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			'id' => '652',
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			'title' => 'ISO & Management System Certification',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img alt="julymanagement" border="1" height="146" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july11management.jpg" vspace="5" width="300" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong><br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards &amp; Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards. <br />
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><img alt="ISO Management" border="1" height="121" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july_management.jpg" vspace="5" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	In the management field, ISO has formulated Quality Management System standards (ISO9000 series), Environmental Management System standards (ISO14001-2004), Food Safety Management System standards (ISO22000: 2005) etc. ISO does not do any job with respect to certification and such activities are carried out by different certification bodies. These certification bodies are accredited from accreditation bodies. One certification body may have the accreditation from one or more accreditation bodies. There is one accreditation body named NABCB in India. There are hundreds of certification bodies under the umbrella of one accreditation body and these bodies are responsible to their accreditation bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If any weaknesses are found on the part of certification bodies while awarding management system certificates like ISO9001-2008, the respective accreditation bodies take action against those certification bodies. The licence of certification bodies can even be cancelled from accreditation bodies in case of severe failure. The ISO does not have anything to do with this. These accreditation bodies are under the umbrella of International Accreditation Forum (IAF) that conforms to the guidelines developed by the ISO. Series of Quality Management System standards i.e. ISO9000 series was formulated by the ISO for the first time in 1987 with ISO9000, ISO9001, ISO9002, ISO9003, and ISO9004 with many others in this series. In this series, the certifiable standards were ISO9001, ISO9002 and ISO9003.This series was revised first in 1994 with little amendments, second time in 2000 with the remarkable revision by merging all three certifiable standards in one i.e. ISO9001-2000. The structure and some of the requirements have been changed and added during this time. There is no provision of ISO9002 and ISO9003 after this period. The third revision was made in 2008 with some revision including the control of outsourced process. The ISO 9001-2008 minutely looks at whether consistent quality products are produced and the overall management system of the organisation are met at the highest degree during organisational operation. Those companies meeting the requirements are awarded with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate by the certification bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services. The requirements of consumers are taken as the input and the organisation adds values to the requirement through different processes that eventually produces a product that has the capacity to satisfy customers. Quality Management System Requirement i.e. ISO9001- 2008 certification is not a medal of honour. However, it gives organisations the potential to become more cost effective and efficient. Similarly, it arms organisations with a powerful competitive tool that helps ensure consistent quality products and enhancement of customer satisfaction. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	A company with well maintained and qualitative managerial practices is expected to produce quality goods and services. The ultimate goal of the certification is to ensure consistent quality products used or consumed by consumers that lead to ultimate customer satisfaction. The company may be certified for its Quality Management System, Environmental Management System, Food Safety Management System (in case of food industry only), Information Security Management System or any other management system standards developed by the ISO. Among these standards, Quality Management System Standard i.e. ISO9001-2008 is the most popular all over the world. It is a generic standard and is applicable to all types of organizations regardless of their size, nature of product and processes. Till the end of 2011, almost 1.2 million companies have been certified with ISO9001-2008 and almost 250,000 companies with ISO14001-2004 around the globe. In the context of Nepal, approximately 600 organizations have been certified with ISO9001-2008, 30 with ISO 14001-2004, 15 with ISO 22000-2005, and a very little number with Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Social Accountability. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	There is no organization in Nepal that maintains data on the number of ISO management system standard certified companies in the country. The validity of the certificate is three years and there is surveillance audit every 9-12 months. In our context, some companies are missing the surveillance audit and in worst cases, a few are publishing advertisements even after the expiry of the certificate. So, the above mentioned number is only an approximation. Among them, a handful of companies have not renewed their standard certificates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If a company is found misusing the expired certificate, the certification body may take legal actions upon receiving complaints. There is no legal authority in the country to look after these complaints even if some certified organization or certification bodies are indulging in malpractices. Monitoring is sorely missing in Nepal. There have been cases of awarding ISO management system certificates in the bordering areas where the certificate was given to those companies that do not comply with many of the requirements. In India, the accreditation body NABCB has brought a good change in this field by taking action against certification bodies whose performance is very poor. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	It is the need of the time to establish one accreditation board in Nepal which can look after all types of Management System Certification bodies including laboratories accreditation. Around a decade ago, Nepali companies had to rely upon consultancies from India and third countries. However, some certification bodies have established their branches in Nepal at present while some others are operating directly in the country. The benefits of having the branches set up in Nepal are numerous on the part of revenue collection for the government and easy flow of information to stakeholders. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	In conclusion, the management system certifications have brought positive improvements in many organizations even during adverse conditions such as political instability, power shortage, labour unrest etc although there is a lot of space for improvement in the consulting, certification and regulatory parts from the government side. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Bhandari is the Director of Quality and Environment Management Services Pvt Ltd and ISO 9001:2008 certified auditor. He can be reached via email at bhandaripomraj@ yahoo.com <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	 </p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-08-10',
			'modified' => '2012-08-15',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards.',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Understanding Employee Behaviour',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	As an organisation is a place where most people spend around 50 per cent of their daily time, HR personnel should be able to deal with different types of people. People from different walks of life such as diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, race, gender, caste and nationality work in an organisation. Hence, the HR department in any organisation must be very careful and cautious while dealing with people of different nature. The HR being a support function department, HR professionals must be able to address every issue of an employee including cultural, language and religious barriers, working environment, misconception and misunderstanding among other issues.</p>
<p>
	Besides, the HR must be capable of motivating, facilitating, counseling, coaching, analysing performances and must be able to take quick and efficient decisions. In some cases, it would be very difficult to study the behaviour of an employee. For example, an employee who shows very good performance during the probation period may show a different kind of behaviour afterwards. As human behaviour cannot be predicted and there is no mechanism as such to study the behaviour of an individual, HR professionals find it difficult to cope up with employee behaviour. </p>
<p>
	For this, there are some ways through which employee behaviour can be studied to some extent. Knowledge System Analysis (KSA) and Psychometric Test are methods that can be used during the process of hiring so that an employee’s behaviour can be assessed to some extent. Likewise, close observation of every employee is an important task HR professionals must conduct as this helps knowing the employees in person. Monkey Survey, which is available free of cost online, can be the best available tool for an HR department to study the behaviour of employee(s).&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	The HR department can organise various trainings like catholic social teachings, stress management trainings, art of living etc in order to refresh employees. Besides, it is the duty of the HR professionals to conduct individual counseling to know how employees are feeling, what are their problems, and their needs and desires. There is a theory which tells that people do not leave their job but they leave their bosses hence it is a challenge for HR personnel to analyse internal as well as external factors due to which employees change their jobs.</p>
<p>
	Starting a new job in an organisation is like getting married with the team one has to work with and the entire organisation. As everything becomes new in this case, it is the responsibility of an HR head to make a new employee feel comfortable. While hiring new employees, there may arise some conflicts such as old employee versus new employees, experienced versus educated, religions, cultures and many others. The behaviour of the employees in this regard cannot be changed but the HR specialists can certainly influence the ground situation to some extent. Another challenge for HR personnel is that, in many cases, personal issues are reflected at a workplace due to which one employee can demoralise the whole team. </p>
<p>
	For this, some NGOs have a unit called Staff Care which provides the employees with emotional, financial or any other kind of support depending on their needs. This unit is accountable to the employees and by establishing such units in an organisation, the HR personnel can create value to the employees and the organisation. It is also understood that one should have fun at work despite the pressures he or she has to bear. This depends on the culture within an organisation, the nature of business, plans and policies, and rules and regulations set by the organisation. It is true that human beings, by nature, are never satisfied with what they have or get and as human nature is dynamic, it is difficult for HR personnel to deal with and solve all the problems. </p>
<p>
	Hence, HR personnel can make people feel good at work so that they have peace of mind while at work which in turn ensures they do not show negative behaviour. To conclude, in order to make it easier for an HR department to handle a diverse set of employees, the department has to be very careful in hiring employees so as to lower down the chances of getting wrong people in an organisation. Similarly, if personal traits can be studied and HR personnel have the capability of handling negative ideas and approaches in a positive way, then it becomes easier to cope up with employee behaviour. Besides, HR personnel must be strict enough to say no and take actions against wrongdoers while, at the same time, they must be able to judge hardworking employees and appraise them accordingly. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Knowledge
System Analysis
(KSA) and
Psychometric
Test are
methods that
can be used
during the
process of hiring.',
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			'id' => '634',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Job Mapping',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mgmt2.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>By Dr Rabindra Karna</strong></span></p>
<p>
	It is common for any business to have clarity about customer expectations in the beginning as it goes through continuous modification process with the development into the market. It is equally vital to have right people in the organisation to ensure genuine and all accepted services to the customer who literally is the guarantor of success or cause of failure for any business. Simultaneously, it would be critically difficult for people resources to deliver customer satisfaction without clarity about their jobs or expectations from them. Similarly, it would not be possible for HR practitioners or leaders to describe individual jobs without knowing the nature of a job, job family, size of a job and position tagging etc. To meet business objectives, people resources are the key. For an effective and efficient organisation, well developed people bearing clarity about services (individual and organisational) are required to deliver in terms of their contribution to the business. </p>
<p>
	To begin the process of building effective people organisation, a business needs to step ahead with a “job map”. A job map is considered as a bifurcation of jobs into its process steps. Job mapping is also defined as a process of classification systems where positions are classified based on job profiles under occupational group and sub groups. A job map does not describe all expectations; it rather defines broader expectations used in the process of detailing individual job description. Thus, job mapping is a process to compile information and generate database of available and possible jobs in an organisation, for its efficient functioning. As a result of the process, position titles, job profiles and descriptions along with performance matrix becomes consistent. Job mapping also supports grouping of jobs into logical order inside job families and tied to the external market. In gist, a job map does not describe what an organisation is doing; it instead details the opportunities for enhancements in terms of building an effective and progressive institution. </p>
<p>
	The job mapping process necessitates engagement of people resources at various levels. There are enough researches showing compulsion of resources engagement that supports communication process and contributes to success in implementing change. Management scientists too have suggested that all jobs require 7Ds i.e. design, define, determine, display, diagnose, develop and deliver. It has also been confirmed by researches that people in general waste about 20 per cent of their time in obtaining clarifications on incomplete instruction and correction works by redoing tasks that went wrong. Job mapping enables the clarity at a desired level through defining and identifying problem areas. Once a problem is diagnosed, a solution to the problem automatically gets acknowledged and helps plan and introduce improved processes. Job mapping enables us to clarify, examine and develop improvements through role clarity, reduced duplication, agreement on common processes and achieving optimum efficiency by effective distribution and utilisation of resources. While analysing a job map in a structured way, one can easily identify the process improvements. The need becomes that of defining current task and schedules of the business before deeper identification. Hence, it is widely suggested to adopt the critical examination method and examine a whole lot of tasks and assignments to conclude the total outline of a job. A job map remains incomplete till the competency map is derived for any organisation. It essentially requires incorporation with job evaluation, recruitment and placement, skills enhancement needs and process etc.</p>
<p>
	The point to remember is: competency must be considered as behaviour rather than ability or skills and ensure that the competency mapping results into job evaluation. Therefore, defining critical business needs is one of the tools to have error free job map. It would be imperative to define and describe current process and issues, customer needs, business boundaries/limitations, business objectives etc and then determine the overall job map. The team assigned with mapping tasks also needs to identify multiple inefficiencies and obstacles in the process. </p>
<p>
	This necessitates evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of change intended into an organisation. Job mapping, though, has many advantages such as improved people performance contributing to improved business results, promotion of team spirit by defining interlink between different functions, departments and work groups. It also works as an effective educational as well as communication tool that have a huge impact in improving interpersonal relations within an organisation. Simultaneously, it also has the limitation of getting dependent on a small group of people on projects that restricts the representation in a wider perspective.</p>
<p>
	However, this disadvantage can be eliminated by inviting views and comments from larger work groups through circulation of the draft to ensure error free mapping. It is further recommended by many management scientists to distribute preliminary job map to each individual in the taskforce to review and then expand distribution to each functional team for their review and comment. These teams can meet at various levels to confirm that each job has been captured accurately and obtain recommended changes felt by the reviewer/reviewing team. This should be considered as an opportunity to seek input from many people at different stages and inviting their ideas as well as participation in the process.</p>
<p>
	All the feedback that is received, taken in positive light, can help in revising the map and support preparation of the final documents that is now ready for use in the desired and chosen application. However, to ensure a successful mapping, it is suggested to have a duly defined project plan detailing critical business need, analysis of current status and processes, new designs and implementation etc. To conclude, a job map gives companies a framework to discover opportunities that differentiate their offerings and get jobs accomplished perfectly by its employees to satisfy the customer need. </p>
<p>
	It also helps businesses to create breakthrough products and services through practicing innovations that makes the destinies of businesses within comfortable reach. Job mapping is ultimately a versatile and valuable tool for improving people (individual) and organisational performances. It offers a straight forward work requirement that enables good performances by elimination of obstacles, for employees to perform. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Job mapping
is a process
to compile
information
and generate
database of
available and
possible jobs in
an organisation,
for its effi cient
functioning.',
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			'id' => '633',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Strengthening Boards Is A Must For Good Governance In Banks/FIs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mundul.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>By Sujit Mundul <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Corporate Governance</strong> is a well discussed subject over the last decade or so. A good governance aims to protect shareholders rights and enhance disclosure and transparency. It facilitates effective functioning of the board and provides an efficient legal and regulatory enforcement framework.</p>
<p>
	If we look at the definition of Corporate Governance (CG), it transpires, “The fundamental concern of CG is to ensure the conditions whereby a firm’s directors and managers i.e. executives act in the interests of the firm and its shareholders. It also ensures the means by which managers are hailed responsible to capital providers for the use of assets.”</p>
<p>
	So it clearly shows a direction towards:</p>
<p>
	<strong>Responsibility</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Accountability <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Transparency&nbsp;</strong> </p>
<p>
	<strong>Fairness <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	for the board of directors and the relevant executives who run day-to-day business and administration. This much discussed subject “governance” once again has taken the centre stage in the global financial world. The recent collapse of the European Bank Dexia sent shock waves across the global banking industry hardly three months after it was given a clean chit by the European Banking Authority (EBA). </p>
<p>
	EU-wide stress test covering 91 banks, representing virtually 65 per cent of the EU banking assets was conducted in the not too distant past by EBA in cooperation with few central banks, European Central Bank, European Commission and European Systemic Risk Board. On the basis of their results announced in July this year, Dexia issued a statement on its website that there is “no need for Dexia to raise additional capital.” However, since October 5th, it is inching towards bankruptcy. This phenomenon has raised an intellectual debate on the limitations of bank regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	For quite some time, the major concern of the policy makers was to monitor and administer prudential controls i.e. provisioning for non-performing assets, capital adequacy in the process of regulating banks and ensuring their stability. Perhaps, regulatory oversight was considered to be a substitute to corporate governance. It looked like corporate governance was considered to be less critical for banks compared with non-banking entities. The global financial crisis has clearly revealed the fact that regulation and supervision of banks has not ensured a sound banking system. As a logical corollary to this, it has now become a very convincing argument than ever before that good corporate governance complements regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	Banks play a critical role in the development of economies around the world. Effective corporate governance in banks helps foster financial stability, strengthen risk management and ultimately contribute to sound economic development. Banks are really unique; therefore, corporate governance of banks goes beyond the conventional agency theory. We cannot deny the fact that the banks are the most leveraged commercial enterprises. Typically, bank owners contribute circa 10 per cent of the regulatory capital. Public deposits constitute a major share of their fund base (may be up to 80 per cent). We all know that banks have a fiduciary relationship with their customers, i.e., hold the wealth of depositors and manage it on their behalf. This constitutes an additional principalagent relationship that does not exist with non-financial firms.</p>
<p>
	Let us take a look at India. Despite the existence of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 - which inter alia contains the key parameters of good corporate governance - the issues relating to corporate governance in banks did not assume significance, especially after the nationalisation of major banks and several social obligations placed on them. The sense of urgency in implementing good corporate governance was recognised when these banks started accessing the capital markets from 1994.</p>
<p>
	One important point must be noted in this connection. After 1994, the listed banks are not only governed by banking regulation act and the various statuettes under which they are incorporated, but also by the provisions of the Companies Act related to management and administration and minority shareholders protection.</p>
<p>
	It goes without saying that long-term survival and success of an institution depends greatly on the skills, experience and knowledge of its directors and top management. The “working board” requires individuals who are informed, competent and independent to ensure enterprise and integrity which can promote sound growth of the company.</p>
<p>
	In the context of corporate governance, it would be interesting to note that while reviewing the policy of granting fresh licenses to corporations, the RBI Governor Dr D Subbarao raised concerns of “possible self-dealing” by promoter groups in private banks. He also cautioned the banks’ boards regarding excessive risk taking. In April 2011, the RBI levied a penalty on 19 banks including India’s largest bank – State Bank of India for violations on the sale of derivatives. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakhs on Citibank for frauds relating to portfolio management by one of its managers. </p>
<p>
	Sending a strong message to the banks’ boards, the RBI governor said the boards and senior management of the banks would require to be more sensitive to the interests of the depositors and careful of the “potentially destructive consequences of risk taking, be alert to the warning signals and be wise enough to contain exuberance.” Dr Subbarao further said “the short point is this: if the directors on the boards of the banks did not know what was going on, they should ask themselves if they were fit enough to be directors. If they did know and did not stop it, they were complicit in the recklessness and fraud.” One of the biggest challenges in India is the dearth of professionals who are capable and willing to accept the mandate of independent directors. Now let us take a look at Nepal in this regard. Nepal Rastra Bank - the fountainhead of the country’s monetary system - has issued directives on good corporate governance. (NRB Directives No 6: Code-of-Ethics to be observed by Directors/CEO of Banks and Financial Institutions), the salient points of which are: </p>
<p>
	<strong>A declaration be signed as to observe the NRB regulations.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibitions to involve in activities against the interest of the Bank/FI.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for CEO to work part-time.</strong></p>
<p>
	Director of a Bank not to become a director of other institutions licensed by NRB.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for Directors to hold Trusteeships.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition to misuse the position for personal benefits.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Maintenance of confidentiality and fair and equal treatment.</strong> </p>
<p>
	If we undertake a critical appreciation of the situation in the Nepali banking industry, the picture would not be very different from India in that finding appropriate and willing professionals for board positions continues to remain a major challenge. As a sequel to the recent global financial crisis, the regulators in most of the countries have placed much emphasis on the selection of board directors in Banks/FIs as they would play pivotal roles in the implementation of good governance in order to ensure sound health of the organisation.</p>
<p>
	Despite strengthening of rules, regulations, codes of conduct etc relating to good corporate governance over the years, we have found that major incidents in frauds, mis-selling, insider trading etc continue to recur in many parts of the world. So, it seems that these rules/regulations have not really strengthened the spirit of corporate governance. The spirit lies in the hearts of the managers. It is deep rooted in the foundation of moral sentiments and values, rendering it difficult for the regulators to measure. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'This subject of
“governance”
once again
has taken
the centre stage
in the global
fi nancial world.Effective
corporate
governance in
banks helps
foster fi nancial
stability,
strengthen risk
management
and ultimately
contribute to
sound economic
development.',
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			'id' => '578',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Compensation And Benefits: A Sensitive HRM Practice',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage.jpg" style="width: 161px; height: 151px;" vspace="1" />In today’s competitive skills market scenario, businesses are required to adopt special care on compensation and benefits for its people resources. The time has expressed its demand for strategic compensation system against a traditional one. Compensation provided to employees can be in the form of cash benefits or nonmonetary benefits. It is the sum of total rewards and benefits extended in return for their contribution to businesses. If compensation issues are managed effectively, it results in enhanced productivity. An employee does not work only for monetary benefit; however, the financial consideration remains one of the most important key for their working. The complete clarity of processes in compensation and benefits is crucial in view of unbiased decision process as well acceptance thereof. </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits means a cost to the management they are ready to pay for the services of an individual employee where as for an employee, it is an income against sales of their services to a buyer/organisation. Evolving a scientific compensation and benefit structure involves: government legislations and policies, supply and demand scenario in skills market, comparative study within an industry/business, productivity, labour cost and ability to pay etc. A true pay for performance supports productivity enhancement and talent retention. At the same time, it is also a fact that compensation management is not just a means to attract and retain skills; it rather leverages sustaining of competitive advantage for both (employer and employee) through integration processes that result in optimal achievements. Compensation and benefits plays a vital role in people management thus this belongs to the most specialised areas within human resources management (HRM). It deals with controlling and managing rules/policy/ procedures around guaranteed pay, variable pay and benefits etc to the most important resources of an organisation, that is, skills.<img align="right" alt="management" border="5" height="132" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage2.jpg" vspace="2" width="200" /></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits is one of the important functions inside HRM that connects with the competitors in the market and develops compensation policies that are fully competitive in the skills market. In the current context, compensation systems are designed in alignment to business goals and overall organisational strategies. Thus, compensation strategies are also aligned with the business goals and objectives. The human resources strategies derived from overall business strategies sets the path way and objective for the human resources function that compensation and benefits strategies requires to follow. It cannot differ from one another in any circumstances to guarantee full alignment which is most essential for no-conflict environment. The compensation and benefits strategy becomes the guiding factor in setting up general rules for the compensation and benefits area in an organisation. It is recognised as the most important part of HRM focused solely on employees’ rewards and benefits policy making. </p>
<p>
	The recent compensation and benefits theories have divided compensation and benefits into four key categories:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Guaranteed Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on their availability, that is, a certain sum for a fixed period of time but not linked to performance or productivity. It is also known as time wage and basic pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Variable Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on performance or result achieved, that is, normally based on analysis or past performance establishing average performance of a particular standard of workmanship. Sales incentive, productivity incentive, performance bonus etc are some examples. It is also known as progressive piece pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Benefits</strong>: Monetary/cash and/or nonmonetary facilities to supplement employees namely insurance, mobilisation, leave travel assistance, time-off payment, tips, communication facilities, statutory holidays and leave, house rent and special allowances, retirement and post retirement benefits etc.</p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Equity</strong>: This is a pay plan that uses the employers’ share as compensation to employees in the form of a stock option for them. This is not common in our part of the world though the objectives of this category plan are talent attraction and retention and alignment of interests (of employees and shareowners). In essence, compensation is a reward or payment paid to an employee in return for their contribution to a business. The role of various components of the reward is very important as the role of different components differ from one another, for example, dearness allowance is to compensate, console or provide support on account of the cost of living whereas performance bonus, incentive and sales incentive are for better people productivity. A sound compensation and benefits systems aims to:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Attract and retain the talent</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Pay for the job instead of the position</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Reward the effort and merit</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Enhance people productivity, and e. Promote organisational flexibility</strong></p>
<p>
	Hence, the compensation and benefits strategy requires full support from the top management as it describes limits to the organisational routine, especially for line management. Normally, they do not get convinced with the philosophies considered while determining this strategy.</p>
<p>
	Further, it is an unavoidable fact that compensation is an important factor for people while accepting a job/employment. There are obvious challenges in the areas of retaining desired talents and offering competitive salary, wages and benefits becomes the most essential necessity. At the same time, organisations must also market their strengths in terms of their offering of positive relationships and varied challenges in job offerings. Organisations are desired to fully leverage their people resources to sustain competitive position through integration of processes, programmes and information to achieve optimal expectations. Compensation and benefits are mainly influenced by two types of elements:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Internal</strong>: Business objectives, trade unions, employee equity, organisational values, culture and structures are important internal influencers; and</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. External</strong>: Inflation, skills market, economy, taxation and relevant industry trends are key external influencers. While on review process, it would be eminent to have information on the total compensation and benefits packages inclusive of retirement or post retirement benefits for better comparison that leads to an effective and efficient decision process. One also needs to consider:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. More than one source of information</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Competitors to whom skills are lost (who left the organisation)</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Salary positioning</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Expected reinforcement of desirable behaviour</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>e. Mark of recognition <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	To conclude, it is advisable to establish direct relation of individual goals with corporate business objectives. This will make employees realise that the fulfillment of employees’ aspirations lies in the achievement of organisational expectations. This, being the most sensitive aspect of people management, one must remember that employees know and very clearly understand the aspects of performance contributing towards the compensation factor. It would also be advantageous to clarify each individual employee about the contribution of abilities and efforts to high performance level along with its quantification. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-22',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Compensation
systems are
designed in
alignment to
business goals
and overall
organisational
strategies.(Dr Karna is the
Executive Chairman
of MARK Business
Solutions Pvt Ltd and
Ad Abhyas Marketing
& Communications
Pvt Ltd. The article
is based on various
research reports and his
practical experiences
as management
practitioner.)',
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	),
	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '510',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Budget',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need, cost is considered as a major factor. We all like saving of time and money at all levels whether in personal life or in business circumstances. The purpose of business entity is the profitable manufacturing and/or supply of goods and services to fulfill economic necessities ensuring satisfactory returns to all stakeholders mainly known as economic and social suppliers, that is,. investors/owners, members/employees of the enterprises, customers, and the society. Hence planning and budgets are developed in business enterprises to analyse and evaluate managerial decision making on account of spending and output achievement.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	 </p>
<p>
	Human Resources Management, in the process of effective utilisation of the people resources towards achievement of overall organisational goals; performs number of functions broadly named as:</p>
<ol>
	<li>
		Organisational Planning in support of determining its need, structure and relationship strategies. </li>
	<li>
		Staffing covering headcount planning, recruitment, selection and placement, job designs and profiling, orientation and separations.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>
		Skills Enhancement comprising of training need analysis, training activities and evaluation of programme offered. </li>
	<li>
		Compensation &amp; Benefit processing job evaluation, designing and operating suitable salary package/ structure and variable pay package. </li>
	<li>
		Motivation starting from performance appraisal moving through recognition to financial and nonfinancial incentives. </li>
	<li>
		Employee Relations beginning from discipline, counseling, grievance handling moving through recreation and welfare activities, eligibilities (leave, provident fund, gratuity etc) medical services to collective bargaining etc</li>
	<li>
		Personnel record comprising personal information gathering, database development, talent inventory etc making complete employee record. </li>
</ol>
<p>
	Therefore, the cost of human capital represents one of the largest operating expenses into any business. It impacts financial results indirectly in the form of recruitment, motivation and morale, skills enhancement etc impacting quality of operations that supports building customers’ confidence leading to customer retention resulting into revenue/profit. Developing effective human resources budgeting strategies leverages organisations to improve accuracy in cost prediction, control mechanism over budget and realising significant savings. HR budgeting brings together data from different sources, for example, HRIS (Human Resources Information System), Payroll, Performance Management, Sales forecast etc and generates full picture of current and future business positioning. The HR budget is operating budget within the organisation. </p>
<p>
	Budgeting involves information and data to enable finance project organisation’s overall objectives and profitability. The finance unit of an enterprise determines budget structure element and HR unit generates elements of people cost. There are mainly two methods that are applied in budgeting: a. Generic incremental method: Using current budget, next budget is developed through adjustments on each item in close consideration of expected business move, market inflation, consumer/customer sentiments, past success rate etc. b. Zero-based budgeting method: The process begins with zero as base and each item included in the budget is justified before inclusion. It is an organised approach to decide the funding level and performance level in the context of scarce resources and new priorities from scratch – as if no operations exist (before). Whilst creating human resources budget, absolute necessary attention is expected on income of the business moving to investment on people resources. Line items of expenditure are defined by object classes, that is, charts of accounts. While talking of HR budget, such line items include: • Headcount plan, that is, Number of employee projected (includes organisation structure) • Changes projections in compensation and benefits (inclusive of overtime payments) • New benefits/programmes planned • Assumptions around employee turnover • Assumptions/guidelines for realistic expense level • Social security for employees and corporate citizenship programmes • Other changes in policy, business strategy, law or regulation that may impact costs • Skills e n h a n c e m e n t / p e o p l e development/training cost, and • Cost control and reduction via consulting, savings from compensation, benefits, turnover reduction, developed internal trainers etc Projections are based on actual costs incurred in the past or guesses, depending on the nature of the expense and the data available.</p>
<p>
	It may be difficult to project in the circumstances of significant fluctuations in turnover and staffing needs. Thus HR associates need to gather every source of available data in order to make educated projections. It would also be wise to obtain feedback on essential HR moves from other functional heads that ensures buy-in of projections in view of instilling confidence on the inclusion of their expectations from HR. These are crucial in working out lowcost benefits contributing to increased employee satisfaction. With the shift from traditional to professional working of HR, clearly defined mission, vision and values for HR function becomes a path finder for people managers in streamlining process and securing alignment of total team towards one direction. Currently, HR function in any organisation is evaluated on the basis of people productivity and hence it is widely suggested to work around productivity improvement, product/ service quality delivery and instilling customer satisfaction that undoubtedly secures customer retention and contributes to sales growth with improved profitability. This enables HR to track revenue and profit per employee, that is, a comparative study of employees output against expenses per employee. Analytical Budgeting provides opportunity to HR practitioners around comparing achievements with competition and one’s own past performance that opens the door for continuous improvement. </p>
<p>
	The essence here lies in successful measurements of HR functions assignments and performance as it has a direct impact on the organisation as a whole. The recent studies and human scientists have directed a need to establish a clear numerical relationship between people management and financial performance as it would support translation of strategy into operations, managing and controlling overall performance down to business transactions as a result of improved decision making across the organisation. From an entrepreneur’s view point, employee shares of the rewards of production whether cash or other form of earning are commonly referred to HR expenditure and considered as “Cost”. HR practitioners need to identify the areas of businesses that are growing and work with responsibility centres in such areas. </p>
<p>
	Volunteer themselves around HR support in elimination of barriers experienced by such areas of business in improving productivity and margin. Also establish review process to evaluate impact of HR interventions and once positive impact is visible (which is sure to happen), the business head becomes the HR advocate with the Finance head that ensures full considerations and funding HR initiatives. HR strategies are never stagnant, it is most flexible and shifts focus with changes experienced whether economic or otherwise. </p>
<p>
	Therefore, it would be wise for HR function to prioritise their programmes and services focusing most important areas that have high and visible impact on people productivity as well as producing immediate return to make sure that their budget is accepted as value addition instead of cost. It needs to shift its focus to growth areas that can be served with prioritised HR services. This will improve response time and customer service in total too that will be added advantage for HR to be perceived as responsive productive unit and eradicate the common perception of unresponsive overhead unit within the organisation. To conclude, HR needs to demonstrate competitive advantage for the business in total from the programmes and approaches adopted for budgeting defining difference in ways and means for achievement that confirms result much superior than ever before so that confidence of total business is secured to maintain HR programmes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<em>(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</em></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need,',
			'sortorder' => '416',
			'image' => null,
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			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '509',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Ways Of Appraising Employees',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development. As the last fiscal year ended just a few months ago (i.e. at mid-July), many organisations are now conducting performance appraisals in order to evaluate the yearly performances of its employees. In this context, Real Solutions organised HR Kurakani on ‘Ways of appraising employees’ in order to discuss how to conduct appraisal effectively. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR practitioners from diverse fields discussed the ways of appraising and the different ways that it can be accomplished: <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Methods <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Every organisation has its own method of appraising an employee’s performance but some of the popular methods used by various organisations in Nepal are 360 degree appraisal, observation basis and balanced scorecard among others. The performance appraisal forms are filled either manually or through use of certain software packages developed for the purpose. Filling the PA forms should not be biased; but in practice, favoritism does exist within organisations. Therefore, PA should be transparent in order to bring out best results. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Forms <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The participating HR practitioners highlighted on designing questionnaires as per respective job descriptions and found it necessary that they are associated with organisational goals. The questionnaire should be able to analyse different aspects of an employee like communication skills, punctuality, competence, knowledge and overall behaviour among others. Another aspect to be considered while designing the PA forms is the language. The language should be simple, clear and must include both English and Nepali languages and sometimes in other language(s) too, in order to make PA process easier. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Trend <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It was felt that most of the organisations in Nepal do not carry out appraisals while some others do it just for the sake of doing it. The organisations that conduct appraisals systematically and effectively include multinational companies and international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs).</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Outcome</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If an organisation conducts PA and takes no action based on the result received, then there’s no point in going through the entire process. The action as a result should not always be an increment in terms of monetary compensation even though it is one of the major aspects. Besides monetary reward, the appraisal outcome can also include non-monetary rewards such as providing holiday packages, training facilities, appreciation and rewarding best employee among others, based on their performances. An increment in salary is expected on a yearly basis when PA is conducted. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The HR Kurakani participants discussed salary increment criteria such as performance based increment, increment as per government norms, increment as per inflation rate and increment considering an organisation’s values and growth. It was also discussed that yearly PA is not the best way of judging and rewarding employees. If a system can be introduced to appraise employees on a monthly basis, it could be more effective. The participants discussed the possibilities and practicality of such an arrangement. Since it requires greater time investment, the participants suggested conducting biannual PAs and pointed out different ways that can assist appraisals such as critical incident recording, electronic tracking system, introduction of cards for warnings in the event of mistakes committed and encouragement in case of perfect job, external evaluation etc. (The write up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on the topic ‘Ways of Appraising Employees’ conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size:14px;">The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries as well as a freelancer. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company coordinated the event).</span></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development.',
			'sortorder' => '415',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
			'in_scroller' => false,
			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '490',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Crisis For The Better (October 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="right" alt="" border="2" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/saujanya.jpg" style="width: 124px; height: 160px;" vspace="5" />By Saujanya Acharya</span></strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the world to see one of the economic giants drowning under the water and getting washed away. Well, it seems the nature spares nobody. Earthquake and tsunami were not the only problems. The nature also hit a devastating creation of man: a nuclear power plant. Hence, within a very short time span, the Japanese society had to face three different crises.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The case of Japan provides a great study for the field of management: to be more precise, the handling of crisis in a large institution. When corner shops face a crisis, such as plummeting sales, decision making is quite simple as the options include whether to shut down the business, or keep operating at a lower cost level. However, at a larger scale, decision makers are asked for much more careful decision: one decision could trigger another problem in a chain effect.&nbsp;As far as crisis management is concerned, the Japanese government has been quite effective despite the public criticism – especially, from the international media.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government is criticized for its lack of information disclosure regarding the crisis in the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. It was only in the later stage of the crisis that the Japanese government finally admitted the situation to be as worse as that of Chernobyl – even though the level of crisis was apparent to them from the earlier stages. Such strategy seems dishonest on the part of the government. Yet, it has proved to be a wise one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 245px;" vspace="2" />It was wise because the outcome of Japanese government’s honesty would have been quite catastrophic – as it could have invited unwanted havoc. Even with their strategy of concealing the information, there were some disturbances. For example, people started to flee the Japanese cities in the north. This phenomenon was seen also in Tokyo Metropolitan Area which was declared safe by the scientists. This panic was caused by the media which highlighted the impending disaster of nuclear crisis in a very speculative manner. Hence, massive exodus of population from the major surrounding cities would have been inevitable, had the government from the beginning admitted that the disaster level was at 5.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Argument against the government’s action would be on ethical grounds only. The government should be looking after the welfare of the society. People have the right to know what sort of danger they are in. Hence, when the Japanese government held the leverage tight for the flow of information, it was denying its citizens their right to know the truth. Later the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet members were heavily criticized for such decisions. Their reputation was quite tarnished.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Yet, sympathy goes to those decision makers. They were in dilemma. Releasing complete information at once would have caused unwarranted panic. This could have generated another wave of socio-economic tsunami. On the other hand, gradual disclosure of information, with careful observation of the populace would have invited allegations of dishonesty. After all, the government as an institution had to take maximum measures to make sure that the impact on life and property was minimum – even if it had to come at the cost of their honesty. At least they had been able to avert socio-economic turmoil that would have been caused had the people and businesses chose to leave Japan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Similarly, in the corporate setting, there are times for the management to be better off adopting the “controlled information” policy. As soon as there is a premonition or hype of a crisis in a company, non-managerial workers as well as line managers would try to put themselves in their comfort zones – such as finding different jobs. The problem is that there is no rigorous assessment of the situation – only the mid level or top level managers do so. Hence, even if their neck is not on the line, those workers would try to find a way out – because of lack of understanding. This actually ends up creating a problem in the company – which resembles a nature of self fulfilling prophecy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management1.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 190px;" vspace="2" />Instead, the management should try to avoid such panic among its workers. This does not allow them to exploit the workers through lack of information or misinformation. “Controlled information” strategy must take welfare of the workers as well as stability of the company into consideration.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In short term, Japanese government somehow managed the crisis. But, what ahead ?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government would be asked for a lot more than just achieving stability. Being one of the economic giants, they have to be able to not only get out of the mess, but be back on its feet as one of the global economic powerhouses. Just like a star athlete getting back after a terrible injury, people appreciate a good comeback story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">I believe the strength of a nation is shown by its response to crisis. When the earthquake hit, a friend of mine was in a supermarket in downtown Tokyo. The quake caused panic: goods fell on the ground, wine bottles shattered and racks collapsed on top of each other. Soon, it stopped shaking. And, people picked up their grocery items, stood on the queue, paid at the cashier, and left patiently. The country was in the midst of “the worst crisis since Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” as Kan put. Yet, people still showed up at their city offices the same week to fulfill their tax obligation. Apart from the quake and tsunami, explosion of the nuclear power plant caused a power shortage throughout eastern Japan. Essentially, the Japanese government declared implementation of daily load shedding for four hours. People and businesses immediately reacted – but not in the form of a public demonstration or protests. Most people started saving electricity at home. Businesses, malls and restaurants shut their businesses early to save electricity. By the end of the day, load shedding lasted less than an hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In Japanese, crisis is written as 危機 (kiki). The word consists of two Chinese characters: 危 (ki) meaning “danger”, and 機 (ki) meaning “opportunity”. The word itself indicates the perception of crisis in the Japanese society. Yes, people were shocked, and filled with fear. But they kept their heads up, searching for a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let history speak for itself. Every time crisis hits the island nation, Japanese golden age follows. The 1932 Great Kanto Earthquake – which destroyed entire Tokyo and killed approximately 140,000 people – was followed by Japanese military glory and its rise as one of the world’s superpowers. Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which also destroyed both cities killing roughly 200,000 people – was followed by Japanese economic prosperity and its emergence as the world’s largest economy. Every time they fall, they rise up stronger. And I believe such characteristic shows the grandeur of the nation.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Crisis tests our strength. Whether on our management of crisis or standing up on our feet in the midst of it – crisis could be an inevitable challenge at any point in our life. Some break down; others prevail. With wise but unpopular, “controlled information” strategy, Japanese government did not escalate the existing natural crisis by averting socio-economic crisis. Secondly, Japanese philosophy of seeing opportunities in times of crisis needs to be appreciated by the business minds. It is this attitude that brought the country from bottom rock to a leading position. On the whole, one could expect a better tomorrow if a crisis is managed smartly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>[Acharya grew up in Tokyo, Japan and attended St Mary’s International School. He is currently a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). He can be reached via email at saujanya820@gmail.com.]</i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-10-11',
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			'description' => 'It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the.................',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '443',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Leadership: Managing Hunger (September 2011)',
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			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="border-width: medium medium 1pt; border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(134, 55, 59); padding: 0in 0in 3pt;">
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sujit(1).jpg" style="width: 116px; height: 147px;" vspace="10" />By Sujit Mundul</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">I</span>n the current days of rat race and peer pressure, most of us struggle hard to find happiness at workplace, regardless of the nature of the organisation -- be it a local corporate or a multinational. Resurgent capitalism has added fuel to the fire. It does not at all know, or does not know enough, about the boundary conditions of profit maximisation. A ceaseless aspiration of higher rate of profit drives people mad and could probably be a major source of dissatisfaction throughout the levels in an organisation. The question comes loud and clear if there is a sense of balance in the level of aspiration.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In his recent book “The art of happiness at work” by HH Dalai Lama, the great spiritual leader has given some very practical suggestions to alleviate the contemporary pressure of achieving success to the detriment of our holistic well being. These conditions are also very much applicable to the persons in position of leadership, which involve them in managing conflicts.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Frequently people are defeated because, though they are doing their best, they make mistakes in <img align="left" alt="" border="2" height="263" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/management.jpg" vspace="5" width="350" />how they assess and engage their environment. Sometimes we bring ourselves down by forgetting to pay attention to ourselves. We get entangled in the cause and forget that exercising leadership is, at heart, a pure personal activity. It activates us to face challenges, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. With the higher flow of adrenaline, we can work ourselves into believing we are somewhat different and therefore not subject to normal human frailties that can defeat more ordinary mortals on ordinary missions. We begin to act as if we were physically and emotionally indestructible.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Let us look at the example of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton came to the White House in 1993 sleep deprived and physically exhausted; rather than ‘prepare himself physically for the ordeal ahead’.&nbsp;Clinton spent the period between the election and the inauguration working, playing and celebrating in endless 24- hr days. By the time Clinton got to Washington, he’ seemed worn out.... and hyper....’ He refused to rest. It may be that Clinton had a real drive to keep that pace as was observed by David Gergen, the presidential advisor. It would be quite logical to think that we are vulnerable to falling prey to our own hungers. It is strongly believed that self- knowledge and self-discipline form the foundation of staying alive.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It can’t be denied that we all have hungers, which are expressions of our normal human needs. But we get reminded many a time that those hungers disrupt our capacity to act wisely or purposefully. Perhaps, one of our needs is too great and makes us vulnerable. It could be so that the setting in which we operate enhances our normal level of need, inflate our desires and in the process benumbs our usual self controls. A seed of unhappiness gets sown in the process.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It cannot be denied that every human being needs some degree of power, control and importance, as well as intimacy and delight. It would be very difficult to find someone who prefers to feel entirely powerless and unimportant in life. However, it is a proven fact that each of these normal human needs could land us into trouble if not handled judiciously as one tends to lose personal wisdom and discipline required to manage them effectively.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In a leadership role, the utmost difficult part is to manage people as one requires tuning their needs as well as one’s own. There is another danger, in connecting with people’s hopes and frustrations; it is easy to become a depository of their yearnings! Nevertheless, the desire to fulfil the needs of others can become a vulnerability if it feeds the leader’s own normal hunger for power, importance etc. They get so caught up in the action and energy that they loss their wisdom and self-discipline, and slip out of control.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">When you take on the tasks of leading, invariably you resonate with many feelings expressed by people around you. Many of the feelings in our jobs are produced by the way we resonate with the job environment itself. In each professional role one takes on, one must be careful about own emotional inclination to carry the issues and sentiments of others in the organisation. This, of course, is a very challenging proposition to deal with successfully. As discussed earlier, a failure to properly deal with these essential but complex psychological behaviour, would trigger unhappiness in the workplace as also in personal life.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Once again I would like to refer back to HH Dalai Lama’s advice of clearly understanding where we are standing and what we want to achieve. He has had no hesitation in making it clear to us that uncontrolled ambition would become the bane of all unhappiness. So, it would be good to pay heed to his valuable advice that we need to make a choice between peace and ambition. Leaders of this age would require to exercise more caution in successfully playing their roles, as the lure of ambition unlimited would always remain latent, to drift one’s mind towards .......perhaps unhappiness.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '442',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Employee Relations (September 2011)',
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	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt; font-style: normal;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Misalignments in employee relations are mainly caused by misunderstanding arising from silo mentality, friction and disagreements between functions and individual employees in need of clarity. Workflow is considered one of the key enablers to adaptive and responsive culture in any workplace. Collaborative difficulties arise because of inability to partner with others, whether functions or individuals, within the enterprise. Employee relations strategies define the intentions of institutions about expectations from each member about what needs to be done in current situation to manage relationship with employees and their trade unions. HR strategy incorporating employee relation strategies flows from business strategy but concentrates on the ways and means for maximising cooperation with the unions and employees through minimising damaging effects on business in total.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Employee Relations is the broader and latest approach to Industrial Relations and Labour Relations that cover a wider range of employment relationship with the emergence of non-Industrial employment relationship, non-unionised workplaces and socio-emotional arrangements. It is viewed as collective relationship between the employer and the employees. It emphasises on prevention and solution to conflict arising out of work situations and contributes to enhanced productivity, motivation level and people morale as an effect of employees’ involvement on various progressive performance inclusive of discipline. It is also viewed as part of social science because of its concerns about relationship among the employees and the institutions that emerges by and in the form of recruitment and selection, compensation and benefit, workplace safety and environment, skills enhancement opportunities, discipline and so many other varieties of issues. Though it is part of the management that deals with collaborative partnership between the employer and the employees – whether skilled or unskilled, worker or manager, relationship between the state and the employers and the trade unions. The primary concern of employee relation is employer – employee relationship; if maintained at right spirit, driving human resources management strategy becomes effective that supports business achievement.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Since the emergence of Personnel Administrationto the present incarnation of Human Resources Management, even executives perception about it is as just an administrative function whereas employee relations, an integral part of human resources management, addresses underestimations by educating through interactions and leadership in developing methods to improve and establish human resources management into the role of strategic partner. The challenge for employee relation practice in modern management is observed as establishing connection between organisational behavior and&nbsp;HR strategies. In the current context, when the workplace relationship includes conflict of interest, no one can ensure to prevent workers’ exploitation and thus HR (Human Resources) and ER (Employee Relations) practitioners work through institutional interventions to support workings of the relationship in right spirit protecting employees’ rights. Therefore, organisations these days have grievance procedures, Labour Relation Committee, Labour Unions, Collective Bargaining mechanism and Labor Management Partnership etc. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Any business needs people to work in team, performing to achieve business objectives. Non-living entities like machineries, chairs, tables etc cannot be instrumental towards organisational expectations without human beings. In fact, the people are the most valuable asset for any organisation. People resources must share good rapport working together and strive to make the dreams of the organisation come true. Thus, it’s pertinent for the people working for any organization to clearly demonstrate their personal interest after business interest.&nbsp;Some of the key issues around employee relation are corporate restructuring and reshaping of enterprises, employment relationship in union and non-union work environment, effective and efficient performance management systems, workforce diversity, globalisation of labor market etc wherein perspective of socio-economic, political, historical, psychological and legislative developments have great say on employee and employer relationship. Relation can be warm, good, bad, so-so but it is important for any organisation that there is productive or healthy relationship among each other to deliver the best. Workforce spends maximum time with fellow workers, where any conflict will result only in diminishing productivity. Thus, the workforce needs to communicate or discuss as many essential things around business as possible that alone can allow each one at work to derive solution for any misunderstanding, which can lead to intended benefit for self and the institution. None can work alone at the same time it is also but natural that every one can’t think like others or behave the way one behaves. Thus, it’s important to ensure every one behaves in a civilized way demonstrating respect and trust for each other. It is also crucial that all employees maintain cordial relations supporting each other with great understanding of needs and expectations, impacting accomplishment of goals of the entity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is important for employees to understand that they are paid for productivity and not for any clash or conflict among themselves. The fact also is that one can have best friends at work place. Many human scientists have expressed their observation that healthy work place relation leads to long life and it helps people at work to keep themselves ready to take new challenges. Communication plays crucial role in generating and up-keeping relations intact and hence it is widely recommended to keep communication effective and open within and outside the core team. This helps to correct misinterpretation and perceptions about each other, leading to creating and strengthening the trust and the respect that is most essential for improved performance as well as individual efficiency. However, it (Communication) needs to be obvious and accurate so that thoughts are translated into relevant words supporting the development and sustainability of warm relationship; thus usage of written communication in terms of employee relation is highly recommended. Also, employee survey can be reflective towards focus on workplace relationship management, especially in terms of business operation. The survey report provides an opportunity for sincere feedback and breakdown that may not be possible to achieve solely through business communication. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is also observed that disciplinary measures as well as legal/policy compliance in relation to it like absenteeism, leave and vacation, overtime payment etc have marginal impact on employee relations.&nbsp;Similarly, skills enhancement opportunity, pay package, career advancement are important elements determining employee relation. Issues in these areas emerge mainly when employee equity becomes questionable in perception of partiality. It is thus suggested to avoid nepotism and ensure everyone in the organisation is treated same. It has been unanimous that employees are the lifeline of any organisation because none of the businesses can endure without employee like human cannot stay alive without blood. Employees are the most valuable asset and hence, their full immersion in their work, securing emotional attachment will be useful to sustain productive and harmony in relation. HR Associates (especially employee relations in-charge) must focus more on psychological contract than any other legal contract. As much people will have to deliver challenges and creativity in their routine, that much less chances of any challenge will be on employee relations. Simultaneously, activities supportive to foster togetherness like lunch together, group activities, task sharing, award ceremony, job rotation etc can be very useful in maintaining harmony at work place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Additionally, one need to keep in mind that two individuals are never alike. It would be imperative to keep off from regular fault-finding rather usage of simple praises like “well done, great, very good, wow etc motivating phrases will work far beyond any theory and practices. These leave impact like token of appreciation.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is rightly said that success and failure of any business is proportional to the relationship shared among the employees. Researches say if the employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they have a propensity to remain happy and stay away from conflict. It is therefore suggested for HR practitioners to encourage employees on group and extra-curricular activities and lead them to the unity that instills the productive relationship.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '441',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Harassment At Work, Challenge For HR Personnel (September 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Harassment at work includes different types of unwanted action towards an employee that leads to complexity in doing assigned tasks or makes the employee feel that he or she is working in an unfriendly environment. Harassment may be based on different factors such as gender, race, class, culture, age, sexual orientation, or religious preference.</span></div>
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	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Different ways of harassment within and outside workplace are reported like intentional, situational, emotional, sexual and even harassment through use of technologies such as phone, SMS and email. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In many countries of the world, there are laws that protect employees from conducting various job abuses, if the reality of the harassment can be proven. However, in case of our country we do not have such specific laws. During orientation, employees have to ensure they will follow the bylaws of the organisation. Most of the organisations have mentioned in their bylaws harassment issues and actions to be taken if it is violated. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to recognise harassment at work, at first the conduct must be unwanted and offensive to the employee. Secondly, the employee must voice his or her objection to the behavior, allowing the offending individual or individuals to correct their behavior at work. Last, the conduct must be of a nature that makes an&nbsp;adverse impact on the ability of the employee to carry out his or her duties in an efficient and responsible manner and should be reported to the concerned authority. But in case of our country, most of the harassment victims remain silent due to which the tendency to harass continues. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If actions could be taken based on the complaints filed, judging the type and the nature of harassment then such activities can be controlled to some extent. However, it is difficult to control harassment totally as it is more an ethical issue than a legal issue. In Nepal, complaints can be filed at labor court and through the decision of the court based on written complaints one can file the case at district court and then to the supreme court.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Many organisations in our country do not carry out any investigation and just fires the harasser, which&nbsp;leads to employees taking advantage of the system and reporting misleading complaints. Understanding employees and observing, finding out the authenticity of the complaints received and analyzing the issue are major challenges for HR.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to control and reduce harassment in the organisation, addressing such issues secretly and confidentially is a must. Besides, CCTV monitoring, understanding employee’s behaviour and proper recruitment also play an important role in controlling intra organisational harassment. In case of organisation to individual and inter-organisational harassment, one needs to deal it tactfully.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Unwanted sexual advances by peers or supervisors are the most common form of workplace harassment. Both male and female employees may be approached by someone in the workplace who either hint or directly state that compliance will benefit the employee in some manner, or at least help to make sure that employment will continue. Today, many countries have laws that protect employees of all genders from this type of harassment.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sometimes in case of multinational companies or NGOs/INGOs employees have to deal with foreign clients where comes the problem of intercultural practices like hugging, kissing or even shaking hands. In these cases, many people may feel they are harassed. So, in order to avoid this, HR should inform the visiting person about the cultural slopes and limitations and let them know how to make their stay comfortable.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, in order to avoid harassment, office politics must be completely avoided. Besides, every individual should speak up if they feel harassed and only then we can minimise not only workplace harassment but also harassment as a whole. Minimising workplace harassment remains a challenge for HR personnel, however, neutralizing it is almost next to impossible.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Harassment at Work- Challenge for HR Personnel” on July 27, 2011 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, Research Organisations, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions, acted as the moderator for the discussion and Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company, was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '423',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Brand Buzz (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sajag(1).jpg" style="width: 123px; height: 153px;" vspace="10" />By Sajag Karki</span></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a handful of ads of reputed multinationals along with some local companies that actually communicate brand personality via branding, Nepali advertisements typically focus only on a specific scheme or promotion. They have nothing much to offer except to lure customers into buying the product by providing them with monetary reward or somekind of freebie. Advertising has been around just for a few decades in a developing country like Nepal. Though there has been significant development, there is lot of room for improvement to meet international standards. In this turbulent phase of progress, ethics still comes in question. Nepali media whether TV or print has been flooded with Indian ads with Nepali voiceover. Big B Amitabh Baachan can be seen endorsing more than a dozen ads at the same time. People are confused and tired of seeing the same person over and over again for most products. Due to his popularity, it is also hard to ignore his presence keeping in mind the commercial success celebrities bring about. However, there must be a match between the personality of the brand with that of the celebrity. Same celebrity endorsing multiple products can hamper the image of the product.&nbsp;Are promotional schemes and celebrity endorsers a good way to communicate a company’s product to its customers? Also, the use of celebrities for products that don’t suit their personality is controversial. The importance and relevance of ethics in advertising in the Nepalese context has been a debatable issue. Ethics is something that is usually not compatible with advertising in Nepal. The fact about advertising is that in most cases it is hard to sell products without offending anybody. Another harsh reality is that a single ad cannot please everybody. Such customers can go for customised products rather than standardised ones in order to fulfil their needs. Since there is always a target group of people that a company caters to, an ad cannot be made that is liked by everybody.&nbsp;Who is responsible for influencing young people for drinking or smoking? Is it important to be ethical while creating ads of one’s organisation or should they be more concerned with just adding value of the firm while ignoring the ethical and moral issues of advertising and business as a whole?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The topic of ethics in advertising is such that it is never black and white. It is impossible to paint a rosy picture by just claiming yes or no to ethics. There are subtle shades of grey in which arguments from both sides are viable. Practically speaking, the direct adaptation of moral philosophy principles in marketing communication is unsuitable. However, this doesn’t mean that ethics should be completely neglected. The parameters for judging ads cannot be the same as judging the morality and ethics of society.&nbsp;Hence, marketing must develop its own philosophy of ethics. In the advertising world, some puffery is allowed since no company can sell anything by saying just the mere truth. A bit of dramatisation and an element of excitement (buzz) are added deliberately to give maximum mileage to the brand. Only this makes it possible for people to bear up with advertisements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. Ads cash in on the popular culture while targeting the younger audience. Ads encouraging dark people to use whitening creams to look fair are targeted especially to the young so that they are easily influenced. Can such advertisements that portray dark as ugly and unacceptable be called ethical or unethical? If it is unethical than what would be a better way to communicate the product’s attributes in an ethical manner?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">On the other hand, advertisers cannot completely forget ethics while delivering their creative piece.&nbsp;I am by no means saying that false advertising should be encouraged or that ethics should completely be neglected. The fact is that even though advertisements are verisimilitude, ethical threshold should always be maintained to depict a clean picture to the audience. A striking reality to consider is that negative words spread way faster than positive ones. It is like a wildfire that spreads so fast that it’s almost impossible to extinguish it right away. Similarly, negative opinion of the ad due to unethical content will spread in such a way that it will be almost impossible to mitigate the damage created. Only a handful of unsatisfied viewers who find some ads unethical can spread negative word of mouth to a whole lot of people around them. In no time, such ads will be called phony ultimately resulting in adverse effect on the brand equity of the advertised product.&nbsp;Ethics is specially of top priority while showing comparative ads as there must be sufficient evidence backing the superiority of the product against competitors. Along with ethics, rational judgment should also be used so that they do not have to face legal issues.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">No brand can be built in a jiffy. It not only takes creative heads along with deep pockets to gain a worldwide recognition of the brand but also a whole lot of time. Coke would not have been the most popular brand in the world if its advertising was not sculpted with ethical standards right from the beginning hundreds of years ago. Hence, it would not be a good idea for any company to ruin its image in no time by showing unethical ads just for the sake of money making or for cheap publicity. This kind of debate can go on and on and on. Books have been written and issues have been raised over the topic of ethics in advertising but without a tangible conclusion. To simplify this I would say that ad makers should come up with only such ads that they would accept as an audience. A little empathy towards audience and use of intuitive judgment by advertisers would probably help address this intrinsic advertising issue to an extent.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Karki is currently associated with KIST Bank.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => '''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a.....',
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			'id' => '422',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Audit (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra%20karna%282%29.jpg" style="width: 112px; height: 151px;" vspace="10" /></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span bright="" color:="" letter-spacing:="" lucida="" serif="" style="line-height: 120%;">By <span style="color: rgb(178, 34, 34);">Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">H</span>uman Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and benchmark comparatives at least with direct market competition. This is done for depicting HR initiatives towards sales and people productivity enhancement that can be utilised as a comprehensive tool to improve their own effective engagement into the business. It is imminent to identify and realise strengths and opportunities for improvements around specific HR areas.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Businesses are currently moving under heavily regulated and turmoil employee environment dealing with most uncertain industrial relation under complex legislative framework. Human Resources function has been emerging as most essential organ of organisation which is mainly engaged in establishing and practising policies, legal compliance that has huge impact over productivity and profitability of business in total. This is why Human Resources function these days is considered as most valuable strategic business partner within the Organisation. Efficient, effective and active HR practices in any organisation are as essential as the well functioning organs in human body. Investment in building Human Asset is considered a key to the measurement of systematic alignment with organisational goals helping HR become strong strategic partner that it is deemed to be. The HR Audit can be a powerful element driving change in HR and organisation. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The financial audit is mandatory which examines the past on the basis of practices and procedures for identifying issues that ensure compliance to sound accounting principles. Similarly, HR audit is aimed to future and meant to examine the health of Human Resources function to establish best practices that are productive to the business activities. HR Audit supports companies to determine gap and reason behind lack in system productivity and suggests the way forward. Currently, most of the businesses have plans for systems, targets and compliance that are driven by HR functions wherein HR audit becomes useful to compare these plans with actual implementations. The outcome of audit and feedback is found very helpful in decision making around corrective measures pertaining to improvement plans. Human resources audits play vital role around legal compliance that helps to avoid regulatory liabilities resulting from policies and practices. It also helps to identify legal risk and serves information about efficiency of HR strategies through benchmarking “best practices” of similar businesses. It is also handy in finding solutions to problems prior to escalation. It also suggests how things might be done in more efficient and effective way with efficient cost economy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Concerns in relation to employee risks have been the reason for the emergence of a wing within HR function to look after the working conditions and associated risks that enable implementation of preventive measures that perfectly aligns to the legal approach of HR. The application of Occupational Health &amp; Safety program is now associated with quality of life at workplace that is most important for human capital being the prime strategic element that explains the differentiation ability of company. This is where HR audit goes beyond the traditional concept of accounts audit i.e. simple investigation to logical measurement of efforts being put.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR audit in general is suggested to structure based upon size of organization i.e. number of people employed, time constraints, budgets and risk areas e.g. discipline, performance, compliance, hiring etc. However, there are some areas wherein companies are vulnerable to additional risks which must be reviewed carefully:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Personal record:&nbsp;A detailed and accurate personal records of employees are essential to prevent the business from undesired dispute especially in the areas of insufficient documentation pertaining to discipline, service record, compensation, health issues etc. An audit of personnel files reveals exposure to this type of risk and enables preventive measures to safeguard interest of the company beforehand. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Legal Compliance: A review focusing over company’s compliance to the local laws and regulation at the same time incorporated codes of best practices and other essentials; allows company to take corrective measure in area of concerns e.g. over-time eligibility, classification of Job, payroll, records retention, compensation and benefits etc.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Attendance System: The biggest concern for most of the employer as of today is absenteeism. In many cases it has been noticed that companies have their own attendance policies (In addition to the country’s Labor Law) in support of absenteeism control which might be unacceptable because of conflict with law of the land as well lack of clarity in need of proper communication around these. Since this aspect has immediate vulnerability to dispute and risks; audit prescribes the remedial action in such conflicting situation and enables the organisation to take corrective measure in support of absenteeism control i.e. fully aligned with law of the land.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">d.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HR Strategies: Strategic alignments among each business units (Functions) are equally important in view of increasing value of employees to the business. This part of HR management mainly consists of organization structure, job design, employment policies, HRIS and employee relations management etc. Audit review of strategies helps business to determine whether strategic alignment exists there or not and supports planning and action to improvise areas of concerns on this important aspect.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">e.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cost Efficiency:&nbsp;One of the important financial roles of HR is to ensure people management in the most cost-effective way. This inculcates financial ratios and scorecard measures such as headcount planning, orientation and disciplinary cost per employee, people development cost, people productivity etc. A detailed review of this aspect of HR throws light on equipping HR practitioners of the company with knowledge per formulation of HR metrics.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Thus HR audit<span calibri="" sans-serif="" style=""> is</span> meant for verification of job design and analysis, employee welfare, industrial relations, conflict resolution, improved communication mechanism, orientation and job evaluation etc useful and supportive to achieve business destination through effective engagement of HR Function as one of the key business performance driver. It has been noticed from recent HR developments that there is an increasing demand for HR associates to contribute to profitability drive of the organisation through active participation in business decisions. The audit findings can be of great use to improve HR business plan, identify risks and control over traditional approaches, cost-economy and facilitate change in management initiatives. It also plays an important role in relation to motivation through clarified roles and responsibilities. HR audit helps to identify HR KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and adds value to the organisation defining relevant activities. It also supports placement of management in a better position fulfilling expectation that instills trust and respect from all stakeholders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, it is important to ensure that HR audit is planned and carried out under clear understanding of HR connectivity on overall business objectives, HR related opportunities and their engagement around sustainable people productivity and outcomes that are intended to achieve.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span aldine401="" bt="" italic="" style="">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-17',
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			'description' => 'Human Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and.....',
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			'id' => '398',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Environmental Sustainability July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">B</span>lue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a day-long hiking trip to Shivapuri titled Team Building towards Sustainability on 15th April this year. It was a team building event with the sole purpose of cleaning up the waste in the Shivapuri Mountain.</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">Though the event was a fun-filled one, it was heartbreaking to see the Shivapuri's beautiful surroundings marred by waste left behind by hikers and picnickers. This careless garbage dumping has attracted many pests and contaminated the nature's reserve. There were food wrappers and plastic plates with food remnants lying around which not only disturbed the beauty of the place but also hampered the eco system of the area.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">BOS team successfully accomplished the Shivapuri summit clean-up plan by managing to collect the garbage in Shivapuri hill area in less than 30 minutes. At the end of the cleaning exercise, we asked ourselves, Why couldn't people clean their own waste? If every visitor to the park acknowledged their responsibility to preserve the national park by adhering to cleanliness, Shivapuri Mountain would be a magnificent place for all visitors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	We thought of recommending the following tips to hikers for making their tour worthwhile without compromising on the fun.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">BOS shall continue to work towards keeping the environment clean and invites people who wish to use our services to work with us. Together, we can ensure environmental sustainability alongside our various professional tasks.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
			'modified' => '2013-05-24',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Blue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a......',
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			'title' => 'Prepare Yourself With SAP July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in;">
	<i>By Aparajita Acharya</i></div>
<div>
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;">E</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">fficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And obviously, as businesses get bigger, they will require more professional systems to stay together and prosper. This is where SAP business solutions come in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The demand for SAP trained individuals is increasingly on the rise with SAP becoming one of the most sought-after ERP business solutions today.&nbsp;As every individual appraises his/her own credentials and adaptability in today's cut-throat global competition, companies hire and fire largely mindful of the flexibility, competence and productivity of their staff. Therefore, the question is that of acquiring competence which helps understand businesses in their essence. You must find ways to assure that you never become outdated and easily adapt to the new needs of the growing market.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Companies try to find people who are already well trained when new recruits are needed to fit into multiple roles. So it becomes essential that you are precisely trained to be saleable in the job market. Among many ERP business trainings on offer, SAP training makes you fit to carry out a multitude of roles and helps you become proactive in understanding business processes and flexible to market requirements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Armed with a SAP training, you will be already qualified to kick start your career at a higher level in established companies despite entering the market at a young age. SAP training has assured various locally trained consultants with excellent placements in successful organizations as an increasing number of companies in Nepal advance towards ensuring economical output of a required quality. However, this is definitely not the end of it all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">A peek at the global job market illustrates an increasing appeal for SAP trained professionals. The US, Australia and Germany are among countries that consistently seem to have high number of positions available for SAP trained individuals. Other countries such as the UK and The Netherlands which look for comparatively less number of SAP trained employees offer equally lucrative salaries to these sought-after consultants, architects and experts.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">You can either undertake a complete course for SAP or choose to learn only the modules that support your job needs. Among the different SAP modules, those trained in FI, CO, CRM and BI (Business Intelligence) currently seem to be in great demand in the global market.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you wish to go about chiseling your expertise to match market requirements, a SAP training ensures that knowledge in any business area you wish to participate in, is as good as hands on experience. It helps you carve a niche for yourself in the midst of aggressive competition. Backed by SAP, you can be assured that you have exactly what everybody is looking for whether you decide to work abroad or closer home.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'description' => 'Efficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And.........',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '652',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'ISO & Management System Certification',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img alt="julymanagement" border="1" height="146" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july11management.jpg" vspace="5" width="300" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong><br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards &amp; Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards. <br />
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><img alt="ISO Management" border="1" height="121" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july_management.jpg" vspace="5" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	In the management field, ISO has formulated Quality Management System standards (ISO9000 series), Environmental Management System standards (ISO14001-2004), Food Safety Management System standards (ISO22000: 2005) etc. ISO does not do any job with respect to certification and such activities are carried out by different certification bodies. These certification bodies are accredited from accreditation bodies. One certification body may have the accreditation from one or more accreditation bodies. There is one accreditation body named NABCB in India. There are hundreds of certification bodies under the umbrella of one accreditation body and these bodies are responsible to their accreditation bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If any weaknesses are found on the part of certification bodies while awarding management system certificates like ISO9001-2008, the respective accreditation bodies take action against those certification bodies. The licence of certification bodies can even be cancelled from accreditation bodies in case of severe failure. The ISO does not have anything to do with this. These accreditation bodies are under the umbrella of International Accreditation Forum (IAF) that conforms to the guidelines developed by the ISO. Series of Quality Management System standards i.e. ISO9000 series was formulated by the ISO for the first time in 1987 with ISO9000, ISO9001, ISO9002, ISO9003, and ISO9004 with many others in this series. In this series, the certifiable standards were ISO9001, ISO9002 and ISO9003.This series was revised first in 1994 with little amendments, second time in 2000 with the remarkable revision by merging all three certifiable standards in one i.e. ISO9001-2000. The structure and some of the requirements have been changed and added during this time. There is no provision of ISO9002 and ISO9003 after this period. The third revision was made in 2008 with some revision including the control of outsourced process. The ISO 9001-2008 minutely looks at whether consistent quality products are produced and the overall management system of the organisation are met at the highest degree during organisational operation. Those companies meeting the requirements are awarded with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate by the certification bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services. The requirements of consumers are taken as the input and the organisation adds values to the requirement through different processes that eventually produces a product that has the capacity to satisfy customers. Quality Management System Requirement i.e. ISO9001- 2008 certification is not a medal of honour. However, it gives organisations the potential to become more cost effective and efficient. Similarly, it arms organisations with a powerful competitive tool that helps ensure consistent quality products and enhancement of customer satisfaction. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	A company with well maintained and qualitative managerial practices is expected to produce quality goods and services. The ultimate goal of the certification is to ensure consistent quality products used or consumed by consumers that lead to ultimate customer satisfaction. The company may be certified for its Quality Management System, Environmental Management System, Food Safety Management System (in case of food industry only), Information Security Management System or any other management system standards developed by the ISO. Among these standards, Quality Management System Standard i.e. ISO9001-2008 is the most popular all over the world. It is a generic standard and is applicable to all types of organizations regardless of their size, nature of product and processes. Till the end of 2011, almost 1.2 million companies have been certified with ISO9001-2008 and almost 250,000 companies with ISO14001-2004 around the globe. In the context of Nepal, approximately 600 organizations have been certified with ISO9001-2008, 30 with ISO 14001-2004, 15 with ISO 22000-2005, and a very little number with Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Social Accountability. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	There is no organization in Nepal that maintains data on the number of ISO management system standard certified companies in the country. The validity of the certificate is three years and there is surveillance audit every 9-12 months. In our context, some companies are missing the surveillance audit and in worst cases, a few are publishing advertisements even after the expiry of the certificate. So, the above mentioned number is only an approximation. Among them, a handful of companies have not renewed their standard certificates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If a company is found misusing the expired certificate, the certification body may take legal actions upon receiving complaints. There is no legal authority in the country to look after these complaints even if some certified organization or certification bodies are indulging in malpractices. Monitoring is sorely missing in Nepal. There have been cases of awarding ISO management system certificates in the bordering areas where the certificate was given to those companies that do not comply with many of the requirements. In India, the accreditation body NABCB has brought a good change in this field by taking action against certification bodies whose performance is very poor. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	It is the need of the time to establish one accreditation board in Nepal which can look after all types of Management System Certification bodies including laboratories accreditation. Around a decade ago, Nepali companies had to rely upon consultancies from India and third countries. However, some certification bodies have established their branches in Nepal at present while some others are operating directly in the country. The benefits of having the branches set up in Nepal are numerous on the part of revenue collection for the government and easy flow of information to stakeholders. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	In conclusion, the management system certifications have brought positive improvements in many organizations even during adverse conditions such as political instability, power shortage, labour unrest etc although there is a lot of space for improvement in the consulting, certification and regulatory parts from the government side. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Bhandari is the Director of Quality and Environment Management Services Pvt Ltd and ISO 9001:2008 certified auditor. He can be reached via email at bhandaripomraj@ yahoo.com <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	 </p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-08-10',
			'modified' => '2012-08-15',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '635',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Understanding Employee Behaviour',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	As an organisation is a place where most people spend around 50 per cent of their daily time, HR personnel should be able to deal with different types of people. People from different walks of life such as diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, race, gender, caste and nationality work in an organisation. Hence, the HR department in any organisation must be very careful and cautious while dealing with people of different nature. The HR being a support function department, HR professionals must be able to address every issue of an employee including cultural, language and religious barriers, working environment, misconception and misunderstanding among other issues.</p>
<p>
	Besides, the HR must be capable of motivating, facilitating, counseling, coaching, analysing performances and must be able to take quick and efficient decisions. In some cases, it would be very difficult to study the behaviour of an employee. For example, an employee who shows very good performance during the probation period may show a different kind of behaviour afterwards. As human behaviour cannot be predicted and there is no mechanism as such to study the behaviour of an individual, HR professionals find it difficult to cope up with employee behaviour. </p>
<p>
	For this, there are some ways through which employee behaviour can be studied to some extent. Knowledge System Analysis (KSA) and Psychometric Test are methods that can be used during the process of hiring so that an employee’s behaviour can be assessed to some extent. Likewise, close observation of every employee is an important task HR professionals must conduct as this helps knowing the employees in person. Monkey Survey, which is available free of cost online, can be the best available tool for an HR department to study the behaviour of employee(s).&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	The HR department can organise various trainings like catholic social teachings, stress management trainings, art of living etc in order to refresh employees. Besides, it is the duty of the HR professionals to conduct individual counseling to know how employees are feeling, what are their problems, and their needs and desires. There is a theory which tells that people do not leave their job but they leave their bosses hence it is a challenge for HR personnel to analyse internal as well as external factors due to which employees change their jobs.</p>
<p>
	Starting a new job in an organisation is like getting married with the team one has to work with and the entire organisation. As everything becomes new in this case, it is the responsibility of an HR head to make a new employee feel comfortable. While hiring new employees, there may arise some conflicts such as old employee versus new employees, experienced versus educated, religions, cultures and many others. The behaviour of the employees in this regard cannot be changed but the HR specialists can certainly influence the ground situation to some extent. Another challenge for HR personnel is that, in many cases, personal issues are reflected at a workplace due to which one employee can demoralise the whole team. </p>
<p>
	For this, some NGOs have a unit called Staff Care which provides the employees with emotional, financial or any other kind of support depending on their needs. This unit is accountable to the employees and by establishing such units in an organisation, the HR personnel can create value to the employees and the organisation. It is also understood that one should have fun at work despite the pressures he or she has to bear. This depends on the culture within an organisation, the nature of business, plans and policies, and rules and regulations set by the organisation. It is true that human beings, by nature, are never satisfied with what they have or get and as human nature is dynamic, it is difficult for HR personnel to deal with and solve all the problems. </p>
<p>
	Hence, HR personnel can make people feel good at work so that they have peace of mind while at work which in turn ensures they do not show negative behaviour. To conclude, in order to make it easier for an HR department to handle a diverse set of employees, the department has to be very careful in hiring employees so as to lower down the chances of getting wrong people in an organisation. Similarly, if personal traits can be studied and HR personnel have the capability of handling negative ideas and approaches in a positive way, then it becomes easier to cope up with employee behaviour. Besides, HR personnel must be strict enough to say no and take actions against wrongdoers while, at the same time, they must be able to judge hardworking employees and appraise them accordingly. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Knowledge
System Analysis
(KSA) and
Psychometric
Test are
methods that
can be used
during the
process of hiring.',
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			'image' => null,
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '634',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Job Mapping',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mgmt2.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>By Dr Rabindra Karna</strong></span></p>
<p>
	It is common for any business to have clarity about customer expectations in the beginning as it goes through continuous modification process with the development into the market. It is equally vital to have right people in the organisation to ensure genuine and all accepted services to the customer who literally is the guarantor of success or cause of failure for any business. Simultaneously, it would be critically difficult for people resources to deliver customer satisfaction without clarity about their jobs or expectations from them. Similarly, it would not be possible for HR practitioners or leaders to describe individual jobs without knowing the nature of a job, job family, size of a job and position tagging etc. To meet business objectives, people resources are the key. For an effective and efficient organisation, well developed people bearing clarity about services (individual and organisational) are required to deliver in terms of their contribution to the business. </p>
<p>
	To begin the process of building effective people organisation, a business needs to step ahead with a “job map”. A job map is considered as a bifurcation of jobs into its process steps. Job mapping is also defined as a process of classification systems where positions are classified based on job profiles under occupational group and sub groups. A job map does not describe all expectations; it rather defines broader expectations used in the process of detailing individual job description. Thus, job mapping is a process to compile information and generate database of available and possible jobs in an organisation, for its efficient functioning. As a result of the process, position titles, job profiles and descriptions along with performance matrix becomes consistent. Job mapping also supports grouping of jobs into logical order inside job families and tied to the external market. In gist, a job map does not describe what an organisation is doing; it instead details the opportunities for enhancements in terms of building an effective and progressive institution. </p>
<p>
	The job mapping process necessitates engagement of people resources at various levels. There are enough researches showing compulsion of resources engagement that supports communication process and contributes to success in implementing change. Management scientists too have suggested that all jobs require 7Ds i.e. design, define, determine, display, diagnose, develop and deliver. It has also been confirmed by researches that people in general waste about 20 per cent of their time in obtaining clarifications on incomplete instruction and correction works by redoing tasks that went wrong. Job mapping enables the clarity at a desired level through defining and identifying problem areas. Once a problem is diagnosed, a solution to the problem automatically gets acknowledged and helps plan and introduce improved processes. Job mapping enables us to clarify, examine and develop improvements through role clarity, reduced duplication, agreement on common processes and achieving optimum efficiency by effective distribution and utilisation of resources. While analysing a job map in a structured way, one can easily identify the process improvements. The need becomes that of defining current task and schedules of the business before deeper identification. Hence, it is widely suggested to adopt the critical examination method and examine a whole lot of tasks and assignments to conclude the total outline of a job. A job map remains incomplete till the competency map is derived for any organisation. It essentially requires incorporation with job evaluation, recruitment and placement, skills enhancement needs and process etc.</p>
<p>
	The point to remember is: competency must be considered as behaviour rather than ability or skills and ensure that the competency mapping results into job evaluation. Therefore, defining critical business needs is one of the tools to have error free job map. It would be imperative to define and describe current process and issues, customer needs, business boundaries/limitations, business objectives etc and then determine the overall job map. The team assigned with mapping tasks also needs to identify multiple inefficiencies and obstacles in the process. </p>
<p>
	This necessitates evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of change intended into an organisation. Job mapping, though, has many advantages such as improved people performance contributing to improved business results, promotion of team spirit by defining interlink between different functions, departments and work groups. It also works as an effective educational as well as communication tool that have a huge impact in improving interpersonal relations within an organisation. Simultaneously, it also has the limitation of getting dependent on a small group of people on projects that restricts the representation in a wider perspective.</p>
<p>
	However, this disadvantage can be eliminated by inviting views and comments from larger work groups through circulation of the draft to ensure error free mapping. It is further recommended by many management scientists to distribute preliminary job map to each individual in the taskforce to review and then expand distribution to each functional team for their review and comment. These teams can meet at various levels to confirm that each job has been captured accurately and obtain recommended changes felt by the reviewer/reviewing team. This should be considered as an opportunity to seek input from many people at different stages and inviting their ideas as well as participation in the process.</p>
<p>
	All the feedback that is received, taken in positive light, can help in revising the map and support preparation of the final documents that is now ready for use in the desired and chosen application. However, to ensure a successful mapping, it is suggested to have a duly defined project plan detailing critical business need, analysis of current status and processes, new designs and implementation etc. To conclude, a job map gives companies a framework to discover opportunities that differentiate their offerings and get jobs accomplished perfectly by its employees to satisfy the customer need. </p>
<p>
	It also helps businesses to create breakthrough products and services through practicing innovations that makes the destinies of businesses within comfortable reach. Job mapping is ultimately a versatile and valuable tool for improving people (individual) and organisational performances. It offers a straight forward work requirement that enables good performances by elimination of obstacles, for employees to perform. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Job mapping
is a process
to compile
information
and generate
database of
available and
possible jobs in
an organisation,
for its effi cient
functioning.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '633',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Strengthening Boards Is A Must For Good Governance In Banks/FIs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mundul.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>By Sujit Mundul <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Corporate Governance</strong> is a well discussed subject over the last decade or so. A good governance aims to protect shareholders rights and enhance disclosure and transparency. It facilitates effective functioning of the board and provides an efficient legal and regulatory enforcement framework.</p>
<p>
	If we look at the definition of Corporate Governance (CG), it transpires, “The fundamental concern of CG is to ensure the conditions whereby a firm’s directors and managers i.e. executives act in the interests of the firm and its shareholders. It also ensures the means by which managers are hailed responsible to capital providers for the use of assets.”</p>
<p>
	So it clearly shows a direction towards:</p>
<p>
	<strong>Responsibility</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Accountability <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Transparency&nbsp;</strong> </p>
<p>
	<strong>Fairness <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	for the board of directors and the relevant executives who run day-to-day business and administration. This much discussed subject “governance” once again has taken the centre stage in the global financial world. The recent collapse of the European Bank Dexia sent shock waves across the global banking industry hardly three months after it was given a clean chit by the European Banking Authority (EBA). </p>
<p>
	EU-wide stress test covering 91 banks, representing virtually 65 per cent of the EU banking assets was conducted in the not too distant past by EBA in cooperation with few central banks, European Central Bank, European Commission and European Systemic Risk Board. On the basis of their results announced in July this year, Dexia issued a statement on its website that there is “no need for Dexia to raise additional capital.” However, since October 5th, it is inching towards bankruptcy. This phenomenon has raised an intellectual debate on the limitations of bank regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	For quite some time, the major concern of the policy makers was to monitor and administer prudential controls i.e. provisioning for non-performing assets, capital adequacy in the process of regulating banks and ensuring their stability. Perhaps, regulatory oversight was considered to be a substitute to corporate governance. It looked like corporate governance was considered to be less critical for banks compared with non-banking entities. The global financial crisis has clearly revealed the fact that regulation and supervision of banks has not ensured a sound banking system. As a logical corollary to this, it has now become a very convincing argument than ever before that good corporate governance complements regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	Banks play a critical role in the development of economies around the world. Effective corporate governance in banks helps foster financial stability, strengthen risk management and ultimately contribute to sound economic development. Banks are really unique; therefore, corporate governance of banks goes beyond the conventional agency theory. We cannot deny the fact that the banks are the most leveraged commercial enterprises. Typically, bank owners contribute circa 10 per cent of the regulatory capital. Public deposits constitute a major share of their fund base (may be up to 80 per cent). We all know that banks have a fiduciary relationship with their customers, i.e., hold the wealth of depositors and manage it on their behalf. This constitutes an additional principalagent relationship that does not exist with non-financial firms.</p>
<p>
	Let us take a look at India. Despite the existence of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 - which inter alia contains the key parameters of good corporate governance - the issues relating to corporate governance in banks did not assume significance, especially after the nationalisation of major banks and several social obligations placed on them. The sense of urgency in implementing good corporate governance was recognised when these banks started accessing the capital markets from 1994.</p>
<p>
	One important point must be noted in this connection. After 1994, the listed banks are not only governed by banking regulation act and the various statuettes under which they are incorporated, but also by the provisions of the Companies Act related to management and administration and minority shareholders protection.</p>
<p>
	It goes without saying that long-term survival and success of an institution depends greatly on the skills, experience and knowledge of its directors and top management. The “working board” requires individuals who are informed, competent and independent to ensure enterprise and integrity which can promote sound growth of the company.</p>
<p>
	In the context of corporate governance, it would be interesting to note that while reviewing the policy of granting fresh licenses to corporations, the RBI Governor Dr D Subbarao raised concerns of “possible self-dealing” by promoter groups in private banks. He also cautioned the banks’ boards regarding excessive risk taking. In April 2011, the RBI levied a penalty on 19 banks including India’s largest bank – State Bank of India for violations on the sale of derivatives. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakhs on Citibank for frauds relating to portfolio management by one of its managers. </p>
<p>
	Sending a strong message to the banks’ boards, the RBI governor said the boards and senior management of the banks would require to be more sensitive to the interests of the depositors and careful of the “potentially destructive consequences of risk taking, be alert to the warning signals and be wise enough to contain exuberance.” Dr Subbarao further said “the short point is this: if the directors on the boards of the banks did not know what was going on, they should ask themselves if they were fit enough to be directors. If they did know and did not stop it, they were complicit in the recklessness and fraud.” One of the biggest challenges in India is the dearth of professionals who are capable and willing to accept the mandate of independent directors. Now let us take a look at Nepal in this regard. Nepal Rastra Bank - the fountainhead of the country’s monetary system - has issued directives on good corporate governance. (NRB Directives No 6: Code-of-Ethics to be observed by Directors/CEO of Banks and Financial Institutions), the salient points of which are: </p>
<p>
	<strong>A declaration be signed as to observe the NRB regulations.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibitions to involve in activities against the interest of the Bank/FI.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for CEO to work part-time.</strong></p>
<p>
	Director of a Bank not to become a director of other institutions licensed by NRB.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for Directors to hold Trusteeships.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition to misuse the position for personal benefits.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Maintenance of confidentiality and fair and equal treatment.</strong> </p>
<p>
	If we undertake a critical appreciation of the situation in the Nepali banking industry, the picture would not be very different from India in that finding appropriate and willing professionals for board positions continues to remain a major challenge. As a sequel to the recent global financial crisis, the regulators in most of the countries have placed much emphasis on the selection of board directors in Banks/FIs as they would play pivotal roles in the implementation of good governance in order to ensure sound health of the organisation.</p>
<p>
	Despite strengthening of rules, regulations, codes of conduct etc relating to good corporate governance over the years, we have found that major incidents in frauds, mis-selling, insider trading etc continue to recur in many parts of the world. So, it seems that these rules/regulations have not really strengthened the spirit of corporate governance. The spirit lies in the hearts of the managers. It is deep rooted in the foundation of moral sentiments and values, rendering it difficult for the regulators to measure. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'This subject of
“governance”
once again
has taken
the centre stage
in the global
fi nancial world.Effective
corporate
governance in
banks helps
foster fi nancial
stability,
strengthen risk
management
and ultimately
contribute to
sound economic
development.',
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			'id' => '578',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Compensation And Benefits: A Sensitive HRM Practice',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage.jpg" style="width: 161px; height: 151px;" vspace="1" />In today’s competitive skills market scenario, businesses are required to adopt special care on compensation and benefits for its people resources. The time has expressed its demand for strategic compensation system against a traditional one. Compensation provided to employees can be in the form of cash benefits or nonmonetary benefits. It is the sum of total rewards and benefits extended in return for their contribution to businesses. If compensation issues are managed effectively, it results in enhanced productivity. An employee does not work only for monetary benefit; however, the financial consideration remains one of the most important key for their working. The complete clarity of processes in compensation and benefits is crucial in view of unbiased decision process as well acceptance thereof. </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits means a cost to the management they are ready to pay for the services of an individual employee where as for an employee, it is an income against sales of their services to a buyer/organisation. Evolving a scientific compensation and benefit structure involves: government legislations and policies, supply and demand scenario in skills market, comparative study within an industry/business, productivity, labour cost and ability to pay etc. A true pay for performance supports productivity enhancement and talent retention. At the same time, it is also a fact that compensation management is not just a means to attract and retain skills; it rather leverages sustaining of competitive advantage for both (employer and employee) through integration processes that result in optimal achievements. Compensation and benefits plays a vital role in people management thus this belongs to the most specialised areas within human resources management (HRM). It deals with controlling and managing rules/policy/ procedures around guaranteed pay, variable pay and benefits etc to the most important resources of an organisation, that is, skills.<img align="right" alt="management" border="5" height="132" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage2.jpg" vspace="2" width="200" /></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits is one of the important functions inside HRM that connects with the competitors in the market and develops compensation policies that are fully competitive in the skills market. In the current context, compensation systems are designed in alignment to business goals and overall organisational strategies. Thus, compensation strategies are also aligned with the business goals and objectives. The human resources strategies derived from overall business strategies sets the path way and objective for the human resources function that compensation and benefits strategies requires to follow. It cannot differ from one another in any circumstances to guarantee full alignment which is most essential for no-conflict environment. The compensation and benefits strategy becomes the guiding factor in setting up general rules for the compensation and benefits area in an organisation. It is recognised as the most important part of HRM focused solely on employees’ rewards and benefits policy making. </p>
<p>
	The recent compensation and benefits theories have divided compensation and benefits into four key categories:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Guaranteed Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on their availability, that is, a certain sum for a fixed period of time but not linked to performance or productivity. It is also known as time wage and basic pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Variable Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on performance or result achieved, that is, normally based on analysis or past performance establishing average performance of a particular standard of workmanship. Sales incentive, productivity incentive, performance bonus etc are some examples. It is also known as progressive piece pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Benefits</strong>: Monetary/cash and/or nonmonetary facilities to supplement employees namely insurance, mobilisation, leave travel assistance, time-off payment, tips, communication facilities, statutory holidays and leave, house rent and special allowances, retirement and post retirement benefits etc.</p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Equity</strong>: This is a pay plan that uses the employers’ share as compensation to employees in the form of a stock option for them. This is not common in our part of the world though the objectives of this category plan are talent attraction and retention and alignment of interests (of employees and shareowners). In essence, compensation is a reward or payment paid to an employee in return for their contribution to a business. The role of various components of the reward is very important as the role of different components differ from one another, for example, dearness allowance is to compensate, console or provide support on account of the cost of living whereas performance bonus, incentive and sales incentive are for better people productivity. A sound compensation and benefits systems aims to:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Attract and retain the talent</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Pay for the job instead of the position</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Reward the effort and merit</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Enhance people productivity, and e. Promote organisational flexibility</strong></p>
<p>
	Hence, the compensation and benefits strategy requires full support from the top management as it describes limits to the organisational routine, especially for line management. Normally, they do not get convinced with the philosophies considered while determining this strategy.</p>
<p>
	Further, it is an unavoidable fact that compensation is an important factor for people while accepting a job/employment. There are obvious challenges in the areas of retaining desired talents and offering competitive salary, wages and benefits becomes the most essential necessity. At the same time, organisations must also market their strengths in terms of their offering of positive relationships and varied challenges in job offerings. Organisations are desired to fully leverage their people resources to sustain competitive position through integration of processes, programmes and information to achieve optimal expectations. Compensation and benefits are mainly influenced by two types of elements:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Internal</strong>: Business objectives, trade unions, employee equity, organisational values, culture and structures are important internal influencers; and</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. External</strong>: Inflation, skills market, economy, taxation and relevant industry trends are key external influencers. While on review process, it would be eminent to have information on the total compensation and benefits packages inclusive of retirement or post retirement benefits for better comparison that leads to an effective and efficient decision process. One also needs to consider:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. More than one source of information</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Competitors to whom skills are lost (who left the organisation)</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Salary positioning</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Expected reinforcement of desirable behaviour</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>e. Mark of recognition <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	To conclude, it is advisable to establish direct relation of individual goals with corporate business objectives. This will make employees realise that the fulfillment of employees’ aspirations lies in the achievement of organisational expectations. This, being the most sensitive aspect of people management, one must remember that employees know and very clearly understand the aspects of performance contributing towards the compensation factor. It would also be advantageous to clarify each individual employee about the contribution of abilities and efforts to high performance level along with its quantification. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-22',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Compensation
systems are
designed in
alignment to
business goals
and overall
organisational
strategies.(Dr Karna is the
Executive Chairman
of MARK Business
Solutions Pvt Ltd and
Ad Abhyas Marketing
& Communications
Pvt Ltd. The article
is based on various
research reports and his
practical experiences
as management
practitioner.)',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '510',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Budget',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need, cost is considered as a major factor. We all like saving of time and money at all levels whether in personal life or in business circumstances. The purpose of business entity is the profitable manufacturing and/or supply of goods and services to fulfill economic necessities ensuring satisfactory returns to all stakeholders mainly known as economic and social suppliers, that is,. investors/owners, members/employees of the enterprises, customers, and the society. Hence planning and budgets are developed in business enterprises to analyse and evaluate managerial decision making on account of spending and output achievement.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	 </p>
<p>
	Human Resources Management, in the process of effective utilisation of the people resources towards achievement of overall organisational goals; performs number of functions broadly named as:</p>
<ol>
	<li>
		Organisational Planning in support of determining its need, structure and relationship strategies. </li>
	<li>
		Staffing covering headcount planning, recruitment, selection and placement, job designs and profiling, orientation and separations.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>
		Skills Enhancement comprising of training need analysis, training activities and evaluation of programme offered. </li>
	<li>
		Compensation &amp; Benefit processing job evaluation, designing and operating suitable salary package/ structure and variable pay package. </li>
	<li>
		Motivation starting from performance appraisal moving through recognition to financial and nonfinancial incentives. </li>
	<li>
		Employee Relations beginning from discipline, counseling, grievance handling moving through recreation and welfare activities, eligibilities (leave, provident fund, gratuity etc) medical services to collective bargaining etc</li>
	<li>
		Personnel record comprising personal information gathering, database development, talent inventory etc making complete employee record. </li>
</ol>
<p>
	Therefore, the cost of human capital represents one of the largest operating expenses into any business. It impacts financial results indirectly in the form of recruitment, motivation and morale, skills enhancement etc impacting quality of operations that supports building customers’ confidence leading to customer retention resulting into revenue/profit. Developing effective human resources budgeting strategies leverages organisations to improve accuracy in cost prediction, control mechanism over budget and realising significant savings. HR budgeting brings together data from different sources, for example, HRIS (Human Resources Information System), Payroll, Performance Management, Sales forecast etc and generates full picture of current and future business positioning. The HR budget is operating budget within the organisation. </p>
<p>
	Budgeting involves information and data to enable finance project organisation’s overall objectives and profitability. The finance unit of an enterprise determines budget structure element and HR unit generates elements of people cost. There are mainly two methods that are applied in budgeting: a. Generic incremental method: Using current budget, next budget is developed through adjustments on each item in close consideration of expected business move, market inflation, consumer/customer sentiments, past success rate etc. b. Zero-based budgeting method: The process begins with zero as base and each item included in the budget is justified before inclusion. It is an organised approach to decide the funding level and performance level in the context of scarce resources and new priorities from scratch – as if no operations exist (before). Whilst creating human resources budget, absolute necessary attention is expected on income of the business moving to investment on people resources. Line items of expenditure are defined by object classes, that is, charts of accounts. While talking of HR budget, such line items include: • Headcount plan, that is, Number of employee projected (includes organisation structure) • Changes projections in compensation and benefits (inclusive of overtime payments) • New benefits/programmes planned • Assumptions around employee turnover • Assumptions/guidelines for realistic expense level • Social security for employees and corporate citizenship programmes • Other changes in policy, business strategy, law or regulation that may impact costs • Skills e n h a n c e m e n t / p e o p l e development/training cost, and • Cost control and reduction via consulting, savings from compensation, benefits, turnover reduction, developed internal trainers etc Projections are based on actual costs incurred in the past or guesses, depending on the nature of the expense and the data available.</p>
<p>
	It may be difficult to project in the circumstances of significant fluctuations in turnover and staffing needs. Thus HR associates need to gather every source of available data in order to make educated projections. It would also be wise to obtain feedback on essential HR moves from other functional heads that ensures buy-in of projections in view of instilling confidence on the inclusion of their expectations from HR. These are crucial in working out lowcost benefits contributing to increased employee satisfaction. With the shift from traditional to professional working of HR, clearly defined mission, vision and values for HR function becomes a path finder for people managers in streamlining process and securing alignment of total team towards one direction. Currently, HR function in any organisation is evaluated on the basis of people productivity and hence it is widely suggested to work around productivity improvement, product/ service quality delivery and instilling customer satisfaction that undoubtedly secures customer retention and contributes to sales growth with improved profitability. This enables HR to track revenue and profit per employee, that is, a comparative study of employees output against expenses per employee. Analytical Budgeting provides opportunity to HR practitioners around comparing achievements with competition and one’s own past performance that opens the door for continuous improvement. </p>
<p>
	The essence here lies in successful measurements of HR functions assignments and performance as it has a direct impact on the organisation as a whole. The recent studies and human scientists have directed a need to establish a clear numerical relationship between people management and financial performance as it would support translation of strategy into operations, managing and controlling overall performance down to business transactions as a result of improved decision making across the organisation. From an entrepreneur’s view point, employee shares of the rewards of production whether cash or other form of earning are commonly referred to HR expenditure and considered as “Cost”. HR practitioners need to identify the areas of businesses that are growing and work with responsibility centres in such areas. </p>
<p>
	Volunteer themselves around HR support in elimination of barriers experienced by such areas of business in improving productivity and margin. Also establish review process to evaluate impact of HR interventions and once positive impact is visible (which is sure to happen), the business head becomes the HR advocate with the Finance head that ensures full considerations and funding HR initiatives. HR strategies are never stagnant, it is most flexible and shifts focus with changes experienced whether economic or otherwise. </p>
<p>
	Therefore, it would be wise for HR function to prioritise their programmes and services focusing most important areas that have high and visible impact on people productivity as well as producing immediate return to make sure that their budget is accepted as value addition instead of cost. It needs to shift its focus to growth areas that can be served with prioritised HR services. This will improve response time and customer service in total too that will be added advantage for HR to be perceived as responsive productive unit and eradicate the common perception of unresponsive overhead unit within the organisation. To conclude, HR needs to demonstrate competitive advantage for the business in total from the programmes and approaches adopted for budgeting defining difference in ways and means for achievement that confirms result much superior than ever before so that confidence of total business is secured to maintain HR programmes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<em>(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</em></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need,',
			'sortorder' => '416',
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '509',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Ways Of Appraising Employees',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development. As the last fiscal year ended just a few months ago (i.e. at mid-July), many organisations are now conducting performance appraisals in order to evaluate the yearly performances of its employees. In this context, Real Solutions organised HR Kurakani on ‘Ways of appraising employees’ in order to discuss how to conduct appraisal effectively. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR practitioners from diverse fields discussed the ways of appraising and the different ways that it can be accomplished: <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Methods <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Every organisation has its own method of appraising an employee’s performance but some of the popular methods used by various organisations in Nepal are 360 degree appraisal, observation basis and balanced scorecard among others. The performance appraisal forms are filled either manually or through use of certain software packages developed for the purpose. Filling the PA forms should not be biased; but in practice, favoritism does exist within organisations. Therefore, PA should be transparent in order to bring out best results. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Forms <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The participating HR practitioners highlighted on designing questionnaires as per respective job descriptions and found it necessary that they are associated with organisational goals. The questionnaire should be able to analyse different aspects of an employee like communication skills, punctuality, competence, knowledge and overall behaviour among others. Another aspect to be considered while designing the PA forms is the language. The language should be simple, clear and must include both English and Nepali languages and sometimes in other language(s) too, in order to make PA process easier. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Trend <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It was felt that most of the organisations in Nepal do not carry out appraisals while some others do it just for the sake of doing it. The organisations that conduct appraisals systematically and effectively include multinational companies and international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs).</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Outcome</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If an organisation conducts PA and takes no action based on the result received, then there’s no point in going through the entire process. The action as a result should not always be an increment in terms of monetary compensation even though it is one of the major aspects. Besides monetary reward, the appraisal outcome can also include non-monetary rewards such as providing holiday packages, training facilities, appreciation and rewarding best employee among others, based on their performances. An increment in salary is expected on a yearly basis when PA is conducted. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The HR Kurakani participants discussed salary increment criteria such as performance based increment, increment as per government norms, increment as per inflation rate and increment considering an organisation’s values and growth. It was also discussed that yearly PA is not the best way of judging and rewarding employees. If a system can be introduced to appraise employees on a monthly basis, it could be more effective. The participants discussed the possibilities and practicality of such an arrangement. Since it requires greater time investment, the participants suggested conducting biannual PAs and pointed out different ways that can assist appraisals such as critical incident recording, electronic tracking system, introduction of cards for warnings in the event of mistakes committed and encouragement in case of perfect job, external evaluation etc. (The write up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on the topic ‘Ways of Appraising Employees’ conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size:14px;">The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries as well as a freelancer. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company coordinated the event).</span></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development.',
			'sortorder' => '415',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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			'breaking_news' => false,
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	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '490',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Crisis For The Better (October 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="right" alt="" border="2" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/saujanya.jpg" style="width: 124px; height: 160px;" vspace="5" />By Saujanya Acharya</span></strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the world to see one of the economic giants drowning under the water and getting washed away. Well, it seems the nature spares nobody. Earthquake and tsunami were not the only problems. The nature also hit a devastating creation of man: a nuclear power plant. Hence, within a very short time span, the Japanese society had to face three different crises.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The case of Japan provides a great study for the field of management: to be more precise, the handling of crisis in a large institution. When corner shops face a crisis, such as plummeting sales, decision making is quite simple as the options include whether to shut down the business, or keep operating at a lower cost level. However, at a larger scale, decision makers are asked for much more careful decision: one decision could trigger another problem in a chain effect.&nbsp;As far as crisis management is concerned, the Japanese government has been quite effective despite the public criticism – especially, from the international media.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government is criticized for its lack of information disclosure regarding the crisis in the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. It was only in the later stage of the crisis that the Japanese government finally admitted the situation to be as worse as that of Chernobyl – even though the level of crisis was apparent to them from the earlier stages. Such strategy seems dishonest on the part of the government. Yet, it has proved to be a wise one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 245px;" vspace="2" />It was wise because the outcome of Japanese government’s honesty would have been quite catastrophic – as it could have invited unwanted havoc. Even with their strategy of concealing the information, there were some disturbances. For example, people started to flee the Japanese cities in the north. This phenomenon was seen also in Tokyo Metropolitan Area which was declared safe by the scientists. This panic was caused by the media which highlighted the impending disaster of nuclear crisis in a very speculative manner. Hence, massive exodus of population from the major surrounding cities would have been inevitable, had the government from the beginning admitted that the disaster level was at 5.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Argument against the government’s action would be on ethical grounds only. The government should be looking after the welfare of the society. People have the right to know what sort of danger they are in. Hence, when the Japanese government held the leverage tight for the flow of information, it was denying its citizens their right to know the truth. Later the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet members were heavily criticized for such decisions. Their reputation was quite tarnished.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Yet, sympathy goes to those decision makers. They were in dilemma. Releasing complete information at once would have caused unwarranted panic. This could have generated another wave of socio-economic tsunami. On the other hand, gradual disclosure of information, with careful observation of the populace would have invited allegations of dishonesty. After all, the government as an institution had to take maximum measures to make sure that the impact on life and property was minimum – even if it had to come at the cost of their honesty. At least they had been able to avert socio-economic turmoil that would have been caused had the people and businesses chose to leave Japan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Similarly, in the corporate setting, there are times for the management to be better off adopting the “controlled information” policy. As soon as there is a premonition or hype of a crisis in a company, non-managerial workers as well as line managers would try to put themselves in their comfort zones – such as finding different jobs. The problem is that there is no rigorous assessment of the situation – only the mid level or top level managers do so. Hence, even if their neck is not on the line, those workers would try to find a way out – because of lack of understanding. This actually ends up creating a problem in the company – which resembles a nature of self fulfilling prophecy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management1.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 190px;" vspace="2" />Instead, the management should try to avoid such panic among its workers. This does not allow them to exploit the workers through lack of information or misinformation. “Controlled information” strategy must take welfare of the workers as well as stability of the company into consideration.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In short term, Japanese government somehow managed the crisis. But, what ahead ?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government would be asked for a lot more than just achieving stability. Being one of the economic giants, they have to be able to not only get out of the mess, but be back on its feet as one of the global economic powerhouses. Just like a star athlete getting back after a terrible injury, people appreciate a good comeback story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">I believe the strength of a nation is shown by its response to crisis. When the earthquake hit, a friend of mine was in a supermarket in downtown Tokyo. The quake caused panic: goods fell on the ground, wine bottles shattered and racks collapsed on top of each other. Soon, it stopped shaking. And, people picked up their grocery items, stood on the queue, paid at the cashier, and left patiently. The country was in the midst of “the worst crisis since Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” as Kan put. Yet, people still showed up at their city offices the same week to fulfill their tax obligation. Apart from the quake and tsunami, explosion of the nuclear power plant caused a power shortage throughout eastern Japan. Essentially, the Japanese government declared implementation of daily load shedding for four hours. People and businesses immediately reacted – but not in the form of a public demonstration or protests. Most people started saving electricity at home. Businesses, malls and restaurants shut their businesses early to save electricity. By the end of the day, load shedding lasted less than an hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In Japanese, crisis is written as 危機 (kiki). The word consists of two Chinese characters: 危 (ki) meaning “danger”, and 機 (ki) meaning “opportunity”. The word itself indicates the perception of crisis in the Japanese society. Yes, people were shocked, and filled with fear. But they kept their heads up, searching for a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let history speak for itself. Every time crisis hits the island nation, Japanese golden age follows. The 1932 Great Kanto Earthquake – which destroyed entire Tokyo and killed approximately 140,000 people – was followed by Japanese military glory and its rise as one of the world’s superpowers. Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which also destroyed both cities killing roughly 200,000 people – was followed by Japanese economic prosperity and its emergence as the world’s largest economy. Every time they fall, they rise up stronger. And I believe such characteristic shows the grandeur of the nation.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Crisis tests our strength. Whether on our management of crisis or standing up on our feet in the midst of it – crisis could be an inevitable challenge at any point in our life. Some break down; others prevail. With wise but unpopular, “controlled information” strategy, Japanese government did not escalate the existing natural crisis by averting socio-economic crisis. Secondly, Japanese philosophy of seeing opportunities in times of crisis needs to be appreciated by the business minds. It is this attitude that brought the country from bottom rock to a leading position. On the whole, one could expect a better tomorrow if a crisis is managed smartly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>[Acharya grew up in Tokyo, Japan and attended St Mary’s International School. He is currently a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). He can be reached via email at saujanya820@gmail.com.]</i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-10-11',
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			'description' => 'It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the.................',
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			'id' => '443',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Leadership: Managing Hunger (September 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="border-width: medium medium 1pt; border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(134, 55, 59); padding: 0in 0in 3pt;">
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sujit(1).jpg" style="width: 116px; height: 147px;" vspace="10" />By Sujit Mundul</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">I</span>n the current days of rat race and peer pressure, most of us struggle hard to find happiness at workplace, regardless of the nature of the organisation -- be it a local corporate or a multinational. Resurgent capitalism has added fuel to the fire. It does not at all know, or does not know enough, about the boundary conditions of profit maximisation. A ceaseless aspiration of higher rate of profit drives people mad and could probably be a major source of dissatisfaction throughout the levels in an organisation. The question comes loud and clear if there is a sense of balance in the level of aspiration.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In his recent book “The art of happiness at work” by HH Dalai Lama, the great spiritual leader has given some very practical suggestions to alleviate the contemporary pressure of achieving success to the detriment of our holistic well being. These conditions are also very much applicable to the persons in position of leadership, which involve them in managing conflicts.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Frequently people are defeated because, though they are doing their best, they make mistakes in <img align="left" alt="" border="2" height="263" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/management.jpg" vspace="5" width="350" />how they assess and engage their environment. Sometimes we bring ourselves down by forgetting to pay attention to ourselves. We get entangled in the cause and forget that exercising leadership is, at heart, a pure personal activity. It activates us to face challenges, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. With the higher flow of adrenaline, we can work ourselves into believing we are somewhat different and therefore not subject to normal human frailties that can defeat more ordinary mortals on ordinary missions. We begin to act as if we were physically and emotionally indestructible.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Let us look at the example of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton came to the White House in 1993 sleep deprived and physically exhausted; rather than ‘prepare himself physically for the ordeal ahead’.&nbsp;Clinton spent the period between the election and the inauguration working, playing and celebrating in endless 24- hr days. By the time Clinton got to Washington, he’ seemed worn out.... and hyper....’ He refused to rest. It may be that Clinton had a real drive to keep that pace as was observed by David Gergen, the presidential advisor. It would be quite logical to think that we are vulnerable to falling prey to our own hungers. It is strongly believed that self- knowledge and self-discipline form the foundation of staying alive.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It can’t be denied that we all have hungers, which are expressions of our normal human needs. But we get reminded many a time that those hungers disrupt our capacity to act wisely or purposefully. Perhaps, one of our needs is too great and makes us vulnerable. It could be so that the setting in which we operate enhances our normal level of need, inflate our desires and in the process benumbs our usual self controls. A seed of unhappiness gets sown in the process.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It cannot be denied that every human being needs some degree of power, control and importance, as well as intimacy and delight. It would be very difficult to find someone who prefers to feel entirely powerless and unimportant in life. However, it is a proven fact that each of these normal human needs could land us into trouble if not handled judiciously as one tends to lose personal wisdom and discipline required to manage them effectively.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In a leadership role, the utmost difficult part is to manage people as one requires tuning their needs as well as one’s own. There is another danger, in connecting with people’s hopes and frustrations; it is easy to become a depository of their yearnings! Nevertheless, the desire to fulfil the needs of others can become a vulnerability if it feeds the leader’s own normal hunger for power, importance etc. They get so caught up in the action and energy that they loss their wisdom and self-discipline, and slip out of control.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">When you take on the tasks of leading, invariably you resonate with many feelings expressed by people around you. Many of the feelings in our jobs are produced by the way we resonate with the job environment itself. In each professional role one takes on, one must be careful about own emotional inclination to carry the issues and sentiments of others in the organisation. This, of course, is a very challenging proposition to deal with successfully. As discussed earlier, a failure to properly deal with these essential but complex psychological behaviour, would trigger unhappiness in the workplace as also in personal life.</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Once again I would like to refer back to HH Dalai Lama’s advice of clearly understanding where we are standing and what we want to achieve. He has had no hesitation in making it clear to us that uncontrolled ambition would become the bane of all unhappiness. So, it would be good to pay heed to his valuable advice that we need to make a choice between peace and ambition. Leaders of this age would require to exercise more caution in successfully playing their roles, as the lure of ambition unlimited would always remain latent, to drift one’s mind towards .......perhaps unhappiness.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '442',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Employee Relations (September 2011)',
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	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt; font-style: normal;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Misalignments in employee relations are mainly caused by misunderstanding arising from silo mentality, friction and disagreements between functions and individual employees in need of clarity. Workflow is considered one of the key enablers to adaptive and responsive culture in any workplace. Collaborative difficulties arise because of inability to partner with others, whether functions or individuals, within the enterprise. Employee relations strategies define the intentions of institutions about expectations from each member about what needs to be done in current situation to manage relationship with employees and their trade unions. HR strategy incorporating employee relation strategies flows from business strategy but concentrates on the ways and means for maximising cooperation with the unions and employees through minimising damaging effects on business in total.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Employee Relations is the broader and latest approach to Industrial Relations and Labour Relations that cover a wider range of employment relationship with the emergence of non-Industrial employment relationship, non-unionised workplaces and socio-emotional arrangements. It is viewed as collective relationship between the employer and the employees. It emphasises on prevention and solution to conflict arising out of work situations and contributes to enhanced productivity, motivation level and people morale as an effect of employees’ involvement on various progressive performance inclusive of discipline. It is also viewed as part of social science because of its concerns about relationship among the employees and the institutions that emerges by and in the form of recruitment and selection, compensation and benefit, workplace safety and environment, skills enhancement opportunities, discipline and so many other varieties of issues. Though it is part of the management that deals with collaborative partnership between the employer and the employees – whether skilled or unskilled, worker or manager, relationship between the state and the employers and the trade unions. The primary concern of employee relation is employer – employee relationship; if maintained at right spirit, driving human resources management strategy becomes effective that supports business achievement.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Since the emergence of Personnel Administrationto the present incarnation of Human Resources Management, even executives perception about it is as just an administrative function whereas employee relations, an integral part of human resources management, addresses underestimations by educating through interactions and leadership in developing methods to improve and establish human resources management into the role of strategic partner. The challenge for employee relation practice in modern management is observed as establishing connection between organisational behavior and&nbsp;HR strategies. In the current context, when the workplace relationship includes conflict of interest, no one can ensure to prevent workers’ exploitation and thus HR (Human Resources) and ER (Employee Relations) practitioners work through institutional interventions to support workings of the relationship in right spirit protecting employees’ rights. Therefore, organisations these days have grievance procedures, Labour Relation Committee, Labour Unions, Collective Bargaining mechanism and Labor Management Partnership etc. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Any business needs people to work in team, performing to achieve business objectives. Non-living entities like machineries, chairs, tables etc cannot be instrumental towards organisational expectations without human beings. In fact, the people are the most valuable asset for any organisation. People resources must share good rapport working together and strive to make the dreams of the organisation come true. Thus, it’s pertinent for the people working for any organization to clearly demonstrate their personal interest after business interest.&nbsp;Some of the key issues around employee relation are corporate restructuring and reshaping of enterprises, employment relationship in union and non-union work environment, effective and efficient performance management systems, workforce diversity, globalisation of labor market etc wherein perspective of socio-economic, political, historical, psychological and legislative developments have great say on employee and employer relationship. Relation can be warm, good, bad, so-so but it is important for any organisation that there is productive or healthy relationship among each other to deliver the best. Workforce spends maximum time with fellow workers, where any conflict will result only in diminishing productivity. Thus, the workforce needs to communicate or discuss as many essential things around business as possible that alone can allow each one at work to derive solution for any misunderstanding, which can lead to intended benefit for self and the institution. None can work alone at the same time it is also but natural that every one can’t think like others or behave the way one behaves. Thus, it’s important to ensure every one behaves in a civilized way demonstrating respect and trust for each other. It is also crucial that all employees maintain cordial relations supporting each other with great understanding of needs and expectations, impacting accomplishment of goals of the entity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is important for employees to understand that they are paid for productivity and not for any clash or conflict among themselves. The fact also is that one can have best friends at work place. Many human scientists have expressed their observation that healthy work place relation leads to long life and it helps people at work to keep themselves ready to take new challenges. Communication plays crucial role in generating and up-keeping relations intact and hence it is widely recommended to keep communication effective and open within and outside the core team. This helps to correct misinterpretation and perceptions about each other, leading to creating and strengthening the trust and the respect that is most essential for improved performance as well as individual efficiency. However, it (Communication) needs to be obvious and accurate so that thoughts are translated into relevant words supporting the development and sustainability of warm relationship; thus usage of written communication in terms of employee relation is highly recommended. Also, employee survey can be reflective towards focus on workplace relationship management, especially in terms of business operation. The survey report provides an opportunity for sincere feedback and breakdown that may not be possible to achieve solely through business communication. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is also observed that disciplinary measures as well as legal/policy compliance in relation to it like absenteeism, leave and vacation, overtime payment etc have marginal impact on employee relations.&nbsp;Similarly, skills enhancement opportunity, pay package, career advancement are important elements determining employee relation. Issues in these areas emerge mainly when employee equity becomes questionable in perception of partiality. It is thus suggested to avoid nepotism and ensure everyone in the organisation is treated same. It has been unanimous that employees are the lifeline of any organisation because none of the businesses can endure without employee like human cannot stay alive without blood. Employees are the most valuable asset and hence, their full immersion in their work, securing emotional attachment will be useful to sustain productive and harmony in relation. HR Associates (especially employee relations in-charge) must focus more on psychological contract than any other legal contract. As much people will have to deliver challenges and creativity in their routine, that much less chances of any challenge will be on employee relations. Simultaneously, activities supportive to foster togetherness like lunch together, group activities, task sharing, award ceremony, job rotation etc can be very useful in maintaining harmony at work place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Additionally, one need to keep in mind that two individuals are never alike. It would be imperative to keep off from regular fault-finding rather usage of simple praises like “well done, great, very good, wow etc motivating phrases will work far beyond any theory and practices. These leave impact like token of appreciation.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is rightly said that success and failure of any business is proportional to the relationship shared among the employees. Researches say if the employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they have a propensity to remain happy and stay away from conflict. It is therefore suggested for HR practitioners to encourage employees on group and extra-curricular activities and lead them to the unity that instills the productive relationship.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '441',
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			'title' => 'Harassment At Work, Challenge For HR Personnel (September 2011)',
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			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Harassment at work includes different types of unwanted action towards an employee that leads to complexity in doing assigned tasks or makes the employee feel that he or she is working in an unfriendly environment. Harassment may be based on different factors such as gender, race, class, culture, age, sexual orientation, or religious preference.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Different ways of harassment within and outside workplace are reported like intentional, situational, emotional, sexual and even harassment through use of technologies such as phone, SMS and email. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In many countries of the world, there are laws that protect employees from conducting various job abuses, if the reality of the harassment can be proven. However, in case of our country we do not have such specific laws. During orientation, employees have to ensure they will follow the bylaws of the organisation. Most of the organisations have mentioned in their bylaws harassment issues and actions to be taken if it is violated. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to recognise harassment at work, at first the conduct must be unwanted and offensive to the employee. Secondly, the employee must voice his or her objection to the behavior, allowing the offending individual or individuals to correct their behavior at work. Last, the conduct must be of a nature that makes an&nbsp;adverse impact on the ability of the employee to carry out his or her duties in an efficient and responsible manner and should be reported to the concerned authority. But in case of our country, most of the harassment victims remain silent due to which the tendency to harass continues. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If actions could be taken based on the complaints filed, judging the type and the nature of harassment then such activities can be controlled to some extent. However, it is difficult to control harassment totally as it is more an ethical issue than a legal issue. In Nepal, complaints can be filed at labor court and through the decision of the court based on written complaints one can file the case at district court and then to the supreme court.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Many organisations in our country do not carry out any investigation and just fires the harasser, which&nbsp;leads to employees taking advantage of the system and reporting misleading complaints. Understanding employees and observing, finding out the authenticity of the complaints received and analyzing the issue are major challenges for HR.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to control and reduce harassment in the organisation, addressing such issues secretly and confidentially is a must. Besides, CCTV monitoring, understanding employee’s behaviour and proper recruitment also play an important role in controlling intra organisational harassment. In case of organisation to individual and inter-organisational harassment, one needs to deal it tactfully.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Unwanted sexual advances by peers or supervisors are the most common form of workplace harassment. Both male and female employees may be approached by someone in the workplace who either hint or directly state that compliance will benefit the employee in some manner, or at least help to make sure that employment will continue. Today, many countries have laws that protect employees of all genders from this type of harassment.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sometimes in case of multinational companies or NGOs/INGOs employees have to deal with foreign clients where comes the problem of intercultural practices like hugging, kissing or even shaking hands. In these cases, many people may feel they are harassed. So, in order to avoid this, HR should inform the visiting person about the cultural slopes and limitations and let them know how to make their stay comfortable.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, in order to avoid harassment, office politics must be completely avoided. Besides, every individual should speak up if they feel harassed and only then we can minimise not only workplace harassment but also harassment as a whole. Minimising workplace harassment remains a challenge for HR personnel, however, neutralizing it is almost next to impossible.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Harassment at Work- Challenge for HR Personnel” on July 27, 2011 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, Research Organisations, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions, acted as the moderator for the discussion and Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company, was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Brand Buzz (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sajag(1).jpg" style="width: 123px; height: 153px;" vspace="10" />By Sajag Karki</span></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a handful of ads of reputed multinationals along with some local companies that actually communicate brand personality via branding, Nepali advertisements typically focus only on a specific scheme or promotion. They have nothing much to offer except to lure customers into buying the product by providing them with monetary reward or somekind of freebie. Advertising has been around just for a few decades in a developing country like Nepal. Though there has been significant development, there is lot of room for improvement to meet international standards. In this turbulent phase of progress, ethics still comes in question. Nepali media whether TV or print has been flooded with Indian ads with Nepali voiceover. Big B Amitabh Baachan can be seen endorsing more than a dozen ads at the same time. People are confused and tired of seeing the same person over and over again for most products. Due to his popularity, it is also hard to ignore his presence keeping in mind the commercial success celebrities bring about. However, there must be a match between the personality of the brand with that of the celebrity. Same celebrity endorsing multiple products can hamper the image of the product.&nbsp;Are promotional schemes and celebrity endorsers a good way to communicate a company’s product to its customers? Also, the use of celebrities for products that don’t suit their personality is controversial. The importance and relevance of ethics in advertising in the Nepalese context has been a debatable issue. Ethics is something that is usually not compatible with advertising in Nepal. The fact about advertising is that in most cases it is hard to sell products without offending anybody. Another harsh reality is that a single ad cannot please everybody. Such customers can go for customised products rather than standardised ones in order to fulfil their needs. Since there is always a target group of people that a company caters to, an ad cannot be made that is liked by everybody.&nbsp;Who is responsible for influencing young people for drinking or smoking? Is it important to be ethical while creating ads of one’s organisation or should they be more concerned with just adding value of the firm while ignoring the ethical and moral issues of advertising and business as a whole?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The topic of ethics in advertising is such that it is never black and white. It is impossible to paint a rosy picture by just claiming yes or no to ethics. There are subtle shades of grey in which arguments from both sides are viable. Practically speaking, the direct adaptation of moral philosophy principles in marketing communication is unsuitable. However, this doesn’t mean that ethics should be completely neglected. The parameters for judging ads cannot be the same as judging the morality and ethics of society.&nbsp;Hence, marketing must develop its own philosophy of ethics. In the advertising world, some puffery is allowed since no company can sell anything by saying just the mere truth. A bit of dramatisation and an element of excitement (buzz) are added deliberately to give maximum mileage to the brand. Only this makes it possible for people to bear up with advertisements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. Ads cash in on the popular culture while targeting the younger audience. Ads encouraging dark people to use whitening creams to look fair are targeted especially to the young so that they are easily influenced. Can such advertisements that portray dark as ugly and unacceptable be called ethical or unethical? If it is unethical than what would be a better way to communicate the product’s attributes in an ethical manner?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">On the other hand, advertisers cannot completely forget ethics while delivering their creative piece.&nbsp;I am by no means saying that false advertising should be encouraged or that ethics should completely be neglected. The fact is that even though advertisements are verisimilitude, ethical threshold should always be maintained to depict a clean picture to the audience. A striking reality to consider is that negative words spread way faster than positive ones. It is like a wildfire that spreads so fast that it’s almost impossible to extinguish it right away. Similarly, negative opinion of the ad due to unethical content will spread in such a way that it will be almost impossible to mitigate the damage created. Only a handful of unsatisfied viewers who find some ads unethical can spread negative word of mouth to a whole lot of people around them. In no time, such ads will be called phony ultimately resulting in adverse effect on the brand equity of the advertised product.&nbsp;Ethics is specially of top priority while showing comparative ads as there must be sufficient evidence backing the superiority of the product against competitors. Along with ethics, rational judgment should also be used so that they do not have to face legal issues.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">No brand can be built in a jiffy. It not only takes creative heads along with deep pockets to gain a worldwide recognition of the brand but also a whole lot of time. Coke would not have been the most popular brand in the world if its advertising was not sculpted with ethical standards right from the beginning hundreds of years ago. Hence, it would not be a good idea for any company to ruin its image in no time by showing unethical ads just for the sake of money making or for cheap publicity. This kind of debate can go on and on and on. Books have been written and issues have been raised over the topic of ethics in advertising but without a tangible conclusion. To simplify this I would say that ad makers should come up with only such ads that they would accept as an audience. A little empathy towards audience and use of intuitive judgment by advertisers would probably help address this intrinsic advertising issue to an extent.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Karki is currently associated with KIST Bank.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => '''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a.....',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '422',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Audit (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra%20karna%282%29.jpg" style="width: 112px; height: 151px;" vspace="10" /></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span bright="" color:="" letter-spacing:="" lucida="" serif="" style="line-height: 120%;">By <span style="color: rgb(178, 34, 34);">Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">H</span>uman Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and benchmark comparatives at least with direct market competition. This is done for depicting HR initiatives towards sales and people productivity enhancement that can be utilised as a comprehensive tool to improve their own effective engagement into the business. It is imminent to identify and realise strengths and opportunities for improvements around specific HR areas.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Businesses are currently moving under heavily regulated and turmoil employee environment dealing with most uncertain industrial relation under complex legislative framework. Human Resources function has been emerging as most essential organ of organisation which is mainly engaged in establishing and practising policies, legal compliance that has huge impact over productivity and profitability of business in total. This is why Human Resources function these days is considered as most valuable strategic business partner within the Organisation. Efficient, effective and active HR practices in any organisation are as essential as the well functioning organs in human body. Investment in building Human Asset is considered a key to the measurement of systematic alignment with organisational goals helping HR become strong strategic partner that it is deemed to be. The HR Audit can be a powerful element driving change in HR and organisation. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The financial audit is mandatory which examines the past on the basis of practices and procedures for identifying issues that ensure compliance to sound accounting principles. Similarly, HR audit is aimed to future and meant to examine the health of Human Resources function to establish best practices that are productive to the business activities. HR Audit supports companies to determine gap and reason behind lack in system productivity and suggests the way forward. Currently, most of the businesses have plans for systems, targets and compliance that are driven by HR functions wherein HR audit becomes useful to compare these plans with actual implementations. The outcome of audit and feedback is found very helpful in decision making around corrective measures pertaining to improvement plans. Human resources audits play vital role around legal compliance that helps to avoid regulatory liabilities resulting from policies and practices. It also helps to identify legal risk and serves information about efficiency of HR strategies through benchmarking “best practices” of similar businesses. It is also handy in finding solutions to problems prior to escalation. It also suggests how things might be done in more efficient and effective way with efficient cost economy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Concerns in relation to employee risks have been the reason for the emergence of a wing within HR function to look after the working conditions and associated risks that enable implementation of preventive measures that perfectly aligns to the legal approach of HR. The application of Occupational Health &amp; Safety program is now associated with quality of life at workplace that is most important for human capital being the prime strategic element that explains the differentiation ability of company. This is where HR audit goes beyond the traditional concept of accounts audit i.e. simple investigation to logical measurement of efforts being put.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR audit in general is suggested to structure based upon size of organization i.e. number of people employed, time constraints, budgets and risk areas e.g. discipline, performance, compliance, hiring etc. However, there are some areas wherein companies are vulnerable to additional risks which must be reviewed carefully:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Personal record:&nbsp;A detailed and accurate personal records of employees are essential to prevent the business from undesired dispute especially in the areas of insufficient documentation pertaining to discipline, service record, compensation, health issues etc. An audit of personnel files reveals exposure to this type of risk and enables preventive measures to safeguard interest of the company beforehand. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Legal Compliance: A review focusing over company’s compliance to the local laws and regulation at the same time incorporated codes of best practices and other essentials; allows company to take corrective measure in area of concerns e.g. over-time eligibility, classification of Job, payroll, records retention, compensation and benefits etc.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Attendance System: The biggest concern for most of the employer as of today is absenteeism. In many cases it has been noticed that companies have their own attendance policies (In addition to the country’s Labor Law) in support of absenteeism control which might be unacceptable because of conflict with law of the land as well lack of clarity in need of proper communication around these. Since this aspect has immediate vulnerability to dispute and risks; audit prescribes the remedial action in such conflicting situation and enables the organisation to take corrective measure in support of absenteeism control i.e. fully aligned with law of the land.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">d.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HR Strategies: Strategic alignments among each business units (Functions) are equally important in view of increasing value of employees to the business. This part of HR management mainly consists of organization structure, job design, employment policies, HRIS and employee relations management etc. Audit review of strategies helps business to determine whether strategic alignment exists there or not and supports planning and action to improvise areas of concerns on this important aspect.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">e.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cost Efficiency:&nbsp;One of the important financial roles of HR is to ensure people management in the most cost-effective way. This inculcates financial ratios and scorecard measures such as headcount planning, orientation and disciplinary cost per employee, people development cost, people productivity etc. A detailed review of this aspect of HR throws light on equipping HR practitioners of the company with knowledge per formulation of HR metrics.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Thus HR audit<span calibri="" sans-serif="" style=""> is</span> meant for verification of job design and analysis, employee welfare, industrial relations, conflict resolution, improved communication mechanism, orientation and job evaluation etc useful and supportive to achieve business destination through effective engagement of HR Function as one of the key business performance driver. It has been noticed from recent HR developments that there is an increasing demand for HR associates to contribute to profitability drive of the organisation through active participation in business decisions. The audit findings can be of great use to improve HR business plan, identify risks and control over traditional approaches, cost-economy and facilitate change in management initiatives. It also plays an important role in relation to motivation through clarified roles and responsibilities. HR audit helps to identify HR KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and adds value to the organisation defining relevant activities. It also supports placement of management in a better position fulfilling expectation that instills trust and respect from all stakeholders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, it is important to ensure that HR audit is planned and carried out under clear understanding of HR connectivity on overall business objectives, HR related opportunities and their engagement around sustainable people productivity and outcomes that are intended to achieve.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span aldine401="" bt="" italic="" style="">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => 'Human Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and.....',
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			'id' => '398',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Environmental Sustainability July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">B</span>lue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a day-long hiking trip to Shivapuri titled Team Building towards Sustainability on 15th April this year. It was a team building event with the sole purpose of cleaning up the waste in the Shivapuri Mountain.</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">Though the event was a fun-filled one, it was heartbreaking to see the Shivapuri's beautiful surroundings marred by waste left behind by hikers and picnickers. This careless garbage dumping has attracted many pests and contaminated the nature's reserve. There were food wrappers and plastic plates with food remnants lying around which not only disturbed the beauty of the place but also hampered the eco system of the area.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">BOS team successfully accomplished the Shivapuri summit clean-up plan by managing to collect the garbage in Shivapuri hill area in less than 30 minutes. At the end of the cleaning exercise, we asked ourselves, Why couldn't people clean their own waste? If every visitor to the park acknowledged their responsibility to preserve the national park by adhering to cleanliness, Shivapuri Mountain would be a magnificent place for all visitors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	We thought of recommending the following tips to hikers for making their tour worthwhile without compromising on the fun.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">BOS shall continue to work towards keeping the environment clean and invites people who wish to use our services to work with us. Together, we can ensure environmental sustainability alongside our various professional tasks.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
			'modified' => '2013-05-24',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Blue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a......',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Prepare Yourself With SAP July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in;">
	<i>By Aparajita Acharya</i></div>
<div>
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;">E</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">fficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And obviously, as businesses get bigger, they will require more professional systems to stay together and prosper. This is where SAP business solutions come in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The demand for SAP trained individuals is increasingly on the rise with SAP becoming one of the most sought-after ERP business solutions today.&nbsp;As every individual appraises his/her own credentials and adaptability in today's cut-throat global competition, companies hire and fire largely mindful of the flexibility, competence and productivity of their staff. Therefore, the question is that of acquiring competence which helps understand businesses in their essence. You must find ways to assure that you never become outdated and easily adapt to the new needs of the growing market.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Companies try to find people who are already well trained when new recruits are needed to fit into multiple roles. So it becomes essential that you are precisely trained to be saleable in the job market. Among many ERP business trainings on offer, SAP training makes you fit to carry out a multitude of roles and helps you become proactive in understanding business processes and flexible to market requirements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Armed with a SAP training, you will be already qualified to kick start your career at a higher level in established companies despite entering the market at a young age. SAP training has assured various locally trained consultants with excellent placements in successful organizations as an increasing number of companies in Nepal advance towards ensuring economical output of a required quality. However, this is definitely not the end of it all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">A peek at the global job market illustrates an increasing appeal for SAP trained professionals. The US, Australia and Germany are among countries that consistently seem to have high number of positions available for SAP trained individuals. Other countries such as the UK and The Netherlands which look for comparatively less number of SAP trained employees offer equally lucrative salaries to these sought-after consultants, architects and experts.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">You can either undertake a complete course for SAP or choose to learn only the modules that support your job needs. Among the different SAP modules, those trained in FI, CO, CRM and BI (Business Intelligence) currently seem to be in great demand in the global market.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you wish to go about chiseling your expertise to match market requirements, a SAP training ensures that knowledge in any business area you wish to participate in, is as good as hands on experience. It helps you carve a niche for yourself in the midst of aggressive competition. Backed by SAP, you can be assured that you have exactly what everybody is looking for whether you decide to work abroad or closer home.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
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			'description' => 'Efficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And.........',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '652',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'ISO & Management System Certification',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img alt="julymanagement" border="1" height="146" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july11management.jpg" vspace="5" width="300" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong><br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards &amp; Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards. <br />
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><img alt="ISO Management" border="1" height="121" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july_management.jpg" vspace="5" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	In the management field, ISO has formulated Quality Management System standards (ISO9000 series), Environmental Management System standards (ISO14001-2004), Food Safety Management System standards (ISO22000: 2005) etc. ISO does not do any job with respect to certification and such activities are carried out by different certification bodies. These certification bodies are accredited from accreditation bodies. One certification body may have the accreditation from one or more accreditation bodies. There is one accreditation body named NABCB in India. There are hundreds of certification bodies under the umbrella of one accreditation body and these bodies are responsible to their accreditation bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If any weaknesses are found on the part of certification bodies while awarding management system certificates like ISO9001-2008, the respective accreditation bodies take action against those certification bodies. The licence of certification bodies can even be cancelled from accreditation bodies in case of severe failure. The ISO does not have anything to do with this. These accreditation bodies are under the umbrella of International Accreditation Forum (IAF) that conforms to the guidelines developed by the ISO. Series of Quality Management System standards i.e. ISO9000 series was formulated by the ISO for the first time in 1987 with ISO9000, ISO9001, ISO9002, ISO9003, and ISO9004 with many others in this series. In this series, the certifiable standards were ISO9001, ISO9002 and ISO9003.This series was revised first in 1994 with little amendments, second time in 2000 with the remarkable revision by merging all three certifiable standards in one i.e. ISO9001-2000. The structure and some of the requirements have been changed and added during this time. There is no provision of ISO9002 and ISO9003 after this period. The third revision was made in 2008 with some revision including the control of outsourced process. The ISO 9001-2008 minutely looks at whether consistent quality products are produced and the overall management system of the organisation are met at the highest degree during organisational operation. Those companies meeting the requirements are awarded with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate by the certification bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services. The requirements of consumers are taken as the input and the organisation adds values to the requirement through different processes that eventually produces a product that has the capacity to satisfy customers. Quality Management System Requirement i.e. ISO9001- 2008 certification is not a medal of honour. However, it gives organisations the potential to become more cost effective and efficient. Similarly, it arms organisations with a powerful competitive tool that helps ensure consistent quality products and enhancement of customer satisfaction. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	A company with well maintained and qualitative managerial practices is expected to produce quality goods and services. The ultimate goal of the certification is to ensure consistent quality products used or consumed by consumers that lead to ultimate customer satisfaction. The company may be certified for its Quality Management System, Environmental Management System, Food Safety Management System (in case of food industry only), Information Security Management System or any other management system standards developed by the ISO. Among these standards, Quality Management System Standard i.e. ISO9001-2008 is the most popular all over the world. It is a generic standard and is applicable to all types of organizations regardless of their size, nature of product and processes. Till the end of 2011, almost 1.2 million companies have been certified with ISO9001-2008 and almost 250,000 companies with ISO14001-2004 around the globe. In the context of Nepal, approximately 600 organizations have been certified with ISO9001-2008, 30 with ISO 14001-2004, 15 with ISO 22000-2005, and a very little number with Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Social Accountability. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	There is no organization in Nepal that maintains data on the number of ISO management system standard certified companies in the country. The validity of the certificate is three years and there is surveillance audit every 9-12 months. In our context, some companies are missing the surveillance audit and in worst cases, a few are publishing advertisements even after the expiry of the certificate. So, the above mentioned number is only an approximation. Among them, a handful of companies have not renewed their standard certificates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If a company is found misusing the expired certificate, the certification body may take legal actions upon receiving complaints. There is no legal authority in the country to look after these complaints even if some certified organization or certification bodies are indulging in malpractices. Monitoring is sorely missing in Nepal. There have been cases of awarding ISO management system certificates in the bordering areas where the certificate was given to those companies that do not comply with many of the requirements. In India, the accreditation body NABCB has brought a good change in this field by taking action against certification bodies whose performance is very poor. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	It is the need of the time to establish one accreditation board in Nepal which can look after all types of Management System Certification bodies including laboratories accreditation. Around a decade ago, Nepali companies had to rely upon consultancies from India and third countries. However, some certification bodies have established their branches in Nepal at present while some others are operating directly in the country. The benefits of having the branches set up in Nepal are numerous on the part of revenue collection for the government and easy flow of information to stakeholders. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	In conclusion, the management system certifications have brought positive improvements in many organizations even during adverse conditions such as political instability, power shortage, labour unrest etc although there is a lot of space for improvement in the consulting, certification and regulatory parts from the government side. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Bhandari is the Director of Quality and Environment Management Services Pvt Ltd and ISO 9001:2008 certified auditor. He can be reached via email at bhandaripomraj@ yahoo.com <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	 </p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-08-10',
			'modified' => '2012-08-15',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '635',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Understanding Employee Behaviour',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	As an organisation is a place where most people spend around 50 per cent of their daily time, HR personnel should be able to deal with different types of people. People from different walks of life such as diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, race, gender, caste and nationality work in an organisation. Hence, the HR department in any organisation must be very careful and cautious while dealing with people of different nature. The HR being a support function department, HR professionals must be able to address every issue of an employee including cultural, language and religious barriers, working environment, misconception and misunderstanding among other issues.</p>
<p>
	Besides, the HR must be capable of motivating, facilitating, counseling, coaching, analysing performances and must be able to take quick and efficient decisions. In some cases, it would be very difficult to study the behaviour of an employee. For example, an employee who shows very good performance during the probation period may show a different kind of behaviour afterwards. As human behaviour cannot be predicted and there is no mechanism as such to study the behaviour of an individual, HR professionals find it difficult to cope up with employee behaviour. </p>
<p>
	For this, there are some ways through which employee behaviour can be studied to some extent. Knowledge System Analysis (KSA) and Psychometric Test are methods that can be used during the process of hiring so that an employee’s behaviour can be assessed to some extent. Likewise, close observation of every employee is an important task HR professionals must conduct as this helps knowing the employees in person. Monkey Survey, which is available free of cost online, can be the best available tool for an HR department to study the behaviour of employee(s).&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	The HR department can organise various trainings like catholic social teachings, stress management trainings, art of living etc in order to refresh employees. Besides, it is the duty of the HR professionals to conduct individual counseling to know how employees are feeling, what are their problems, and their needs and desires. There is a theory which tells that people do not leave their job but they leave their bosses hence it is a challenge for HR personnel to analyse internal as well as external factors due to which employees change their jobs.</p>
<p>
	Starting a new job in an organisation is like getting married with the team one has to work with and the entire organisation. As everything becomes new in this case, it is the responsibility of an HR head to make a new employee feel comfortable. While hiring new employees, there may arise some conflicts such as old employee versus new employees, experienced versus educated, religions, cultures and many others. The behaviour of the employees in this regard cannot be changed but the HR specialists can certainly influence the ground situation to some extent. Another challenge for HR personnel is that, in many cases, personal issues are reflected at a workplace due to which one employee can demoralise the whole team. </p>
<p>
	For this, some NGOs have a unit called Staff Care which provides the employees with emotional, financial or any other kind of support depending on their needs. This unit is accountable to the employees and by establishing such units in an organisation, the HR personnel can create value to the employees and the organisation. It is also understood that one should have fun at work despite the pressures he or she has to bear. This depends on the culture within an organisation, the nature of business, plans and policies, and rules and regulations set by the organisation. It is true that human beings, by nature, are never satisfied with what they have or get and as human nature is dynamic, it is difficult for HR personnel to deal with and solve all the problems. </p>
<p>
	Hence, HR personnel can make people feel good at work so that they have peace of mind while at work which in turn ensures they do not show negative behaviour. To conclude, in order to make it easier for an HR department to handle a diverse set of employees, the department has to be very careful in hiring employees so as to lower down the chances of getting wrong people in an organisation. Similarly, if personal traits can be studied and HR personnel have the capability of handling negative ideas and approaches in a positive way, then it becomes easier to cope up with employee behaviour. Besides, HR personnel must be strict enough to say no and take actions against wrongdoers while, at the same time, they must be able to judge hardworking employees and appraise them accordingly. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Knowledge
System Analysis
(KSA) and
Psychometric
Test are
methods that
can be used
during the
process of hiring.',
			'sortorder' => '535',
			'image' => null,
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '634',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Job Mapping',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mgmt2.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>By Dr Rabindra Karna</strong></span></p>
<p>
	It is common for any business to have clarity about customer expectations in the beginning as it goes through continuous modification process with the development into the market. It is equally vital to have right people in the organisation to ensure genuine and all accepted services to the customer who literally is the guarantor of success or cause of failure for any business. Simultaneously, it would be critically difficult for people resources to deliver customer satisfaction without clarity about their jobs or expectations from them. Similarly, it would not be possible for HR practitioners or leaders to describe individual jobs without knowing the nature of a job, job family, size of a job and position tagging etc. To meet business objectives, people resources are the key. For an effective and efficient organisation, well developed people bearing clarity about services (individual and organisational) are required to deliver in terms of their contribution to the business. </p>
<p>
	To begin the process of building effective people organisation, a business needs to step ahead with a “job map”. A job map is considered as a bifurcation of jobs into its process steps. Job mapping is also defined as a process of classification systems where positions are classified based on job profiles under occupational group and sub groups. A job map does not describe all expectations; it rather defines broader expectations used in the process of detailing individual job description. Thus, job mapping is a process to compile information and generate database of available and possible jobs in an organisation, for its efficient functioning. As a result of the process, position titles, job profiles and descriptions along with performance matrix becomes consistent. Job mapping also supports grouping of jobs into logical order inside job families and tied to the external market. In gist, a job map does not describe what an organisation is doing; it instead details the opportunities for enhancements in terms of building an effective and progressive institution. </p>
<p>
	The job mapping process necessitates engagement of people resources at various levels. There are enough researches showing compulsion of resources engagement that supports communication process and contributes to success in implementing change. Management scientists too have suggested that all jobs require 7Ds i.e. design, define, determine, display, diagnose, develop and deliver. It has also been confirmed by researches that people in general waste about 20 per cent of their time in obtaining clarifications on incomplete instruction and correction works by redoing tasks that went wrong. Job mapping enables the clarity at a desired level through defining and identifying problem areas. Once a problem is diagnosed, a solution to the problem automatically gets acknowledged and helps plan and introduce improved processes. Job mapping enables us to clarify, examine and develop improvements through role clarity, reduced duplication, agreement on common processes and achieving optimum efficiency by effective distribution and utilisation of resources. While analysing a job map in a structured way, one can easily identify the process improvements. The need becomes that of defining current task and schedules of the business before deeper identification. Hence, it is widely suggested to adopt the critical examination method and examine a whole lot of tasks and assignments to conclude the total outline of a job. A job map remains incomplete till the competency map is derived for any organisation. It essentially requires incorporation with job evaluation, recruitment and placement, skills enhancement needs and process etc.</p>
<p>
	The point to remember is: competency must be considered as behaviour rather than ability or skills and ensure that the competency mapping results into job evaluation. Therefore, defining critical business needs is one of the tools to have error free job map. It would be imperative to define and describe current process and issues, customer needs, business boundaries/limitations, business objectives etc and then determine the overall job map. The team assigned with mapping tasks also needs to identify multiple inefficiencies and obstacles in the process. </p>
<p>
	This necessitates evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of change intended into an organisation. Job mapping, though, has many advantages such as improved people performance contributing to improved business results, promotion of team spirit by defining interlink between different functions, departments and work groups. It also works as an effective educational as well as communication tool that have a huge impact in improving interpersonal relations within an organisation. Simultaneously, it also has the limitation of getting dependent on a small group of people on projects that restricts the representation in a wider perspective.</p>
<p>
	However, this disadvantage can be eliminated by inviting views and comments from larger work groups through circulation of the draft to ensure error free mapping. It is further recommended by many management scientists to distribute preliminary job map to each individual in the taskforce to review and then expand distribution to each functional team for their review and comment. These teams can meet at various levels to confirm that each job has been captured accurately and obtain recommended changes felt by the reviewer/reviewing team. This should be considered as an opportunity to seek input from many people at different stages and inviting their ideas as well as participation in the process.</p>
<p>
	All the feedback that is received, taken in positive light, can help in revising the map and support preparation of the final documents that is now ready for use in the desired and chosen application. However, to ensure a successful mapping, it is suggested to have a duly defined project plan detailing critical business need, analysis of current status and processes, new designs and implementation etc. To conclude, a job map gives companies a framework to discover opportunities that differentiate their offerings and get jobs accomplished perfectly by its employees to satisfy the customer need. </p>
<p>
	It also helps businesses to create breakthrough products and services through practicing innovations that makes the destinies of businesses within comfortable reach. Job mapping is ultimately a versatile and valuable tool for improving people (individual) and organisational performances. It offers a straight forward work requirement that enables good performances by elimination of obstacles, for employees to perform. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Job mapping
is a process
to compile
information
and generate
database of
available and
possible jobs in
an organisation,
for its effi cient
functioning.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '633',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Strengthening Boards Is A Must For Good Governance In Banks/FIs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mundul.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>By Sujit Mundul <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Corporate Governance</strong> is a well discussed subject over the last decade or so. A good governance aims to protect shareholders rights and enhance disclosure and transparency. It facilitates effective functioning of the board and provides an efficient legal and regulatory enforcement framework.</p>
<p>
	If we look at the definition of Corporate Governance (CG), it transpires, “The fundamental concern of CG is to ensure the conditions whereby a firm’s directors and managers i.e. executives act in the interests of the firm and its shareholders. It also ensures the means by which managers are hailed responsible to capital providers for the use of assets.”</p>
<p>
	So it clearly shows a direction towards:</p>
<p>
	<strong>Responsibility</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Accountability <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Transparency&nbsp;</strong> </p>
<p>
	<strong>Fairness <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	for the board of directors and the relevant executives who run day-to-day business and administration. This much discussed subject “governance” once again has taken the centre stage in the global financial world. The recent collapse of the European Bank Dexia sent shock waves across the global banking industry hardly three months after it was given a clean chit by the European Banking Authority (EBA). </p>
<p>
	EU-wide stress test covering 91 banks, representing virtually 65 per cent of the EU banking assets was conducted in the not too distant past by EBA in cooperation with few central banks, European Central Bank, European Commission and European Systemic Risk Board. On the basis of their results announced in July this year, Dexia issued a statement on its website that there is “no need for Dexia to raise additional capital.” However, since October 5th, it is inching towards bankruptcy. This phenomenon has raised an intellectual debate on the limitations of bank regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	For quite some time, the major concern of the policy makers was to monitor and administer prudential controls i.e. provisioning for non-performing assets, capital adequacy in the process of regulating banks and ensuring their stability. Perhaps, regulatory oversight was considered to be a substitute to corporate governance. It looked like corporate governance was considered to be less critical for banks compared with non-banking entities. The global financial crisis has clearly revealed the fact that regulation and supervision of banks has not ensured a sound banking system. As a logical corollary to this, it has now become a very convincing argument than ever before that good corporate governance complements regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	Banks play a critical role in the development of economies around the world. Effective corporate governance in banks helps foster financial stability, strengthen risk management and ultimately contribute to sound economic development. Banks are really unique; therefore, corporate governance of banks goes beyond the conventional agency theory. We cannot deny the fact that the banks are the most leveraged commercial enterprises. Typically, bank owners contribute circa 10 per cent of the regulatory capital. Public deposits constitute a major share of their fund base (may be up to 80 per cent). We all know that banks have a fiduciary relationship with their customers, i.e., hold the wealth of depositors and manage it on their behalf. This constitutes an additional principalagent relationship that does not exist with non-financial firms.</p>
<p>
	Let us take a look at India. Despite the existence of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 - which inter alia contains the key parameters of good corporate governance - the issues relating to corporate governance in banks did not assume significance, especially after the nationalisation of major banks and several social obligations placed on them. The sense of urgency in implementing good corporate governance was recognised when these banks started accessing the capital markets from 1994.</p>
<p>
	One important point must be noted in this connection. After 1994, the listed banks are not only governed by banking regulation act and the various statuettes under which they are incorporated, but also by the provisions of the Companies Act related to management and administration and minority shareholders protection.</p>
<p>
	It goes without saying that long-term survival and success of an institution depends greatly on the skills, experience and knowledge of its directors and top management. The “working board” requires individuals who are informed, competent and independent to ensure enterprise and integrity which can promote sound growth of the company.</p>
<p>
	In the context of corporate governance, it would be interesting to note that while reviewing the policy of granting fresh licenses to corporations, the RBI Governor Dr D Subbarao raised concerns of “possible self-dealing” by promoter groups in private banks. He also cautioned the banks’ boards regarding excessive risk taking. In April 2011, the RBI levied a penalty on 19 banks including India’s largest bank – State Bank of India for violations on the sale of derivatives. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakhs on Citibank for frauds relating to portfolio management by one of its managers. </p>
<p>
	Sending a strong message to the banks’ boards, the RBI governor said the boards and senior management of the banks would require to be more sensitive to the interests of the depositors and careful of the “potentially destructive consequences of risk taking, be alert to the warning signals and be wise enough to contain exuberance.” Dr Subbarao further said “the short point is this: if the directors on the boards of the banks did not know what was going on, they should ask themselves if they were fit enough to be directors. If they did know and did not stop it, they were complicit in the recklessness and fraud.” One of the biggest challenges in India is the dearth of professionals who are capable and willing to accept the mandate of independent directors. Now let us take a look at Nepal in this regard. Nepal Rastra Bank - the fountainhead of the country’s monetary system - has issued directives on good corporate governance. (NRB Directives No 6: Code-of-Ethics to be observed by Directors/CEO of Banks and Financial Institutions), the salient points of which are: </p>
<p>
	<strong>A declaration be signed as to observe the NRB regulations.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibitions to involve in activities against the interest of the Bank/FI.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for CEO to work part-time.</strong></p>
<p>
	Director of a Bank not to become a director of other institutions licensed by NRB.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for Directors to hold Trusteeships.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition to misuse the position for personal benefits.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Maintenance of confidentiality and fair and equal treatment.</strong> </p>
<p>
	If we undertake a critical appreciation of the situation in the Nepali banking industry, the picture would not be very different from India in that finding appropriate and willing professionals for board positions continues to remain a major challenge. As a sequel to the recent global financial crisis, the regulators in most of the countries have placed much emphasis on the selection of board directors in Banks/FIs as they would play pivotal roles in the implementation of good governance in order to ensure sound health of the organisation.</p>
<p>
	Despite strengthening of rules, regulations, codes of conduct etc relating to good corporate governance over the years, we have found that major incidents in frauds, mis-selling, insider trading etc continue to recur in many parts of the world. So, it seems that these rules/regulations have not really strengthened the spirit of corporate governance. The spirit lies in the hearts of the managers. It is deep rooted in the foundation of moral sentiments and values, rendering it difficult for the regulators to measure. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'This subject of
“governance”
once again
has taken
the centre stage
in the global
fi nancial world.Effective
corporate
governance in
banks helps
foster fi nancial
stability,
strengthen risk
management
and ultimately
contribute to
sound economic
development.',
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			'id' => '578',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Compensation And Benefits: A Sensitive HRM Practice',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage.jpg" style="width: 161px; height: 151px;" vspace="1" />In today’s competitive skills market scenario, businesses are required to adopt special care on compensation and benefits for its people resources. The time has expressed its demand for strategic compensation system against a traditional one. Compensation provided to employees can be in the form of cash benefits or nonmonetary benefits. It is the sum of total rewards and benefits extended in return for their contribution to businesses. If compensation issues are managed effectively, it results in enhanced productivity. An employee does not work only for monetary benefit; however, the financial consideration remains one of the most important key for their working. The complete clarity of processes in compensation and benefits is crucial in view of unbiased decision process as well acceptance thereof. </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits means a cost to the management they are ready to pay for the services of an individual employee where as for an employee, it is an income against sales of their services to a buyer/organisation. Evolving a scientific compensation and benefit structure involves: government legislations and policies, supply and demand scenario in skills market, comparative study within an industry/business, productivity, labour cost and ability to pay etc. A true pay for performance supports productivity enhancement and talent retention. At the same time, it is also a fact that compensation management is not just a means to attract and retain skills; it rather leverages sustaining of competitive advantage for both (employer and employee) through integration processes that result in optimal achievements. Compensation and benefits plays a vital role in people management thus this belongs to the most specialised areas within human resources management (HRM). It deals with controlling and managing rules/policy/ procedures around guaranteed pay, variable pay and benefits etc to the most important resources of an organisation, that is, skills.<img align="right" alt="management" border="5" height="132" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage2.jpg" vspace="2" width="200" /></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits is one of the important functions inside HRM that connects with the competitors in the market and develops compensation policies that are fully competitive in the skills market. In the current context, compensation systems are designed in alignment to business goals and overall organisational strategies. Thus, compensation strategies are also aligned with the business goals and objectives. The human resources strategies derived from overall business strategies sets the path way and objective for the human resources function that compensation and benefits strategies requires to follow. It cannot differ from one another in any circumstances to guarantee full alignment which is most essential for no-conflict environment. The compensation and benefits strategy becomes the guiding factor in setting up general rules for the compensation and benefits area in an organisation. It is recognised as the most important part of HRM focused solely on employees’ rewards and benefits policy making. </p>
<p>
	The recent compensation and benefits theories have divided compensation and benefits into four key categories:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Guaranteed Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on their availability, that is, a certain sum for a fixed period of time but not linked to performance or productivity. It is also known as time wage and basic pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Variable Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on performance or result achieved, that is, normally based on analysis or past performance establishing average performance of a particular standard of workmanship. Sales incentive, productivity incentive, performance bonus etc are some examples. It is also known as progressive piece pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Benefits</strong>: Monetary/cash and/or nonmonetary facilities to supplement employees namely insurance, mobilisation, leave travel assistance, time-off payment, tips, communication facilities, statutory holidays and leave, house rent and special allowances, retirement and post retirement benefits etc.</p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Equity</strong>: This is a pay plan that uses the employers’ share as compensation to employees in the form of a stock option for them. This is not common in our part of the world though the objectives of this category plan are talent attraction and retention and alignment of interests (of employees and shareowners). In essence, compensation is a reward or payment paid to an employee in return for their contribution to a business. The role of various components of the reward is very important as the role of different components differ from one another, for example, dearness allowance is to compensate, console or provide support on account of the cost of living whereas performance bonus, incentive and sales incentive are for better people productivity. A sound compensation and benefits systems aims to:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Attract and retain the talent</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Pay for the job instead of the position</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Reward the effort and merit</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Enhance people productivity, and e. Promote organisational flexibility</strong></p>
<p>
	Hence, the compensation and benefits strategy requires full support from the top management as it describes limits to the organisational routine, especially for line management. Normally, they do not get convinced with the philosophies considered while determining this strategy.</p>
<p>
	Further, it is an unavoidable fact that compensation is an important factor for people while accepting a job/employment. There are obvious challenges in the areas of retaining desired talents and offering competitive salary, wages and benefits becomes the most essential necessity. At the same time, organisations must also market their strengths in terms of their offering of positive relationships and varied challenges in job offerings. Organisations are desired to fully leverage their people resources to sustain competitive position through integration of processes, programmes and information to achieve optimal expectations. Compensation and benefits are mainly influenced by two types of elements:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Internal</strong>: Business objectives, trade unions, employee equity, organisational values, culture and structures are important internal influencers; and</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. External</strong>: Inflation, skills market, economy, taxation and relevant industry trends are key external influencers. While on review process, it would be eminent to have information on the total compensation and benefits packages inclusive of retirement or post retirement benefits for better comparison that leads to an effective and efficient decision process. One also needs to consider:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. More than one source of information</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Competitors to whom skills are lost (who left the organisation)</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Salary positioning</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Expected reinforcement of desirable behaviour</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>e. Mark of recognition <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	To conclude, it is advisable to establish direct relation of individual goals with corporate business objectives. This will make employees realise that the fulfillment of employees’ aspirations lies in the achievement of organisational expectations. This, being the most sensitive aspect of people management, one must remember that employees know and very clearly understand the aspects of performance contributing towards the compensation factor. It would also be advantageous to clarify each individual employee about the contribution of abilities and efforts to high performance level along with its quantification. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-22',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Compensation
systems are
designed in
alignment to
business goals
and overall
organisational
strategies.(Dr Karna is the
Executive Chairman
of MARK Business
Solutions Pvt Ltd and
Ad Abhyas Marketing
& Communications
Pvt Ltd. The article
is based on various
research reports and his
practical experiences
as management
practitioner.)',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '510',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Budget',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need, cost is considered as a major factor. We all like saving of time and money at all levels whether in personal life or in business circumstances. The purpose of business entity is the profitable manufacturing and/or supply of goods and services to fulfill economic necessities ensuring satisfactory returns to all stakeholders mainly known as economic and social suppliers, that is,. investors/owners, members/employees of the enterprises, customers, and the society. Hence planning and budgets are developed in business enterprises to analyse and evaluate managerial decision making on account of spending and output achievement.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	 </p>
<p>
	Human Resources Management, in the process of effective utilisation of the people resources towards achievement of overall organisational goals; performs number of functions broadly named as:</p>
<ol>
	<li>
		Organisational Planning in support of determining its need, structure and relationship strategies. </li>
	<li>
		Staffing covering headcount planning, recruitment, selection and placement, job designs and profiling, orientation and separations.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>
		Skills Enhancement comprising of training need analysis, training activities and evaluation of programme offered. </li>
	<li>
		Compensation &amp; Benefit processing job evaluation, designing and operating suitable salary package/ structure and variable pay package. </li>
	<li>
		Motivation starting from performance appraisal moving through recognition to financial and nonfinancial incentives. </li>
	<li>
		Employee Relations beginning from discipline, counseling, grievance handling moving through recreation and welfare activities, eligibilities (leave, provident fund, gratuity etc) medical services to collective bargaining etc</li>
	<li>
		Personnel record comprising personal information gathering, database development, talent inventory etc making complete employee record. </li>
</ol>
<p>
	Therefore, the cost of human capital represents one of the largest operating expenses into any business. It impacts financial results indirectly in the form of recruitment, motivation and morale, skills enhancement etc impacting quality of operations that supports building customers’ confidence leading to customer retention resulting into revenue/profit. Developing effective human resources budgeting strategies leverages organisations to improve accuracy in cost prediction, control mechanism over budget and realising significant savings. HR budgeting brings together data from different sources, for example, HRIS (Human Resources Information System), Payroll, Performance Management, Sales forecast etc and generates full picture of current and future business positioning. The HR budget is operating budget within the organisation. </p>
<p>
	Budgeting involves information and data to enable finance project organisation’s overall objectives and profitability. The finance unit of an enterprise determines budget structure element and HR unit generates elements of people cost. There are mainly two methods that are applied in budgeting: a. Generic incremental method: Using current budget, next budget is developed through adjustments on each item in close consideration of expected business move, market inflation, consumer/customer sentiments, past success rate etc. b. Zero-based budgeting method: The process begins with zero as base and each item included in the budget is justified before inclusion. It is an organised approach to decide the funding level and performance level in the context of scarce resources and new priorities from scratch – as if no operations exist (before). Whilst creating human resources budget, absolute necessary attention is expected on income of the business moving to investment on people resources. Line items of expenditure are defined by object classes, that is, charts of accounts. While talking of HR budget, such line items include: • Headcount plan, that is, Number of employee projected (includes organisation structure) • Changes projections in compensation and benefits (inclusive of overtime payments) • New benefits/programmes planned • Assumptions around employee turnover • Assumptions/guidelines for realistic expense level • Social security for employees and corporate citizenship programmes • Other changes in policy, business strategy, law or regulation that may impact costs • Skills e n h a n c e m e n t / p e o p l e development/training cost, and • Cost control and reduction via consulting, savings from compensation, benefits, turnover reduction, developed internal trainers etc Projections are based on actual costs incurred in the past or guesses, depending on the nature of the expense and the data available.</p>
<p>
	It may be difficult to project in the circumstances of significant fluctuations in turnover and staffing needs. Thus HR associates need to gather every source of available data in order to make educated projections. It would also be wise to obtain feedback on essential HR moves from other functional heads that ensures buy-in of projections in view of instilling confidence on the inclusion of their expectations from HR. These are crucial in working out lowcost benefits contributing to increased employee satisfaction. With the shift from traditional to professional working of HR, clearly defined mission, vision and values for HR function becomes a path finder for people managers in streamlining process and securing alignment of total team towards one direction. Currently, HR function in any organisation is evaluated on the basis of people productivity and hence it is widely suggested to work around productivity improvement, product/ service quality delivery and instilling customer satisfaction that undoubtedly secures customer retention and contributes to sales growth with improved profitability. This enables HR to track revenue and profit per employee, that is, a comparative study of employees output against expenses per employee. Analytical Budgeting provides opportunity to HR practitioners around comparing achievements with competition and one’s own past performance that opens the door for continuous improvement. </p>
<p>
	The essence here lies in successful measurements of HR functions assignments and performance as it has a direct impact on the organisation as a whole. The recent studies and human scientists have directed a need to establish a clear numerical relationship between people management and financial performance as it would support translation of strategy into operations, managing and controlling overall performance down to business transactions as a result of improved decision making across the organisation. From an entrepreneur’s view point, employee shares of the rewards of production whether cash or other form of earning are commonly referred to HR expenditure and considered as “Cost”. HR practitioners need to identify the areas of businesses that are growing and work with responsibility centres in such areas. </p>
<p>
	Volunteer themselves around HR support in elimination of barriers experienced by such areas of business in improving productivity and margin. Also establish review process to evaluate impact of HR interventions and once positive impact is visible (which is sure to happen), the business head becomes the HR advocate with the Finance head that ensures full considerations and funding HR initiatives. HR strategies are never stagnant, it is most flexible and shifts focus with changes experienced whether economic or otherwise. </p>
<p>
	Therefore, it would be wise for HR function to prioritise their programmes and services focusing most important areas that have high and visible impact on people productivity as well as producing immediate return to make sure that their budget is accepted as value addition instead of cost. It needs to shift its focus to growth areas that can be served with prioritised HR services. This will improve response time and customer service in total too that will be added advantage for HR to be perceived as responsive productive unit and eradicate the common perception of unresponsive overhead unit within the organisation. To conclude, HR needs to demonstrate competitive advantage for the business in total from the programmes and approaches adopted for budgeting defining difference in ways and means for achievement that confirms result much superior than ever before so that confidence of total business is secured to maintain HR programmes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<em>(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</em></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need,',
			'sortorder' => '416',
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '509',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Ways Of Appraising Employees',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development. As the last fiscal year ended just a few months ago (i.e. at mid-July), many organisations are now conducting performance appraisals in order to evaluate the yearly performances of its employees. In this context, Real Solutions organised HR Kurakani on ‘Ways of appraising employees’ in order to discuss how to conduct appraisal effectively. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR practitioners from diverse fields discussed the ways of appraising and the different ways that it can be accomplished: <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Methods <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Every organisation has its own method of appraising an employee’s performance but some of the popular methods used by various organisations in Nepal are 360 degree appraisal, observation basis and balanced scorecard among others. The performance appraisal forms are filled either manually or through use of certain software packages developed for the purpose. Filling the PA forms should not be biased; but in practice, favoritism does exist within organisations. Therefore, PA should be transparent in order to bring out best results. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Forms <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The participating HR practitioners highlighted on designing questionnaires as per respective job descriptions and found it necessary that they are associated with organisational goals. The questionnaire should be able to analyse different aspects of an employee like communication skills, punctuality, competence, knowledge and overall behaviour among others. Another aspect to be considered while designing the PA forms is the language. The language should be simple, clear and must include both English and Nepali languages and sometimes in other language(s) too, in order to make PA process easier. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Trend <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It was felt that most of the organisations in Nepal do not carry out appraisals while some others do it just for the sake of doing it. The organisations that conduct appraisals systematically and effectively include multinational companies and international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs).</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Outcome</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If an organisation conducts PA and takes no action based on the result received, then there’s no point in going through the entire process. The action as a result should not always be an increment in terms of monetary compensation even though it is one of the major aspects. Besides monetary reward, the appraisal outcome can also include non-monetary rewards such as providing holiday packages, training facilities, appreciation and rewarding best employee among others, based on their performances. An increment in salary is expected on a yearly basis when PA is conducted. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The HR Kurakani participants discussed salary increment criteria such as performance based increment, increment as per government norms, increment as per inflation rate and increment considering an organisation’s values and growth. It was also discussed that yearly PA is not the best way of judging and rewarding employees. If a system can be introduced to appraise employees on a monthly basis, it could be more effective. The participants discussed the possibilities and practicality of such an arrangement. Since it requires greater time investment, the participants suggested conducting biannual PAs and pointed out different ways that can assist appraisals such as critical incident recording, electronic tracking system, introduction of cards for warnings in the event of mistakes committed and encouragement in case of perfect job, external evaluation etc. (The write up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on the topic ‘Ways of Appraising Employees’ conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size:14px;">The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries as well as a freelancer. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company coordinated the event).</span></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development.',
			'sortorder' => '415',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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			'breaking_news' => false,
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	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '490',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Crisis For The Better (October 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="right" alt="" border="2" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/saujanya.jpg" style="width: 124px; height: 160px;" vspace="5" />By Saujanya Acharya</span></strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the world to see one of the economic giants drowning under the water and getting washed away. Well, it seems the nature spares nobody. Earthquake and tsunami were not the only problems. The nature also hit a devastating creation of man: a nuclear power plant. Hence, within a very short time span, the Japanese society had to face three different crises.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The case of Japan provides a great study for the field of management: to be more precise, the handling of crisis in a large institution. When corner shops face a crisis, such as plummeting sales, decision making is quite simple as the options include whether to shut down the business, or keep operating at a lower cost level. However, at a larger scale, decision makers are asked for much more careful decision: one decision could trigger another problem in a chain effect.&nbsp;As far as crisis management is concerned, the Japanese government has been quite effective despite the public criticism – especially, from the international media.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government is criticized for its lack of information disclosure regarding the crisis in the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. It was only in the later stage of the crisis that the Japanese government finally admitted the situation to be as worse as that of Chernobyl – even though the level of crisis was apparent to them from the earlier stages. Such strategy seems dishonest on the part of the government. Yet, it has proved to be a wise one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 245px;" vspace="2" />It was wise because the outcome of Japanese government’s honesty would have been quite catastrophic – as it could have invited unwanted havoc. Even with their strategy of concealing the information, there were some disturbances. For example, people started to flee the Japanese cities in the north. This phenomenon was seen also in Tokyo Metropolitan Area which was declared safe by the scientists. This panic was caused by the media which highlighted the impending disaster of nuclear crisis in a very speculative manner. Hence, massive exodus of population from the major surrounding cities would have been inevitable, had the government from the beginning admitted that the disaster level was at 5.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Argument against the government’s action would be on ethical grounds only. The government should be looking after the welfare of the society. People have the right to know what sort of danger they are in. Hence, when the Japanese government held the leverage tight for the flow of information, it was denying its citizens their right to know the truth. Later the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet members were heavily criticized for such decisions. Their reputation was quite tarnished.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Yet, sympathy goes to those decision makers. They were in dilemma. Releasing complete information at once would have caused unwarranted panic. This could have generated another wave of socio-economic tsunami. On the other hand, gradual disclosure of information, with careful observation of the populace would have invited allegations of dishonesty. After all, the government as an institution had to take maximum measures to make sure that the impact on life and property was minimum – even if it had to come at the cost of their honesty. At least they had been able to avert socio-economic turmoil that would have been caused had the people and businesses chose to leave Japan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Similarly, in the corporate setting, there are times for the management to be better off adopting the “controlled information” policy. As soon as there is a premonition or hype of a crisis in a company, non-managerial workers as well as line managers would try to put themselves in their comfort zones – such as finding different jobs. The problem is that there is no rigorous assessment of the situation – only the mid level or top level managers do so. Hence, even if their neck is not on the line, those workers would try to find a way out – because of lack of understanding. This actually ends up creating a problem in the company – which resembles a nature of self fulfilling prophecy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management1.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 190px;" vspace="2" />Instead, the management should try to avoid such panic among its workers. This does not allow them to exploit the workers through lack of information or misinformation. “Controlled information” strategy must take welfare of the workers as well as stability of the company into consideration.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In short term, Japanese government somehow managed the crisis. But, what ahead ?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government would be asked for a lot more than just achieving stability. Being one of the economic giants, they have to be able to not only get out of the mess, but be back on its feet as one of the global economic powerhouses. Just like a star athlete getting back after a terrible injury, people appreciate a good comeback story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">I believe the strength of a nation is shown by its response to crisis. When the earthquake hit, a friend of mine was in a supermarket in downtown Tokyo. The quake caused panic: goods fell on the ground, wine bottles shattered and racks collapsed on top of each other. Soon, it stopped shaking. And, people picked up their grocery items, stood on the queue, paid at the cashier, and left patiently. The country was in the midst of “the worst crisis since Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” as Kan put. Yet, people still showed up at their city offices the same week to fulfill their tax obligation. Apart from the quake and tsunami, explosion of the nuclear power plant caused a power shortage throughout eastern Japan. Essentially, the Japanese government declared implementation of daily load shedding for four hours. People and businesses immediately reacted – but not in the form of a public demonstration or protests. Most people started saving electricity at home. Businesses, malls and restaurants shut their businesses early to save electricity. By the end of the day, load shedding lasted less than an hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In Japanese, crisis is written as 危機 (kiki). The word consists of two Chinese characters: 危 (ki) meaning “danger”, and 機 (ki) meaning “opportunity”. The word itself indicates the perception of crisis in the Japanese society. Yes, people were shocked, and filled with fear. But they kept their heads up, searching for a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let history speak for itself. Every time crisis hits the island nation, Japanese golden age follows. The 1932 Great Kanto Earthquake – which destroyed entire Tokyo and killed approximately 140,000 people – was followed by Japanese military glory and its rise as one of the world’s superpowers. Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which also destroyed both cities killing roughly 200,000 people – was followed by Japanese economic prosperity and its emergence as the world’s largest economy. Every time they fall, they rise up stronger. And I believe such characteristic shows the grandeur of the nation.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Crisis tests our strength. Whether on our management of crisis or standing up on our feet in the midst of it – crisis could be an inevitable challenge at any point in our life. Some break down; others prevail. With wise but unpopular, “controlled information” strategy, Japanese government did not escalate the existing natural crisis by averting socio-economic crisis. Secondly, Japanese philosophy of seeing opportunities in times of crisis needs to be appreciated by the business minds. It is this attitude that brought the country from bottom rock to a leading position. On the whole, one could expect a better tomorrow if a crisis is managed smartly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>[Acharya grew up in Tokyo, Japan and attended St Mary’s International School. He is currently a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). He can be reached via email at saujanya820@gmail.com.]</i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-10-11',
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			'description' => 'It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the.................',
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			'id' => '443',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Leadership: Managing Hunger (September 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="border-width: medium medium 1pt; border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(134, 55, 59); padding: 0in 0in 3pt;">
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sujit(1).jpg" style="width: 116px; height: 147px;" vspace="10" />By Sujit Mundul</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">I</span>n the current days of rat race and peer pressure, most of us struggle hard to find happiness at workplace, regardless of the nature of the organisation -- be it a local corporate or a multinational. Resurgent capitalism has added fuel to the fire. It does not at all know, or does not know enough, about the boundary conditions of profit maximisation. A ceaseless aspiration of higher rate of profit drives people mad and could probably be a major source of dissatisfaction throughout the levels in an organisation. The question comes loud and clear if there is a sense of balance in the level of aspiration.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In his recent book “The art of happiness at work” by HH Dalai Lama, the great spiritual leader has given some very practical suggestions to alleviate the contemporary pressure of achieving success to the detriment of our holistic well being. These conditions are also very much applicable to the persons in position of leadership, which involve them in managing conflicts.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Frequently people are defeated because, though they are doing their best, they make mistakes in <img align="left" alt="" border="2" height="263" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/management.jpg" vspace="5" width="350" />how they assess and engage their environment. Sometimes we bring ourselves down by forgetting to pay attention to ourselves. We get entangled in the cause and forget that exercising leadership is, at heart, a pure personal activity. It activates us to face challenges, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. With the higher flow of adrenaline, we can work ourselves into believing we are somewhat different and therefore not subject to normal human frailties that can defeat more ordinary mortals on ordinary missions. We begin to act as if we were physically and emotionally indestructible.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Let us look at the example of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton came to the White House in 1993 sleep deprived and physically exhausted; rather than ‘prepare himself physically for the ordeal ahead’.&nbsp;Clinton spent the period between the election and the inauguration working, playing and celebrating in endless 24- hr days. By the time Clinton got to Washington, he’ seemed worn out.... and hyper....’ He refused to rest. It may be that Clinton had a real drive to keep that pace as was observed by David Gergen, the presidential advisor. It would be quite logical to think that we are vulnerable to falling prey to our own hungers. It is strongly believed that self- knowledge and self-discipline form the foundation of staying alive.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It can’t be denied that we all have hungers, which are expressions of our normal human needs. But we get reminded many a time that those hungers disrupt our capacity to act wisely or purposefully. Perhaps, one of our needs is too great and makes us vulnerable. It could be so that the setting in which we operate enhances our normal level of need, inflate our desires and in the process benumbs our usual self controls. A seed of unhappiness gets sown in the process.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It cannot be denied that every human being needs some degree of power, control and importance, as well as intimacy and delight. It would be very difficult to find someone who prefers to feel entirely powerless and unimportant in life. However, it is a proven fact that each of these normal human needs could land us into trouble if not handled judiciously as one tends to lose personal wisdom and discipline required to manage them effectively.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In a leadership role, the utmost difficult part is to manage people as one requires tuning their needs as well as one’s own. There is another danger, in connecting with people’s hopes and frustrations; it is easy to become a depository of their yearnings! Nevertheless, the desire to fulfil the needs of others can become a vulnerability if it feeds the leader’s own normal hunger for power, importance etc. They get so caught up in the action and energy that they loss their wisdom and self-discipline, and slip out of control.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">When you take on the tasks of leading, invariably you resonate with many feelings expressed by people around you. Many of the feelings in our jobs are produced by the way we resonate with the job environment itself. In each professional role one takes on, one must be careful about own emotional inclination to carry the issues and sentiments of others in the organisation. This, of course, is a very challenging proposition to deal with successfully. As discussed earlier, a failure to properly deal with these essential but complex psychological behaviour, would trigger unhappiness in the workplace as also in personal life.</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Once again I would like to refer back to HH Dalai Lama’s advice of clearly understanding where we are standing and what we want to achieve. He has had no hesitation in making it clear to us that uncontrolled ambition would become the bane of all unhappiness. So, it would be good to pay heed to his valuable advice that we need to make a choice between peace and ambition. Leaders of this age would require to exercise more caution in successfully playing their roles, as the lure of ambition unlimited would always remain latent, to drift one’s mind towards .......perhaps unhappiness.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '442',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Employee Relations (September 2011)',
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	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt; font-style: normal;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Misalignments in employee relations are mainly caused by misunderstanding arising from silo mentality, friction and disagreements between functions and individual employees in need of clarity. Workflow is considered one of the key enablers to adaptive and responsive culture in any workplace. Collaborative difficulties arise because of inability to partner with others, whether functions or individuals, within the enterprise. Employee relations strategies define the intentions of institutions about expectations from each member about what needs to be done in current situation to manage relationship with employees and their trade unions. HR strategy incorporating employee relation strategies flows from business strategy but concentrates on the ways and means for maximising cooperation with the unions and employees through minimising damaging effects on business in total.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Employee Relations is the broader and latest approach to Industrial Relations and Labour Relations that cover a wider range of employment relationship with the emergence of non-Industrial employment relationship, non-unionised workplaces and socio-emotional arrangements. It is viewed as collective relationship between the employer and the employees. It emphasises on prevention and solution to conflict arising out of work situations and contributes to enhanced productivity, motivation level and people morale as an effect of employees’ involvement on various progressive performance inclusive of discipline. It is also viewed as part of social science because of its concerns about relationship among the employees and the institutions that emerges by and in the form of recruitment and selection, compensation and benefit, workplace safety and environment, skills enhancement opportunities, discipline and so many other varieties of issues. Though it is part of the management that deals with collaborative partnership between the employer and the employees – whether skilled or unskilled, worker or manager, relationship between the state and the employers and the trade unions. The primary concern of employee relation is employer – employee relationship; if maintained at right spirit, driving human resources management strategy becomes effective that supports business achievement.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Since the emergence of Personnel Administrationto the present incarnation of Human Resources Management, even executives perception about it is as just an administrative function whereas employee relations, an integral part of human resources management, addresses underestimations by educating through interactions and leadership in developing methods to improve and establish human resources management into the role of strategic partner. The challenge for employee relation practice in modern management is observed as establishing connection between organisational behavior and&nbsp;HR strategies. In the current context, when the workplace relationship includes conflict of interest, no one can ensure to prevent workers’ exploitation and thus HR (Human Resources) and ER (Employee Relations) practitioners work through institutional interventions to support workings of the relationship in right spirit protecting employees’ rights. Therefore, organisations these days have grievance procedures, Labour Relation Committee, Labour Unions, Collective Bargaining mechanism and Labor Management Partnership etc. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Any business needs people to work in team, performing to achieve business objectives. Non-living entities like machineries, chairs, tables etc cannot be instrumental towards organisational expectations without human beings. In fact, the people are the most valuable asset for any organisation. People resources must share good rapport working together and strive to make the dreams of the organisation come true. Thus, it’s pertinent for the people working for any organization to clearly demonstrate their personal interest after business interest.&nbsp;Some of the key issues around employee relation are corporate restructuring and reshaping of enterprises, employment relationship in union and non-union work environment, effective and efficient performance management systems, workforce diversity, globalisation of labor market etc wherein perspective of socio-economic, political, historical, psychological and legislative developments have great say on employee and employer relationship. Relation can be warm, good, bad, so-so but it is important for any organisation that there is productive or healthy relationship among each other to deliver the best. Workforce spends maximum time with fellow workers, where any conflict will result only in diminishing productivity. Thus, the workforce needs to communicate or discuss as many essential things around business as possible that alone can allow each one at work to derive solution for any misunderstanding, which can lead to intended benefit for self and the institution. None can work alone at the same time it is also but natural that every one can’t think like others or behave the way one behaves. Thus, it’s important to ensure every one behaves in a civilized way demonstrating respect and trust for each other. It is also crucial that all employees maintain cordial relations supporting each other with great understanding of needs and expectations, impacting accomplishment of goals of the entity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is important for employees to understand that they are paid for productivity and not for any clash or conflict among themselves. The fact also is that one can have best friends at work place. Many human scientists have expressed their observation that healthy work place relation leads to long life and it helps people at work to keep themselves ready to take new challenges. Communication plays crucial role in generating and up-keeping relations intact and hence it is widely recommended to keep communication effective and open within and outside the core team. This helps to correct misinterpretation and perceptions about each other, leading to creating and strengthening the trust and the respect that is most essential for improved performance as well as individual efficiency. However, it (Communication) needs to be obvious and accurate so that thoughts are translated into relevant words supporting the development and sustainability of warm relationship; thus usage of written communication in terms of employee relation is highly recommended. Also, employee survey can be reflective towards focus on workplace relationship management, especially in terms of business operation. The survey report provides an opportunity for sincere feedback and breakdown that may not be possible to achieve solely through business communication. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is also observed that disciplinary measures as well as legal/policy compliance in relation to it like absenteeism, leave and vacation, overtime payment etc have marginal impact on employee relations.&nbsp;Similarly, skills enhancement opportunity, pay package, career advancement are important elements determining employee relation. Issues in these areas emerge mainly when employee equity becomes questionable in perception of partiality. It is thus suggested to avoid nepotism and ensure everyone in the organisation is treated same. It has been unanimous that employees are the lifeline of any organisation because none of the businesses can endure without employee like human cannot stay alive without blood. Employees are the most valuable asset and hence, their full immersion in their work, securing emotional attachment will be useful to sustain productive and harmony in relation. HR Associates (especially employee relations in-charge) must focus more on psychological contract than any other legal contract. As much people will have to deliver challenges and creativity in their routine, that much less chances of any challenge will be on employee relations. Simultaneously, activities supportive to foster togetherness like lunch together, group activities, task sharing, award ceremony, job rotation etc can be very useful in maintaining harmony at work place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Additionally, one need to keep in mind that two individuals are never alike. It would be imperative to keep off from regular fault-finding rather usage of simple praises like “well done, great, very good, wow etc motivating phrases will work far beyond any theory and practices. These leave impact like token of appreciation.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is rightly said that success and failure of any business is proportional to the relationship shared among the employees. Researches say if the employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they have a propensity to remain happy and stay away from conflict. It is therefore suggested for HR practitioners to encourage employees on group and extra-curricular activities and lead them to the unity that instills the productive relationship.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '441',
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			'title' => 'Harassment At Work, Challenge For HR Personnel (September 2011)',
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			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Harassment at work includes different types of unwanted action towards an employee that leads to complexity in doing assigned tasks or makes the employee feel that he or she is working in an unfriendly environment. Harassment may be based on different factors such as gender, race, class, culture, age, sexual orientation, or religious preference.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Different ways of harassment within and outside workplace are reported like intentional, situational, emotional, sexual and even harassment through use of technologies such as phone, SMS and email. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In many countries of the world, there are laws that protect employees from conducting various job abuses, if the reality of the harassment can be proven. However, in case of our country we do not have such specific laws. During orientation, employees have to ensure they will follow the bylaws of the organisation. Most of the organisations have mentioned in their bylaws harassment issues and actions to be taken if it is violated. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to recognise harassment at work, at first the conduct must be unwanted and offensive to the employee. Secondly, the employee must voice his or her objection to the behavior, allowing the offending individual or individuals to correct their behavior at work. Last, the conduct must be of a nature that makes an&nbsp;adverse impact on the ability of the employee to carry out his or her duties in an efficient and responsible manner and should be reported to the concerned authority. But in case of our country, most of the harassment victims remain silent due to which the tendency to harass continues. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If actions could be taken based on the complaints filed, judging the type and the nature of harassment then such activities can be controlled to some extent. However, it is difficult to control harassment totally as it is more an ethical issue than a legal issue. In Nepal, complaints can be filed at labor court and through the decision of the court based on written complaints one can file the case at district court and then to the supreme court.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Many organisations in our country do not carry out any investigation and just fires the harasser, which&nbsp;leads to employees taking advantage of the system and reporting misleading complaints. Understanding employees and observing, finding out the authenticity of the complaints received and analyzing the issue are major challenges for HR.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to control and reduce harassment in the organisation, addressing such issues secretly and confidentially is a must. Besides, CCTV monitoring, understanding employee’s behaviour and proper recruitment also play an important role in controlling intra organisational harassment. In case of organisation to individual and inter-organisational harassment, one needs to deal it tactfully.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Unwanted sexual advances by peers or supervisors are the most common form of workplace harassment. Both male and female employees may be approached by someone in the workplace who either hint or directly state that compliance will benefit the employee in some manner, or at least help to make sure that employment will continue. Today, many countries have laws that protect employees of all genders from this type of harassment.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sometimes in case of multinational companies or NGOs/INGOs employees have to deal with foreign clients where comes the problem of intercultural practices like hugging, kissing or even shaking hands. In these cases, many people may feel they are harassed. So, in order to avoid this, HR should inform the visiting person about the cultural slopes and limitations and let them know how to make their stay comfortable.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, in order to avoid harassment, office politics must be completely avoided. Besides, every individual should speak up if they feel harassed and only then we can minimise not only workplace harassment but also harassment as a whole. Minimising workplace harassment remains a challenge for HR personnel, however, neutralizing it is almost next to impossible.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Harassment at Work- Challenge for HR Personnel” on July 27, 2011 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, Research Organisations, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions, acted as the moderator for the discussion and Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company, was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Brand Buzz (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sajag(1).jpg" style="width: 123px; height: 153px;" vspace="10" />By Sajag Karki</span></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a handful of ads of reputed multinationals along with some local companies that actually communicate brand personality via branding, Nepali advertisements typically focus only on a specific scheme or promotion. They have nothing much to offer except to lure customers into buying the product by providing them with monetary reward or somekind of freebie. Advertising has been around just for a few decades in a developing country like Nepal. Though there has been significant development, there is lot of room for improvement to meet international standards. In this turbulent phase of progress, ethics still comes in question. Nepali media whether TV or print has been flooded with Indian ads with Nepali voiceover. Big B Amitabh Baachan can be seen endorsing more than a dozen ads at the same time. People are confused and tired of seeing the same person over and over again for most products. Due to his popularity, it is also hard to ignore his presence keeping in mind the commercial success celebrities bring about. However, there must be a match between the personality of the brand with that of the celebrity. Same celebrity endorsing multiple products can hamper the image of the product.&nbsp;Are promotional schemes and celebrity endorsers a good way to communicate a company’s product to its customers? Also, the use of celebrities for products that don’t suit their personality is controversial. The importance and relevance of ethics in advertising in the Nepalese context has been a debatable issue. Ethics is something that is usually not compatible with advertising in Nepal. The fact about advertising is that in most cases it is hard to sell products without offending anybody. Another harsh reality is that a single ad cannot please everybody. Such customers can go for customised products rather than standardised ones in order to fulfil their needs. Since there is always a target group of people that a company caters to, an ad cannot be made that is liked by everybody.&nbsp;Who is responsible for influencing young people for drinking or smoking? Is it important to be ethical while creating ads of one’s organisation or should they be more concerned with just adding value of the firm while ignoring the ethical and moral issues of advertising and business as a whole?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The topic of ethics in advertising is such that it is never black and white. It is impossible to paint a rosy picture by just claiming yes or no to ethics. There are subtle shades of grey in which arguments from both sides are viable. Practically speaking, the direct adaptation of moral philosophy principles in marketing communication is unsuitable. However, this doesn’t mean that ethics should be completely neglected. The parameters for judging ads cannot be the same as judging the morality and ethics of society.&nbsp;Hence, marketing must develop its own philosophy of ethics. In the advertising world, some puffery is allowed since no company can sell anything by saying just the mere truth. A bit of dramatisation and an element of excitement (buzz) are added deliberately to give maximum mileage to the brand. Only this makes it possible for people to bear up with advertisements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. Ads cash in on the popular culture while targeting the younger audience. Ads encouraging dark people to use whitening creams to look fair are targeted especially to the young so that they are easily influenced. Can such advertisements that portray dark as ugly and unacceptable be called ethical or unethical? If it is unethical than what would be a better way to communicate the product’s attributes in an ethical manner?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">On the other hand, advertisers cannot completely forget ethics while delivering their creative piece.&nbsp;I am by no means saying that false advertising should be encouraged or that ethics should completely be neglected. The fact is that even though advertisements are verisimilitude, ethical threshold should always be maintained to depict a clean picture to the audience. A striking reality to consider is that negative words spread way faster than positive ones. It is like a wildfire that spreads so fast that it’s almost impossible to extinguish it right away. Similarly, negative opinion of the ad due to unethical content will spread in such a way that it will be almost impossible to mitigate the damage created. Only a handful of unsatisfied viewers who find some ads unethical can spread negative word of mouth to a whole lot of people around them. In no time, such ads will be called phony ultimately resulting in adverse effect on the brand equity of the advertised product.&nbsp;Ethics is specially of top priority while showing comparative ads as there must be sufficient evidence backing the superiority of the product against competitors. Along with ethics, rational judgment should also be used so that they do not have to face legal issues.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">No brand can be built in a jiffy. It not only takes creative heads along with deep pockets to gain a worldwide recognition of the brand but also a whole lot of time. Coke would not have been the most popular brand in the world if its advertising was not sculpted with ethical standards right from the beginning hundreds of years ago. Hence, it would not be a good idea for any company to ruin its image in no time by showing unethical ads just for the sake of money making or for cheap publicity. This kind of debate can go on and on and on. Books have been written and issues have been raised over the topic of ethics in advertising but without a tangible conclusion. To simplify this I would say that ad makers should come up with only such ads that they would accept as an audience. A little empathy towards audience and use of intuitive judgment by advertisers would probably help address this intrinsic advertising issue to an extent.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Karki is currently associated with KIST Bank.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'description' => '''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a.....',
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			'id' => '422',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Audit (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra%20karna%282%29.jpg" style="width: 112px; height: 151px;" vspace="10" /></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span bright="" color:="" letter-spacing:="" lucida="" serif="" style="line-height: 120%;">By <span style="color: rgb(178, 34, 34);">Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">H</span>uman Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and benchmark comparatives at least with direct market competition. This is done for depicting HR initiatives towards sales and people productivity enhancement that can be utilised as a comprehensive tool to improve their own effective engagement into the business. It is imminent to identify and realise strengths and opportunities for improvements around specific HR areas.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Businesses are currently moving under heavily regulated and turmoil employee environment dealing with most uncertain industrial relation under complex legislative framework. Human Resources function has been emerging as most essential organ of organisation which is mainly engaged in establishing and practising policies, legal compliance that has huge impact over productivity and profitability of business in total. This is why Human Resources function these days is considered as most valuable strategic business partner within the Organisation. Efficient, effective and active HR practices in any organisation are as essential as the well functioning organs in human body. Investment in building Human Asset is considered a key to the measurement of systematic alignment with organisational goals helping HR become strong strategic partner that it is deemed to be. The HR Audit can be a powerful element driving change in HR and organisation. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The financial audit is mandatory which examines the past on the basis of practices and procedures for identifying issues that ensure compliance to sound accounting principles. Similarly, HR audit is aimed to future and meant to examine the health of Human Resources function to establish best practices that are productive to the business activities. HR Audit supports companies to determine gap and reason behind lack in system productivity and suggests the way forward. Currently, most of the businesses have plans for systems, targets and compliance that are driven by HR functions wherein HR audit becomes useful to compare these plans with actual implementations. The outcome of audit and feedback is found very helpful in decision making around corrective measures pertaining to improvement plans. Human resources audits play vital role around legal compliance that helps to avoid regulatory liabilities resulting from policies and practices. It also helps to identify legal risk and serves information about efficiency of HR strategies through benchmarking “best practices” of similar businesses. It is also handy in finding solutions to problems prior to escalation. It also suggests how things might be done in more efficient and effective way with efficient cost economy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Concerns in relation to employee risks have been the reason for the emergence of a wing within HR function to look after the working conditions and associated risks that enable implementation of preventive measures that perfectly aligns to the legal approach of HR. The application of Occupational Health &amp; Safety program is now associated with quality of life at workplace that is most important for human capital being the prime strategic element that explains the differentiation ability of company. This is where HR audit goes beyond the traditional concept of accounts audit i.e. simple investigation to logical measurement of efforts being put.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR audit in general is suggested to structure based upon size of organization i.e. number of people employed, time constraints, budgets and risk areas e.g. discipline, performance, compliance, hiring etc. However, there are some areas wherein companies are vulnerable to additional risks which must be reviewed carefully:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Personal record:&nbsp;A detailed and accurate personal records of employees are essential to prevent the business from undesired dispute especially in the areas of insufficient documentation pertaining to discipline, service record, compensation, health issues etc. An audit of personnel files reveals exposure to this type of risk and enables preventive measures to safeguard interest of the company beforehand. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Legal Compliance: A review focusing over company’s compliance to the local laws and regulation at the same time incorporated codes of best practices and other essentials; allows company to take corrective measure in area of concerns e.g. over-time eligibility, classification of Job, payroll, records retention, compensation and benefits etc.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Attendance System: The biggest concern for most of the employer as of today is absenteeism. In many cases it has been noticed that companies have their own attendance policies (In addition to the country’s Labor Law) in support of absenteeism control which might be unacceptable because of conflict with law of the land as well lack of clarity in need of proper communication around these. Since this aspect has immediate vulnerability to dispute and risks; audit prescribes the remedial action in such conflicting situation and enables the organisation to take corrective measure in support of absenteeism control i.e. fully aligned with law of the land.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">d.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HR Strategies: Strategic alignments among each business units (Functions) are equally important in view of increasing value of employees to the business. This part of HR management mainly consists of organization structure, job design, employment policies, HRIS and employee relations management etc. Audit review of strategies helps business to determine whether strategic alignment exists there or not and supports planning and action to improvise areas of concerns on this important aspect.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">e.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cost Efficiency:&nbsp;One of the important financial roles of HR is to ensure people management in the most cost-effective way. This inculcates financial ratios and scorecard measures such as headcount planning, orientation and disciplinary cost per employee, people development cost, people productivity etc. A detailed review of this aspect of HR throws light on equipping HR practitioners of the company with knowledge per formulation of HR metrics.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Thus HR audit<span calibri="" sans-serif="" style=""> is</span> meant for verification of job design and analysis, employee welfare, industrial relations, conflict resolution, improved communication mechanism, orientation and job evaluation etc useful and supportive to achieve business destination through effective engagement of HR Function as one of the key business performance driver. It has been noticed from recent HR developments that there is an increasing demand for HR associates to contribute to profitability drive of the organisation through active participation in business decisions. The audit findings can be of great use to improve HR business plan, identify risks and control over traditional approaches, cost-economy and facilitate change in management initiatives. It also plays an important role in relation to motivation through clarified roles and responsibilities. HR audit helps to identify HR KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and adds value to the organisation defining relevant activities. It also supports placement of management in a better position fulfilling expectation that instills trust and respect from all stakeholders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, it is important to ensure that HR audit is planned and carried out under clear understanding of HR connectivity on overall business objectives, HR related opportunities and their engagement around sustainable people productivity and outcomes that are intended to achieve.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span aldine401="" bt="" italic="" style="">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'description' => 'Human Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and.....',
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			'title' => 'Environmental Sustainability July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">B</span>lue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a day-long hiking trip to Shivapuri titled Team Building towards Sustainability on 15th April this year. It was a team building event with the sole purpose of cleaning up the waste in the Shivapuri Mountain.</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">Though the event was a fun-filled one, it was heartbreaking to see the Shivapuri's beautiful surroundings marred by waste left behind by hikers and picnickers. This careless garbage dumping has attracted many pests and contaminated the nature's reserve. There were food wrappers and plastic plates with food remnants lying around which not only disturbed the beauty of the place but also hampered the eco system of the area.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">BOS team successfully accomplished the Shivapuri summit clean-up plan by managing to collect the garbage in Shivapuri hill area in less than 30 minutes. At the end of the cleaning exercise, we asked ourselves, Why couldn't people clean their own waste? If every visitor to the park acknowledged their responsibility to preserve the national park by adhering to cleanliness, Shivapuri Mountain would be a magnificent place for all visitors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	We thought of recommending the following tips to hikers for making their tour worthwhile without compromising on the fun.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">BOS shall continue to work towards keeping the environment clean and invites people who wish to use our services to work with us. Together, we can ensure environmental sustainability alongside our various professional tasks.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
			'modified' => '2013-05-24',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Blue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a......',
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			'title' => 'Prepare Yourself With SAP July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in;">
	<i>By Aparajita Acharya</i></div>
<div>
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;">E</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">fficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And obviously, as businesses get bigger, they will require more professional systems to stay together and prosper. This is where SAP business solutions come in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The demand for SAP trained individuals is increasingly on the rise with SAP becoming one of the most sought-after ERP business solutions today.&nbsp;As every individual appraises his/her own credentials and adaptability in today's cut-throat global competition, companies hire and fire largely mindful of the flexibility, competence and productivity of their staff. Therefore, the question is that of acquiring competence which helps understand businesses in their essence. You must find ways to assure that you never become outdated and easily adapt to the new needs of the growing market.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Companies try to find people who are already well trained when new recruits are needed to fit into multiple roles. So it becomes essential that you are precisely trained to be saleable in the job market. Among many ERP business trainings on offer, SAP training makes you fit to carry out a multitude of roles and helps you become proactive in understanding business processes and flexible to market requirements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Armed with a SAP training, you will be already qualified to kick start your career at a higher level in established companies despite entering the market at a young age. SAP training has assured various locally trained consultants with excellent placements in successful organizations as an increasing number of companies in Nepal advance towards ensuring economical output of a required quality. However, this is definitely not the end of it all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">A peek at the global job market illustrates an increasing appeal for SAP trained professionals. The US, Australia and Germany are among countries that consistently seem to have high number of positions available for SAP trained individuals. Other countries such as the UK and The Netherlands which look for comparatively less number of SAP trained employees offer equally lucrative salaries to these sought-after consultants, architects and experts.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">You can either undertake a complete course for SAP or choose to learn only the modules that support your job needs. Among the different SAP modules, those trained in FI, CO, CRM and BI (Business Intelligence) currently seem to be in great demand in the global market.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you wish to go about chiseling your expertise to match market requirements, a SAP training ensures that knowledge in any business area you wish to participate in, is as good as hands on experience. It helps you carve a niche for yourself in the midst of aggressive competition. Backed by SAP, you can be assured that you have exactly what everybody is looking for whether you decide to work abroad or closer home.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'description' => 'Efficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And.........',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '652',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'ISO & Management System Certification',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img alt="julymanagement" border="1" height="146" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july11management.jpg" vspace="5" width="300" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong><br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards &amp; Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards. <br />
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><img alt="ISO Management" border="1" height="121" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/july_management.jpg" vspace="5" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	In the management field, ISO has formulated Quality Management System standards (ISO9000 series), Environmental Management System standards (ISO14001-2004), Food Safety Management System standards (ISO22000: 2005) etc. ISO does not do any job with respect to certification and such activities are carried out by different certification bodies. These certification bodies are accredited from accreditation bodies. One certification body may have the accreditation from one or more accreditation bodies. There is one accreditation body named NABCB in India. There are hundreds of certification bodies under the umbrella of one accreditation body and these bodies are responsible to their accreditation bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If any weaknesses are found on the part of certification bodies while awarding management system certificates like ISO9001-2008, the respective accreditation bodies take action against those certification bodies. The licence of certification bodies can even be cancelled from accreditation bodies in case of severe failure. The ISO does not have anything to do with this. These accreditation bodies are under the umbrella of International Accreditation Forum (IAF) that conforms to the guidelines developed by the ISO. Series of Quality Management System standards i.e. ISO9000 series was formulated by the ISO for the first time in 1987 with ISO9000, ISO9001, ISO9002, ISO9003, and ISO9004 with many others in this series. In this series, the certifiable standards were ISO9001, ISO9002 and ISO9003.This series was revised first in 1994 with little amendments, second time in 2000 with the remarkable revision by merging all three certifiable standards in one i.e. ISO9001-2000. The structure and some of the requirements have been changed and added during this time. There is no provision of ISO9002 and ISO9003 after this period. The third revision was made in 2008 with some revision including the control of outsourced process. The ISO 9001-2008 minutely looks at whether consistent quality products are produced and the overall management system of the organisation are met at the highest degree during organisational operation. Those companies meeting the requirements are awarded with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate by the certification bodies. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services. The requirements of consumers are taken as the input and the organisation adds values to the requirement through different processes that eventually produces a product that has the capacity to satisfy customers. Quality Management System Requirement i.e. ISO9001- 2008 certification is not a medal of honour. However, it gives organisations the potential to become more cost effective and efficient. Similarly, it arms organisations with a powerful competitive tool that helps ensure consistent quality products and enhancement of customer satisfaction. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	A company with well maintained and qualitative managerial practices is expected to produce quality goods and services. The ultimate goal of the certification is to ensure consistent quality products used or consumed by consumers that lead to ultimate customer satisfaction. The company may be certified for its Quality Management System, Environmental Management System, Food Safety Management System (in case of food industry only), Information Security Management System or any other management system standards developed by the ISO. Among these standards, Quality Management System Standard i.e. ISO9001-2008 is the most popular all over the world. It is a generic standard and is applicable to all types of organizations regardless of their size, nature of product and processes. Till the end of 2011, almost 1.2 million companies have been certified with ISO9001-2008 and almost 250,000 companies with ISO14001-2004 around the globe. In the context of Nepal, approximately 600 organizations have been certified with ISO9001-2008, 30 with ISO 14001-2004, 15 with ISO 22000-2005, and a very little number with Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Social Accountability. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	There is no organization in Nepal that maintains data on the number of ISO management system standard certified companies in the country. The validity of the certificate is three years and there is surveillance audit every 9-12 months. In our context, some companies are missing the surveillance audit and in worst cases, a few are publishing advertisements even after the expiry of the certificate. So, the above mentioned number is only an approximation. Among them, a handful of companies have not renewed their standard certificates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	If a company is found misusing the expired certificate, the certification body may take legal actions upon receiving complaints. There is no legal authority in the country to look after these complaints even if some certified organization or certification bodies are indulging in malpractices. Monitoring is sorely missing in Nepal. There have been cases of awarding ISO management system certificates in the bordering areas where the certificate was given to those companies that do not comply with many of the requirements. In India, the accreditation body NABCB has brought a good change in this field by taking action against certification bodies whose performance is very poor. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	It is the need of the time to establish one accreditation board in Nepal which can look after all types of Management System Certification bodies including laboratories accreditation. Around a decade ago, Nepali companies had to rely upon consultancies from India and third countries. However, some certification bodies have established their branches in Nepal at present while some others are operating directly in the country. The benefits of having the branches set up in Nepal are numerous on the part of revenue collection for the government and easy flow of information to stakeholders. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	In conclusion, the management system certifications have brought positive improvements in many organizations even during adverse conditions such as political instability, power shortage, labour unrest etc although there is a lot of space for improvement in the consulting, certification and regulatory parts from the government side. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Bhandari is the Director of Quality and Environment Management Services Pvt Ltd and ISO 9001:2008 certified auditor. He can be reached via email at bhandaripomraj@ yahoo.com <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	 </p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-08-10',
			'modified' => '2012-08-15',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'The primary aim of the Quality Management System certification is to ensure consistent quality product and customer satisfaction simultaneously to fulfill the statutory and regulatory requirements with respect to the products and services ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a nongovernmental organization whose main functions are to formulate, revise, adopt and update various standards. These standards may be applicable for all the member countries of the world. Its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland and around 165 countries are its members. Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology represents the membership of ISO from Nepal. ISO has formulated more than 24,000 standards which include basic standards, product standards, test method standards and management system standards.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '635',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Understanding Employee Behaviour',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	As an organisation is a place where most people spend around 50 per cent of their daily time, HR personnel should be able to deal with different types of people. People from different walks of life such as diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, race, gender, caste and nationality work in an organisation. Hence, the HR department in any organisation must be very careful and cautious while dealing with people of different nature. The HR being a support function department, HR professionals must be able to address every issue of an employee including cultural, language and religious barriers, working environment, misconception and misunderstanding among other issues.</p>
<p>
	Besides, the HR must be capable of motivating, facilitating, counseling, coaching, analysing performances and must be able to take quick and efficient decisions. In some cases, it would be very difficult to study the behaviour of an employee. For example, an employee who shows very good performance during the probation period may show a different kind of behaviour afterwards. As human behaviour cannot be predicted and there is no mechanism as such to study the behaviour of an individual, HR professionals find it difficult to cope up with employee behaviour. </p>
<p>
	For this, there are some ways through which employee behaviour can be studied to some extent. Knowledge System Analysis (KSA) and Psychometric Test are methods that can be used during the process of hiring so that an employee’s behaviour can be assessed to some extent. Likewise, close observation of every employee is an important task HR professionals must conduct as this helps knowing the employees in person. Monkey Survey, which is available free of cost online, can be the best available tool for an HR department to study the behaviour of employee(s).&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="70" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/kurakani2.jpg" vspace="1" width="150" /></p>
<p>
	The HR department can organise various trainings like catholic social teachings, stress management trainings, art of living etc in order to refresh employees. Besides, it is the duty of the HR professionals to conduct individual counseling to know how employees are feeling, what are their problems, and their needs and desires. There is a theory which tells that people do not leave their job but they leave their bosses hence it is a challenge for HR personnel to analyse internal as well as external factors due to which employees change their jobs.</p>
<p>
	Starting a new job in an organisation is like getting married with the team one has to work with and the entire organisation. As everything becomes new in this case, it is the responsibility of an HR head to make a new employee feel comfortable. While hiring new employees, there may arise some conflicts such as old employee versus new employees, experienced versus educated, religions, cultures and many others. The behaviour of the employees in this regard cannot be changed but the HR specialists can certainly influence the ground situation to some extent. Another challenge for HR personnel is that, in many cases, personal issues are reflected at a workplace due to which one employee can demoralise the whole team. </p>
<p>
	For this, some NGOs have a unit called Staff Care which provides the employees with emotional, financial or any other kind of support depending on their needs. This unit is accountable to the employees and by establishing such units in an organisation, the HR personnel can create value to the employees and the organisation. It is also understood that one should have fun at work despite the pressures he or she has to bear. This depends on the culture within an organisation, the nature of business, plans and policies, and rules and regulations set by the organisation. It is true that human beings, by nature, are never satisfied with what they have or get and as human nature is dynamic, it is difficult for HR personnel to deal with and solve all the problems. </p>
<p>
	Hence, HR personnel can make people feel good at work so that they have peace of mind while at work which in turn ensures they do not show negative behaviour. To conclude, in order to make it easier for an HR department to handle a diverse set of employees, the department has to be very careful in hiring employees so as to lower down the chances of getting wrong people in an organisation. Similarly, if personal traits can be studied and HR personnel have the capability of handling negative ideas and approaches in a positive way, then it becomes easier to cope up with employee behaviour. Besides, HR personnel must be strict enough to say no and take actions against wrongdoers while, at the same time, they must be able to judge hardworking employees and appraise them accordingly. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Knowledge
System Analysis
(KSA) and
Psychometric
Test are
methods that
can be used
during the
process of hiring.',
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			'image' => null,
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '634',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Job Mapping',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mgmt2.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>By Dr Rabindra Karna</strong></span></p>
<p>
	It is common for any business to have clarity about customer expectations in the beginning as it goes through continuous modification process with the development into the market. It is equally vital to have right people in the organisation to ensure genuine and all accepted services to the customer who literally is the guarantor of success or cause of failure for any business. Simultaneously, it would be critically difficult for people resources to deliver customer satisfaction without clarity about their jobs or expectations from them. Similarly, it would not be possible for HR practitioners or leaders to describe individual jobs without knowing the nature of a job, job family, size of a job and position tagging etc. To meet business objectives, people resources are the key. For an effective and efficient organisation, well developed people bearing clarity about services (individual and organisational) are required to deliver in terms of their contribution to the business. </p>
<p>
	To begin the process of building effective people organisation, a business needs to step ahead with a “job map”. A job map is considered as a bifurcation of jobs into its process steps. Job mapping is also defined as a process of classification systems where positions are classified based on job profiles under occupational group and sub groups. A job map does not describe all expectations; it rather defines broader expectations used in the process of detailing individual job description. Thus, job mapping is a process to compile information and generate database of available and possible jobs in an organisation, for its efficient functioning. As a result of the process, position titles, job profiles and descriptions along with performance matrix becomes consistent. Job mapping also supports grouping of jobs into logical order inside job families and tied to the external market. In gist, a job map does not describe what an organisation is doing; it instead details the opportunities for enhancements in terms of building an effective and progressive institution. </p>
<p>
	The job mapping process necessitates engagement of people resources at various levels. There are enough researches showing compulsion of resources engagement that supports communication process and contributes to success in implementing change. Management scientists too have suggested that all jobs require 7Ds i.e. design, define, determine, display, diagnose, develop and deliver. It has also been confirmed by researches that people in general waste about 20 per cent of their time in obtaining clarifications on incomplete instruction and correction works by redoing tasks that went wrong. Job mapping enables the clarity at a desired level through defining and identifying problem areas. Once a problem is diagnosed, a solution to the problem automatically gets acknowledged and helps plan and introduce improved processes. Job mapping enables us to clarify, examine and develop improvements through role clarity, reduced duplication, agreement on common processes and achieving optimum efficiency by effective distribution and utilisation of resources. While analysing a job map in a structured way, one can easily identify the process improvements. The need becomes that of defining current task and schedules of the business before deeper identification. Hence, it is widely suggested to adopt the critical examination method and examine a whole lot of tasks and assignments to conclude the total outline of a job. A job map remains incomplete till the competency map is derived for any organisation. It essentially requires incorporation with job evaluation, recruitment and placement, skills enhancement needs and process etc.</p>
<p>
	The point to remember is: competency must be considered as behaviour rather than ability or skills and ensure that the competency mapping results into job evaluation. Therefore, defining critical business needs is one of the tools to have error free job map. It would be imperative to define and describe current process and issues, customer needs, business boundaries/limitations, business objectives etc and then determine the overall job map. The team assigned with mapping tasks also needs to identify multiple inefficiencies and obstacles in the process. </p>
<p>
	This necessitates evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of change intended into an organisation. Job mapping, though, has many advantages such as improved people performance contributing to improved business results, promotion of team spirit by defining interlink between different functions, departments and work groups. It also works as an effective educational as well as communication tool that have a huge impact in improving interpersonal relations within an organisation. Simultaneously, it also has the limitation of getting dependent on a small group of people on projects that restricts the representation in a wider perspective.</p>
<p>
	However, this disadvantage can be eliminated by inviting views and comments from larger work groups through circulation of the draft to ensure error free mapping. It is further recommended by many management scientists to distribute preliminary job map to each individual in the taskforce to review and then expand distribution to each functional team for their review and comment. These teams can meet at various levels to confirm that each job has been captured accurately and obtain recommended changes felt by the reviewer/reviewing team. This should be considered as an opportunity to seek input from many people at different stages and inviting their ideas as well as participation in the process.</p>
<p>
	All the feedback that is received, taken in positive light, can help in revising the map and support preparation of the final documents that is now ready for use in the desired and chosen application. However, to ensure a successful mapping, it is suggested to have a duly defined project plan detailing critical business need, analysis of current status and processes, new designs and implementation etc. To conclude, a job map gives companies a framework to discover opportunities that differentiate their offerings and get jobs accomplished perfectly by its employees to satisfy the customer need. </p>
<p>
	It also helps businesses to create breakthrough products and services through practicing innovations that makes the destinies of businesses within comfortable reach. Job mapping is ultimately a versatile and valuable tool for improving people (individual) and organisational performances. It offers a straight forward work requirement that enables good performances by elimination of obstacles, for employees to perform. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Job mapping
is a process
to compile
information
and generate
database of
available and
possible jobs in
an organisation,
for its effi cient
functioning.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '633',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Strengthening Boards Is A Must For Good Governance In Banks/FIs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong><img align="left" alt="management" border="5" height="196" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/mundul.jpg" width="150" /><br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>By Sujit Mundul <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Corporate Governance</strong> is a well discussed subject over the last decade or so. A good governance aims to protect shareholders rights and enhance disclosure and transparency. It facilitates effective functioning of the board and provides an efficient legal and regulatory enforcement framework.</p>
<p>
	If we look at the definition of Corporate Governance (CG), it transpires, “The fundamental concern of CG is to ensure the conditions whereby a firm’s directors and managers i.e. executives act in the interests of the firm and its shareholders. It also ensures the means by which managers are hailed responsible to capital providers for the use of assets.”</p>
<p>
	So it clearly shows a direction towards:</p>
<p>
	<strong>Responsibility</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Accountability <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Transparency&nbsp;</strong> </p>
<p>
	<strong>Fairness <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	for the board of directors and the relevant executives who run day-to-day business and administration. This much discussed subject “governance” once again has taken the centre stage in the global financial world. The recent collapse of the European Bank Dexia sent shock waves across the global banking industry hardly three months after it was given a clean chit by the European Banking Authority (EBA). </p>
<p>
	EU-wide stress test covering 91 banks, representing virtually 65 per cent of the EU banking assets was conducted in the not too distant past by EBA in cooperation with few central banks, European Central Bank, European Commission and European Systemic Risk Board. On the basis of their results announced in July this year, Dexia issued a statement on its website that there is “no need for Dexia to raise additional capital.” However, since October 5th, it is inching towards bankruptcy. This phenomenon has raised an intellectual debate on the limitations of bank regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	For quite some time, the major concern of the policy makers was to monitor and administer prudential controls i.e. provisioning for non-performing assets, capital adequacy in the process of regulating banks and ensuring their stability. Perhaps, regulatory oversight was considered to be a substitute to corporate governance. It looked like corporate governance was considered to be less critical for banks compared with non-banking entities. The global financial crisis has clearly revealed the fact that regulation and supervision of banks has not ensured a sound banking system. As a logical corollary to this, it has now become a very convincing argument than ever before that good corporate governance complements regulation and supervision.</p>
<p>
	Banks play a critical role in the development of economies around the world. Effective corporate governance in banks helps foster financial stability, strengthen risk management and ultimately contribute to sound economic development. Banks are really unique; therefore, corporate governance of banks goes beyond the conventional agency theory. We cannot deny the fact that the banks are the most leveraged commercial enterprises. Typically, bank owners contribute circa 10 per cent of the regulatory capital. Public deposits constitute a major share of their fund base (may be up to 80 per cent). We all know that banks have a fiduciary relationship with their customers, i.e., hold the wealth of depositors and manage it on their behalf. This constitutes an additional principalagent relationship that does not exist with non-financial firms.</p>
<p>
	Let us take a look at India. Despite the existence of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 - which inter alia contains the key parameters of good corporate governance - the issues relating to corporate governance in banks did not assume significance, especially after the nationalisation of major banks and several social obligations placed on them. The sense of urgency in implementing good corporate governance was recognised when these banks started accessing the capital markets from 1994.</p>
<p>
	One important point must be noted in this connection. After 1994, the listed banks are not only governed by banking regulation act and the various statuettes under which they are incorporated, but also by the provisions of the Companies Act related to management and administration and minority shareholders protection.</p>
<p>
	It goes without saying that long-term survival and success of an institution depends greatly on the skills, experience and knowledge of its directors and top management. The “working board” requires individuals who are informed, competent and independent to ensure enterprise and integrity which can promote sound growth of the company.</p>
<p>
	In the context of corporate governance, it would be interesting to note that while reviewing the policy of granting fresh licenses to corporations, the RBI Governor Dr D Subbarao raised concerns of “possible self-dealing” by promoter groups in private banks. He also cautioned the banks’ boards regarding excessive risk taking. In April 2011, the RBI levied a penalty on 19 banks including India’s largest bank – State Bank of India for violations on the sale of derivatives. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakhs on Citibank for frauds relating to portfolio management by one of its managers. </p>
<p>
	Sending a strong message to the banks’ boards, the RBI governor said the boards and senior management of the banks would require to be more sensitive to the interests of the depositors and careful of the “potentially destructive consequences of risk taking, be alert to the warning signals and be wise enough to contain exuberance.” Dr Subbarao further said “the short point is this: if the directors on the boards of the banks did not know what was going on, they should ask themselves if they were fit enough to be directors. If they did know and did not stop it, they were complicit in the recklessness and fraud.” One of the biggest challenges in India is the dearth of professionals who are capable and willing to accept the mandate of independent directors. Now let us take a look at Nepal in this regard. Nepal Rastra Bank - the fountainhead of the country’s monetary system - has issued directives on good corporate governance. (NRB Directives No 6: Code-of-Ethics to be observed by Directors/CEO of Banks and Financial Institutions), the salient points of which are: </p>
<p>
	<strong>A declaration be signed as to observe the NRB regulations.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibitions to involve in activities against the interest of the Bank/FI.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for CEO to work part-time.</strong></p>
<p>
	Director of a Bank not to become a director of other institutions licensed by NRB.</p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition for Directors to hold Trusteeships.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Prohibition to misuse the position for personal benefits.</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>Maintenance of confidentiality and fair and equal treatment.</strong> </p>
<p>
	If we undertake a critical appreciation of the situation in the Nepali banking industry, the picture would not be very different from India in that finding appropriate and willing professionals for board positions continues to remain a major challenge. As a sequel to the recent global financial crisis, the regulators in most of the countries have placed much emphasis on the selection of board directors in Banks/FIs as they would play pivotal roles in the implementation of good governance in order to ensure sound health of the organisation.</p>
<p>
	Despite strengthening of rules, regulations, codes of conduct etc relating to good corporate governance over the years, we have found that major incidents in frauds, mis-selling, insider trading etc continue to recur in many parts of the world. So, it seems that these rules/regulations have not really strengthened the spirit of corporate governance. The spirit lies in the hearts of the managers. It is deep rooted in the foundation of moral sentiments and values, rendering it difficult for the regulators to measure. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-23',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'This subject of
“governance”
once again
has taken
the centre stage
in the global
fi nancial world.Effective
corporate
governance in
banks helps
foster fi nancial
stability,
strengthen risk
management
and ultimately
contribute to
sound economic
development.',
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			'id' => '578',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Compensation And Benefits: A Sensitive HRM Practice',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<img align="left" alt="management" border="5" hspace="1" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage.jpg" style="width: 161px; height: 151px;" vspace="1" />In today’s competitive skills market scenario, businesses are required to adopt special care on compensation and benefits for its people resources. The time has expressed its demand for strategic compensation system against a traditional one. Compensation provided to employees can be in the form of cash benefits or nonmonetary benefits. It is the sum of total rewards and benefits extended in return for their contribution to businesses. If compensation issues are managed effectively, it results in enhanced productivity. An employee does not work only for monetary benefit; however, the financial consideration remains one of the most important key for their working. The complete clarity of processes in compensation and benefits is crucial in view of unbiased decision process as well acceptance thereof. </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits means a cost to the management they are ready to pay for the services of an individual employee where as for an employee, it is an income against sales of their services to a buyer/organisation. Evolving a scientific compensation and benefit structure involves: government legislations and policies, supply and demand scenario in skills market, comparative study within an industry/business, productivity, labour cost and ability to pay etc. A true pay for performance supports productivity enhancement and talent retention. At the same time, it is also a fact that compensation management is not just a means to attract and retain skills; it rather leverages sustaining of competitive advantage for both (employer and employee) through integration processes that result in optimal achievements. Compensation and benefits plays a vital role in people management thus this belongs to the most specialised areas within human resources management (HRM). It deals with controlling and managing rules/policy/ procedures around guaranteed pay, variable pay and benefits etc to the most important resources of an organisation, that is, skills.<img align="right" alt="management" border="5" height="132" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/manage2.jpg" vspace="2" width="200" /></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	Compensation and benefits is one of the important functions inside HRM that connects with the competitors in the market and develops compensation policies that are fully competitive in the skills market. In the current context, compensation systems are designed in alignment to business goals and overall organisational strategies. Thus, compensation strategies are also aligned with the business goals and objectives. The human resources strategies derived from overall business strategies sets the path way and objective for the human resources function that compensation and benefits strategies requires to follow. It cannot differ from one another in any circumstances to guarantee full alignment which is most essential for no-conflict environment. The compensation and benefits strategy becomes the guiding factor in setting up general rules for the compensation and benefits area in an organisation. It is recognised as the most important part of HRM focused solely on employees’ rewards and benefits policy making. </p>
<p>
	The recent compensation and benefits theories have divided compensation and benefits into four key categories:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Guaranteed Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on their availability, that is, a certain sum for a fixed period of time but not linked to performance or productivity. It is also known as time wage and basic pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Variable Pay</strong>: Monetary/cash payment paid to employees based on performance or result achieved, that is, normally based on analysis or past performance establishing average performance of a particular standard of workmanship. Sales incentive, productivity incentive, performance bonus etc are some examples. It is also known as progressive piece pay package.</p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Benefits</strong>: Monetary/cash and/or nonmonetary facilities to supplement employees namely insurance, mobilisation, leave travel assistance, time-off payment, tips, communication facilities, statutory holidays and leave, house rent and special allowances, retirement and post retirement benefits etc.</p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Equity</strong>: This is a pay plan that uses the employers’ share as compensation to employees in the form of a stock option for them. This is not common in our part of the world though the objectives of this category plan are talent attraction and retention and alignment of interests (of employees and shareowners). In essence, compensation is a reward or payment paid to an employee in return for their contribution to a business. The role of various components of the reward is very important as the role of different components differ from one another, for example, dearness allowance is to compensate, console or provide support on account of the cost of living whereas performance bonus, incentive and sales incentive are for better people productivity. A sound compensation and benefits systems aims to:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Attract and retain the talent</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Pay for the job instead of the position</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Reward the effort and merit</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Enhance people productivity, and e. Promote organisational flexibility</strong></p>
<p>
	Hence, the compensation and benefits strategy requires full support from the top management as it describes limits to the organisational routine, especially for line management. Normally, they do not get convinced with the philosophies considered while determining this strategy.</p>
<p>
	Further, it is an unavoidable fact that compensation is an important factor for people while accepting a job/employment. There are obvious challenges in the areas of retaining desired talents and offering competitive salary, wages and benefits becomes the most essential necessity. At the same time, organisations must also market their strengths in terms of their offering of positive relationships and varied challenges in job offerings. Organisations are desired to fully leverage their people resources to sustain competitive position through integration of processes, programmes and information to achieve optimal expectations. Compensation and benefits are mainly influenced by two types of elements:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. Internal</strong>: Business objectives, trade unions, employee equity, organisational values, culture and structures are important internal influencers; and</p>
<p>
	<strong>b. External</strong>: Inflation, skills market, economy, taxation and relevant industry trends are key external influencers. While on review process, it would be eminent to have information on the total compensation and benefits packages inclusive of retirement or post retirement benefits for better comparison that leads to an effective and efficient decision process. One also needs to consider:</p>
<p>
	<strong>a. More than one source of information</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>b. Competitors to whom skills are lost (who left the organisation)</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>c. Salary positioning</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>d. Expected reinforcement of desirable behaviour</strong></p>
<p>
	<strong>e. Mark of recognition <br />
	</strong></p>
<p>
	To conclude, it is advisable to establish direct relation of individual goals with corporate business objectives. This will make employees realise that the fulfillment of employees’ aspirations lies in the achievement of organisational expectations. This, being the most sensitive aspect of people management, one must remember that employees know and very clearly understand the aspects of performance contributing towards the compensation factor. It would also be advantageous to clarify each individual employee about the contribution of abilities and efforts to high performance level along with its quantification. &nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2012-02-22',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Compensation
systems are
designed in
alignment to
business goals
and overall
organisational
strategies.(Dr Karna is the
Executive Chairman
of MARK Business
Solutions Pvt Ltd and
Ad Abhyas Marketing
& Communications
Pvt Ltd. The article
is based on various
research reports and his
practical experiences
as management
practitioner.)',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '510',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Budget',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need, cost is considered as a major factor. We all like saving of time and money at all levels whether in personal life or in business circumstances. The purpose of business entity is the profitable manufacturing and/or supply of goods and services to fulfill economic necessities ensuring satisfactory returns to all stakeholders mainly known as economic and social suppliers, that is,. investors/owners, members/employees of the enterprises, customers, and the society. Hence planning and budgets are developed in business enterprises to analyse and evaluate managerial decision making on account of spending and output achievement.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	 </p>
<p>
	Human Resources Management, in the process of effective utilisation of the people resources towards achievement of overall organisational goals; performs number of functions broadly named as:</p>
<ol>
	<li>
		Organisational Planning in support of determining its need, structure and relationship strategies. </li>
	<li>
		Staffing covering headcount planning, recruitment, selection and placement, job designs and profiling, orientation and separations.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>
		Skills Enhancement comprising of training need analysis, training activities and evaluation of programme offered. </li>
	<li>
		Compensation &amp; Benefit processing job evaluation, designing and operating suitable salary package/ structure and variable pay package. </li>
	<li>
		Motivation starting from performance appraisal moving through recognition to financial and nonfinancial incentives. </li>
	<li>
		Employee Relations beginning from discipline, counseling, grievance handling moving through recreation and welfare activities, eligibilities (leave, provident fund, gratuity etc) medical services to collective bargaining etc</li>
	<li>
		Personnel record comprising personal information gathering, database development, talent inventory etc making complete employee record. </li>
</ol>
<p>
	Therefore, the cost of human capital represents one of the largest operating expenses into any business. It impacts financial results indirectly in the form of recruitment, motivation and morale, skills enhancement etc impacting quality of operations that supports building customers’ confidence leading to customer retention resulting into revenue/profit. Developing effective human resources budgeting strategies leverages organisations to improve accuracy in cost prediction, control mechanism over budget and realising significant savings. HR budgeting brings together data from different sources, for example, HRIS (Human Resources Information System), Payroll, Performance Management, Sales forecast etc and generates full picture of current and future business positioning. The HR budget is operating budget within the organisation. </p>
<p>
	Budgeting involves information and data to enable finance project organisation’s overall objectives and profitability. The finance unit of an enterprise determines budget structure element and HR unit generates elements of people cost. There are mainly two methods that are applied in budgeting: a. Generic incremental method: Using current budget, next budget is developed through adjustments on each item in close consideration of expected business move, market inflation, consumer/customer sentiments, past success rate etc. b. Zero-based budgeting method: The process begins with zero as base and each item included in the budget is justified before inclusion. It is an organised approach to decide the funding level and performance level in the context of scarce resources and new priorities from scratch – as if no operations exist (before). Whilst creating human resources budget, absolute necessary attention is expected on income of the business moving to investment on people resources. Line items of expenditure are defined by object classes, that is, charts of accounts. While talking of HR budget, such line items include: • Headcount plan, that is, Number of employee projected (includes organisation structure) • Changes projections in compensation and benefits (inclusive of overtime payments) • New benefits/programmes planned • Assumptions around employee turnover • Assumptions/guidelines for realistic expense level • Social security for employees and corporate citizenship programmes • Other changes in policy, business strategy, law or regulation that may impact costs • Skills e n h a n c e m e n t / p e o p l e development/training cost, and • Cost control and reduction via consulting, savings from compensation, benefits, turnover reduction, developed internal trainers etc Projections are based on actual costs incurred in the past or guesses, depending on the nature of the expense and the data available.</p>
<p>
	It may be difficult to project in the circumstances of significant fluctuations in turnover and staffing needs. Thus HR associates need to gather every source of available data in order to make educated projections. It would also be wise to obtain feedback on essential HR moves from other functional heads that ensures buy-in of projections in view of instilling confidence on the inclusion of their expectations from HR. These are crucial in working out lowcost benefits contributing to increased employee satisfaction. With the shift from traditional to professional working of HR, clearly defined mission, vision and values for HR function becomes a path finder for people managers in streamlining process and securing alignment of total team towards one direction. Currently, HR function in any organisation is evaluated on the basis of people productivity and hence it is widely suggested to work around productivity improvement, product/ service quality delivery and instilling customer satisfaction that undoubtedly secures customer retention and contributes to sales growth with improved profitability. This enables HR to track revenue and profit per employee, that is, a comparative study of employees output against expenses per employee. Analytical Budgeting provides opportunity to HR practitioners around comparing achievements with competition and one’s own past performance that opens the door for continuous improvement. </p>
<p>
	The essence here lies in successful measurements of HR functions assignments and performance as it has a direct impact on the organisation as a whole. The recent studies and human scientists have directed a need to establish a clear numerical relationship between people management and financial performance as it would support translation of strategy into operations, managing and controlling overall performance down to business transactions as a result of improved decision making across the organisation. From an entrepreneur’s view point, employee shares of the rewards of production whether cash or other form of earning are commonly referred to HR expenditure and considered as “Cost”. HR practitioners need to identify the areas of businesses that are growing and work with responsibility centres in such areas. </p>
<p>
	Volunteer themselves around HR support in elimination of barriers experienced by such areas of business in improving productivity and margin. Also establish review process to evaluate impact of HR interventions and once positive impact is visible (which is sure to happen), the business head becomes the HR advocate with the Finance head that ensures full considerations and funding HR initiatives. HR strategies are never stagnant, it is most flexible and shifts focus with changes experienced whether economic or otherwise. </p>
<p>
	Therefore, it would be wise for HR function to prioritise their programmes and services focusing most important areas that have high and visible impact on people productivity as well as producing immediate return to make sure that their budget is accepted as value addition instead of cost. It needs to shift its focus to growth areas that can be served with prioritised HR services. This will improve response time and customer service in total too that will be added advantage for HR to be perceived as responsive productive unit and eradicate the common perception of unresponsive overhead unit within the organisation. To conclude, HR needs to demonstrate competitive advantage for the business in total from the programmes and approaches adopted for budgeting defining difference in ways and means for achievement that confirms result much superior than ever before so that confidence of total business is secured to maintain HR programmes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<em>(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</em></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Basic needs are considered essential for survival. When we talk about business, the basic elements required to run a business are people resources, materials and machines depending upon the nature of business. While working on a basic need,',
			'sortorder' => '416',
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '509',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Ways Of Appraising Employees',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development. As the last fiscal year ended just a few months ago (i.e. at mid-July), many organisations are now conducting performance appraisals in order to evaluate the yearly performances of its employees. In this context, Real Solutions organised HR Kurakani on ‘Ways of appraising employees’ in order to discuss how to conduct appraisal effectively. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR practitioners from diverse fields discussed the ways of appraising and the different ways that it can be accomplished: <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Methods <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Every organisation has its own method of appraising an employee’s performance but some of the popular methods used by various organisations in Nepal are 360 degree appraisal, observation basis and balanced scorecard among others. The performance appraisal forms are filled either manually or through use of certain software packages developed for the purpose. Filling the PA forms should not be biased; but in practice, favoritism does exist within organisations. Therefore, PA should be transparent in order to bring out best results. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Forms <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The participating HR practitioners highlighted on designing questionnaires as per respective job descriptions and found it necessary that they are associated with organisational goals. The questionnaire should be able to analyse different aspects of an employee like communication skills, punctuality, competence, knowledge and overall behaviour among others. Another aspect to be considered while designing the PA forms is the language. The language should be simple, clear and must include both English and Nepali languages and sometimes in other language(s) too, in order to make PA process easier. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">Trend <br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It was felt that most of the organisations in Nepal do not carry out appraisals while some others do it just for the sake of doing it. The organisations that conduct appraisals systematically and effectively include multinational companies and international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs).</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;">PA Outcome</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If an organisation conducts PA and takes no action based on the result received, then there’s no point in going through the entire process. The action as a result should not always be an increment in terms of monetary compensation even though it is one of the major aspects. Besides monetary reward, the appraisal outcome can also include non-monetary rewards such as providing holiday packages, training facilities, appreciation and rewarding best employee among others, based on their performances. An increment in salary is expected on a yearly basis when PA is conducted. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The HR Kurakani participants discussed salary increment criteria such as performance based increment, increment as per government norms, increment as per inflation rate and increment considering an organisation’s values and growth. It was also discussed that yearly PA is not the best way of judging and rewarding employees. If a system can be introduced to appraise employees on a monthly basis, it could be more effective. The participants discussed the possibilities and practicality of such an arrangement. Since it requires greater time investment, the participants suggested conducting biannual PAs and pointed out different ways that can assist appraisals such as critical incident recording, electronic tracking system, introduction of cards for warnings in the event of mistakes committed and encouragement in case of perfect job, external evaluation etc. (The write up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on the topic ‘Ways of Appraising Employees’ conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. <br />
	</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size:14px;">The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries as well as a freelancer. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company coordinated the event).</span></p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-11-15',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important methods an organisation can guarantee the continued performance of its employees and support their future development.',
			'sortorder' => '415',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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			'breaking_news' => false,
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	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '490',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Crisis For The Better (October 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="right" alt="" border="2" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/saujanya.jpg" style="width: 124px; height: 160px;" vspace="5" />By Saujanya Acharya</span></strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the world to see one of the economic giants drowning under the water and getting washed away. Well, it seems the nature spares nobody. Earthquake and tsunami were not the only problems. The nature also hit a devastating creation of man: a nuclear power plant. Hence, within a very short time span, the Japanese society had to face three different crises.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The case of Japan provides a great study for the field of management: to be more precise, the handling of crisis in a large institution. When corner shops face a crisis, such as plummeting sales, decision making is quite simple as the options include whether to shut down the business, or keep operating at a lower cost level. However, at a larger scale, decision makers are asked for much more careful decision: one decision could trigger another problem in a chain effect.&nbsp;As far as crisis management is concerned, the Japanese government has been quite effective despite the public criticism – especially, from the international media.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government is criticized for its lack of information disclosure regarding the crisis in the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. It was only in the later stage of the crisis that the Japanese government finally admitted the situation to be as worse as that of Chernobyl – even though the level of crisis was apparent to them from the earlier stages. Such strategy seems dishonest on the part of the government. Yet, it has proved to be a wise one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 245px;" vspace="2" />It was wise because the outcome of Japanese government’s honesty would have been quite catastrophic – as it could have invited unwanted havoc. Even with their strategy of concealing the information, there were some disturbances. For example, people started to flee the Japanese cities in the north. This phenomenon was seen also in Tokyo Metropolitan Area which was declared safe by the scientists. This panic was caused by the media which highlighted the impending disaster of nuclear crisis in a very speculative manner. Hence, massive exodus of population from the major surrounding cities would have been inevitable, had the government from the beginning admitted that the disaster level was at 5.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Argument against the government’s action would be on ethical grounds only. The government should be looking after the welfare of the society. People have the right to know what sort of danger they are in. Hence, when the Japanese government held the leverage tight for the flow of information, it was denying its citizens their right to know the truth. Later the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet members were heavily criticized for such decisions. Their reputation was quite tarnished.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Yet, sympathy goes to those decision makers. They were in dilemma. Releasing complete information at once would have caused unwarranted panic. This could have generated another wave of socio-economic tsunami. On the other hand, gradual disclosure of information, with careful observation of the populace would have invited allegations of dishonesty. After all, the government as an institution had to take maximum measures to make sure that the impact on life and property was minimum – even if it had to come at the cost of their honesty. At least they had been able to avert socio-economic turmoil that would have been caused had the people and businesses chose to leave Japan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Similarly, in the corporate setting, there are times for the management to be better off adopting the “controlled information” policy. As soon as there is a premonition or hype of a crisis in a company, non-managerial workers as well as line managers would try to put themselves in their comfort zones – such as finding different jobs. The problem is that there is no rigorous assessment of the situation – only the mid level or top level managers do so. Hence, even if their neck is not on the line, those workers would try to find a way out – because of lack of understanding. This actually ends up creating a problem in the company – which resembles a nature of self fulfilling prophecy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/oct-management1.jpg" style="width: 404px; height: 190px;" vspace="2" />Instead, the management should try to avoid such panic among its workers. This does not allow them to exploit the workers through lack of information or misinformation. “Controlled information” strategy must take welfare of the workers as well as stability of the company into consideration.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In short term, Japanese government somehow managed the crisis. But, what ahead ?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Japanese government would be asked for a lot more than just achieving stability. Being one of the economic giants, they have to be able to not only get out of the mess, but be back on its feet as one of the global economic powerhouses. Just like a star athlete getting back after a terrible injury, people appreciate a good comeback story.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">I believe the strength of a nation is shown by its response to crisis. When the earthquake hit, a friend of mine was in a supermarket in downtown Tokyo. The quake caused panic: goods fell on the ground, wine bottles shattered and racks collapsed on top of each other. Soon, it stopped shaking. And, people picked up their grocery items, stood on the queue, paid at the cashier, and left patiently. The country was in the midst of “the worst crisis since Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” as Kan put. Yet, people still showed up at their city offices the same week to fulfill their tax obligation. Apart from the quake and tsunami, explosion of the nuclear power plant caused a power shortage throughout eastern Japan. Essentially, the Japanese government declared implementation of daily load shedding for four hours. People and businesses immediately reacted – but not in the form of a public demonstration or protests. Most people started saving electricity at home. Businesses, malls and restaurants shut their businesses early to save electricity. By the end of the day, load shedding lasted less than an hour.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In Japanese, crisis is written as 危機 (kiki). The word consists of two Chinese characters: 危 (ki) meaning “danger”, and 機 (ki) meaning “opportunity”. The word itself indicates the perception of crisis in the Japanese society. Yes, people were shocked, and filled with fear. But they kept their heads up, searching for a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let history speak for itself. Every time crisis hits the island nation, Japanese golden age follows. The 1932 Great Kanto Earthquake – which destroyed entire Tokyo and killed approximately 140,000 people – was followed by Japanese military glory and its rise as one of the world’s superpowers. Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which also destroyed both cities killing roughly 200,000 people – was followed by Japanese economic prosperity and its emergence as the world’s largest economy. Every time they fall, they rise up stronger. And I believe such characteristic shows the grandeur of the nation.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Crisis tests our strength. Whether on our management of crisis or standing up on our feet in the midst of it – crisis could be an inevitable challenge at any point in our life. Some break down; others prevail. With wise but unpopular, “controlled information” strategy, Japanese government did not escalate the existing natural crisis by averting socio-economic crisis. Secondly, Japanese philosophy of seeing opportunities in times of crisis needs to be appreciated by the business minds. It is this attitude that brought the country from bottom rock to a leading position. On the whole, one could expect a better tomorrow if a crisis is managed smartly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>[Acharya grew up in Tokyo, Japan and attended St Mary’s International School. He is currently a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student at Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). He can be reached via email at saujanya820@gmail.com.]</i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-10-11',
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			'description' => 'It has been roughly six months after the catastrophe caused by the quake along the coast of northern Japan. It was a terrifying day for the people across the.................',
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			'id' => '443',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Leadership: Managing Hunger (September 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="border-width: medium medium 1pt; border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(134, 55, 59); padding: 0in 0in 3pt;">
	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sujit(1).jpg" style="width: 116px; height: 147px;" vspace="10" />By Sujit Mundul</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">I</span>n the current days of rat race and peer pressure, most of us struggle hard to find happiness at workplace, regardless of the nature of the organisation -- be it a local corporate or a multinational. Resurgent capitalism has added fuel to the fire. It does not at all know, or does not know enough, about the boundary conditions of profit maximisation. A ceaseless aspiration of higher rate of profit drives people mad and could probably be a major source of dissatisfaction throughout the levels in an organisation. The question comes loud and clear if there is a sense of balance in the level of aspiration.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In his recent book “The art of happiness at work” by HH Dalai Lama, the great spiritual leader has given some very practical suggestions to alleviate the contemporary pressure of achieving success to the detriment of our holistic well being. These conditions are also very much applicable to the persons in position of leadership, which involve them in managing conflicts.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Frequently people are defeated because, though they are doing their best, they make mistakes in <img align="left" alt="" border="2" height="263" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/management.jpg" vspace="5" width="350" />how they assess and engage their environment. Sometimes we bring ourselves down by forgetting to pay attention to ourselves. We get entangled in the cause and forget that exercising leadership is, at heart, a pure personal activity. It activates us to face challenges, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. With the higher flow of adrenaline, we can work ourselves into believing we are somewhat different and therefore not subject to normal human frailties that can defeat more ordinary mortals on ordinary missions. We begin to act as if we were physically and emotionally indestructible.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Let us look at the example of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton came to the White House in 1993 sleep deprived and physically exhausted; rather than ‘prepare himself physically for the ordeal ahead’.&nbsp;Clinton spent the period between the election and the inauguration working, playing and celebrating in endless 24- hr days. By the time Clinton got to Washington, he’ seemed worn out.... and hyper....’ He refused to rest. It may be that Clinton had a real drive to keep that pace as was observed by David Gergen, the presidential advisor. It would be quite logical to think that we are vulnerable to falling prey to our own hungers. It is strongly believed that self- knowledge and self-discipline form the foundation of staying alive.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It can’t be denied that we all have hungers, which are expressions of our normal human needs. But we get reminded many a time that those hungers disrupt our capacity to act wisely or purposefully. Perhaps, one of our needs is too great and makes us vulnerable. It could be so that the setting in which we operate enhances our normal level of need, inflate our desires and in the process benumbs our usual self controls. A seed of unhappiness gets sown in the process.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It cannot be denied that every human being needs some degree of power, control and importance, as well as intimacy and delight. It would be very difficult to find someone who prefers to feel entirely powerless and unimportant in life. However, it is a proven fact that each of these normal human needs could land us into trouble if not handled judiciously as one tends to lose personal wisdom and discipline required to manage them effectively.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In a leadership role, the utmost difficult part is to manage people as one requires tuning their needs as well as one’s own. There is another danger, in connecting with people’s hopes and frustrations; it is easy to become a depository of their yearnings! Nevertheless, the desire to fulfil the needs of others can become a vulnerability if it feeds the leader’s own normal hunger for power, importance etc. They get so caught up in the action and energy that they loss their wisdom and self-discipline, and slip out of control.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">When you take on the tasks of leading, invariably you resonate with many feelings expressed by people around you. Many of the feelings in our jobs are produced by the way we resonate with the job environment itself. In each professional role one takes on, one must be careful about own emotional inclination to carry the issues and sentiments of others in the organisation. This, of course, is a very challenging proposition to deal with successfully. As discussed earlier, a failure to properly deal with these essential but complex psychological behaviour, would trigger unhappiness in the workplace as also in personal life.</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Once again I would like to refer back to HH Dalai Lama’s advice of clearly understanding where we are standing and what we want to achieve. He has had no hesitation in making it clear to us that uncontrolled ambition would become the bane of all unhappiness. So, it would be good to pay heed to his valuable advice that we need to make a choice between peace and ambition. Leaders of this age would require to exercise more caution in successfully playing their roles, as the lure of ambition unlimited would always remain latent, to drift one’s mind towards .......perhaps unhappiness.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '442',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Employee Relations (September 2011)',
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	<div style="text-align: justify;">
		<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt; font-style: normal;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Misalignments in employee relations are mainly caused by misunderstanding arising from silo mentality, friction and disagreements between functions and individual employees in need of clarity. Workflow is considered one of the key enablers to adaptive and responsive culture in any workplace. Collaborative difficulties arise because of inability to partner with others, whether functions or individuals, within the enterprise. Employee relations strategies define the intentions of institutions about expectations from each member about what needs to be done in current situation to manage relationship with employees and their trade unions. HR strategy incorporating employee relation strategies flows from business strategy but concentrates on the ways and means for maximising cooperation with the unions and employees through minimising damaging effects on business in total.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Employee Relations is the broader and latest approach to Industrial Relations and Labour Relations that cover a wider range of employment relationship with the emergence of non-Industrial employment relationship, non-unionised workplaces and socio-emotional arrangements. It is viewed as collective relationship between the employer and the employees. It emphasises on prevention and solution to conflict arising out of work situations and contributes to enhanced productivity, motivation level and people morale as an effect of employees’ involvement on various progressive performance inclusive of discipline. It is also viewed as part of social science because of its concerns about relationship among the employees and the institutions that emerges by and in the form of recruitment and selection, compensation and benefit, workplace safety and environment, skills enhancement opportunities, discipline and so many other varieties of issues. Though it is part of the management that deals with collaborative partnership between the employer and the employees – whether skilled or unskilled, worker or manager, relationship between the state and the employers and the trade unions. The primary concern of employee relation is employer – employee relationship; if maintained at right spirit, driving human resources management strategy becomes effective that supports business achievement.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Since the emergence of Personnel Administrationto the present incarnation of Human Resources Management, even executives perception about it is as just an administrative function whereas employee relations, an integral part of human resources management, addresses underestimations by educating through interactions and leadership in developing methods to improve and establish human resources management into the role of strategic partner. The challenge for employee relation practice in modern management is observed as establishing connection between organisational behavior and&nbsp;HR strategies. In the current context, when the workplace relationship includes conflict of interest, no one can ensure to prevent workers’ exploitation and thus HR (Human Resources) and ER (Employee Relations) practitioners work through institutional interventions to support workings of the relationship in right spirit protecting employees’ rights. Therefore, organisations these days have grievance procedures, Labour Relation Committee, Labour Unions, Collective Bargaining mechanism and Labor Management Partnership etc. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Any business needs people to work in team, performing to achieve business objectives. Non-living entities like machineries, chairs, tables etc cannot be instrumental towards organisational expectations without human beings. In fact, the people are the most valuable asset for any organisation. People resources must share good rapport working together and strive to make the dreams of the organisation come true. Thus, it’s pertinent for the people working for any organization to clearly demonstrate their personal interest after business interest.&nbsp;Some of the key issues around employee relation are corporate restructuring and reshaping of enterprises, employment relationship in union and non-union work environment, effective and efficient performance management systems, workforce diversity, globalisation of labor market etc wherein perspective of socio-economic, political, historical, psychological and legislative developments have great say on employee and employer relationship. Relation can be warm, good, bad, so-so but it is important for any organisation that there is productive or healthy relationship among each other to deliver the best. Workforce spends maximum time with fellow workers, where any conflict will result only in diminishing productivity. Thus, the workforce needs to communicate or discuss as many essential things around business as possible that alone can allow each one at work to derive solution for any misunderstanding, which can lead to intended benefit for self and the institution. None can work alone at the same time it is also but natural that every one can’t think like others or behave the way one behaves. Thus, it’s important to ensure every one behaves in a civilized way demonstrating respect and trust for each other. It is also crucial that all employees maintain cordial relations supporting each other with great understanding of needs and expectations, impacting accomplishment of goals of the entity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is important for employees to understand that they are paid for productivity and not for any clash or conflict among themselves. The fact also is that one can have best friends at work place. Many human scientists have expressed their observation that healthy work place relation leads to long life and it helps people at work to keep themselves ready to take new challenges. Communication plays crucial role in generating and up-keeping relations intact and hence it is widely recommended to keep communication effective and open within and outside the core team. This helps to correct misinterpretation and perceptions about each other, leading to creating and strengthening the trust and the respect that is most essential for improved performance as well as individual efficiency. However, it (Communication) needs to be obvious and accurate so that thoughts are translated into relevant words supporting the development and sustainability of warm relationship; thus usage of written communication in terms of employee relation is highly recommended. Also, employee survey can be reflective towards focus on workplace relationship management, especially in terms of business operation. The survey report provides an opportunity for sincere feedback and breakdown that may not be possible to achieve solely through business communication. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is also observed that disciplinary measures as well as legal/policy compliance in relation to it like absenteeism, leave and vacation, overtime payment etc have marginal impact on employee relations.&nbsp;Similarly, skills enhancement opportunity, pay package, career advancement are important elements determining employee relation. Issues in these areas emerge mainly when employee equity becomes questionable in perception of partiality. It is thus suggested to avoid nepotism and ensure everyone in the organisation is treated same. It has been unanimous that employees are the lifeline of any organisation because none of the businesses can endure without employee like human cannot stay alive without blood. Employees are the most valuable asset and hence, their full immersion in their work, securing emotional attachment will be useful to sustain productive and harmony in relation. HR Associates (especially employee relations in-charge) must focus more on psychological contract than any other legal contract. As much people will have to deliver challenges and creativity in their routine, that much less chances of any challenge will be on employee relations. Simultaneously, activities supportive to foster togetherness like lunch together, group activities, task sharing, award ceremony, job rotation etc can be very useful in maintaining harmony at work place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Additionally, one need to keep in mind that two individuals are never alike. It would be imperative to keep off from regular fault-finding rather usage of simple praises like “well done, great, very good, wow etc motivating phrases will work far beyond any theory and practices. These leave impact like token of appreciation.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">It is rightly said that success and failure of any business is proportional to the relationship shared among the employees. Researches say if the employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they have a propensity to remain happy and stay away from conflict. It is therefore suggested for HR practitioners to encourage employees on group and extra-curricular activities and lead them to the unity that instills the productive relationship.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'id' => '441',
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			'title' => 'Harassment At Work, Challenge For HR Personnel (September 2011)',
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			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Harassment at work includes different types of unwanted action towards an employee that leads to complexity in doing assigned tasks or makes the employee feel that he or she is working in an unfriendly environment. Harassment may be based on different factors such as gender, race, class, culture, age, sexual orientation, or religious preference.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Different ways of harassment within and outside workplace are reported like intentional, situational, emotional, sexual and even harassment through use of technologies such as phone, SMS and email. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In many countries of the world, there are laws that protect employees from conducting various job abuses, if the reality of the harassment can be proven. However, in case of our country we do not have such specific laws. During orientation, employees have to ensure they will follow the bylaws of the organisation. Most of the organisations have mentioned in their bylaws harassment issues and actions to be taken if it is violated. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to recognise harassment at work, at first the conduct must be unwanted and offensive to the employee. Secondly, the employee must voice his or her objection to the behavior, allowing the offending individual or individuals to correct their behavior at work. Last, the conduct must be of a nature that makes an&nbsp;adverse impact on the ability of the employee to carry out his or her duties in an efficient and responsible manner and should be reported to the concerned authority. But in case of our country, most of the harassment victims remain silent due to which the tendency to harass continues. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">If actions could be taken based on the complaints filed, judging the type and the nature of harassment then such activities can be controlled to some extent. However, it is difficult to control harassment totally as it is more an ethical issue than a legal issue. In Nepal, complaints can be filed at labor court and through the decision of the court based on written complaints one can file the case at district court and then to the supreme court.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Many organisations in our country do not carry out any investigation and just fires the harasser, which&nbsp;leads to employees taking advantage of the system and reporting misleading complaints. Understanding employees and observing, finding out the authenticity of the complaints received and analyzing the issue are major challenges for HR.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">In order to control and reduce harassment in the organisation, addressing such issues secretly and confidentially is a must. Besides, CCTV monitoring, understanding employee’s behaviour and proper recruitment also play an important role in controlling intra organisational harassment. In case of organisation to individual and inter-organisational harassment, one needs to deal it tactfully.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Unwanted sexual advances by peers or supervisors are the most common form of workplace harassment. Both male and female employees may be approached by someone in the workplace who either hint or directly state that compliance will benefit the employee in some manner, or at least help to make sure that employment will continue. Today, many countries have laws that protect employees of all genders from this type of harassment.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sometimes in case of multinational companies or NGOs/INGOs employees have to deal with foreign clients where comes the problem of intercultural practices like hugging, kissing or even shaking hands. In these cases, many people may feel they are harassed. So, in order to avoid this, HR should inform the visiting person about the cultural slopes and limitations and let them know how to make their stay comfortable.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, in order to avoid harassment, office politics must be completely avoided. Besides, every individual should speak up if they feel harassed and only then we can minimise not only workplace harassment but also harassment as a whole. Minimising workplace harassment remains a challenge for HR personnel, however, neutralizing it is almost next to impossible.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Harassment at Work- Challenge for HR Personnel” on July 27, 2011 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from NGOs &amp; INGOs, Hotel Industry, Research Organisations, IT and Communication, Automobile Companies, Trading and Service Industries. Shailendra Raj Giri, Managing Director of Real Solutions, acted as the moderator for the discussion and Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company, was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></span></div>',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Brand Buzz (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/sajag(1).jpg" style="width: 123px; height: 153px;" vspace="10" />By Sajag Karki</span></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a handful of ads of reputed multinationals along with some local companies that actually communicate brand personality via branding, Nepali advertisements typically focus only on a specific scheme or promotion. They have nothing much to offer except to lure customers into buying the product by providing them with monetary reward or somekind of freebie. Advertising has been around just for a few decades in a developing country like Nepal. Though there has been significant development, there is lot of room for improvement to meet international standards. In this turbulent phase of progress, ethics still comes in question. Nepali media whether TV or print has been flooded with Indian ads with Nepali voiceover. Big B Amitabh Baachan can be seen endorsing more than a dozen ads at the same time. People are confused and tired of seeing the same person over and over again for most products. Due to his popularity, it is also hard to ignore his presence keeping in mind the commercial success celebrities bring about. However, there must be a match between the personality of the brand with that of the celebrity. Same celebrity endorsing multiple products can hamper the image of the product.&nbsp;Are promotional schemes and celebrity endorsers a good way to communicate a company’s product to its customers? Also, the use of celebrities for products that don’t suit their personality is controversial. The importance and relevance of ethics in advertising in the Nepalese context has been a debatable issue. Ethics is something that is usually not compatible with advertising in Nepal. The fact about advertising is that in most cases it is hard to sell products without offending anybody. Another harsh reality is that a single ad cannot please everybody. Such customers can go for customised products rather than standardised ones in order to fulfil their needs. Since there is always a target group of people that a company caters to, an ad cannot be made that is liked by everybody.&nbsp;Who is responsible for influencing young people for drinking or smoking? Is it important to be ethical while creating ads of one’s organisation or should they be more concerned with just adding value of the firm while ignoring the ethical and moral issues of advertising and business as a whole?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The topic of ethics in advertising is such that it is never black and white. It is impossible to paint a rosy picture by just claiming yes or no to ethics. There are subtle shades of grey in which arguments from both sides are viable. Practically speaking, the direct adaptation of moral philosophy principles in marketing communication is unsuitable. However, this doesn’t mean that ethics should be completely neglected. The parameters for judging ads cannot be the same as judging the morality and ethics of society.&nbsp;Hence, marketing must develop its own philosophy of ethics. In the advertising world, some puffery is allowed since no company can sell anything by saying just the mere truth. A bit of dramatisation and an element of excitement (buzz) are added deliberately to give maximum mileage to the brand. Only this makes it possible for people to bear up with advertisements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Advertisers are selective about the values and attitudes to be fostered and encouraged, promoting some while ignoring others. Ads cash in on the popular culture while targeting the younger audience. Ads encouraging dark people to use whitening creams to look fair are targeted especially to the young so that they are easily influenced. Can such advertisements that portray dark as ugly and unacceptable be called ethical or unethical? If it is unethical than what would be a better way to communicate the product’s attributes in an ethical manner?&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">On the other hand, advertisers cannot completely forget ethics while delivering their creative piece.&nbsp;I am by no means saying that false advertising should be encouraged or that ethics should completely be neglected. The fact is that even though advertisements are verisimilitude, ethical threshold should always be maintained to depict a clean picture to the audience. A striking reality to consider is that negative words spread way faster than positive ones. It is like a wildfire that spreads so fast that it’s almost impossible to extinguish it right away. Similarly, negative opinion of the ad due to unethical content will spread in such a way that it will be almost impossible to mitigate the damage created. Only a handful of unsatisfied viewers who find some ads unethical can spread negative word of mouth to a whole lot of people around them. In no time, such ads will be called phony ultimately resulting in adverse effect on the brand equity of the advertised product.&nbsp;Ethics is specially of top priority while showing comparative ads as there must be sufficient evidence backing the superiority of the product against competitors. Along with ethics, rational judgment should also be used so that they do not have to face legal issues.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">No brand can be built in a jiffy. It not only takes creative heads along with deep pockets to gain a worldwide recognition of the brand but also a whole lot of time. Coke would not have been the most popular brand in the world if its advertising was not sculpted with ethical standards right from the beginning hundreds of years ago. Hence, it would not be a good idea for any company to ruin its image in no time by showing unethical ads just for the sake of money making or for cheap publicity. This kind of debate can go on and on and on. Books have been written and issues have been raised over the topic of ethics in advertising but without a tangible conclusion. To simplify this I would say that ad makers should come up with only such ads that they would accept as an audience. A little empathy towards audience and use of intuitive judgment by advertisers would probably help address this intrinsic advertising issue to an extent.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Karki is currently associated with KIST Bank.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-17',
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			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => '''Buy two get one free”. “Surprise gifts with every purchase”. These are common taglines used by companies in Nepal to attract potential customers. Except for a.....',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '422',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Audit (august 2011)',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra%20karna%282%29.jpg" style="width: 112px; height: 151px;" vspace="10" /></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span bright="" color:="" letter-spacing:="" lucida="" serif="" style="line-height: 120%;">By <span style="color: rgb(178, 34, 34);">Dr Rabindra Karna</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 55, 59);">H</span>uman Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and benchmark comparatives at least with direct market competition. This is done for depicting HR initiatives towards sales and people productivity enhancement that can be utilised as a comprehensive tool to improve their own effective engagement into the business. It is imminent to identify and realise strengths and opportunities for improvements around specific HR areas.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Businesses are currently moving under heavily regulated and turmoil employee environment dealing with most uncertain industrial relation under complex legislative framework. Human Resources function has been emerging as most essential organ of organisation which is mainly engaged in establishing and practising policies, legal compliance that has huge impact over productivity and profitability of business in total. This is why Human Resources function these days is considered as most valuable strategic business partner within the Organisation. Efficient, effective and active HR practices in any organisation are as essential as the well functioning organs in human body. Investment in building Human Asset is considered a key to the measurement of systematic alignment with organisational goals helping HR become strong strategic partner that it is deemed to be. The HR Audit can be a powerful element driving change in HR and organisation. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">The financial audit is mandatory which examines the past on the basis of practices and procedures for identifying issues that ensure compliance to sound accounting principles. Similarly, HR audit is aimed to future and meant to examine the health of Human Resources function to establish best practices that are productive to the business activities. HR Audit supports companies to determine gap and reason behind lack in system productivity and suggests the way forward. Currently, most of the businesses have plans for systems, targets and compliance that are driven by HR functions wherein HR audit becomes useful to compare these plans with actual implementations. The outcome of audit and feedback is found very helpful in decision making around corrective measures pertaining to improvement plans. Human resources audits play vital role around legal compliance that helps to avoid regulatory liabilities resulting from policies and practices. It also helps to identify legal risk and serves information about efficiency of HR strategies through benchmarking “best practices” of similar businesses. It is also handy in finding solutions to problems prior to escalation. It also suggests how things might be done in more efficient and effective way with efficient cost economy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Concerns in relation to employee risks have been the reason for the emergence of a wing within HR function to look after the working conditions and associated risks that enable implementation of preventive measures that perfectly aligns to the legal approach of HR. The application of Occupational Health &amp; Safety program is now associated with quality of life at workplace that is most important for human capital being the prime strategic element that explains the differentiation ability of company. This is where HR audit goes beyond the traditional concept of accounts audit i.e. simple investigation to logical measurement of efforts being put.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">HR audit in general is suggested to structure based upon size of organization i.e. number of people employed, time constraints, budgets and risk areas e.g. discipline, performance, compliance, hiring etc. However, there are some areas wherein companies are vulnerable to additional risks which must be reviewed carefully:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Personal record:&nbsp;A detailed and accurate personal records of employees are essential to prevent the business from undesired dispute especially in the areas of insufficient documentation pertaining to discipline, service record, compensation, health issues etc. An audit of personnel files reveals exposure to this type of risk and enables preventive measures to safeguard interest of the company beforehand. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Legal Compliance: A review focusing over company’s compliance to the local laws and regulation at the same time incorporated codes of best practices and other essentials; allows company to take corrective measure in area of concerns e.g. over-time eligibility, classification of Job, payroll, records retention, compensation and benefits etc.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Attendance System: The biggest concern for most of the employer as of today is absenteeism. In many cases it has been noticed that companies have their own attendance policies (In addition to the country’s Labor Law) in support of absenteeism control which might be unacceptable because of conflict with law of the land as well lack of clarity in need of proper communication around these. Since this aspect has immediate vulnerability to dispute and risks; audit prescribes the remedial action in such conflicting situation and enables the organisation to take corrective measure in support of absenteeism control i.e. fully aligned with law of the land.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" letter-spacing:="" sans-serif="" style="">d.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HR Strategies: Strategic alignments among each business units (Functions) are equally important in view of increasing value of employees to the business. This part of HR management mainly consists of organization structure, job design, employment policies, HRIS and employee relations management etc. Audit review of strategies helps business to determine whether strategic alignment exists there or not and supports planning and action to improvise areas of concerns on this important aspect.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span calibri="" sans-serif="" style="">e.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cost Efficiency:&nbsp;One of the important financial roles of HR is to ensure people management in the most cost-effective way. This inculcates financial ratios and scorecard measures such as headcount planning, orientation and disciplinary cost per employee, people development cost, people productivity etc. A detailed review of this aspect of HR throws light on equipping HR practitioners of the company with knowledge per formulation of HR metrics.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Thus HR audit<span calibri="" sans-serif="" style=""> is</span> meant for verification of job design and analysis, employee welfare, industrial relations, conflict resolution, improved communication mechanism, orientation and job evaluation etc useful and supportive to achieve business destination through effective engagement of HR Function as one of the key business performance driver. It has been noticed from recent HR developments that there is an increasing demand for HR associates to contribute to profitability drive of the organisation through active participation in business decisions. The audit findings can be of great use to improve HR business plan, identify risks and control over traditional approaches, cost-economy and facilitate change in management initiatives. It also plays an important role in relation to motivation through clarified roles and responsibilities. HR audit helps to identify HR KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and adds value to the organisation defining relevant activities. It also supports placement of management in a better position fulfilling expectation that instills trust and respect from all stakeholders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;">Hence, it is important to ensure that HR audit is planned and carried out under clear understanding of HR connectivity on overall business objectives, HR related opportunities and their engagement around sustainable people productivity and outcomes that are intended to achieve.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span aldine401="" bt="" italic="" style="">(Dr Karna is the Executive Chairman of MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd. The article is based on various research reports and his practical experiences as management practitioner.)</span></i></span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-17',
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			'description' => 'Human Resources function in addition to its routines regardless of the size of business operation is also expected to demonstrate competitive intelligence and.....',
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			'id' => '398',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Environmental Sustainability July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">B</span>lue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a day-long hiking trip to Shivapuri titled Team Building towards Sustainability on 15th April this year. It was a team building event with the sole purpose of cleaning up the waste in the Shivapuri Mountain.</div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">Though the event was a fun-filled one, it was heartbreaking to see the Shivapuri's beautiful surroundings marred by waste left behind by hikers and picnickers. This careless garbage dumping has attracted many pests and contaminated the nature's reserve. There were food wrappers and plastic plates with food remnants lying around which not only disturbed the beauty of the place but also hampered the eco system of the area.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.25pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">BOS team successfully accomplished the Shivapuri summit clean-up plan by managing to collect the garbage in Shivapuri hill area in less than 30 minutes. At the end of the cleaning exercise, we asked ourselves, Why couldn't people clean their own waste? If every visitor to the park acknowledged their responsibility to preserve the national park by adhering to cleanliness, Shivapuri Mountain would be a magnificent place for all visitors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	We thought of recommending the following tips to hikers for making their tour worthwhile without compromising on the fun.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">BOS shall continue to work towards keeping the environment clean and invites people who wish to use our services to work with us. Together, we can ensure environmental sustainability alongside our various professional tasks.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
			'modified' => '2013-05-24',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Blue Ocean Systems (BOS) is committed to generate awareness and bring about substantial changes towards environmental sustainability. In this context, BOS organized a......',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '397',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Prepare Yourself With SAP July 2011',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in;">
	<i>By Aparajita Acharya</i></div>
<div>
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;">E</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">fficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And obviously, as businesses get bigger, they will require more professional systems to stay together and prosper. This is where SAP business solutions come in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The demand for SAP trained individuals is increasingly on the rise with SAP becoming one of the most sought-after ERP business solutions today.&nbsp;As every individual appraises his/her own credentials and adaptability in today's cut-throat global competition, companies hire and fire largely mindful of the flexibility, competence and productivity of their staff. Therefore, the question is that of acquiring competence which helps understand businesses in their essence. You must find ways to assure that you never become outdated and easily adapt to the new needs of the growing market.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Companies try to find people who are already well trained when new recruits are needed to fit into multiple roles. So it becomes essential that you are precisely trained to be saleable in the job market. Among many ERP business trainings on offer, SAP training makes you fit to carry out a multitude of roles and helps you become proactive in understanding business processes and flexible to market requirements. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Armed with a SAP training, you will be already qualified to kick start your career at a higher level in established companies despite entering the market at a young age. SAP training has assured various locally trained consultants with excellent placements in successful organizations as an increasing number of companies in Nepal advance towards ensuring economical output of a required quality. However, this is definitely not the end of it all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">A peek at the global job market illustrates an increasing appeal for SAP trained professionals. The US, Australia and Germany are among countries that consistently seem to have high number of positions available for SAP trained individuals. Other countries such as the UK and The Netherlands which look for comparatively less number of SAP trained employees offer equally lucrative salaries to these sought-after consultants, architects and experts.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">You can either undertake a complete course for SAP or choose to learn only the modules that support your job needs. Among the different SAP modules, those trained in FI, CO, CRM and BI (Business Intelligence) currently seem to be in great demand in the global market.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you wish to go about chiseling your expertise to match market requirements, a SAP training ensures that knowledge in any business area you wish to participate in, is as good as hands on experience. It helps you carve a niche for yourself in the midst of aggressive competition. Backed by SAP, you can be assured that you have exactly what everybody is looking for whether you decide to work abroad or closer home.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2011-09-01',
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			'description' => 'Efficiency has become a key factor in today's fast paced business scenario. The trend projection suggests that businesses shall get even more competitive in the days to come. And.........',
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