In the corporate world bandwidth refers to the capacity of an employee to complete a task in give time frame with accuracy. An organization expects their employees to complete a task with available resources, handle tasks alertly, handle projects with finesse, maintain transparency and proper flow of information within a business context. It can refer to the physical capacity of a network to communicate the flow of data related to workload and the ability to address a complex situation. To me, a high-bandwidth person is one who can rapidly intake information, synthesize it, and communicate efficiently. To explain bandwidth in HR I have given example of Mr. Punit Chatwal a renowned Hospitality Industry champion.

Puneet Chatwal of Indian Hotels Company Ltd MD & CEO has large bandwidth of multitasking and ambition to grow IHCL since 2017, the company got on board a very aggressive target of 50 percent growth in the number of hotels. Since then, they have added 70 new hotels to their portfolio. Primarily, this has been driven through strategy, focus, a change in business model, and a culture of rewarding performance. As the company has grown, they have been strengthening the culture of the company. Chatwal is  disciplined and a visionary.

Networking is vital for professional and personal development because it raises connections, facilitates knowledge sharing, and creates opportunities for growth. It expands a person’s   reach for opportunities, provides valuable advice and support, and enhances his  professional reputation. Human bandwidth refers to the amount of mental and emotional capacity a person has available to process information, make decisions, and handle various tasks and challenges at any given time. It’s a limited resource, like time or physical energy, and when it’s depleted, individuals may have trouble focusing, making decisions, or managing stress. Puneet Chhatwal is a people’s man; he is frequently described as a leader who values people and is focused on building strong relationships within his organization and in the hospitality industry.  

Bandwidth is often used as a metaphor for the available time, energy, and resources to take on new responsibilities. When someone says, “I don’t have the bandwidth,” they often mean they don’t have the capacity and energy to handle additional work. This can relate to the number of ongoing projects, workload, or the complexity of tasks.

As leaders, manager, it is very important to know that everyone has a different capacity. For example, if it takes one person to complete a certain task in one hour, it can take the other 3-4 hours. Managers must assign the work to each team member according to what they can handle.

Bandwidth in HRM signifies an employee’s ability to manage a workload, process information, and make decisions within a specific timeframe. It includes mental energy, emotional stability, and time that an employee can allocate to work. Bandwidth affects an employee’s ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and handle the complexities of their role. When an employee’s bandwidth is stretched thin (e.g., due to excessive workload, high stress, or lack of support), it can lead to burnout, decreased productivity, and reduced decision-making quality. 

Puneet Chatwal says that his people are fundamental to the desirable brand equity enjoyed by IHCL. He involved 40 of our senior leaders in creating the ambitious 5-year business strategy. This was supported by ‘culture meets’ that helped in fostering an environment of collaboration and teamwork. It has helped people to take accountability and become highly engaged and invested in the company’s success. Chatwal is known for understanding people he is future proofing the talent to ensure they are ready for the growth that is coming from within the industry and IHCL’s aggressive pipeline. He believes in Leadership Pipeline Model of HR. The model does not need to hire stars from outside for the key positions. Outsiders clog the pipeline because of the culture they bring does not go well the organizational culture. 

Conclusion: Bandwidth is not will power, a person can’t just think harder to get more.  Bandwidth is not intelligence or knowledge you can’t educate yourself into more. Bandwidth is not time; we can’t control it so easily. Bandwidth is more like the physiological limit of how much “thinking” we can do in one moment.  When bandwidth demands are high, but bandwidth availability is low, what happens then?  Usually it means we are weaker, we are experiencing a burnout, we are fagged out and we will fall short of the expected quality of work.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about dramatic changes in the work environment. Almost 25 – 40% percent of workers in the private business sector worked primarily from home in 2019, the pandemic was the start of a huge experiment in full-time remote work for most workers and firms.

Several prominent Indian organizations have adopted remote work policies, making them known for offering work-from-home options to their employees. These include giant companies like TCS Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. Other notable companies include Amazon Google, Microsoft, and Myntra. One of the biggest names in the world, Amazon is a popular recruiter in India. With almost 800,000 employees, there are various roles to choose from the software developers, testers, virtual assistants, customer support, logistics, and sales.

For the Indian subcontinent, Amazon provides a separate Virtual Customer Service (VCS) making anyone with basic communication skills apply and work remotely from India. Other major high paying roles are available for virtual positions as well, depending on their vacancy.  In fact, Amazon runs a separate platform for remote work in India. If someone is  qualified, he or she could work remotely from India for Amazon. Following the pandemic, Amazon also stepped in to help people who lost their jobs, by hiring 500,000 temporary workers. This makes the future of remote work from home in India a promising model.

Remote work involves no geographical boundaries, allowing organizations to tap into a global talent pool. Employers can access a diverse range of skills without being limited by the limitations of a specific location, promoting innovation and diversity in the workforce.

Also, remote work means working from anywhere other than the office, which can be  home, cafe, a resort, or just a coworking space. Instead of coming to the office and interacting with team members face to face, remote workers use digital tools to handle tasks, complete projects, and communicate with their team.

The rise of remote work significantly impacts organizations, offering benefits like cost savings and access to a wider talent pool, but also presenting challenges in communication, team building, and maintaining organizational culture. Remote work does lead to increased productivity and engagement for some employees, while others may experience isolation and reduced morale, depression. 

Let’s look at some of the positive effects

The positive impacts are cost reduction, remote work can lead to significant savings for companies through reduced office space, utility costs, and energy, water, employee commuting expenses. It provides access to a vast talent pool. Organizations can tap into a global talent pool, hiring individuals regardless of location. It permits improved productivity in employees. Some employees report higher job satisfaction and improved work-life balance, leading to increased productivity because of flexibility and autonomy, allowing employees to manage their work and personal lives better. 

Some negative effects:

Remote communication can be challenging, potentially leading to misunderstandings and reduced nonverbal cues. Remote teams may struggle with fostering a sense of community and belonging, potentially leading to isolation and reduced confidence. Maintaining company work culture becomes difficult. Remote work can make it more difficult to maintain a shared company values and culture and sense of identity. One of the challenges can be security and data. Remote access raises concerns about cybersecurity and data security, requiring robust policies and procedures. Monitoring and control over employees are tough job. Some organizations may implement increased monitoring and control measures to ensure productivity in a remote setting. 

Some jobs are very suitable for remote working:

Many job roles are well-suited for remote work, particularly those involving digital tasks, customer service, and technology, marketing, and finance. Examples include software development, digital marketing, customer service, data analysis, and graphic design. In technology, software development, data analysis, IT management, and cybersecurity. In social media management, copywriting, marketing management, and sales representative. In finance, accounting, financial analysis etc. In customer service customer support, feedback, replacing damaged product etc. In HR  recruitment, employee engagement, training, compensation etc. In project management  leading and coordinating projects where team members work from various locations, using digital tools to facilitate communication and collaboration.

Conclusion:

The average remote job salary in India can vary significantly based on the specific role and experience level, but generally, it ranges from ₹375,833 to ₹2,105,500 per year. Entry-level positions might start around ₹375,833, while experienced professionals could earn up to ₹2,105,500 annually. With no daily commute, no excessive coffee breaks, and no long hours away from friends, family, and kids, remote work greatly improves employee experience and well-being.

Bumping is a practice used by many companies to reserve talent pool during downsizing, wherein, a senior level employee, whose position has been selected for removal, is offered the option of accepting an alternative position of lesser seniority within the organisation

Bumping is a practice of allowing more senior level employees who become redundant in their profile and the organization replaces them in alternate positions which are occupied by other employees. Redundancy sets in for various reasons such as commercial reasons, employee morale, HR policy etc. The question to be answered is: whether   bumping is only an option available to employers? Can the organization consider saving the jobs of a sluggish senior employee at the cost of younger, efficient junior employee?

Bumping is a process used by many organizations during downsizing to keep the valued staff by giving employees with seniority the option of taking other positions within the company that they are qualified for and that are currently held by employees with less seniority.

Thus employees get a chance to ‘bump’ another employee out of their position, so it’s the second employee that actually gets made redundant. It is a useful tool for employers who want to hold on to the skills and experience of employees who would otherwise be downsized.

An employer can avoid bumping if he/she has a good reason to do so. On the other hand, bumping can be used if the employer is able to show that the true reason for the dismissal of the bumped employee is redundancy and not some other reason, such as performance, which would take the dismissal outside the scope of redundancy and therefore make it potentially unfair. Bumping is a point to be considered under corporate governance of
what principles should employers follow while identifying the selection pool for redundant employees.

On the flipside many companies make the mistake of thinking younger, less experienced employees will cost less than older employees who make more money. One fact cannot be overlooked that long-time employees are more knowledgeable, have built a wealth of knowledge about how to work most efficiently and know the customers. They have the past history of customers; what’s worked in the past, what hasn’t, and why. A younger, less experienced employee, eager to make his mark, may implement policies and procedures that have failed numerous times before, alienating customers and costing the company money. Therefore it is better to avoid signalling to senior employees wrongly.

Even though organizations have considerable flexibility in determining the pool from which employees will be selected for redundancy, they must still consider being reasonable or running the risk that sacking will be deemed unfair. Companies often warp their own ethical climate by pushing too much change from the top, too quickly and too frequently. Bumping results in a hurried process to implement staff reduction targets, dispose of big businesses in major markets, and lead mergers and acquisitions. Such actions create inherent conflicts of interest.

When assessing if an organization is being fair or reasonable in deciding on a selection pool of redundant employees, it is worth fixing a panel to decide parameters to term employees ‘redundant’ and to check whether other groups of employees are doing similar work. And, whether employees’ jobs are exchangeable and whether such transfers/exchanges are there in HR policies or not, and, whether employees are informed about such policies from time to time.   

Common provisions in bumping rights

1. The provisions of bumping rights often include a clause requiring that a senior employee must have the minimum qualifications required to fill the position of the junior employee who will be laid off as a result of the bumping system.
2. Provisions may limit the type of positions that can be considered for bumping, such as only positions with the same job classification or title or only jobs with a lower job classification or title.
3. Some contracts include a provision regarding the refusal to exercise bumping rights. For example, there might be a clause that limits the number of job offers an employee can refuse before they are struck off the company’s re-employment register.

What does subject to bumping mean?

Subject to bumping means that the employee holding the job in question can be expatriate by another employee in terms of applicable bumping rights.

A business can have an established bumping system that is defined in the company policy, stated in a binding agreement between the employer and the employee, or in a union contract or collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The rules that afford an employee bumping rights will vary with each agreement.

Though the business world keeps talking about ethical values on various platforms, corporate ethical failures have become painfully common. World over, billions of dollars have been paid in fines by Corporates charged with ethical breaches. In a survey conducted by ECI’s (Ethics & Compliance Initiatives) National Business Ethics Survey, has found that the pressure employees may experience to compromise their organization’s ethics standards, policies or the law is linked with an increased likelihood to observe misconduct. In brief, pressure goes hand in hand with higher prevalence rates of misconduct. Every employee in an organization is exposed to the risk of facing an ethical dilemma at some point in time, and some ethical decisions can be more challenging.

Bumping can be a result of excessive pressure to reach unrealistic performance targets from the superiors. When imaginative goals are set, employees make compromising choices in order to reach targets, this leads to poor appraisals, resulting into redundancy. 

There are several theories on why groups develop. The classic theory, developed by George Homans, advocates that group development is based on activities, interactions, and feelings. What it means is when individuals share common activities; they will have more interaction and will develop attitudes which could be positive or negative toward each other. The major element in this theory is what kinds of interaction are shared by the individuals involved in the group.

Social exchange theory offers an alternative explanation for group development. According to this theory, individuals form relationships based on the implied expectation of mutually beneficial exchanges based on trust and felt obligation towards each other. Thus, an insight that in relationships exchange of thoughts and ideas is positive and essential if individuals are to be attracted to and affiliate with a group.

Social identity theory suggests that individuals get a sense of identity and self-esteem based upon their membership in outstanding groups. The nature of the group may be demographically based, culturally suitable, or organizationally based. Individuals are motivated to belong to and contribute to identical as their character groups because of the sense of belongingness and self-worth membership in the group imparts.

Do you know that the study of group dynamics is dated back to 1960s by Bruce Tuckman. He said that groups do not usually perform at maximum effectiveness when they are first established. They come across several stages of development as they struggle to become productive and effectual. Often, groups experience similar developmental stages while they encounter conflicts and resolutions. According to Tuckman’s theory, there are five stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. During these stages group members go through lot of pains as they need to address several issues and the way in which these issues are resolved decides whether the group will succeed in accomplishing its tasks or the group will break up.

Forming: This is the first stage. In this stage lot groups form temporarily; this stage is characterized by some puzzlement and lot of uncertainty. The group is not sure about their major goals. Leadership matters here a lot. Thus, forming is a direction period when members get to know one another and share expectations about the group. Members learn the purpose of the group as well as the rules to be followed. If the forming stage is rushed trust and openness cannot be developed. Individuals are often confused during this stage because roles are not clear and leadership matters to bring in a feeling of settlement. If the group is formed on basis of weak leadership, the group is far from being formed.

Storming: This stage is called storming because in this stage, the group is likely to see the highest level of incongruity and conflicts. Members in the group challenge group goals and struggle for power. Individuals often compete for the leadership position during this stage of development. This can be a positive experience for all groups if members can get organized through resolution. Members often voice concern and criticism in this stage. If members are not able to determine the conflict, then the group will often split up or continue in existence but will remain unproductive and never advance to the further stages.

Norming: This stage is categorized by the identification of individual differences and shared expectations. If in this stage the group members begin to develop a feeling of group unity and identity the group’s existence strengthens. They experience cooperative efforts which begin to yield results. In this stage usually responsibilities are divided among members and the group decides on evaluating progress. Roles and responsibilities are passed on to members in the group in norming stage.

Performance: Performance of group occurs when the group matures and attains a feeling of cohesiveness. During this stage of development, individuals accept one another and conflicts are resolved through group discussions. Members of the group make decisions through a sensible process that is focused on relevant goals rather than emotional issues.

Adjourning: This stage is not is not experienced by all groups, because it is characterized by the performance discharged by the group. Some groups stay relatively permanent. There are reasons why groups disband; they differ from group to group. Some common reasons are the achievement of the tasks or individuals deciding to go their own ways. Members of the group often experience feelings of conclusion and sorrow as they prepare to leave the group. The reasons could be rational or irrational.

We human beings don’t always make the right decisions because our rational judgment is influenced not only by our infatuations and emotions but we all have built-in biases and some other feelings as conceit, egos and illogical dogmas. We don’t understand sometimes why we behave in a fashion or why we take wrong decisions. One big factor affecting the quality of decisions is whether a decision involves a group.

Group dynamics can lead otherwise sensible individuals to agree or disagree decisions they might not come to on their own. At times the effects are positive, as when some group members help others overcome discrimination. But the dynamics of a group often have negative consequences. Since most organizations   rely on collective decision making in some contexts, managers must to be on the lookout for group biases and their undesirable results. There are again some common manifestations of the group effectiveness. Such as conformity – many people go along with the group regardless of what they themselves might think as individuals. Then comes group polarization – it’s a phenomenon which shows that deliberation can intensify people’s attitudes, leading to more extreme decisions. A study in US federal courts showed that judges working alone took a relatively extreme course of action only 30% of the time. When they were working in groups of three, this figure more than doubled, to 65%.

It has been observed that it is an elating feeling when like minded people come together in a group. It is an exhilarating to see when a team of dedicated people meet to discuss and decide a course of action which benefits each member in the group. If a group is given freedom to choose whom and whom not it can have in its team, positive performance can be observed. It is always gratifying to have likeminded people to form groups. They work together, though each of them coming from different backgrounds and levels of experience, but each with the same intellectual capacity to problem-solving and eventually come up with well executed outcomes. People with similar points of view can supplement and substantiate the perspectives which help in achieving organizations goals and objectives.

I like Margaret Mead’s quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has” this sums what group dynamics is all about beautifully.

It is a fact that most people don’t love their work; they still go to work because it gives them their bread and butter. They crib, they detest many aspects of their job; their boss, their colleagues, the work atmosphere and lack of perks. On the other hand, many like their job – while some tolerate it, but a small segment of people whom we can count in a minority find their work very interesting also it supports their lifestyle. They look forward to going to work each day, and they brim with positivity. We become truly successful and contented with our work when we are given chance to apply our strengths and passions optimally, aren’t we?

Does that mean these happy people have the perfect fit? Why do they enjoy what they do? Why are they passionate about their work? And if you look at their job profiles, someone is doing data entry, someone is writing books of accounts, someone is noting inward-outward entries, someone is doing research, someone is each day out doing salesman’s job, someone is receiving people at the entrance, someone is stitching clothes, someone is cooking for guests day in and day out, someone is tiding the garden. Is there a perfect job and a perfect organization? No. I think, it is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every job has characteristics that can be loved and disliked. There are many aspects of the job which you’ll find unpleasant. But, if you chose, you will be able to get through them with a smile on your face.

So if you think your boss doesn’t appreciate you, you are underpaid, your company isn’t ideal, you overworked, your peers aren’t decently educated etc, remember they aren’t the key evaluators in your life. You are the key evaluator of your life. Do your job well for your satisfaction, even if you don’t like your specific work, or the work environment you are in, you can love the way you do it.

Do pat your back at least once a day, may be at the end of every day. Chances are, you may discover, as you focus on doing it better, that some of the irritations of your job become more rewarding, or at least less lousy. Years back, when I had to travel on my scooter selling diagnostic products to doctors, and later when I changed job still travelling on my scooter selling courier services to corporate, I eventually grew to like sales, because it gave me a glimpse of buyer behavior, it gave me a chance to improve my communication, it automatically boosted my confidence after each successful sale. I had to put my best foot forward for each sales call. Today, when I look back at my sales career spanning over 20 years, let me tell you, I feel fortunate for I created a job which I loved doing. And, since past fifteen years I am working as a Professor of Marketing, I enjoy my work all the more, because I have practical experience of selling and marketing. I can easily explain the cliché concepts. I would have not been successful as a teacher without my previous work experiences.

No matter what kind of job, engagement or career you are into, there are bound to be times when you are just not loving it or enjoying it. Maybe, you are just experiencing a creative dry spell, hence nothing feels exciting. But things still need to get done. Does quitting solve your problem? Do you want to switch to a totally different career and start over? I think you need to give yourself some time, talk to few experienced people, and take the call. These are a few of your options, certainly. But maybe not the best ones.

Friends, you can find satisfaction in your work. Doing so is very valuable to your life in many ways, including greatly increasing your earnings, increasing your learning curve and gratification of some of your career objectives. Many times we are afraid of being stuck in the same job for life. Don’t worry. I have seen individuals who highlight the positive and rewarding aspects of their job, don’t stay in unpleasant jobs that long. They get promoted or use their positive record to get a more fulfilling job. Another factor of life is we need to love life to fully benefit from it. But which parts of our lives generate that fervor varies from person to person.  Someone who is passionate about his/her job may be having problems in his/her family life or must be having some other problems in personal life. It depends other than your job, what is your passion in life? Do you love to learn, or teach, or write? Are you passionate about cooking, sports, buying cars, branded clothes, watches, do you enjoy watching first day first show of movies? Do you have a wonderful friends, a lover, or a family that you admire? If so, you need to be congratulated for discovering some of life’s great turn-ons for you!!

Remember, if you are happy in life, you will enjoy doing your job. You need to balance your work and life both. This is not hard to do. Commit to enjoying life regularly, celebrate small, small achievements of yours, play some games, buy gifts for your family, your friends, visit florist, greeting cards shop, listen to the radio, watch some nice television programs, add colors to your regular monotonous life. Don’t get entangled in a job that makes you miserable and find all your joys elsewhere. But remember, while you are searching for that perfect job, enjoy the way you are doing your present one, and keep celebrating and expanding all the other joys of life that surround you.

Focus on the bright spots in your life. Start finding a way of working that suits your natural strengths and energy. When you are working in a role that places demands on your natural strengths and you are working on things that give you energy, it feels great. After all, the lines between working life and personal life become blur because a job is as much about personal fulfillment and growth, as much as your paycheck.

Most of people get confused between resume and curriculum vitae (CV); we also hear words such as portfolio and bio-data. All four terms describe presentation of particulars of an individual.

A resume is a synopsis of the most relevant professional experiences you have for the particular job for which you are applying. It is snapshot and hence not more than one or two pages in length. Resume word is originated from the French word “resumer” which means a summary of an individual’s educational background, relevant work experience, history and achievements. A resume is mainly used when seeking a new job and is sent to the employer in order to introduce an individual, depending on the detailing he/she gets a chance to meet the recruiter or the employer. A resume is ideally sent when applying for middle and senior level positions, when experience and related skills are more important than educational details.

A curriculum vitae, normally called a CV or curricula vitae, is derived from a Latin word which means “course of life.” A CV contains a detailed narrative of an individual’s work experience in details listing the achievements, educational background, skill set, languages known, awards won etc. A CV is a more elaborate description than a resume. CVs are accepted internationally and are used to apply for executive, academic, managerial, medical and many other senior posts jobs.  In my opinion, a CV is a marketing tool which can be used by an individual to endorse himself.

The primary differences between a resume and a curriculum vitae are length, while both are used in job applications. A resume is brief summary and a CV is a detailed document.

Portfolio originates from the Italian word “portafoglio” meaning to carry and ‘foglio’ meaning leaf or paper. Portfolio is an album of work samples shown to prospective employers, usually in creative fields such as photography, art and graphic design. It so happens that work pieces comprised of art and design cannot be explained theoretically. As a result, presenting pictures, designs and samples is the best way to tell a recruiter about your work. Hence, unlike a resume or a CV, a portfolio may contain pictures, documents, and onsite media details, screen shots of a website, and notes or letters of praise from distinguished clients.

Portfolio is a typically a large, thin, flat case for loose sheets of paper such as drawings or maps; it is a variety set of photographs of a model or actor intended to be shown to a potential employer; it can also be a range of investments held by a person or organization; it describes a range of products or services offered by an organization which called ‘product portfolio’ in marketing; it also describes the position and duties of a Minister or Secretary of State. Painters, graphic artists, journalists, advertisers, authors, poets and other creative types of work profiles  can use career portfolios successfully while job-hunting,

Let us try understanding the term of portfolio with the help of an example. Let’s say there are two candidate shortlisted for a post, who possess the same strengths and experience for a job profile. Candidate number 1 sends his resume to the employer, theoretically stating his skills, achievements, past experiences, and a list of renowned people for references who praise his work. Meanwhile, candidate number 2 sends pictures and samples of his new art work along with letters of appreciation from clients and a collection of tweets admiring his work. Who do you think will get the job? Obviously candidate number 2, because in his case, the recruiter can see the exact work, along with certificates of people who have accepted his work in the market.

The term bio-data, which is rarely used these days, stands for biographical data, is commonly used in the medical field. A bio-data, is usually was used only in hospitals on a prescription pad hung on a patient’s bed side. It mentions the patient’s name, age, sex, weight, disease, medicines given pulse rate, blood pressure, diet given and other relevant details. This form is now used in a few countries, particularly in government institutions, or when applying for grants. Emphasizing an individual’s particulars such as date of birth, religion, sex, race, nationality, address, and marital status. This form is different from a resume and a CV, which focuses more on an individual’s qualifications. Typically in a bio-data factors such as educational qualifications and past job experience take a back seat.

Rarely do we see resumes and CVs tailored to fit a job. Sure, many of the background and academic details tend to remain the same but in a good CV/resumes the tone and accent changes. Rarely people pay attention to what they write in their resume. While you remain the same person, but your description, narrative changes with a new perspective depending on the job you are applying for. It is therefore advisable to constantly re-examine and refine your resume and CV because it speaks volumes about you in absentia. Remember your presentation skill and technique for language matter a lot. Your resume or CV should express your natural self-confidence; keep refining what you say and how you say it in the most concise way. Your CV especially evolves your perceptions on different dimensions in a practical manner. Keep your resume handy with you. Because it is a running list of everything you have accomplished so far. And, you never know a bright opportunity might come your way any time. Keep your CV short and sweet. Put only what is relevant. You don’t need to include everything. Remember, you are advertising yourself for a job, not giving them your life story.

A well written cover letter is essential to be sent with your CV/resume/portfolio or bio-data. Your cover letter should be used to expand on your past achievements, and explain why you think you are the ideal candidate for the role. Use the covering letter to clearly outline your objectives, underlining particular projects or interests that you think will make you stand out. Get straight to the point, employers appreciate an honest approach and keep your document current and up-to-date.

There’s nothing wrong with being shy. The world needs some quiet, thoughtful, introspective people. It takes all sorts of people to make the world a beautiful place. There are some people who are reserve; they don’t shoot off their mouths every now and then. They think before they ask questions. We should understand that people who are reluctant to interfere and careful not to offend others are not weak people. If somebody appears shy, that person is not a weakling.  If you are shy be proud of it. Many people are shy in the world. Their shyness prevents them from expressing themselves, from making friends, and from enjoying life to its fullest. And, for some people, shyness is a cocoon. They feel safe and warm and quiet inside their cocoon. They confine their world to the cocoon but it’s wrong to assume that they are lonely in there.

Most people are shy to some degree. Extreme shyness may be something one would want to look a bit closely at but equally disturbing would be extreme extroversion. There is a social norm and fewer people fall someplace in the middle. But let us assume a person enters a party and the spotlight is thrown on him and he is asked to give a speech or sing and he feels uncomfortable it cannot be called extreme shyness.

When you think of someone being shy, you probably don’t think of celebrities who are always in the spotlight. But, surprisingly the list consists of people like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein. It seems Barrack Obama is of introvert personality but has leveraged introvert’s natural capacity for thoughtful communication. Warren Buffet is a classic example of an introvert taking careful, well-calibrated risks. Buffet is very thoughtful and likes to be in his own confined world. He is not flashy though he is counted among the richest people in the world.  You might not expect the founder of the social network to be reserved, but Zuckerberg is a classic introvert. He is shy and introverted and he often does not seem very warm to people who don’t know him, but the fact is he is an affectionate person. The Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer insists that the spotlight is not her style; she says that she is naturally shy and introverted and yet modern media ignores it and paints her as an extrovert instead.

Personality refers to an individual’s pattern of thoughts, feelings and behavior that make a person unique. There are multiple kinds of personalities whom we encounter in our day-to-day lives; some are strong, some are charismatic, open-minded, while some are withdrawn or shy.  Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the school of analytical psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. The issues that he dealt with occurred from his personal experiences. For many years Jung felt as if he had two separate personalities. One introverted and other extroverted. This interplay resulted in his study of integration and wholeness. Jung’s perspective on personality is quite insightful; he wrote that what appears to be random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities.

Introverts are known for having fewer connections in their life, but these connections are usually much deeper. Extroverts think as they talk or let’s say that talk as they think.  The process for introverts is much different and it’s so internal that you can’t make out outwardly that anything is happening. An introvert could be sitting in corner thinking about the meaning of life or could be solving some grave problem of his organization. Just because they are not more vocal about everything does not mean they are not passionate about life. Introverts feel things just as deeply as extroverts; the difference is that they are simply not very effusive about it.  Perhaps their thinking process does not frequently involve others.

It is known that introverts are quieter and tend to feel more energized from spending time alone, while extroverts are louder and gain fortification and energy from being around with others. Extroverts often exhibit qualities of charm, magnetism, and affiliation, while introverts tend to be creative and prefer to work alone. But it’s not always black and white: we all coexist on this planet – introverts and extroverts need to work together manifesting qualities of each depending on the circumstance. And, being an introvert doesn’t mean being a recluse: introverts can often be amiable social butterflies in their own quiet way.

Introverts are born with great listening skills because they tend to think first, before voicing their opinions. They prefer understanding others before seeking to be understood, which indirectly helps them build good rapport with people. When others speak their mind freely, introverts listen carefully to have a good grasp of their perspectives and viewpoints. People generally feel much more at ease with opening themselves up when they see and feel the readiness of introverts to hear their point of view. In other words, introverts have flair of making others feel valued for expressing their opinions. They make great managers.

As it is also in their nature to consider carefully what to say before they actually open their mouths, writing seems to be a better communication channel than speaking since it grants them more time to consolidate their thoughts before they respond. For these reasons, introverts make good writers. World’s greatest playwright, poets and writers, like William Shakespeare, J. R. R. Tolkien, Emily Dickinson and J.K. Rowling are known to be introverts.

We all know introverts like spending time by themselves more so than extroverts, and few extroverts can understand such self-reliance. Carl Jung has explained that while extroverts require social stimulation to feel energetic, introverts like to recharge their energy by isolating themselves after intensive interactions. All in all, they do not seek other’s opinions and approvals to feel happy. One biggest fact about introverts is that you can confide your secrets in an introvert because they respect other’s feelings and are genuine in their actions.

And, if you exhibit qualities of both introversion and extroversion then you are an Ambivert. Ambiverts typically slide up and down the gamut depending on the situation, context and people around them. Being able to balance both extroversion and introversion is an asset. Ambiverts can typically be adaptive to context and situations more easily. According to psychologist named Hans Eysenck, who coined the term “ambivert” in 1947, ambiverts offer a good balance between the hypersensitivity of some introverts and the domineering attitude of some extroverts. They are emotionally stable; they are more intuitive and are more influential. Every workplace, college, school, social gathering has representatives of each personality type, and the best thing to do is accommodate others and acknowledge the fact that each individual has his/her personality and respect the uniqueness of others.

Talent acquisition is the process of finding and acquiring skilled human labor for organizational needs. An organization needs to be ever ready to meet any labor requirement at various levels. From the context of the HR profession, talent acquisition usually refers to the talent acquisition department or a team within the Human Resources department. The talent acquisition team is responsible for planning, sourcing, assessing, hiring and on-boarding candidates to fill roles that are required to meet company goals and fill project requirements.

At P&G, they receive a million of applications every year. Applicants are made to take several assessments before being invited to meet with P&G’s selection experts. Among the first steps in the selection process is the Adaptive Reasoning Test (ART). This cognitive ability test represents some of the most significant advancements made in cognitive testing in decades, and every candidate regardless of the role they are applying for, takes it. For P&G talent acquisition is not only filling positions, but also utilization of the candidates and their skills that come out of a rigorous recruiting process as a means to fill similar positions in the future also.

Talent acquisition is an exclusive function and it is comparatively a new development. In many companies, recruiting is still a vague process. And, recruitment in many companies is a function of an HR generalist. A separate designation of talent acquisition is created because it is required to meet the advanced and unique functions. Modern talent acquisition is a strategic function of an organization, encompassing talent procurement, but it also looks at workforce planning functions such as organizational talent forecasting, talent pipelining, and strategic talent assessment and development.

High-performing companies build unique and powerful ways to source and access top employees. One innovative tactic is the use of social networks to build talent “communities” supported by full-time employees, retired workers, independent contractors, and everyone in between. AT&T’s talent acquisition department, for example, attracts potential team members by providing a forum to talk about mobile computing and telecommunications in a fun and exciting way.

Talent acquisition is swiftly becoming a unique profession, perhaps even distinct from the practice of general recruitment. Talent acquisition professionals are usually skilled not only in sourcing tactics, candidate assessment, and compliance and hiring standards, but also in employment branding practices and corporate hiring initiatives. Talent acquisition as a function has become closely allied with marketing and PR as well as Human Resources. As global organizations need to recruit globally with dissimilar needs and requirements, effective recruiting requires a well thought out corporate messaging around hiring and talent development.

When General Motors decided to ramp up the production of its flagship electric vehicle, the Volt, the company faced a significant talent challenge they faced terrible shortage of engineers and scientists with a background in electronics. They tried to draw talent from Silicon Valley and other technology centers to Detroit which proved ineffective and difficult initially. GM decided to enhance its recruiting process by building talent communities, drawing more and more people with the required skills into its network.

To help build these communities, GM enlisted engineers and technical staff to write about their jobs, highlighting the exciting work; the rewarding, socially important job opportunities at the company; the high quality of life and relatively low cost of living in Detroit’s suburban neighborhoods; and the many cultural attractions and professional sports teams in the city. Slowly, the company built a growing talent network, strengthening it through social media. New facts and insights about the company were shared among wider circles of talent, creating a positive ripple effect and a more robust talent network. This approach helped GM attract the talent needed to meet deadlines, hiring requirements, and project demands.

Talent acquisition professionals often craft the unique company message around the approach the company takes to hiring and the ongoing development of employees. The employment brand therefore encompasses not only the procurement of human capital, but the approach to corporate employee development.

Modern talent acquisition is becoming a unique skill-set. Because talent acquisition professionals many times also handle post-hire talent issues, such as employee retention and career progression, the talent acquisition role is quickly becoming a distinct craft. Some recruitment industry advisors even advocate for a talent department unique from the HR department, because talent acquisition and development is so entangled with a company’s ultimate success and effectiveness.

At Google test scores no longer are used as important parameter. Instead, the company looks at how effectively candidates pick up new information and solve problems, these qualities are better predictors of performance. Also, Google looks at ‘emergent leadership,’ or the ability to step in to help solve a problem, and just as importantly, to step back when it makes sense for someone else to take charge. They prefer candidates who are comfortable with ambiguity, bringing something new to the product mix, and having intellectual humility. This they call ‘Googleyness.’

As a craft, talent acquisition is not new; it is the simple process of recruiting good talent to meet company’s needs. As a profession, however, talent acquisition is quickly evolving into a unique and important job function. In few cases of Strategic Talent Acquisition, clients will recruit today for positions that do not even exist today but are expected to become available in the future. Taking the long term strategic approach to talent acquisition has a huge impact on how an approach is made to a candidate.

It’s a common practice these days: many companies are leveraging on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Glassdoor, Google, and other social networks to build a persuasive employment brand, to find talent, and market their companies to passive job candidates. They aggressively organize referral marketing programs and send their key executives to universities and other critical sources of new talent around the world.

Corporate are using various recruitment strategies for hiring talented candidates. 

Companies have started to treat recruitment function like marketing function: Talented people also like to join corporate which have best HR practices. Corporate need good integrated and communications strategy that attracts candidates and employees besides customers.

Keep the search on: Companies now extend the targets for strategic recruiting. Who are you looking for? Are there new talent pools? Ones you can develop? Perhaps talent you can access (such as freelancers) but not hire? Also consider where you are looking: Search globally as well as across industries and functions. Companies are now going beyond Facebook and Linkedin. Nearly every company uses social networks to post job openings. Innovative companies also leverage social media to build broader and robust talent communities. But, some companies are using networks of people interested in the company’s products or the company itself who might turn into high-quality recruits.

Buying big data from everywhere: Organizations now leverage on big data tools from vendors such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Entelo, Gild, TalentBin, Work4, Identified, and others to identify and source quality candidates around the world. They leverage on new scientific assessments and big data tools to locate and assess high-quality candidates who fit the style and type of workers needed. Corporate apply talent analytics to identify the company’s top sources of talent, understand effective interviewing techniques to determine “the right fit” to improve the quality and efficiency of hiring.

According to PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PWC) 2-14 CEO survey, seventy percent of business leaders are concerned about the availability of key skills. An end-to-end talent strategy provides more precision in finding, keeping, and enhancing the skills needed now and in the future.

Spiritual quotient (SQ) is a measure that looks at a person’s spiritual acumen; it is as important as intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ). While IQ looks at cognitive intelligence, EQ looks at emotional power of a person and spiritual quotient (SQ) looks at spiritual power of a person. Spirituality increases the ability of a person to be creative and to be aware and insightful. The power of intuition and awareness can be increased with help of spirituality. Why SQ is even more important in today’s time? It helps tremendously coping up and do away with modern problems of terrorism, inconsiderateness, lack of humanness. The concept of Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is fast emerging as the next big aspect of scientific study as it directly correlates to a person’s awareness and consciousness.

Human beings have five senses: sight (eyes), hearing (ears), taste (tongue), smell (nose), and touch (sensatory). Spirituality is the ability to recognize that there is intelligence beyond our five senses. There is universal power that creates and governs everything within and beyond the worlds we know, and that power is omnipresent. We can surrender to this supreme intelligence through our awareness. We call this universal power by different names as per our religious faith. Spirituality makes things easier for us to go through the life’s journey with all its ups and downs. It makes our lives happier.

Spirituality exists within us: it does not require great efforts from our side to search it. Spiritual wisdom doesn’t need to involve fables and mysticism. It does not require to be linked to organized religion, although people with strong religious faith often experience high levels of well-being. Living happily depends on how much we are at peace with our inner self, our core – our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and desires. Our spiritual dimension gives us strength to find a sense of inner peace of both peace of mind and peace in the heart. It allows our inner values to steer through peaceful interactions with the world around us. It develops our concern for others, our concern for Mother Nature, and other living beings and it improves our conscious effort to make a positive contribution to society.

The importance of spirituality has been historically neglected in education. Even educational branches such as medicine, nursing, psychiatry, and psychotherapy lack spirituality aspect. The importance of Emotional Intelligence or EQ has been established; spirituality needs have not been systematically researched, examined and studied.

SQ makes us more responsible of ourselves, family, society, our surrounding, our country and then our universe too. It helps us to interconnect our personal vision with the larger good of humanity. It makes us more humble in our perspective. To a great extent it reduces our selfish intentions. We, human beings, carry big egos, and want to feel all important. We tend to get swayed with our power, status and money. We never realize if we are that important in this world. Our arrogance or our humility spoils our relations with so many people. Human race has progressed on innumerable innovations made. With each innovation, the level of comfort enjoyed is higher. But, are we really happier? Though we have made materialistic progress, though we have too many comforts compared to previous generations are we really happier? Here is where spirituality helps us to find our inner peace of mind. A long and healthy life is important for any individual. Ill-health can either halt one’s progress or, even if one succeeds, result in the ‘gifts’ of a heart disease, blood pressure or diabetes. A happy individual also builds a happy family and society.

Spiritual Quotient therefore is the ability of an individual to see his personal vision and the consequent endeavor to achieve the same through the understanding of the larger good to the society, bringing good health and happiness to him and the world at large. An in-depth review that compared spirituality and religiousness to other health interventions found that people with a strong spiritual life had an 18% reduction in mortality. Giancarlo Lucchetti, lead author of the study, calculates that the life-lengthening benefits of spirituality can be compared to eating a high amount of fruits and vegetables or taking blood pressure medication, https://nygoodhealth.com.

The question that might come to mind after reading the above is – why do we need to be spiritual to realize these fairly straightforward implications? The answer is simple – unless we set apart time in our daily busy schedule to make steady progress in our spiritual journey, we will not get time to even think about these issues. Spirituality brings depth to an individual’s approach and perspective towards leading a more meaningful life.

As humans we get wrong ideas about so many aspects; each of us is busy trying to prove our worth. Each one of us is trying to be better than somebody, how many of us have destroyed ourselves in the rat race….. How many of us have wasted our time, efforts, energy and almost everything on this planet just trying to look a little better than somebody else. It is such a horrible waste of life, because you will never blossom into your full potential if you keep thinking how to be better than somebody. SQ helps us in fixing our priorities of life; it helps us in understanding do the best that you can – what has to happen will happen.

Today, in the corporate world also most of the organizations and institutions have realized and acknowledged that their human element, what is called ‘human resource’ is not simply intellectual property consisting of human knowledge and skills, but is human spirit as well. Corporate have realized that they need to nurture and value the human spirit which is an integral part of leadership. Spirituality is not a mere element which needs reference and regular discussions on it; its practice and application will reduce commotion and misconduct to a greater extent. Lot of awareness is growing in applying spirituality in the workplace.

Abraham Maslow had suggested in his ‘Need Hierarchy’ model that as nations and their populations became more affluent, so would their spiritual hunger become stronger. Perhaps the changing world and its markets which are strongly characterized through globalization, we see volatile environments and shorter product life cycles. We also see organizations breaking rules and law of lands. Ethical practices remain only in books never to be practiced. The way that companies treat their employees is another important consideration.
How many firms are socially responsible by providing a reasonable working environment while paying adequate wages and benefits? How many firms follow the human rights? Even if it doesn’t directly commit abuses, a company may work with suppliers or subcontractors who are responsible for human rights violations, such as using child labor. The health and safety of both the workforce and the surrounding community can be a major issue

Organizations such as Reckit and Coleman, Wipro, Dabur, Tata Tea and many others are among a growing number of organizations that have embraced spirituality at workplace. And, it is observed that these organizations have realized that spiritual growth is like learning math: once you master Algebra and are able to solve any equation in Algebra you also get fascinated to solve Geometrical equations, thus increasing mind capacity to think in multiple areas. Spirituality makes us ethically strong and an increased capacity to be compassionate.

In today’s complex business world a customer’s perception is reality. No business can afford to take the customer for granted. And, customers sometimes get things wrong. Customers are an asset though they are not listed as an asset in balance sheets and financial reports. Customer Relationship Management CRM requires to be placed in the centre of an organization’s business process because customers recognize when an enterprise does not value them or care about their needs.

Companies that possess knowledge about their customers can use it to their profitable advantage and are wildly successful. Knowing in particular what buyers want always helps organizations to build and deliver the precise solutions to meet customers’ needs. They offer their products at the right time, right locations, at the right price, and with the suitable warranties. Companies which are CRM savvy deliver their products and services with the right features and support their customers to create positive buying experiences.

Conversely, organizations which don’t focus on their customers often fail. A bonding with the individuals who might buy their products is essential, but for some reason, many miss this absolutely critical aspect of business. All too often, organizations spend their energy on everything but lack to have conversations with current and potential customers.

The American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) reports indicate that within the Personal Computers (PC) category, customers perceived Apple as the best company in terms of customer service management. Apple’s baseline scores are excellent. Apple focuses on product innovation and customer service round the clock. Similarly, in the major appliances category, as per the ACSI survey General Electric company (GE) stands at no. 1. Among many other things, GE’s blog is a very good way for the organizations to keep in touch with their customers, and GE is one of the few corporate that has its own blogs especially to sort out customer’s problems.

Smart organizations believe that it’s easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. Imagine the amount of revenue is spent on trying to attract new customers to a business when all you really needed to do is to keep the existing customers happy. The promotional budgets are always higher than the CRM budgets.  When you give your existing customers a great customer experience they can work optimistically for you though word of mouth and referrals.

Social media: Complaints spread like wildfire on the Internet. The social media works like wild fire because of its far flung reach. Because of social media we have been more connected than we were in past. Today on social sites people share their good and bad experiences and the post can go viral through social media, highlighting poor experience of a customer about a company to millions of people. Simultaneously, it can work wonders too if smartly used.  For example, Lay’s created a feeding frenzy across the social media landscape with “Do Us a Flavor,” challenging consumers to create new Lay’s potato-chip flavors for the chance to win $1 million or 1 percent of the winning chip flavor’s net sales. The campaign was rolled out to U.S. junk-food junkies in mid-2012, the campaign generated close to 4 million flavor ideas through a Facebook app and SMS. A panel of chefs, celebrity foodies and flavor experts selected three finalists: Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha. Parent company Frito-Lay developed and released all three and named Cheesy Garlic Bread the winner in May 2013, after more than 1 million consumers voted via Facebook, Twitter or text.

For an organization to become victorious with their CRM initiatives, it is important to focus on the two key strategies technology and CRM strategy. These two strategies are the sum-total of planning, development and implementation activities needed to achieve a company’s customer-related goals. CRM technology is the systems-based application and integration that facilitates and supports the customer interaction. In order to ensure the highest likelihood for CRM success, the organization needs to invest in technology and a deep insight is also required as to what is realistic. A proper strategy must be put in place in order to correctly implement and deploy technology.

Segmenting your customers rightly, targeting your product and service at them rightly and positioning your product on the right plank are essential. You should understand the different types of customers you deal with. Look at your team and identify members those who are not  always putting the customer first. They are dangerous for the team.

Data-Driven Decision Making: At its core, CRM is all about making smart decisions based on good data-capturing. The most important step, but it can also be the most difficult because it involves various changes such cultural change, trends change, technological change, economic change, policies change so on and forth. The problems with each of these are that they are not easily shared, they are often temporary, and they cannot be analyzed if not captured methodically. One of the biggest problems facing decision makers is their inability to use data captured by the employees working directly with customers to make decisions. This is the case because many ERP systems make it difficult for end users to enter data such as call notes into a database. And when simple tasks become difficult, employees stop doing them. Even if you aren’t working on a system that makes it easy to enter and share collected data, it is important to get all employees in the habit of entering useful information into the system so it can be used optimally while making strategies and analyzed. The record helps organization when employees leave and walk out of the organization and the data is not lost with their exit.

Enhance your data: There are two primary ways to enhance your data. You can do this internally through marketing efforts to gather more information about your customer base and you can purchase third-party data to enhance what you already have. Analyze your data. Only when you have a culture that is committed to capturing data can you trust the data enough to analyze it and make strategic decisions based on your analysis. You can create reports that measure the performance of your marketing campaigns, the response to your advertising campaigns, existing customer’s reactions, new customers who are thinking positively about your product, costing gaps, pricing gaps, distribution gaps, supply chain management gaps, R&D needs etc, etc. It is the best way to inform your institution on changes that need to be made, and it will provide the data you need to make those decisions.

One final thought about CRM: It is not a destination, it is a journey. If your organization makes the decision to undertake a CRM implementation, the process is not over when the system is installed. In fact, it is just a beginning. Once you start, you cannot stop. Therefore, the decision to begin should not be taken vaguely or lightly. However, at once your firm commits to a CRM viewpoint; it will forever change how you do business and how you view your customers. The phrase “the customer is king” is now more true than ever. The abundance of buyer information currently available through the explosion of cloud, social and mobile platforms has enabled buyers to learn about a product before the buying process. Only CRM will help to effectively measure and react with customer engagement.