Will be offline for a week....
Am joining a new organization as a HR Manager from the 3rd of January
Have a great and rewarding 2006 !
Dec 28, 2005
The new religion is...
...Talentism and the prophet is Jeff Hunter.
Put your hands together for the new messiah !
I'm an early convert !
Put your hands together for the new messiah !
I'm an early convert !
Dec 27, 2005
The Indian auto industry
Roland Berger Partner at Munich and automotive expert Dr. Thomas Sedran tells global auto majors not to ignore the Indian auto market.
European carmakers and suppliers would be wise to keep at least one eye pinned on India. They should also keep in mind that India's automotive market is not a cookie-cutter mold of China's car sector. The structure of India's auto industry is unique when compared to other developed economies.
Unlike in China where a joint venture is required for domestic production, India's auto foreign direct investment policy allows global OEMs to have 100 percent ownership, which has created a healthy industry from the start.
India potentially is the next red-hot market. OEMs that have their finger on the local pulse and manage to globally integrate their Indian operations have good chances of seeing a profitable and sustainable operation develop.
European carmakers and suppliers would be wise to keep at least one eye pinned on India. They should also keep in mind that India's automotive market is not a cookie-cutter mold of China's car sector. The structure of India's auto industry is unique when compared to other developed economies.
Unlike in China where a joint venture is required for domestic production, India's auto foreign direct investment policy allows global OEMs to have 100 percent ownership, which has created a healthy industry from the start.
India potentially is the next red-hot market. OEMs that have their finger on the local pulse and manage to globally integrate their Indian operations have good chances of seeing a profitable and sustainable operation develop.
An Arjuna Awardee and a Management Consultant
Believe it or not that's Roopa Unnikrishnan for you, an Arjuna Awardee for Shooting in 1999 and is employed with one of the US's most upcoming management consulting organizations.
Wow !
Wow !
On Knowledge worker productivity
KM thought leader Tom Davenport has a conversation on Knowledge worker productivity and wonders why most organizations don't do much about it. The reasons are almost the same:
1. It’s hard.
2. It takes a fair amount of up-front investment.
3. Knowledge workers, like Greta Garbo, like to be left alone.
So, as the reporter asks Tom, if companies are not putting their money where Drucker advised them to, was Drucker wrong?
Not really.
There are a lot of areas where organizations have not listened to Drucker (via Blogspotting) and that doesn't mean that the ideas are not great. It is just that Drucker showed the "aspired reality" for organizations.
Organizations on the other hand focus on the day to day operations, and listen more to the quarterly diktats of Wall Street and shreholders than focussing on the aspirations that leaders like Drucker showed.
Actual reality wins most of the time over aspired reality. Specially when the rewards of the actual reality are clearer than the transition and pain to change into the aspired reality.
1. It’s hard.
2. It takes a fair amount of up-front investment.
3. Knowledge workers, like Greta Garbo, like to be left alone.
So, as the reporter asks Tom, if companies are not putting their money where Drucker advised them to, was Drucker wrong?
Not really.
There are a lot of areas where organizations have not listened to Drucker (via Blogspotting) and that doesn't mean that the ideas are not great. It is just that Drucker showed the "aspired reality" for organizations.
Organizations on the other hand focus on the day to day operations, and listen more to the quarterly diktats of Wall Street and shreholders than focussing on the aspirations that leaders like Drucker showed.
Actual reality wins most of the time over aspired reality. Specially when the rewards of the actual reality are clearer than the transition and pain to change into the aspired reality.
Dec 26, 2005
The Indian Craigslist?
Came across this free classified site recently. The craigslist clone? Do Indian newspapers have to start worrying now?
Actually Criagslist has Indian cities like Bangalore and Mumbai listed, but only if the net penetration reaches a critical mass and cost of access keeps falling, and Indic fonts catch on, only then will newspapers have to start worrying in India.
Check this item too.
Actually Criagslist has Indian cities like Bangalore and Mumbai listed, but only if the net penetration reaches a critical mass and cost of access keeps falling, and Indic fonts catch on, only then will newspapers have to start worrying in India.
Check this item too.
Who you gonna blame now?
Attrition is endemic to the BPO industry, whether its entry level or top level.
"It's the natural conclusion as opportunities are lot more with people exercising their options," says Wipro Spectramind ex HR head S Varadarajan.
"It's the natural conclusion as opportunities are lot more with people exercising their options," says Wipro Spectramind ex HR head S Varadarajan.
JIT hiring?
Now that is a new piece of jargon.
The process may be very efficient, but I have grave doubts if it is half as effective as traditional hiring methods. Sure, there exist lots of space in the traditional processes to cut time and slack, but decisions on pay fitment and reference checks will take the time as they do at present. If one rushes through them then it might be dangerous!
The process may be very efficient, but I have grave doubts if it is half as effective as traditional hiring methods. Sure, there exist lots of space in the traditional processes to cut time and slack, but decisions on pay fitment and reference checks will take the time as they do at present. If one rushes through them then it might be dangerous!
Campus Recruitment
How do IT and other majors hire from campus and why.
As more and more companies start going to campuses we'll see a lot more activity moving from technical & MBA campuses to plain vanilla degree campuses also.
I am also fairly certain that there will emerge a different kind of 'headhunting firm' that focusses on campus recruitment and advises organizations on building relationships and branding themselves on campuses.
As more and more companies start going to campuses we'll see a lot more activity moving from technical & MBA campuses to plain vanilla degree campuses also.
I am also fairly certain that there will emerge a different kind of 'headhunting firm' that focusses on campus recruitment and advises organizations on building relationships and branding themselves on campuses.
Job Search during the holidays
Microsoft's blogger Jenna tells us why the festive holidays are the best time to go job hunting!
Companies are still hiring and a lot of candidates are not looking, so it is easy to stand out and be noticed. It is also easy to sneak away from your present employer for that all-day interview; the boss will just assume are headed out to buy another office party gift.
Companies are still hiring and a lot of candidates are not looking, so it is easy to stand out and be noticed. It is also easy to sneak away from your present employer for that all-day interview; the boss will just assume are headed out to buy another office party gift.
What are strong brands?
Those that are powerful enough to apparently switch off our ability to reason completely !
[Research quoted on strategy consulting firm Roland Berger's site]
[Research quoted on strategy consulting firm Roland Berger's site]
Indian IT companies developing other revenue streams?
This news item on Wipro delivering cross-cultural training for its clients caught my eye. As the article says this is probably a drop in Wipro's ocean of revenues, but these could help in HR folks taking themselves more seriously and business folks looking at them with new respect. Let's face it, you can be a brilliant support partner, but still never be seen as a "line function".
Even Infosys has a small HR consulting team that does hard core Change management and HR interventions for their clients. Again, its not a big group, hardly around 10 consultants but is always a great area for the hundreds of HR professionals employed by Infosys to aspire for.
In fact, the old economy industries like Eicher were first to experiment with setting up a HR consulting outfit with in-house talent and turning it into a full fledged profit centre. The Lalbhai group also tried it but that experiment turned out to be a big flop.
Even Infosys has a small HR consulting team that does hard core Change management and HR interventions for their clients. Again, its not a big group, hardly around 10 consultants but is always a great area for the hundreds of HR professionals employed by Infosys to aspire for.
In fact, the old economy industries like Eicher were first to experiment with setting up a HR consulting outfit with in-house talent and turning it into a full fledged profit centre. The Lalbhai group also tried it but that experiment turned out to be a big flop.
McKinsey preferred on Indian B Schools
According to this article McKinsey is the preferred number one on Indian B Schools followed by BCG, Accenture, HSBC and HLL.
It's been a big fall for FMCG powerhouse which was the most aggressive recruiter of B School grads till a couple of years back. Of course, "Mac" was always a to-die-for firm, but the number of people it picked was never too much. As another article quotes a BCG consultant as saying that the constant flow of correspondence between students and the firm as a sign of greater student maturity. This means that student perception — shaped by the experiences of seniors and corporate interactions on campus — are playing a wider role in placement choices than ever before.
As a friend remarked "People join consulting for the glory, and of course the money is good too. Where else can you be fresh out of B School and strut your stuff in front of Boards and CXOs?" If that is really the case, HLL and other FMCG companies need to address this need of B Schools or else, just graduate to the next level of B Schools where they would still be number one recruiters.
Earlier post on the McKinsey mystique.
It's been a big fall for FMCG powerhouse which was the most aggressive recruiter of B School grads till a couple of years back. Of course, "Mac" was always a to-die-for firm, but the number of people it picked was never too much. As another article quotes a BCG consultant as saying that the constant flow of correspondence between students and the firm as a sign of greater student maturity. This means that student perception — shaped by the experiences of seniors and corporate interactions on campus — are playing a wider role in placement choices than ever before.
As a friend remarked "People join consulting for the glory, and of course the money is good too. Where else can you be fresh out of B School and strut your stuff in front of Boards and CXOs?" If that is really the case, HLL and other FMCG companies need to address this need of B Schools or else, just graduate to the next level of B Schools where they would still be number one recruiters.
Earlier post on the McKinsey mystique.
Remembering the Tsunami
On the anniversary of the Tsunami that struck various parts of Asia I thought I'd point to my ex-boss' Rick's blog in which he describes his personal experience surviving the Tsunami in Phuket last year.
Dec 24, 2005
On overpaid CEOs - The Indian story
Rob makes the case that maybe some CEOs might deserve their pay packages. But most certainly don't.
In India CEO pay hasn't become so much of an issue, because promoter CEOs are still the norm and unlisted subsidiaries of MNCs don't have to declare CEO salaries. Therefore they end up getting compared to California salaries and seem a pittance.
But salaries in India have started to touch the Rs. 5 crore bracket, and there are a lot more people in the Rs 1 crore - 3 crore bracket. We'll probably see many more CEOs and Functional heads at this level as there will certainly be a shortage of leadership talent with the plethora of new organizations setting up shop in India.
In India CEO pay hasn't become so much of an issue, because promoter CEOs are still the norm and unlisted subsidiaries of MNCs don't have to declare CEO salaries. Therefore they end up getting compared to California salaries and seem a pittance.
But salaries in India have started to touch the Rs. 5 crore bracket, and there are a lot more people in the Rs 1 crore - 3 crore bracket. We'll probably see many more CEOs and Functional heads at this level as there will certainly be a shortage of leadership talent with the plethora of new organizations setting up shop in India.
The Indibloggies nominations are open!
So what are you waiting for?
Here's a step by step tutorial on how to nominate a blog.
Let the best blogs win !
Here's a step by step tutorial on how to nominate a blog.
Let the best blogs win !
Dec 23, 2005
HR Lessons from Harsha Bhogle
Was going through Prem's blog on cricket and found some really insightful quotes by cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle which contains some brilliant HR management wisdom.
In India’s thriving, achievement-driven private sector they love him [Chappell].
At the same time, a lot of the older managers, facing change and uncertainty in their own lives, sympathised with Ganguly and thought he deserved another opportunity. That is the other face of India where, as my cousin told me, zor ka jhatka dheere se dena chahiye. They believed that we need to respect the past and nurture those that have been successful.
When change comes knocking, there will always be one or two who will feel the heat. Either they adapt or they get looked over. In this case Ganguly is having to adapt and he can if he looks at this positively. If he scores runs, he will look Chappell in the eye and I think he will discover that this divide is not as big as it seems.
Some really good change management nuggets there, IMHO. Sure, change is not always easy, and sometimes, not always does it equal development and/or growth. When two strong egos collide with different ideas about change only one idea stands tall.
Ideally, two great ideas should combine together to produce one awe-inspiring idea, but to do that one person should play the role of a facilitator. In this case, neither the BCCI or the media act as one.
In India’s thriving, achievement-driven private sector they love him [Chappell].
At the same time, a lot of the older managers, facing change and uncertainty in their own lives, sympathised with Ganguly and thought he deserved another opportunity. That is the other face of India where, as my cousin told me, zor ka jhatka dheere se dena chahiye. They believed that we need to respect the past and nurture those that have been successful.
When change comes knocking, there will always be one or two who will feel the heat. Either they adapt or they get looked over. In this case Ganguly is having to adapt and he can if he looks at this positively. If he scores runs, he will look Chappell in the eye and I think he will discover that this divide is not as big as it seems.
Some really good change management nuggets there, IMHO. Sure, change is not always easy, and sometimes, not always does it equal development and/or growth. When two strong egos collide with different ideas about change only one idea stands tall.
Ideally, two great ideas should combine together to produce one awe-inspiring idea, but to do that one person should play the role of a facilitator. In this case, neither the BCCI or the media act as one.
The Recruiting Blog Awards are out !
And the category winners are here !
Some thought's: Microsoft recruiting sweeps the awards....oh OK, I am being hyperbolic like MSM. But Gretchen's Job blog has won in two categories: best job seeker blog as well as best group blog. Gretchen and her colleagues have done awesome work for promoting the MS brand and Technical Recruiting of Microsoft. Job seekers love the suggestion kitty and the common sense advice she purrs once in a while ! But am surprised that Heather didn't win in any category. As the Marketing and Finance Recruiting Program Manager for MS, Heather has turned into the Recruiting industry's poster girl. Could the reason be that Finance and Marketing folks do not vote on blog awards?
The best HR Technology blog goes to Cheesman's Online Recruiting Blog and I'm not really surprised. Joel rocks when explaining search engine optimization and online job posting strategies for the recruiting industry. His blog is definitely a must read for me!
Another non-surprise was Shally's blog on ERE Cybersleuthing , which won in the best Recruiting Research blog category. Shally is again an industry thought leader and knows people all around the world in recruiting. He earlier worked for Google and now is with Microsoft's recruiting group. So he definitely is on top of the game all the time!
What was surprising was that the Google Blog won the best Corporate Recruiting blog category. Pray, someone explain that logic to me. Sure, its a corporate blog, but it's not focussed on recruiting (except for an occasional post like this).
Some thought's: Microsoft recruiting sweeps the awards....oh OK, I am being hyperbolic like MSM. But Gretchen's Job blog has won in two categories: best job seeker blog as well as best group blog. Gretchen and her colleagues have done awesome work for promoting the MS brand and Technical Recruiting of Microsoft. Job seekers love the suggestion kitty and the common sense advice she purrs once in a while ! But am surprised that Heather didn't win in any category. As the Marketing and Finance Recruiting Program Manager for MS, Heather has turned into the Recruiting industry's poster girl. Could the reason be that Finance and Marketing folks do not vote on blog awards?
The best HR Technology blog goes to Cheesman's Online Recruiting Blog and I'm not really surprised. Joel rocks when explaining search engine optimization and online job posting strategies for the recruiting industry. His blog is definitely a must read for me!
Another non-surprise was Shally's blog on ERE Cybersleuthing , which won in the best Recruiting Research blog category. Shally is again an industry thought leader and knows people all around the world in recruiting. He earlier worked for Google and now is with Microsoft's recruiting group. So he definitely is on top of the game all the time!
What was surprising was that the Google Blog won the best Corporate Recruiting blog category. Pray, someone explain that logic to me. Sure, its a corporate blog, but it's not focussed on recruiting (except for an occasional post like this).
Dec 22, 2005
Rakesh Khurana muses on rankings
Harvard top thinker Rakesh Khurana blogs about rankings. At the time of the year when all and sundry are trying to rank virtually all the things over the year, its a timely post!
Rankings are also attractive because they are simplistic and they convey a sense of order. By virtue of quantification, rankings promise comparability and standardization which are partially achieved by forcing those being ranked to be more judicious in standardizing their own internal processes. The rankings in outlets like U.S. News and World Report and BusinessWeek forced schools to standardize their measures and adopt particular definitions of particular data. Consequently, most schools now share a common definition of starting salary, acceptance rate, and employment, thereby allowing for common metrics which transcend institutional differences.
Yet, rankings provide the illusion of scientific rigor vis-à-vis a process that actually calls for careful judgment and nuanced interpretation. It is one thing to give Wharton, Tuck, or Columbia a rating as a top business school; this leaves some room for interpretation. However, to say that Wharton is number one, Columbia number 3 and Tuck number 2 indicates a level of precision that just cannot be achieved, except on the cover of a newsmagazine and then in the minds of students.
Hmm, that makes me think of Indian B-School rankings !
Rankings are also attractive because they are simplistic and they convey a sense of order. By virtue of quantification, rankings promise comparability and standardization which are partially achieved by forcing those being ranked to be more judicious in standardizing their own internal processes. The rankings in outlets like U.S. News and World Report and BusinessWeek forced schools to standardize their measures and adopt particular definitions of particular data. Consequently, most schools now share a common definition of starting salary, acceptance rate, and employment, thereby allowing for common metrics which transcend institutional differences.
Yet, rankings provide the illusion of scientific rigor vis-à-vis a process that actually calls for careful judgment and nuanced interpretation. It is one thing to give Wharton, Tuck, or Columbia a rating as a top business school; this leaves some room for interpretation. However, to say that Wharton is number one, Columbia number 3 and Tuck number 2 indicates a level of precision that just cannot be achieved, except on the cover of a newsmagazine and then in the minds of students.
Hmm, that makes me think of Indian B-School rankings !
Dec 21, 2005
The Search
What do most adults spend their most productive work-lives searching for and seldom succeed in finding?
Terrence has the answer.
Have you found your answer yet?
Terrence has the answer.
Have you found your answer yet?
Dec 20, 2005
India as a thought leader in Recruiting?
Well, Dr. John Sullivan certainly thinks so in his 2005 annual roundup called "Who's ahead of the curve?"
Yes, I know, it's a country. But you had better watch these fast-growing Indian firms because they have plans to open facilities and recruit all over the world. Using a kind of reverse engineering, firms are planning on opening R&D facilities where the talent currently resides (in North America, Asia,
and Europe). They are incredibly aggressive because they don't have to unlearn all of the old-fashioned recruiting traditions that restrict most thinking.
Dec 19, 2005
Free markets and Diminishing customer service
Two posts in the Indian blogosphere that threaten to degenerate into a Free Markets vs Others debate made me think. One was this post by Dilip D'Souza and this one by Charu.
As I commented on Charu's blog, the actual reason for this is that the talent for customer service is right now quite limited and is being eyed from outsourcing companies in addition to internal companies. Needless to say, Indian companies have to settle for the second best talent with low backend resources.
The other factor is that the leadership of these sectors are still mired in the 'customer is not king' mindset.
And this is not restricted to India. Bad customer service happens here too! And read this too
As I commented on Charu's blog, the actual reason for this is that the talent for customer service is right now quite limited and is being eyed from outsourcing companies in addition to internal companies. Needless to say, Indian companies have to settle for the second best talent with low backend resources.
The other factor is that the leadership of these sectors are still mired in the 'customer is not king' mindset.
And this is not restricted to India. Bad customer service happens here too! And read this too
20 dumbest business practices
Tom Peters blogged this recently:
I'll give you my 11 starting propositions, scribbled out so far: Men as CEOs of consumer goods companies! CFOs promoted to CEO. Mergers of Decrepit Monsters! Strategic plans in excess of three pages. Big offices for bosses. Focus groups. Hiring lots of MBAs. HR boss not a member of the Board of Directors. CIO not a member of the Board of Directors. Corporate staffs in excess of 50 people. Anything other than Unbridled Enthusiasm at the top of the hiring or promoting criteria list for any + every job. More later.
Do I dare to add 9 to the great TP's list...I'll give it a shot:
12. Spending too much time in meetings
13. Not learning from mistakes
14. More blame-game than introspection
15. Killing weird ideas.
16. Not listening to customers.
17. Relying too much on market research.
18. Jumping onto any b(r)andwagon without too much study.
19. Merging for the heck of it!
P.S. Loved TP's takes on "HR Boss not being a member of the board" and the one on "unbridled enthusiasm"!
I'll give you my 11 starting propositions, scribbled out so far: Men as CEOs of consumer goods companies! CFOs promoted to CEO. Mergers of Decrepit Monsters! Strategic plans in excess of three pages. Big offices for bosses. Focus groups. Hiring lots of MBAs. HR boss not a member of the Board of Directors. CIO not a member of the Board of Directors. Corporate staffs in excess of 50 people. Anything other than Unbridled Enthusiasm at the top of the hiring or promoting criteria list for any + every job. More later.
Do I dare to add 9 to the great TP's list...I'll give it a shot:
12. Spending too much time in meetings
13. Not learning from mistakes
14. More blame-game than introspection
15. Killing weird ideas.
16. Not listening to customers.
17. Relying too much on market research.
18. Jumping onto any b(r)andwagon without too much study.
19. Merging for the heck of it!
P.S. Loved TP's takes on "HR Boss not being a member of the board" and the one on "unbridled enthusiasm"!
Diversity in the Indian workplace
We have a long way to go !
Only six per cent of the total number of employees working in medium and large scale industries constitute women, with 18 percent in medium and 4 percent in large companies, a CII study said.
The study quoted that ''the attrition rate of women in larger companies was higher and in managerial positions the ratio of women dwindled further.'' Mrs [Anu] Aga, while attributing the work-environment as a major deterrent for women looking for higher managerial positions said, ''Gender bias in recruitment, gender inequality and sexual harassment at work place are the major issues affecting women as is evident from the study which quoted that 25 per cent women faced gender bias on jobs.'' She further added that according to the study, 56 per cent of the companies that were surveyed did not have any formal policies in place to counter sexual harassment besides women ''not willing to speak openly about their experiences.''
Self-belief or Delusion
In Leadership Now Don quotes an interesting research.
The tragedy is that it is true, and people routinely pat themselves on the back for whatever goes right and blame external factors for what goes wrong.
In fact, forget individuals, even organizations do the same. Attribution theory is seldom right.
The tragedy is that it is true, and people routinely pat themselves on the back for whatever goes right and blame external factors for what goes wrong.
In fact, forget individuals, even organizations do the same. Attribution theory is seldom right.
The HR Conference
Remember I posted about MBAs in HR earlier?
The secret is out. If you would like to participate in crafting the future of HR then go here.
The secret is out. If you would like to participate in crafting the future of HR then go here.
Dec 16, 2005
MBAs and ethics
Rashmi posts about ethics of MBAs specifically about the news that Vivek Prakash of Samsung India Electronics had duped his company of Rs. 18 crore (that's around US $ 4 million!).
The brouhaha is about the fact that Vivek is a graduate of one of India's premier MBA institutes, IIM Bangalore.
My view is that it's all right for B Schools and organizations to 'teach/preach' ethics but the ingrained values of ethics are inculcated by family, and reinforced by the culture of the organization and if people "walk the talk" there.
There is no way as MBAs or as Indians we can ensure corruption and unethical practices do not take place other than not participating in it and strongly denouncing it whenever it takes place. There are Indian organizations where ethics are paramount to tasks. Once an employee sees that unethical behavior is not tolerated no matter how good/bad you are at your job, the incentive to indulge in corrupt practices goes down significantly. On the other hand, there are other organizations that turn a blind eye to corrupt practices with a view that "this is the cost of doing business in this country". Unless the cultures of these organizations change to total non-tolerance of these behaviors, we would have more cases like Vivek's.
One of the toughest first jobs I had to do in my HR generalist role is to fire two people for incorrect medical bills. The protests were that "everyone does it", "it takes place in every organization", "these are good performers, can't we let them off with a warning?"
Unless an organization takes these questions by the horns, ethics will continue to be a word in corporate booklets...and an MBA from a fine institute is no guarantee of a great moral character.
The brouhaha is about the fact that Vivek is a graduate of one of India's premier MBA institutes, IIM Bangalore.
My view is that it's all right for B Schools and organizations to 'teach/preach' ethics but the ingrained values of ethics are inculcated by family, and reinforced by the culture of the organization and if people "walk the talk" there.
There is no way as MBAs or as Indians we can ensure corruption and unethical practices do not take place other than not participating in it and strongly denouncing it whenever it takes place. There are Indian organizations where ethics are paramount to tasks. Once an employee sees that unethical behavior is not tolerated no matter how good/bad you are at your job, the incentive to indulge in corrupt practices goes down significantly. On the other hand, there are other organizations that turn a blind eye to corrupt practices with a view that "this is the cost of doing business in this country". Unless the cultures of these organizations change to total non-tolerance of these behaviors, we would have more cases like Vivek's.
One of the toughest first jobs I had to do in my HR generalist role is to fire two people for incorrect medical bills. The protests were that "everyone does it", "it takes place in every organization", "these are good performers, can't we let them off with a warning?"
Unless an organization takes these questions by the horns, ethics will continue to be a word in corporate booklets...and an MBA from a fine institute is no guarantee of a great moral character.
How a recruiter looks at your resume
Well not just ANY recruiter, but a darn good one....so listen, you folks !
To anticipate some of the concerns that recruiters could have about your background, address them in the resume and have a sound byte about them if you are asked.
To anticipate some of the concerns that recruiters could have about your background, address them in the resume and have a sound byte about them if you are asked.
Dec 15, 2005
Microsoft vs Google
Sure Google has got its place in the sun compared to Microsoft in 2005, but as Joel tells us microsoft's 2006 counteroffensive on google is taking shape.
The idea?
Very simple, really. When the enemy wants to attack your strength, you attack the enemy's strength. As Joel reports:
The Wall Street Journal has jumped on a recent comment by Gates. Here's how it went:
"We'll actually go to users and say instead of us keeping all that ad revenue, we'll actually share some of it back with the user," said Mr. Gates, according to a transcript supplied by Microsoft. "The user essentially will get paid, either money or free content or software things that they wouldn't get if they didn't use that search engine."Microsoft is in an interesting position of not counting on ad revenue to pay the bills. Google, on the other hand, relies almost exclusively on ad revenue to keep the lights on.
Sun-Tzu would be proud ! :D
The idea?
Very simple, really. When the enemy wants to attack your strength, you attack the enemy's strength. As Joel reports:
The Wall Street Journal has jumped on a recent comment by Gates. Here's how it went:
"We'll actually go to users and say instead of us keeping all that ad revenue, we'll actually share some of it back with the user," said Mr. Gates, according to a transcript supplied by Microsoft. "The user essentially will get paid, either money or free content or software things that they wouldn't get if they didn't use that search engine."Microsoft is in an interesting position of not counting on ad revenue to pay the bills. Google, on the other hand, relies almost exclusively on ad revenue to keep the lights on.
Sun-Tzu would be proud ! :D
India, Innovation and Thinking
The CII-BCG study on Indian Innovation says:
According to the report released today in Mumbai, nearly 83 per cent of the Indian executives surveyed said innovation was among their top three priorities for their companies compared with 66 per cent globally.
That sounds good. Intentions are great and therefore results should be great too, right?
That's where this quote from the same article must make us pause and think:
Earlier in the day, Bolko Von Oetinger, director (strategy group), BCG said that to be innovative, it was important to unlearn and forget what one already knew.
The focus of the study was the manufacturing sector, where innovation can easily be thought of by senior management as "R&D". But what is this elusive thing called "unlearning" that Mr. Bolko talks about?
Forgetting is never easy. In fact, it does not make sense to forget most things. Ever tried jumping into a swimming pool at the deep end and forgetting to swim? Not possible. Information can be forgotten. But not what is truly learnt. When one learns one internalises it in four steps. (for more details, here's my post on 'learning to drive' ;-) Forgetting 'unconscious competence' is very very difficult.
The reason why it is difficult is because we learn about things while being oblivious to the process of learning it. And the issue becomes more complicated (heck, not just more complicated, unbelievably complex!) when you ask an organization to unlearn. That's because, believe it or not, organizations have memories too. Our learnings as individuals are wired and codified by neurons and other stuff in our brains whereas organizational memories are codified by processes and systems. Remember the young management trainee who walks into the purchase department and questions, "hey, why three copies of the invoice?" and is answered with "You won't understand. Even I don't know, but that's the way it's always been here. There must be a reason, however"
The reason is because of memories. Unlearning for an organization is painful too. That's because the codified processes are guarded by managers who've got where they are by following them. Want them to innovate? Show them something that will work better. That's the challenge for innovation consultants as Dave Pollard says.
The other big issue in my opinion is because we have never been taught to think! Or to learn, for that matter!
Yes, you heard that right. You learnt maths, physics, hindi, chemistry etc at school. But did you learn to think? Or how to learn? Mostly not.
Let's take the example of a small school next to where I live in Hyderabad. It's called St. Paul's Grammar School and is a small place with around 100-150 students. It's not one of the expensive schools. Nor it an experimentative school. In fact, I think it's like the the majority of the schools students in India go to. The 'classrooms' if they can be called that are poky small rooms where the light is of the sun seeping in and not brightened by any other factor. On many occasions I have seen the teachers administering corporal punishment very casually. In fact, today when I was walking on my terrace I saw one of the teachers with a wooden foot-ruler proceeding to beat a bunch of 7-8 students (who couldn't have been more than 6 years old!) and then sitting casually at her table.
The school also has various sayings written on the walls.
The one that made me shudder was "PUNISHMENT BRINGS WISDOM" !
Will the products of such schools take India on the path of Innovation? I, for one, am not hopeful of much.
According to the report released today in Mumbai, nearly 83 per cent of the Indian executives surveyed said innovation was among their top three priorities for their companies compared with 66 per cent globally.
That sounds good. Intentions are great and therefore results should be great too, right?
That's where this quote from the same article must make us pause and think:
Earlier in the day, Bolko Von Oetinger, director (strategy group), BCG said that to be innovative, it was important to unlearn and forget what one already knew.
The focus of the study was the manufacturing sector, where innovation can easily be thought of by senior management as "R&D". But what is this elusive thing called "unlearning" that Mr. Bolko talks about?
Forgetting is never easy. In fact, it does not make sense to forget most things. Ever tried jumping into a swimming pool at the deep end and forgetting to swim? Not possible. Information can be forgotten. But not what is truly learnt. When one learns one internalises it in four steps. (for more details, here's my post on 'learning to drive' ;-) Forgetting 'unconscious competence' is very very difficult.
The reason why it is difficult is because we learn about things while being oblivious to the process of learning it. And the issue becomes more complicated (heck, not just more complicated, unbelievably complex!) when you ask an organization to unlearn. That's because, believe it or not, organizations have memories too. Our learnings as individuals are wired and codified by neurons and other stuff in our brains whereas organizational memories are codified by processes and systems. Remember the young management trainee who walks into the purchase department and questions, "hey, why three copies of the invoice?" and is answered with "You won't understand. Even I don't know, but that's the way it's always been here. There must be a reason, however"
The reason is because of memories. Unlearning for an organization is painful too. That's because the codified processes are guarded by managers who've got where they are by following them. Want them to innovate? Show them something that will work better. That's the challenge for innovation consultants as Dave Pollard says.
The other big issue in my opinion is because we have never been taught to think! Or to learn, for that matter!
Yes, you heard that right. You learnt maths, physics, hindi, chemistry etc at school. But did you learn to think? Or how to learn? Mostly not.
Let's take the example of a small school next to where I live in Hyderabad. It's called St. Paul's Grammar School and is a small place with around 100-150 students. It's not one of the expensive schools. Nor it an experimentative school. In fact, I think it's like the the majority of the schools students in India go to. The 'classrooms' if they can be called that are poky small rooms where the light is of the sun seeping in and not brightened by any other factor. On many occasions I have seen the teachers administering corporal punishment very casually. In fact, today when I was walking on my terrace I saw one of the teachers with a wooden foot-ruler proceeding to beat a bunch of 7-8 students (who couldn't have been more than 6 years old!) and then sitting casually at her table.
The school also has various sayings written on the walls.
The one that made me shudder was "PUNISHMENT BRINGS WISDOM" !
Will the products of such schools take India on the path of Innovation? I, for one, am not hopeful of much.
On the Recruiting.com awards: Thanks JayDee
Going through the feed reader I stopped (thank goodness that I wasn;'t drinking coffee, I would have spilt it all over my keyboard ;-)) !) when I read this post by JayDee of Recruiting.com. And then there was a personal email from him apologising all over again.
And as I wrote back to him, the fact that my blog feeds are on the left column of Recruiting.com is honor enough for me.
Update: And apart from the awards that Jobster is providing, now Starbucks and Kennedy Info have also joined in the bandwagon !
And as I wrote back to him, the fact that my blog feeds are on the left column of Recruiting.com is honor enough for me.
Update: And apart from the awards that Jobster is providing, now Starbucks and Kennedy Info have also joined in the bandwagon !
Dec 14, 2005
Why advertise when you can recruit?
Mick James believes that Consultants should stay away from TV and Consumer advertising and better spend that money on recruiting better consultants. As he notes in the Consulting Times:
That’s the branding that the consultancy does, not with clients, but with recruits. The right recruits – whetheryou’re acquiring a top partner with a bulging contact book, or poaching an entire team with a roster of happy clients – will bring the business in faster than any amount of advertising.
That’s the branding that the consultancy does, not with clients, but with recruits. The right recruits – whetheryou’re acquiring a top partner with a bulging contact book, or poaching an entire team with a roster of happy clients – will bring the business in faster than any amount of advertising.
Employee Engagement...part 2
Sairee points to a Deloitte study that says Why Acquisition and Retention Strategies Don’t Work
She also has an impish (her words, not mine!) thought:
I am wondering that in this day of dating by the dozen or speed dating as they say, what is a good deal for employees and employers? :D
Freelancing!
She also has an impish (her words, not mine!) thought:
I am wondering that in this day of dating by the dozen or speed dating as they say, what is a good deal for employees and employers? :D
Freelancing!
Attn: Gmail users
(got the idea from Joel's post)
If you're a Gmail user, I invite you to add my blog to your Web clips. To do so, simply:
If you're a Gmail user, I invite you to add my blog to your Web clips. To do so, simply:
- Log in to your Gmail account.
- Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
- Open the Web Clips tab.
- Enter http://gauteg.blogspot.com in the field under Search by topic or URL.
- Click Search.
- Once Gmail locates the feed, click Add so you can view it in Web Clips.
Where are the specialists?
Remember I posted earlier on the Thinkers 50 ?
I realized that the list is almost completely comprised of Strategy and Organizational gurus...
No Tom Davenport there, no Dave Ulrich and no Bala Balachandran.
I wonder why that is?
Is it because strategy gurus are considered more "guru" than others? Why exclude the specialists? Surely they have much more on-the-ground impact than the strategy guys. I personally have been impacted more in the "how-to" of my job by people like Ulrich and Davenport than Porter or Peters.
I realized that the list is almost completely comprised of Strategy and Organizational gurus...
No Tom Davenport there, no Dave Ulrich and no Bala Balachandran.
I wonder why that is?
Is it because strategy gurus are considered more "guru" than others? Why exclude the specialists? Surely they have much more on-the-ground impact than the strategy guys. I personally have been impacted more in the "how-to" of my job by people like Ulrich and Davenport than Porter or Peters.
Your job landed here?
Rob the Businesspundit reviews Chad Fowler's book called My Job Went to India (And All I Got Was This Lousy Book).
The scary part of the review (for me personally) is this quote that Rob picks from the book:
When my wife and I moved to Bangalore, I was expecting to find likeminded technologists with a passion for learning. I was expecting a vibrant after-work life of user group meetings and deep, philosophical discussions on software development methodologies and techniques. I was expecting to find India’s Silicon Valley bursting at its seams with an overlow of artsians, enthusiastic in the pursuit of the great craft of software development.
What I found were a whole lot of people who were picking up a paycheck and a few incredibly passionate craftspeople.
Just like back home.
The scary part of the review (for me personally) is this quote that Rob picks from the book:
When my wife and I moved to Bangalore, I was expecting to find likeminded technologists with a passion for learning. I was expecting a vibrant after-work life of user group meetings and deep, philosophical discussions on software development methodologies and techniques. I was expecting to find India’s Silicon Valley bursting at its seams with an overlow of artsians, enthusiastic in the pursuit of the great craft of software development.
What I found were a whole lot of people who were picking up a paycheck and a few incredibly passionate craftspeople.
Just like back home.
Why would a CEO blog?
Ok, not many CEOs blog.
But here's one who does, and who also answers the question. Jason, would you still blog when Jobster has gone public ?
Update: Here's a list of CEOs who blog (by Bill Ives).
But here's one who does, and who also answers the question. Jason, would you still blog when Jobster has gone public ?
Update: Here's a list of CEOs who blog (by Bill Ives).
The Ladders that turn upside down
You know job boards? Well, the place you place your CV for free and companies pay them money to search their databases?
TheLadders is a job board that turns the traditional job board model on its head. As the place for $100,000 jobs they charge the job seekers $150 to access the jobs, and the companies access the database for free.
How's that for innovation and challenging the status quo?
Here's the Business 2.0 article on them.
TheLadders is a job board that turns the traditional job board model on its head. As the place for $100,000 jobs they charge the job seekers $150 to access the jobs, and the companies access the database for free.
How's that for innovation and challenging the status quo?
Here's the Business 2.0 article on them.
Where do you want to be in 5 years?
Truth be told, you can't ever escape that question totally, unless, of course, you stick to your company like a leech and never let go.
Heather has some gyan to negotiate that question :-)
Heather has some gyan to negotiate that question :-)
Google Foundation gives grant to PlanetRoad
from the GoogleBlog:
Isn't that amazing ? Using popular culture to change the status quo is an effective method, and this is just doing that at a different level!
Recently, the Google Foundation awarded PlanetRead a grant to increase the number of SLS programs available, and Google is also supporting PlanetRead with free advertising through the Google Grants program and content hosting on Google Video.
(SLS stands for Same Language Subtitling and is explained by Dr. Brij Kothari, President, PlanetRead )
More than 500 million people in India have access to TV and 40 percent of these viewers have low literacy skills and are poor. Through PlanetRead’s approach, over 200 million early-literates in India are getting weekly reading practice from Same Language Subtitling (SLS) using TV. The cost of SLS? Every
U.S. dollar covers regular reading for 10,000 people – for a year. I hit upon this idea in 1996 through a most ordinary personal experience. While taking a break from dissertation writing at Cornell University, I was watching a Spanish film with friends to improve my Spanish. The Spanish movie had English
subtitles, and I remember commenting that I wished it came with Spanish subtitles, if only to help us grasp the Spanish dialogue better. I then thought, ‘And if they just put Hindi subtitles on Bollywood songs in Hindi, India would become literate.’ That idea became an obsession. It was so
simple, intuitively obvious, and scalable in its potential to help hundreds of millions of people read -- not just in India, but globally. So you can see how it works, we’ve uploaded some folk songs using SLS into Google Video. And we've uploaded other
examples there as well.
Isn't that amazing ? Using popular culture to change the status quo is an effective method, and this is just doing that at a different level!
The Coming Talent Crunch
Hmm, wonder what we will do by 2010.
Looking at the short term measures adopted by government and industry, it'd be a good guess to say that our IT companies will be much more globalized companies, hiring talent from all over the world from developed nations like UK, USA, Canada, to our contemporaries in this journey, like Brazil, China and Russia, and maybe also Ghana, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc.
Hey wait, is that such a bad thing?
Looking at the short term measures adopted by government and industry, it'd be a good guess to say that our IT companies will be much more globalized companies, hiring talent from all over the world from developed nations like UK, USA, Canada, to our contemporaries in this journey, like Brazil, China and Russia, and maybe also Ghana, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc.
Hey wait, is that such a bad thing?
Dec 8, 2005
I'm not an expert, just a blogger !
Just because I blog about a lot of stuff relating to HR, Recruitment, Management, Innovation it does NOT make me an expert.
And now I am thankful for that fact.
So like Tom says, I hope I also remain "half-naive" about a whole lot of stuff....the important thing is to have conversations about ideas, and have wonderful people like you out there force me to re-look and examine my assumptions and biases.
Thankfully I am not an expert !
P.S. Here is the link to the New Yorker article and the best quote:
And now I am thankful for that fact.
So like Tom says, I hope I also remain "half-naive" about a whole lot of stuff....the important thing is to have conversations about ideas, and have wonderful people like you out there force me to re-look and examine my assumptions and biases.
Thankfully I am not an expert !
P.S. Here is the link to the New Yorker article and the best quote:
The experts’ trouble in Tetlock’s study is exactly the trouble that all human beings have: we fall in love with our hunches, and we really, really hate to be wrong.
Employee Engagement or Motivation?
DD has posted a bit on Employee Engagement and I thought I would pitch in too. He touches a bit about branding but I think I would talk about it in a different perspective.
To be frank, I find the word "engagement" a confusing word. It's one of those 'mould-to-suit-yourself' kind of word. If I have to think about engagement more thoroughly it would be great to view it through Herzberg's lens.
1. Hygiene factors: These are the factors that first determine whether or not I take a job. Usually refered to as the basic requirements, these are dependent on the context of the industry and location. If all other organizations in the city offer commuting services, and you don't, it's tough to expect that people will join you, or even after joining be happy about it. So, admit it, step one in employee engagement starts outside the organization!
2. Motivators: Once you have the hygiene factors in place, doesn't mean that people are going to be all happy and mushy about your organization. It merely means that they are NOT going to be unhappy. That's an important distinction. To motivate people, organization has to offer things that are above and beyond hygiene conditions. These motivators could be tacit, explicit, tangible or intangible.
But, and this is a BIG but, the thing to remember is, factors move from the Motivator bucket to the Hygiene bucket faster than you can realise. Remember the time ESOPs were offered initially as a reward mechanism? They were a huge motivator then, but as more and more organizations started offering ESOPs they quickly moved to the hygiene bucket for certain classes of jobs.
The SECOND BIG thing to remember is that motivation is an individual issue. One person might be motivated to work by working on research issues, while another might be motivated by working on large initiatives with an enterprise impact. If you switch their jobs, all things remaining same, they would be disengaged and de-motivated.
Sure internal communications does play a role, but it can only do so much. The actual work of making employees engaged lies in the hands of their managers.
So to find out if you as a manager have engaged employees try agreeing or disagreeing to these questions:
- I know what is important to my individual employees.
- I have plans for each employee to meet their career goals
- I know their respective strengths and weaknesses and can coach them to amplify their strengths.
- I can show them a career path that links to their goals in my organization.
- I have developmental plans to help them close the gaps in their skills.
If you can answer these questions with a “yes”, then there is a good chance that you will have engaged employees.
Anything else is a bonus !
Dec 7, 2005
A relook at MBA in HR?
Someone asked me if the traditional way of teaching Human Resource Management needed to be looked at. In the last 6.5 years that I recieved my MBA in HR, I've also thought about it quite often so this is what I wrote in my email to him:
My thoughts about HR education are as follows:
My thoughts about HR education are as follows:
- 90% of what we are taught is not necessary to be taught.
- Knowledge is not what matters, but skills are....and therefore if MBA colleges and academia focus on building skills (based on filtering people for attitudes - that's another issue - what are the desired attitude levels of HR people?)
- Skill building focusses a huge focus on practice...industry would need to work with academia to blend in more practice areas.
- Competencies would need to be taught more on practice areas than functional areas, a model could be Dave Ulrich's model of HR Champions in which he views four kinds of HR roles.
- Change Agent
- Business Partner
- Employee Champion
- Administrative expert
- Some competencies would evolve through industry specialisation...HR in a BPO industry is different from HR in a sales driven organization.
- Of course, there would be core 'subjects' like Organizational Behavior, Labour Laws of the relevant country, Marketing, Finance, IT and Operations.
- New practice areas like HR Outsourcing, Human Capital Accounting would also need to be offered as electives.
Dec 6, 2005
News from the Recruiting and Work blogosphere
Recruiting.com launches the first Recruiting Blog Awards, sponsored by Jobster. Hop over there and nominate your favorite recruiting blogs so that the blogger may get a chance to visit Las Vegas.
On a different note Barry of Wurk.net requested if he could show the latest posts on this blog on their homepage, and even offered to make an icon for me. Thanks, Barry !
SuccessFactors is highlighted today in an article in the San Jose Business Journal and the focus is on employee engagement.
The Revolutionary Amy gives some advice to organizations to be honest with their recruiting firm. Two people you shouldn't lie to, your lawyer and your recruiter !
The AsiaPac Headhunter gives some advice to job seekers on how to break through to the $ 100 K club. Some more follow up advice coming soon. But even if you don't, do not fret. As worthwhile points out money sometimes magnifies your problems.
On a different note Barry of Wurk.net requested if he could show the latest posts on this blog on their homepage, and even offered to make an icon for me. Thanks, Barry !
SuccessFactors is highlighted today in an article in the San Jose Business Journal and the focus is on employee engagement.
The Revolutionary Amy gives some advice to organizations to be honest with their recruiting firm. Two people you shouldn't lie to, your lawyer and your recruiter !
The AsiaPac Headhunter gives some advice to job seekers on how to break through to the $ 100 K club. Some more follow up advice coming soon. But even if you don't, do not fret. As worthwhile points out money sometimes magnifies your problems.
Dec 2, 2005
The biggest gurus of Management
With the passing away of Peter Drucker, a new top thinker takes centrestage and he is Michael Porter ! The Monitor consultant and HBS prof of strategy has been voted as the top business thinker of the world.
The real surprise of the list however is Bill Gates, who has leapt 18 places of the last ranking two years ago to number 2! CK Prahalad makes the Indian community proud as he leap frogs on the back of his bottom of the pyramid theory to land at number three, displacing Tom Peters (considered by many to be Drucker's antithesis and yet his natural successor) to number 4. The great thing is that another Indian born guru, Ram Charan who wasn't even ranked the last time comes in at the mid point of 24. Another Indian born strategist Vijay Govindarajan is in the list at number 30. Rakesh Khurana also comes in to the list at number 33 (he has a blog too).
Henry Mintzberg's book Managers not MBAs makes him come at number 8. But he's not just about that. The kind of thinking he's done in strategic management and organizational structures is pathbreaking, hence to label him as "Promotes Managers not MBAs" only is very misleading !
I however was disappointed to see someone like organizational cultures is terribly important for today's organizations, specially the innovative ones.
Naomi Klien however seems an anachronism in the list of people who largely further commercial interests, but is a testimony to the fact that many in the business community are listening to her views.
Scott Adams beats the likes of Gary Hamel (number 14), to come in at number 12 !
The reason for the fluctuations so much is that many biz gurus haven't come up with new ideas and have stagnated or fallen in the rankings, case in point: Hamel's last book was released in 2000.
The real surprise of the list however is Bill Gates, who has leapt 18 places of the last ranking two years ago to number 2! CK Prahalad makes the Indian community proud as he leap frogs on the back of his bottom of the pyramid theory to land at number three, displacing Tom Peters (considered by many to be Drucker's antithesis and yet his natural successor) to number 4. The great thing is that another Indian born guru, Ram Charan who wasn't even ranked the last time comes in at the mid point of 24. Another Indian born strategist Vijay Govindarajan is in the list at number 30. Rakesh Khurana also comes in to the list at number 33 (he has a blog too).
Henry Mintzberg's book Managers not MBAs makes him come at number 8. But he's not just about that. The kind of thinking he's done in strategic management and organizational structures is pathbreaking, hence to label him as "Promotes Managers not MBAs" only is very misleading !
I however was disappointed to see someone like organizational cultures is terribly important for today's organizations, specially the innovative ones.
Naomi Klien however seems an anachronism in the list of people who largely further commercial interests, but is a testimony to the fact that many in the business community are listening to her views.
Scott Adams beats the likes of Gary Hamel (number 14), to come in at number 12 !
The reason for the fluctuations so much is that many biz gurus haven't come up with new ideas and have stagnated or fallen in the rankings, case in point: Hamel's last book was released in 2000.
The return of Mediocre But Arrogant Abbey
I've never managed to figure this one out, but amongst the most visited posts of this blog is this post by Abhijit announcing that M-B-A will have a sequel in which the protagonist Abbey's life in the corporate world would be chronicled. He doesn't give out any dates for the book, warning readers that he took 7 years to write the first book ;-) What he doesn't mention is that he joined a MNC food company in Delhi as head of HR for India, so he's going to be very busy too !
Dec 1, 2005
On the jury
I'm terribly excited to be part of an awesome group of Indian bloggers, the Jury of the IndiBloggies. It's an honor to be rubbing (virtual) shoulders with so many of them and a matter of pleasure and responsibility to nominate the best blogs from the Indian blogosphere for IndiBloggies 2005.
Google recruitment - speed?
Interesting article on how Google is raiding rivals for top talent.
Some excerpts:
I do know that Google is trying to replicate the same process in India also. It's salaries are abnormally higher by the standards of the cities where it operates. An applicant at the entry level goes through 6/7 rounds of interviews whereas a mid-level manager might go through 12/13 rounds of interviews over a time frame of 2 months ! These kinds of time-lines are unheard of in India and it would be interesting to see if they can maintain that momentum.
Some excerpts:
To accomplish its current pace of hiring about 10 new employees a day, Google has assembled a formidable hiring machine. Its recruitment department includes as many as 300 freelance recruiters who are helping it to identify who's who in software engineering, according to three people involved in the
effort.
Google's typical hiring process is regarded as one of the industry's most grueling and extensive. Candidates are often subjected to weeks of interviews, with hiring decisions often made by large committees of executives.
To compete against its larger rivals, Google beefed up its recruiting effort, retaining veterans like Shally Steckerl (Shally is now with Microsoft ;-)- Gautam), a contract recruiter who runs a consulting firm called JobMachine, and Eric Jaquith, a freelance recruiter who runs Recruiting Choices. Both began working as in-house consultants for Google in September 2004, when the company had more than 80 full-time and contract recruiters in-house, says Jaquith.
Jim Stroud, a contract recruiter involved in the effort between December 2004 and June, says he unearthed several hundred names of female engineers. He estimates that fewer than 10 of those were hired during his tenure. Google's job-interview process is "like a Senate committee hearing," says Stroud. "You
have to get approved by 14 people at least before you get hired."
Allan Brown, Google's director of recognition and human-resources systems, disputes that the company is bidding too aggressively for talent. He estimates that Google wins only about half of its hiring showdowns with Yahoo. He says
Yahoo also engages in bidding wars, and that Google would consider doubling a restricted stock offer only if there was a strong argument for doing so. Eustace adds that Google sometimes offers compensation of up to about 15 percent more
than other tech companies, but generally stays within the same range as its rivals.
I do know that Google is trying to replicate the same process in India also. It's salaries are abnormally higher by the standards of the cities where it operates. An applicant at the entry level goes through 6/7 rounds of interviews whereas a mid-level manager might go through 12/13 rounds of interviews over a time frame of 2 months ! These kinds of time-lines are unheard of in India and it would be interesting to see if they can maintain that momentum.
India's most privatised workforce - 344 million strong
Dr. Madhukar Shukla takes a look at the 344 million workforce in India who contribute to:
- 60% of Net Domestic Product
- 68% of income
- 60% of savings
- 31% of agricultural exports
- 41% of manufactured exports
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