Knowledge@Wharton -- Human Resources

From Carpentry to Couriers: India's Rural Job Portals Are Taking Off

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:56:03 EST

Job portals, which have largely replaced employment ads in newspapers and magazines, have become an urban phenomenon. They are now going to the grassroots. As new portals come online, how much will they help ease rural unemployment?

A Fresh Start: How a Public-private Program Is Helping Rural Job-Seekers Find a Brighter Future

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:46:29 EST

Rural recruits account for 70% of the employees at McDonald's restaurants in southern India today. Other big rural recruiters range from international firms such as IBM, Adidas and Vodafone to home-grown ones like telecom giant Bharti Airtel, private-sector bank HDFC, and retailers Pantaloon and Aditya Birla Group. These companies are increasingly relying on rural India to staff their front and back offices in urban and semi-urban towns, but what's unusual about this rural regiment is that they are trained and placed in their jobs by a public-private partnership called the Employment Generation & Marketing Mission (EGMM). Is this a formula for success that others can follow?

Job Cuts vs. Pay Cuts: In a Slowing Economy, What's Better for India?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:00:38 EST

As the world financial crisis wreaks havoc on emerging economies, Indian firms -- like their counterparts around the world -- are looking at ways to scale back their operations. Some companies -- such as Jet Airways -- have announced layoffs, only to backtrack and offer other options, including salary cuts, to their employees. Experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton believe that the management culture in India makes layoffs one of the last options rather than the first. Still, companies will have to find ways to bring their staffing and costs in line with reality, at least for the next two years.

India's Corporations Race to Train Workers and Avoid Being Left in the Dust

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:50:01 EST

India's economy is growing at a torrid pace, with business process outsourcing leading the way. But a shortage of one crucial resource -- a well-educated workforce- - threatens to derail the country's growth and its drive to create 80 million jobs by 2016. Corporations are now stepping in to try to fill the training gap, but will it be enough? "If we don't take steps to improve the quality of our engineering graduates, we will soon lose out on our ability to compete globally," says N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor at Infosys.

The 'India Option': Instead of Looking Abroad, Today's Indian Management Graduates See a Future at Home

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:30:05 EST

In the past, India's best and brightest routinely looked to the U.S. and other Western countries for jobs following graduation. Today, however, the "brain drain" seems to be reversing: According to placement figures at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Bangalore, 75% of this year's graduating class opted for jobs in India. In this opinion piece, Bangalore-based writer Shoba Narayan offers her understanding of this trend following interviews with graduating students and IIM faculty. Previously in India Knowledge@Wharton, Narayan chronicled her own family's decision to return to India after living in the U.S. for 20 years.

LG India's Y.V. Verma: A Global Strategy That Keeps Local People at the Top

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:29:12 EST

Korea-based LG Electronics is recognized today as a market leader in India, but getting there has required a "will to succeed," according to Yasho V. Verma, who has been director of human resources and management support for the company's India division since 1997. In addition to the usual bumps that multinationals can expect when entering a new market, Verma describes the company's brushes with local "mafia" and other challenges in his book, Passion: The Untold Story of LG Electronics India. In a country known for its talent shortage, LG India's employee attrition rate has dropped from 19% to 6% in the past two years alone. At the recent Wharton India Economic Forum, Verma spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about how LG has used non-traditional methods for recruiting and retaining talent and empowering employees "at the lowest levels."

'Talent on Demand': Applying Supply Chain Management to People

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:31:38 EST

Failing to manage your company's talent needs, says Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli, "is the equivalent of failing to manage your supply chain." And yet the majority of employers have abysmal track records when it comes to finding and retaining talent. Indian companies, however, tend to be an exception, Cappelli states. Innovative talent management practices are more common there because of the country's scarcity of labor. In a book coming out in April titled, Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty, Cappelli offers a fundamentally different paradigm for thinking about talent management, one that takes many of its lessons from just-in-time manufacturing.

Return of the Native: A Reader's Response to 'Return to India'

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:39:26 EST

In November, India Knowledge@Wharton published writer Shoba Narayan's account of her family's decision to return to India after living in the U.S. for 20 years. Since that time, Narayan's essay -- "Return to India: One Family's Journey to America and Back" -- has generated a number of candid comments from our readers on the growing trend of non-resident Indians returning home. In this opinion piece, S. Srinivasan, a writer and executive based in India, offers an analysis of the predicament Narayan describes, attributing it to a "preoccupation with a consumerist style of living." "Without an enduring objective at a higher plane," he argues, "it is not surprising that there is an element of drift and dissatisfaction."

Return to India: One Family's Journey to America and Back

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:59:14 EST

For decades, it was widely assumed that the brightest Indians would go overseas to study and eventually settle there. Today, signs have begun to appear that the tide may be turning. The fact that global companies are setting up operations in India makes it easier for non-resident Indians to return home, often while remaining with the same employer. Indian students are not leaving the country as eagerly as they once did, and if they do, they go back home much faster because of the attractive professional opportunities there. Others return because they feel they are losing a connection with their past. In this special section, India Knowledge@Wharton offers one family's experience as a microcosm of the larger trend -- Bangalore-based writer Shoba Narayan's account of her family's decision to return to India, after living in the U.S. for 20 years.

Manish Sabharwal: 'In Five Years, 25% of the World's Workers Will Be Indian'

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:53:09 EST

Four years ago, Manish Sabharwal headed India Life, the country's largest business process outsourcing firm in the field of human resources. Having sold India Life to Hewitt Associates in 2002, Sabharwal has now carved out another niche in the HR business as the chairman of TeamLease, a temporary staffing firm headquartered in Bangalore. With more than 450 offices all over India and 67,000 employees, the company has a good shot at becoming the country's largest employer in the private sector by the end of 2007, Sabharwal says. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, he discusses the opportunities and challenges of running "India's largest temping company."

Is Your Goal to Get to the Top? Try Playing Total Football

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:04:04 EST

When Johan Cruyff led the Dutch team to the runner-up position in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, he was often found in unexpected places. Officially he played center forward, but in the middle of a game he would suddenly switch roles. He would move to the defense while somebody else took his position. It was a system called Total Football, which required the whole team to have multiple skills. To adapt this concept to management, you need executives who are equally good at playing different roles. Some organizations -- such as Mumbai-based Marico -- swear by it, but experts note that this model may not suit every company.

Toppling a Taboo: Businesses Go 'Faith-Friendly'

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:12:24 EST

Do your Hindu, Sikh and Jain coworkers need a three-day weekend in November to celebrate Diwali? Have you ever asked Muslim employees to help design products destined for a Southeast Asian market? Did you know one colleague urging another to accept Christ as a personal savior is a legally protected act? In the world of corporate diversity and inclusion, first there was race, then gender and ethnicity, then sexual orientation. Now religion is knocking at the door, and, according to some experts and practitioners, it isn't likely to go away anytime soon.

More than Job Demands or Personality, Lack of Organizational Respect Fuels Employee Burnout

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:21:19 EST

One of the biggest complaints employees have, according to Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade, is that "they are not sufficiently recognized by their organizations for the work they do .... When employees don't feel that the organization respects and values them, they tend to experience higher levels of burnout." Barsade and doctoral student Lakshmi Ramarajan look at the role of respect in a paper titled, "What Makes the Job Tough? The Influence of Organizational Respect on Burnout in Human Services."

Heading for the Fast Track? New Studies Examine Who Gets Promoted and Why

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:55:55 EST

Even as two big labor unions decided this week to defect from the AFL-CIO, claiming that it had failed to stop declining union membership or push hard enough for labor reform, debate about the alchemy of promotion -- who gets it, when and why -- animated a recent conference at Wharton organized by the School's Center for Human Resources. Labor economists and human resource specialists attending the conference, entitled "Careers and Career Transitions: New Evidence for a New Economy," tackled a number of issues, including whether or not a "fast track" really exists, the effect of corporate restructurings on professional advancement and the likelihood of promotion for insiders vs. recent outside hires.

Is Your HR Department Friend or Foe? Depends on Who's Asking the Question

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:55:55 EST

Talk to human resources professionals, consultants and scholars who study the workplace and you will find two different views of HR: According to its critics, HR departments are needlessly bureaucratic, obstructionist, stuck in the "comfort zone" of filling out forms and explaining benefits, and too closely aligned with the interests of senior managers yet lacking the business knowledge to become their strategic partners. The more positive view of HR is that it does play a key strategic role, providing direct input into major business transactions such as mergers and acquisitions and restructurings, and improving organizational effectiveness. The truth is probably somewhere in between -- a reflection of workplace evolution, the new global economy and changing expectations on the part of employees and managers.

'Our Agenda is to be Mr. Asia'

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:40:57 EST

Of all the business processes that are moving to the developing world, one of the fastest-growing areas is human resources. As the costs of complying with complex HR regulations increase, companies are starting to recognize that outsourcing offers a way of lowering them. The explosion in demand for HR business-process outsourcing (BPO) has attracted entrepreneurs such as Manish Sabharwal, founder of India Life Hewitt, India's first and largest HR BPO provider. Sabharwal spoke to Knowledge@Wharton recently about the challenges of building and managing an HR BPO firm.

Call Centers: Using Social Networks to Spur Staff Retention and Productivity

Wed, 09 Apr 2003 00:00:00 EST

Call-centers are usually regarded as high-pressure workplaces where pay is often skimpy and turnover is rampant. Employee turnover rates in the industry range from 25% to 45% a year � which poses a problem for employers who invest substantial amounts in training workers only to see them leave. A new study by Emilio J. Castilla, a professor of management at Wharton, shows that if call-center operators want to reduce such high turnover rates, improve worker retention, and even increase employee productivity, tapping into social networks could provide a possible solution.

Call-Center Workers Straddle Two Continents and Cultures

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 00:00:00 EST

In the U.S., labor advocates debate whether business process outsourcing will lead to shrinking employment in the West. Meanwhile, in the developing world, call-center employees face their own challenges. Among the biggest is going through cultural training that can help tens of thousands of young people bridge cultures and continents. A report prepared in collaboration with Indian Management magazine offers glimpses into the lives of Mumbai’s call-center workers.

When Back-Office Work Moves Overseas, What Happens to Workers?

Wed, 25 Sep 2002 00:00:00 EST

Advocates argue that when business process operations are outsourced to countries like India or the Philippines, U.S. employees who lose work may eventually find higher-skilled positions. Critics, however, don�t buy that version of globalization. So far, just a few companies have outsourced back-office work overseas. But as that number increases, that debate will grow louder and angrier.