
more reflective process, where greater
emphasis is paid to an individual looking
at his self-assessment against the percep-
tions of others and the focus is to increase
performance against competency stan-
dards rather than on comparisons with
others at the same level.
There is a also a need to make
employees emotionally intelligent so
that they effectively manage themselves
in the fast-developing ever changing
work environments.
 OPPOSITES ATTRACT

EFFECTIVENESS
vs BALANCE Himani Avasthi
Lecturer, OB & HRM

I
magine life as a game in which you fits and procedures. Great strides
are juggling five balls in the air. You have been made in such
name them — work, family, health, areas as Employee
friends and spirit — and you're keeping Assistance Programme
all of these in the air. You will soon (EAP), flexibility in the
understand that work is a rubber ball. If work place and telecom-
you drop it, it will bounce back. But the muting. But many organi-
other four balls — family, health, friends, zations have passed the
and spirit — are made of glass. If you point of diminishing returns
drop one of these, they will be irrevocably in adding bells and whistles to
scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or programs of this type while
even shattered. They will never be the doing nothing to teach
same. You must understand that and employees to help
strive for balance in your life. themselves.
— Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Over the past 25
Enterprises from 1959-1994 years, there has
Work life effectiveness is a term that been a substantial
some in the work-life field have lobbied to increase in work
use instead of work-life balance. The belief due to information
is that senior executives will buy into the technology and
term more easily. But whether you call it an intensely
work-life effectiveness, life-work effective- competitive work
ness, or work-life balance, being overly environment. Long-
concerned with terminology is a term loyalty and
mistake.
Much more impor-
tant than what you Over the past 25
call your work-life
programme is
years, there has been
what it achieves. substantial increase in work
Executives
respond to
due to information technology
results. Past and an intensely competitive
work-life pro-
grammes have
work environment. Long-term
focused their loyalty and a sense of corpo-
strategy, often
entirely, on "what
rate community have
the organization can been eroded
do for the employee",
in terms of policies, bene-

The
Edge 29
 THE CHANGING EQUATIONS OF NEW ERA
The Machine Age The Industrial Age The Networked Age
Stress High Higher Highest
Work You went to work-life started only Not only are people working 24-hour workdays split into
balance when you go home life at work, but also at home compartments dedicated for ‘life’
Women The men worked and women Both men and women worked, Both men and women work and
Work tended the house and women still tended the house and tend to the house

The right bal- a "sense of corporate community" have People are experiencing a burnout due
been eroded by a performance culture that to overwork and stress. This condition is
ance for you expects more and more from its employees seen in nearly all occupations from blue col-
today may be yet offers little security in return. lar workers to upper management. Over the
Work Life Balance (WLB) is not a new past decade, a rise in workplace violence,
different tomor- concept. How it has evolved with time could an increase in levels of absenteeism as well
row. The right be understood with the following matrix: as rising workers' compensation claims is
Adapted from: Work-Life balance of Women all evidence of an unhealthy work life bal-
balance for you Employees by Lakshmipriya & Neena S. ance. Employee assistance professionals
when you are Let's first define what work-life balance say there are many causes for this situation
is not. It does not mean ranging from personal
single will be an equal balance. Trying ambition and the pres-
different when to schedule an equal sure of family obligations
number of hours for to the accelerating pace
you marry, or if each of your work and of technology.
you have chil- personal activities is It is clear that prob-
unrewarding and unre- lems caused by stress
dren; when you alistic. Life is, and have become a major
start a new should be, more fluid concern to both employ-
than that. Your best ers and employees.
career as individual work-life bal- Symptoms of stress are
opposed to ance will vary over time, manifested both physio-
often on a daily basis. logically and psychologi-
when you are The right balance for cally. Persistent stress
nearing retire- you today may be differ- can result in cardiovas-
ent tomorrow. The right cular diseases, sexual
ment balance for you when health problems, a weak-
you are single will be er immune system and
different when you frequent headaches, stiff
marry, or if you have muscles or backache. It
children; when you start a new career as can also result in poor coping skills, irri-
opposed to when you are nearing retire- tability, jumpiness, insecurity, exhaustion,
ment. There is no perfect, one-size fits all and difficulty concentrating. Stress may also
balance you should be striving for. perpetuate or lead to binge eating, smoking
The best work-life balance is different and alcohol consumption.
for each of us because we all have different An example of the effects of work-relat-
priorities and different lives. However, at the ed stress is exhibited in the life of Barbara
core of an effective work-life balance defini- Agoglia as recounted in Forbes. Ms Agoglia
tion are two key everyday concepts that are was a director in American Express' small
relevant to each of us. They are daily business unit. After working for more than
achievement and enjoyment; ideas almost 50 hours each week, as well as driving a 90-
deceptive in their simplicity. Engraining a minute commute each day, she was on the
fuller meaning of these two concepts takes brink of a burnout. The "breaking point"
us most of the way to defining a positive came when her son started school and she
work-life balance. didn't have the time to wait with him at his

The
30 Edge
bus stop. She compared her life to "the toward their organization's efforts to sup-
Employers can
hamster-on-the-wheel" and felt her only port work-life balance also indicated a
option was to quit. much lower intent to leave the organization, help create an
Another example, according to James greater pride in their organization, a will-
environment
Campbell Quick, a professor of organiza- ingness to recommend it as a place to work
tional behavior at the University of Texas- and higher overall job satisfaction. that encourages
Arlington, is: "The average tenure of presi- Employers can help create an environ-
work-life bal-
dents at land-grant universities in the past ment that encourages work-life balance by
ten years has dropped from approximately offering flexible arrangements, such as part- ance by offering
seven to three-and-a- time work, flexible
flexible arrange-
half years." hours, generous
In an article in parental leave or ments, such as
livemint.com, telecommuting. Offering
child care arrangements
part-time work,
Rajeshwari Sharma
argues that "Indians can also relieve stress on flexible hours,
care about work-life bal- parents in the work-
place. More proactive
generous
ance more than money".
She writes that accord- employers can provide parental leave
ing to the bi-annual compulsory leave, strict
maximum hours and
or telecommut-
global consumer opin-
ion survey by market foster an environment ing. Offering
research company The that encourages employ-
ees not to continue
child care
Nielsen Co, Indians'
concerns over balancing working after hours. It is arrangements
work and life have sur- generally only highly
skilled workers that can
can also relieve
passed worries about a
slowing economy. She enjoy such benefits as stress on work-
says: "About 20% of written in their con-
tracts, although many
ing parents
Indians cite achieving
this balance as their main worry; 13% cite professional fields would not go so far as to
the economy as the second biggest. Globally, discourage workaholic behaviour. Unskilled
the state of economy is the biggest concern, workers will almost always have to rely on
with 20% of respondents citing it. bare minimum legal requirements.
A booming economy has resulted in LAWS AND POLICIES:
better jobs and salaries. However, this Certain Indian laws are providing bene-
has brought in long work schedules, leav- fits related to work-life balance, hence it
ing individuals with very little time to bal- becomes necessary to understand them,
ance their work and life," says Sarang like the Equal Opportunity Act, 1995, which
Panchal, Nielsen's managing director, states that all individuals, including those
customized research, Asia-Pacific, India, who fall under the protected classes, have
China and Greater China. "It is not sur- an equal opportunity for employment and
prising that most Indians consider work- advancement within the organization.
life balance as their biggest concern since The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 Act
demanding careers are taking a toll on No. 25 Of 1976 [11th February, 1976] — an
their family lives." Act to provide for the payment of equal
The third biggest concern for Indians remuneration to men and women workers
(12%) is parent's welfare and happiness, the and for the prevention of discrimination on
highest for any Asian country". ground of sex, against women in the matter
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE EMPLOYER of employment and for matters connected
Companies are beginning to realize the therewith or incidental thereto.
importance of helping employees' better For the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
handle the pressures of their jobs as well as Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full
their families. Research by the Kenexa Participation) Act, 1995"- "The Persons
Research Institute in 2007 shows that with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
employees who were more favourable Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

The
Edge 31
 Act, 1995" came into force on February 7,
Some ways that 1996. This law is an important landmark
Deutsche Bank and is a significant step in the direction of
ensuring equal opportunities for people
helps employees with disabilities and their full participation
accomplish a de- in the nation building. The Act provides for
both preventive and promotional aspects of
stress regime rehabilitation like education, employment
include part- and vocational training, job reservation,
research and manpower development, cre-
time working ation of barrier-free environment, rehabili-
and telecommut- tation of persons with
disability, unemploy-
ing, sabbaticals, ment allowance for the
job sharing and disabled, special insur-
ance scheme for the
timeout during disabled and establish-
family circum- ment of homes for per-
sons with severe dis-
stances (maxi- ability.
mum twice, for There are different
laws and policies for
periods of up to different countries. For
six months) instance, in the US, the
1990s saw the intro-
duction of additional
laws designed to help
the American worker.
A current law guaran-
tees employees time
off under the Family and Medical Leave Act
of 1993. Some ways that Deutsche Bank
helps employees accomplish this include
part-time working and telecommuting, sab-
baticals, job sharing and timeout during
family circumstances (maximum twice, for
periods of up to six months).
Denmark and Norway have the highest
level of maternity benefits — Norway pro-
vides 96 weeks of paid maternity leave
while Denmark provides 52. American
workers average approximately ten paid
holidays a year while British workers aver-
age 25 holidays and Germans 30.
Americans work 12 weeks more in a year
in total hours than Europeans.
In Europe, the working time regulation
has implemented a maximum of 48 hours
of work a week. Many countries have opted
for fewer hours. In Britain, legislation has
been passed allowing parents of children
under six to request for a more flexible
work schedule. The Government of Japan
recognizes that the realization of a gender
equal society in which all people regard-
less of gender, can participate and be
empowered to work to their full potential
is an issue of the highest priority that will
decide the country's future course in the
21st century.
Australian businesses are using John
Howard's workplace laws to strike a better
balance between work and family life, with
a dramatic increase in time off allowed so
that employees can look after sick children
or elderly relatives.
Accenture India
believes that fun at
work helps in creating
a work culture that is
both conducive to
great performance, as
well as being fun and
stimulating.
Accenture's fun pro-
gramme includes pro-
viding gyms at work-
place which negates the
need to travel to a gym
outside, saving time
and effort spent on traf-
fic signal. Moreover, it
gives employees a
much needed break
during long hours of
work and bolsters their health as well.
Employee well-being is ingrained into
every aspect of IBM's working environ-
ment, from design of the building to safe
operation of the facility; design of worksta-
tion to training and awareness on
ergonomics; ensuring compliance to local
as well as global standards. Workplace con-
ditions and programme compliance are
regularly reviewed, with assessments per-
formed both by internal and external
health and safety professionals.
Casual dressing, flexi-work hours,
recreation facilities like gym and gaming,
bunk bed for power naps and extreme
sports like bungee-jumping... Yahoo
employees have it all. The multihued and
vibrant office floors are based on themes
ranging from cars to music; and conference
rooms are named like Porches or Def
Leppard. 'Chill out nooks' are dominated
by chess, TT, billiards tables and football —
all a visual proof of their fun-filled work life.
Getting caught in the work/life balance
trap will continue to be a challenge. Careful

The
32 Edge
 Schedule your
Fortgang, author of Living Your Best Life and Now What? 90 Days to a New Life
Direction, recommends evaluating the state of your life with the following quiz. time efficiently
True or false: at work. Put
1. I have more than enough time to do what I want to do.
2. I am on a health regimen that helps me feel energized. yourself on your
3. I look forward to every day. calendar and
4. There are no people in my life (at home or at work) who drain me.
5. I love my home (location, contents, the feel, the style). take some time
6. I have no clutter in my home and/or office. for yourself
7. I live a life pursuing what I want instead of what I should do.
8. My work is satisfying/ rewarding. and your family/
9. I take at least two weeklong vacations a year. friends. Leave
10. I do not work on weekends.
11. I get plenty of sleep. work on time at
12. I have plenty of quality time with my children and/or the people who matter to me. least three days
13. I have at least one hobby or pastime outside of my work and family activities.
14. I eat foods that make me feel energized instead of sluggish. a week. There
15. I have the space to take at least 15 minutes of silence a day. are times when
16. I have friends that are easy to be with and a joy to spend time with.
17. I carry no heavy emotional burdens or addictive behaviors. working late
Give yourself one point for every time you said "true." If you answered "true" more just can't be
often than "false" (a score of at least 9), you are probably living a well-balanced life.
If you scored 8 or less, your lifestyle may need some fine-tuning. helped, but
schedule your
planning and personal effort is the advice BBudget your time both in and out of the time to leave on
from those who have found balance in both office: Schedule your time efficiently at time three days
career and home life. As a respondent sum- work. Put yourself on your calendar and
marized: "Plan, prioritize and schedule as take some time for you and your a week
efficiently as possible... and don't be afraid family/friends. Leave work on time at
of hard work!" least three days a week. There are times
So, whether you call it a work life effec- when working late just can't be helped,
tiveness programme or a work life balance but schedule your time to leave on time
programme, the goals are same: three days a week.
To immediately and consistently create CC o n t r o l i n t e r r u p t i o n s a n d d i s t r ac -
more value and balance every day for the tions: Stay focused while in the office, and
individual budget your time effectively. Try to sched-
To drive personal commitment and ule a block of time during the day without
accountability to the organization meetings when you can focus on your
To drive productivity tasks with minimal interruptions.
It doesn't matter if the programme is EExplore the availability of flexi-time:
called work life effectiveness or work life Research flexi-time options within your
balance. We need to stop being hung up organization. If available, it may be a help-
on terminology and start focusing on tools ful solution.
that are necessary to achieve the best SSeize the weekend: Plan your time off
results possible. By educating managers as you plan your work week.
and employees with skills to help them- SSchedule activities with family and
selves create their own best life work friends, a weekend trip, or just something
effectiveness, the employer can see fun. Make your time away from work count!
breakthrough returns on investment and BBalance is not better time manage-
a lasting positive impact on the entire ment, but better boundary management.
organization. To conclude, some of the Balance means making choices and enjoy-
strategies to strike a balance between ing those choices.
work and job are: — Betsy Jacobson

The
Edge 33
USER’S MANUAL

ACCOUNTING
FOR CONSUMPTION
D
uring the 1960s and 1970s, there
were two major accounting
developments in Germany. The
first concept, called
Einzelkostenrechnung, was highly
influential in the academic field
and involved assigning all
expenses directly to cost objects.
The second concept, called
Grenzplankostenrech-
Navneet Saxena nung called Resource
Assistant Professor, Consumption Accounting
Finance & Accounting (RCA) is in use today. The
main idea behind the
RCA is the responsibility
centre. Responsibility centres play
a key role in manufacturing firms when it
comes to managing cost. The RCA helps to management
keep the cost centres in check in areas relies on in order to
such as cost-planning and cost-control, assess productivity and
while measuring efficiency. ways of improving it.
Cost-centres, direct and indirect alike, As for product costing, the RCA can
comprised variable as well as fixed costs. provide information regarding variable
When creating a budget for planning pur- costs and full costs. In a first stage of
poses, the expenses for each cost centre product costing, manufacturing support
are estimated and then allocated through- departments are assigned to their own
out the year. These amounts budgeted for cost centre. In the second stage, of prod-
cost become the responsibility of centre’s uct costing, budgeted costs are allocated
standards for “efficient resource con- to products. There are certain costs that
sumption”. cannot be assigned to direct manufactur-
Each month cost centres produce ing centres, such as the costs of the mar-
reports that include planned demand and keting department, that are later added to
actual demand for resources and the a product group.
expenses associated with it. The use of The RCA makes use of a large number
standard costs helps management deter- of cost centres, chargeback systems and
mine, that what is an allowable cost in measures for determining the demand for
meeting actual demand for resources? resources. The RCA is mainly beneficial to
In order to evaluate a cost centre’s effi- use within organizations that have been
ciency RCA takes into consideration the well-defined and organizations that have
usage variance. This variance is defined as products with long life cycles because it is
the difference between actual costs and able to develop better standards over a
standard costs for the centre. The use of long period of time.
this variance, as well as others pertaining The pros and cons of RCA can change
to volume and price, generates reports that depending on each company’s circum-
The
34 Edge

stances. In the past two decades, German
managers realized that RCAs focus on
direct costs would no longer provide them
with the best information for control. This
resulted in two important changes:
 A focus on indirect processes.
A focus on product development as a
means of controlling product cost.
These changes emerged as a means of
understanding what costs are for today
and how to influence product costs for the
future. Germany did not invent the basic
ideas behind these two concepts. It took
the idea of managing indirect costs from
ABC costing and the idea of influencing
costs in early stages of developing a prod-
uct from Japan’s target costing.
Another important development in
German cost management is
Prozesskostenrechnung (process costing or
German version of ABC). Created in 1987,
it integrates concepts of ABC into German
control systems. Process costing makes a
distinction between processes and sub-
processes.
Cost management usually pays more
attention to main processes in order to
plan and monitor improvement in produc-
tivity. Indirect-costs from main processes
are assigned to the outcome using a single
cost driver. The German concept of process
costing mainly emphasizes indirect activi-
ties, whereas RCA is still used to provide
cost data for control in production activi-
ties and departments.
RCA can be used
with at least
three different
approaches.
First, an RCA
system can be
used. Second,
RCA principles
can be imple-
mented incre-
mentally. Third,
the RCA princi-
ples can be used
Application of RCA
The RCA can be used with at least three subjectively,
different approaches. First, an RCA system without any
can be used. Second, RCA principles can
be implemented incrementally. Third, the changes in the
RCA principles can be used subjectively cost manage-
without any changes in the cost manage-
ment system. Although RCA was designed ment system
to be implemented in a comprehensive
manner, some consultants have reported
success with limited application of RCA
principles to improve performance in
select areas.
The use of these three approaches of
implementing RCA should be considered if
an organization has any of the following
problems:
 Unpredicted wasted resources (e.g.,
actual excess/idle capacity) or an inability
to forecast resource-to-resource needs and
resource utilization (e.g., planned
excess/idle capacity),
 Complaints by product and service-
line managers of over-costing due to unfair
inclusion of idle capacity costs not caused
by their products or service-lines.
 Managers, working with an inconsis-
tent view of the nature of cost, encounter-
ing the output-side fixed-cost-death-spiral
when they make profit optimization deci-
sions (eg, product rationalization),
 Not enough resources or an inability
to determine where resources should be
deployed (e.g., shifting people and equip-
ment between departments).
The
Edge 35
Under-costing of  Under costing of the actual level of
future resource spending (and subsequent
the actual level process and output-costs) due to inade-
of future quate consideration of the economic
dynamics of fixed, step-fixed, and propor-
resource spend- tional (variable) costs.
ing due to  Outsourcing decisions not having the
desired results (eg, encountering the input-
inadequate side fixed-cost-death-spiral with existing
consideration of information), or
 An inability to take appropriate cor-
the economic rective action due to a lack of comparison
dynamics of between plans and actual.
Three Pillars of RCA
fixed, step-fixed The RCA is based on three central con-
and proportional cepts or pillars that
provide important
(variable) costs benefits. The three pil-
is another factor lars include specific
perspectives regarding
resources, the use of a
quantity-based
approach, and the
nature of costs. There
are several facets or
dimensions to each of
these three central
concepts.
First, the RCA is
fundamentally
resource focused; yet it
is comprehensive in scope. The RCA rec-
ognizes that some resources exist to serve
other resources. Thus, their cost should be
assigned to those resources. This require-
ment of RCA results in fully cost-resources.
Drivers are identified for all resource
pool-to-consumer relationships (including
both activities and other resource pools as
consumers of those resources). This
requirement strives to achieve a cause-
and-effect relation to properly reflect oper-
ational costs in cost assignment.
The resource focus in RCA makes spe-
cific requirements for accounting capacity.
These requirements include:
 Defining and managing capacity
where it resides-on the resource,
 Making excess/idle capacity visible
through full disclosure, but not arbitrarily
allocating it to products or other cost
objects, and
 Consistent use of a capacity-supplied
concept (eg, theoretical or practical capac-
The
36 Edge
ity) for denominator volume.
Second, the RCA uses quantifiable out-
put measures for resource pools. The RCA
decouples dollar or cost value relation-
ships defining resource consumption.
RCA measures, all resource outputs in
quantifiable units rather than dollars.
Only then are the cost assignments made
to resource quantities.
Third, the RCA recognizes two impor-
tant dimensions of the nature of costs. The
first dimension is the initial/inherent
nature of costs, in that they are either fixed
or proportional in their resource consump-
tion patterns. Strategy and organizational
choices determine
whether costs are fixed
or proportional when
they are initially
incurred.
The second dimen-
sion, is that the poten-
tial nature of propor-
tional costs may
change at the point of
resource consumption.
Resources supplied in
a proportional manner
can be consumed in a
pattern consistent with
fixed cost treatment.
Thus, the method of cost assignment
should treat proportional costs as either
proportional or fixed as consumption pat-
terns dictate. In contrast, the inherent
nature of a fixed cost does not change with
consumption patterns.
The above concept of RCA may be sum-
marized in the form of some basic features
as follows:
 Cost assignment follows a mixed pat-
tern of activity based and direct assign-
ment based on resource consumption.
 Fixed costs that cannot be traced
based on causality is never allocated to
product units but is reported as variance.
Resources supplied minus resources used
are reported as unused resources or
excess/idle capacity.
 Replacement cost depreciation is
used for presentation of data for internal
decision support system.
 Theoretical capacity is taken into
consideration for cost assignment and as
denominator for calculating standard rate.
 The RCA is fully integrated with all
other relevant organization systems and
management control systems and though
focuses on resources but readily includes
the features of Activity Based Costing
(ABC), Marginal costing, Absorption cost-
ing, Standard cost set after following a laid
down procedure, a complete set of seg-
mented income statements, activity based
resource planning, primary costs, sec-
ondary costs and more.
 The RCA uses a comprehensive
approach as part of an enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system, allowing the inte-
gration of cost manage-
ment methods that
have often been
applied in isolation.
Difficulties in imple -
mentation
Every system how-
soever scientific, inte-
grated and compre-
hensive it may be; is
not free from any diffi-
culty in its implemen-
tation. RCA is also not
an exception to this
general rule.
 Organization
interested to implement RCA is to have in
its possession own customized, standalone
software to facilitate data capture and pro-
viding output after due processing. ERP
system with proper integration of financial
and logical applications with real time pro-
cessing capabilities is best suited for RCA
implementation. But it requires updating
from time to time to cater to the changing
economic and technological advancement
facing the enterprise.
 Enterprise wide implementation of
RCA is a quite expensive affair and mostly
beyond the reach of small and medium
enterprises where cost may prove to be a
prohibitive factor. So proper cost benefit
analysis may have to be undertaken before
taking a final decision for implementing
RCA.
 The RCA features a lot of details and
produces too much information creating
excessive confusion and complexities to
the operating managers as to how to use
all those information and this paradox of For proper plan-
plenty may act as a detrimental factor in
effective implementation of RCA, particu- ning and control
larly for non-accounting managers. and to effective-
 For proper planning and control and
to effectively use the RCA methodologies ly use RCA
managers should acquaint themselves methodologies,
with detailed conceptual design phase.
Without this involvement, the responsibili- managers
ty accounting which serves as a key to con- should acquaint
trol is bound to destabilize.
 Top management must accept, themselves with
Resource Consumption Management detailed concep-
approach and extend their full support at
all levels of its implementation otherwise tual design.
the comprehensive- Without this
ness and integration
being the two limbs of involvement the
RCA shall be jeopar- responsibility
dized. Financial, tech-
nical and non-techni- accounting
cal matters should be which serves as
properly emphasized
for proper implemen- a key to control
tation of RCA. Any will destabilize
neglect of non-techni-
cal matter considering
unimportant will cre-
ate difficulties in effec-
tive RCA implementa-
tion.
But most of the difficulties enumerated
above are management related in nature,
which can be removed to a great extent
through disciplined approach and orga-
nized efforts. Further, initial teething trou-
bles will settle down gradually with posi-
tive attitude, firm commitment and con-
stant practice and fruits of better cost plan-
ning and control can be reaped by an
enterprise to its best advantages and as
such more and more firms are adopting
this system for better cost management.
References:
 Resource Consumption Accounting:
Cost Management system of the future by
Dr. P K Chakraborty, the Management
Accountant, June 2008
 Resource Consumption Accounting:
The Next Generation of Cost Management
Systems by Clinton, keys, Focus Magazine,
issue no. 5, 2004
 Bring on German Cost Accounting,
Sharman, 2003, Strategic Finance

The
Edge 37
HUMAN ISSUES

BEING
HUMANE
INSIDE OUT
O
ften we try to create our identity of "success", and the material things that
with our possessions and position, create the impression of status.
but our identity is actually The very constant drive to
created by our behaviour, by acquire the trappings of “suc-
what we do and more correctly cess” creates hassles because to
how we do it. What matters is not attain superficiality one has to
what you possess or the position spend their limited amount of
that you hold, but who you are money to buy things they actual-
and how you behave. ly don't need, just to stand
Our society has become among the superficial crowd of
superficial which tend to mea- the society.
sure a person with its posses- This leads to constant grow-
sions and sta- ing insecurity in an individ-
Poonam Golani
tus in the ual. There are several
society. We Co-Chairman's Secretariat queries which haunts one’s
no longer mind can I afford these
measure them by their things, what if someone gets something
contribution to the society. bigger, better, faster, brighter? These end-
This has created an enor- less queries shatter one’s peace of mind for
mous pressure on the illusion of materialistic comforts and
an individual gains.
to constantly We have to learn to do more with less.
flaunt the One needs to realize that personality is
trappings more important than possessions. One
should realize that what you do in life is
more important than what you possess.
One needs to understand the fact that it is
important to count on life with what you do
and how you do more than what you pos-
sess.
Actions have a greater influence on life
than the material gains you possess. The
only thing that you take along with you
wherever you go, is your own ‘self’.
Therefore, it is important to realize that
your inner self is worth taking along. All

The
38 Edge

materialistic possessions are transient.
They may be here today with you and
gone tomorrow. Of all the changes that
have taken place in your life, only ‘you’ is
constant.
In a nutshell, the spiritual message by
Nirankari Mission is, "Choose to be a
human being, instead of a human hav-
ing". Craving for possessions is often blind
and we consume our lives, while we
intend to live our life. This lust for ‘having’
more will never end and will create per-
petual disturbances.
There is an interesting story of a pencil
which will depict the gist of this philoso-
phy of life.
Once upon a time, a pencil maker took
a few pencils aside, before he put them
into the box. "There are five things, that
you need to know," he told the pencils,
"before I send you out into the world.
Always remember them and never forget,
and you will become the best pencil wher-
ever you will go."
"(1): You will be able to do many great
things, but only if you allow yourself to be
held in someone's hand.
(2): You will experience a painful
sharpening from time to time, but you'll
need it to become a better pencil.
(3): You will be able to correct any mis-
takes you might make.
(4): The most important part of you will
always be what's inside, and
(5): On every surface you are used on,
you must leave your mark. No matter
You will be able
to do many
great things, but
only if you allow
yourself to be
held in God's
hand. And allow
other human
beings to access
you for the many
gifts you pos-
what the condition, you must continue to sess. You will
write."
The pencils understood and promised experience a
to remember what the pencil maker told painful sharpen-
them, and they went into the box with the
same purpose and mission in their heart. ing from time to
There is a beautiful message in this time, by going
moral boosting story. Now replace the
place of the pencil with self. If you always through various
remember and never forget them, you will problems in life,
be the best, wherever you go.
You will be able to do many great but you'll need
things, but only if you allow yourself to be them to become
held in God's hand. And allow other
human beings to access you for the many a stronger
gifts you possess. person
You will experience a painful sharp-
ening from time to time, by going through
various problems in life, but you'll need
them to become a stronger person.
You will be able to correct any mis-
takes you might make.
The most important part of you will
always be what are you from inside.
Wherever you walk, you must leave
your mark. No matter what the situation
is, you must continue to do your duties.
Allow this parable on pencil to encour-
age you to realize that you are special and
unique. Only you can accomplish the pur-
pose for which you are born.
Your life has a meaning and, therefore,
never get discouraged by anything you
face in life. Do never think that your life
is insignificant. You are here to fulfill a
purpose which is only meant for you.
The
Edge 39
 EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT

HAPPINESS
LIES BEYOND GDP
S
enator Robert Kennedy, when Pride and Prejudice, Money can not The research findings by Pew
running for US President in buy happiness, but it can buy all Research Center (http://pewre-
1968, said in his speech about those things which will make you search.org) suggests that happiness
GDP: “It does not allow for the health happy! Indeed. It is not long back that trend line of Americans barely has
of our children, the quality of their our Finance Minister P ripples, remained constant over a
education, or joy of their play. It does Chidambaram reiterated that the cel- long period of time. Further, just a
not include the beauty of ebrated recipe we have for third of adults (34 percent) say that
our poetry or the strength all kinds of misery caused they are very happy. Another half say
of our marriages, the intel- by inflation, unemploy- they are pretty happy, and 15 percent
ligence of our public ment and poverty is consider themselves not too happy.
debate or the integrity of growth. These numbers remain stable over a
our public officials. It mea- Where are we factually, very long period of time.
sures neither our courage, with Robert Kennedy and Income of Americans: The survey
nor our wisdom, nor our our old grandma or with shows that nearly half (49 percent) of
devotion to our country. It Mr. Darcy and our learned those with annual family income of
measures everything, in Finance Minister? I guess more than $100,000 reported to be
short, except that Pankaj Prabhat this is not the right very happy, while just 24 percent of
which makes life question to ask. How those with annual family income of
worthwhile, and it can Professor does it matter which less than $30,000 reported to be very
tell us everything about side of the argument happy. So, this supports the argu-
America except why we are proud we are, all we look for is happiness. ments of Mr. Darcy and Mr.
that we are Americans.” Happiness is one commodity which Chidambaram while in a way it says
Was Robert Kennedy right? If so, may not be equally available to all, that Mr. Kennedy and our old grand-
why do we care about GDP? but for sure it is equally demanded by ma have been misinformed! Is it so?
Perhaps, Americans would all. Therefore, the Declaration of Sometimes, even statistical tools
always have a thing to say. Are they Independence by Americans says — work wonders (most of the time it
indeed serious about it? In India, we we all have certain unalienable rights doesn’t!). Looking through the prism
are well familiar with the old grand- among them “life, liberty and the of statistics, happiness and income
ma’s dictum which says “money can pursuit of happiness”. seem correlated. But this does not
not buy happiness”. But then, So couple of centuries down the mean one thing leads to another.
remember Mr. Darcy in Jane Austin’s line, where are the Americans today? Perhaps, money leads to happiness.

The
40 Edge
Perhaps, happiness leads to money.
But then, perhaps, both money and
happiness are affected by more pow-
erful third factor. Mr. Kennedy and
grandma may have a shaky ground
but they are not misinformed.
Over the past four decades, the
per capita income of American’s got
more than doubled but then their
happiness is largely stagnant. In
aggregate, income has moved up, but
happiness has remained at its old
level. So, Kennedy is right that GDP
(an aggregate expression) is a hope-
less measure. More importantly,
grandma is right that money cannot
buy happiness. Statistics will have
more explanations.
First, that the relationship
between income and happiness is not
linear but non-linear (may be qua-
dratic in nature with an upper turn-
ing point). If we go by this, it would
mean that the relationship between
income and happiness never mean to
suggest that the linearity would con-
tinue till extremely high level of
income, with billionaire happier
than the millionaire who in turn
are happier than those who earn
less a million. What it suggests is
that there is a point up to which
money will add to happiness but
beyond certain point money is not
the main source of happiness.
Second, that the trend data also
suggests what matters for happiness
is not how much money you have at
any given point of time but how
much more or less you have in com-
parison to others. This means that
interpersonal comparison plays an
important role and happiness also
depends on your percentile position
in the overall income distribution.
True, as Karl Marx said, “A house
may be large or small; as long as the
surrounding houses are equally small
it satisfies all social demands of a
dwelling. But if a palace rises besides
the little house, the little house
shrinks into a hut.”
London School of Economics’ R.
Layard in his paper Happiness: Has
Social Science a Clue? points out that
GDP fails to capture welfare as Pareto
optimality only suggests that no one
in the society can be made happier
without someone else being less
happy. Even if we account for prob-
lems such as asymmetric informa-
tion, short sightedness, externalities
and economies of scale, the GDP
approach can only suggests that a
higher real wage will make popula-
tion happier. It fails to realize that our
wants once we are above subsis-
tence, are largely derived from soci-
ety and they are major factors affect-
ing happiness.
In yet another, celebrated paper
How is Life? Combining individual
and national variables to explain
subjective well-being (NBER Working
Paper, Cambridge), J. F. Helliwell
establishes the link among social cap-
ital, education, income and well-
being. Helliwell makes use of data
from three waves of World value sur-
vey covering about 50 different coun-
tries. The study uses large interna-
tional samples of data combining
Perhaps, money leads
to happiness. Perhaps,
happiness leads to
money. But then, per-
haps, both money and
happiness are affected
by a more powerful
third factor. Mr.
Kennedy and grandma
may have a shaky
ground but they are
not misinformed
individual and societal level determi-
nants. The study concludes, that hap-
piness depends on a lot more than
purchasing power. It depends on
taste which people acquire from envi-
ronment and on the whole social con-
text in which we live. Income, work,
family and health contribute to hap-
piness and also account for overall
happiness. Factors like freedom,
religion, trust and morality are
important for upward movement of
happiness.
Studies have pointed out clearly
the distinction between the two com-
ponents of “satisfaction” (happiness);
“life (global) satisfactions” and
“domain (work, family, self, etc.) sat-
isfactions”. The leading researcher
and authority on happiness Rutt
Veenhoven visualizes happiness as
the degree to which an individual
judges the overall quality of life-as-a-
whole favorably. Psychologist
Jonathan Freeman points out that
people may pursue happiness differ-
ently, but by and large it is the same
happiness for everyone.
Therefore, happiness can be
viewed and discussed both as a glob-
al as well as individual concept.
Happiness is individual expression as
much as it is aggregate expression for
an individual as also for the society as
a whole. Therefore, both individual
and societal factors determine the
extent of rise or fall in happiness
index. We derive satisfaction mainly
from domain pursuits (income, work,
family, self etc.) and once these are
adequately met with, happiness is
largely derived from lifetime pursuits
(religiosity, culture, freedom, trust,
morality etc.).
So, who is right-grandma or Mr.
Darcy? Of course, Mr. Dacry is right
to begin with but ultimately it has to
be grandma. Happy life of a nation is
not a thing of a day-or-two but cen-
turies-after-centuries, and grandma’s
suggestion that money can not buy
happiness needs to find a place in
building of a happy nation. Indeed,
happiness lies ‘beyond GDP’.
The
Edge 41
 BOOKMARK
A great read despite the bulk
I
t has been aptly observed
that those who do not know
history are condemned to re-
live it. At a time when a fierce
debate is on, on what should be
done to revamp the global eco-
nomic governance structure, it is
instructive to read a gripping
account of how, what came to be
known as International
Monetary Fund, was set up. It is
equally interesting to see the
parallels of international trade
negotiations currently played in
the Doha round in the intricate
and acrimonious haggling that
went on between the US and UK
regarding the 'consideration'
that had to govern the Lend-
Lease programme.
Peter Clarke, former Professor
of Modern British history at
Cambridge University, has writ-
ten an excellent book on the
decline and fall of the British
Empire. Unlike most history
books, he has focused on the
close relationship between the
economics and politics of global
EXTRACTS
Now Keynes liked Americans -
on the whole. Whether they liked
him was a matter of taste, or at
least of style. Soon to be created
Lord Keynes in 1942, he was the
most famous economist in the
world, and knew it. Keynes, the
exquisitely English product of
King's College, Cambridge, found
that he was a hero to many young
American Keynesians, notably in
the other Cambridge in
Massachusetts, where Harvard
University proved particularly
receptive to his novel ideas and pro-
vided many earnest young New
The
42 Edge
BOOK REVIEW
B. Bhattachatyya
Director General
Title: PETER CLARKE, THE LAST
THOUSAND DAYS OF THE BRITISH
EMPIRE
Author: Allen Lane (2007)
Hard Bound/Pages:513 Price: Rs 750
Dealers to serve in Washington.
But not all Americans were econ-
omists - Keynes could sound too
clever by half to laymen. Not all
economists were Keynesians -
Keynes' ideas struck defenders of
'sound money' as outrageous non-
sense. Not all American Keynesian
economists were captivated - the
Cambridge house-style, overlaid
with anglocentric Bloomsbury pre-
ciousness, was not everyone's cup
of tea. (Page:12)
**************************
Bretton Woods proved a triumph
for White and Keynes alike. Keynes
was in his lucid and persuasive
mood; and the effect was irre-
sistible, Robbins recorded. 'At such
war. The fact that it’s the
strength of economy that deter-
mines the war's fate as well as
the distribution of post-war
gains, both economic and politi-
cal, has been analyzed and
proven conclusively by the
author.
One highlight of this book
which makes it a great reading is
that it is based, inter alia, on the
diaries maintained by key people
— statesmen, generals, bureau-
crats and economists involved
directly or indirectly with World
War II. At least two of the
diarists were famous economists,
Prof L Robbins and James
Meade.
The pen picture that the
author has provided on John
Maynard Keynes during his long
and tortuous negotiations with
the Americans on The Lend
Lease, as well as Bretton Woods
institutions, is fascinating. It is a
big book and requires patience to
read through but patience is pro-
fusely rewarded.
moments, I often find myself think-
ing that Keynes must be one of the
most remarkable men that have
fancy , the wide vision, above all the
incomparable sense of the fitness of
words, all combine to make some-
thing several degrees beyond the
limit of ordinary human achieve-
ment.' Bent on reaching a mutual-
ly acceptable consensus, building
on the solid Anglo-American staff
work that dominated the confer-
ence, Keynes' genius was both
enrapturing and persuasive on this
occasion.' The Americans sat
entranced as the god-like visitor
sang and the golden light played
around. When it was all over, there
was very little discussion. (Page:32)
 The beauty of fish principles
M
y suggestion before you
read this book: Visit the
Pike Place fish market in
Seattle. Well not physically, do it on
YouTube. Watch the fishmongers
make a job as mundane as selling
fish into the most fun-filled experi-
ence for both the seller and the cus-
tomer.
This book is a result of this expe-
rience. It's an attempt to bring life
and vitality into routine jobs within
any organization. "It shows you how
changing your attitude lets you enjoy
work and life."
FISH! OMNIBUS is a collection of
two booklets (all bestsellers) and a
fictional story. The first book
brought out by Stephen Laudin was
titled Fish Tales and the second
Fish! Stick. FISH! OMNIBUS adds on
to the two parts and brings you the
story of a fictional manager Mary
Jane who has to work with the most
significant but ineffective team in
office. Her team is labeled "toxic
energy dump", which is an insult to
her meticulous working.
A walk along the public market
while pondering her unenthusiastic
team brought her face to face with
the Pike Place fishmongers who
were not just selling fish but also
entertaining customers with fish-
catching sessions, animated repeti-
tion of orders and educating the
clients about the fish on sale.
Having witnessed the energy, the
flow of information and the attitude
of the fishmongers, Jane gets moti-
vated to transform her "toxic energy
dump" into a vibrant work unit. This
gives rise to mental thumb rules
which, if followed by all organiza-
tions, will bring in more rewards for
the company as also for the employ-
ees.
The mantra for success: "There is
always a choice about the way you
do your work, even if there is not a
choice about the work itself." You
BOOK REVIEW
Monica Mor
Assistant Professor
Title: FISH! OMNIBUS
Author: Stephen C. Laudin, Harry Paul
and John Christensen
Publisher: Hodder Mobins (2006)
Paper back/Pages:405 Price: Rs 295
need to ask yourself a question, "Is
this going to be a good day?" and the
answer should be, "Yes, I choose to
make this a great day."
In the second part, titled Fish
Tales, the book goes on to talk about
fish principles used by the author in
sessions that he took with compa-
nies wanting a change in the work
environment.
The first principle was "Play"
which said work made fun gets done
faster. Play is not just an activity, it's
a state of mind that sparks creative
solutions.
The second principle: "Make their
day". When you make someone's
day through a small gesture, you can
turn even routine encounters into
special memories.
The third principle, "Be there":
The glue in our humanity is in being
present for one another. Being there
is a great way to fight burnout.
The fourth principle, "Choose
your attitude": When you look for
the worst, you will find it every-
where. When you learn you have
the power to choose your response
to what life begets, you look for
the best and find unimaginable
opportunities.
The application of fish princi-
ples is highlighted with the exam-
ple of Sprint Global Connection
Services in Kansas, a call centre
where employees are not only
young but also unwilling to work
on Saturday nights. The book
takes us through the efforts of
Sprint’s HR team which got in
music to soothe the frayed nerves
of employees and, where senior
management dresses up as Elvis
Presley and Co to break barriers
between management and staff.
The third part of the book is
actually the second booklet from
the Fish series titled Fish! Stick. It
talks of new visions for any orga-
nization. "External energy is nec-
essary at the beginning of any
large-scale change initiative. To
implement a new vision, you must
have everyone's attention. But
external energy is only effective
short-term. Eventually, external
energy must be replaced by natur-
al energy."
Example comes through the
Good Samaritan Hospital in New
Jersey where attrition was a fact of
life, but realization struck that the
turnover was preventable. That's
where the management started
working towards "IT". They felt
the only way to find 'it' was to
have a rethink and talk about work
with co-workers. The hospital then
discovered that the secret of keep-
ing its vision alive was "finding our
IT inside the vision, to living IT
and to coaching IT". ‘Find IT, live
IT, coach IT’ became the motto.
The
Edge 43
 A lucid referral for managers
R
amanujam Sridhar's book
One Land One Billion Minds,
Insights on Branding in
India, makes for captivating read-
ing. It is captivating because of the
breadth of coverage of varied func-
tions and aspects of marketing
communications, especially brand-
ing. It is delightful because it has
abundant with examples relevant
to the context of discussion.
The book, spread across ten
chapters, begins with the section
on Indian consumers. Titled, One
Land, Billion Minds, this chapter
peeps into the nuances of an
Indian consumer. It correctly dis-
cusses the case of the American
giant Kellogg's and its inability to
understand the Indian consumer.
In the same section, the author
talks about the influence of family,
cricket and Bollywood on the
Indian consumer. In consecutive
sections, he focuses on branding
beginning with a section on the
basics of branding and covering
contemporary aspects of branding
such as corporate branding, tech-
no-branding, advertising and PR.
The author cites interesting
examples. Like, he talks about
Titan and how it managed the
brand overtime. He tells you how
Titan overtook HMT, the wide
range of products that it offers
that includes Sonata, Titan Steel
and Titan Edge and its retailing
network, advertising, roping
Aamir Khan and eventually its
corporate branding and how all
these moves have helped the
brand evolve.
In another instance, the
author talks about an offbeat yet
a relevant example of the news-
paper, The Hindu. This 126-year-
old Indian brand has been able
to sustain itself in spite of stiff
competition. Thankfully, its regu-
lar technological updates and
The
44 Edge
BOOK REVIEW
Deepa Kumari
Assistant Professor
Title: ONE LAND, ONE BILLION MINDS:
INSIGHTS ON BRANDING OF MIND
Author: Ramanujam Sreedhar (2007)
Publisher: Productivity &
Quality Publishing, Chennai
Paper Bound/Pages:400 Price: Rs 550
constant endeavour to under-
stand its consumers helped The
Hindu remain a leading brand of
newspapers in India.
The chapter on Public
Relations is also significant. PR is
relatively a newer phenomenon
for Indian companies.
Nevertheless, the importance of
PR cannot be denied. The author
quotes the case of Virgin CEO
Richard Branson. He humorous-
ly puts across the PR tactics used
by Branson and how they helped
him gain an audience across the
globe.
The author also talks about
the famous split of the Reliance
Industries Limited, and goes on
to discuss Mukesh and Anil
Ambani and the PR exercises
done by their respective firms.
Towards the end of the section,
the author shares some of the
lessons learnt in PR.
Yet another timely and rele-
vant topic that the book address-
es is that of crisis management.
Time and again, organizations
have been found wanting in pre-
paredness to handle the sudden
and the unexpected, merely
'reacting' to such situations.
The example of the successful
management of the 'Tylenol' cri-
sis by Johnson and Johnson is
well discussed in the book, to
illustrate the importance of an
effective PR strategy that is
backed with preparedness.
Similarly, the subject of internal
communications is dealt with
impressively and to effect.
The concluding chapters of the
book are the authors' tribute to
the masters of advertising David
Ogilvy and R.K. Swamy. The for-
mer he never met, and the latter,
he worked for a long time. The
book ends with an emphasis on
the need for adapting and deliv-
ering to the new-age consumers,
who are forever seeking change
in the midst of reduced time
spans. Concepts of more from
less, branding as a marketing
and financial asset, the innova-
tive use of new-age media such
as the web and technology and
the competitive advantage of
new ideas coupled with well
designed strategy leave the read-
er enriched.
Written in a very lucid style (read
humour and cricket) and abundant
with examples, this book is a must-
read for brand managers, advertis-
ing and PR professionals as also
marketing consultants.
 GOLDMAN

The Indian
sensation at the
Beijing Olympics,
gold medalist
Abhinav Bindra,
was a student
of the IILM
Undergraduate
Business School.
The institute
wishes him
continued
success in all
his future
endeavours

Congrats! Abhinav
L
et us all take this opportunity same year, he won six gold medals
to congratulate Olympic gold at different international meets in
medalist Abhinav Bindra who the European circuit.
was a 2000-03 batch student at the Apart from this, he struck gold in
IILM Undergraduate Business the 2002 Manchester
School. Commonwealth Games in the air-
Bindra won the first ever individ- rifle event.
ual Olympic gold medal for India on Abhinav comes from an
August 11, 2008 in the men's 10m affluent Sikh family and is
air-rifle event. Not only was this an alumni of Doon school
India's first individual gold medal, it and St. Stephens
was also the first one in 28 years, School, Chandigarh.
since the Men's hockey team won He attended the
the gold at the Moscow Olympics Undergraduate
way back in 1980. Business School at
For this wonderful achievement, IILM in 2000-03.
Bindra was rewarded by various This immensely
state governments and private talented, young
organizations. boy from Delhi
He is the proud recipient of the has made the
2000 Arjuna Award and India’s IILM family
highest sports award, the Rajiv proud.
Gandhi Khel Ratna, of 2001. Besides We all join
this, Abhinav is the junior record today to extend our
holder in the 2001 Munich World heartiest wishes to you
Cup, where he scored 597/600. The Abhinav!

The
Edge 45
 STUDENT CORNER
MICRO FINANCE, MACRO VIEW
VIKAS BANSAL phones in India offer a huge retail canvas.
The specialisation that insurance requires

M icro finance, by definition includes

micro-insurances apart from a host
of basic financial services such as micro
in terms of financial intermediation can
be best done by banks as opposed to other
retails, due to their familiarity with insur-
saving, micro-credit, micro-pension and ance business.
micro-remittance. In India, the growth India is the only developing country in
and stock exhibited by micro saving and the world to have a special micro-insur-
credit is phenomenal. Micro insurance, a ance Act which regulates the suppliers
new entrant, is just beginning to take off through its special agency for insurance
and bank's share in micro-insurance is regulation.
just a trickle, offering insurance service to As a part of this, the insurance compa-
low-income household emerging as a big nies are mandated to perform a certain
opportunity to service provider and sup- portion of their businesses in rural and
pliers for the neediest and the excluded is social sectors. This becomes a big oppor-
the main challenges tunity for banks, as
for them. The they get commis-
opportunity to offer sion from the
such service to the insurance compa-
non-served and nies based on the
underserved popu- volume of business
lation needs to be premium sold.
weaved into the Under the insur-
retail business port- ance regulation,
folio of the Indian banks can tie up
banks. with only one
Micro-insurance insurance compa-
refers to insurance ny. With it, banks
for low-income peo- are interested in
ple, differing from setting a joint ven-
traditional insur- ture with big play-
ance in general by ers to make a foray
the modest premi- into the insurance
um and benefit sector.
packages. The Micro insurance
existing social secu- is a different ball
rity hardly covers 5 game for banks.
to 6 percent of the low-income house- Developing domain expertise on micro
holds. The recognition of the need for insurance, especially staff sensitisation,
social security mechanisms for this group sourcing professional and developing cell
is increasing among stakeholders. It is in within the banks to cater the huge
this context that micro insurance is untapped potential are the major chal-
becoming a significant tool to address the lenge areas.
risk of poor households. Banks can leverage their client service
Banks and post offices offer good retail mechanism to the best advantage of cus-
chains for delivering micro insurance ser- tomers and ensure that micro-insurance
vices. These two financial services pre- polices are sold. The banks can do service
sent huge retail canvas — over 3,00,000 through the bank assurance model in
retail for the insurance companies in urban and semi-urban areas, while for
India, who are struggling to find an retailing of products in the rural area the
appropriate retail outlet. Post office and ‘NGO-Bank-insurer’ offers the best bet.

The
46 Edge
TEAM KAPIL & 1983 MAGIC
NEHA LAL Sharma and Sandeep Patil.
The business tycoon unveiled the 25 carrot

T he majestic Long Room at the historic

Lord’s provided the perfect setting as the
1983 World Cup winning Indian team which
diamond cricket bat, signed individually by
the cricket icons of 1983, in association with
the Gitanjali Group. This product will be auc-
assembled there recently to celebrate the sil- tioned and the proceeds from it will be equal-
ver jubilee of the country’s most cherished ly shared by all members of the 1983 winning
cricket moment. team.
Dismissed as a bunch of no-hopers, Kapil Mehul Choski, chairman of the Gitanjali
Dev and his bravehearts defied all odds to Group, said: “Kapil Dev and his team created
clinch the World Cup trophy, that too against history at Lord’s in 1983. It was a match on
the mighty West Indies which was regarded which legends are written even today. They
as the most dreaded team in that era. are the gems in the truest sense. What can be
It was an evening of celebration and nos- better than diamonds to salute the legends
talgia as Kapil Dev led his teammates to the that brought the country its first World Cup
pitch at the hallowed Lord's, where India glory?”
made history on June 25, exactly 25 years The auction for the diamond-studded bat
back, to change the cricketing landscape and ball will be open for bidding across
of the country. It was a walk down the globe and is expected to be
memory lane for the players held simultaneously in India
as they sought to re-live and the UK.
those magical moments. To mark the 25th
Liquor baron Vijay anniversary of India's
Mallya felicitated the historic win, BCCI
champions at a glit- president Sharad
tering ceremony Pawar welcomed
while the UB Group the team and con-
also provided glob- gratulated them at a
al iconic spirits glittering ceremony
brand for the event, in New Delhi on
including Whyte 24th June. Thirteen
and MacKay (13), other cricketers were
Jura (10), Dalmore presented Rs 2.5 mil-
(12) and Pink Vodka, to lion and a citation.
salute the cricket icons. Pawar said: “MS Dhoni,
Every liquor brand served at captain of the victorious
the event was chosen with care Twenty/20 World Cup team, and
and to reflect the nuances of the Virat Kholi, who led India to
Indian team. an under-19 World Cup victo-
Whyte & MacKay (13), ry in Malaysia, were inspired
aged for an extra year for by Kapil’s devils. Though the
extra smoothness, was Indian team first visited
reflective of that extra England in 1932, history
mile which the Indian was created by Kapil and
team walked to win the his teammates by win-
World Cup. The 10 years ning the World Cup only
old Jura single malt sig- in 1983.”
nified the easy lifestyle of Kapil Dev looked
the island of Jura and emotional and attrib-
mirrored the breezy bat- uted the memorable
ting of Srikkanth, Yashpal victory to team effort.

The
Edge 47
 STUDENT CORNER
A STRONG PYRAMID OF INDIA
PUNEET ARORA
W e all know about big celebrities like
LM Mittal, Ratan Tata and the
Ambani brothers. They are fine examples
of doing Indians proud internationally.
But now a new name which comes to
mind is that of Prof CK Prahalad. He
needs no introduction. Every manage-
ment student knows him. He is known not
only for his prolific work but also for his
management perceptions and strategies.
Mr Prahalad is a professor, researcher,
speaker, author and prominent consul-
tant. Business Week has called him “a
brilliant teacher at the University of
Michigan” and “maybe the most influen-
tial thinker on business strategy today.”
In addition to serving Harvey C Fruehauf,
Professor of Business Administration at
the University of Michigan Business
School, Prahalad specializes in corporate
strategy and the role of top management
in large, diversified, multinational corpo-
rations.
In 1994, he co-authored the bestseller,
Competing for the Future, with Gary
Hamel. Translated into 14 languages, it
was named the best selling business book
of the year. He has won numerous
awards. The most recent include the
McKinsey Prize three times, the SMR-
PWC award (MIT Sloan Management
Review/ PricewaterhouseCoopers Award),
and the ANBAR Electronic Citation of
Excellence.
A prominent world-class guru,
Professor Prahalad has consulted with
the world’s foremost companies, such as
Ahlstrom, AT&T, Cargill, Citicorp,
Eastman Chemical, Kodak, Oracle,
Philips, Quantum, Revlon, Steelcase, and
Unilever. In addition, he serves on the
Board of Directors of NCR Corporation,
Hindustan Lever Limited and the World
Resources Institute.
His latest book, “The Fortune at the
Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating
Poverty Through Profits”, proves that the
future will develop from serving the poor,
because innovations that are developed
The
48 Edge
are superior, low price, high-volume and
world-scale. Only the best innovations
will work for both sides of the equation,
those in poverty and those in the devel-
oped countries.
He has great knowledge about how to
make a developing country developed. He
is the man who says globalization is ben-
eficial for all. In a seminar of IILM 2008,
he gave lots of examples for development
in India. He says, “I can have a cell-phone
even if I am poor. The stuff inside is the
same. You can buy a fancy one for $500
and I can buy one for nothing as long as I
get a pre-paid card. Both of us have the
same life-style but what we wear is dif-
ferent. Everybody has a watch, one can
have a $50,000 watch, and the other can
have a $5000 watch.” In simple words, he
wants to reduce lifestyle inequalities in
India as also inequalities of choice.
One more example, which I like the
most, is that we have seen that a compa-
ny produces a lot of products when
women are buying it and they think it’s a
beautiful thing to have in their house.
Build it for the poor and the rich can use
it too. Build it for the rich and the poor
can’t use it. Using this approach gets a
company more profit and also it helps the
development of a country.
Most of the time Mr Prahalad says,
“Where ever you look in India you can see
opportunities. If you have good quality,
affordable cost, access and distribution
and you are sympathetic towards the
ordinary person, don’t misbehave with
them, you co-create with them. If I intend
to look down, you don’t see the opportu-
nities. Sit with them and talk to them.”
When in villages, I find it fascinating
how interesting these people are because
they can teach you so much, they know so
much. But we just don’t treat them well
because they don’t have college degrees,
he says. Mr Prahalad is one of those per-
sons who creates history and no one is
comparable with him. He is an incredible
person, we all are proud of him. The most
important thing is to use his ideas to bet-
ter lives.
CHILDREN OF THE SAME GOD
DEEPSHIKHA MEWATI
I ndia — the second largest country in
the world — has started to make a
mark on the world map. The economic
growth of our country shows that it is
now convalesced and is about to regain
its lost honour, that of a “golden bird”.
But behind this glittering growth lies a
sharp and naked truth that has been
poisoning the souls, minds and the exis-
tence of our people for ages.
Religion, every bit of this word is
sacred and a blessing when understood
in true term. But, when misinterpreted,
this innocent word could bring disaster.
Our Constitution says, “India is a secular
country”, but the reality that lies beneath
tells a different story. This word is close-
ly related to caste and God and all the
three are inextricably intertwined.
Religion is a set of beliefs which
encompass personal faith. The basic
function of any religion is to bring
peace, prosperity and unity. But this is
not what is happening today. A group of
people, like Hindus, Muslims and
Christians, do not look like unity but like
a division. And this division is all over.
We fail to understand that groups can
never unite people. It can only give rise
to conflict.
Our society has been divided into
various communities, and each one of
them is fighting for superiority. Not only
that , it has also given rise to terrorism.
One of the best example, is the demoli-
tion of Babri mosque which later led to
the Bombay bombings of 1993. This
incident took hundreds of lives. The rev-
elry of Hindus and Muslims is something
that is being passed from generation to
generation. Any kind of religion that
results in bloodshed is not a religion. It’s
our “modern religion”, which is born out
of misunderstanding of basic beliefs.
Our society is like a sphere on outer
layer where there is a conflict of
communities and in the inner layer
where there is a battle of sexes. Modern
religion has damaged India. It has
also given rise to superstition and dis-
crimination.
Lower-caste people are not allowed to
enter temples. I wonder, since when has
God started discriminating between peo-
ple? The most shocking thing is that we
have not even spared God; we bribe him
with offerings thinking that it would bring
us happiness. But the irony of this situa-
tion is that how can we tempt our God
with materialistic things. Benevolence is
the only thing God values.
We go to religious institutes and offer
prayers but that’s not what our God asks
from us. The only thing that He wants
from us is that we humans should
remain humans. He does not demand
the sacrifice of innocent living creatures
but the sacrifice of the beast in us. This
beast has various forms and is being
described as the “seven deadly sins”
namely, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth,
wrath, envy and pride. God wants us to
kill every Lucifer and Mephistopheles
inside us.
God, like religion, is misinterpreted.
God, for me has no form it’s just a posi-
tive energy that is all over. But we have
created God in order to create a reason
for which we could fight. One of the
authors has even said that"even if there
is no god one has to invent one".
Religion is not the victory of one com-
munity over the other but it's our victo-
ry over us. A number of lives are taken
in the name of God and religion. It
seems that everything in this world is
costlier than human life. What kind of
religion is that which can't even teach us
how to value a life of a living being? If
something is not done soon, our country
will be in smithereens.
We should not do things just because
we are supposed to do it. We should
question it. Religion should encourage
rational thinking. The function of reli-
gion is to bring a catharsis but we fail to
achieve this and that’s our biggest
tragedy. We are the children of nature.
We all are one.
To be or not to be; that’s the question.
The
Edge 49
 STUDENT CORNER
ECONOMICS OF GLOBAL WARMING
ISHA GOTHWAL stress could be expected to impose nonlin-
ear damage. In India, 75 percent of the pop-

H ot, cold and rain. Now-a-days, we are

facing such kind of climate problems.
The reason is global warming which is
ulation is dependant on agriculture; that
means agriculture is the biggest sector that
contributes in economic growth.
increasing with the concentration of carbon Agricultural effects must take account of loss
dioxide and other gases like methane, CFCS, of ‘consumer surplus’ from higher prices
nitrogen oxide and ozone which are trans- and so can be understated by consideration
parent to incoming shortwave solar radia- of agriculture’s share in economy at pre-
tion, but opaque to outgoing long-wave radi- warming prices.
ation from Earth. The economics of global warming refers
Their natural levels raise Earth’s average to the projected size and distribution of eco-
temperature by 33°C. The doubling of car- nomic costs and benefits of global warming,
bon dioxide, equiva- and the economic
lent above pre- impacts of actions
industrial concentra- aimed at mitigation
tions, would increase of global warming.
global mean temper- Estimates come
atures by a best- from a variety of
guess estimate of sources, including
2.5°C with typical integrated assess-
bounds of 1.5°C and ment models, which
4.5°C. Economic seek to combine
progress has long socio-economic and
been recognised to biophysical assess-
involve potential ments of climate
adverse environ- change.
mental side-effects at At an
the local and region- Intergovernmental
al levels. Panel on Climate
In recent years, it Change (IPCC) con-
has become increas- ference in April
ingly clear that 2007, delegates
expanding economic from 120 nations
activity can also discussed the spe-
impose environmen- cific economic and
tal damage that is global in dimension and social costs of mitigating global warming,
irreversible over long-time horizons. The and eventually approved the IPCC fourth
stratospheric ozone depletion by chlorofluo- assessment report, which indicates general
rocarbons is a major example. The study consensus, that benefits of mitigation are
examines public policy towards the other worth the mitigation costs. Many estimates
principal area of global pollution — the of aggregate net economic costs of projected
‘greenhouse effect’. damages and benefits from climate change
However, the damage is likely to be non- across the globe are now available. These
linear. Consider the rising sea level. In the are often expressed in terms of the social
initial range, the Antarctic does not con- cost of carbon, the aggregate of future net
tribute to sea level rise on a scale of 10°C benefits and costs due to global warming
warming. However, the Antarctic will fast from carbon dioxide emissions, which are
become a major source of sea-level rise, discounted to the present.
especially if the West Antarctic ice shelf dis- The report suggests, that an investment
integrates. Similarly, for agriculture, heat of one percent of global GDP is required to

The
50 Edge
mitigate the effects of climate change, with
failure to do so risking a recession worth up
to 20 percent of global GDP. The Stern
Review has been criticised by some econo-
mists, saying that Stern did not consider
costs past 2200, which he used at an incor-
rect discount rate in his calculations, and
that stopping or significantly slowing climate
change will require deep emission cuts
everywhere.
Other economists have supported Stern’s
approach and argued that his estimates are
reasonable, even if the method by which he
reached them is open to criticism.
Some research has suggested that struc-
tural uncertainty and low-probability high-
impact risks are very important, and that,
DREAM IS CREAM
NEEPJYOTI SAIKIA
The very first thing that comes into our
mind when we use the word ‘dream’ is —
lost deeply in something. We are in a world
full of fantasies and imagination, illusions
to be precise of being in a kind of fairyland.
Usually, we see the word dream as a
dream which we are likely to see when we
are in deep slumber, stored somewhere in
the subconscious part of our 1.5 kg brain.
But it is also a fact that a dream can also be
dreamt. I mean, we can dream a beautiful
dream and use it to accomplish our goals.
Though it is a bit weird to hear this but
it’s true that many lives have changed after
the people learned how to dream success.
By dreaming, we can not only change our
way of living but also bring about a total
change to our personality. By dreaming, we
can reach such heights which we never
thought of. We can overcome any obstacles,
we can do almost everything.
Now, the question is, how can we use a
dream as an incentive to acquire goals.
Well it's simple. First of all, we must set a
definite goal.
After it is made, we must dream as
much as we can of being successful in it.
Gradually, we will feel that we actually
have gained the confidence to transform
this dream into a reality.
“the influence cost benefit of fat-tailed struc-
tural uncertainty about climate change, cou-
pled with great unsurity about high temper-
ature damages, can outweight the influence
of discounting or anything else.”
The IPCC concluded with 33 to 67 per-
cent confidence that the aggregate market
sector effect of a small increase in global
temperatures could be ‘plus or minus a few
percent of world GDP’.
The developed countries are more likely
to experience positive effects and developing
countries are more likely to experience neg-
ative effects.
In the end, I can say that the temperature
rise is all set to be more adverse across the
world.
A beautiful dream is like a tiny spark of
fire. The more we fan it, the more it will
spark and will eventually result in a big
flame which would make our life full of
brightness. It is a process and we can make
it a lifetime process.
Well, if someone is still not convinced,
or feeling it is hard to digest, ask an idle
person, ask a failure, whether he really
dreamt of being successful even once in
his life.
The answer is likely to be 'no' as he
fears to dream. In contrast, if you question
a successful person, he will say “I always
do so.” What we can learn from these facts
is that we need a bit of courage to dream
success.
It's a wonderful exercise. It can pull out
somebody from the murky waters which is
full of dirt and place him in a stream which
is full of stars. It will bring out the best in
us and fill our minds with a positive atti-
tude towards life.
To conclude, I would like to say it is a
secret weapon presented to us by Almighty.
The more we use it constructively, the more
we can be sure of getting benefit out of it.
For dreaming leads to desire, desire leads
to energy, energy leads to action and action
leads to success. So let all of us DREAM,
DREAM, DREAM and make our life full of
CREAM, CREAM, CREAM!
The
Edge 51
 STUDENT CORNER
FIGHT TERROR WITH YOUTUBE
AMIT JANGIR
B aku (Azerbaijan): Al-Qaeda made its name
in blood and pixels, with deadly attacks
and an avalanche of electronic news media.
Recent news articles depict an online terrorist
juggernaut that has defied the best efforts by
the US Government to counter it. While these
articles are testimony to Al-Qaeda being
media savvy, they don't tell the entire story.
When it comes to user-generated content
and interactivity, Al-Qaeda is behind the
curve. And the US can help to keep it there by
encouraging growth of freer, more empow-
ered online communities, especially in the
Arab-Islamic world.
The genius of Al-Qaeda was to combine
real-world mayhem with virtual marketing.
The group's guerrilla media network supports
a family of brands, from
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb to Iraq, through
a daily stream of online
media products that
would make any corpora-
tion jealous. In July 2007,
Al-Qaeda released 450
statements, books, arti-
cles, magazines, audios
and videos of attacks.
These products reached
the world through a net-
work of quasi-official
online production and
distribution entities which release Laden’s
statements. But the Al-Qaeda media nexus,
howsoever advanced, is old hat. Web 1.0 was
about creating the snazziest official web
resources and Web 2.0 is about letting users
run wild with self-created content. Al-Qaeda is
stuck in 1.0.
In late 2006, with YouTube and Facebook
growing rapidly, a position paper by a Qaeda-
affiliated institute discouraged media jihadists
from overly "exuberant" efforts on behalf of
the group for fear of diluting its message. This
is sound advice, considering how Al-Qaeda
fares on YouTube. Statements by Laden and
his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, which are
posted to YouTube draw comments aplenty.
But the reactions, which range from praise to
condemnation, are a far cry from the invari-
The
52 Edge
ably positive feedback Al-Qaeda gets on mod-
erated jihadist fora. Even Al-Qaeda's biggest
YouTube hits attract at most a fraction of the
millions of views that clips of Arab popstars
rack up routinely.
Other Al-Qaeda ventures into interactivity
are equally unimpressive. Zawahri solicited
online questions last December, but his
answers didn't appear until early April. That's
eons in web time. Try to imagine Laden man-
aging his Facebook account, and you can see
why full-scale social networking might not be
Al-Qaeda's next frontier.
It's also an indication of how a more inter-
active, empowered online community, particu-
larly in the Arab-Islamic world, may prove to
be Al-Qaeda's Achilles’ heel. Anonymity and
accessibility, the hallmarks of Web 1.0, pro-
vided an ideal platform for Al-Qaeda's radical
demagoguery. Social net-
working, the emerging
hallmark of Web 2.0, can
unite a fragmented silent
majority and help it find
its voice in the face of
thuggish opponents,
whether they are repres-
sive rulers or extremist
Islamic movements.
Unfortunately, the
authoritarian govern-
ments of the Middle East
are doing their best to
hobble Web 2.0. By
blocking the internet, they are leaving the field
open to Al-Qaeda and its recruiters. There is a
lesson here: Unfettered access to a free inter-
net is not a goal to which we should aspire on
principle, but also a practical means of coun-
tering Al-Qaeda. It would be premature to
declare Al-Qaeda's marketing strategy
anachronistic. The group has shown remark-
able resilience and will adapt to new trends.
But Al-Qaeda's online media network is vul-
nerable to disruption. Technology-literate
Intelligence services that understand how the
Qaeda media nexus works will do some of the
job. The most damaging disruptions, however,
will come from millions of ordinary users in
the communities that Al-Qaeda targets for
propaganda. We should do everything we can
to empower them.
TIME TO GO HITECH
VIPUL AGARWAL
E xperience the latest and greatest next-gen-
eration Intel Quad-Core technology pro-
viding outstanding performance and break-
through energy efficiency. This new technolo-
gy delivers four complete execution cores
within a single processor. Intel Quad-Core
technology is the ideal choice when it comes to
our high-performance computing needs.
Designed from the ground up to providing the
ultimate multitasking and multimedia experi-
ence, Intel Quad-Core technology-based PCs,
workstations and servers are the ideal choice
for work and play.
Leaders of the pack seeking monster per-
formance, look no further. With four execution
cores, the Intel Core-2-Quad processor blows
through processor-intensive tasks in demand-
ing multitasking environ-
ments and makes the
most of highly threaded
applications. Whether
we're creating multime-
dia, annihilating our
gaming enemies, or run-
ning compute-intensive
applications at one time,
new Quad-Core process-
ing will change the way
you do everything.
Pioneer the new world of
Quad-Core and unleash
the power of multithreading.
When more is better — with four process-
ing cores — the Intel Core-2 Extreme proces-
sor delivers unrivaled performance for the lat-
est, greatest generation of multi-threaded
games and multimedia applications.
Now, a new version based on Intel's cutting
edge 45nm technology utilizes hafnium-
infused circuitry to deliver even greater per-
formance and power efficiency. The Intel
Core-2-Extreme processor QX9770, running
at 3.2 GHz, delivers the best possible experi-
ence for today's most demanding users. Quad-
Core Processing provides four independent
execution cores in a single processor package.
Four dedicated processing threads help
operating systems and applications deliver
additional performance, so end-users can
experience better multitasking and multi-
threaded performance across many types of
applications and workloads. Each core can
complete up to four full instructions simulta-
neously.
Permanently altering the course of com-
puting, the Intel multi-core technology pro-
vides new levels of energy-efficient perfor-
mance, enabled by advanced parallel process-
ing and next-generation hafnium-based 45nm
technology. Incorporating multiple processor
execution cores in a single package delivering
full parallel execution of multiple software
threads, Intel multi-core technology enables
each core to run at a lower frequency, dividing
the power normally given to a single core. This
provides a breakthrough experience in note-
book and desktop PCs, workstations and
servers.
If we talk about laws, Moore's Law states
that the number of tran-
sistors on a chip dou-
bles every two years.
And Intel has kept up
with that pace. In fact,
this SRAM milestone is
several months ahead
of schedule.
Intel's unique posi-
tion allows it to use
"Design for
Manufacturability"
(DFM) techniques to co-
optimizing product
design and manufacturing disciplines.
Intel's DFM was key to our early ramp of
45nm logic technology and one of the catalysts
for bringing our revolutionary innovations to
market faster than ever before.32nm micro-
processors are our future.
The digital age is transforming the way we
live, work and communicate. With this break-
through in 32nm SRAM logic technology, we
can expect more in the future. Like, faster
processor speeds, greater computing capabili-
ty, improved functionality and more sophisti-
cated applications.
While other companies aren't scheduled
to deliver this technology until much later,
we'll be seeing it just around the corner
from Intel. Our 32nm microprocessors are
right on track to make a breakthrough
debut in 2009.
The
Edge 53
 CAMPUS CAMPUSCAM
Ukraine visit for Gestalt Training
PROF. KAILASH TULI
Being a trainer of Gestalt
approach, I got an interesting
offer to give such a workshop at
Yalta in Ukraine. My invitation
said that a majority of the partici-
pants in this conference would
not know English, but I would be
provided an interpreter. I normal-
ly combine Yoga meditation and
breathing exercises as these are
in synergy with Gestalt training.
So it was an innovative challenge
for me and I was keen to be there.
With my official invitation for
this event I had to
produce an authen-
ticated hard copy of
the invitation letter
at the Ukraine
Embassy in New
Delhi. Getting visa
was not as simple as
it usually is for
European countries.
They required a
personal interview.
Finally, I emba-
rked on my adven-
ture training mission
to Simferopol, which Prof. Tuli with other Master Trainers at Yalta
is the nearest airport
of Yalta. In spite of the visa, at the many days to decide the fate of
airport they wanted to see my invi-
tation letter and purpose of visit.
However, after seeing all that, they
were satisfied and welcomed me
with a smile! I was received at the
airport by the organizers — a
senior psychiatrist at a hospital and 250 participants who were from
his wife, a Russian who spoke good
English. Her husband did not know
even a few words of English. I was
there from 29th April to 9th May. It
was a great time to be there
because I could see May Day cele-
brations.
Though the Soviet era is over,
the enthusiasm and rituals of these
celebrations remain unfazed. I was
The
54 Edge
NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEW
stunned to see the landscape and
natural beauty of places in Crimea.
That shows why it is a popular
tourist destination for many
Russians.
The conference venue was a
nice old Russian styled big
roomed hotel, overlooking the
Black Sea. The Crimea region is
known for its good climate, land-
scape and natural beauty. Yalta is,
incidentally, famous for a post
World War conference known as
Yalta Conference, in which Stalin,
Churchill and Roosevelt met for
Germany and the world.
The name of this palace was
Livadia Palace. This palace is
vibrant and comes with a history
of World War II.
In all, there were more than
Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev
and also from many places in
Latvia, Belarus and other CIS
countries. They were mostly psy-
chiatrists, psychologists, gestalt
therapists and mental health pro-
fessionals.
My master classes were normal-
ly with 30 persons. A few of them
had management background or
jobs and it was my joy that I also
taught them SWOT Analysis, which
they were not aware of.
It was only through my inter-
preter that I was able to commu-
nicate, listening and answering to
them. Techniques of gestalt, yoga,
breathing techniques and relax-
ation techniques went very well.
It was a new experience for most
of them.
I met an old Gestalt friend, Dr.
Peter Phillipson who is the
President of Association for the
Advancement of Gestalt Therapy
(AAGT). Another
English speaking
Gestalt therapist was
from Stockholm.
We three English
speaking resource
persons had three
interpreters and we
used to rejoice when
in leisure time we
used to meet infor-
mally.
Daily sessions
were for 4-5 hours
and I was impressed
by the interest of the
participants. Then I
had another full three days work-
shop, which was entirely devoted to
Gestalt and Yoga techniques.
I was happy in the sense that I
could deliver some knowledge to
Ukrainian counterparts effectively
even without knowing the alpha-
bets of Russian language.
The closing session was a
great compliment and feedback
to me. Many participants came
for my signatures on certificates
and autographs, photos and
address.
Deep in my heart I was feeling
grateful to IILM for granting me
duty leave, which made it possible
for me to be there.
MPUS CAMPUS CAMPUS
EWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS

5TH INTERNATIONAL SIMULATION AND GAMING

ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOL IN INDIA

Group photo of all the participants of the 5th ISAGA Summer School held at IILM Gurgaon

Summer school at IILM,
Gurgaon/Monica Mor
My stint as a teacher for all
these years has taught me one
thing — normal is boring. When
teachers and students are tired of
going through innumerable theo-
ries and their equally gargantuan
applications, classroom sessions
are enlivened up by roping in a
guest speaker or by arranging an
industrial tour.
Often teachers contemplate
about bringing in learning while
playing. And while at it, partici-
pants would get an exposure to
working in teams, handling com-
plex situations and being super
innovative simultaneously. Now
that would be a brilliant mode of
experiential learning!
As a marketing teacher, I
haven't used games and simulation
activities too often, unless you
include case studies in them. An
occasional guest speaker or two, a
trip here and there and that has
just about taken care of breaking
away from the mundane routine of
regular classes. I often found myself
wondering what more could be
done to make classes more inter-
esting, more vibrant and, of course,
less monotonous.
The ISAGA summer school pro-
vided me a framework for making
learning more hands on, more
interactive and more participative.
The summer school was organized
from the 21st of June 2008 to the
30th of June 2008 at the IILM
Institute for Higher Education's
Gurgaon campus. The theme was
'The Art and Science of Simulation
and Gaming Design and
Facilitation for Business and
Management'.
The ISAGA was an eye opener
and it also provided a fantastic
arena where I got to interact with
many Indian and international
teachers and professionals from
various streams. Before I begin
sharing my experiences with you, I
would like to give some information
about ISAGA.
The ISAGA is an international
organization for scientists and
practitioners developing and using
simulation, gaming and related
methodologies. Every year, ISAGA
meets at regular intervals via con-
ferences and summer schools to
develop new games which can be
used in management studies for
students of business as well as for
organizations looking for any kind
of change, whether restructuring a
department or for restructuring the
entire company. There is also in
existence an Indian chapter Indian
Simulation and Gaming Association

The
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 CAMPUS CAMPUSCAM
(INDSAGA), the president for which
is Dr. Kailash Tuli.
Prior to that, on day one, all the
40 participants were made to
choose the groups they wanted to
work with for the next 8 days. Each
group had to develop a game which
could be used in universities or
organizations.
Questions were asked by the
chairperson to account for the
number of times participants had
attended ISAGA conferences, the
number of times participants had
developed games and the number
of times participants had served as
facilitators. I was found searching
for numbers all
the while and
always ending up
with a zero.
That's when real-
ization struck that
the summer
school was a per-
fect opportunity
to soak in the
knowledge being
shared by partic-
ipants from
across the globe.
Each group
that was formed
Participants of the ‘Dharadam’ simulation group
had a teacher
who was experienced in designing
and developing games and had also
played the role of a facilitator of
games and therefore, knew how to
handle team dissensions and multi
cultural styles of working. The
teachers included Dr. Willy Kriz
from Austria, Dr. Ivo Wenzler from
Netherlands, Mr. Peiter van der
Hijden again from Netherlands, Dr.
Elyssebeth Leigh from Australia,
and Dr. Richard Teach from USA. I
chose to be with the group whose
teacher was Mr. Pieter van der
Hijden, primarily because he in his
introduction had talked about
developing a cyber game around
the Dharavi slums. I found it to be a
novel idea. The objective of this
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NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEW
game was to sensitize the players
about life at the other end of spec-
trum and to also dispel certain
negative notions about life in
slums. As a marketing teacher, I
have often stressed on societal
marketing, and the Dharavi game
intrigued me enough to actually
hope to, some day, include it in
my classroom sessions.
My other team members
included Dr. Vinod Dumbelkar
(General Secretary, INDSAGA), Mr.
Aashish Bhardwaj from India, Mr.
Vladimir Solodov from Russia, Ms.
Renata Furman from Poland and
Ms. Joanna Wozniakiewicz from
Poland. Our group would get
together every day post lunch and
brain storm over how to go about
the game, what characters to
include in the game, how was
Dharavi from inside, would it be
possible to make a 3D computer
simulation game, and of course,
what name should be given to our
game? We prepared large plan
boards for the complete game ses-
sion which provided a central
overview of the game model.
From paper to the cyber
world, we practiced on demo
games using Cyberdam applica-
tion, designed unique roles of
players like a social worker, a
housewife, a criminal, a have-
not, a religious leader, a hutment
factory owner and a tea stall
owner. We then created an interac-
tive city map with 15 hotspots, 15
playground objects, plus an address
book. For all this, we used open
source software like wiki and moo-
dles, and the ubiquitous MS office.
We finally put together a wonderful
game which we named Dharadam,
combining the names Dharavi and
Cyberdam. We all are still working
on completion. For a sneak
peek, readers can log on
to www.cyberdam.ni and
http://www.cyberdam.nl/course/view.
Likewise, all other groups also
developed games;
some computer
simulations, some
board games and
some, group activi-
ties using props like
bottles, scales, flip
charts, post its, etc.
It was a wonder-
ful experience for
me. We had our
share of working
through the day,
doing homework
after classes and
also participating in
games organized by
teachers and Tata Interactive
Systems (a key business partner
in the summer school). Most
importantly, we had our share of
fun with welcome and farewell
dinners, a Delhi tour, binging on
Haldiram sweets during boring
sessions, taking photographs,
educating visitors about India and
the secrets to shopping in Delhi. It
was really the most innovative ten
days of most pleasant learning
without tension.
I have made a lot of friends in
ISAGA and wish to keep them for
a long, long time to come. By the
way, the next summer school in
2009 is to be held in Romania.
Let's see if I can participate.
MPUS CAMPUS CAMPUS
EWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
Orientation Day of IILM Early College
The morning of 5th of August 2008
dawned with the IILM Early College
formally welcoming a new set of
eager students and parents. It was
the Orientation Day of IILM Early
College.
The audience was first questions were deftly handled by
addressed by Mr. Ian Chambers,
Regional Manager South Asia for
University of Cambridge
International Examinations. He
gave a detailed presentation on CIE
A level exams.
He mentioned that University of
Cambridge International
Examinations (CIE) is the world's
leading provider of
international qualifica-
tions for 14-19 year
olds. Also, that A Level
is recognized world-
wide as a requirement
for entry into higher
education. Cambridge
International A Levels
typically take two
years to complete and
offer a flexible course
of study that gives stu-
dents the freedom to
select subjects that are
right for them. Mr. Ian Chambers, Regional Manager South Asia for University of
Cambridge International Examinations addressing the audience
Schools and stu-
dents find A and AS levels very flex-
ible and that they offer almost any
combination from the wide choice
of subjects available. Students have
the freedom to select the subjects
that are right for them — either fol-
low a broad course of study, or spe-
cialize in a particular area.
He mentioned that CIE in India
is showing a very positive growth of
40% per year. Most of the CIE-reg-
istered schools are spread out in
Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Gujarat. But this is changing with
other States coming in as well.
Potential features have led to the
introduction of new subjects like
IGCSE Indian Studies.
The presentation turned out to
be interactive with parents asking
many questions about AS and A
levels, the subjects and the permu-
tations and combinations. The
Mr. Chambers. Having taught
Economics and Business Studies
himself, he brought out the fact that
while it is an ideal combination in
India, in the UK they are consid-
ered to be one as they are similar in
nature. A concerned parent asked
about the number of credits
required for entry into foreign uni-
versities and how conducive the AS
and A level exams are to learning in
a foreign university.
Another parent wondered why
systems such as these are offered
by such few institutes in Delhi.
There were queries on recogni-
tion of the course by various Indian
universities. Mr. Chambers men-
tioned that AIIMS, Delhi University,
IITs and the Medical Council of
India are among the many organi-
zations which recognize A level
exams apart from the CBSE. The
University of Delhi, for example,
accepts A Level as equivalent to
pre-university (10+2) for the pur-
pose of admission to undergradu-
ate courses.
New faculty for Economics Ms.
Richa Dani was introduced. She
spoke about the various elements of
the AS and A level Economics and
Accounts Exam. Art, Theatre and
Clay Modeling have been intro-
duced at this level of the first time
and their faculty, Geetanjali and P.
K. Das from the Banyan Tree
School were present to elaborate
on what these areas would entail in
the coming academic session. The
students were told that they would
practice for a play which would be
performed at the col-
lege. Also that their art
pieces would be dis-
played at an exhibition
organized for them.
The students were
briefed about the
Roshni project and
were asked to come for-
ward and volunteer for
teaching using comput-
ers or spoken English.
Also that their efforts
would be recognized in
the form of certificates.
Garima, of the
admission team reit-
erated that the CIE course natu-
rally extends itself into the
undergraduate programme
offered by IILM. This gave the A
level students an edge over stu-
dents who applied from outside.
Each of the faculty members
gave a brief explanation about
individual subjects its course and
methodology of teaching. The
students too asked questions
about Cambridge international
exams. It concluded by the par-
ents and students interacting
with each other and the Regional
Manager freely.
- Compiled by Ms. Rohini Rode
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 CAMPUS CAMPUSCAM
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
Prof KAILASH TULI
Professor, OB/HR
❘❚ Invited as Master Trainer to a Gestalt
Therapy workshop at Yalta in Ukraine for
8 days in May 2008. Over 200 psycholo-
gists, psychiatrists and other mental
health professionals from Russia, Ukraine
and Belarus participated
❘❚ Organizing Secretary of 5th
International Simulations and Gaming
Association (ISAGA) held at IILM
Campus Gurgaon from 21-30
June 2008
❘❚ Invited to the advisory group meeting
for Addressing Reproductive and Sexual
Health Education of Adolescents in India.
A research project to be taken up by the
University of New Brunswick and FAITH
Healthcare (Pvt) Ltd in 2009
❘❚ Elected first President of Indian
Simulation and Gaming Association
(INDSAGA).
DAMINNI GROVER
Assistant Professor, IT
❘❚ Research paper entitled
Transforming Education published in
the Indian Management Journal of the
All India Management Association,
New Delhi. Volume 47, Issue 8, Pages
46-52.
❘❚ Research paper Implementing e-CRM
in Organizations: Trends, Benefits and
Critical Issues published in
Management of Change, Journal of
IILM Institute for Higher Education,
New Delhi. Volume 11, Number 2,
Page number 207-220.
❘❚ Research paper Reaching out to the
Public - E-Governance Major Initiatives
published in the Management Review,
Journal of the Delhi Management
Association.
Jan-June Edition, Volume 35,
Pages 16-25.
SHWETA KHANNA
Assistant Professor-HRM
❘❚ Published a paper Human
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NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEW
Respondents in Research: Reactions
and Coping Strategies in the Indian
Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol 7,
October, 2007.
❘❚ Presented a paper Offshore IT
Outsourcing to India: HRM Implications
at an international seminar on New
Concepts and Practices relating to
Human Behaviour organized by
Rukmini Devi Institute on 15th March'
2008. The paper has been published in
a book released during the conference.
❘❚ Conducted a session on 'Leadership
Behaviour' during an MDP organized at
the Maruti Suzuki Corporate Office,
Gurgaon. The MDP was attended by 20
senior and middle level executives.
SANDEEP KAPOOR
Lecturer, Finance
❘❚ Awarded Diploma in Business
Finance (DBF) from ICFAI Hyderabad.
KAKOLI SEN
Asst Professor (OB & HRM)
❘❚ Her research paper Relationship
between Job Stress and Job
satisfaction among managers and
teachers published in the Indian
Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume
44 (1) July 2008, Pages 14-23
❘❚ She has won the third prize in a
national case writing competition
organised by Shri Ram Centre for
Industrial Relations and Human
Resources. The same would be includ-
ed in a case book by the centre.
DEEPAK TANDON
Associate Professor, Finance
Presented a research Paper -"Indian
Banking - Basle II accord and its impli-
cations " to the Chairperson person
Prof . C. P. Gupta - MDI Gurgaon at
Guru Gobind Singh IP University New
Delhi on saturday June 28th 2008,
the same has been published in Book
Titled - Emerging trends in the Banking
sector" --Macmillan India ltd
Publication. Meritorious Certificate
also has been received.
Dr. P. MALARVIZHI
Professor
Presented a research paper titled
"Proponents of Responsible
Environmental Disclosures by Indian
Companies" at the 2008 North
American Congress on Social and
Environmental Accounting Research
International Conference organized by
the Centre for Social and
Environmental Accounting Research
(CSEAR) at John Molson School of
Business, Concordia University,
Montreal, July 7 to 9, 2008.
MEENA BHATIA
Assistant Professor
Presented a paper titled "Review of
Indian Stock Exchanges", at the
International conference in FINANCE,
ACCOUNTING AND GLOBAL INVEST-
MENTS scheduled on August 22 - 24,
2008 at IMI, New Delhi, India.
SUJATA KHANDAI
Assistant Professor - Marketing
❘❚ Paper presentation
Khandai, Sujata (2008), "The Emotional
Connect: For Meaningful and Enduring
Customer Relationships"' presented at
the 8th International Conference on
Knowledge, Culture and Change in
Organizations held at Cambridge
University, UK from 5-8 August, 2008.
❘❚ Paper publications
Khandai, Sujata (2008), "Marketing
across Boundaries: A Success Imperative
for Organizations" AIMA-Journal for
Management & Research (AJMR), Vol 2,
Iss 2/4
❘❚ Khandai, Sujata (2008), "The
Emotional Connect: For Meaningful and
Enduring Customer Relationships" The
International Journal of Knowledge,
Culture and Change Management, Vol 8,
Iss 1, pp 221-228
MPUS CAMPUS CAMPUS
EWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
NEW JOINEES
Dr. MAHIMA SINGH THAKUR
Assistant Professor - OB/HR.
She has done her PhD in Psychology
from IIT Delhi. She did her masters from
Dept of Psychology, University of
Allahabad. She has experience of over 5
years. She has worked as a consulting
psychologist with IIT Delhi
Dr. SANYUKTA JOLLY
Assistant Professor OB & HRM
She is a PhD from IIT Delhi. She holds a
Masters and MPhil degree in Psychology
from University of Delhi and has been
teaching various graduate and post
graduate courses at Delhi University and
few selected Business schools in Delhi.
Dr. ANURADHA PARASAR
Associate Professor. (Sociology and Law)
She is Ph.D., UGC-NET, LL.B., M.A.
Sociology, M.Sc. Anthropology. She is
having thirteen years teaching experi-
ence. Before joining IILM she had
worked with National Law University -
Jodhpur, Emmanuel College - Kota, MJRP
College - Jaipur and State Family and
Health Care Department - Jaipur.
Mr. NAVNEET GERA
Lecturer, International Business
He did his M.com (B.A) from Maharshi
Dayanand Sarasvati University, Ajmer,
M.Sc (IT) from K.S.O.U (Mysore) & MIB
from Mohal Lal Sukhadia Uinversity,
Udaipur (Rajasthan).
He is pursuing PhD from University of
Rajasthan. He has presented papers in
both National & International
Conferences. His total experience is
about 4 years.
Ms. GUNJAN MEHTA
Lecturer (Accounting and Finance)
She did her B.Com (hons.) from Kalindi
College, University of Delhi and M.Com
(finance) from Delhi School of
Economics, University of Delhi. Currently
she is pursuing M.Phil from Deptt. of
Business Economics, University of Delhi.
She has worked as a visiting faculty in
various colleges. Her areas of interest
are International Finance and
Accounting.
Ms. SAUMYA SHIRINA
Lecturer - English Communication & Soft Skills
She has done her Graduation from
Mangalore University. She has experi-
ence of 3 years. Her last assignment was
with Career Launcher, Delhi as
Personality Development & English
Faculty.
Ms. INDRANI BHATTACHERJEE
Lecturer - IT
She has done MCA in Computer Science
& Information Technology from IGNOU.
She is also a member of Computer
Society of India (Delhi Chapter). Her last
assignment was with IIPM, New Delhi
Ms. PALLAVI GHOSH.
Lecturer (soft skills)
She has done her Masters in English
from Ravindra Bharti University, Kolkatta.
She has experience of over 8 years in
Language, Communication & Soft skills
Training in the Institutions, Corporate &
Retail Sectors. Her last assignment was
with Aptech Training Solutions as Senior
Trainer.
Mr. ATUL KUMAR.
Lecturer (Maths & Business Studies)
IILM Early College.
He has done his BEd from Meerut
University and is pursuing MSc in Maths
from Mahatma Gandhi University. Her
last teaching assignment was with New
Green Field School.
Ms. RICHA DANI
Lecturer - Economics & Maths
IILM Early College
She has done M Com from Department
of Commerce, University of Delhi and
her graduation from Kamla Nehru
College,University of Delhi Her areas of
Interest are Economics and Finance.
Mr. BOBBY ROY CHOWDHURY
Content Writer.
He has done his Graduation from North
East Hill University and Diploma in
Information and Systems Management
from APTECH. His last assignment was
with Savion Travels Limited as Content
Writer.
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 CAMPUS CAMPUSCAM
International Visiting Faculty
As a part of integrated development, IILM Institute welcomes a steady stream of distinguished professors
from well known universities worldwide. This initiative is taken by IILM with a twin objective of imparting
global education to students as well as enhancing the course curriculum.
❚❘❘❘ Prof David Banner of Walden School of
Business, USA will be visiting IILM on Jan 5,
2009 to teach a course module titled
'Creativity Innovation and Organizational
Development'. Prof David Banner has
teaching experience of 30 years that
includes taking courses on Leadership
Management, Organization Behaviour,
Principal of Social Development and other
at Universities of repute namely Viterbo
University, Walden University and
University of Adelaide. His industry line
experience includes positions of a
Consultant to many industrial organiza-
tions. Prof David Banner holds a PhD from
Northwestern University, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Prof Paul Stames, Assistant Dean -
Executive Program of Haas Business School,
USA will be visiting IILM from November 3
to November 23' 2008 to teach a course
module titled 'Cross Cultural Management'.
Prof Paul Stames has teaching experience in
courses namely leadership and business
strategy and has pioneered many Executive
development programmes. He is currently
the Assistant Dean of Haas Business
School, University of Berkeley and Director
of Executive MBA at University of Denver.
❚❘❘❘ Dr Ullrich Guenther of University of
Luneburg, Germany had visited IILM from
September 1 to September 20' 2008 to
teach a course on 'Compensation
Management'. Dr Ullrich Guenther has a
teaching experience of 28 years and
has taught Organizational and
Cross-Cultural Psychology at Universities
of repute namely Free University of
Berlin, University of Lueneburg, School of
Business Administration etc. Dr Ullrich
Guenther holds a PhD from Free University
of Berlin, Germany.
❚❘❘❘ Prof Eric Romero of Intrepid Consulting,
USA will be visiting IILM from November 24
to December 13' 2008 to teach a course
titled 'Global Competitive Environment'.
Prof Eric Romero has teaching experience of
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NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEW
8 years and has taught courses namely
Strategic Management, International
Business, Multinational Management at
esteemed Universities like University of
Texas, West Texas A&M University and New
Mexico State University. He has worked as
Budget Analyst, Credit Analyst and
Consultant with big corporate. Prof Eric
Romero holds a PhD from New Mexico
State University, Mexico.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Stephanie Yates Rauterkus of
University of Alabama, USA had visited
IILM from July 14 to August 7' 2008 to
teach a course module titled ‘Investment
Analysis and Portfolio Management.’ Dr.
Stephanie Yates Rauterkus has a teaching
experience of 8 years that includes taking
courses in Finance, Economics &
Quantitative Methods at esteemed
Universities namely Louisiana State
University and University of Cincinnati.
Dr. Stephanie Yates Rauterkus holds a PhD
from Louisiana State University, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Prof Partha Mohapatra of Morgan State
University, USA had visited IILM from July
14 to August 7' 2008 to teach a course
titled ‘Data Base Management Systems.’
Prof Partha Mohapatra has teaching experi-
ence of 10 years that includes teaching of
courses mainly Accounting Information
Systems, E-commerce, and Database
Management Systems at University of
Kentucky. Prof Partha Mohapatra holds a
PhD from The University of Kentucky, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Prof Francis-Robert ILLE of International
University of Monaco, Monaco will be visit-
ing IILM from January 15 to February 7'
2009 to teach a course on Global
Competitive Environment. Prof Francis-
Robert ILLE has teaching experience of
12 years and has many publications to
his credit in the area of Operations
Management, International Business.
He has taught at Universities namely
Shanghai Jiao Tong University and South
East Europe University.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Pierre X. Camps of Parsons, France
had visited IILM from July 14 to August 7'
2008 to teach a course module titled
‘Advertising and Sales Promotion.’ Dr. Pierre
X. Camps has teaching experience of 5
years which includes taking courses in
Marketing Management, Corporate
Advertising at Universities of repute name-
ly Weller Int. Business School, Saint John's
University etc. Dr. Pierre X. Camps holds a
Phd from ISM, Paris.
❚❘❘❘ Prof Prantik Ray of XLRI, Jamshedpur
will be visiting IILM from October 30 to
November 22' 2008 to teach a course mod-
ule titled ‘Investment Banking, Merger &
Acquisitions.‘ Prantik Ray has teaching
experience of 10 years and has earlier
taught courses in Finance at various
Universities like Army Institute of
Management, Fore School of Management
and XLRI. His industry line experience
includes the position as Journalist of a
Business Daily. Prantik Ray holds a MBA
from Calcutta University, India.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Fedhila Hassouna of American
University, Bulgaria had visited IILM from
July 14 to August 7' 2008 to teach a course
module titled ‘Project Appraisal and
Financing.’ Dr. Fedhila Hassouna has taught
for 13 years, taking courses in Accounting
& Auditing at Universities of repute namely
Business School Tunis and University of
Colorado. Dr. Fedhila Hassouna holds a
PhD from University of Colorado, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Shavin Malhotra of Jacksonville
University, USA had visited IILM from July
14 to August 7' 2008 to teach a course
module titled ‘Consumer Behaviour.’
Dr. Shavin Malhotra has taken courses in
Marketing and International Business at
Carleton University & Jacksonville
University. He has worked with big corpo-
rates in the capacity of Business
Development Executive and Marketing
Executive. Dr. Shavin Malhotra holds a Phd
from Carleton University, Canada.
MPUS CAMPUS CAMPUS
EWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS
❚❘❘❘ Dr Philip McIlkenny of University of
Ottawa, Canada had visited IILM from
August 7 to August 30' 2008 to teach a
course module titled ‘Investment Analysis
and Portfolio Management.’ Prof. Philip
McIlkenny has teaching experience of 31
years and has taught many courses in
Accounting and Finance at Universities of
repute namely University of Ottawa,
University of Ulster and others. Prof. Philip
McIlkenny holds a Phd from University of
Essex, England.
❚❘❘❘ Prof. Rakesh Sah of Montana State
University, USA had visited IILM from July
14 to August 7' 2008 to teach a course
module titled ‘Investment Analysis and
Portfolio Management.’ Prof. Rakesh Sah
has teaching experience of 8 years that
includes courses in Finance at Universities
of repute namely Campbell School of
Business, University of Alabama etc. Prof.
Rakesh Sah holds a Phd from University of
Alabama, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Dr C hibu ike Ug ochuk wu UC HE of
University of Nigeria, Nigeria had visited
IILM from September 1 to September 20'
2008 to teach a course module titled
‘Management & Marketing of Financial
Services.’ Chibuike Ugochukwu UCHE has
teaching experience of 9 years which
includes taking courses in Accounting and
Finance at Universities of repute namely
University of Lagos, London School of
Economics and others. Chibuike
Ugochukwu UCHE holds a Phd from
London School of Economics, England.
❚❘❘❘ D r . S u s a n G a l e W i n t e r m u t h o f
University of Lüneburg, Germany had visit-
ed IILM from September 1 to September
20' 2008 to teach a course module titled
‘Leadership Development.’ Dr. Susan Gale
Wintermuth has teaching experience of 14
years that includes taking courses in
Leadership & Communication at University
of Luneburg, Drury University, Bucerius
Law School and others. She has worked
as a Law Officer. Dr. Susan Gale
Wintermuth holds a Phd from University of
Arizona, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Gyorgy Komaromi of University of
the South Pacific, Fiji had visited IILM from
July 14 to August 7' 2008 to teach a course
module titled ‘Project Appraisal and
Financing.’ Dr. Gyorgy Komaromi has
teaching experience of 10 years that
includes teaching courses in Accounting &
Finance at Universities of repute namely
Central European University, Budapest
University of Economic Sciences and oth-
ers. Dr. Gyorgy Komaromi holds a PhD
from University of Szeged, Hungary.
❚❘❘❘ Dr Jerry T. Parwada of the University of
New South Wales, Australia had visited
IILM from July 14 to August 7' 2008 to
teach a course module titled ‘Management
of Banks & Financial Institutions.’ Jerry T.
Parwada has specializes in teaching cours-
es on Financial Institution Management,
Financial Institutions and Markets, Banking
and Finance at various Universities like
University of New South Wales, University
of Sydney and others. His industry line
experience includes positions as Equity
Research Consultant and Corporate and
Structured Finance Manager. Jerry
T. Parwada holds a PhD from Edith Cowan
University, Australia.
❚❘❘❘ Prof. Scott R. Lyman of Winthrop
University, USA will be visiting IILM from
September 22 to October 17' 2008 to teach
a course module titled ‘Leadership
Development.’ Prof. Scott R. Lyman has
teaching experience of 20 years includes
taking courses in Social Policy, Public
Administration & Human Resource
Management at Universities of repute
namely Winthrop University, Shanghai
International Studies University, State
University of New York and others.
Prof. Scott R. Lyman holds a Phd from
Virginia Tech, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Prof. Don Antunes of University College,
Ireland had visited IILM from July 14 to
August 7' 2008 to teach a course module
titled ‘Leadership Development.’ Prof. Don
Antunes has teaching experience of 23
years which includes taking courses in
Leadership Development; International
Business Strategy etc at Universities of
repute namely Warwick Business School,
Oxford University, and University of
Cambridge. He has held important posi-
tions, as Project Director, Partner, and
Management Consultant. Prof. Don
Antunes holds a PhD from Cambridge
University, England.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Ling Yi of Chongqing Technology
and Business University, China will be vis-
iting IILM from January 15 to February 7'
2009 to teach a course module titled
‘Global Business Strategy.’ Dr. Ling Yi has
specialized in the area of International
Business and has taken related courses at
Chongqing Technology and Business
University. Dr. Ling Yi holds a Phd from
Israel Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
❚❘❘❘ Prof H. Alan Raymond of PNG University
of Technology, Papua New Guinea will be
visiting IILM from January 15 to February
17' 2009 to teach a course module titled
‘Global Business Strategy.’ Prof H. Alan
Raymond has teaching experience of 24
years which includes taking courses in
Business Policy, International Affairs;
International Finance etc at Universities of
repute namely University of Sharjah,
PNG University of Technology, and
University of Arizona and others. His indus-
try line experience includes holding posi-
tions as Director, Executive Vice President
of reputed business organization.
Prof Raymond holds a Phd from Brunel
University, England.
❚❘❘❘ Prof David C. Huff of Wayne State
University, USA will be visiting IILM from
October 30 to November 22, 2008 to teach
a course module titled ‘E business
Strategy.’ Prof David C. Huff has teaching
experience of 7 years that includes taking
courses in Decision Support Systems,
Operating Systems and Productivity
Software at various Universities namely
Wayne State University, Oakland
Community College, University of Detroit
Mercy and others. Prof David C. Huff holds
a Phd from Wayne State University, USA.
❚❘❘❘ Dr. Holger Briel of Burgundy School of
Business had visited IILM from September
1 to September 20' 2008 to teach a course
module titled ‘Leadership Development.’
Dr. Holger Briel has teaching experience of
18 years which includes taking courses in
English, Intercultural Communication,
Cultural and International Studies at
Universities of repute namely University of
Thessaloniki, University of Surrey, and State
University of New York . Dr. Holger Briel
holds a PhD from University of
Massachusetts, USA
The
Edge 61
MANAGING THE PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS: SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE
These are few practically useful quotations by learned Spiritual Masters. They may have a deep bearing
on the management system. It depends that in which way a mature manager understands and learns from
these very valuable lines to understand micro to macro organizational systems.
"Mind is brought under control-by regular system-
atic breathing, by governing the gross body first
and then the fine body. The first breathing exercise
is perfectly safe and very healthful. It will give you
good health, and better your conditions generally."
Swami Vivekananda
(In Powers of the Mind)
"Why is it that organizations are so powerful? Do not
say that organization is material. Why is it, to take a
case in point, that forty millions of Englishmen rule
three hundred millions of people here? What is the
psychological explanation? These forty millions put
their will together and that means infinite power, and
you three hundred millions have a will each separate
from the other. Therefore, to make a great future
India, the whole secret lies in organization, accumula-
tion of power, coordination of will."
Vivekananda on "Future of India"
in 1897 at Madras
"Persons with hope, confidence and cheerful spirits
attract thoughts of similar nature from others.
They are always successful in their
attempts………..Thought is a vital living force-the
most vital, subtle and irresistible force that exists
in the universe. Thoughts are living things: they
move; they possess form, shape, color, quality,
substance, power and weight. Thought is the real
action: it reveals itself as a dynamic force. A
thought of joy creates sympathetically a thought of
joy in others. The birth of a noble thought is a
potent antidote to counteract an evil thought.
Through the instrumentality of exercised positive
thought, we come to acquire creative power."
Swami Shivananda
(In Thought Power)
The
62 Edge
"Our Education must inspire our youth to develop
their physical and mental energies fully and chan-
nel into service of the people in different fields. It
is only in this more-than-individual-dimension-of-
energy-expression that the individual will find his
or her own life fulfilled. This higher motivation has
to be injected into the educational process itself.
That is the way to make our current education
truly higher; but today it is mostly costly and cost-
lier education and not higher education!"
Swami Ranganathananda
(In Eternal values for a Changing society)
"Do not lose heart when things go wrong.
Continue undisturbed in your original resolve to
make all things go right. To be overcome by
adversity and threatening failure is to lose
strength; to always remain in the same lofty,
determined mood is to constantly grow in
strength. The man who never weakens when
things are against him will grow stronger and
stronger until all things will delight to be for
him. He will finally have all the strength he may
desire or need. Be always strong and you will
always be stronger."
Christian D Larson
(In Your Forces and How to Use Them)
The ending of sorrow is the beginning of
wisdom. Knowledge is always within the shad-
ow of ignorance. Meditation is freedom from
thought and a movement in the ecstasy of truth.
Meditation is explosion of intelligence. Without
freedom from the past, there is no freedom
at all, because the mind is never new, fresh,
and innocent.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
◆ Compailed by Prof KAILASH TULI
 Elderpower is
Elderpower is to continue even when things are difficult
Elderpower is more modest than the power of youth
Elderpower knows about loss, humiliations, betrayals and mistrust
Elderpower knows how relative fame, glamour and stardom can be
Elderpower knows because it has grown of adverse wind
that forces you to pedal harder to go forward
Elderpower knows about willing
Elderpower is soulpower that does not fade away like muscular strength
but on the contrary becomes stronger and stronger by the years.
Elderpower is creative and has the strength of a tree
Elderpower is Masculine and Feminine
Elderpower is taking money seriously
Elderpower is practicing patience
Elderpower is taking responsibility
Elderpower is to do your work day in and day out
Elderpower is not afraid of losing
Elderpower is knowing the world is bigger
Elderpower is to be open for what is new
Elderpower is to accept competition
Elderpower is paying the rent or the mortgage
Elderpower is spontaneity and humour
Elderpower is modest and subtle

By Tine van Wijk

International renowned Gestalt Therapist, Practioner
and Creative Writer from the Netherlands

The
Edge 63
Institute for
Higher Education