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2nd to 8th April, 2012

Leadership
What Does HR Do Better Than Anyone Else?
Ian Welsh via HR Toolbox
What caused the creation of the Human Resources/Personnel function? Maybe that will give a clue about what we do best. My earliest experiences of HR are of HR as the matchmaker. We had the skills to reconcile and steer employee unrest in a positive direction. We were very skilful in negotiating, whether with the union or rebel managers to ensure productive continuity and position the company better to meet future challenges.

The focus was on the people. If they worked well, the company could achieve great success. For employees to work well, we had to address environmental issues and minimize distractions and conflict. The people we helped included supervision, particularly first line - they were the ones with headaches every day and we worked to reduce the pain. Read the full post here on Toolbox for HR.

An Offer You Can't Refuse: Leadership Lessons From "The Godfather"
Lydia Dishman via FastCompany
What does a real-life CEO have in common with the central figures of a fictitious Mafia crime family in The Godfather? According to Justin Moore, CEO and founder of Axcient, plenty.

Moore is a serial entrepreneur, early-stage advisor, and angel investor. He's currently at the helm of Axcient, a company he founded that provides backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery services to the small and mid-sized business (SMB) market. Right now, Axcient is protecting more than 2 billion files and applications for businesses across North America.

Moore also happens to think that The Godfather is "one of the best movies ever made" and had a chance to watch it again when the film was aired extensively last week to mark the 40th anniversary of its premiere. Though a decade had passed since the last time Moore watched it, his recent viewing offered an unexpected reward. This time he found the film rife with teaching moments for CEOs running a business today. Read the full article on FastCompany.

The Biggest Mistake You (Probably) Make with Teams
Tammy Erickson via Harvard Business Review
Throughout most of my career, I've made a big mistake in the way I've lead teams - and wouldn't be surprised if you have, too.

Which is more important to promoting collaboration: a clearly defined approach toward achieving the goal, or clearly specified roles for individual team members? The common assumption - and my personal approach for many years - is that carefully spelling out the approach is essential, while leaving the roles of individuals within the team open and flexible will encourage people to share ideas and contribute in multiple dimensions.

But our research has shown that the opposite is true: collaboration improves when the roles of individual team members are clearly defined and well understood - in fact, when individuals feel their role is bounded in ways that allow them to do a significant portion of their work independently. Without such clarity, team members are likely to waste energy negotiating roles or protecting turf, rather than focusing on the task. Read the full article here on Harvard Business Review.

Recruitment
Our Most Effective Source of Hire
Randall Birkwood via ERE.net
We started measuring quality of hire a couple of years ago. What started out as a simple exercise to see how we were doing turned into an interesting experiment. We realized in order to save the company money and increase productivity, we needed to measure quality of hire and sources of hire together. The results were interesting, and in one case the result was actually surprising.

There are a few hire-quality formulas out there, and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you deem necessary. In our case, we took the simple route. Read the full article here on ERE.net.

Job Descriptions and the "Experience-Needed" Syndrome
Tammy Johns via Harvard Business Review
Globally, one in three employers struggle to find employees with the skills and experience necessary to meet their needs, and almost one-third cite a lack of experience as a key barrier to filling their open jobs.

Despite the serious shortage of some skills, the disconnect between employers and job seekers is not surprising given how many job descriptions fall victim to the "experience-needed syndrome." This ailment manifests itself in two ways. In one, job descriptions for entry-level positions ask for experience, which shuts out many young workers. In the other, seasoned workers find the "experience-needed syndrome" becomes the "exact experience needed syndrome." Read the full post here on Harvard Business Review.

Job Portals to Focus on Their Mobile Versions
via The Economic Times
"E-recruitment space will continue to grow, but job portals will lay more focus on their mobile versions" suggested experts in the Indian Job Outlook Survey 2012 conducted by TJinsite, the research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com. With the mobile penetration in India crossing 900 million mark, industry expects growing interest in mobile marketing and commerce industry. "This surge is evident in the proliferation of m-commerce in the Indian sector" said Prashant Bhatnagar, Director-HR, Sapient.

Users of smart phones are growing with each passing day and they can see all incoming e-mail, social messaging, text messaging, and voice and video messaging in a unified inbox. This emerging class of tools let employees manages every aspect of their professional life digitally. Companies are actively planning to leverage these tools. "Leaders will need to invest heavily to support execution of talent management initiatives across mobile", said Meenakshi Roy, Senior Vice President-Human Resources, Reliance Broadcast Network. Read the full article on The Economic Times.

In The Work Place
Immature, Self-Absorbed, or Clueless? How to Save Employees from Themselves.
Dawn Lennon via Business Fitness
Employees can be maddening. They often behave in ways that seem to make no sense. As supervisors, we try to understand what we see and hear, putting it into some kind of context so we can decide what, if anything, we should do. No one said the job would be easy, but there are times it seems impossible. Read the full post here on Business Fitness.

10 Ways Your Business Can Combat Digital Darwinism
Brian Solis via Forbes
In 2012, the digital landscape continues to undergo significant shifts that will have profound effects on business in the months ahead. The challenge is that hardly any business leaders have noticed. That's not their fault, however. Even through the impact of technology on business and consumer behavior has been widely reported, in-depth reporting on how this will affect business has been scant at best.

I'm sure you've heard it from "experts" everywhere. "You need a Facebook brand page!" "Why are you not on Twitter yet?" "Have you checked-in on Foursquare?" "Hurry up and get set up on Google+." "If you don't get on social media, you're going to go out of business!" Read the full article here on Forbes.

HR Managers Need to Look Beyond Salary Hikes to Meet Employee Expectations
via The Economic Times
Balancing salaries with employee expectations is a critical task for any HR manager. "Gauging expectation of employees pre-appraisal is an uphill task. The expectations reflected in internal surveys tend to be skewed towards a higher side and may not be always a correct indication," told Vinay Deshpande, Senior Vice President - Human Resource of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd to TJinsite, the research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com.

The expectations of employees also differ depending on the level and role. While for fresher, it is the money that counts the most, and at middle level, job satisfaction becomes as important as compensation. Citing the same, many organisations take help of compensation surveys to make salary decisions. Read the full article here on The Economic Times

HR Trends
Is Job Creation in the Private Sector Overtaking Job Losses in the Public Sector?
Michael Carty via XpertHR
Last month's Labour Market Statistics report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the headline rate of unemployment hitting 8.4%, its highest level since 1995.
But the ONS report also appeared to bring some good news for Osborne.
Private sector job creation appears to overtake public sector job losses
Private sector job creation could finally be starting to overtake the rate of public sector job losses. This is one of the key planks of 'Osbornomics.'
ONS says:
"The number of people employed in the public sector fell by 37,000 between September and December 2011 to reach 5.94 million, the lowest figure since June 2003. The number of people employed in the private sector increased by 45,000 on the quarter to reach 23.17 million." Read the full post here on XpertHR.

Software Industry Salaries Will Not Match Inflation, This Financial Year
Anannya Debnath via pluggd.in
According to a survey by HR Statistical Division from Ma Foi Randstad, the average compensation increase for the year 2012 will not be well received by employees around the country. The Salary Survey Guide has predicted that remuneration increase is notched at 11.2 percent this year, lower when compared to 12.4 percent, last year. Even the knowledge intensive industries, known for being good paymasters, will be going slow this year. Read the full story here on pluggd.in.

How Prioritization Can Maximize HR's Business Impact
Dr John Sullivan via ERE.net
In part 1 of this article I highlighted the many reasons why prioritizing positions, employees, and business units was necessary, and how it could dramatically increase business results. In the following sections, I will highlight the methodology and steps that HR leaders need to take in order to prioritize HR's customers and programs. Read the full article here on ERE.net.

HR EVENTS
HR@EmployWise - Strategising Employee Peformance Management via Technology
Many HR teams face challenges when it comes to getting everyone onboard with the performance management system PMS. HR and the company leadership may spend a bulk of their time designing a great PMS but if no one is willing to use the sytem, the resources are completely wasted. At times, even when the system is perfect, the work does not continue to happen as there is no buy-in from staff. This is where technology can not only help, but aid in keeping track of the potiential of your employees so that they perform and grow in your organisation. Using technology will give you a birds eye view of where your talent really can take you, and how.
Venue: Your Computer
Date: Friday 13 April, 2012
Time: 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM IST
To register click here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/411080590