The 'Happy' workplace!!!!

The pic above made me laugh like crazy ;-) but then I felt genuinely sorry :-( as I was hallucinating about such a workplace. The pic was e-mailed to me by one of my friend.

The need for better 'Rest Rooms' in organizations!!!!

Consider yourself being grilled by the boss in the most inappropriate manner or being ridiculously remorse stricken for work related issues [Lets include personal stuff too].

I feel the following behaviours would be performed by the person:

1. He would continue feeling depressed and start getting pensive!!!!

2. He would continue feeling depressed and find ways to not feel so!!!!

3. He would go to the nearest smoking zone and put the cigaratte butt between his lips. He would then literally SUCK!!!!

4. He would go to the canteen and grab a snack or coffee!!!!

5. Try and seek the attention of his best friend in the office to share the problem!!!!

6. Go to the 'Rest Room' and spend sometime completely alone sitting on the shit pot. Then get up from the shit pot after a 'motivational retrospective session'. After which the person can go to the wash basin and splash some cold water on the face while staring infront of the mirror. This might help too [try it once atleast!!!!].

Now in order to get the sixth alternative right, the company needs to ensure a nice,spunky & hygenic restroom or else it certainly won't work.

So the 'Rest Rooms' can be used for much beyond it's obvious utility.

Thought in the above context: Think beyond the obvious.

A relook at CSR initiatives in economic recovery times...

A few days back, we were having an intense discussion in the class regarding the topic mentioned above.

The discussion mainly revolved around whether companies should involve themselves in CSR initiatives as the economic scene is slowly improving????

We did come to a conclusion. It's as follows:

"During the turbulent times the companies went ahead with mass lay-offs which tarnished their reputation. Now, since the scene is improving, companies can afford to involve themselves in genuine CSR projects that can ensure they can reclaim their lost 'Goodwill' and more importantly feel better about the company's persuits. This can certainly be a great move to do something great for the society and also infuse greater pride in employees to become a better part of their organizational fabric."

The art of gaining objectivity????

Today I went to a very reputed company for my field work permission. They went through my resume and were genuinely nice. I was super impressed with company and the HR team.

I don't know if they felt the same way but yet I am hopeful to do my field work there. They told me to keep in touch. Lets see how everything unfolds????

During my conversation with the HR team I was telling them about my college's field work structure. To make it interesting I used an analogy.

And I said the folowing:

" We have four field work components and an extra summer internship project. Which means that we work in five different companies and understand their HR processes. In the best of my knowledge no other institution has something like this to offer. It's like five short term relationships with five different girl friends. You learn a lot from these realtionships which are short lived and at the end of it you add a greater depth to your personality and gain greater objectivity towards what you want to do with your life [Career in this case]. Simmilarly these field work components help us to know exactly in which industry or company or which HR profile we want to work in."

T-20 of a cynical organization....

An E-mail was forwarded to me by a friend with the subject as '20 rules in any office'.

I would rephrase the subject as 'T-20 signs of a typical cynical organization'.

The content of the mail would justify my stance. Here it goes:

1.The boss is always right.

2. - If the Boss is wrong, see rule 1.

3. Those who work get more work. Others get pay, perks, and promotions.

4. Ph.D.. stands for "Pull Him Down". The more intelligent a person, the more hardworking a person, the more committed a person; the more number of persons are engaged in pulling that person down.

5. If you are good, you will get all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.

6.. When the Bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.

7. It doesn't matter what you do, it only matters what you say you've done and what you are going to do.

8. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.

9. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

10. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.

11. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it...

12. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.

13.. Following the rules will not get the job done.

14. If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.

15. Everything can be filed under "Miscellaneous" .

16. No matter how much you do, you never do enough.

17. You can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work you are supposed to be doing.

18. In order to get a promotion, you need not necessarily know your job.

19. In order to get a promotion, you only need to pretend that you know your job.

20. The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.

HR lessons which 'Hindustani Classical music' can teach you....

Very few of you know that I love singing.

However, I don't sing in tune and hence, I am a pathetic singer with very little knowledge in music. Yet I have loads of respect and love for music.

My mother is a very good singer and is once again learning Hindustani classical music from a Chennai based singer after a considerable gap of many years.

I accompanied her in the class as it was a leisure day for me

Today was her intoductory class which was more theory based and it mainly focussed on the fundamentals and history of Hindustani Classical music.

Let me share the following learnings from music which are true HR lessons-

1. Swar Sadhana: Like in any vocation, music also demands a lot of practice and dedication. Sadhana [a Hindi word] means meditation. In order to gain mastery in music, one needs to have a focus which is synonymous with meditation.

2. Steadiness in voice is more important than voice longetivity: This means that the quality of a voice is relatively more important than the duration for which he can hold his breath and strech his voice. Simillarly, it is important for any new recruit to concentrate on the 'quality' of work initially than the 'quantity' of work.

3. Get ready with your resources: The teacher instructed my mom to chant 'Om' thrice along with deep breathing. This helps to increase focus and clear the throat. Simmilarly, a new recuit should know his fundamentals well and get himself prepared for the corporate world.

4. Autonomy: Initially, Hindustani Classical had very rigid rules but with the passage of time, new ideas were implemented and it gained further popularity. Simmilarly, it's important to always evolve and search for ways to make any proffesional refreshingly effective in varied ways.

5. Know the source: It is recommended that while singing the sound extolled should originate from the belly and not the throat. In the same way, HR associates need to know how the employees are talented in their 'natural way' and then the roles must be assigned to match their natural flair for work.

6. Discipline: Last but not least, discipline is important in all persuits.

What is strength????

Today I was watching a very cute movie 'Sorry Bhai' starring Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi among other actors.

In one of the scene, Boman Irani[playing the role of husband] gets into a varbal spat with Shabana Azmi[playing the role of wife]. Then he educates her on 'What is strength????' as he feels that she is conflicted about the idea of 'strength'.

According to Boman 'real stength lies in giving your people freedom and still making sure that you have an influence on them'.

So true!!!! Strength is never about controlling anyone's life!!!!

;-)