xpress hr - august 2012

SOCIOMETRY - QUANTITATIVE FACET OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS 1

EMPLOYER BRANDING : APPLICATION OF BRAND MANAGEMENT TO HUMAN RESOURCES , A THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

3

HR CROSSWORDS - A MUST DO !!! 5

HR DOSE 6

HR TRIVIA 6

XPRESS HR—WINNING ARTICLE : HAS THE CORPORATE NEGLECTED THE REAL FACETS OF HR FOR TOO LONG ?

7

HR ROUND THE GLOBE 9

Inside this issue:

August Edition SAPPHIRE’s Newsletter on Human Resources 18/08/2012

STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI

Xpress HR

In our second edition of Xpress HR, we bring to you interesting thoughts on topics of Sociograms and Employer branding along with the winning monthly article. Do not miss out on the HR CROSS-WORDS - The winners will have an opportunity to collaborate with SAPPHIRE with their contri-butions...


Page 1

The term sociometry relates to its Latin etymology,

“socius” meaning companion, and “metrum” mean-

ing measure. Jacob Moreno defined sociometry as

"the inquiry into the evolution and organization of

groups and the position of individuals within them."

He goes on to write "As the ...science of group or-

ganization, it attacks the problem not from the outer

structure of the group, the group surface, but from

the inner structure. “Sociometric explorations reveal

the hidden structures that give a group its form: the

alliances, the subgroups, the hidden beliefs, the for-

bidden agendas, the ideological agreements, the

‘stars’ of the show".

The structure of interactions and pattern of influ-

ence in an organization can be characterized in

terms of a map of interactions within and between

cohesive groups. Sociologists and others who study

organizations and communities have attempted to

understand complex patterns of human relations by

representing the relations in a map of two or three

dimensions. Such interaction maps typically consist

of nodes and points representing the people, lines

and arcs representing the relations among people.

Though there are improved techniques for con-

structing maps have become sophisticated and rig-

orous it is difficult to interpret the results solely in

terms of relations between each pair of actors.

Therefore researchers have identified clusters of

actors who are strongly related and who are plotted

close together.

Why should we know about interaction patterns?

The ability to work efficiently and effectively with

others in a group is not merely important to a busi-

ness students success, it is mandatory. A survey by

Gordon in 1992, indicated that 82% of companies

with used teams for most of the activities and man-

agers were spending anywhere from 60 to 90% of

their time in group related activities. Furthermore a

survey of 240 managers revealed that they were on

average working on three different team projects

with several managers stating they were on up to 12

teams at any given time.

In a study conducted by Bacon, Stewart, & Silver

1999; it was noticed that students appear to first se-

lect friends to work with and then, make additions

to the group based on someone’s physical proximity

or by adding students who are known as “good”

group members.

Methodology:

For the experiment a group of 28 female students

were taken from the same college and same major.

However these girls were divided into two sections

for the purpose of classes. So we called these two

groups as Sec A and Sec B. A customized question-

naire was delivered to them in which they were

asked for their top 3 names when it came to prefer-

ences for seating in the class, Study group, Shop-

ping, Gossip and overall best friends.

SOCIOMETRY

Interpersonal Relationships often widely discussed, are often

defined in student circles and elsewhere only qualitatively.

What is really interesting is the possibility to measure such

relationships quantitatively ! Yes Sociometry is the answer

and this is why….

Sociograms are often used to analyze various choices made by members within a group. By understand-

ing such choices, sociograms are created and pathways that connect maximum social acceptance are

identified. Such pathways may then be used to reduce the existing misbehavior in groups. Referred as

the Social Discipline Model , this exercise is quite common in reducing the misbehavior in classrooms.

Article by - Mrityunjay Sharma

(XLRI HRM, Batch of 2011-13)

Afterwards the responses from these girls were col-

lected and Sociograms were created for each of the

broad arrangements like Class seating, Study group,

Shopping, Gossip and best friends. The Sociograms

showed the links between the different girls repre-

sented as nodes and various relations between them

when it came to preferences.

There are few terminologies that have been used to

explain the findings of Sociograms:

Stars: When several children "positively" nominate

the same person the many arrows all lead to that per-

son thus emphasizing their "Starness". They are the

center or "hub of attraction." We call them "stars."

Mutual choices: These consist of pairs of students

who chose each other. The more there are the more

congenial the group is and thus there may be a

greater positive social climate to the classroom. Ob-

viously, mutual negative choices are dangerous

situations to be avoided, corrected by intervention,

or at least used as useful knowledge when grouping

children with each other.

Islands: When pairs (mutual choices) or small

groups are separated from the larger patterns, and

members of this group are not nominated by anyone

in other patterns, we describe them as "Islands."

Key Findings:

(a) Physical proximity is an important deciding

factor in the selection of the individuals for

their preferences. For individual activities like

“Shopping Sisters” or “Study circle”, the star

attributes could have come from core compe-

tencies, like ability to bargain or scholastic

abilities respectively. They also could be due

to combination of factors like physical prox-

imity and scholastic skills. But the emergence

of stars like 5, 13 and 1 across categories indi-

cates role of likeable personality attributes like

low neuroticism in making someone the center

of attraction. This may point to favorable posi-

tion in future for leadership roles for members

1, 5 and 13. (A case of charismatic leadership)

(b) There is a very poor co-relation between an

individual’s CQPI & its study group’s CQPI

which goes against the common assumption of

high CQPI people sticking together.

(c) However, in case of an expressive network

relationship which involves “the exchange of

friendship” like shopping group see a rela-

tively high positive co-relation with individual

CQPIs.

(d) The correlations for other activities with

CQPIs lie in between these two extremes men-

tioned above.


Page 2


The application of Brand Management concepts to

Human Resources has been instrumental in address-

ing many problems from skill shortages to improving

growth and profitability. While eliciting the reasons

for why organizations go for employer branding, the

article also gives rationale through theoretical

frameworks for explaining Employer Branding.

EMPLOYER BRANDING

Employer Brand can be defined as “The package of

functional, economic and psychological benefits

provided by employment, and identified with the

employing company.”

Why Employer Branding:

In today’s world when information is galore, the

potential employees have the cushion of exploring

the benefits/ employee centric privileges of any em-

ployer before they decide to take a plunge in the

process for any company’s recruitment and selec-

tion. Thus, a firm needs to differentiate itself from

its competitors in terms of the value proposition that

it offers to its employees. Employer branding has

gained a lot of impetus in the knowledge based in-

dustry.

Besides increasing the number of quality applica-

tions for any particular position, it also helps in in-

creasing the number of offer acceptances by the

candidates. This helps in cutting down the recruit-

ment and selection cost for a firm.

The increased visibility of the employer value

propositions ensures that the existing workforce is

motivated enough to continue with the organization

and give its optimal performance. This again has an

impact on reducing the attrition figures for any or-

ganization. Reducing attrition figures adds to the

stability of the workforce and hence helps in the

organization in: Reducing costs in term of on board-

ing and training new employees. Leveraging on the

existing learning curve in the organization which is

critical in executing complex projects

The message content used while doing branding

also states the culture of the organization, hence this

creates a better engagement of the current and po-

tential employees with culture and strategy of the

firm.

Recent researches suggest that employer branding

has become critical in an increasingly knowledge-

based economy where skilled employees are often

in short supply.

Since, employer branding caters to both internal as

well as external marketing it becomes as critical as

the corporate and the product brand of the firm.

Theories can help us understand the theoretical as-

pects of employer branding:

Resource based Theory:

This theory suggests that resources of a firm can

contribute to its sustainable competitive

Article By – Abhishek Vinay

(XLRI HRM, Batch of 2011-13)

Page 3

advantag. Research done by Barney suggests that

the possession of resources that are rare, valuable,

non-substitutable and difficult to imitate allow a

firm to move ahead of its competitors. For the

knowledge based industry the resource that can cre-

ate competitive advantage is Human Capital. Ex-

ternal marketing enables a firm to create a distinct-

iveness of the brand that in turn allows the firm to

acquire distinctive human capital to build competi-

tive advantage.

Internal marketing helps create a workforce that is

hard for other firms to imitate which puts a firm at

an advantage in terms of resources.

Theory of Psychological Contract:

Traditionally, psychological contract enforced loy-

alty in workmen in lieu of job security. The recent

trend toward downsizing, outsourcing, and flexibil-

ity on the part of the employer has imposed a new

form of psychological contract, in which employers

provide workers with marketable skills through

training and development in exchange for effort and

flexibility.

The current trend suggests that firms use employer

branding to advertise the benefits they still offer,

including training, career opportunities, personal

growth and development.

This theory stresses on the employee organizational

relationship wherein the employee starts looking at

the total rewards in lieu of working for the organi-

zation rather than simply monetary benefits.

Brand Equity Theory:

As defined by Asker, Brand Equity is “a set of

brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand that add

to or subtract from the value provided by a product

or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers”.

In terms of employer branding, brand equity applies

to the effect of brand knowledge on potential and

existing employees of the firm.

Employer brand equity propels potential applicants

to apply. Employer brand equity encourages exist-

ing employees to stay with, and support the com-

pany. Some of the research work done suggest that

potential or existing employees react differently to

similar recruitment, selection, and retention efforts

from different firms because of the underlying em-

ployer brand equity associated with these firms.

Thus, credible brand equity of a firm establishes a

greater chance of building competitive advantage in

terms of its internal as well as external customers

i.e. current and potential employees.


Page 4

Employer

Branding

Employer

Brand Asso-

ciation

Employer

Image

Employer

Attraction

Organization

Identity and

Culture

Employer

Brand Loyalty

Employee

Productivity

Sustainable

Competitive

Advantage

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR EMPLOYER BRANDING


Page 5

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HR CROSSWORDS

ACROSS

6 I know there is an altercation. But I am highly concerned about others as much as I am about myself.

7 I am born in 1989 and by far I am the most glamorous thing on campus !

13 Organizational Behavior has its room from this!

14 First Prize has 10K, Second prize has 5K and the third has 2K. What is my logic

15 U need one as soon as u join the firm and u will be one if are good enough

16 This is the positive effect of overload-ing you with work at B School

17 If its too short, its just called a tactic

DOWN

1 I always look at my topper in the batch and aim to be that way !

2 An Indian Management guru - went to the bottom of this, but was criticized for it

3 We can give you a hundred thousand rupees if you are really good at this ! - Just wait for Ensemble

4 What do you say for "Change for the better" if you are in Tokyo ?

5 Extremely important in driving you towards your goals

7 "U give me (17) and I give you this" said Alfred Chandler

8 Fundamental rethinking about systems and processes leading to im-provement

9 Ownership gimmick with curtailed risk to boost up your CTC

10 Smart targets are a byproduct of this theory

11 These are underlying characteristics that ensure you perform better than others

12 We unleashed ourselves and connected to people through this book!

Send us your filled entries to us ([email protected]) by 31st August 2012 and get your profiles and con-

tributions published in XLRI SAPPHIRE Newsletters reaching top B Schools in India


HR DOSE Learning Curve :

A learning curve is a graphi-

cal representation of the

changing rate of learning (in

the average person) for a

given activity or tool. Typi-

cally, the increase in reten-

tion of information is sharp-

est after the initial attempts,

and then gradually evens out,

meaning that less and less

new information is retained

after each repetition.

Experience Curve Effect : Generally the production of any good or service shows the experience curve effect. Each

time cumulative volume doubles, value added costs (including administration, marketing, distribution, and manu-

facturing) fall by a constant percentage.

Free Markets: Land, Labor and Capital arguably are

the most important resources to start

up firms. While liberalization allows a

business to raise capital on its own,

Land and Labor procurement are still

highly regulated. However off late, the

Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is being

replaced with a new one - with

minimum state intervention! Dearness Allowance :

Dearness allowance is a percentage

of basic salary given only in South

Asian countries (mainly in India) to

ensure low earners are protected from

the rising inflation.

Trivia times

Page 6

Internal Labour Markets :

Internal labor markets are

an administrative unit within a

firm in which pricing and allo-

cation of labor is governed by

a set of administrative rules

and procedures. The remain-

der of jobs within the ILM is

filled by the promotion or

transfer of workers who have

already gained entry. Inter-

nal labor markets are shielded

from the competition of exter-

nal labor markets.

Skills Shortage:

Shortage of skills in the workplace is

the most debated issue currently. Only

2% of Indian workforce have under-

gone skills training. India now targets

to produce 500 million skilled work-

force by 2022.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administration_(business)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_economics


Winning Article : By - Vipul Khanna

XLRI - HRM Batch of 2011-13

“Has improved quality of human resource manage-

ment in recent times decreased the need of Industrial

relations management?” This was a question asked

by a peer of mine in a mandatory course on IR. An

interesting discussion ensued. The underlying premise

for this discussion was that if HR performs its role

efficiently and is able to project a pro employee atti-

tude, then :

Employees/workers won’t have to unionize to

safeguard their rights, since issues that lead to

unionization would be already taken care of.

Employee/Worker would feel more comfortable

approaching the HR department rather than the

union in case of disgruntlement.

Do these premises hold good or were we (the future HRs) being too idealistic in our assumptions. Had this

discussion taken place today (after the Manesar incident) it would have surely taken a very different course.

Lets try to establish the origin of such arguments. In the past decade IR has certainly taken a back seat

compared to other facets of HR. Possible reasons are:

Increased urge of HR to have a bigger role in “strategic decision making” : HR graduates from top b-

schools ,armed with knowledge and theories to kill ,are almost “desperate” to make their presence felt.

Hence, facets of HR such as being in touch with the employees and being aware of the pulse of workforce

have been overshadowed by “business partnering” facets such as alignment of compensation, performance

management and human resource planning . Arguing against the importance of these facets would be non-

sensical but the points of debate is: How justified is it to promote one at the cost of other?

Are the best and brightest of the young generation of HR managers shying away from IR. This is a feeling

that has been prominently expressed after the Manesar incident. Possible reasons for this attitude of young

HR professionals may be:

Very few IR profiles (of quality) are being offered during campus placements

IR roles seen as less lucrative compared to consulting and corporate HR roles.

Importance of IR not appreciated by HR students on campuses: Part of the blame has to go to

Page 7

Has the Corporate neglected the real facets

of HR for too long ?

selection procedures at B-schools. Usually 90% of the batch comes from an IT background

which has largely been free from unionization. Hence, they aren’t able to appreciate the im-

portance of IR management. This feeling is well reflected by the registration for elective

courses on IR.

A relatively peaceful IR atmosphere in the past decade has meant that the brightest talent has-

n’t been required in IR jobs.

Decrease in “Human Quotient” of HR: Incidents like Manesar happen when humans are seen as

”resources” that give increased “output” if one can increase the number of “man-hours” that can be

“derived out of them” .

“De-humanizing” of HR refers to the belief that human behavior / attitude can be significantly altered

through compensation/incentives and performance management parameters. This “de-humanizing” is pro-

moted partly through aforementioned over-eagerness of HR to be a strategic partner and partly through the

knowledge that is being imparted to students in HR classes which is too skewed in favor of Compensation

and Performance management rather than collective bargaining and Labor administration.

HR not taking accountability and hiding behind the subjectivities of human behavior: A common reaction

of the HR fraternity to the Manesar incident was to give a clean chit to HR and blame the “aggressive re-

gional belt” for the incident. This argument seems a bit hypocritical since on one hand HR claims to have

the magic wand of changing the behavior/attitude of employees through compensation and performance

management and on the other hand blames such incidents on ingrained and unchangeable “aggressiveness”

of the workers of a regional belt.

This argument of HR fraternity becomes all the more irresponsible considering the “aggressiveness” of

workers in the said incident may well have been borne out of the behaviour changing measures (such as

incentivized over-times etc) adopted by HR department. As long as HR would continues to shirk account-

ability such incidents would continue to occur.

Manesar incident can turn out to be a critical juncture that may define the shape of IR for the next few

years. One possibility being increased reluctance of people to take up IR roles due to perceived safety con-

cerns , other very distinct possibility is that the IR fraternity would pull up its socks , reinvigorate IR by re-

emphasizing its importance to the young generation of HR managers.

Which course would IR follow in the coming years is anybody’s guess.


Page 8

Has the Corporate neglected the real facets

of HR for too long ?


HR ROUND THE GLOBE

Companies skilled at core HR practices experience superior economic performance, says new study A new research by The Boston Consulting Group and the World Federation of People Management Asso-

ciations says that companies that are highly skilled in core HR practices experience up to 3.5 times the

revenue growth and as much as 2.1 times the profit margins of less capable companies.

According to the research the correlation between economic performance and capability in these 22 HR

areas was especially striking in six contexts:

Recruiting

On boarding of new hires and employee retention

Talent management

Employer branding

Performance management and rewards

Leadership development

In three pivotal areas leadership development, talent man-

agement, and performance management and rewards, the

high-performing companies differentiated themselves dra-

matically. In each one, these companies engaged in more

activities and provided more options, did so more often,

and were generally more effective.

China, India, Brazil identified as the most challenging emerging coun-

tries when it comes to staffing: Mercer Study

Mercer conducted a survey “HR & Mobility Challenges of Emerging Mar-

kets Survey” in 2011 and it examined the types of issues that organizations

in North America were facing as they were expanding into emerging mar-

kets, and which issues and countries present the most critical challenges. It

included responses from more than 150 US and Canadian organizations.

According to the survey more than half (59%) of participating organizations cited scarcity of local employ-

ees with the required technical skills as the most critical human resources challenge in emerging markets.

Given the rapid rate and scope of globalization, organizations continue to face significant challenges in

emerging markets. In the research China, India, Brazil were identified as the most challenging emerging

countries. Scarcity of local talent with appropriate skills in emerging markets topped HR challenges for or-

ganizations

This challenge was followed by difficulties of dealing with complex labor laws, and, establishing appropri-

ate salary structures (53% and 51%, respectively). Page 9

http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/HR-Administration/HR-Metrics/Companies-skilled-at-core-HR-practices-experience-/

http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/HR-Administration/HR-Metrics/Companies-skilled-at-core-HR-practices-experience-/


Page 9

Managing talent mobility a priority:

Mercer HR Chief

Patricia Milligan, president, human

capital Mercer said “With the interna-

tional expansion of organizations, tal-

ent mobility has become an important

HR function. Managing talent mobility

and skill building should be a priority

for leaders. “

Line managers need to pay attention to

talent and performance development

and not leave the job to the HR depart-

ment. In the global scenario, leader-

ship traits should be drawn from the

East and the West, she added.

Attrition rate declines this year in Indian IT, ITes & BPO sector: Assocham Study A recent industry specific survey carried out by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of

India revealed that attrition rate has fallen sharply in IT, ITeS and the BPO sector to the level of about 15-

20 per cent during the last six months of this year as against about 55-60 per cent in the year-ago period.

The reasons for high attrition rate are given as global turmoil and apprehension of economic downturn be-

ing continued for some more time.

TALENT M

ANAGEM

ENT

AT

TR

ITIO

N !!!

C

O

m

P

E

n

S

A

t

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HR ROUND THE GLOBE

Global Talent Imbalance will shape HR, Talent Strategy 2012

According to Bersin & Associates’ report Predictions for 2012 – Driving Organizational Performance

amidst an Imbalanced Global Workforce, leading-edge HR teams will drive competitive advantage for

their organizations by building a borderless, agile workplace with new and changed talent and learn-

ing strategies in 2012. These new strategies include the heavy adoption of social networking for re-

cruiting, employment branding, learning, and collaboration; a focus on diversity and "GirlPower" to

build leadership competencies for the future; and, continual coaching and goal review to drive agile

performance management.

TAL

EN

T

MO

BIL

ITY

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Assocham

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/BPO-sector


CONTACT US

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[email protected]

EDITORS

Ankita Sharma

Krishna Chaitanya

VISIT US AT:

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