When pioneers meet, what follows is a highly gripping discussion. A panel discussion on ‘Integrating HR Strategy with Business Strategy’ was held at IIM Indore Mumbai Campus on September 26, 2015, with three eminent people from the HR domain. The panelists included Mr. Harjeet Khanduja, VP-HR at Reliance Jio; Mr. Prasanth Nair, Managing partner and Country Head at Inhelm Leadership Solutions and Mr. Charanjit Pati, Head HR at Reliance Project Management Group. The discussion was moderated by Professor Meenakshi Aggarwal Gupta, Faculty, IIM Indore.
Mr. Harjeet Khanduja began the discussion by talking about the role of HR. He also discussed about strategy, specifically about Cost leadership, differentiation and focus with respect to product design so as to enunciate how HR plays the role of the strategist. He mentioned the importance of empowering employees and help them deal with the customers. ‘It is not the count of employees but the value creation that matters’, Mr. Khanduja said. The most important requisite for a good HR manager is to make good judgment in all situations, he concluded.
Mr. Prasanth Nair explained that unlike most people think, business and HR strategy is integrated. The major challenges that HR personnel face are the metrics to be considered for measuring their performance. Drastic changes are taking at workplace in today’s world and the major factors leading to such changes are Globalization, Technology, Demography and Social changes. ‘The four C’s that organizations should focus on are: capability management, culture management, competitiveness and connect’, he mentioned.
The discussion was taken forward by Mr. Chandrajit Pati who discussed the role of HR managers and the major processes to be followed by them: talent acquisition strategy creation, creating the required on-boarding experience, keeping an effective performance management system in place, developing an efficient communication strategy and formulating optimal policies. He spoke about the Gallup Model which is a significant model to be followed in case of employee engagement.
This was followed by Q&A session by the participants which included queries about bond systems, employee retention, the role of HR in startups and the Bell-curve; to which the panelists gave apt replies. The panel discussion was extremely informative and interesting and widened the horizon of the participants with respect to HR.