Human Resources & Human Beings!

Are humans resources or are they simply human beings who turn up for work ? Are they resources at the work spot and cease to be resources when they walk out of your office? These are fundamental questions that need to be answered by the 'Talent Philosophy' of an organization.

Many an organization,treat sacked employees very poorly,subjecting them to the humiliation of a body search as well as searching their car and so on. These are departing employees who had probably served your organization for a number of years before you found them incompetent.

The fundamental point is, is an employee as asset. Infosys says that employees are assets and so reflected in their balance sheet. Wonderful, but the problem is when the value of the asset depreciates. What then? Sack them..............

How else would you look at at an employee in an age when everything is to be measured and encapsulated in a 'bottom line'? Many Japanese firms treat their employees as 'investors', where the employee is investing their skills & time with the organization. The perspective now changes, dramatically. It is probably the reason why Japanese firms see longer serving employees.

While I respect American Management practise, I also believe that,we should be wary of blindly following imported practices. Management has much to do with a nations philosophy, ethos and culture. To ignore these is stupid and akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water............

While my line of thought looks utopian, I firmly belive that humans are not only about resources and business and bottom lines!

Nautanki!

Everyday, through work days, I pass over the NICE Road, a tolled road, built brilliantly. At the start of the road, I buy a ticket ( 4 minutes) , at the end, I stop to show a bloke, the ticket, to prove that I've bought a ticket ( 4 minutes ). The trip across, the 9 Km is made in an amazing 4 minutes...............
Phew, now that the math is over, lets get on with my spiel...........The actual productive activity, took just about 30 % of the time, while the rest was unproductive. This morning being, not at my best, I gave the bloke at the checking end an old dated ticket. He, glanced at it, smiled toothily, raised the gate and waved me on. All in 4 minutes. The grin vanished, when I told him that the ticket was a week old. His supervisor, joined the fray and was offended, when I asked him if his lieutenant could read at all and why he was there if he was not doing his job, this amidst furious honking from the rear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The point is why do we go through the motions ? Why do we subject ourselves to the 'nautanki'? Many organizations, go through the motions, without accepting the fact that they are doing so, till a critical mass builds and the organization tips over the point of no returns. Most disasters can be traced back to people and processes that were part of a 'nautanki' or drama rather than practise lean and efficient processes.
Efficient organizations audit their processes and people at regular intervals to identify waste and ruthlessly root it out.........................the direct cost of the 'nautanki' to me? A day of my life in a year!!!!!!!
Returning to the road...................the physical infrastructure is brilliant, the human resources, pathetic. The 'nautanki' goes on.The story of many an organization! Hype & super hype!