The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) conducted the HR Summit 2012 from the 3rd – 4th of February 2012. The two day event aimed to reflect on the concept ‘Do women make better HR managers?’.
Prof. Debashis Chatterjee[/b], Director - IIM Kozhikode, kick started Day One by welcoming the dignitaries, speakers and the participants. In his welcome address he referred to women’s different thought and knowledge as a result of the ‘way women learnt’ rather than any physical or biological conditions. He also spoke highly of some illustrious women leaders who are paving a new way in academia, such as Harvard’s President Drew Faust and Susan Hockfield of MIT.
Mr. Kris. Gopalakrishnan[/b], Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys, the chief guest for the evening, expressed his shock at the appalling Infant mortality rate among female children in India. He listed the qualities essential to a good HR manager which involved people centric thinking and skills. He further elaborated on initiatives in Infosys to encourage and create an inclusive workplace for the women employees.
Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay[/b], Director - Human resources for Citrix, who included lots of poetry in his key note address called attention to the current HR issues and presented research evidence that women are transformational along with being inspirational and ethical. He opined that women play the moral and moral compass as a manager.
Later in the evening, the panel discussion moderated by Prof. Unnikrishnan Nair[/b], saw Mr. Abhay Kapoor[/b], VP-HR, Ernst and Young and Ms. Gitika Shiv[/b], GM-HR, NTPC emphatically place their views on ‘Global trends in growth and challenges of Women HR leaders’.
Day Two commenced with a session on “Gender Stereotyping in HR[/b]” followed by one centered around “The Roadmap to success in HR: Does Gender really matter[/b]?”
Mr.Rajesh Nair[/b],Vice-President-Head, Markets and Pursuits, Ernst & Young, began the day with his talk on the genesis of gender stereotypes. He reminded the audience that gender roles were formed much before the advent of technology and commerce. He was optimistic in his views that jobs were becoming more gender agnostic today which will, hopefully, lead to the breaking of stereotypes in the society in the near future.
Ms. Simin Askari[/b], Sr. Vice-President-Human Resources, Apollo International Ltd., brought the audience’s attention towards the large number of woman-applicants for HR roles at the entry level and their near-absence in the higher levels of organizational hierarchy. She went on to explain that most men enter the corporate arena through marketing, finance or operations and make the decision to move to HR much later. This bias will remain until HR is considered as intrinsic to businesses and not just a soft skill.
Mr. M.S. Sreekumar[/b], Associate Vice-President-Human Resources at Muthoot Capital Services Ltd. and President-National HRD Network Cochin Chapter, carried the session forward with his views on social conventions, pressures and expectations faced by women. He says India is a ‘paradox of thoughts’. With the rise of market-dictates, there is a feeling that men are more equipped to wage the market war. Women can enter the warzone only when they develop their own individual sense of identity, clearly define their job and family roles and know their strengths.
Ms. Garvita Chaturvedi[/b],Chief Manager – Compensation and Benefits, Met-Life Insurance Co., kick started the post-tea session with a small group exercise. She went on to illustrate various factors of the female psyche that may limit her from achieving success. She stressed that, while it is important for one to not boast about their achievements, one should not remain too modest. Most women are alright with working without recognition and maintaining a backseat. The solution lies in changing this attitude within themselves and not external social factors.
Mr. Anurag Srivastava[/b], CEO, HR Next, started his talk with an indication of how the HR area is often perceived as a ‘soft career’ for men. HR is viewed as an employee-advocacy role instead of a bottom-line driven role. He emphasized that HR professionals should lead from front-end. He, personally, does not believe in gender differences but believes there are qualities that both sexes can imbibe from each other. Mr. Srivastava specially lauded IIM Kozhikode for its efforts towards breaking the gender barrier.
Mr. Nilanka Chatterjee[/b], General Manager-HR (Training & Development) of United Spirits Limited, opened his talk with a reference to Swami Vivekananda’s ideas. Swami Vivekananda viewed women as the prime ‘Shakti’ of the world and the root of existence. Mr. Chatterjee correlated this with the present day requirement for women to take up productive roles. He emphasized on the need to strive towards leadership, knowledge retention, leveraging technology, connecting and engagement and justified the influence women can have in this direction.
The event closed with a Vote of Thanks by the second year student at IIM K and Event Manager, Mr. Mani Kansal.More information regarding the HR Summit can be sought from http://www.iimk.ac.in/hrsummit