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			'title' => 'Essentials Of Employees’ Learning Habits (july 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Kriti Bhuju </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">L</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">earning is a prerequisite to growth. Both employers and employees need to enhance their knowledge, skill and ability for continuous organizational as well as professional development and growth in the present context. Learning is essential to keep in tune with trends and developments in our field.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is essentially important to make learning a habit as most employees do not focus a great deal on reading and learning. Employees must have a self realization that enhancing their capacity helps upgrading their own knowledge. They must also have the habit of aligning themselves with others to find out their weaknesses. Some organizations have the practice of skill assessment which motivates the employees to learn new things and upgrade their skills.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is crucial to develop learning culture so that learning becomes a trend in organizations for everybody to follow. It is not advisable to push people to learn; employers must provide learning environment and freedom to create culture.&nbsp;Employees must have the feeling that those who are always ready to learn are more successful in their careers. They are more productive and attentive towards quality than the employees who are not eager to learn.&nbsp;Learning habits come naturally for some. However, some others do not wish to learn until their bosses ask them to. People are bound to follow once a system of learning is initiated. This ultimately yields a positive outcome. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Learning is not a habit at the root level and that is where the problem lies. Organizations need to focus on having a library, learning zone and providing different trainings to create learning habit among their employees. The employees must also develop a tendency to learn from their subordinates. If a person is really interested in learning, s/he should shun superiority complex and be prepared to learn from juniors. However, this is a vital aspect of learning which we do not see in practice.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It helps the employer to create an atmosphere of learning within the organization if a person’s willingness to learn can be identified during the selection process itself. We can learn from any part of the world through e-learning and virtual learning as technology has made learning easier nowadays. Many INGOs have a rule for employees to do a course through e-learning which forces them to learn. They should share their learning and achievement with their co workers after taking certain trainings or completing a course.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">An individual should understand the importance of learning and realize that it is for their own growth in terms of enhancing knowledge, skills and abilities. Learning habit should come from their heart and mind because it cannot be injected in an individual. Learning culture can be inculcated only if an individual is interested in it. Developing a learning culture ultimately helps employee retention and contributes towards employer branding overall.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Essentials of Employees’ Learning Habit” on 25 May 2011 conducted by Real solution Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from commercial banks, INGOs, IT companies, industries, private organizations and freelancers. Shailendra Raj Giri, MD of Real Solutions acted as the moderator of the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></div>',
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			'title' => 'OHS & People Engagement (july 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">E</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">mployee engagement in OHS (Occupational Health &amp; Safety) is not only critical to its effective management but also an integral part of productivity and quality management at the work place. Achieving this necessitates commitment of all parties concerned – the management, employees and the Union – to meet the objectives and long term approach of an organisation. The existence of issues related to health and safety at a work place has a huge impact over business performances. It adversely affects employees’ performances and encourages absenteeism due to illnesses, injuries etc. Health &amp; Safety, an important element in our daily life, affects everyone including employees, managers, owners, family, society, contractors and visitors. Effective OHS management helps improve the well-being of employees, workplace environment and business operation. All these factors together ensure overall business. The employees’ engagement towards OHS seeks to change workplace culture and beliefs for improved and safe work practices through positive engagement of people, communication and training. </span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Effective communication is vital for business management wherein periodical group discussions cultivate consultation among the workforce. Health, safety and environmental issues are discussed in these forums in addition to measures for current business improvement and the way forward. These consultations intend to instill the entire organization’s trust and direct everyone to follow the targeted business destination. The employees are encouraged to participate in various decision making practices such as process enhancement, management plans, skills development and risk analysis. This actively encourages open communication amongst the workforce resulting in operation and work culture improvement.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">While trust plays a vital role in achieving desired level of people engagement, it is one of the most difficult tasks for business leaders. Business leadership requires demonstrating consistency in words and action by resorting to fair communication. It supports creation of a culture securing complete engagement of human resources and driving business results. At present, businesses are recognizing safety, health and environmental responsibilities as integral parts of daily routine. They are focused towards preventing occupational injury and illness as well as minimizing adverse impact on the environment. Business operations are extensively engaging in identifying priorities to ensure that these initiatives match people resources and community expectations.&nbsp;They are also working on an awareness drive to see regular communication and basic as well as specialized training on OHS. Employers have the responsibility of providing a safe place and work system. At the same time, employees are responsible for strictly adhering directions floated for safe work practices. Effective safety management requires compulsory integration of health and safety into planning, purchasing, production, distribution, sales and financial aspects of a business. There must be moves with clear understanding and considerations giving equal importance to productivity &amp; quality management. It is because business improvements, risk reduction and efficient cost economy flow from a successful implementation of OHS management system.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Further, industrial relations and OHS are interlinked and these must be recognized throughout management efforts in building productive and safe work environment. The most essential requirement is to train and provide logistical support to the health and safety committee inviting its engagement for generating awareness and workforce’s interest in OHS. It is also inevitable to recognize that the Union plays a vital role in facilitating effective people engagement for participatory mechanism afforded by them keeping industrial relations in mind. This makes the employees, the Union and HR associates key stakeholders leading to dedicated participation towards the OHS program.&nbsp;The Unions and HR practitioners’/associates’ involvement facilitates effective dissemination of OHS process. It also encourages a better understanding of risk exposures and need for the mandatory usage of protective devices, workplace equipment, changed work practices etc on the employees’ part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The frequency and severity rate is the traditional form of statistical measurement of incident, accident, injury and illness. These measurements are indicators for cost efficiency, associated cost on workplace safety, loss of working hours etc. More than anything else, people resources utilization largely depends on effective improvement of working conditions to the extent of changing circumstances in the workplace.&nbsp;Constant and regular surveys are popular initiatives aimed at improving public commitment towards health and safety.&nbsp;Top management leadership in association with HR associates is critical in terms of integrating OHS management system into core business and its philosophy. The leadership displays genuine concern for employees’ welfare, provides greater opportunity to succeed and achieve OHS performance at the desired level. This also results in capturing an organization’s greater commitment towards health and safety policies thereby cultivating high degree of awareness and reducing accident and injury risks. At present, the business teams are highly energetic and equipped well with strong communication skills. Most essential and desired expectations can only be achieved with proactive approach, effective engagement and structured coaching. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">One of the key elements of the OHS drive is standard policy and implementation strategy. OHS policy cannot have productive implementation unless it overcomes traditional approaches which deal with troubles as and when they occur. On the other hand, proactive approach is the current practice and need which is based on elimination of causes rather than dealing with effects. Documented OHS system, process and policy demonstrate and quantify the need as well as explain the necessity while obtaining commitment from all parties in writing. An OHS system enables coordinated approach to health and safety instead of dealing with conflicting information leading to confusion. Any uncertainty pertaining to work practices amongst people resources exposes organizations to unacceptable risks. Though many organizations perceive health &amp; safety management implementation as too difficult, there are key advantages of systematic implementation and health &amp; Safety management. Investment towards OHS management system minimizes workplace illness and injury and contributes towards reducing direct and indirect cost to the company. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Above all, the feedback from the workforce is important evidence to measure OHS effectiveness and employee engagement. It plays a vital role in improvising OHS strategies and works as an eye-opener towards improvement needs in the current system. It quantifies actual measures of OHS performance which is open for manipulation through leave arrangements, changing shift of the affected employee etc. Both formal and informal feedback must be applied for qualitative checks on OHS program practices within the work schedule. While OHS encourages people’s contribution towards internal processes and learning, workers and the Unions are more likely to commit themselves and participate in best practices. As a matter of fact, this is essential for employee engagement in dealing with OHS in the form of a joint OHS committee and other participatory mechanisms such as labor relation committee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It is also advisable to involve people through workplace inspection, periodical interaction with operational team and work groups and measurement and evaluation exercises. This is where an organization instills the opportunity to drive the changing process of OHS management system. It ensures prevention from future injuries, accidents and illnesses. This can be taken as the best opportunity in view of the well known and accepted fact ‘Prevention is always better than cure’.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">&nbsp;(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></div>',
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			'title' => 'Deep Leadership(july 2011)',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Sujit Mundul</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">W</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">hen considering management in the decade of 1990s, three important observations could be made: The massive efforts made to change the way organizations operate, the astonishing degree of failure that accompanies all but a handful of such attempts, and the radical aversion to risk-taking.&nbsp;One might think that the high degree of failure has provided us with a mountain of data to understand the causes. This is a correct assumption. In the same breath, one might also contemplate that the data load enables us to predict a successful route to change; but this is probably wrong.&nbsp;We know why change goes wrong, but we find it enormously difficult to make changes work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The problem of change is especially significant now. Because as we see management and organizations in the western world appear to be in a state of constant turmoil as change follows change in an ever more frantic attempt to reverse what it took two centuries to construct. The traditional methods of organizing business including public services, no longer seem viable.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is possible that organizations are really autistic; in other words, organizations rather than their leaders are unable or unwilling to listen to what others are saying to them.&nbsp;Perhaps, their strategic intentions are rolled out irrespective of the advice that is being offered to them.&nbsp;In this context, one could possibly agree that IBM went through a phase of being an autistic organization, as its market share crumbed and its leadership continued to exercise the less than successful strategy despite internal and external criticism and advice that the company was going wrong.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Keith Grant in his famous article “Managing Change through Commitment” mentioned:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">“Now that we have uncovered some possible benefits and disadvantages with commitment as a panacea for change … I want to consider the extent to which leadership can displace the problematic fuzziness of subordinates with a transparent way forward”. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Let us now focus on the significance of leadership rather than change. These two very often appear to be linked: leadership in itself implies change. So, let us look at the significance that different contemporary theories attribute to leadership.&nbsp;In traditional models, leaders are the critical sine qua non, but some current approaches attribute very little to leadership, or reconstruct the meaning of the term to change the entire debate.&nbsp;Leadership is amongst the most perspective areas of management knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Despite an enormous outpouring of material during the second half of the twentieth century, we appear to be little closer to understanding leadership than either Plato or Sun Tzu, who began the written debate several thousand years ago. Since post-war period it appears that we have gone full circle: From assurances that personality traits were the key, though equally valid counter argument that the situation was critical, to a controversy over whether the leader was person or task-oriented, and back to finding out the charismatics whose visions and transformational style would explain all (Bryman 1992).&nbsp;During this latter period there has been a prescriptive urge to push leadership in an empowering direction so that Super Leadership (Manz and Sims, 1991) can ensure that Leaders work to free up the skills and potentials of their subordinate rather than throttle initiative in bureaucratic and functional hierarchies. Now, let us touch upon a different aspect of leadership: Personality. More importantly, stable personality. When we see the boss sacking an employee for some minor mistake we know just how hard–hearted she is; when she brings her baby to work she seems quite different, almost pleasant.&nbsp;Keith Grant has cited another example when someone reveals her school report it is quite difficult to imagine the “shrinking violet of 2b” against the assertive CEO now standing before us. Yet, according to another colleague, she isn’t assertive at all, but downright aggressive. Could she be all these things to different people? Could it be that there is no solid centre here, no core characteristics that remain unchanged across time and space? Or perhaps, it is the people who interact with her, who construct the character?&nbsp;If this is so, is there no essential “essence” to people, but merely a character that is constructed through various relationships? Which characterization prevails over time tends to depend upon who has the power to reproduce it; thus accounts of popular figures may change with each biography!&nbsp;Indeed, a difficult proposition.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The concept of Deep Leadership suggests that leadership processes and practices, not roles are critical; that leadership is deeply and systematically present throughout all levels of the organization and not just at the formal top of the hierarchy;&nbsp;and that the fixation with formal leaders or Shallow Leadership and not informal or&nbsp;Deep Leadership is also rooted in an epistemological approach that perceives leadership to be only the effect of leaders and never the consequence of followers. It may be that leadership is an ineffective phenomenon in terms of the survival of organizations as population ecology models suggest or that leadership is merely the requirement of normative pressures as institutional theory suggests or that it is merely a myth whose purpose is to ensure the survival of the leaders themselves (Gemmill and Oakly, 1992).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The approach towards Deep Leadership also seeks to examine the extent to which individuals who are regarded as being leader whether formal or informal are able to affect and effect their own version of events. It might be, for instance, that the crucial difference between leadership and non-leadership does not lie in the particular act or process, but in the ability of some individual to prevail over others. Another question comes up: Is leadership rather like history just the acts of victors? It may even be that acts of Deep Leadership are indeed identical at all levels but only formally recognized where they oincide with formal authority. Or alternatively, it may be that leadership styles and processes do differ between the levels of hierarchy so that there are qualitative differences between the leadership in the shop-floor and the leadership in the boardroom.&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;<i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'title' => 'Are You Backed By SAP?',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="1" height="225" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/imm.jpg" style="width: 349px; height: 225px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="349" />S</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">AP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers. When it comes to operating with the ultimate idea of uninterrupted and ever increasing performance in business, SAP is the perfect solution. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP provides a single, integrated technology platform that supports industry-specific business processes through optional enhancement packages that enables to build on progress, without causing business disruptions. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP solutions are efficient and this can be largely credited to SAP's impeccable architecture. It is built on state-of-the-art computing technologies based on the Business Framework architecture which is capable of processing huge volumes of information and supporting rapid decision-making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There are a few things that distinctly mark SAP apart from other solutions in the market. The foremost is their service-oriented architecture (SOA) which speeds and simplifies the integration of SAP and non-SAP solutions. Therefore, SAP's implementation offers high levels of data integration as it ensures synchronisation of information between SAP and the underlying business execution systems. This open connectivity actually allows business components to interact with several business systems. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Needless to say, with SAP, a company can gain meaningful, industry-specific, role-based insight into the business performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Understanding its functionality requires recognising the working of its components. Building on existing SAP R/3 functionality, SAP includes functionality for advanced Business Consolidation and Business Information Collection, which links internal information with automated collection of relevant external information through the Internet. SAP also supports advanced Business Planning and Simulation, based on both internal and external information - allowing you to model risks and rewards, and more effectively manage future uncertainties. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Furthermore, once you resort to SAP solutions, the Corporate Performance Monitor including the Management Cockpit is enhanced with industry-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI) templates on the one hand while on the other, the Stakeholder Relationship Management component facilitates communication with investors and other important stakeholder groups. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP unequivocally meets all your company's requirements and addresses all its prominent concerns.The implementation of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can lead to many benefits. Some evident gains are stated as follows:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">With SAP solutions, your enterprise shall run in accordance with strategy and plans, accessing the right information in real time to identify concerns early. SAP improves operational efficiency and productivity within and beyond your enterprise thus extending transactions, information, and collaboration functions to a broader business community.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP helps you eliminate high integration costs and the need to purchase third-party software. It helps you leverage preset defaults and pre-packaged versions available for specific industries. It also links employees performance to compensation programmes such as variable pay plans and long-term incentives; and at the same time gives employees new ways to access the enterprise information required for their daily activities. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">To meet the business needs of the 21st century, every aspiring company needs the element that pulls it together and integrates it in such a proficient way that it is able to foresee all opportunities and identify every minuscule of apprehension to make proactive decisions. To ensure solid productivity in today's competitive market, every company needs to be in a position from where it can make the optimum use of all its existing resources. <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Using SAP means; being in a position to exactly do that. In brief terminologies, it means increasing profitability, improving financial control and reducing risks; thereby putting your company in the centre stage of a high yielding market.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'description' => 'SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '304',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Developing Job Ownership: Key To Business Success',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra karna.jpg" style="width: 98px; height: 130px;" vspace="1" />By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs. While accepting assignments, projects or jobs they do so with with the sense of ownership. These are really professional people. They deal with others with a clear understanding of interdependence and give due consideration and respect to other departments, sections or functions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Job ownership by an employee plays crucial role for business success in today’s competitive global market. Businesses need continued progress in product development. Unless the people take this responsibility of product development with the sense of ownership, they will not put into it their full knowledge and experience and efforts. As a result, competitive advantage benefits will keep missing for all stake holders: the employee, the company, the customers and the investors. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Anything consistently continued for a longer period will certainly convert into guaranteed success. Though many management scientists argue that ’success in the life is not difficult to achieve’, continuous move towards the destination is essential to achieve success. Money has never been the highest motivating factor for human resources at a work place. The most common motivators are security, work-life balance, efficiency, learning opportunity and recognition against efforts one puts for business success. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Simultaneously, the most acknowledged motivator for business owners or investors is emotional attachment. Success and failure are mostly immaterial for them because failure is considered the only way to learn, in business. The challenge for them is not the knowledge but the work ethics, values and consistency to get results. This is called ownership mentality and the same applies for employees with job ownership attitude. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/key.jpg" style="width: 238px; height: 340px;" vspace="1" />During recruitment phase, interviews are mostly centred on prospective and anticipated relationships. The standard contract is imposed on the employee as soon as an agreement is reached. However, it mostly escapes ’detailing position and job profile’. The fact remains that the actual rights and duties of employees emerge through interpersonal relationships built at the workplace during the course of working together. Hence, psychological contract becomes eminent to match one another’s expectations contributing to higher level of performance and satisfaction. As long as common understanding and agreement in respect to the business mission, values, loyalty and respect exists between an employee and the employer, trust and commitment remain ensured. The relationship, if managed efficiently and effectively, will tie a stronger knot of mutual trust between the employer and employee matching the objectives and commitments necessary for business prosperity. In case it turns negative, it may result in disenchantment, de-motivation and resentfulness of authoritarianism within the organisation resulting in inefficient work, internal units not corresponding to the mission and objectives of the organisation and much more.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The words ’employees’ or ’Staff’, to the extent of psychological contract, signify:</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employers’ behaviour and dealing with employees</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employees’ input to the job they are entrusted or hired for</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: 9.5pt;">Respect, trust, fairness and objectivity are equally important in a job because job holders like these are essential for a civilised society in general. From a wider perspective, these become complex and significant at workplace and especially in management practices mainly towards ’change management’.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The employer and employee relationship has grown in complexity with the emergence or growth of globalised skills market allowing very high mobility of people resources. Leadership is basically seen as representing the organisation and that reflects the aim and purposes of the organisation owners. Leadership in this context refers to the top management associates like Business Head, CEO etc.&nbsp;The nature of the relationship in transactional analysis is different to one that is limited to employee and employer. However, it’s significant in terms of agreeing on mutual transparent expectations. Further, the management and organisational principles heavily depend on fair and balanced understandings between the employer and employee. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">People’s lives have become more varied, informed and better placed in recent days with the achievement of rapid growth by many economies. Human capital around the globe is equipped more with high awareness and hence, it not only wants more but also deserves more. Therefore, the employees naturally expect greater fulfilment in return for their services or association. The work itself has become far more richly diverse and complicated than ever before. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There is an increased excitement in the work place these days. The excitement is because of the application of different business model named ’employee ownership’ in corporations and cooperatives wherein employees and potentially the customers own the organisation and can therefore represent management mechanism. We see and experience glimpses here possibly as to how organisations might be run more fairly and sustainably in days to come. Globalisation and technology in recent days have shifted everything we knew in relation to organised work onto a totally different level in terms of complexity, rate of change, connectivity and the mobility of human resources and activities.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Thus, if organisations truly want to make innovations, creating and encouraging job ownership is the key. This ownership is the investment from both the company (funding, balanced work culture) and the employee (time, knowledge, commitment) by allowing and generating acceptance as well as securing achievement towards personal responsibility for products, processes and different stakeholders involved with the organisation. Job ownership reflects business understanding in view of culture, goal, and customers etc facilitating interactions with various elements widely known as interpersonal skills. It forces people to display a selfless attitude ensuring and delivering not only acceptable but better, improved and acknowledgeable productivity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Getting people to think and act like owners has never been easy and hence, if employees accept and take up jobs considering themselves as owners, it must be considered a great achievement. Employees are motivated further in view of sustainability onto business expectations. Involving employees in decision making requires entrepreneurs to seek input from employees and must listen to them.&nbsp;The solution really lies in making them part of decision making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Ultimately, it’s all about people and taking care of people resources for better productivity in terms of business sustainability. Promoting job ownership and acceptance in the true sense will certainly guarantee the realisation of organisational mission, goal and objectives. </span></div>
<div>
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; 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></div>',
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			'description' => 'Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '266',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'The Importance Of Enterprise  Performance Management',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><img alt="anil" border="1" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/1303899771.jpg" style="width: 105px; height: 156px;" vspace="5" /><br />
	<br />
	<strong>By Anil Neupane<br />
	</strong><br />
	</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Enterprise performance management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities necessary to reach those objectives. It is often referred to, with the usage of terms such as Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM) and so on. It comprises Strategy Management, Profitability and Cost Management, Business Planning, Financial Consolidation, Spend, Supply Chain and other operational performance areas. EPM aligns the processes, systems, and metrics needed to measure and manage the performance of an organisation.<br />
	<br />
	EPM supports both cost optimisation and growth initiatives. It is a suitable fit for nearly all organisations and should be a priority initiative for CFOs to enable finance function to deliver short and long-term strategic benefits to businesses.<br />
	<br />
	It is considered as a diagnostic tool to monitor the pulse of an organisation by using a set of processes, frameworks, and systems for activities such as planning, measuring, communicating, and monitoring business results. Enterprises typically link these activities to corporate strategies and objectives and might drive them down to many individuals within the organisation to encourage accountability and control. Forrester defines business performance solutions as a category of purpose-built software applications that support these activities. The major BPS functional elements include:<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Strategy and performance measurement address goals, objectives, and accountability<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A strategy management application supports formal strategy management philosophies (eg, the Balanced Scorecard) but might be adapted to a business’ specific needs. Applications often display the strategy definition in visual strategy maps. Scorecards measure progress against the goals and objectives set forth in the strategy framework. Performance dashboards display more detailed information and allow drilling down to root-cause detail. Dashboards typically include a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that might include strategic scorecards as well as relevant comparisons against plans, budgets, forecasts, prior performance, and industry benchmark data.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions support multiple forward-looking processes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although used almost universally as a control on spending, budgeting often falls short in supporting performance initiatives often as a result of some rigorous and inflexible process and not necessarily due to a software shortcoming <i>per se</i>. Fortunately, in addition to budgeting, the planning solutions support a variety of scenario-based planning activities as well as forecasting processes that add value beyond which is provided by <img align="left" alt="enterprices" border="1" height="259" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/epm.jpg" style="width: 477px; height: 259px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="477" />traditional budgeting processes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Cost and profitability management provides detailed analysis to improve margins.</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	This complex modelling activity helps organisations analyse development, production, and operating costs against revenues by product, customers, and lines of business. Cost and profitability management applications often use activity-based costing as the methodology to develop sophisticated cost and profitability analytical models.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Financial reporting and consolidation produce financial statements.</strong> Financial reporting and consolidation applications produce reports focused on delivering financial statements based on accounting results. Statutory consolidations support regulatory compliance and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. These applications also support internal reporting of financial information.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why are companies after it globally?</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Despite the economic downturn and a global decline in overall IT spending of approximately 3 per cent, spending on CPM Suites remained positive (growing at 3.6 per cent in 2009). Through the last 24 months of economic uncertainty, EPM has helped to manage cost optimisation efforts, but through 2010, many more EPM initiatives were justified on the basis of supporting growth strategies. Furthermore, many of the stalled or sidelined EPM initiatives that did not advance in 2009, were reinstated during 2010.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	With economic downturn during the last few years, companies around the world are more focused on cutting costs and increasing performances. Therefore, EPM has been their major focus to achieve this objective and to have a better understanding of the drivers of corporate profitability.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although awareness of the EPM concept has become more widespread, according to an estimate, 40 per cent of large enterprises and as much as 75 per cent of midsize businesses are using spreadsheets or legacy applications to meet their core management processes for BP&amp;F, financial consolidations and financial reporting.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>SAP EPM Suite<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	SAP is a global leader in EPM products. SAP recognises the importance of supporting these functions for an enterprise by establishing a new cross-functional unit, focusing on business performance optimisation. This unit brings together integrated technology and product portfolio with the people, ecosystem partners, and best practices specifically designed to help organisations drive business performance, manage risks and optimise the financial value chain. SAP Business Objects and EPM&nbsp;solutions bring together a set of applications that combine strategic goal-setting linked to effective budgeting and reporting, with additional abilities to analyse profitability. Similarly, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) is another tool that is dominating the global EPM suite market.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The major strength of SAP is its dominance in ERP market and its support base around the globe. Lately, SAP has an implementation partner in Nepal as well.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM and Business Intelligence</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	It is sometimes confusing to distinguish between business intelligence (BI) and EPM. The major reason behind this is because different vendors define these terms in different ways. In general context, business intelligence supports EPM tools to achieve results. In terms of strategy, Business Intelligence offers the tools necessary to improve decision-making, but not linked to organisation’s strategy. On the other hand, EPM provides a closed-loop support: linked to strategy through CSFs and KPIs. In terms of purpose, the BI tool helps organisations set and monitor their goals whereas EPM tools help organisations guide their business towards its goals. The scope of BI may be limited to one or more departments or functional areas whereas the scope of EPM is for the entire enterprise.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As shown in the figure above, EPM forms the higher level of pyramid whereas BI sustains the EPM processes as a supporting tool.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM in terms of Nepal<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As in the case of companies around the world, most companies in Nepal still use spreadsheets or legacy system for financial planning, budgeting and consolidation. Due to this, the predictions are often time consuming, inflexible and inaccurate. Unlike few years back when there were very little EPM tool options in Nepal, now the country already has a SAP implementation partner. Therefore, companies now have opportunities to implement best EPM tools, like SAP EPM or SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. This shall greatly help business companies distinguish themselves from their competitors.<br />
	<br />
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><i>(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</i></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>',
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			'created' => '2011-04-27',
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			'description' => 'Enterprise performance management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities.....',
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			'title' => 'Japan’s Earthquake:A Global Wake Up Call',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/Dr Jagadish Ghosh.jpg" style="width: 106px; height: 134px;" vspace="2" />Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Dr Jagadish Ghosh</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>&nbsp;</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	'After three years, even a disaster can be good for something’ goes a Japanese proverb. But in the midst of this appalling devastation, it might be obscene to suggest that a disaster of this magnitude could possibly be turned into good for something. Evidently, time and again, not only the human spirit but also the laws of economics have proved amazingly resilient in the face of the most terrible of adversities. The widespread destruction has been taken as a challenge and an opportunity to rewrite the triumphant history of growth and development with renewed spirit and zeal. The destruction spurs reconstruction and acts as a stimulus for economic enterprise.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan’s east coast on 11 March 2011 sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake places the earthquake as the fifth largest in the world since 1900. It is also the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The two disasters were followed by the damage at nuclear reactors threatening harmful radiation. Japanese Prime minister Naoto Kan has described the catastrophic combination of earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear meltdown as the biggest crisis the country has had to face since the end of World War II.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The quake caused a 400-km long and 160-km wide rupture in the earth’s crust as one tectonic plate dove under another off the coast of northern Japan. This led to an upheaval in the sea above it, sending a 30 foot wall of water racing up to 10 km inland in Japan and reaching California across the Pacific Ocean 10 hours later. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast. The quake was followed by more than 20 aftershocks for hours, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. As many as six reactors at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima are facing crisis at one level or the other verging of N-disaster. The death toll was likely to continue climbing over 10,000 given the scale of disaster. But without minimising the tragedy in any way, the damage in terms of human lives has been remarkably contained relative to what might have been. For that, all credit must go to successive Japanese administrations and civil society. Situated on the ‘Ring of Fire’ – an arc of seismic activity around the Pacific Basin – Japan has been hit time and again by devastating earthquakes, from the one in Tokyo in 1923 to Kobe in 1995. But the Japanese have drawn their lessons from these. So they have the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and an extensive tsunami warning sensor network. They have building codes that keep such exigencies in mind. Similarly, they have thorough disaster management plans at every administrative level.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Insured Losses<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The earthquake in Japan could lead to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, according to risk modelling company AIR Worldwide, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history. It is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010 and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of decline. This temblor will go down as the costliest earthquake in modern history in terms of insured losses, surpassing the roughly $15 billion in losses of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>2010 – The Year of Earthquakes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The most devastating earthquake of the year with more than 220,000 deaths struck Haiti, a country that was in no way prepared for such an event. Chile and New Zealand, on the other hand, were very well prepared. As a result, the challenges presented for reconstruction and the insurance underwriting aspects must be assessed differently for different countries.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Scientific Analysis</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	On 12 January 2010, Haiti suffered the most devastating seismic catastrophe since the destruction of Tangshan in China in 1976. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.0, did not come as a great surprise for seismologists. The danger had been clearly stated in a scientific publication dated 2008. The epicentre of the quake which ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area was located near the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault, which was originally considered to form the quake’s epicentre, runs in an east-west direction here. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the rupture in the earth’s crust propagated towards the capital from its hypocentre west of Port-au-Prince.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The associated interference of seismic waves magnified the vibrations. Intensive geological and geophysical investigations after the quake have revealed a highly complex rupture process. It appears that a previously concealed blind thrust fault was also involved and interacted with the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault. This is of significance for the future earth quake potential in the Port-au-Prince area. It may be assumed that the stresses accumulated in the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault since the earthquakes of 1751 and 1770 were not fully released on 12 January. Moreover, the investigations have also shown that strong shaking was not restricted only to areas with soft, unconsolidated sediments. Due to the topography, it also occurred on a hillside in the Petionville district, south of the city centre.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	<span style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Chilean earthquake six weeks later did not strike unexpectedly either. The strongest earthquake ever recorded by instruments worldwide with a magnitude of 9.5 had already occurred in the Valdivia/Puerto Montt region, on the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates, in 1960. To the north of this region, a magnitude 8.0 quake off the coast of Valparaiso caused damage all the way to Santiago in 1985. The area between these two rupture zones, however, had remained relatively quiet since 1835. This ‘seismic gap’ was filled by the Maule quake on 27 February, with a magnitude of 8.8.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A third earthquake, which struck Qinghai province in Central China on 13 April, paled in comparison to these two major catastrophes. Its magnitude was similar to that of the Haitian quake and claimed roughly 2,700 lives. The earthquake which struck New Zealand’s South Island on 3 September attracted greater publicity. This was not due to its magnitude of 7.0, similar to that of the quakes in China and Haiti. What made this quake different was that, unlike the Haiti and Chile cases, an earthquake had not been expected here, 40 kilometres west of Christchurch. Experts had focused more on the Alpine Fault to the northwest which marks the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate in the west and the Pacific plate in the east. The Darfield earthquake (named after the town closest to the epicentre), however, occurred along a previously unknown fault system under the sediments of the Canterbury Plains. Unlike Port-au-Prince, the rupture proceeded away from the city in this case but the energy emitted was unusually high for a quake of this magnitude.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why Haitian earthquake proved most devastating</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Buildings of every kind – from representative buildings, such as the government palace and the Hotel Montana, to mud huts – were damaged more or less indiscriminately by the earthquake in Haiti. The corporate headquarters and production facilities of foreign companies remained structurally intact. Yet the few insured losses stemmed primarily from this sector. There are several reasons why the Haitian earthquake proved to be the most devastating ever in recent times, as expressed by the overall loss in relation to gross domestic product. Among others, they include the lack of building regulations, poor building material and a shortage of qualified labour as well as the absence of an institutional framework ensuring that construction projects are completed in an orderly fashion.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Maule quake in Chile was the first earthquake of high magnitude and correspondingly long duration (over 120 seconds) to test modern high-rise buildings. The high overall loss of US$30 billion was not caused by instability. Both the quality of Chile’s earthquake building code and its implementation are very good on a global scale. Only five of the 12,300 buildings erected since the last major earthquake in 1985 collapsed. Another 50 or so had to be demolished on account of massive structural damage. The magnitude of the overall loss is due above all, to the damage to non-structural elements in addition to the small number of major losses. Among other things, these include non-supporting walls, false ceilings and façade elements. Evidently, the building code must be updated in order to avoid or reduce the extent of such damage to property. In some cases, infrastructure also proved unexpectedly unstable as in the case of the motorway linking the international airport and the city of Santiago.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Chile, the load-bearing structure of mid-rise buildings (up to 20 floors) is primarily made up of shear walls parallel to the axis of the building. Compared with framed structures, such buildings are fairly rigid when exposed to seismic stresses. Newer buildings, however, tend to have thinner walls. The necessary transverse reinforcements also proved inadequate in some cases. Most of the few cases of major damage are attributable to such shortcomings. Low buildings with up to four floors are frequently built with confined masonry. In this case, the individual brick wall elements are connected by cast pillars of reinforced concrete. This type of construction has also proved to be very good.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Since buildings with shear walls or confined masonry are more widespread in Chile than in other countries, the experience gathered there cannot simply be applied to other regions. Framed constructions prevail in the American Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon, Washington), for example. As for the earthquake mechanism, Chile provided a blueprint for a future quake at the Cascadia subduction zone where the Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under the North American continent from the west. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are all about the same distance from the epicentre of a future earthquake as Santiago was from the February quake.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Christchurch, New Zealand, many residential buildings were damaged above all by collapsing chimneys. They frequently crashed through the roofs of homes, most of which were lightweight constructions. Many historical buildings of unreinforced masonry in the city centre also suffered significant damage. As in Chile, non-structural damage played a major part here, too. Unusually widespread soil liquefaction was one particular characteristic of the New Zealand quake. Near-surface sediment layers on the Canterbury Plains are particularly prone to this phenomenon, which causes extensive damage that is also difficult to repair, as the substrate settles to varying degrees during the liquefaction process, causing buildings to tilt.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Lessons for Nepal</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Going by the past records, Nepal has been experiencing major quakes every 70-75 years. According to seismologists, Nepal ranks 11th among the 30 most quake prone countries in the world. In Nepal, the tectonic motion – the movement of plates in the Indian subcontinent towards Tibet – that caused the Himalayas to rise have also been causing buildings to collapse and cities get razed since the 13th century. And it is likely that Nepal would be faced with a similar situation in the near future, with Western and Central Nepal including the Kathmandu Valley the most prone to damage.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The 1934 Quake, that devastated Bihar, measured 8 on the Richter scale, killing nearly 11,000 people and 20 per cent of the buildings in the valley. The National Seismological Centre of Kathmandu draws an apocalyptic version of the disaster: that it would kill more than 40,000 people and injure another 100-200,000 if it happens today. It would also destroy 60-70 per cent of the buildings and leave 60-70,000 people homeless. There is no such term as earthquake-proof as no building can be entirely safe from earthquakes. The actual term used is earthquake-resistant which means that the damage to life and property caused following an earthquake will be minimised.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Establishment of the Disaster Preparedness Plan and Disaster Relief Plan makes a huge difference in earthquake-prone regions, when the catastrophes do occur as we have experienced in the two Latin American countries: Haiti and Chile. By comparing these countries to Nepal and taking a closer look at Nepal’s situation, it is evident that Nepal is in dire need of a strong mitigation plan.&nbsp;In Kathmandu Valley which is a former lake-bed, 2.5 million people live in poorly constructed buildings.&nbsp;Kathmandu has only one airport and three roads connecting it to the outside world. In the event of an earthquake, these roads are most likely to be damaged rendering them unfit for transportation. Nepal has a National Seismological Network comprising 21 short period telemetric seismic stations that started with the first seismometer set up at the top of the Phulchowki Hill, 14 km southeast of Kathmandu, in 1978. The Nepali Diaspora needs to come together and build a procedural mechanism to protect the country by setting up a Disaster Preparedness Plan, and a Disaster Relief Plan. The National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) - Nepal, established as a non-governmental and non-profit organisation in 1994, has been actively pursuing the earthquake risk and mitigation planning and earthquake awareness projects.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Protracted political wrangling in Nepal is preventing a key piece of disaster preparedness legislation from reaching parliament. Though endorsed by the cabinet in October 2009, the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) has yet to be made into law. The passing of this bill is critical. Without this, the country’s disaster preparedness efforts cannot move forward.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Development of better building codes, strict enforcement of the existing one, creation of disaster management plans and response bodies from the local level to the central must be ensured. Similarly, streamlining of relevant administrative machinery with funding, clearly demarcated jurisdiction and insurance awareness are measures that the government must take seriously. Unless these measures are taken, the cost of country’s lack of preparedness may turn out to be devastating. The right lesson to be drawn from events unfolding – a combination of righteous knowledge and righteous actions helps us for sustaining survival.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Ghosh is the CEO of National Insurance Company Ltd. This article is based on material provided from various sources including </i>Munich Re<i>)</i></div>',
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			'description' => 'Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '260',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Practices & Line Managers',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers in organisations play an important role in the development of its employees’ professional careers and encouraging their positive attitude. The organisations have recognised the advantages of the Line Managers’ involvement in learning and development process of its employees. Yet, most organisations have not worked towards educating human resource (HR) practices to them. It is becoming increasingly important to acknowledge that the Line Managers possess the potential to help change organisational environments for the better.<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Educating HR practices to Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers should be educated on HR policies and HR functions such as performance appraisals, training identification etc. They should have the authority to track HR activities and report the same to the Human Resource Department (HRD).&nbsp;Correspondingly, the role of the HRD should be to make the Line Managers competent by providing communication training so as to help them communicate better with their subordinates. So, close interaction between the HRD and the Line Manager and giving them the authority is vital.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Further, the Line Managers should be briefed on conducting appraisals effectively. Performance appraisals must be conducted to help employees maximise their respective potential for mutual benefit.&nbsp;For this purpose, it’s imperative that the Line Managers receive behavioural and communication training.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Management Review Meetings</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The organisations must give due importance to management review meetings for the Line Managers. They are an important part of educating the Line Managers as they get to hold discussions with the management boards. This process helps taking timely and appropriate actions required for organisational development.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Job Description for the Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Developing guidance is another important aspect which helps the Line Managers perform better. The HRD must make them realise the importance of the organisational team. The relations between the HRD, Line Managers and other employees must complement each other. The inclusion of HR responsibilities in the Line Managers’ job description and coordination with the HRD for the employees’ performance enhancement would help formulate effective HR related activities. A complaint mechanism also needs to be developed as it can work as the reflection for change requirement.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Counselling and Training</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers have to work closely with the employee so they must understand their human needs. For instance, an employee may be experiencing grief, tension or a personal problem. It may influence his end performance and weaken his retention prospect. In this scenario, the Line Manager’s counselling can influence the employee positively. A Line Manager’s positivity can rub on to the team and enhance its overall capability.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The ability to inspire is not the easiest of qualities to develop. The Line Managers must be provided trainings, periodically, on people management and enhancing competencies of their team members. Such trainings can help them learn to be more competent to achieve common objectives.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>The Line Managers’ Leadership Role</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Leadership plays an important role for a team to accomplish a common task. The Line Managers should lead the group of people and work towards enhancing their capabilities without getting insecure. The HR personnel cannot reach each employee most of the times. So, the Line Managers should be given adequate authority to make decisions, to a certain extent. When the Line Managers are given authority and responsibility, there is a tremendous possibility of increased productive output.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The HRD should have a system which identifies the employees’ expectations from the organisations. It can then design the desired format and address it to the Line Manager.&nbsp;As a result, the Line Manager takes pride in the positive changes happening to his team members. The Line Managers play a vital role in ensuring that employees are mentored, motivated and feeling competent. The HRD can consider itself successful if employees are productive and contribute towards overall organisational growth. The employees’ successful careers within the organisation are a healthy sign of things to come. <br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Educating HR to the Line Managers”, on 29 December, 2010 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included Ayush Shah, ICTC Group; Robin Shrestha, Caritas Nepal; Sarika Amatya, Freelancer; Sharda Rana, Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd; Shraddha Joshi, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal and Sujata Rijal, Echo Advertising Agency. Shailendra Raj Giri, the Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion.)</i></div>',
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			'description' => 'The Line Managers in organisations play an important role in the development of its employees’ professional careers and encouraging their positive attitude.',
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	(int) 8 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '218',
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			'title' => 'Right Gears For Strategic Achievement',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">By Anil Neupane</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Global business environment is changing rapidly with decentralization, smaller profit margin, need to react quickly to the changing market demands and increasing importance of service. In order to survive or improve in this aggressive environment, organizations tend to implement different approaches of Outsourcing, Business Intelligence (BI), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. But despite these efforts, every organization does not succeed to meet the strategic goals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Approaches used<br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Traditionally outsourcing has been considered as the best approach for cost-saving. But this approach does not always support companies to meet their strategic outcomes. A survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, among 25 of the world's largest organizations across eight sectors with extensive outsourcing experiences and multivendor relationships, revealed that 70% of participants identified cost savings</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> as the major driver of the outsourcing decision. However, opposing to th</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">e optimistic interpretation of outsourcing by vendors and the marketplace, they later realized that outsourcing is a complex process and the anticipated benefits often fail to materialize. Instead of simplifying operation, there may be complexities due to outsourcing.&nbsp;Also the costs may increase and the value chain may experience some friction requiring more senior management attention and deeper management skills than anticipated. However, outsourcing allows organizations to transfer financial and operational risk to vendors. But organizations are discovering that their contracts will never fully protect them against customer damage and business losses caused by service disruption. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Company should focus on outsourcing in its operational areas and handle their core areas on their own. By doing this outsourcing facilitates a company focus on its core business by having operations carried out by an external expert. Freed from devoting energy to areas that are not in its expertise, the company can focus its resources to meet its core customer needs.<br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">One of the major factors for a successful outsourcing is to have a clear strategic plan and vision. Moving along this path of clear plan and vision, a company can meet the strategic goals. As the survey report of Deloitte Consulting suggested, in order for meeting the strategic outcomes with minimal risks, companies should outsource only commodity functions to guard against a loss of knowledge instead of looking for differentiated growth solutions. As the report suggests, companies should avoid outsourcing solely on cost savings and should plan for short-term outsourcing to prevent vendor dependency. In the long run, organizations that continue to outsource will experience a loss of bargaining power to vendors as the supply side consolidates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Those that apply strong skills in deal structuring, risk management and strong management skills to oversee deals from inception to execution will be best positioned to reap the benefits of outsourcing. Outsourcing will still remain a useful solution within the conservative context of five models: Centralize-Standardize-Outsource Transform-Operate-Transfer, Commodities Outsourcing, Risk Transfer (Insurance</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">), and Shifting Fixed Costs to Variable Costs. In case of curr</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%">ent market situation, it has been found that outsourcing frequently fails to deliver its promise. In this case, it is suggested that the world’s largest companies should be able to replicate the vendor’s structural advantages in-house and rely on vendors only under specific circumstances. To meet the strategic outcomes from outsourcing, companies should move from an ad hoc outsourcing approach to a strategic multisourcing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%"><br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Business Intelligence</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Timely access to relevant information for right decision making has been critical for business success. However it has been very challenging for organizations to retrieve the right information from the huge amount of data collected as a result of diverse new data collecting technologies. Many companies have a gap between their strategy and operations as a failure to retrieve right information from their data. Unless they retrieve right information to realize this gap, it is not possible for them to come up with expected strategic outcomes. By providing right information at right time, business intelligence can help organizations to find out the gap between their strategy and operations following which they can change the strategy as per the operation or vice versa. Today’s business environment has frightening situation where 77% of managers do not have sufficient information and tend to make wrong decisions. Many companies strategies are found to be disconnected from the operations and decisions made at operations level are without context. This scary situation was depicted by a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which revealed that less than one in ten corporate executives believe they have the right information needed to make critical business decisions.&nbsp;No matter how promising the company strategy is, how can the right strategic outcome be met with this level of accessibility to right information for decision making? <br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Mark Giles has emphasised on the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) which, as he has defined, is a data warehouse concept that enables organizations create and operate a data warehouse in an enterprise-wide environment. Some of the major features of EDW are: a. Enable strategic analysis and operational reporting, b. Enable business to report real time, c. Integrate heterogeneous systems and d. facilitate the design time as well as runtime of business intelligence (BI) models and processes. In comparison to the traditional business intelligence systems which are accessible to some specific person such as manager, system analysts etc, EDW is something that is to be accessible to all levels of employees. Through this concept of information accessibility across the organizations, the employees at operational level can make right decisions to ensure the expected strategic outcome. Also since EDW facilitates the design and runtime of BI models and processes, organizations can simulate the processes earlier thereby reducing risks of failure which might happen in the real business scenario and support to meet expected strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Supply Chain Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">In today’s rapid globalized business environment, companies have been highly dependent on outsourced manufacturing partners in order to reduce cost. However in addition to the reduction of the cost, the overall system has become very complex and therefore the importance of an effective supply chain management is increasing day by day. Unlike the earlier trends of producing goods on site, the goods are produced in remote areas and transported to other places for sales or reprocessing. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The traditional approach of supply chain network does not match with the current speedy business environment and a new approach is needed to achieve expected strategic outcomes. Stefan Theis &amp; Howells have suggested adaptive supply chain </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">as an effective supply chain network adapting a strategic approach to overcome the existing challenges in the supply chain network.</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%"> Because of globalization and outsourcing, the network-wide visibility and collaboration have become challenging. To overcome these challenges, he focuses on supply chain collaboration which consists of a. Understanding customer demand, b. Including suppliers in the network, c. Enabling visibility into outsourcing partners and d. Extending visibility to carriers . </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Tracking and Tracing</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> is a key enabler to achieve adaptive supply chain network which in turn can enable visibility into and responsiv</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%">eness to all supply chain events. Enabling real-time demand visibility, collaboration, and analytics to manage and mitigate risk are the major objectives of adaptive supply chain which can in turn ensure meeting the strategic goals of the companies. It is essential to have right supply chain strategy to come up with right strategic outcomes. For instance, strategies like Supply-to-stock and Supply-to-order. If supply-to-stock strategy is applied for products that are meant to be supply-to-order, then the possibility of right strategic outcome is very low.&nbsp;The technology plays crucial role for business partners integration. For instance, business intelligence systems can play a vital role to analyze the trends of customers needs and plan accordingly. It is essential for companies with strategic fit, i.e. both supply chain and competitive strategy have higher likelihood of having expected strategic outcome from their strategy. To achieve this strategic fit, some of the requisites he has suggested are: a. Understanding the customer, b. Understanding supply chain tradeoffs and c. Matching supply chain responsiveness with the implied demand uncertainty. With this combination of right strategy, strategy fit with strong support of technology at the back end can ensure organizations meet their strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Customer Relationship Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There have been numerous failures of implementing effective CRM systems. Companies should have strategic procedures to achieve strategic outcomes from their CRM systems. Properties of an effective CRM system which highly ensure the strategic outcome are:&nbsp;a. Simplicity drives adoption and productivity, b. Flexibility provides choice and adaptability and c. Comprehensive breadth of capabilities and innovation. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There are numerous challenges to meet strategic goals through traditional CRM systems due to their inability to support high complexity of today’s global business environment. To get expected strategic outcomes from CRM systems, companies should focus on standardizing their sales processes, integrating their data and be flexible and responsive to their environment. Properly implemented and maintained CRM systems can help organizations meet their strategic goals by reducing or avoiding cost, increasing productivity and retaining higher customer satisfaction. A customer centric CRM system gives a full view of customers to help companies improve their efficiency thereby coming up with better customer service. For multinational companies, different complexities such as different processes in the subsidiary’s region, lack of integration in many processes and multiple CRM instances can further hinder the achievement of their strategic goals. Companies can overcome these complexities and meet their strategic goals with right implementation of the CRM systems by forming a globally consistent process, integrating processes across sales, marketing, contact centers and partners and by having single logical instance of multiple systems. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">2+2 not necessarily 4</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The four business areas, Outsourcing, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relationship Management are very crucial for organizations to meet their strategic goals. However, these business areas by themselves do not assure the achievement of business strategic goals unless they are properly implemented. Though these business areas have their distinctive contribution to achieve the organizational strategic goals, they are not in fact independent of each other. These are closely interlinked with each other and proper coordination of these facets can actually result in meeting strategic goals efficiently. For this, an efficient or a combination of few ERP systems with all these functionalities can be deployed to support business processes and help meet the organizational strategic goals. After implementation, it is equally important to review these systems in context of changing business environment to ensure the system is as per the market need. </span></p>
<p>
	 </p>
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	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</span><br />
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	<span style="color: rgb(255, 140, 0);"><strong><i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: &quot;Lucida Bright&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></strong></span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">T</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">o know the role of Performance Management, it’s essential to agree on the objective of management. If we collate different views of different management scientists, we can come to a consensus that the objective of management is: to achieve the intended business destination through effective, efficient and economic utilization of people, material, time, information and fund.” <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	It covers all four key elements – job improvement, skills enhancement, task management and internal relationship. It is through the combination of these that achievement of intended destination is ensured. Thus to manage a business effectively, there must be a close link between the work planning, proceeding and review procedure because factors affecting business and people performance interact on each other. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	The management needs to institutionalize and demonstrate latest management techniques, approaches/principles and philosophies to synergize cumulative human endeavour. This can be achieved only through a dynamic change agent driving the change process embodying these qualities for common growth and actualization of the organisation’s potentials. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	In the total management philosophies, there has been unanimous alignment about people resources and it is all agreed that without proper people organization blocks, it would not only be difficult but impossible to eye on any intended achievement without people engagement. Scientific management theory describes 5 key block builders of Human Organization:</p>
<p class="bullet">
	1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Work Cycle: Assignments should be specialized and set to smallest possible work cycle.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Process: Same process be used whilst performing same task in repetition</p>
<p class="bullet">
	3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Leadership: Effective leadership should be demonstrated in decision making</p>
<p class="bullet">
	4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Uniformity: In view of equity and consistency, policies must be uniform<span style=""> </span>across the business.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Exclusivity: Duplication of functions is widely discouraged and thus assignment exclusivity becomes a must in view of task ownership.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">With the understanding that the people are important, it’s obvious that we need to relate our efforts to achieve with the social perception within organization.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It’s obvious that social behavior is learnt in the form of acceptability within a work environment and we continue to learn and adapt through comparing one another.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Being social animals, the humans make comprehensive arrangements for living and performing with one another and managing the environment. We could perceive most social situations as a negotiation, an interview, a presentation/workshop, an attempt to leadership, etc. Organizations or their people recognise the existence of a problem when they perceive that their goals are inconsistent with one another or when discrepancies between want/desire and expectations are experienced. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	However, to have consistency in business results as well as in people’s productivity and social acknowledgement, we need to pay special attention to Performance Management and that requires serious attention to meet expectations or achieve desired results. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">In the light of the above, there cannot be a disagreement, if we say that Performance Management is thus one of the most essential elements of Management and most desired to be in place for institution and/or investments. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">The article is not intended to describe the steps or process of performance management. Rather it is intended to discuss various elements and/or contributing factors of performance management in day to day work life. Various research works suggest:</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Regular Communication at work:</b> Employees mostly show concerns pertaining to the quality and quantity of communication at work.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Inadequate and ineffective communication results in loss of cooperation and coordination, decreased productivity, undesired pressure, increased human turnover, absenteeism, rumors etc and there won’t be any disagreement that all these have huge impact on both personal and organizational performance. Hence, it would be wise to have two way clear, effective and regular communication within the organization to attain the desired performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Build Trust:</b> It has been widely experienced in daily work life that lack of trust among the members of the work team is very damaging. HR practitioners must accept that the performance management tools should not be considered as the only HR tools. Research works suggest that HUMILITY is one of the best to generate trust within organization. Managers or HR practitioners who are ready to acknowledge mistakes have been considered as highly competent. Even mediocre people are accepted easily saying, “You are trustworthy because you have courage to admit a mistake”. One must be seen by other members not as a competitor but as a collaborator. Trust encourages people to focus on productivity instead of remaining suspicious for every action of Management.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Satisfy Customers: </b>Customer service must be improved starting from the office of the top management (e.g. Managing Director, CEO, GM etc.). Commitment must be communicated to all the levels (internal &amp; external). An awareness drive can be launched for improvement on customer service. Customers also want to feel that you value them and their business. Loyal customers market the company. This way, the customer satisfaction becomes an important key in driving performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Get Along:</b> Relationship, conflict, resentment etc. have a big negative impact on performance. Evaluate and encourage change process by allowing a fostering team spirit. Encourage discussions that lead to pointing out inconsistencies in the actions and outcomes against the agreed goals and priorities. Changes in behaviour, generating better understanding across the business, creating common goal and priority and showing concerns about one another’s personal constraints as well as providing support in the hours of need will foster the team spirit and help building everlasting relationship.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>When the people get along, the tasks get done well and quality performance emerges automatically.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Full Attention:</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> It would be wise to keep everyone informed of expectations from them. The people should be engaged to find solutions to troubles as well as pursuing alternates. Not just talk about open door policy, practice it. Allow people to disagree so that new ideas emerge. Adequate and/or increasing response confirms attentiveness. Listening and recognizing ideas with full involvement encourages participation. Full attention to others’ views, ideas, suggestion and communication generate energy within the team and reflects respect to each other. Most of the time, productive ideas don’t get implemented due to the lack of attention. Improvement often comes from small efforts that were previously sent back without enough attention paid to them. If you encourage team to take RISK, your behaviour too must match your word so that the others in the team are confident that they are being heard with full attention. Ensure that the reminders or follow-ups about agreed move are sent in time. This will encourage participation and certainly will result in improved productivity. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To conclude, research works show that performance management and performance evaluation are two different poles of the magnet.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>But both of them have the same purpose. The keys to performance are in the answers to the following questions: What is expected of us? What are we doing? What next? How are we doing? How should we be doing? When we must be doing? Why we should or must be doing?</p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Once, genuine answers to these are derived, Performance Management becomes integral part of our daily work life. </span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Karna is Executive Chairperson, MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd &amp; Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd He says this article is based on various research reports and practical experiences.)</i></p>
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			'title' => 'Essentials Of Employees’ Learning Habits (july 2011)',
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	<i>By Kriti Bhuju </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">L</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">earning is a prerequisite to growth. Both employers and employees need to enhance their knowledge, skill and ability for continuous organizational as well as professional development and growth in the present context. Learning is essential to keep in tune with trends and developments in our field.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is essentially important to make learning a habit as most employees do not focus a great deal on reading and learning. Employees must have a self realization that enhancing their capacity helps upgrading their own knowledge. They must also have the habit of aligning themselves with others to find out their weaknesses. Some organizations have the practice of skill assessment which motivates the employees to learn new things and upgrade their skills.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is crucial to develop learning culture so that learning becomes a trend in organizations for everybody to follow. It is not advisable to push people to learn; employers must provide learning environment and freedom to create culture.&nbsp;Employees must have the feeling that those who are always ready to learn are more successful in their careers. They are more productive and attentive towards quality than the employees who are not eager to learn.&nbsp;Learning habits come naturally for some. However, some others do not wish to learn until their bosses ask them to. People are bound to follow once a system of learning is initiated. This ultimately yields a positive outcome. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Learning is not a habit at the root level and that is where the problem lies. Organizations need to focus on having a library, learning zone and providing different trainings to create learning habit among their employees. The employees must also develop a tendency to learn from their subordinates. If a person is really interested in learning, s/he should shun superiority complex and be prepared to learn from juniors. However, this is a vital aspect of learning which we do not see in practice.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It helps the employer to create an atmosphere of learning within the organization if a person’s willingness to learn can be identified during the selection process itself. We can learn from any part of the world through e-learning and virtual learning as technology has made learning easier nowadays. Many INGOs have a rule for employees to do a course through e-learning which forces them to learn. They should share their learning and achievement with their co workers after taking certain trainings or completing a course.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">An individual should understand the importance of learning and realize that it is for their own growth in terms of enhancing knowledge, skills and abilities. Learning habit should come from their heart and mind because it cannot be injected in an individual. Learning culture can be inculcated only if an individual is interested in it. Developing a learning culture ultimately helps employee retention and contributes towards employer branding overall.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Essentials of Employees’ Learning Habit” on 25 May 2011 conducted by Real solution Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from commercial banks, INGOs, IT companies, industries, private organizations and freelancers. Shailendra Raj Giri, MD of Real Solutions acted as the moderator of the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></div>',
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			'title' => 'OHS & People Engagement (july 2011)',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">E</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">mployee engagement in OHS (Occupational Health &amp; Safety) is not only critical to its effective management but also an integral part of productivity and quality management at the work place. Achieving this necessitates commitment of all parties concerned – the management, employees and the Union – to meet the objectives and long term approach of an organisation. The existence of issues related to health and safety at a work place has a huge impact over business performances. It adversely affects employees’ performances and encourages absenteeism due to illnesses, injuries etc. Health &amp; Safety, an important element in our daily life, affects everyone including employees, managers, owners, family, society, contractors and visitors. Effective OHS management helps improve the well-being of employees, workplace environment and business operation. All these factors together ensure overall business. The employees’ engagement towards OHS seeks to change workplace culture and beliefs for improved and safe work practices through positive engagement of people, communication and training. </span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Effective communication is vital for business management wherein periodical group discussions cultivate consultation among the workforce. Health, safety and environmental issues are discussed in these forums in addition to measures for current business improvement and the way forward. These consultations intend to instill the entire organization’s trust and direct everyone to follow the targeted business destination. The employees are encouraged to participate in various decision making practices such as process enhancement, management plans, skills development and risk analysis. This actively encourages open communication amongst the workforce resulting in operation and work culture improvement.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">While trust plays a vital role in achieving desired level of people engagement, it is one of the most difficult tasks for business leaders. Business leadership requires demonstrating consistency in words and action by resorting to fair communication. It supports creation of a culture securing complete engagement of human resources and driving business results. At present, businesses are recognizing safety, health and environmental responsibilities as integral parts of daily routine. They are focused towards preventing occupational injury and illness as well as minimizing adverse impact on the environment. Business operations are extensively engaging in identifying priorities to ensure that these initiatives match people resources and community expectations.&nbsp;They are also working on an awareness drive to see regular communication and basic as well as specialized training on OHS. Employers have the responsibility of providing a safe place and work system. At the same time, employees are responsible for strictly adhering directions floated for safe work practices. Effective safety management requires compulsory integration of health and safety into planning, purchasing, production, distribution, sales and financial aspects of a business. There must be moves with clear understanding and considerations giving equal importance to productivity &amp; quality management. It is because business improvements, risk reduction and efficient cost economy flow from a successful implementation of OHS management system.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Further, industrial relations and OHS are interlinked and these must be recognized throughout management efforts in building productive and safe work environment. The most essential requirement is to train and provide logistical support to the health and safety committee inviting its engagement for generating awareness and workforce’s interest in OHS. It is also inevitable to recognize that the Union plays a vital role in facilitating effective people engagement for participatory mechanism afforded by them keeping industrial relations in mind. This makes the employees, the Union and HR associates key stakeholders leading to dedicated participation towards the OHS program.&nbsp;The Unions and HR practitioners’/associates’ involvement facilitates effective dissemination of OHS process. It also encourages a better understanding of risk exposures and need for the mandatory usage of protective devices, workplace equipment, changed work practices etc on the employees’ part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The frequency and severity rate is the traditional form of statistical measurement of incident, accident, injury and illness. These measurements are indicators for cost efficiency, associated cost on workplace safety, loss of working hours etc. More than anything else, people resources utilization largely depends on effective improvement of working conditions to the extent of changing circumstances in the workplace.&nbsp;Constant and regular surveys are popular initiatives aimed at improving public commitment towards health and safety.&nbsp;Top management leadership in association with HR associates is critical in terms of integrating OHS management system into core business and its philosophy. The leadership displays genuine concern for employees’ welfare, provides greater opportunity to succeed and achieve OHS performance at the desired level. This also results in capturing an organization’s greater commitment towards health and safety policies thereby cultivating high degree of awareness and reducing accident and injury risks. At present, the business teams are highly energetic and equipped well with strong communication skills. Most essential and desired expectations can only be achieved with proactive approach, effective engagement and structured coaching. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">One of the key elements of the OHS drive is standard policy and implementation strategy. OHS policy cannot have productive implementation unless it overcomes traditional approaches which deal with troubles as and when they occur. On the other hand, proactive approach is the current practice and need which is based on elimination of causes rather than dealing with effects. Documented OHS system, process and policy demonstrate and quantify the need as well as explain the necessity while obtaining commitment from all parties in writing. An OHS system enables coordinated approach to health and safety instead of dealing with conflicting information leading to confusion. Any uncertainty pertaining to work practices amongst people resources exposes organizations to unacceptable risks. Though many organizations perceive health &amp; safety management implementation as too difficult, there are key advantages of systematic implementation and health &amp; Safety management. Investment towards OHS management system minimizes workplace illness and injury and contributes towards reducing direct and indirect cost to the company. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Above all, the feedback from the workforce is important evidence to measure OHS effectiveness and employee engagement. It plays a vital role in improvising OHS strategies and works as an eye-opener towards improvement needs in the current system. It quantifies actual measures of OHS performance which is open for manipulation through leave arrangements, changing shift of the affected employee etc. Both formal and informal feedback must be applied for qualitative checks on OHS program practices within the work schedule. While OHS encourages people’s contribution towards internal processes and learning, workers and the Unions are more likely to commit themselves and participate in best practices. As a matter of fact, this is essential for employee engagement in dealing with OHS in the form of a joint OHS committee and other participatory mechanisms such as labor relation committee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It is also advisable to involve people through workplace inspection, periodical interaction with operational team and work groups and measurement and evaluation exercises. This is where an organization instills the opportunity to drive the changing process of OHS management system. It ensures prevention from future injuries, accidents and illnesses. This can be taken as the best opportunity in view of the well known and accepted fact ‘Prevention is always better than cure’.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">&nbsp;(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></div>',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Sujit Mundul</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">W</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">hen considering management in the decade of 1990s, three important observations could be made: The massive efforts made to change the way organizations operate, the astonishing degree of failure that accompanies all but a handful of such attempts, and the radical aversion to risk-taking.&nbsp;One might think that the high degree of failure has provided us with a mountain of data to understand the causes. This is a correct assumption. In the same breath, one might also contemplate that the data load enables us to predict a successful route to change; but this is probably wrong.&nbsp;We know why change goes wrong, but we find it enormously difficult to make changes work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The problem of change is especially significant now. Because as we see management and organizations in the western world appear to be in a state of constant turmoil as change follows change in an ever more frantic attempt to reverse what it took two centuries to construct. The traditional methods of organizing business including public services, no longer seem viable.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is possible that organizations are really autistic; in other words, organizations rather than their leaders are unable or unwilling to listen to what others are saying to them.&nbsp;Perhaps, their strategic intentions are rolled out irrespective of the advice that is being offered to them.&nbsp;In this context, one could possibly agree that IBM went through a phase of being an autistic organization, as its market share crumbed and its leadership continued to exercise the less than successful strategy despite internal and external criticism and advice that the company was going wrong.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Keith Grant in his famous article “Managing Change through Commitment” mentioned:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">“Now that we have uncovered some possible benefits and disadvantages with commitment as a panacea for change … I want to consider the extent to which leadership can displace the problematic fuzziness of subordinates with a transparent way forward”. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Let us now focus on the significance of leadership rather than change. These two very often appear to be linked: leadership in itself implies change. So, let us look at the significance that different contemporary theories attribute to leadership.&nbsp;In traditional models, leaders are the critical sine qua non, but some current approaches attribute very little to leadership, or reconstruct the meaning of the term to change the entire debate.&nbsp;Leadership is amongst the most perspective areas of management knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Despite an enormous outpouring of material during the second half of the twentieth century, we appear to be little closer to understanding leadership than either Plato or Sun Tzu, who began the written debate several thousand years ago. Since post-war period it appears that we have gone full circle: From assurances that personality traits were the key, though equally valid counter argument that the situation was critical, to a controversy over whether the leader was person or task-oriented, and back to finding out the charismatics whose visions and transformational style would explain all (Bryman 1992).&nbsp;During this latter period there has been a prescriptive urge to push leadership in an empowering direction so that Super Leadership (Manz and Sims, 1991) can ensure that Leaders work to free up the skills and potentials of their subordinate rather than throttle initiative in bureaucratic and functional hierarchies. Now, let us touch upon a different aspect of leadership: Personality. More importantly, stable personality. When we see the boss sacking an employee for some minor mistake we know just how hard–hearted she is; when she brings her baby to work she seems quite different, almost pleasant.&nbsp;Keith Grant has cited another example when someone reveals her school report it is quite difficult to imagine the “shrinking violet of 2b” against the assertive CEO now standing before us. Yet, according to another colleague, she isn’t assertive at all, but downright aggressive. Could she be all these things to different people? Could it be that there is no solid centre here, no core characteristics that remain unchanged across time and space? Or perhaps, it is the people who interact with her, who construct the character?&nbsp;If this is so, is there no essential “essence” to people, but merely a character that is constructed through various relationships? Which characterization prevails over time tends to depend upon who has the power to reproduce it; thus accounts of popular figures may change with each biography!&nbsp;Indeed, a difficult proposition.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The concept of Deep Leadership suggests that leadership processes and practices, not roles are critical; that leadership is deeply and systematically present throughout all levels of the organization and not just at the formal top of the hierarchy;&nbsp;and that the fixation with formal leaders or Shallow Leadership and not informal or&nbsp;Deep Leadership is also rooted in an epistemological approach that perceives leadership to be only the effect of leaders and never the consequence of followers. It may be that leadership is an ineffective phenomenon in terms of the survival of organizations as population ecology models suggest or that leadership is merely the requirement of normative pressures as institutional theory suggests or that it is merely a myth whose purpose is to ensure the survival of the leaders themselves (Gemmill and Oakly, 1992).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The approach towards Deep Leadership also seeks to examine the extent to which individuals who are regarded as being leader whether formal or informal are able to affect and effect their own version of events. It might be, for instance, that the crucial difference between leadership and non-leadership does not lie in the particular act or process, but in the ability of some individual to prevail over others. Another question comes up: Is leadership rather like history just the acts of victors? It may even be that acts of Deep Leadership are indeed identical at all levels but only formally recognized where they oincide with formal authority. Or alternatively, it may be that leadership styles and processes do differ between the levels of hierarchy so that there are qualitative differences between the leadership in the shop-floor and the leadership in the boardroom.&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;<i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'description' => 'When considering management in the decade of 1990s, three important observations could be made: The massive efforts made to change the way organizations operate, the astonishing......',
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			'id' => '306',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Are You Backed By SAP?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="1" height="225" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/imm.jpg" style="width: 349px; height: 225px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="349" />S</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">AP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers. When it comes to operating with the ultimate idea of uninterrupted and ever increasing performance in business, SAP is the perfect solution. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP provides a single, integrated technology platform that supports industry-specific business processes through optional enhancement packages that enables to build on progress, without causing business disruptions. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP solutions are efficient and this can be largely credited to SAP's impeccable architecture. It is built on state-of-the-art computing technologies based on the Business Framework architecture which is capable of processing huge volumes of information and supporting rapid decision-making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There are a few things that distinctly mark SAP apart from other solutions in the market. The foremost is their service-oriented architecture (SOA) which speeds and simplifies the integration of SAP and non-SAP solutions. Therefore, SAP's implementation offers high levels of data integration as it ensures synchronisation of information between SAP and the underlying business execution systems. This open connectivity actually allows business components to interact with several business systems. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Needless to say, with SAP, a company can gain meaningful, industry-specific, role-based insight into the business performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Understanding its functionality requires recognising the working of its components. Building on existing SAP R/3 functionality, SAP includes functionality for advanced Business Consolidation and Business Information Collection, which links internal information with automated collection of relevant external information through the Internet. SAP also supports advanced Business Planning and Simulation, based on both internal and external information - allowing you to model risks and rewards, and more effectively manage future uncertainties. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Furthermore, once you resort to SAP solutions, the Corporate Performance Monitor including the Management Cockpit is enhanced with industry-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI) templates on the one hand while on the other, the Stakeholder Relationship Management component facilitates communication with investors and other important stakeholder groups. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP unequivocally meets all your company's requirements and addresses all its prominent concerns.The implementation of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can lead to many benefits. Some evident gains are stated as follows:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">With SAP solutions, your enterprise shall run in accordance with strategy and plans, accessing the right information in real time to identify concerns early. SAP improves operational efficiency and productivity within and beyond your enterprise thus extending transactions, information, and collaboration functions to a broader business community.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP helps you eliminate high integration costs and the need to purchase third-party software. It helps you leverage preset defaults and pre-packaged versions available for specific industries. It also links employees performance to compensation programmes such as variable pay plans and long-term incentives; and at the same time gives employees new ways to access the enterprise information required for their daily activities. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">To meet the business needs of the 21st century, every aspiring company needs the element that pulls it together and integrates it in such a proficient way that it is able to foresee all opportunities and identify every minuscule of apprehension to make proactive decisions. To ensure solid productivity in today's competitive market, every company needs to be in a position from where it can make the optimum use of all its existing resources. <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Using SAP means; being in a position to exactly do that. In brief terminologies, it means increasing profitability, improving financial control and reducing risks; thereby putting your company in the centre stage of a high yielding market.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'title' => 'Developing Job Ownership: Key To Business Success',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra karna.jpg" style="width: 98px; height: 130px;" vspace="1" />By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs. While accepting assignments, projects or jobs they do so with with the sense of ownership. These are really professional people. They deal with others with a clear understanding of interdependence and give due consideration and respect to other departments, sections or functions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Job ownership by an employee plays crucial role for business success in today’s competitive global market. Businesses need continued progress in product development. Unless the people take this responsibility of product development with the sense of ownership, they will not put into it their full knowledge and experience and efforts. As a result, competitive advantage benefits will keep missing for all stake holders: the employee, the company, the customers and the investors. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Anything consistently continued for a longer period will certainly convert into guaranteed success. Though many management scientists argue that ’success in the life is not difficult to achieve’, continuous move towards the destination is essential to achieve success. Money has never been the highest motivating factor for human resources at a work place. The most common motivators are security, work-life balance, efficiency, learning opportunity and recognition against efforts one puts for business success. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Simultaneously, the most acknowledged motivator for business owners or investors is emotional attachment. Success and failure are mostly immaterial for them because failure is considered the only way to learn, in business. The challenge for them is not the knowledge but the work ethics, values and consistency to get results. This is called ownership mentality and the same applies for employees with job ownership attitude. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/key.jpg" style="width: 238px; height: 340px;" vspace="1" />During recruitment phase, interviews are mostly centred on prospective and anticipated relationships. The standard contract is imposed on the employee as soon as an agreement is reached. However, it mostly escapes ’detailing position and job profile’. The fact remains that the actual rights and duties of employees emerge through interpersonal relationships built at the workplace during the course of working together. Hence, psychological contract becomes eminent to match one another’s expectations contributing to higher level of performance and satisfaction. As long as common understanding and agreement in respect to the business mission, values, loyalty and respect exists between an employee and the employer, trust and commitment remain ensured. The relationship, if managed efficiently and effectively, will tie a stronger knot of mutual trust between the employer and employee matching the objectives and commitments necessary for business prosperity. In case it turns negative, it may result in disenchantment, de-motivation and resentfulness of authoritarianism within the organisation resulting in inefficient work, internal units not corresponding to the mission and objectives of the organisation and much more.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The words ’employees’ or ’Staff’, to the extent of psychological contract, signify:</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employers’ behaviour and dealing with employees</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employees’ input to the job they are entrusted or hired for</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: 9.5pt;">Respect, trust, fairness and objectivity are equally important in a job because job holders like these are essential for a civilised society in general. From a wider perspective, these become complex and significant at workplace and especially in management practices mainly towards ’change management’.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The employer and employee relationship has grown in complexity with the emergence or growth of globalised skills market allowing very high mobility of people resources. Leadership is basically seen as representing the organisation and that reflects the aim and purposes of the organisation owners. Leadership in this context refers to the top management associates like Business Head, CEO etc.&nbsp;The nature of the relationship in transactional analysis is different to one that is limited to employee and employer. However, it’s significant in terms of agreeing on mutual transparent expectations. Further, the management and organisational principles heavily depend on fair and balanced understandings between the employer and employee. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">People’s lives have become more varied, informed and better placed in recent days with the achievement of rapid growth by many economies. Human capital around the globe is equipped more with high awareness and hence, it not only wants more but also deserves more. Therefore, the employees naturally expect greater fulfilment in return for their services or association. The work itself has become far more richly diverse and complicated than ever before. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There is an increased excitement in the work place these days. The excitement is because of the application of different business model named ’employee ownership’ in corporations and cooperatives wherein employees and potentially the customers own the organisation and can therefore represent management mechanism. We see and experience glimpses here possibly as to how organisations might be run more fairly and sustainably in days to come. Globalisation and technology in recent days have shifted everything we knew in relation to organised work onto a totally different level in terms of complexity, rate of change, connectivity and the mobility of human resources and activities.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Thus, if organisations truly want to make innovations, creating and encouraging job ownership is the key. This ownership is the investment from both the company (funding, balanced work culture) and the employee (time, knowledge, commitment) by allowing and generating acceptance as well as securing achievement towards personal responsibility for products, processes and different stakeholders involved with the organisation. Job ownership reflects business understanding in view of culture, goal, and customers etc facilitating interactions with various elements widely known as interpersonal skills. It forces people to display a selfless attitude ensuring and delivering not only acceptable but better, improved and acknowledgeable productivity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Getting people to think and act like owners has never been easy and hence, if employees accept and take up jobs considering themselves as owners, it must be considered a great achievement. Employees are motivated further in view of sustainability onto business expectations. Involving employees in decision making requires entrepreneurs to seek input from employees and must listen to them.&nbsp;The solution really lies in making them part of decision making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Ultimately, it’s all about people and taking care of people resources for better productivity in terms of business sustainability. Promoting job ownership and acceptance in the true sense will certainly guarantee the realisation of organisational mission, goal and objectives. </span></div>
<div>
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; 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></div>',
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			'title' => 'The Importance Of Enterprise  Performance Management',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><img alt="anil" border="1" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/1303899771.jpg" style="width: 105px; height: 156px;" vspace="5" /><br />
	<br />
	<strong>By Anil Neupane<br />
	</strong><br />
	</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Enterprise performance management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities necessary to reach those objectives. It is often referred to, with the usage of terms such as Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM) and so on. It comprises Strategy Management, Profitability and Cost Management, Business Planning, Financial Consolidation, Spend, Supply Chain and other operational performance areas. EPM aligns the processes, systems, and metrics needed to measure and manage the performance of an organisation.<br />
	<br />
	EPM supports both cost optimisation and growth initiatives. It is a suitable fit for nearly all organisations and should be a priority initiative for CFOs to enable finance function to deliver short and long-term strategic benefits to businesses.<br />
	<br />
	It is considered as a diagnostic tool to monitor the pulse of an organisation by using a set of processes, frameworks, and systems for activities such as planning, measuring, communicating, and monitoring business results. Enterprises typically link these activities to corporate strategies and objectives and might drive them down to many individuals within the organisation to encourage accountability and control. Forrester defines business performance solutions as a category of purpose-built software applications that support these activities. The major BPS functional elements include:<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Strategy and performance measurement address goals, objectives, and accountability<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A strategy management application supports formal strategy management philosophies (eg, the Balanced Scorecard) but might be adapted to a business’ specific needs. Applications often display the strategy definition in visual strategy maps. Scorecards measure progress against the goals and objectives set forth in the strategy framework. Performance dashboards display more detailed information and allow drilling down to root-cause detail. Dashboards typically include a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that might include strategic scorecards as well as relevant comparisons against plans, budgets, forecasts, prior performance, and industry benchmark data.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions support multiple forward-looking processes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although used almost universally as a control on spending, budgeting often falls short in supporting performance initiatives often as a result of some rigorous and inflexible process and not necessarily due to a software shortcoming <i>per se</i>. Fortunately, in addition to budgeting, the planning solutions support a variety of scenario-based planning activities as well as forecasting processes that add value beyond which is provided by <img align="left" alt="enterprices" border="1" height="259" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/epm.jpg" style="width: 477px; height: 259px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="477" />traditional budgeting processes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Cost and profitability management provides detailed analysis to improve margins.</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	This complex modelling activity helps organisations analyse development, production, and operating costs against revenues by product, customers, and lines of business. Cost and profitability management applications often use activity-based costing as the methodology to develop sophisticated cost and profitability analytical models.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Financial reporting and consolidation produce financial statements.</strong> Financial reporting and consolidation applications produce reports focused on delivering financial statements based on accounting results. Statutory consolidations support regulatory compliance and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. These applications also support internal reporting of financial information.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why are companies after it globally?</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Despite the economic downturn and a global decline in overall IT spending of approximately 3 per cent, spending on CPM Suites remained positive (growing at 3.6 per cent in 2009). Through the last 24 months of economic uncertainty, EPM has helped to manage cost optimisation efforts, but through 2010, many more EPM initiatives were justified on the basis of supporting growth strategies. Furthermore, many of the stalled or sidelined EPM initiatives that did not advance in 2009, were reinstated during 2010.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	With economic downturn during the last few years, companies around the world are more focused on cutting costs and increasing performances. Therefore, EPM has been their major focus to achieve this objective and to have a better understanding of the drivers of corporate profitability.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although awareness of the EPM concept has become more widespread, according to an estimate, 40 per cent of large enterprises and as much as 75 per cent of midsize businesses are using spreadsheets or legacy applications to meet their core management processes for BP&amp;F, financial consolidations and financial reporting.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>SAP EPM Suite<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	SAP is a global leader in EPM products. SAP recognises the importance of supporting these functions for an enterprise by establishing a new cross-functional unit, focusing on business performance optimisation. This unit brings together integrated technology and product portfolio with the people, ecosystem partners, and best practices specifically designed to help organisations drive business performance, manage risks and optimise the financial value chain. SAP Business Objects and EPM&nbsp;solutions bring together a set of applications that combine strategic goal-setting linked to effective budgeting and reporting, with additional abilities to analyse profitability. Similarly, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) is another tool that is dominating the global EPM suite market.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The major strength of SAP is its dominance in ERP market and its support base around the globe. Lately, SAP has an implementation partner in Nepal as well.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM and Business Intelligence</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	It is sometimes confusing to distinguish between business intelligence (BI) and EPM. The major reason behind this is because different vendors define these terms in different ways. In general context, business intelligence supports EPM tools to achieve results. In terms of strategy, Business Intelligence offers the tools necessary to improve decision-making, but not linked to organisation’s strategy. On the other hand, EPM provides a closed-loop support: linked to strategy through CSFs and KPIs. In terms of purpose, the BI tool helps organisations set and monitor their goals whereas EPM tools help organisations guide their business towards its goals. The scope of BI may be limited to one or more departments or functional areas whereas the scope of EPM is for the entire enterprise.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As shown in the figure above, EPM forms the higher level of pyramid whereas BI sustains the EPM processes as a supporting tool.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM in terms of Nepal<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As in the case of companies around the world, most companies in Nepal still use spreadsheets or legacy system for financial planning, budgeting and consolidation. Due to this, the predictions are often time consuming, inflexible and inaccurate. Unlike few years back when there were very little EPM tool options in Nepal, now the country already has a SAP implementation partner. Therefore, companies now have opportunities to implement best EPM tools, like SAP EPM or SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. This shall greatly help business companies distinguish themselves from their competitors.<br />
	<br />
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><i>(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</i></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>',
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '261',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Japan’s Earthquake:A Global Wake Up Call',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/Dr Jagadish Ghosh.jpg" style="width: 106px; height: 134px;" vspace="2" />Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Dr Jagadish Ghosh</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>&nbsp;</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	'After three years, even a disaster can be good for something’ goes a Japanese proverb. But in the midst of this appalling devastation, it might be obscene to suggest that a disaster of this magnitude could possibly be turned into good for something. Evidently, time and again, not only the human spirit but also the laws of economics have proved amazingly resilient in the face of the most terrible of adversities. The widespread destruction has been taken as a challenge and an opportunity to rewrite the triumphant history of growth and development with renewed spirit and zeal. The destruction spurs reconstruction and acts as a stimulus for economic enterprise.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan’s east coast on 11 March 2011 sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake places the earthquake as the fifth largest in the world since 1900. It is also the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The two disasters were followed by the damage at nuclear reactors threatening harmful radiation. Japanese Prime minister Naoto Kan has described the catastrophic combination of earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear meltdown as the biggest crisis the country has had to face since the end of World War II.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The quake caused a 400-km long and 160-km wide rupture in the earth’s crust as one tectonic plate dove under another off the coast of northern Japan. This led to an upheaval in the sea above it, sending a 30 foot wall of water racing up to 10 km inland in Japan and reaching California across the Pacific Ocean 10 hours later. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast. The quake was followed by more than 20 aftershocks for hours, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. As many as six reactors at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima are facing crisis at one level or the other verging of N-disaster. The death toll was likely to continue climbing over 10,000 given the scale of disaster. But without minimising the tragedy in any way, the damage in terms of human lives has been remarkably contained relative to what might have been. For that, all credit must go to successive Japanese administrations and civil society. Situated on the ‘Ring of Fire’ – an arc of seismic activity around the Pacific Basin – Japan has been hit time and again by devastating earthquakes, from the one in Tokyo in 1923 to Kobe in 1995. But the Japanese have drawn their lessons from these. So they have the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and an extensive tsunami warning sensor network. They have building codes that keep such exigencies in mind. Similarly, they have thorough disaster management plans at every administrative level.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Insured Losses<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The earthquake in Japan could lead to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, according to risk modelling company AIR Worldwide, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history. It is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010 and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of decline. This temblor will go down as the costliest earthquake in modern history in terms of insured losses, surpassing the roughly $15 billion in losses of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>2010 – The Year of Earthquakes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The most devastating earthquake of the year with more than 220,000 deaths struck Haiti, a country that was in no way prepared for such an event. Chile and New Zealand, on the other hand, were very well prepared. As a result, the challenges presented for reconstruction and the insurance underwriting aspects must be assessed differently for different countries.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Scientific Analysis</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	On 12 January 2010, Haiti suffered the most devastating seismic catastrophe since the destruction of Tangshan in China in 1976. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.0, did not come as a great surprise for seismologists. The danger had been clearly stated in a scientific publication dated 2008. The epicentre of the quake which ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area was located near the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault, which was originally considered to form the quake’s epicentre, runs in an east-west direction here. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the rupture in the earth’s crust propagated towards the capital from its hypocentre west of Port-au-Prince.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The associated interference of seismic waves magnified the vibrations. Intensive geological and geophysical investigations after the quake have revealed a highly complex rupture process. It appears that a previously concealed blind thrust fault was also involved and interacted with the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault. This is of significance for the future earth quake potential in the Port-au-Prince area. It may be assumed that the stresses accumulated in the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault since the earthquakes of 1751 and 1770 were not fully released on 12 January. Moreover, the investigations have also shown that strong shaking was not restricted only to areas with soft, unconsolidated sediments. Due to the topography, it also occurred on a hillside in the Petionville district, south of the city centre.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	<span style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Chilean earthquake six weeks later did not strike unexpectedly either. The strongest earthquake ever recorded by instruments worldwide with a magnitude of 9.5 had already occurred in the Valdivia/Puerto Montt region, on the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates, in 1960. To the north of this region, a magnitude 8.0 quake off the coast of Valparaiso caused damage all the way to Santiago in 1985. The area between these two rupture zones, however, had remained relatively quiet since 1835. This ‘seismic gap’ was filled by the Maule quake on 27 February, with a magnitude of 8.8.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A third earthquake, which struck Qinghai province in Central China on 13 April, paled in comparison to these two major catastrophes. Its magnitude was similar to that of the Haitian quake and claimed roughly 2,700 lives. The earthquake which struck New Zealand’s South Island on 3 September attracted greater publicity. This was not due to its magnitude of 7.0, similar to that of the quakes in China and Haiti. What made this quake different was that, unlike the Haiti and Chile cases, an earthquake had not been expected here, 40 kilometres west of Christchurch. Experts had focused more on the Alpine Fault to the northwest which marks the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate in the west and the Pacific plate in the east. The Darfield earthquake (named after the town closest to the epicentre), however, occurred along a previously unknown fault system under the sediments of the Canterbury Plains. Unlike Port-au-Prince, the rupture proceeded away from the city in this case but the energy emitted was unusually high for a quake of this magnitude.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why Haitian earthquake proved most devastating</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Buildings of every kind – from representative buildings, such as the government palace and the Hotel Montana, to mud huts – were damaged more or less indiscriminately by the earthquake in Haiti. The corporate headquarters and production facilities of foreign companies remained structurally intact. Yet the few insured losses stemmed primarily from this sector. There are several reasons why the Haitian earthquake proved to be the most devastating ever in recent times, as expressed by the overall loss in relation to gross domestic product. Among others, they include the lack of building regulations, poor building material and a shortage of qualified labour as well as the absence of an institutional framework ensuring that construction projects are completed in an orderly fashion.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Maule quake in Chile was the first earthquake of high magnitude and correspondingly long duration (over 120 seconds) to test modern high-rise buildings. The high overall loss of US$30 billion was not caused by instability. Both the quality of Chile’s earthquake building code and its implementation are very good on a global scale. Only five of the 12,300 buildings erected since the last major earthquake in 1985 collapsed. Another 50 or so had to be demolished on account of massive structural damage. The magnitude of the overall loss is due above all, to the damage to non-structural elements in addition to the small number of major losses. Among other things, these include non-supporting walls, false ceilings and façade elements. Evidently, the building code must be updated in order to avoid or reduce the extent of such damage to property. In some cases, infrastructure also proved unexpectedly unstable as in the case of the motorway linking the international airport and the city of Santiago.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Chile, the load-bearing structure of mid-rise buildings (up to 20 floors) is primarily made up of shear walls parallel to the axis of the building. Compared with framed structures, such buildings are fairly rigid when exposed to seismic stresses. Newer buildings, however, tend to have thinner walls. The necessary transverse reinforcements also proved inadequate in some cases. Most of the few cases of major damage are attributable to such shortcomings. Low buildings with up to four floors are frequently built with confined masonry. In this case, the individual brick wall elements are connected by cast pillars of reinforced concrete. This type of construction has also proved to be very good.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Since buildings with shear walls or confined masonry are more widespread in Chile than in other countries, the experience gathered there cannot simply be applied to other regions. Framed constructions prevail in the American Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon, Washington), for example. As for the earthquake mechanism, Chile provided a blueprint for a future quake at the Cascadia subduction zone where the Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under the North American continent from the west. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are all about the same distance from the epicentre of a future earthquake as Santiago was from the February quake.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Christchurch, New Zealand, many residential buildings were damaged above all by collapsing chimneys. They frequently crashed through the roofs of homes, most of which were lightweight constructions. Many historical buildings of unreinforced masonry in the city centre also suffered significant damage. As in Chile, non-structural damage played a major part here, too. Unusually widespread soil liquefaction was one particular characteristic of the New Zealand quake. Near-surface sediment layers on the Canterbury Plains are particularly prone to this phenomenon, which causes extensive damage that is also difficult to repair, as the substrate settles to varying degrees during the liquefaction process, causing buildings to tilt.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Lessons for Nepal</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Going by the past records, Nepal has been experiencing major quakes every 70-75 years. According to seismologists, Nepal ranks 11th among the 30 most quake prone countries in the world. In Nepal, the tectonic motion – the movement of plates in the Indian subcontinent towards Tibet – that caused the Himalayas to rise have also been causing buildings to collapse and cities get razed since the 13th century. And it is likely that Nepal would be faced with a similar situation in the near future, with Western and Central Nepal including the Kathmandu Valley the most prone to damage.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The 1934 Quake, that devastated Bihar, measured 8 on the Richter scale, killing nearly 11,000 people and 20 per cent of the buildings in the valley. The National Seismological Centre of Kathmandu draws an apocalyptic version of the disaster: that it would kill more than 40,000 people and injure another 100-200,000 if it happens today. It would also destroy 60-70 per cent of the buildings and leave 60-70,000 people homeless. There is no such term as earthquake-proof as no building can be entirely safe from earthquakes. The actual term used is earthquake-resistant which means that the damage to life and property caused following an earthquake will be minimised.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Establishment of the Disaster Preparedness Plan and Disaster Relief Plan makes a huge difference in earthquake-prone regions, when the catastrophes do occur as we have experienced in the two Latin American countries: Haiti and Chile. By comparing these countries to Nepal and taking a closer look at Nepal’s situation, it is evident that Nepal is in dire need of a strong mitigation plan.&nbsp;In Kathmandu Valley which is a former lake-bed, 2.5 million people live in poorly constructed buildings.&nbsp;Kathmandu has only one airport and three roads connecting it to the outside world. In the event of an earthquake, these roads are most likely to be damaged rendering them unfit for transportation. Nepal has a National Seismological Network comprising 21 short period telemetric seismic stations that started with the first seismometer set up at the top of the Phulchowki Hill, 14 km southeast of Kathmandu, in 1978. The Nepali Diaspora needs to come together and build a procedural mechanism to protect the country by setting up a Disaster Preparedness Plan, and a Disaster Relief Plan. The National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) - Nepal, established as a non-governmental and non-profit organisation in 1994, has been actively pursuing the earthquake risk and mitigation planning and earthquake awareness projects.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Protracted political wrangling in Nepal is preventing a key piece of disaster preparedness legislation from reaching parliament. Though endorsed by the cabinet in October 2009, the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) has yet to be made into law. The passing of this bill is critical. Without this, the country’s disaster preparedness efforts cannot move forward.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Development of better building codes, strict enforcement of the existing one, creation of disaster management plans and response bodies from the local level to the central must be ensured. Similarly, streamlining of relevant administrative machinery with funding, clearly demarcated jurisdiction and insurance awareness are measures that the government must take seriously. Unless these measures are taken, the cost of country’s lack of preparedness may turn out to be devastating. The right lesson to be drawn from events unfolding – a combination of righteous knowledge and righteous actions helps us for sustaining survival.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Ghosh is the CEO of National Insurance Company Ltd. This article is based on material provided from various sources including </i>Munich Re<i>)</i></div>',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '260',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Practices & Line Managers',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers in organisations play an important role in the development of its employees’ professional careers and encouraging their positive attitude. The organisations have recognised the advantages of the Line Managers’ involvement in learning and development process of its employees. Yet, most organisations have not worked towards educating human resource (HR) practices to them. It is becoming increasingly important to acknowledge that the Line Managers possess the potential to help change organisational environments for the better.<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Educating HR practices to Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers should be educated on HR policies and HR functions such as performance appraisals, training identification etc. They should have the authority to track HR activities and report the same to the Human Resource Department (HRD).&nbsp;Correspondingly, the role of the HRD should be to make the Line Managers competent by providing communication training so as to help them communicate better with their subordinates. So, close interaction between the HRD and the Line Manager and giving them the authority is vital.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Further, the Line Managers should be briefed on conducting appraisals effectively. Performance appraisals must be conducted to help employees maximise their respective potential for mutual benefit.&nbsp;For this purpose, it’s imperative that the Line Managers receive behavioural and communication training.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Management Review Meetings</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The organisations must give due importance to management review meetings for the Line Managers. They are an important part of educating the Line Managers as they get to hold discussions with the management boards. This process helps taking timely and appropriate actions required for organisational development.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Job Description for the Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Developing guidance is another important aspect which helps the Line Managers perform better. The HRD must make them realise the importance of the organisational team. The relations between the HRD, Line Managers and other employees must complement each other. The inclusion of HR responsibilities in the Line Managers’ job description and coordination with the HRD for the employees’ performance enhancement would help formulate effective HR related activities. A complaint mechanism also needs to be developed as it can work as the reflection for change requirement.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Counselling and Training</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers have to work closely with the employee so they must understand their human needs. For instance, an employee may be experiencing grief, tension or a personal problem. It may influence his end performance and weaken his retention prospect. In this scenario, the Line Manager’s counselling can influence the employee positively. A Line Manager’s positivity can rub on to the team and enhance its overall capability.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The ability to inspire is not the easiest of qualities to develop. The Line Managers must be provided trainings, periodically, on people management and enhancing competencies of their team members. Such trainings can help them learn to be more competent to achieve common objectives.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>The Line Managers’ Leadership Role</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Leadership plays an important role for a team to accomplish a common task. The Line Managers should lead the group of people and work towards enhancing their capabilities without getting insecure. The HR personnel cannot reach each employee most of the times. So, the Line Managers should be given adequate authority to make decisions, to a certain extent. When the Line Managers are given authority and responsibility, there is a tremendous possibility of increased productive output.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The HRD should have a system which identifies the employees’ expectations from the organisations. It can then design the desired format and address it to the Line Manager.&nbsp;As a result, the Line Manager takes pride in the positive changes happening to his team members. The Line Managers play a vital role in ensuring that employees are mentored, motivated and feeling competent. The HRD can consider itself successful if employees are productive and contribute towards overall organisational growth. The employees’ successful careers within the organisation are a healthy sign of things to come. <br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Educating HR to the Line Managers”, on 29 December, 2010 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included Ayush Shah, ICTC Group; Robin Shrestha, Caritas Nepal; Sarika Amatya, Freelancer; Sharda Rana, Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd; Shraddha Joshi, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal and Sujata Rijal, Echo Advertising Agency. Shailendra Raj Giri, the Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion.)</i></div>',
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			'title' => 'Right Gears For Strategic Achievement',
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			'content' => '<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">By Anil Neupane</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Global business environment is changing rapidly with decentralization, smaller profit margin, need to react quickly to the changing market demands and increasing importance of service. In order to survive or improve in this aggressive environment, organizations tend to implement different approaches of Outsourcing, Business Intelligence (BI), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. But despite these efforts, every organization does not succeed to meet the strategic goals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Approaches used<br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Traditionally outsourcing has been considered as the best approach for cost-saving. But this approach does not always support companies to meet their strategic outcomes. A survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, among 25 of the world's largest organizations across eight sectors with extensive outsourcing experiences and multivendor relationships, revealed that 70% of participants identified cost savings</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> as the major driver of the outsourcing decision. However, opposing to th</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">e optimistic interpretation of outsourcing by vendors and the marketplace, they later realized that outsourcing is a complex process and the anticipated benefits often fail to materialize. Instead of simplifying operation, there may be complexities due to outsourcing.&nbsp;Also the costs may increase and the value chain may experience some friction requiring more senior management attention and deeper management skills than anticipated. However, outsourcing allows organizations to transfer financial and operational risk to vendors. But organizations are discovering that their contracts will never fully protect them against customer damage and business losses caused by service disruption. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Company should focus on outsourcing in its operational areas and handle their core areas on their own. By doing this outsourcing facilitates a company focus on its core business by having operations carried out by an external expert. Freed from devoting energy to areas that are not in its expertise, the company can focus its resources to meet its core customer needs.<br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">One of the major factors for a successful outsourcing is to have a clear strategic plan and vision. Moving along this path of clear plan and vision, a company can meet the strategic goals. As the survey report of Deloitte Consulting suggested, in order for meeting the strategic outcomes with minimal risks, companies should outsource only commodity functions to guard against a loss of knowledge instead of looking for differentiated growth solutions. As the report suggests, companies should avoid outsourcing solely on cost savings and should plan for short-term outsourcing to prevent vendor dependency. In the long run, organizations that continue to outsource will experience a loss of bargaining power to vendors as the supply side consolidates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Those that apply strong skills in deal structuring, risk management and strong management skills to oversee deals from inception to execution will be best positioned to reap the benefits of outsourcing. Outsourcing will still remain a useful solution within the conservative context of five models: Centralize-Standardize-Outsource Transform-Operate-Transfer, Commodities Outsourcing, Risk Transfer (Insurance</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">), and Shifting Fixed Costs to Variable Costs. In case of curr</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%">ent market situation, it has been found that outsourcing frequently fails to deliver its promise. In this case, it is suggested that the world’s largest companies should be able to replicate the vendor’s structural advantages in-house and rely on vendors only under specific circumstances. To meet the strategic outcomes from outsourcing, companies should move from an ad hoc outsourcing approach to a strategic multisourcing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%"><br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Business Intelligence</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Timely access to relevant information for right decision making has been critical for business success. However it has been very challenging for organizations to retrieve the right information from the huge amount of data collected as a result of diverse new data collecting technologies. Many companies have a gap between their strategy and operations as a failure to retrieve right information from their data. Unless they retrieve right information to realize this gap, it is not possible for them to come up with expected strategic outcomes. By providing right information at right time, business intelligence can help organizations to find out the gap between their strategy and operations following which they can change the strategy as per the operation or vice versa. Today’s business environment has frightening situation where 77% of managers do not have sufficient information and tend to make wrong decisions. Many companies strategies are found to be disconnected from the operations and decisions made at operations level are without context. This scary situation was depicted by a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which revealed that less than one in ten corporate executives believe they have the right information needed to make critical business decisions.&nbsp;No matter how promising the company strategy is, how can the right strategic outcome be met with this level of accessibility to right information for decision making? <br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Mark Giles has emphasised on the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) which, as he has defined, is a data warehouse concept that enables organizations create and operate a data warehouse in an enterprise-wide environment. Some of the major features of EDW are: a. Enable strategic analysis and operational reporting, b. Enable business to report real time, c. Integrate heterogeneous systems and d. facilitate the design time as well as runtime of business intelligence (BI) models and processes. In comparison to the traditional business intelligence systems which are accessible to some specific person such as manager, system analysts etc, EDW is something that is to be accessible to all levels of employees. Through this concept of information accessibility across the organizations, the employees at operational level can make right decisions to ensure the expected strategic outcome. Also since EDW facilitates the design and runtime of BI models and processes, organizations can simulate the processes earlier thereby reducing risks of failure which might happen in the real business scenario and support to meet expected strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Supply Chain Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">In today’s rapid globalized business environment, companies have been highly dependent on outsourced manufacturing partners in order to reduce cost. However in addition to the reduction of the cost, the overall system has become very complex and therefore the importance of an effective supply chain management is increasing day by day. Unlike the earlier trends of producing goods on site, the goods are produced in remote areas and transported to other places for sales or reprocessing. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The traditional approach of supply chain network does not match with the current speedy business environment and a new approach is needed to achieve expected strategic outcomes. Stefan Theis &amp; Howells have suggested adaptive supply chain </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">as an effective supply chain network adapting a strategic approach to overcome the existing challenges in the supply chain network.</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%"> Because of globalization and outsourcing, the network-wide visibility and collaboration have become challenging. To overcome these challenges, he focuses on supply chain collaboration which consists of a. Understanding customer demand, b. Including suppliers in the network, c. Enabling visibility into outsourcing partners and d. Extending visibility to carriers . </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Tracking and Tracing</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> is a key enabler to achieve adaptive supply chain network which in turn can enable visibility into and responsiv</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%">eness to all supply chain events. Enabling real-time demand visibility, collaboration, and analytics to manage and mitigate risk are the major objectives of adaptive supply chain which can in turn ensure meeting the strategic goals of the companies. It is essential to have right supply chain strategy to come up with right strategic outcomes. For instance, strategies like Supply-to-stock and Supply-to-order. If supply-to-stock strategy is applied for products that are meant to be supply-to-order, then the possibility of right strategic outcome is very low.&nbsp;The technology plays crucial role for business partners integration. For instance, business intelligence systems can play a vital role to analyze the trends of customers needs and plan accordingly. It is essential for companies with strategic fit, i.e. both supply chain and competitive strategy have higher likelihood of having expected strategic outcome from their strategy. To achieve this strategic fit, some of the requisites he has suggested are: a. Understanding the customer, b. Understanding supply chain tradeoffs and c. Matching supply chain responsiveness with the implied demand uncertainty. With this combination of right strategy, strategy fit with strong support of technology at the back end can ensure organizations meet their strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Customer Relationship Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There have been numerous failures of implementing effective CRM systems. Companies should have strategic procedures to achieve strategic outcomes from their CRM systems. Properties of an effective CRM system which highly ensure the strategic outcome are:&nbsp;a. Simplicity drives adoption and productivity, b. Flexibility provides choice and adaptability and c. Comprehensive breadth of capabilities and innovation. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There are numerous challenges to meet strategic goals through traditional CRM systems due to their inability to support high complexity of today’s global business environment. To get expected strategic outcomes from CRM systems, companies should focus on standardizing their sales processes, integrating their data and be flexible and responsive to their environment. Properly implemented and maintained CRM systems can help organizations meet their strategic goals by reducing or avoiding cost, increasing productivity and retaining higher customer satisfaction. A customer centric CRM system gives a full view of customers to help companies improve their efficiency thereby coming up with better customer service. For multinational companies, different complexities such as different processes in the subsidiary’s region, lack of integration in many processes and multiple CRM instances can further hinder the achievement of their strategic goals. Companies can overcome these complexities and meet their strategic goals with right implementation of the CRM systems by forming a globally consistent process, integrating processes across sales, marketing, contact centers and partners and by having single logical instance of multiple systems. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">2+2 not necessarily 4</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The four business areas, Outsourcing, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relationship Management are very crucial for organizations to meet their strategic goals. However, these business areas by themselves do not assure the achievement of business strategic goals unless they are properly implemented. Though these business areas have their distinctive contribution to achieve the organizational strategic goals, they are not in fact independent of each other. These are closely interlinked with each other and proper coordination of these facets can actually result in meeting strategic goals efficiently. For this, an efficient or a combination of few ERP systems with all these functionalities can be deployed to support business processes and help meet the organizational strategic goals. After implementation, it is equally important to review these systems in context of changing business environment to ensure the system is as per the market need. </span></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</span><br />
	</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
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	<span style="color: rgb(255, 140, 0);"><strong><i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: &quot;Lucida Bright&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></strong></span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">T</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">o know the role of Performance Management, it’s essential to agree on the objective of management. If we collate different views of different management scientists, we can come to a consensus that the objective of management is: to achieve the intended business destination through effective, efficient and economic utilization of people, material, time, information and fund.” <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	It covers all four key elements – job improvement, skills enhancement, task management and internal relationship. It is through the combination of these that achievement of intended destination is ensured. Thus to manage a business effectively, there must be a close link between the work planning, proceeding and review procedure because factors affecting business and people performance interact on each other. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	The management needs to institutionalize and demonstrate latest management techniques, approaches/principles and philosophies to synergize cumulative human endeavour. This can be achieved only through a dynamic change agent driving the change process embodying these qualities for common growth and actualization of the organisation’s potentials. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	In the total management philosophies, there has been unanimous alignment about people resources and it is all agreed that without proper people organization blocks, it would not only be difficult but impossible to eye on any intended achievement without people engagement. Scientific management theory describes 5 key block builders of Human Organization:</p>
<p class="bullet">
	1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Work Cycle: Assignments should be specialized and set to smallest possible work cycle.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Process: Same process be used whilst performing same task in repetition</p>
<p class="bullet">
	3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Leadership: Effective leadership should be demonstrated in decision making</p>
<p class="bullet">
	4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Uniformity: In view of equity and consistency, policies must be uniform<span style=""> </span>across the business.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Exclusivity: Duplication of functions is widely discouraged and thus assignment exclusivity becomes a must in view of task ownership.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">With the understanding that the people are important, it’s obvious that we need to relate our efforts to achieve with the social perception within organization.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It’s obvious that social behavior is learnt in the form of acceptability within a work environment and we continue to learn and adapt through comparing one another.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Being social animals, the humans make comprehensive arrangements for living and performing with one another and managing the environment. We could perceive most social situations as a negotiation, an interview, a presentation/workshop, an attempt to leadership, etc. Organizations or their people recognise the existence of a problem when they perceive that their goals are inconsistent with one another or when discrepancies between want/desire and expectations are experienced. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	However, to have consistency in business results as well as in people’s productivity and social acknowledgement, we need to pay special attention to Performance Management and that requires serious attention to meet expectations or achieve desired results. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">In the light of the above, there cannot be a disagreement, if we say that Performance Management is thus one of the most essential elements of Management and most desired to be in place for institution and/or investments. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">The article is not intended to describe the steps or process of performance management. Rather it is intended to discuss various elements and/or contributing factors of performance management in day to day work life. Various research works suggest:</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Regular Communication at work:</b> Employees mostly show concerns pertaining to the quality and quantity of communication at work.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Inadequate and ineffective communication results in loss of cooperation and coordination, decreased productivity, undesired pressure, increased human turnover, absenteeism, rumors etc and there won’t be any disagreement that all these have huge impact on both personal and organizational performance. Hence, it would be wise to have two way clear, effective and regular communication within the organization to attain the desired performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Build Trust:</b> It has been widely experienced in daily work life that lack of trust among the members of the work team is very damaging. HR practitioners must accept that the performance management tools should not be considered as the only HR tools. Research works suggest that HUMILITY is one of the best to generate trust within organization. Managers or HR practitioners who are ready to acknowledge mistakes have been considered as highly competent. Even mediocre people are accepted easily saying, “You are trustworthy because you have courage to admit a mistake”. One must be seen by other members not as a competitor but as a collaborator. Trust encourages people to focus on productivity instead of remaining suspicious for every action of Management.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Satisfy Customers: </b>Customer service must be improved starting from the office of the top management (e.g. Managing Director, CEO, GM etc.). Commitment must be communicated to all the levels (internal &amp; external). An awareness drive can be launched for improvement on customer service. Customers also want to feel that you value them and their business. Loyal customers market the company. This way, the customer satisfaction becomes an important key in driving performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Get Along:</b> Relationship, conflict, resentment etc. have a big negative impact on performance. Evaluate and encourage change process by allowing a fostering team spirit. Encourage discussions that lead to pointing out inconsistencies in the actions and outcomes against the agreed goals and priorities. Changes in behaviour, generating better understanding across the business, creating common goal and priority and showing concerns about one another’s personal constraints as well as providing support in the hours of need will foster the team spirit and help building everlasting relationship.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>When the people get along, the tasks get done well and quality performance emerges automatically.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Full Attention:</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> It would be wise to keep everyone informed of expectations from them. The people should be engaged to find solutions to troubles as well as pursuing alternates. Not just talk about open door policy, practice it. Allow people to disagree so that new ideas emerge. Adequate and/or increasing response confirms attentiveness. Listening and recognizing ideas with full involvement encourages participation. Full attention to others’ views, ideas, suggestion and communication generate energy within the team and reflects respect to each other. Most of the time, productive ideas don’t get implemented due to the lack of attention. Improvement often comes from small efforts that were previously sent back without enough attention paid to them. If you encourage team to take RISK, your behaviour too must match your word so that the others in the team are confident that they are being heard with full attention. Ensure that the reminders or follow-ups about agreed move are sent in time. This will encourage participation and certainly will result in improved productivity. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To conclude, research works show that performance management and performance evaluation are two different poles of the magnet.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>But both of them have the same purpose. The keys to performance are in the answers to the following questions: What is expected of us? What are we doing? What next? How are we doing? How should we be doing? When we must be doing? Why we should or must be doing?</p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Once, genuine answers to these are derived, Performance Management becomes integral part of our daily work life. </span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Karna is Executive Chairperson, MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd &amp; Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd He says this article is based on various research reports and practical experiences.)</i></p>
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			'title' => 'Essentials Of Employees’ Learning Habits (july 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Kriti Bhuju </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">L</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">earning is a prerequisite to growth. Both employers and employees need to enhance their knowledge, skill and ability for continuous organizational as well as professional development and growth in the present context. Learning is essential to keep in tune with trends and developments in our field.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is essentially important to make learning a habit as most employees do not focus a great deal on reading and learning. Employees must have a self realization that enhancing their capacity helps upgrading their own knowledge. They must also have the habit of aligning themselves with others to find out their weaknesses. Some organizations have the practice of skill assessment which motivates the employees to learn new things and upgrade their skills.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is crucial to develop learning culture so that learning becomes a trend in organizations for everybody to follow. It is not advisable to push people to learn; employers must provide learning environment and freedom to create culture.&nbsp;Employees must have the feeling that those who are always ready to learn are more successful in their careers. They are more productive and attentive towards quality than the employees who are not eager to learn.&nbsp;Learning habits come naturally for some. However, some others do not wish to learn until their bosses ask them to. People are bound to follow once a system of learning is initiated. This ultimately yields a positive outcome. </span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Learning is not a habit at the root level and that is where the problem lies. Organizations need to focus on having a library, learning zone and providing different trainings to create learning habit among their employees. The employees must also develop a tendency to learn from their subordinates. If a person is really interested in learning, s/he should shun superiority complex and be prepared to learn from juniors. However, this is a vital aspect of learning which we do not see in practice.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It helps the employer to create an atmosphere of learning within the organization if a person’s willingness to learn can be identified during the selection process itself. We can learn from any part of the world through e-learning and virtual learning as technology has made learning easier nowadays. Many INGOs have a rule for employees to do a course through e-learning which forces them to learn. They should share their learning and achievement with their co workers after taking certain trainings or completing a course.</span></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">An individual should understand the importance of learning and realize that it is for their own growth in terms of enhancing knowledge, skills and abilities. Learning habit should come from their heart and mind because it cannot be injected in an individual. Learning culture can be inculcated only if an individual is interested in it. Developing a learning culture ultimately helps employee retention and contributes towards employer branding overall.</span></div>
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	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Essentials of Employees’ Learning Habit” on 25 May 2011 conducted by Real solution Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from commercial banks, INGOs, IT companies, industries, private organizations and freelancers. Shailendra Raj Giri, MD of Real Solutions acted as the moderator of the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></div>',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
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	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">E</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">mployee engagement in OHS (Occupational Health &amp; Safety) is not only critical to its effective management but also an integral part of productivity and quality management at the work place. Achieving this necessitates commitment of all parties concerned – the management, employees and the Union – to meet the objectives and long term approach of an organisation. The existence of issues related to health and safety at a work place has a huge impact over business performances. It adversely affects employees’ performances and encourages absenteeism due to illnesses, injuries etc. Health &amp; Safety, an important element in our daily life, affects everyone including employees, managers, owners, family, society, contractors and visitors. Effective OHS management helps improve the well-being of employees, workplace environment and business operation. All these factors together ensure overall business. The employees’ engagement towards OHS seeks to change workplace culture and beliefs for improved and safe work practices through positive engagement of people, communication and training. </span></div>
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	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Effective communication is vital for business management wherein periodical group discussions cultivate consultation among the workforce. Health, safety and environmental issues are discussed in these forums in addition to measures for current business improvement and the way forward. These consultations intend to instill the entire organization’s trust and direct everyone to follow the targeted business destination. The employees are encouraged to participate in various decision making practices such as process enhancement, management plans, skills development and risk analysis. This actively encourages open communication amongst the workforce resulting in operation and work culture improvement.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">While trust plays a vital role in achieving desired level of people engagement, it is one of the most difficult tasks for business leaders. Business leadership requires demonstrating consistency in words and action by resorting to fair communication. It supports creation of a culture securing complete engagement of human resources and driving business results. At present, businesses are recognizing safety, health and environmental responsibilities as integral parts of daily routine. They are focused towards preventing occupational injury and illness as well as minimizing adverse impact on the environment. Business operations are extensively engaging in identifying priorities to ensure that these initiatives match people resources and community expectations.&nbsp;They are also working on an awareness drive to see regular communication and basic as well as specialized training on OHS. Employers have the responsibility of providing a safe place and work system. At the same time, employees are responsible for strictly adhering directions floated for safe work practices. Effective safety management requires compulsory integration of health and safety into planning, purchasing, production, distribution, sales and financial aspects of a business. There must be moves with clear understanding and considerations giving equal importance to productivity &amp; quality management. It is because business improvements, risk reduction and efficient cost economy flow from a successful implementation of OHS management system.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Further, industrial relations and OHS are interlinked and these must be recognized throughout management efforts in building productive and safe work environment. The most essential requirement is to train and provide logistical support to the health and safety committee inviting its engagement for generating awareness and workforce’s interest in OHS. It is also inevitable to recognize that the Union plays a vital role in facilitating effective people engagement for participatory mechanism afforded by them keeping industrial relations in mind. This makes the employees, the Union and HR associates key stakeholders leading to dedicated participation towards the OHS program.&nbsp;The Unions and HR practitioners’/associates’ involvement facilitates effective dissemination of OHS process. It also encourages a better understanding of risk exposures and need for the mandatory usage of protective devices, workplace equipment, changed work practices etc on the employees’ part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The frequency and severity rate is the traditional form of statistical measurement of incident, accident, injury and illness. These measurements are indicators for cost efficiency, associated cost on workplace safety, loss of working hours etc. More than anything else, people resources utilization largely depends on effective improvement of working conditions to the extent of changing circumstances in the workplace.&nbsp;Constant and regular surveys are popular initiatives aimed at improving public commitment towards health and safety.&nbsp;Top management leadership in association with HR associates is critical in terms of integrating OHS management system into core business and its philosophy. The leadership displays genuine concern for employees’ welfare, provides greater opportunity to succeed and achieve OHS performance at the desired level. This also results in capturing an organization’s greater commitment towards health and safety policies thereby cultivating high degree of awareness and reducing accident and injury risks. At present, the business teams are highly energetic and equipped well with strong communication skills. Most essential and desired expectations can only be achieved with proactive approach, effective engagement and structured coaching. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">One of the key elements of the OHS drive is standard policy and implementation strategy. OHS policy cannot have productive implementation unless it overcomes traditional approaches which deal with troubles as and when they occur. On the other hand, proactive approach is the current practice and need which is based on elimination of causes rather than dealing with effects. Documented OHS system, process and policy demonstrate and quantify the need as well as explain the necessity while obtaining commitment from all parties in writing. An OHS system enables coordinated approach to health and safety instead of dealing with conflicting information leading to confusion. Any uncertainty pertaining to work practices amongst people resources exposes organizations to unacceptable risks. Though many organizations perceive health &amp; safety management implementation as too difficult, there are key advantages of systematic implementation and health &amp; Safety management. Investment towards OHS management system minimizes workplace illness and injury and contributes towards reducing direct and indirect cost to the company. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Above all, the feedback from the workforce is important evidence to measure OHS effectiveness and employee engagement. It plays a vital role in improvising OHS strategies and works as an eye-opener towards improvement needs in the current system. It quantifies actual measures of OHS performance which is open for manipulation through leave arrangements, changing shift of the affected employee etc. Both formal and informal feedback must be applied for qualitative checks on OHS program practices within the work schedule. While OHS encourages people’s contribution towards internal processes and learning, workers and the Unions are more likely to commit themselves and participate in best practices. As a matter of fact, this is essential for employee engagement in dealing with OHS in the form of a joint OHS committee and other participatory mechanisms such as labor relation committee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It is also advisable to involve people through workplace inspection, periodical interaction with operational team and work groups and measurement and evaluation exercises. This is where an organization instills the opportunity to drive the changing process of OHS management system. It ensures prevention from future injuries, accidents and illnesses. This can be taken as the best opportunity in view of the well known and accepted fact ‘Prevention is always better than cure’.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">&nbsp;(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></div>',
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			'title' => 'Deep Leadership(july 2011)',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Sujit Mundul</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">W</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">hen considering management in the decade of 1990s, three important observations could be made: The massive efforts made to change the way organizations operate, the astonishing degree of failure that accompanies all but a handful of such attempts, and the radical aversion to risk-taking.&nbsp;One might think that the high degree of failure has provided us with a mountain of data to understand the causes. This is a correct assumption. In the same breath, one might also contemplate that the data load enables us to predict a successful route to change; but this is probably wrong.&nbsp;We know why change goes wrong, but we find it enormously difficult to make changes work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The problem of change is especially significant now. Because as we see management and organizations in the western world appear to be in a state of constant turmoil as change follows change in an ever more frantic attempt to reverse what it took two centuries to construct. The traditional methods of organizing business including public services, no longer seem viable.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is possible that organizations are really autistic; in other words, organizations rather than their leaders are unable or unwilling to listen to what others are saying to them.&nbsp;Perhaps, their strategic intentions are rolled out irrespective of the advice that is being offered to them.&nbsp;In this context, one could possibly agree that IBM went through a phase of being an autistic organization, as its market share crumbed and its leadership continued to exercise the less than successful strategy despite internal and external criticism and advice that the company was going wrong.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Keith Grant in his famous article “Managing Change through Commitment” mentioned:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">“Now that we have uncovered some possible benefits and disadvantages with commitment as a panacea for change … I want to consider the extent to which leadership can displace the problematic fuzziness of subordinates with a transparent way forward”. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Let us now focus on the significance of leadership rather than change. These two very often appear to be linked: leadership in itself implies change. So, let us look at the significance that different contemporary theories attribute to leadership.&nbsp;In traditional models, leaders are the critical sine qua non, but some current approaches attribute very little to leadership, or reconstruct the meaning of the term to change the entire debate.&nbsp;Leadership is amongst the most perspective areas of management knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Despite an enormous outpouring of material during the second half of the twentieth century, we appear to be little closer to understanding leadership than either Plato or Sun Tzu, who began the written debate several thousand years ago. Since post-war period it appears that we have gone full circle: From assurances that personality traits were the key, though equally valid counter argument that the situation was critical, to a controversy over whether the leader was person or task-oriented, and back to finding out the charismatics whose visions and transformational style would explain all (Bryman 1992).&nbsp;During this latter period there has been a prescriptive urge to push leadership in an empowering direction so that Super Leadership (Manz and Sims, 1991) can ensure that Leaders work to free up the skills and potentials of their subordinate rather than throttle initiative in bureaucratic and functional hierarchies. Now, let us touch upon a different aspect of leadership: Personality. More importantly, stable personality. When we see the boss sacking an employee for some minor mistake we know just how hard–hearted she is; when she brings her baby to work she seems quite different, almost pleasant.&nbsp;Keith Grant has cited another example when someone reveals her school report it is quite difficult to imagine the “shrinking violet of 2b” against the assertive CEO now standing before us. Yet, according to another colleague, she isn’t assertive at all, but downright aggressive. Could she be all these things to different people? Could it be that there is no solid centre here, no core characteristics that remain unchanged across time and space? Or perhaps, it is the people who interact with her, who construct the character?&nbsp;If this is so, is there no essential “essence” to people, but merely a character that is constructed through various relationships? Which characterization prevails over time tends to depend upon who has the power to reproduce it; thus accounts of popular figures may change with each biography!&nbsp;Indeed, a difficult proposition.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The concept of Deep Leadership suggests that leadership processes and practices, not roles are critical; that leadership is deeply and systematically present throughout all levels of the organization and not just at the formal top of the hierarchy;&nbsp;and that the fixation with formal leaders or Shallow Leadership and not informal or&nbsp;Deep Leadership is also rooted in an epistemological approach that perceives leadership to be only the effect of leaders and never the consequence of followers. It may be that leadership is an ineffective phenomenon in terms of the survival of organizations as population ecology models suggest or that leadership is merely the requirement of normative pressures as institutional theory suggests or that it is merely a myth whose purpose is to ensure the survival of the leaders themselves (Gemmill and Oakly, 1992).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The approach towards Deep Leadership also seeks to examine the extent to which individuals who are regarded as being leader whether formal or informal are able to affect and effect their own version of events. It might be, for instance, that the crucial difference between leadership and non-leadership does not lie in the particular act or process, but in the ability of some individual to prevail over others. Another question comes up: Is leadership rather like history just the acts of victors? It may even be that acts of Deep Leadership are indeed identical at all levels but only formally recognized where they oincide with formal authority. Or alternatively, it may be that leadership styles and processes do differ between the levels of hierarchy so that there are qualitative differences between the leadership in the shop-floor and the leadership in the boardroom.&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;<i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'title' => 'Are You Backed By SAP?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="1" height="225" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/imm.jpg" style="width: 349px; height: 225px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="349" />S</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">AP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers. When it comes to operating with the ultimate idea of uninterrupted and ever increasing performance in business, SAP is the perfect solution. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP provides a single, integrated technology platform that supports industry-specific business processes through optional enhancement packages that enables to build on progress, without causing business disruptions. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP solutions are efficient and this can be largely credited to SAP's impeccable architecture. It is built on state-of-the-art computing technologies based on the Business Framework architecture which is capable of processing huge volumes of information and supporting rapid decision-making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There are a few things that distinctly mark SAP apart from other solutions in the market. The foremost is their service-oriented architecture (SOA) which speeds and simplifies the integration of SAP and non-SAP solutions. Therefore, SAP's implementation offers high levels of data integration as it ensures synchronisation of information between SAP and the underlying business execution systems. This open connectivity actually allows business components to interact with several business systems. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Needless to say, with SAP, a company can gain meaningful, industry-specific, role-based insight into the business performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Understanding its functionality requires recognising the working of its components. Building on existing SAP R/3 functionality, SAP includes functionality for advanced Business Consolidation and Business Information Collection, which links internal information with automated collection of relevant external information through the Internet. SAP also supports advanced Business Planning and Simulation, based on both internal and external information - allowing you to model risks and rewards, and more effectively manage future uncertainties. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Furthermore, once you resort to SAP solutions, the Corporate Performance Monitor including the Management Cockpit is enhanced with industry-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI) templates on the one hand while on the other, the Stakeholder Relationship Management component facilitates communication with investors and other important stakeholder groups. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP unequivocally meets all your company's requirements and addresses all its prominent concerns.The implementation of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can lead to many benefits. Some evident gains are stated as follows:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">With SAP solutions, your enterprise shall run in accordance with strategy and plans, accessing the right information in real time to identify concerns early. SAP improves operational efficiency and productivity within and beyond your enterprise thus extending transactions, information, and collaboration functions to a broader business community.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP helps you eliminate high integration costs and the need to purchase third-party software. It helps you leverage preset defaults and pre-packaged versions available for specific industries. It also links employees performance to compensation programmes such as variable pay plans and long-term incentives; and at the same time gives employees new ways to access the enterprise information required for their daily activities. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">To meet the business needs of the 21st century, every aspiring company needs the element that pulls it together and integrates it in such a proficient way that it is able to foresee all opportunities and identify every minuscule of apprehension to make proactive decisions. To ensure solid productivity in today's competitive market, every company needs to be in a position from where it can make the optimum use of all its existing resources. <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Using SAP means; being in a position to exactly do that. In brief terminologies, it means increasing profitability, improving financial control and reducing risks; thereby putting your company in the centre stage of a high yielding market.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'title' => 'Developing Job Ownership: Key To Business Success',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra karna.jpg" style="width: 98px; height: 130px;" vspace="1" />By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs. While accepting assignments, projects or jobs they do so with with the sense of ownership. These are really professional people. They deal with others with a clear understanding of interdependence and give due consideration and respect to other departments, sections or functions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Job ownership by an employee plays crucial role for business success in today’s competitive global market. Businesses need continued progress in product development. Unless the people take this responsibility of product development with the sense of ownership, they will not put into it their full knowledge and experience and efforts. As a result, competitive advantage benefits will keep missing for all stake holders: the employee, the company, the customers and the investors. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Anything consistently continued for a longer period will certainly convert into guaranteed success. Though many management scientists argue that ’success in the life is not difficult to achieve’, continuous move towards the destination is essential to achieve success. Money has never been the highest motivating factor for human resources at a work place. The most common motivators are security, work-life balance, efficiency, learning opportunity and recognition against efforts one puts for business success. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Simultaneously, the most acknowledged motivator for business owners or investors is emotional attachment. Success and failure are mostly immaterial for them because failure is considered the only way to learn, in business. The challenge for them is not the knowledge but the work ethics, values and consistency to get results. This is called ownership mentality and the same applies for employees with job ownership attitude. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/key.jpg" style="width: 238px; height: 340px;" vspace="1" />During recruitment phase, interviews are mostly centred on prospective and anticipated relationships. The standard contract is imposed on the employee as soon as an agreement is reached. However, it mostly escapes ’detailing position and job profile’. The fact remains that the actual rights and duties of employees emerge through interpersonal relationships built at the workplace during the course of working together. Hence, psychological contract becomes eminent to match one another’s expectations contributing to higher level of performance and satisfaction. As long as common understanding and agreement in respect to the business mission, values, loyalty and respect exists between an employee and the employer, trust and commitment remain ensured. The relationship, if managed efficiently and effectively, will tie a stronger knot of mutual trust between the employer and employee matching the objectives and commitments necessary for business prosperity. In case it turns negative, it may result in disenchantment, de-motivation and resentfulness of authoritarianism within the organisation resulting in inefficient work, internal units not corresponding to the mission and objectives of the organisation and much more.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The words ’employees’ or ’Staff’, to the extent of psychological contract, signify:</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employers’ behaviour and dealing with employees</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employees’ input to the job they are entrusted or hired for</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: 9.5pt;">Respect, trust, fairness and objectivity are equally important in a job because job holders like these are essential for a civilised society in general. From a wider perspective, these become complex and significant at workplace and especially in management practices mainly towards ’change management’.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The employer and employee relationship has grown in complexity with the emergence or growth of globalised skills market allowing very high mobility of people resources. Leadership is basically seen as representing the organisation and that reflects the aim and purposes of the organisation owners. Leadership in this context refers to the top management associates like Business Head, CEO etc.&nbsp;The nature of the relationship in transactional analysis is different to one that is limited to employee and employer. However, it’s significant in terms of agreeing on mutual transparent expectations. Further, the management and organisational principles heavily depend on fair and balanced understandings between the employer and employee. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">People’s lives have become more varied, informed and better placed in recent days with the achievement of rapid growth by many economies. Human capital around the globe is equipped more with high awareness and hence, it not only wants more but also deserves more. Therefore, the employees naturally expect greater fulfilment in return for their services or association. The work itself has become far more richly diverse and complicated than ever before. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There is an increased excitement in the work place these days. The excitement is because of the application of different business model named ’employee ownership’ in corporations and cooperatives wherein employees and potentially the customers own the organisation and can therefore represent management mechanism. We see and experience glimpses here possibly as to how organisations might be run more fairly and sustainably in days to come. Globalisation and technology in recent days have shifted everything we knew in relation to organised work onto a totally different level in terms of complexity, rate of change, connectivity and the mobility of human resources and activities.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Thus, if organisations truly want to make innovations, creating and encouraging job ownership is the key. This ownership is the investment from both the company (funding, balanced work culture) and the employee (time, knowledge, commitment) by allowing and generating acceptance as well as securing achievement towards personal responsibility for products, processes and different stakeholders involved with the organisation. Job ownership reflects business understanding in view of culture, goal, and customers etc facilitating interactions with various elements widely known as interpersonal skills. It forces people to display a selfless attitude ensuring and delivering not only acceptable but better, improved and acknowledgeable productivity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Getting people to think and act like owners has never been easy and hence, if employees accept and take up jobs considering themselves as owners, it must be considered a great achievement. Employees are motivated further in view of sustainability onto business expectations. Involving employees in decision making requires entrepreneurs to seek input from employees and must listen to them.&nbsp;The solution really lies in making them part of decision making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Ultimately, it’s all about people and taking care of people resources for better productivity in terms of business sustainability. Promoting job ownership and acceptance in the true sense will certainly guarantee the realisation of organisational mission, goal and objectives. </span></div>
<div>
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; 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></div>',
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			'description' => 'Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs.',
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			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'The Importance Of Enterprise  Performance Management',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><img alt="anil" border="1" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/1303899771.jpg" style="width: 105px; height: 156px;" vspace="5" /><br />
	<br />
	<strong>By Anil Neupane<br />
	</strong><br />
	</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Enterprise performance management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities necessary to reach those objectives. It is often referred to, with the usage of terms such as Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM) and so on. It comprises Strategy Management, Profitability and Cost Management, Business Planning, Financial Consolidation, Spend, Supply Chain and other operational performance areas. EPM aligns the processes, systems, and metrics needed to measure and manage the performance of an organisation.<br />
	<br />
	EPM supports both cost optimisation and growth initiatives. It is a suitable fit for nearly all organisations and should be a priority initiative for CFOs to enable finance function to deliver short and long-term strategic benefits to businesses.<br />
	<br />
	It is considered as a diagnostic tool to monitor the pulse of an organisation by using a set of processes, frameworks, and systems for activities such as planning, measuring, communicating, and monitoring business results. Enterprises typically link these activities to corporate strategies and objectives and might drive them down to many individuals within the organisation to encourage accountability and control. Forrester defines business performance solutions as a category of purpose-built software applications that support these activities. The major BPS functional elements include:<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Strategy and performance measurement address goals, objectives, and accountability<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A strategy management application supports formal strategy management philosophies (eg, the Balanced Scorecard) but might be adapted to a business’ specific needs. Applications often display the strategy definition in visual strategy maps. Scorecards measure progress against the goals and objectives set forth in the strategy framework. Performance dashboards display more detailed information and allow drilling down to root-cause detail. Dashboards typically include a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that might include strategic scorecards as well as relevant comparisons against plans, budgets, forecasts, prior performance, and industry benchmark data.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions support multiple forward-looking processes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although used almost universally as a control on spending, budgeting often falls short in supporting performance initiatives often as a result of some rigorous and inflexible process and not necessarily due to a software shortcoming <i>per se</i>. Fortunately, in addition to budgeting, the planning solutions support a variety of scenario-based planning activities as well as forecasting processes that add value beyond which is provided by <img align="left" alt="enterprices" border="1" height="259" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/epm.jpg" style="width: 477px; height: 259px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="477" />traditional budgeting processes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Cost and profitability management provides detailed analysis to improve margins.</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	This complex modelling activity helps organisations analyse development, production, and operating costs against revenues by product, customers, and lines of business. Cost and profitability management applications often use activity-based costing as the methodology to develop sophisticated cost and profitability analytical models.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Financial reporting and consolidation produce financial statements.</strong> Financial reporting and consolidation applications produce reports focused on delivering financial statements based on accounting results. Statutory consolidations support regulatory compliance and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. These applications also support internal reporting of financial information.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why are companies after it globally?</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Despite the economic downturn and a global decline in overall IT spending of approximately 3 per cent, spending on CPM Suites remained positive (growing at 3.6 per cent in 2009). Through the last 24 months of economic uncertainty, EPM has helped to manage cost optimisation efforts, but through 2010, many more EPM initiatives were justified on the basis of supporting growth strategies. Furthermore, many of the stalled or sidelined EPM initiatives that did not advance in 2009, were reinstated during 2010.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	With economic downturn during the last few years, companies around the world are more focused on cutting costs and increasing performances. Therefore, EPM has been their major focus to achieve this objective and to have a better understanding of the drivers of corporate profitability.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although awareness of the EPM concept has become more widespread, according to an estimate, 40 per cent of large enterprises and as much as 75 per cent of midsize businesses are using spreadsheets or legacy applications to meet their core management processes for BP&amp;F, financial consolidations and financial reporting.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>SAP EPM Suite<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	SAP is a global leader in EPM products. SAP recognises the importance of supporting these functions for an enterprise by establishing a new cross-functional unit, focusing on business performance optimisation. This unit brings together integrated technology and product portfolio with the people, ecosystem partners, and best practices specifically designed to help organisations drive business performance, manage risks and optimise the financial value chain. SAP Business Objects and EPM&nbsp;solutions bring together a set of applications that combine strategic goal-setting linked to effective budgeting and reporting, with additional abilities to analyse profitability. Similarly, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) is another tool that is dominating the global EPM suite market.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The major strength of SAP is its dominance in ERP market and its support base around the globe. Lately, SAP has an implementation partner in Nepal as well.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM and Business Intelligence</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	It is sometimes confusing to distinguish between business intelligence (BI) and EPM. The major reason behind this is because different vendors define these terms in different ways. In general context, business intelligence supports EPM tools to achieve results. In terms of strategy, Business Intelligence offers the tools necessary to improve decision-making, but not linked to organisation’s strategy. On the other hand, EPM provides a closed-loop support: linked to strategy through CSFs and KPIs. In terms of purpose, the BI tool helps organisations set and monitor their goals whereas EPM tools help organisations guide their business towards its goals. The scope of BI may be limited to one or more departments or functional areas whereas the scope of EPM is for the entire enterprise.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As shown in the figure above, EPM forms the higher level of pyramid whereas BI sustains the EPM processes as a supporting tool.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM in terms of Nepal<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As in the case of companies around the world, most companies in Nepal still use spreadsheets or legacy system for financial planning, budgeting and consolidation. Due to this, the predictions are often time consuming, inflexible and inaccurate. Unlike few years back when there were very little EPM tool options in Nepal, now the country already has a SAP implementation partner. Therefore, companies now have opportunities to implement best EPM tools, like SAP EPM or SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. This shall greatly help business companies distinguish themselves from their competitors.<br />
	<br />
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><i>(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</i></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>',
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			'title' => 'Japan’s Earthquake:A Global Wake Up Call',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/Dr Jagadish Ghosh.jpg" style="width: 106px; height: 134px;" vspace="2" />Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Dr Jagadish Ghosh</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>&nbsp;</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	'After three years, even a disaster can be good for something’ goes a Japanese proverb. But in the midst of this appalling devastation, it might be obscene to suggest that a disaster of this magnitude could possibly be turned into good for something. Evidently, time and again, not only the human spirit but also the laws of economics have proved amazingly resilient in the face of the most terrible of adversities. The widespread destruction has been taken as a challenge and an opportunity to rewrite the triumphant history of growth and development with renewed spirit and zeal. The destruction spurs reconstruction and acts as a stimulus for economic enterprise.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan’s east coast on 11 March 2011 sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake places the earthquake as the fifth largest in the world since 1900. It is also the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The two disasters were followed by the damage at nuclear reactors threatening harmful radiation. Japanese Prime minister Naoto Kan has described the catastrophic combination of earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear meltdown as the biggest crisis the country has had to face since the end of World War II.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The quake caused a 400-km long and 160-km wide rupture in the earth’s crust as one tectonic plate dove under another off the coast of northern Japan. This led to an upheaval in the sea above it, sending a 30 foot wall of water racing up to 10 km inland in Japan and reaching California across the Pacific Ocean 10 hours later. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast. The quake was followed by more than 20 aftershocks for hours, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. As many as six reactors at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima are facing crisis at one level or the other verging of N-disaster. The death toll was likely to continue climbing over 10,000 given the scale of disaster. But without minimising the tragedy in any way, the damage in terms of human lives has been remarkably contained relative to what might have been. For that, all credit must go to successive Japanese administrations and civil society. Situated on the ‘Ring of Fire’ – an arc of seismic activity around the Pacific Basin – Japan has been hit time and again by devastating earthquakes, from the one in Tokyo in 1923 to Kobe in 1995. But the Japanese have drawn their lessons from these. So they have the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and an extensive tsunami warning sensor network. They have building codes that keep such exigencies in mind. Similarly, they have thorough disaster management plans at every administrative level.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Insured Losses<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The earthquake in Japan could lead to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, according to risk modelling company AIR Worldwide, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history. It is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010 and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of decline. This temblor will go down as the costliest earthquake in modern history in terms of insured losses, surpassing the roughly $15 billion in losses of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>2010 – The Year of Earthquakes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The most devastating earthquake of the year with more than 220,000 deaths struck Haiti, a country that was in no way prepared for such an event. Chile and New Zealand, on the other hand, were very well prepared. As a result, the challenges presented for reconstruction and the insurance underwriting aspects must be assessed differently for different countries.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Scientific Analysis</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	On 12 January 2010, Haiti suffered the most devastating seismic catastrophe since the destruction of Tangshan in China in 1976. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.0, did not come as a great surprise for seismologists. The danger had been clearly stated in a scientific publication dated 2008. The epicentre of the quake which ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area was located near the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault, which was originally considered to form the quake’s epicentre, runs in an east-west direction here. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the rupture in the earth’s crust propagated towards the capital from its hypocentre west of Port-au-Prince.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The associated interference of seismic waves magnified the vibrations. Intensive geological and geophysical investigations after the quake have revealed a highly complex rupture process. It appears that a previously concealed blind thrust fault was also involved and interacted with the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault. This is of significance for the future earth quake potential in the Port-au-Prince area. It may be assumed that the stresses accumulated in the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault since the earthquakes of 1751 and 1770 were not fully released on 12 January. Moreover, the investigations have also shown that strong shaking was not restricted only to areas with soft, unconsolidated sediments. Due to the topography, it also occurred on a hillside in the Petionville district, south of the city centre.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	<span style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Chilean earthquake six weeks later did not strike unexpectedly either. The strongest earthquake ever recorded by instruments worldwide with a magnitude of 9.5 had already occurred in the Valdivia/Puerto Montt region, on the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates, in 1960. To the north of this region, a magnitude 8.0 quake off the coast of Valparaiso caused damage all the way to Santiago in 1985. The area between these two rupture zones, however, had remained relatively quiet since 1835. This ‘seismic gap’ was filled by the Maule quake on 27 February, with a magnitude of 8.8.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A third earthquake, which struck Qinghai province in Central China on 13 April, paled in comparison to these two major catastrophes. Its magnitude was similar to that of the Haitian quake and claimed roughly 2,700 lives. The earthquake which struck New Zealand’s South Island on 3 September attracted greater publicity. This was not due to its magnitude of 7.0, similar to that of the quakes in China and Haiti. What made this quake different was that, unlike the Haiti and Chile cases, an earthquake had not been expected here, 40 kilometres west of Christchurch. Experts had focused more on the Alpine Fault to the northwest which marks the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate in the west and the Pacific plate in the east. The Darfield earthquake (named after the town closest to the epicentre), however, occurred along a previously unknown fault system under the sediments of the Canterbury Plains. Unlike Port-au-Prince, the rupture proceeded away from the city in this case but the energy emitted was unusually high for a quake of this magnitude.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why Haitian earthquake proved most devastating</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Buildings of every kind – from representative buildings, such as the government palace and the Hotel Montana, to mud huts – were damaged more or less indiscriminately by the earthquake in Haiti. The corporate headquarters and production facilities of foreign companies remained structurally intact. Yet the few insured losses stemmed primarily from this sector. There are several reasons why the Haitian earthquake proved to be the most devastating ever in recent times, as expressed by the overall loss in relation to gross domestic product. Among others, they include the lack of building regulations, poor building material and a shortage of qualified labour as well as the absence of an institutional framework ensuring that construction projects are completed in an orderly fashion.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Maule quake in Chile was the first earthquake of high magnitude and correspondingly long duration (over 120 seconds) to test modern high-rise buildings. The high overall loss of US$30 billion was not caused by instability. Both the quality of Chile’s earthquake building code and its implementation are very good on a global scale. Only five of the 12,300 buildings erected since the last major earthquake in 1985 collapsed. Another 50 or so had to be demolished on account of massive structural damage. The magnitude of the overall loss is due above all, to the damage to non-structural elements in addition to the small number of major losses. Among other things, these include non-supporting walls, false ceilings and façade elements. Evidently, the building code must be updated in order to avoid or reduce the extent of such damage to property. In some cases, infrastructure also proved unexpectedly unstable as in the case of the motorway linking the international airport and the city of Santiago.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Chile, the load-bearing structure of mid-rise buildings (up to 20 floors) is primarily made up of shear walls parallel to the axis of the building. Compared with framed structures, such buildings are fairly rigid when exposed to seismic stresses. Newer buildings, however, tend to have thinner walls. The necessary transverse reinforcements also proved inadequate in some cases. Most of the few cases of major damage are attributable to such shortcomings. Low buildings with up to four floors are frequently built with confined masonry. In this case, the individual brick wall elements are connected by cast pillars of reinforced concrete. This type of construction has also proved to be very good.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Since buildings with shear walls or confined masonry are more widespread in Chile than in other countries, the experience gathered there cannot simply be applied to other regions. Framed constructions prevail in the American Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon, Washington), for example. As for the earthquake mechanism, Chile provided a blueprint for a future quake at the Cascadia subduction zone where the Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under the North American continent from the west. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are all about the same distance from the epicentre of a future earthquake as Santiago was from the February quake.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Christchurch, New Zealand, many residential buildings were damaged above all by collapsing chimneys. They frequently crashed through the roofs of homes, most of which were lightweight constructions. Many historical buildings of unreinforced masonry in the city centre also suffered significant damage. As in Chile, non-structural damage played a major part here, too. Unusually widespread soil liquefaction was one particular characteristic of the New Zealand quake. Near-surface sediment layers on the Canterbury Plains are particularly prone to this phenomenon, which causes extensive damage that is also difficult to repair, as the substrate settles to varying degrees during the liquefaction process, causing buildings to tilt.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Lessons for Nepal</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Going by the past records, Nepal has been experiencing major quakes every 70-75 years. According to seismologists, Nepal ranks 11th among the 30 most quake prone countries in the world. In Nepal, the tectonic motion – the movement of plates in the Indian subcontinent towards Tibet – that caused the Himalayas to rise have also been causing buildings to collapse and cities get razed since the 13th century. And it is likely that Nepal would be faced with a similar situation in the near future, with Western and Central Nepal including the Kathmandu Valley the most prone to damage.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The 1934 Quake, that devastated Bihar, measured 8 on the Richter scale, killing nearly 11,000 people and 20 per cent of the buildings in the valley. The National Seismological Centre of Kathmandu draws an apocalyptic version of the disaster: that it would kill more than 40,000 people and injure another 100-200,000 if it happens today. It would also destroy 60-70 per cent of the buildings and leave 60-70,000 people homeless. There is no such term as earthquake-proof as no building can be entirely safe from earthquakes. The actual term used is earthquake-resistant which means that the damage to life and property caused following an earthquake will be minimised.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Establishment of the Disaster Preparedness Plan and Disaster Relief Plan makes a huge difference in earthquake-prone regions, when the catastrophes do occur as we have experienced in the two Latin American countries: Haiti and Chile. By comparing these countries to Nepal and taking a closer look at Nepal’s situation, it is evident that Nepal is in dire need of a strong mitigation plan.&nbsp;In Kathmandu Valley which is a former lake-bed, 2.5 million people live in poorly constructed buildings.&nbsp;Kathmandu has only one airport and three roads connecting it to the outside world. In the event of an earthquake, these roads are most likely to be damaged rendering them unfit for transportation. Nepal has a National Seismological Network comprising 21 short period telemetric seismic stations that started with the first seismometer set up at the top of the Phulchowki Hill, 14 km southeast of Kathmandu, in 1978. The Nepali Diaspora needs to come together and build a procedural mechanism to protect the country by setting up a Disaster Preparedness Plan, and a Disaster Relief Plan. The National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) - Nepal, established as a non-governmental and non-profit organisation in 1994, has been actively pursuing the earthquake risk and mitigation planning and earthquake awareness projects.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Protracted political wrangling in Nepal is preventing a key piece of disaster preparedness legislation from reaching parliament. Though endorsed by the cabinet in October 2009, the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) has yet to be made into law. The passing of this bill is critical. Without this, the country’s disaster preparedness efforts cannot move forward.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Development of better building codes, strict enforcement of the existing one, creation of disaster management plans and response bodies from the local level to the central must be ensured. Similarly, streamlining of relevant administrative machinery with funding, clearly demarcated jurisdiction and insurance awareness are measures that the government must take seriously. Unless these measures are taken, the cost of country’s lack of preparedness may turn out to be devastating. The right lesson to be drawn from events unfolding – a combination of righteous knowledge and righteous actions helps us for sustaining survival.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Ghosh is the CEO of National Insurance Company Ltd. This article is based on material provided from various sources including </i>Munich Re<i>)</i></div>',
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			'title' => 'HR Practices & Line Managers',
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	The Line Managers in organisations play an important role in the development of its employees’ professional careers and encouraging their positive attitude. The organisations have recognised the advantages of the Line Managers’ involvement in learning and development process of its employees. Yet, most organisations have not worked towards educating human resource (HR) practices to them. It is becoming increasingly important to acknowledge that the Line Managers possess the potential to help change organisational environments for the better.<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Educating HR practices to Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers should be educated on HR policies and HR functions such as performance appraisals, training identification etc. They should have the authority to track HR activities and report the same to the Human Resource Department (HRD).&nbsp;Correspondingly, the role of the HRD should be to make the Line Managers competent by providing communication training so as to help them communicate better with their subordinates. So, close interaction between the HRD and the Line Manager and giving them the authority is vital.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Further, the Line Managers should be briefed on conducting appraisals effectively. Performance appraisals must be conducted to help employees maximise their respective potential for mutual benefit.&nbsp;For this purpose, it’s imperative that the Line Managers receive behavioural and communication training.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Management Review Meetings</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The organisations must give due importance to management review meetings for the Line Managers. They are an important part of educating the Line Managers as they get to hold discussions with the management boards. This process helps taking timely and appropriate actions required for organisational development.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Job Description for the Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Developing guidance is another important aspect which helps the Line Managers perform better. The HRD must make them realise the importance of the organisational team. The relations between the HRD, Line Managers and other employees must complement each other. The inclusion of HR responsibilities in the Line Managers’ job description and coordination with the HRD for the employees’ performance enhancement would help formulate effective HR related activities. A complaint mechanism also needs to be developed as it can work as the reflection for change requirement.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Counselling and Training</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers have to work closely with the employee so they must understand their human needs. For instance, an employee may be experiencing grief, tension or a personal problem. It may influence his end performance and weaken his retention prospect. In this scenario, the Line Manager’s counselling can influence the employee positively. A Line Manager’s positivity can rub on to the team and enhance its overall capability.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The ability to inspire is not the easiest of qualities to develop. The Line Managers must be provided trainings, periodically, on people management and enhancing competencies of their team members. Such trainings can help them learn to be more competent to achieve common objectives.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>The Line Managers’ Leadership Role</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Leadership plays an important role for a team to accomplish a common task. The Line Managers should lead the group of people and work towards enhancing their capabilities without getting insecure. The HR personnel cannot reach each employee most of the times. So, the Line Managers should be given adequate authority to make decisions, to a certain extent. When the Line Managers are given authority and responsibility, there is a tremendous possibility of increased productive output.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The HRD should have a system which identifies the employees’ expectations from the organisations. It can then design the desired format and address it to the Line Manager.&nbsp;As a result, the Line Manager takes pride in the positive changes happening to his team members. The Line Managers play a vital role in ensuring that employees are mentored, motivated and feeling competent. The HRD can consider itself successful if employees are productive and contribute towards overall organisational growth. The employees’ successful careers within the organisation are a healthy sign of things to come. <br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Educating HR to the Line Managers”, on 29 December, 2010 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included Ayush Shah, ICTC Group; Robin Shrestha, Caritas Nepal; Sarika Amatya, Freelancer; Sharda Rana, Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd; Shraddha Joshi, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal and Sujata Rijal, Echo Advertising Agency. Shailendra Raj Giri, the Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion.)</i></div>',
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			'title' => 'Right Gears For Strategic Achievement',
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	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">By Anil Neupane</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Global business environment is changing rapidly with decentralization, smaller profit margin, need to react quickly to the changing market demands and increasing importance of service. In order to survive or improve in this aggressive environment, organizations tend to implement different approaches of Outsourcing, Business Intelligence (BI), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. But despite these efforts, every organization does not succeed to meet the strategic goals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Approaches used<br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Traditionally outsourcing has been considered as the best approach for cost-saving. But this approach does not always support companies to meet their strategic outcomes. A survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, among 25 of the world's largest organizations across eight sectors with extensive outsourcing experiences and multivendor relationships, revealed that 70% of participants identified cost savings</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> as the major driver of the outsourcing decision. However, opposing to th</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">e optimistic interpretation of outsourcing by vendors and the marketplace, they later realized that outsourcing is a complex process and the anticipated benefits often fail to materialize. Instead of simplifying operation, there may be complexities due to outsourcing.&nbsp;Also the costs may increase and the value chain may experience some friction requiring more senior management attention and deeper management skills than anticipated. However, outsourcing allows organizations to transfer financial and operational risk to vendors. But organizations are discovering that their contracts will never fully protect them against customer damage and business losses caused by service disruption. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Company should focus on outsourcing in its operational areas and handle their core areas on their own. By doing this outsourcing facilitates a company focus on its core business by having operations carried out by an external expert. Freed from devoting energy to areas that are not in its expertise, the company can focus its resources to meet its core customer needs.<br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">One of the major factors for a successful outsourcing is to have a clear strategic plan and vision. Moving along this path of clear plan and vision, a company can meet the strategic goals. As the survey report of Deloitte Consulting suggested, in order for meeting the strategic outcomes with minimal risks, companies should outsource only commodity functions to guard against a loss of knowledge instead of looking for differentiated growth solutions. As the report suggests, companies should avoid outsourcing solely on cost savings and should plan for short-term outsourcing to prevent vendor dependency. In the long run, organizations that continue to outsource will experience a loss of bargaining power to vendors as the supply side consolidates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Those that apply strong skills in deal structuring, risk management and strong management skills to oversee deals from inception to execution will be best positioned to reap the benefits of outsourcing. Outsourcing will still remain a useful solution within the conservative context of five models: Centralize-Standardize-Outsource Transform-Operate-Transfer, Commodities Outsourcing, Risk Transfer (Insurance</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">), and Shifting Fixed Costs to Variable Costs. In case of curr</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%">ent market situation, it has been found that outsourcing frequently fails to deliver its promise. In this case, it is suggested that the world’s largest companies should be able to replicate the vendor’s structural advantages in-house and rely on vendors only under specific circumstances. To meet the strategic outcomes from outsourcing, companies should move from an ad hoc outsourcing approach to a strategic multisourcing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%"><br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Business Intelligence</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Timely access to relevant information for right decision making has been critical for business success. However it has been very challenging for organizations to retrieve the right information from the huge amount of data collected as a result of diverse new data collecting technologies. Many companies have a gap between their strategy and operations as a failure to retrieve right information from their data. Unless they retrieve right information to realize this gap, it is not possible for them to come up with expected strategic outcomes. By providing right information at right time, business intelligence can help organizations to find out the gap between their strategy and operations following which they can change the strategy as per the operation or vice versa. Today’s business environment has frightening situation where 77% of managers do not have sufficient information and tend to make wrong decisions. Many companies strategies are found to be disconnected from the operations and decisions made at operations level are without context. This scary situation was depicted by a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which revealed that less than one in ten corporate executives believe they have the right information needed to make critical business decisions.&nbsp;No matter how promising the company strategy is, how can the right strategic outcome be met with this level of accessibility to right information for decision making? <br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Mark Giles has emphasised on the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) which, as he has defined, is a data warehouse concept that enables organizations create and operate a data warehouse in an enterprise-wide environment. Some of the major features of EDW are: a. Enable strategic analysis and operational reporting, b. Enable business to report real time, c. Integrate heterogeneous systems and d. facilitate the design time as well as runtime of business intelligence (BI) models and processes. In comparison to the traditional business intelligence systems which are accessible to some specific person such as manager, system analysts etc, EDW is something that is to be accessible to all levels of employees. Through this concept of information accessibility across the organizations, the employees at operational level can make right decisions to ensure the expected strategic outcome. Also since EDW facilitates the design and runtime of BI models and processes, organizations can simulate the processes earlier thereby reducing risks of failure which might happen in the real business scenario and support to meet expected strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Supply Chain Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">In today’s rapid globalized business environment, companies have been highly dependent on outsourced manufacturing partners in order to reduce cost. However in addition to the reduction of the cost, the overall system has become very complex and therefore the importance of an effective supply chain management is increasing day by day. Unlike the earlier trends of producing goods on site, the goods are produced in remote areas and transported to other places for sales or reprocessing. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The traditional approach of supply chain network does not match with the current speedy business environment and a new approach is needed to achieve expected strategic outcomes. Stefan Theis &amp; Howells have suggested adaptive supply chain </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">as an effective supply chain network adapting a strategic approach to overcome the existing challenges in the supply chain network.</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%"> Because of globalization and outsourcing, the network-wide visibility and collaboration have become challenging. To overcome these challenges, he focuses on supply chain collaboration which consists of a. Understanding customer demand, b. Including suppliers in the network, c. Enabling visibility into outsourcing partners and d. Extending visibility to carriers . </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Tracking and Tracing</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> is a key enabler to achieve adaptive supply chain network which in turn can enable visibility into and responsiv</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%">eness to all supply chain events. Enabling real-time demand visibility, collaboration, and analytics to manage and mitigate risk are the major objectives of adaptive supply chain which can in turn ensure meeting the strategic goals of the companies. It is essential to have right supply chain strategy to come up with right strategic outcomes. For instance, strategies like Supply-to-stock and Supply-to-order. If supply-to-stock strategy is applied for products that are meant to be supply-to-order, then the possibility of right strategic outcome is very low.&nbsp;The technology plays crucial role for business partners integration. For instance, business intelligence systems can play a vital role to analyze the trends of customers needs and plan accordingly. It is essential for companies with strategic fit, i.e. both supply chain and competitive strategy have higher likelihood of having expected strategic outcome from their strategy. To achieve this strategic fit, some of the requisites he has suggested are: a. Understanding the customer, b. Understanding supply chain tradeoffs and c. Matching supply chain responsiveness with the implied demand uncertainty. With this combination of right strategy, strategy fit with strong support of technology at the back end can ensure organizations meet their strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Customer Relationship Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There have been numerous failures of implementing effective CRM systems. Companies should have strategic procedures to achieve strategic outcomes from their CRM systems. Properties of an effective CRM system which highly ensure the strategic outcome are:&nbsp;a. Simplicity drives adoption and productivity, b. Flexibility provides choice and adaptability and c. Comprehensive breadth of capabilities and innovation. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There are numerous challenges to meet strategic goals through traditional CRM systems due to their inability to support high complexity of today’s global business environment. To get expected strategic outcomes from CRM systems, companies should focus on standardizing their sales processes, integrating their data and be flexible and responsive to their environment. Properly implemented and maintained CRM systems can help organizations meet their strategic goals by reducing or avoiding cost, increasing productivity and retaining higher customer satisfaction. A customer centric CRM system gives a full view of customers to help companies improve their efficiency thereby coming up with better customer service. For multinational companies, different complexities such as different processes in the subsidiary’s region, lack of integration in many processes and multiple CRM instances can further hinder the achievement of their strategic goals. Companies can overcome these complexities and meet their strategic goals with right implementation of the CRM systems by forming a globally consistent process, integrating processes across sales, marketing, contact centers and partners and by having single logical instance of multiple systems. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">2+2 not necessarily 4</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The four business areas, Outsourcing, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relationship Management are very crucial for organizations to meet their strategic goals. However, these business areas by themselves do not assure the achievement of business strategic goals unless they are properly implemented. Though these business areas have their distinctive contribution to achieve the organizational strategic goals, they are not in fact independent of each other. These are closely interlinked with each other and proper coordination of these facets can actually result in meeting strategic goals efficiently. For this, an efficient or a combination of few ERP systems with all these functionalities can be deployed to support business processes and help meet the organizational strategic goals. After implementation, it is equally important to review these systems in context of changing business environment to ensure the system is as per the market need. </span></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</span><br />
	</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>',
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	<span style="color: rgb(255, 140, 0);"><strong><i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: &quot;Lucida Bright&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></strong></span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">T</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">o know the role of Performance Management, it’s essential to agree on the objective of management. If we collate different views of different management scientists, we can come to a consensus that the objective of management is: to achieve the intended business destination through effective, efficient and economic utilization of people, material, time, information and fund.” <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	It covers all four key elements – job improvement, skills enhancement, task management and internal relationship. It is through the combination of these that achievement of intended destination is ensured. Thus to manage a business effectively, there must be a close link between the work planning, proceeding and review procedure because factors affecting business and people performance interact on each other. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	The management needs to institutionalize and demonstrate latest management techniques, approaches/principles and philosophies to synergize cumulative human endeavour. This can be achieved only through a dynamic change agent driving the change process embodying these qualities for common growth and actualization of the organisation’s potentials. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	In the total management philosophies, there has been unanimous alignment about people resources and it is all agreed that without proper people organization blocks, it would not only be difficult but impossible to eye on any intended achievement without people engagement. Scientific management theory describes 5 key block builders of Human Organization:</p>
<p class="bullet">
	1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Work Cycle: Assignments should be specialized and set to smallest possible work cycle.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Process: Same process be used whilst performing same task in repetition</p>
<p class="bullet">
	3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Leadership: Effective leadership should be demonstrated in decision making</p>
<p class="bullet">
	4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Uniformity: In view of equity and consistency, policies must be uniform<span style=""> </span>across the business.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Exclusivity: Duplication of functions is widely discouraged and thus assignment exclusivity becomes a must in view of task ownership.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">With the understanding that the people are important, it’s obvious that we need to relate our efforts to achieve with the social perception within organization.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It’s obvious that social behavior is learnt in the form of acceptability within a work environment and we continue to learn and adapt through comparing one another.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Being social animals, the humans make comprehensive arrangements for living and performing with one another and managing the environment. We could perceive most social situations as a negotiation, an interview, a presentation/workshop, an attempt to leadership, etc. Organizations or their people recognise the existence of a problem when they perceive that their goals are inconsistent with one another or when discrepancies between want/desire and expectations are experienced. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	However, to have consistency in business results as well as in people’s productivity and social acknowledgement, we need to pay special attention to Performance Management and that requires serious attention to meet expectations or achieve desired results. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">In the light of the above, there cannot be a disagreement, if we say that Performance Management is thus one of the most essential elements of Management and most desired to be in place for institution and/or investments. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">The article is not intended to describe the steps or process of performance management. Rather it is intended to discuss various elements and/or contributing factors of performance management in day to day work life. Various research works suggest:</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Regular Communication at work:</b> Employees mostly show concerns pertaining to the quality and quantity of communication at work.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Inadequate and ineffective communication results in loss of cooperation and coordination, decreased productivity, undesired pressure, increased human turnover, absenteeism, rumors etc and there won’t be any disagreement that all these have huge impact on both personal and organizational performance. Hence, it would be wise to have two way clear, effective and regular communication within the organization to attain the desired performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Build Trust:</b> It has been widely experienced in daily work life that lack of trust among the members of the work team is very damaging. HR practitioners must accept that the performance management tools should not be considered as the only HR tools. Research works suggest that HUMILITY is one of the best to generate trust within organization. Managers or HR practitioners who are ready to acknowledge mistakes have been considered as highly competent. Even mediocre people are accepted easily saying, “You are trustworthy because you have courage to admit a mistake”. One must be seen by other members not as a competitor but as a collaborator. Trust encourages people to focus on productivity instead of remaining suspicious for every action of Management.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Satisfy Customers: </b>Customer service must be improved starting from the office of the top management (e.g. Managing Director, CEO, GM etc.). Commitment must be communicated to all the levels (internal &amp; external). An awareness drive can be launched for improvement on customer service. Customers also want to feel that you value them and their business. Loyal customers market the company. This way, the customer satisfaction becomes an important key in driving performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Get Along:</b> Relationship, conflict, resentment etc. have a big negative impact on performance. Evaluate and encourage change process by allowing a fostering team spirit. Encourage discussions that lead to pointing out inconsistencies in the actions and outcomes against the agreed goals and priorities. Changes in behaviour, generating better understanding across the business, creating common goal and priority and showing concerns about one another’s personal constraints as well as providing support in the hours of need will foster the team spirit and help building everlasting relationship.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>When the people get along, the tasks get done well and quality performance emerges automatically.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Full Attention:</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> It would be wise to keep everyone informed of expectations from them. The people should be engaged to find solutions to troubles as well as pursuing alternates. Not just talk about open door policy, practice it. Allow people to disagree so that new ideas emerge. Adequate and/or increasing response confirms attentiveness. Listening and recognizing ideas with full involvement encourages participation. Full attention to others’ views, ideas, suggestion and communication generate energy within the team and reflects respect to each other. Most of the time, productive ideas don’t get implemented due to the lack of attention. Improvement often comes from small efforts that were previously sent back without enough attention paid to them. If you encourage team to take RISK, your behaviour too must match your word so that the others in the team are confident that they are being heard with full attention. Ensure that the reminders or follow-ups about agreed move are sent in time. This will encourage participation and certainly will result in improved productivity. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To conclude, research works show that performance management and performance evaluation are two different poles of the magnet.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>But both of them have the same purpose. The keys to performance are in the answers to the following questions: What is expected of us? What are we doing? What next? How are we doing? How should we be doing? When we must be doing? Why we should or must be doing?</p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Once, genuine answers to these are derived, Performance Management becomes integral part of our daily work life. </span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Karna is Executive Chairperson, MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd &amp; Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd He says this article is based on various research reports and practical experiences.)</i></p>
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			'id' => '391',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Essentials Of Employees’ Learning Habits (july 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Kriti Bhuju </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">L</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">earning is a prerequisite to growth. Both employers and employees need to enhance their knowledge, skill and ability for continuous organizational as well as professional development and growth in the present context. Learning is essential to keep in tune with trends and developments in our field.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is essentially important to make learning a habit as most employees do not focus a great deal on reading and learning. Employees must have a self realization that enhancing their capacity helps upgrading their own knowledge. They must also have the habit of aligning themselves with others to find out their weaknesses. Some organizations have the practice of skill assessment which motivates the employees to learn new things and upgrade their skills.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is crucial to develop learning culture so that learning becomes a trend in organizations for everybody to follow. It is not advisable to push people to learn; employers must provide learning environment and freedom to create culture.&nbsp;Employees must have the feeling that those who are always ready to learn are more successful in their careers. They are more productive and attentive towards quality than the employees who are not eager to learn.&nbsp;Learning habits come naturally for some. However, some others do not wish to learn until their bosses ask them to. People are bound to follow once a system of learning is initiated. This ultimately yields a positive outcome. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Learning is not a habit at the root level and that is where the problem lies. Organizations need to focus on having a library, learning zone and providing different trainings to create learning habit among their employees. The employees must also develop a tendency to learn from their subordinates. If a person is really interested in learning, s/he should shun superiority complex and be prepared to learn from juniors. However, this is a vital aspect of learning which we do not see in practice.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It helps the employer to create an atmosphere of learning within the organization if a person’s willingness to learn can be identified during the selection process itself. We can learn from any part of the world through e-learning and virtual learning as technology has made learning easier nowadays. Many INGOs have a rule for employees to do a course through e-learning which forces them to learn. They should share their learning and achievement with their co workers after taking certain trainings or completing a course.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">An individual should understand the importance of learning and realize that it is for their own growth in terms of enhancing knowledge, skills and abilities. Learning habit should come from their heart and mind because it cannot be injected in an individual. Learning culture can be inculcated only if an individual is interested in it. Developing a learning culture ultimately helps employee retention and contributes towards employer branding overall.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Essentials of Employees’ Learning Habit” on 25 May 2011 conducted by Real solution Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included representatives from commercial banks, INGOs, IT companies, industries, private organizations and freelancers. Shailendra Raj Giri, MD of Real Solutions acted as the moderator of the discussion while Nibha Shakya, HR Executive of the company was the coordinator of the event.)</span></i></div>',
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			'title' => 'OHS & People Engagement (july 2011)',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">E</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">mployee engagement in OHS (Occupational Health &amp; Safety) is not only critical to its effective management but also an integral part of productivity and quality management at the work place. Achieving this necessitates commitment of all parties concerned – the management, employees and the Union – to meet the objectives and long term approach of an organisation. The existence of issues related to health and safety at a work place has a huge impact over business performances. It adversely affects employees’ performances and encourages absenteeism due to illnesses, injuries etc. Health &amp; Safety, an important element in our daily life, affects everyone including employees, managers, owners, family, society, contractors and visitors. Effective OHS management helps improve the well-being of employees, workplace environment and business operation. All these factors together ensure overall business. The employees’ engagement towards OHS seeks to change workplace culture and beliefs for improved and safe work practices through positive engagement of people, communication and training. </span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Effective communication is vital for business management wherein periodical group discussions cultivate consultation among the workforce. Health, safety and environmental issues are discussed in these forums in addition to measures for current business improvement and the way forward. These consultations intend to instill the entire organization’s trust and direct everyone to follow the targeted business destination. The employees are encouraged to participate in various decision making practices such as process enhancement, management plans, skills development and risk analysis. This actively encourages open communication amongst the workforce resulting in operation and work culture improvement.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">While trust plays a vital role in achieving desired level of people engagement, it is one of the most difficult tasks for business leaders. Business leadership requires demonstrating consistency in words and action by resorting to fair communication. It supports creation of a culture securing complete engagement of human resources and driving business results. At present, businesses are recognizing safety, health and environmental responsibilities as integral parts of daily routine. They are focused towards preventing occupational injury and illness as well as minimizing adverse impact on the environment. Business operations are extensively engaging in identifying priorities to ensure that these initiatives match people resources and community expectations.&nbsp;They are also working on an awareness drive to see regular communication and basic as well as specialized training on OHS. Employers have the responsibility of providing a safe place and work system. At the same time, employees are responsible for strictly adhering directions floated for safe work practices. Effective safety management requires compulsory integration of health and safety into planning, purchasing, production, distribution, sales and financial aspects of a business. There must be moves with clear understanding and considerations giving equal importance to productivity &amp; quality management. It is because business improvements, risk reduction and efficient cost economy flow from a successful implementation of OHS management system.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Further, industrial relations and OHS are interlinked and these must be recognized throughout management efforts in building productive and safe work environment. The most essential requirement is to train and provide logistical support to the health and safety committee inviting its engagement for generating awareness and workforce’s interest in OHS. It is also inevitable to recognize that the Union plays a vital role in facilitating effective people engagement for participatory mechanism afforded by them keeping industrial relations in mind. This makes the employees, the Union and HR associates key stakeholders leading to dedicated participation towards the OHS program.&nbsp;The Unions and HR practitioners’/associates’ involvement facilitates effective dissemination of OHS process. It also encourages a better understanding of risk exposures and need for the mandatory usage of protective devices, workplace equipment, changed work practices etc on the employees’ part.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The frequency and severity rate is the traditional form of statistical measurement of incident, accident, injury and illness. These measurements are indicators for cost efficiency, associated cost on workplace safety, loss of working hours etc. More than anything else, people resources utilization largely depends on effective improvement of working conditions to the extent of changing circumstances in the workplace.&nbsp;Constant and regular surveys are popular initiatives aimed at improving public commitment towards health and safety.&nbsp;Top management leadership in association with HR associates is critical in terms of integrating OHS management system into core business and its philosophy. The leadership displays genuine concern for employees’ welfare, provides greater opportunity to succeed and achieve OHS performance at the desired level. This also results in capturing an organization’s greater commitment towards health and safety policies thereby cultivating high degree of awareness and reducing accident and injury risks. At present, the business teams are highly energetic and equipped well with strong communication skills. Most essential and desired expectations can only be achieved with proactive approach, effective engagement and structured coaching. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">One of the key elements of the OHS drive is standard policy and implementation strategy. OHS policy cannot have productive implementation unless it overcomes traditional approaches which deal with troubles as and when they occur. On the other hand, proactive approach is the current practice and need which is based on elimination of causes rather than dealing with effects. Documented OHS system, process and policy demonstrate and quantify the need as well as explain the necessity while obtaining commitment from all parties in writing. An OHS system enables coordinated approach to health and safety instead of dealing with conflicting information leading to confusion. Any uncertainty pertaining to work practices amongst people resources exposes organizations to unacceptable risks. Though many organizations perceive health &amp; safety management implementation as too difficult, there are key advantages of systematic implementation and health &amp; Safety management. Investment towards OHS management system minimizes workplace illness and injury and contributes towards reducing direct and indirect cost to the company. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Above all, the feedback from the workforce is important evidence to measure OHS effectiveness and employee engagement. It plays a vital role in improvising OHS strategies and works as an eye-opener towards improvement needs in the current system. It quantifies actual measures of OHS performance which is open for manipulation through leave arrangements, changing shift of the affected employee etc. Both formal and informal feedback must be applied for qualitative checks on OHS program practices within the work schedule. While OHS encourages people’s contribution towards internal processes and learning, workers and the Unions are more likely to commit themselves and participate in best practices. As a matter of fact, this is essential for employee engagement in dealing with OHS in the form of a joint OHS committee and other participatory mechanisms such as labor relation committee.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">It is also advisable to involve people through workplace inspection, periodical interaction with operational team and work groups and measurement and evaluation exercises. This is where an organization instills the opportunity to drive the changing process of OHS management system. It ensures prevention from future injuries, accidents and illnesses. This can be taken as the best opportunity in view of the well known and accepted fact ‘Prevention is always better than cure’.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">&nbsp;(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></div>',
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			'title' => 'Deep Leadership(july 2011)',
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	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;">By Sujit Mundul</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 12.5pt;">W</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">hen considering management in the decade of 1990s, three important observations could be made: The massive efforts made to change the way organizations operate, the astonishing degree of failure that accompanies all but a handful of such attempts, and the radical aversion to risk-taking.&nbsp;One might think that the high degree of failure has provided us with a mountain of data to understand the causes. This is a correct assumption. In the same breath, one might also contemplate that the data load enables us to predict a successful route to change; but this is probably wrong.&nbsp;We know why change goes wrong, but we find it enormously difficult to make changes work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The problem of change is especially significant now. Because as we see management and organizations in the western world appear to be in a state of constant turmoil as change follows change in an ever more frantic attempt to reverse what it took two centuries to construct. The traditional methods of organizing business including public services, no longer seem viable.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">It is possible that organizations are really autistic; in other words, organizations rather than their leaders are unable or unwilling to listen to what others are saying to them.&nbsp;Perhaps, their strategic intentions are rolled out irrespective of the advice that is being offered to them.&nbsp;In this context, one could possibly agree that IBM went through a phase of being an autistic organization, as its market share crumbed and its leadership continued to exercise the less than successful strategy despite internal and external criticism and advice that the company was going wrong.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Keith Grant in his famous article “Managing Change through Commitment” mentioned:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">“Now that we have uncovered some possible benefits and disadvantages with commitment as a panacea for change … I want to consider the extent to which leadership can displace the problematic fuzziness of subordinates with a transparent way forward”. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Let us now focus on the significance of leadership rather than change. These two very often appear to be linked: leadership in itself implies change. So, let us look at the significance that different contemporary theories attribute to leadership.&nbsp;In traditional models, leaders are the critical sine qua non, but some current approaches attribute very little to leadership, or reconstruct the meaning of the term to change the entire debate.&nbsp;Leadership is amongst the most perspective areas of management knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Despite an enormous outpouring of material during the second half of the twentieth century, we appear to be little closer to understanding leadership than either Plato or Sun Tzu, who began the written debate several thousand years ago. Since post-war period it appears that we have gone full circle: From assurances that personality traits were the key, though equally valid counter argument that the situation was critical, to a controversy over whether the leader was person or task-oriented, and back to finding out the charismatics whose visions and transformational style would explain all (Bryman 1992).&nbsp;During this latter period there has been a prescriptive urge to push leadership in an empowering direction so that Super Leadership (Manz and Sims, 1991) can ensure that Leaders work to free up the skills and potentials of their subordinate rather than throttle initiative in bureaucratic and functional hierarchies. Now, let us touch upon a different aspect of leadership: Personality. More importantly, stable personality. When we see the boss sacking an employee for some minor mistake we know just how hard–hearted she is; when she brings her baby to work she seems quite different, almost pleasant.&nbsp;Keith Grant has cited another example when someone reveals her school report it is quite difficult to imagine the “shrinking violet of 2b” against the assertive CEO now standing before us. Yet, according to another colleague, she isn’t assertive at all, but downright aggressive. Could she be all these things to different people? Could it be that there is no solid centre here, no core characteristics that remain unchanged across time and space? Or perhaps, it is the people who interact with her, who construct the character?&nbsp;If this is so, is there no essential “essence” to people, but merely a character that is constructed through various relationships? Which characterization prevails over time tends to depend upon who has the power to reproduce it; thus accounts of popular figures may change with each biography!&nbsp;Indeed, a difficult proposition.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The concept of Deep Leadership suggests that leadership processes and practices, not roles are critical; that leadership is deeply and systematically present throughout all levels of the organization and not just at the formal top of the hierarchy;&nbsp;and that the fixation with formal leaders or Shallow Leadership and not informal or&nbsp;Deep Leadership is also rooted in an epistemological approach that perceives leadership to be only the effect of leaders and never the consequence of followers. It may be that leadership is an ineffective phenomenon in terms of the survival of organizations as population ecology models suggest or that leadership is merely the requirement of normative pressures as institutional theory suggests or that it is merely a myth whose purpose is to ensure the survival of the leaders themselves (Gemmill and Oakly, 1992).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The approach towards Deep Leadership also seeks to examine the extent to which individuals who are regarded as being leader whether formal or informal are able to affect and effect their own version of events. It might be, for instance, that the crucial difference between leadership and non-leadership does not lie in the particular act or process, but in the ability of some individual to prevail over others. Another question comes up: Is leadership rather like history just the acts of victors? It may even be that acts of Deep Leadership are indeed identical at all levels but only formally recognized where they oincide with formal authority. Or alternatively, it may be that leadership styles and processes do differ between the levels of hierarchy so that there are qualitative differences between the leadership in the shop-floor and the leadership in the boardroom.&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;<i>(Mundul is a Director with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd)</i></span></div>',
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			'title' => 'Are You Backed By SAP?',
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			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 14.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="1" height="225" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/imm.jpg" style="width: 349px; height: 225px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="349" />S</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">AP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers. When it comes to operating with the ultimate idea of uninterrupted and ever increasing performance in business, SAP is the perfect solution. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP provides a single, integrated technology platform that supports industry-specific business processes through optional enhancement packages that enables to build on progress, without causing business disruptions. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP solutions are efficient and this can be largely credited to SAP's impeccable architecture. It is built on state-of-the-art computing technologies based on the Business Framework architecture which is capable of processing huge volumes of information and supporting rapid decision-making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There are a few things that distinctly mark SAP apart from other solutions in the market. The foremost is their service-oriented architecture (SOA) which speeds and simplifies the integration of SAP and non-SAP solutions. Therefore, SAP's implementation offers high levels of data integration as it ensures synchronisation of information between SAP and the underlying business execution systems. This open connectivity actually allows business components to interact with several business systems. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Needless to say, with SAP, a company can gain meaningful, industry-specific, role-based insight into the business performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Understanding its functionality requires recognising the working of its components. Building on existing SAP R/3 functionality, SAP includes functionality for advanced Business Consolidation and Business Information Collection, which links internal information with automated collection of relevant external information through the Internet. SAP also supports advanced Business Planning and Simulation, based on both internal and external information - allowing you to model risks and rewards, and more effectively manage future uncertainties. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Furthermore, once you resort to SAP solutions, the Corporate Performance Monitor including the Management Cockpit is enhanced with industry-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI) templates on the one hand while on the other, the Stakeholder Relationship Management component facilitates communication with investors and other important stakeholder groups. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP unequivocally meets all your company's requirements and addresses all its prominent concerns.The implementation of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can lead to many benefits. Some evident gains are stated as follows:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">With SAP solutions, your enterprise shall run in accordance with strategy and plans, accessing the right information in real time to identify concerns early. SAP improves operational efficiency and productivity within and beyond your enterprise thus extending transactions, information, and collaboration functions to a broader business community.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">SAP helps you eliminate high integration costs and the need to purchase third-party software. It helps you leverage preset defaults and pre-packaged versions available for specific industries. It also links employees performance to compensation programmes such as variable pay plans and long-term incentives; and at the same time gives employees new ways to access the enterprise information required for their daily activities. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle; text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">To meet the business needs of the 21st century, every aspiring company needs the element that pulls it together and integrates it in such a proficient way that it is able to foresee all opportunities and identify every minuscule of apprehension to make proactive decisions. To ensure solid productivity in today's competitive market, every company needs to be in a position from where it can make the optimum use of all its existing resources. <br />
	<br />
	</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Using SAP means; being in a position to exactly do that. In brief terminologies, it means increasing profitability, improving financial control and reducing risks; thereby putting your company in the centre stage of a high yielding market.<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</span></div>',
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			'description' => 'SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in data processing; and today, it is the world's largest business software company which delivers products and services that help to speed up business innovation for customers.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '304',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'Developing Job Ownership: Key To Business Success',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 120%; vertical-align: middle;">
	<i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/rabindra karna.jpg" style="width: 98px; height: 130px;" vspace="1" />By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs. While accepting assignments, projects or jobs they do so with with the sense of ownership. These are really professional people. They deal with others with a clear understanding of interdependence and give due consideration and respect to other departments, sections or functions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Job ownership by an employee plays crucial role for business success in today’s competitive global market. Businesses need continued progress in product development. Unless the people take this responsibility of product development with the sense of ownership, they will not put into it their full knowledge and experience and efforts. As a result, competitive advantage benefits will keep missing for all stake holders: the employee, the company, the customers and the investors. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Anything consistently continued for a longer period will certainly convert into guaranteed success. Though many management scientists argue that ’success in the life is not difficult to achieve’, continuous move towards the destination is essential to achieve success. Money has never been the highest motivating factor for human resources at a work place. The most common motivators are security, work-life balance, efficiency, learning opportunity and recognition against efforts one puts for business success. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Simultaneously, the most acknowledged motivator for business owners or investors is emotional attachment. Success and failure are mostly immaterial for them because failure is considered the only way to learn, in business. The challenge for them is not the knowledge but the work ethics, values and consistency to get results. This is called ownership mentality and the same applies for employees with job ownership attitude. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/key.jpg" style="width: 238px; height: 340px;" vspace="1" />During recruitment phase, interviews are mostly centred on prospective and anticipated relationships. The standard contract is imposed on the employee as soon as an agreement is reached. However, it mostly escapes ’detailing position and job profile’. The fact remains that the actual rights and duties of employees emerge through interpersonal relationships built at the workplace during the course of working together. Hence, psychological contract becomes eminent to match one another’s expectations contributing to higher level of performance and satisfaction. As long as common understanding and agreement in respect to the business mission, values, loyalty and respect exists between an employee and the employer, trust and commitment remain ensured. The relationship, if managed efficiently and effectively, will tie a stronger knot of mutual trust between the employer and employee matching the objectives and commitments necessary for business prosperity. In case it turns negative, it may result in disenchantment, de-motivation and resentfulness of authoritarianism within the organisation resulting in inefficient work, internal units not corresponding to the mission and objectives of the organisation and much more.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The words ’employees’ or ’Staff’, to the extent of psychological contract, signify:</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employers’ behaviour and dealing with employees</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -9pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employees’ input to the job they are entrusted or hired for</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: 9.5pt;">Respect, trust, fairness and objectivity are equally important in a job because job holders like these are essential for a civilised society in general. From a wider perspective, these become complex and significant at workplace and especially in management practices mainly towards ’change management’.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">The employer and employee relationship has grown in complexity with the emergence or growth of globalised skills market allowing very high mobility of people resources. Leadership is basically seen as representing the organisation and that reflects the aim and purposes of the organisation owners. Leadership in this context refers to the top management associates like Business Head, CEO etc.&nbsp;The nature of the relationship in transactional analysis is different to one that is limited to employee and employer. However, it’s significant in terms of agreeing on mutual transparent expectations. Further, the management and organisational principles heavily depend on fair and balanced understandings between the employer and employee. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">People’s lives have become more varied, informed and better placed in recent days with the achievement of rapid growth by many economies. Human capital around the globe is equipped more with high awareness and hence, it not only wants more but also deserves more. Therefore, the employees naturally expect greater fulfilment in return for their services or association. The work itself has become far more richly diverse and complicated than ever before. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">There is an increased excitement in the work place these days. The excitement is because of the application of different business model named ’employee ownership’ in corporations and cooperatives wherein employees and potentially the customers own the organisation and can therefore represent management mechanism. We see and experience glimpses here possibly as to how organisations might be run more fairly and sustainably in days to come. Globalisation and technology in recent days have shifted everything we knew in relation to organised work onto a totally different level in terms of complexity, rate of change, connectivity and the mobility of human resources and activities.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Thus, if organisations truly want to make innovations, creating and encouraging job ownership is the key. This ownership is the investment from both the company (funding, balanced work culture) and the employee (time, knowledge, commitment) by allowing and generating acceptance as well as securing achievement towards personal responsibility for products, processes and different stakeholders involved with the organisation. Job ownership reflects business understanding in view of culture, goal, and customers etc facilitating interactions with various elements widely known as interpersonal skills. It forces people to display a selfless attitude ensuring and delivering not only acceptable but better, improved and acknowledgeable productivity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Getting people to think and act like owners has never been easy and hence, if employees accept and take up jobs considering themselves as owners, it must be considered a great achievement. Employees are motivated further in view of sustainability onto business expectations. Involving employees in decision making requires entrepreneurs to seek input from employees and must listen to them.&nbsp;The solution really lies in making them part of decision making. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	 </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt; line-height: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">
	<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Ultimately, it’s all about people and taking care of people resources for better productivity in terms of business sustainability. Promoting job ownership and acceptance in the true sense will certainly guarantee the realisation of organisational mission, goal and objectives. </span></div>
<div>
	<i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; 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></div>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => 'Most people want to feel proud about their work and feel better for having performed to the satisfaction of business needs.',
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			'id' => '266',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'The Importance Of Enterprise  Performance Management',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i><img alt="anil" border="1" hspace="5" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/1303899771.jpg" style="width: 105px; height: 156px;" vspace="5" /><br />
	<br />
	<strong>By Anil Neupane<br />
	</strong><br />
	</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Enterprise performance management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities necessary to reach those objectives. It is often referred to, with the usage of terms such as Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM) and so on. It comprises Strategy Management, Profitability and Cost Management, Business Planning, Financial Consolidation, Spend, Supply Chain and other operational performance areas. EPM aligns the processes, systems, and metrics needed to measure and manage the performance of an organisation.<br />
	<br />
	EPM supports both cost optimisation and growth initiatives. It is a suitable fit for nearly all organisations and should be a priority initiative for CFOs to enable finance function to deliver short and long-term strategic benefits to businesses.<br />
	<br />
	It is considered as a diagnostic tool to monitor the pulse of an organisation by using a set of processes, frameworks, and systems for activities such as planning, measuring, communicating, and monitoring business results. Enterprises typically link these activities to corporate strategies and objectives and might drive them down to many individuals within the organisation to encourage accountability and control. Forrester defines business performance solutions as a category of purpose-built software applications that support these activities. The major BPS functional elements include:<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Strategy and performance measurement address goals, objectives, and accountability<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A strategy management application supports formal strategy management philosophies (eg, the Balanced Scorecard) but might be adapted to a business’ specific needs. Applications often display the strategy definition in visual strategy maps. Scorecards measure progress against the goals and objectives set forth in the strategy framework. Performance dashboards display more detailed information and allow drilling down to root-cause detail. Dashboards typically include a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that might include strategic scorecards as well as relevant comparisons against plans, budgets, forecasts, prior performance, and industry benchmark data.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions support multiple forward-looking processes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although used almost universally as a control on spending, budgeting often falls short in supporting performance initiatives often as a result of some rigorous and inflexible process and not necessarily due to a software shortcoming <i>per se</i>. Fortunately, in addition to budgeting, the planning solutions support a variety of scenario-based planning activities as well as forecasting processes that add value beyond which is provided by <img align="left" alt="enterprices" border="1" height="259" hspace="10" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/epm.jpg" style="width: 477px; height: 259px;margin:10px;padding:10px;" vspace="10" width="477" />traditional budgeting processes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Cost and profitability management provides detailed analysis to improve margins.</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	This complex modelling activity helps organisations analyse development, production, and operating costs against revenues by product, customers, and lines of business. Cost and profitability management applications often use activity-based costing as the methodology to develop sophisticated cost and profitability analytical models.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Financial reporting and consolidation produce financial statements.</strong> Financial reporting and consolidation applications produce reports focused on delivering financial statements based on accounting results. Statutory consolidations support regulatory compliance and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. These applications also support internal reporting of financial information.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why are companies after it globally?</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Despite the economic downturn and a global decline in overall IT spending of approximately 3 per cent, spending on CPM Suites remained positive (growing at 3.6 per cent in 2009). Through the last 24 months of economic uncertainty, EPM has helped to manage cost optimisation efforts, but through 2010, many more EPM initiatives were justified on the basis of supporting growth strategies. Furthermore, many of the stalled or sidelined EPM initiatives that did not advance in 2009, were reinstated during 2010.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	With economic downturn during the last few years, companies around the world are more focused on cutting costs and increasing performances. Therefore, EPM has been their major focus to achieve this objective and to have a better understanding of the drivers of corporate profitability.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Although awareness of the EPM concept has become more widespread, according to an estimate, 40 per cent of large enterprises and as much as 75 per cent of midsize businesses are using spreadsheets or legacy applications to meet their core management processes for BP&amp;F, financial consolidations and financial reporting.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>SAP EPM Suite<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	SAP is a global leader in EPM products. SAP recognises the importance of supporting these functions for an enterprise by establishing a new cross-functional unit, focusing on business performance optimisation. This unit brings together integrated technology and product portfolio with the people, ecosystem partners, and best practices specifically designed to help organisations drive business performance, manage risks and optimise the financial value chain. SAP Business Objects and EPM&nbsp;solutions bring together a set of applications that combine strategic goal-setting linked to effective budgeting and reporting, with additional abilities to analyse profitability. Similarly, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) is another tool that is dominating the global EPM suite market.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The major strength of SAP is its dominance in ERP market and its support base around the globe. Lately, SAP has an implementation partner in Nepal as well.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM and Business Intelligence</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	It is sometimes confusing to distinguish between business intelligence (BI) and EPM. The major reason behind this is because different vendors define these terms in different ways. In general context, business intelligence supports EPM tools to achieve results. In terms of strategy, Business Intelligence offers the tools necessary to improve decision-making, but not linked to organisation’s strategy. On the other hand, EPM provides a closed-loop support: linked to strategy through CSFs and KPIs. In terms of purpose, the BI tool helps organisations set and monitor their goals whereas EPM tools help organisations guide their business towards its goals. The scope of BI may be limited to one or more departments or functional areas whereas the scope of EPM is for the entire enterprise.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As shown in the figure above, EPM forms the higher level of pyramid whereas BI sustains the EPM processes as a supporting tool.<br />
	<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>EPM in terms of Nepal<br />
	<br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	As in the case of companies around the world, most companies in Nepal still use spreadsheets or legacy system for financial planning, budgeting and consolidation. Due to this, the predictions are often time consuming, inflexible and inaccurate. Unlike few years back when there were very little EPM tool options in Nepal, now the country already has a SAP implementation partner. Therefore, companies now have opportunities to implement best EPM tools, like SAP EPM or SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. This shall greatly help business companies distinguish themselves from their competitors.<br />
	<br />
	<strong><br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><i>(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</i></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>',
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			'title' => 'Japan’s Earthquake:A Global Wake Up Call',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<span><img align="left" alt="" border="2" hspace="2" src="http://newbusinessage.com/ckfinder/userfiles/Images/Dr Jagadish Ghosh.jpg" style="width: 106px; height: 134px;" vspace="2" />Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>By Dr Jagadish Ghosh</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>&nbsp;</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	'After three years, even a disaster can be good for something’ goes a Japanese proverb. But in the midst of this appalling devastation, it might be obscene to suggest that a disaster of this magnitude could possibly be turned into good for something. Evidently, time and again, not only the human spirit but also the laws of economics have proved amazingly resilient in the face of the most terrible of adversities. The widespread destruction has been taken as a challenge and an opportunity to rewrite the triumphant history of growth and development with renewed spirit and zeal. The destruction spurs reconstruction and acts as a stimulus for economic enterprise.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan’s east coast on 11 March 2011 sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake places the earthquake as the fifth largest in the world since 1900. It is also the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The two disasters were followed by the damage at nuclear reactors threatening harmful radiation. Japanese Prime minister Naoto Kan has described the catastrophic combination of earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear meltdown as the biggest crisis the country has had to face since the end of World War II.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The quake caused a 400-km long and 160-km wide rupture in the earth’s crust as one tectonic plate dove under another off the coast of northern Japan. This led to an upheaval in the sea above it, sending a 30 foot wall of water racing up to 10 km inland in Japan and reaching California across the Pacific Ocean 10 hours later. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast. The quake was followed by more than 20 aftershocks for hours, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. As many as six reactors at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima are facing crisis at one level or the other verging of N-disaster. The death toll was likely to continue climbing over 10,000 given the scale of disaster. But without minimising the tragedy in any way, the damage in terms of human lives has been remarkably contained relative to what might have been. For that, all credit must go to successive Japanese administrations and civil society. Situated on the ‘Ring of Fire’ – an arc of seismic activity around the Pacific Basin – Japan has been hit time and again by devastating earthquakes, from the one in Tokyo in 1923 to Kobe in 1995. But the Japanese have drawn their lessons from these. So they have the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and an extensive tsunami warning sensor network. They have building codes that keep such exigencies in mind. Similarly, they have thorough disaster management plans at every administrative level.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Insured Losses<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The earthquake in Japan could lead to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, according to risk modelling company AIR Worldwide, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history. It is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010 and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of decline. This temblor will go down as the costliest earthquake in modern history in terms of insured losses, surpassing the roughly $15 billion in losses of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>2010 – The Year of Earthquakes</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The most devastating earthquake of the year with more than 220,000 deaths struck Haiti, a country that was in no way prepared for such an event. Chile and New Zealand, on the other hand, were very well prepared. As a result, the challenges presented for reconstruction and the insurance underwriting aspects must be assessed differently for different countries.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Scientific Analysis</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	On 12 January 2010, Haiti suffered the most devastating seismic catastrophe since the destruction of Tangshan in China in 1976. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.0, did not come as a great surprise for seismologists. The danger had been clearly stated in a scientific publication dated 2008. The epicentre of the quake which ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area was located near the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. The Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault, which was originally considered to form the quake’s epicentre, runs in an east-west direction here. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the rupture in the earth’s crust propagated towards the capital from its hypocentre west of Port-au-Prince.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The associated interference of seismic waves magnified the vibrations. Intensive geological and geophysical investigations after the quake have revealed a highly complex rupture process. It appears that a previously concealed blind thrust fault was also involved and interacted with the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault. This is of significance for the future earth quake potential in the Port-au-Prince area. It may be assumed that the stresses accumulated in the Enriquillo-Plantain-Garden Fault since the earthquakes of 1751 and 1770 were not fully released on 12 January. Moreover, the investigations have also shown that strong shaking was not restricted only to areas with soft, unconsolidated sediments. Due to the topography, it also occurred on a hillside in the Petionville district, south of the city centre.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="page-break-after: always;">
	<span style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Chilean earthquake six weeks later did not strike unexpectedly either. The strongest earthquake ever recorded by instruments worldwide with a magnitude of 9.5 had already occurred in the Valdivia/Puerto Montt region, on the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates, in 1960. To the north of this region, a magnitude 8.0 quake off the coast of Valparaiso caused damage all the way to Santiago in 1985. The area between these two rupture zones, however, had remained relatively quiet since 1835. This ‘seismic gap’ was filled by the Maule quake on 27 February, with a magnitude of 8.8.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	A third earthquake, which struck Qinghai province in Central China on 13 April, paled in comparison to these two major catastrophes. Its magnitude was similar to that of the Haitian quake and claimed roughly 2,700 lives. The earthquake which struck New Zealand’s South Island on 3 September attracted greater publicity. This was not due to its magnitude of 7.0, similar to that of the quakes in China and Haiti. What made this quake different was that, unlike the Haiti and Chile cases, an earthquake had not been expected here, 40 kilometres west of Christchurch. Experts had focused more on the Alpine Fault to the northwest which marks the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate in the west and the Pacific plate in the east. The Darfield earthquake (named after the town closest to the epicentre), however, occurred along a previously unknown fault system under the sediments of the Canterbury Plains. Unlike Port-au-Prince, the rupture proceeded away from the city in this case but the energy emitted was unusually high for a quake of this magnitude.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Why Haitian earthquake proved most devastating</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Buildings of every kind – from representative buildings, such as the government palace and the Hotel Montana, to mud huts – were damaged more or less indiscriminately by the earthquake in Haiti. The corporate headquarters and production facilities of foreign companies remained structurally intact. Yet the few insured losses stemmed primarily from this sector. There are several reasons why the Haitian earthquake proved to be the most devastating ever in recent times, as expressed by the overall loss in relation to gross domestic product. Among others, they include the lack of building regulations, poor building material and a shortage of qualified labour as well as the absence of an institutional framework ensuring that construction projects are completed in an orderly fashion.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Maule quake in Chile was the first earthquake of high magnitude and correspondingly long duration (over 120 seconds) to test modern high-rise buildings. The high overall loss of US$30 billion was not caused by instability. Both the quality of Chile’s earthquake building code and its implementation are very good on a global scale. Only five of the 12,300 buildings erected since the last major earthquake in 1985 collapsed. Another 50 or so had to be demolished on account of massive structural damage. The magnitude of the overall loss is due above all, to the damage to non-structural elements in addition to the small number of major losses. Among other things, these include non-supporting walls, false ceilings and façade elements. Evidently, the building code must be updated in order to avoid or reduce the extent of such damage to property. In some cases, infrastructure also proved unexpectedly unstable as in the case of the motorway linking the international airport and the city of Santiago.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Chile, the load-bearing structure of mid-rise buildings (up to 20 floors) is primarily made up of shear walls parallel to the axis of the building. Compared with framed structures, such buildings are fairly rigid when exposed to seismic stresses. Newer buildings, however, tend to have thinner walls. The necessary transverse reinforcements also proved inadequate in some cases. Most of the few cases of major damage are attributable to such shortcomings. Low buildings with up to four floors are frequently built with confined masonry. In this case, the individual brick wall elements are connected by cast pillars of reinforced concrete. This type of construction has also proved to be very good.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Since buildings with shear walls or confined masonry are more widespread in Chile than in other countries, the experience gathered there cannot simply be applied to other regions. Framed constructions prevail in the American Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon, Washington), for example. As for the earthquake mechanism, Chile provided a blueprint for a future quake at the Cascadia subduction zone where the Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under the North American continent from the west. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are all about the same distance from the epicentre of a future earthquake as Santiago was from the February quake.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	In Christchurch, New Zealand, many residential buildings were damaged above all by collapsing chimneys. They frequently crashed through the roofs of homes, most of which were lightweight constructions. Many historical buildings of unreinforced masonry in the city centre also suffered significant damage. As in Chile, non-structural damage played a major part here, too. Unusually widespread soil liquefaction was one particular characteristic of the New Zealand quake. Near-surface sediment layers on the Canterbury Plains are particularly prone to this phenomenon, which causes extensive damage that is also difficult to repair, as the substrate settles to varying degrees during the liquefaction process, causing buildings to tilt.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Lessons for Nepal</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Going by the past records, Nepal has been experiencing major quakes every 70-75 years. According to seismologists, Nepal ranks 11th among the 30 most quake prone countries in the world. In Nepal, the tectonic motion – the movement of plates in the Indian subcontinent towards Tibet – that caused the Himalayas to rise have also been causing buildings to collapse and cities get razed since the 13th century. And it is likely that Nepal would be faced with a similar situation in the near future, with Western and Central Nepal including the Kathmandu Valley the most prone to damage.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The 1934 Quake, that devastated Bihar, measured 8 on the Richter scale, killing nearly 11,000 people and 20 per cent of the buildings in the valley. The National Seismological Centre of Kathmandu draws an apocalyptic version of the disaster: that it would kill more than 40,000 people and injure another 100-200,000 if it happens today. It would also destroy 60-70 per cent of the buildings and leave 60-70,000 people homeless. There is no such term as earthquake-proof as no building can be entirely safe from earthquakes. The actual term used is earthquake-resistant which means that the damage to life and property caused following an earthquake will be minimised.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Establishment of the Disaster Preparedness Plan and Disaster Relief Plan makes a huge difference in earthquake-prone regions, when the catastrophes do occur as we have experienced in the two Latin American countries: Haiti and Chile. By comparing these countries to Nepal and taking a closer look at Nepal’s situation, it is evident that Nepal is in dire need of a strong mitigation plan.&nbsp;In Kathmandu Valley which is a former lake-bed, 2.5 million people live in poorly constructed buildings.&nbsp;Kathmandu has only one airport and three roads connecting it to the outside world. In the event of an earthquake, these roads are most likely to be damaged rendering them unfit for transportation. Nepal has a National Seismological Network comprising 21 short period telemetric seismic stations that started with the first seismometer set up at the top of the Phulchowki Hill, 14 km southeast of Kathmandu, in 1978. The Nepali Diaspora needs to come together and build a procedural mechanism to protect the country by setting up a Disaster Preparedness Plan, and a Disaster Relief Plan. The National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) - Nepal, established as a non-governmental and non-profit organisation in 1994, has been actively pursuing the earthquake risk and mitigation planning and earthquake awareness projects.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Protracted political wrangling in Nepal is preventing a key piece of disaster preparedness legislation from reaching parliament. Though endorsed by the cabinet in October 2009, the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM) has yet to be made into law. The passing of this bill is critical. Without this, the country’s disaster preparedness efforts cannot move forward.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Development of better building codes, strict enforcement of the existing one, creation of disaster management plans and response bodies from the local level to the central must be ensured. Similarly, streamlining of relevant administrative machinery with funding, clearly demarcated jurisdiction and insurance awareness are measures that the government must take seriously. Unless these measures are taken, the cost of country’s lack of preparedness may turn out to be devastating. The right lesson to be drawn from events unfolding – a combination of righteous knowledge and righteous actions helps us for sustaining survival.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Ghosh is the CEO of National Insurance Company Ltd. This article is based on material provided from various sources including </i>Munich Re<i>)</i></div>',
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			'description' => 'Japan’s earthquake is a global wake up call concentrating on the importance of preparedness to respond to such disasters. What we need in our day of testing is preparation.',
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			'id' => '260',
			'article_category_id' => '38',
			'title' => 'HR Practices & Line Managers',
			'sub_title' => '',
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			'content' => '<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers in organisations play an important role in the development of its employees’ professional careers and encouraging their positive attitude. The organisations have recognised the advantages of the Line Managers’ involvement in learning and development process of its employees. Yet, most organisations have not worked towards educating human resource (HR) practices to them. It is becoming increasingly important to acknowledge that the Line Managers possess the potential to help change organisational environments for the better.<strong><br />
	<br />
	</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Educating HR practices to Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers should be educated on HR policies and HR functions such as performance appraisals, training identification etc. They should have the authority to track HR activities and report the same to the Human Resource Department (HRD).&nbsp;Correspondingly, the role of the HRD should be to make the Line Managers competent by providing communication training so as to help them communicate better with their subordinates. So, close interaction between the HRD and the Line Manager and giving them the authority is vital.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Further, the Line Managers should be briefed on conducting appraisals effectively. Performance appraisals must be conducted to help employees maximise their respective potential for mutual benefit.&nbsp;For this purpose, it’s imperative that the Line Managers receive behavioural and communication training.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Management Review Meetings</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The organisations must give due importance to management review meetings for the Line Managers. They are an important part of educating the Line Managers as they get to hold discussions with the management boards. This process helps taking timely and appropriate actions required for organisational development.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Job Description for the Line Managers</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Developing guidance is another important aspect which helps the Line Managers perform better. The HRD must make them realise the importance of the organisational team. The relations between the HRD, Line Managers and other employees must complement each other. The inclusion of HR responsibilities in the Line Managers’ job description and coordination with the HRD for the employees’ performance enhancement would help formulate effective HR related activities. A complaint mechanism also needs to be developed as it can work as the reflection for change requirement.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>Counselling and Training</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The Line Managers have to work closely with the employee so they must understand their human needs. For instance, an employee may be experiencing grief, tension or a personal problem. It may influence his end performance and weaken his retention prospect. In this scenario, the Line Manager’s counselling can influence the employee positively. A Line Manager’s positivity can rub on to the team and enhance its overall capability.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The ability to inspire is not the easiest of qualities to develop. The Line Managers must be provided trainings, periodically, on people management and enhancing competencies of their team members. Such trainings can help them learn to be more competent to achieve common objectives.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>The Line Managers’ Leadership Role</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	Leadership plays an important role for a team to accomplish a common task. The Line Managers should lead the group of people and work towards enhancing their capabilities without getting insecure. The HR personnel cannot reach each employee most of the times. So, the Line Managers should be given adequate authority to make decisions, to a certain extent. When the Line Managers are given authority and responsibility, there is a tremendous possibility of increased productive output.<br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	The HRD should have a system which identifies the employees’ expectations from the organisations. It can then design the desired format and address it to the Line Manager.&nbsp;As a result, the Line Manager takes pride in the positive changes happening to his team members. The Line Managers play a vital role in ensuring that employees are mentored, motivated and feeling competent. The HRD can consider itself successful if employees are productive and contribute towards overall organisational growth. The employees’ successful careers within the organisation are a healthy sign of things to come. <br />
	 </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
	<i>(The write-up is based on an ‘HR Kurakani’ discussion on “Educating HR to the Line Managers”, on 29 December, 2010 conducted by Real Solutions Pvt Ltd. The participants at the discussion included Ayush Shah, ICTC Group; Robin Shrestha, Caritas Nepal; Sarika Amatya, Freelancer; Sharda Rana, Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd; Shraddha Joshi, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal and Sujata Rijal, Echo Advertising Agency. Shailendra Raj Giri, the Managing Director of Real Solutions acted as the moderator for the discussion.)</i></div>',
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			'title' => 'Right Gears For Strategic Achievement',
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			'content' => '<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">By Anil Neupane</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Global business environment is changing rapidly with decentralization, smaller profit margin, need to react quickly to the changing market demands and increasing importance of service. In order to survive or improve in this aggressive environment, organizations tend to implement different approaches of Outsourcing, Business Intelligence (BI), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. But despite these efforts, every organization does not succeed to meet the strategic goals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; </span><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Approaches used<br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Traditionally outsourcing has been considered as the best approach for cost-saving. But this approach does not always support companies to meet their strategic outcomes. A survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, among 25 of the world's largest organizations across eight sectors with extensive outsourcing experiences and multivendor relationships, revealed that 70% of participants identified cost savings</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> as the major driver of the outsourcing decision. However, opposing to th</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">e optimistic interpretation of outsourcing by vendors and the marketplace, they later realized that outsourcing is a complex process and the anticipated benefits often fail to materialize. Instead of simplifying operation, there may be complexities due to outsourcing.&nbsp;Also the costs may increase and the value chain may experience some friction requiring more senior management attention and deeper management skills than anticipated. However, outsourcing allows organizations to transfer financial and operational risk to vendors. But organizations are discovering that their contracts will never fully protect them against customer damage and business losses caused by service disruption. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp; <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Company should focus on outsourcing in its operational areas and handle their core areas on their own. By doing this outsourcing facilitates a company focus on its core business by having operations carried out by an external expert. Freed from devoting energy to areas that are not in its expertise, the company can focus its resources to meet its core customer needs.<br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">One of the major factors for a successful outsourcing is to have a clear strategic plan and vision. Moving along this path of clear plan and vision, a company can meet the strategic goals. As the survey report of Deloitte Consulting suggested, in order for meeting the strategic outcomes with minimal risks, companies should outsource only commodity functions to guard against a loss of knowledge instead of looking for differentiated growth solutions. As the report suggests, companies should avoid outsourcing solely on cost savings and should plan for short-term outsourcing to prevent vendor dependency. In the long run, organizations that continue to outsource will experience a loss of bargaining power to vendors as the supply side consolidates. <br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Those that apply strong skills in deal structuring, risk management and strong management skills to oversee deals from inception to execution will be best positioned to reap the benefits of outsourcing. Outsourcing will still remain a useful solution within the conservative context of five models: Centralize-Standardize-Outsource Transform-Operate-Transfer, Commodities Outsourcing, Risk Transfer (Insurance</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">), and Shifting Fixed Costs to Variable Costs. In case of curr</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%">ent market situation, it has been found that outsourcing frequently fails to deliver its promise. In this case, it is suggested that the world’s largest companies should be able to replicate the vendor’s structural advantages in-house and rely on vendors only under specific circumstances. To meet the strategic outcomes from outsourcing, companies should move from an ad hoc outsourcing approach to a strategic multisourcing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%"><br />
	</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Business Intelligence</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Timely access to relevant information for right decision making has been critical for business success. However it has been very challenging for organizations to retrieve the right information from the huge amount of data collected as a result of diverse new data collecting technologies. Many companies have a gap between their strategy and operations as a failure to retrieve right information from their data. Unless they retrieve right information to realize this gap, it is not possible for them to come up with expected strategic outcomes. By providing right information at right time, business intelligence can help organizations to find out the gap between their strategy and operations following which they can change the strategy as per the operation or vice versa. Today’s business environment has frightening situation where 77% of managers do not have sufficient information and tend to make wrong decisions. Many companies strategies are found to be disconnected from the operations and decisions made at operations level are without context. This scary situation was depicted by a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which revealed that less than one in ten corporate executives believe they have the right information needed to make critical business decisions.&nbsp;No matter how promising the company strategy is, how can the right strategic outcome be met with this level of accessibility to right information for decision making? <br />
	<br />
	</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Mark Giles has emphasised on the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) which, as he has defined, is a data warehouse concept that enables organizations create and operate a data warehouse in an enterprise-wide environment. Some of the major features of EDW are: a. Enable strategic analysis and operational reporting, b. Enable business to report real time, c. Integrate heterogeneous systems and d. facilitate the design time as well as runtime of business intelligence (BI) models and processes. In comparison to the traditional business intelligence systems which are accessible to some specific person such as manager, system analysts etc, EDW is something that is to be accessible to all levels of employees. Through this concept of information accessibility across the organizations, the employees at operational level can make right decisions to ensure the expected strategic outcome. Also since EDW facilitates the design and runtime of BI models and processes, organizations can simulate the processes earlier thereby reducing risks of failure which might happen in the real business scenario and support to meet expected strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Supply Chain Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">In today’s rapid globalized business environment, companies have been highly dependent on outsourced manufacturing partners in order to reduce cost. However in addition to the reduction of the cost, the overall system has become very complex and therefore the importance of an effective supply chain management is increasing day by day. Unlike the earlier trends of producing goods on site, the goods are produced in remote areas and transported to other places for sales or reprocessing. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The traditional approach of supply chain network does not match with the current speedy business environment and a new approach is needed to achieve expected strategic outcomes. Stefan Theis &amp; Howells have suggested adaptive supply chain </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">as an effective supply chain network adapting a strategic approach to overcome the existing challenges in the supply chain network.</span><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%"> Because of globalization and outsourcing, the network-wide visibility and collaboration have become challenging. To overcome these challenges, he focuses on supply chain collaboration which consists of a. Understanding customer demand, b. Including suppliers in the network, c. Enabling visibility into outsourcing partners and d. Extending visibility to carriers . </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Tracking and Tracing</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:
Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri"> is a key enabler to achieve adaptive supply chain network which in turn can enable visibility into and responsiv</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%">eness to all supply chain events. Enabling real-time demand visibility, collaboration, and analytics to manage and mitigate risk are the major objectives of adaptive supply chain which can in turn ensure meeting the strategic goals of the companies. It is essential to have right supply chain strategy to come up with right strategic outcomes. For instance, strategies like Supply-to-stock and Supply-to-order. If supply-to-stock strategy is applied for products that are meant to be supply-to-order, then the possibility of right strategic outcome is very low.&nbsp;The technology plays crucial role for business partners integration. For instance, business intelligence systems can play a vital role to analyze the trends of customers needs and plan accordingly. It is essential for companies with strategic fit, i.e. both supply chain and competitive strategy have higher likelihood of having expected strategic outcome from their strategy. To achieve this strategic fit, some of the requisites he has suggested are: a. Understanding the customer, b. Understanding supply chain tradeoffs and c. Matching supply chain responsiveness with the implied demand uncertainty. With this combination of right strategy, strategy fit with strong support of technology at the back end can ensure organizations meet their strategic outcomes. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Customer Relationship Management</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There have been numerous failures of implementing effective CRM systems. Companies should have strategic procedures to achieve strategic outcomes from their CRM systems. Properties of an effective CRM system which highly ensure the strategic outcome are:&nbsp;a. Simplicity drives adoption and productivity, b. Flexibility provides choice and adaptability and c. Comprehensive breadth of capabilities and innovation. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">There are numerous challenges to meet strategic goals through traditional CRM systems due to their inability to support high complexity of today’s global business environment. To get expected strategic outcomes from CRM systems, companies should focus on standardizing their sales processes, integrating their data and be flexible and responsive to their environment. Properly implemented and maintained CRM systems can help organizations meet their strategic goals by reducing or avoiding cost, increasing productivity and retaining higher customer satisfaction. A customer centric CRM system gives a full view of customers to help companies improve their efficiency thereby coming up with better customer service. For multinational companies, different complexities such as different processes in the subsidiary’s region, lack of integration in many processes and multiple CRM instances can further hinder the achievement of their strategic goals. Companies can overcome these complexities and meet their strategic goals with right implementation of the CRM systems by forming a globally consistent process, integrating processes across sales, marketing, contact centers and partners and by having single logical instance of multiple systems. </span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">2+2 not necessarily 4</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">The four business areas, Outsourcing, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relationship Management are very crucial for organizations to meet their strategic goals. However, these business areas by themselves do not assure the achievement of business strategic goals unless they are properly implemented. Though these business areas have their distinctive contribution to achieve the organizational strategic goals, they are not in fact independent of each other. These are closely interlinked with each other and proper coordination of these facets can actually result in meeting strategic goals efficiently. For this, an efficient or a combination of few ERP systems with all these functionalities can be deployed to support business processes and help meet the organizational strategic goals. After implementation, it is equally important to review these systems in context of changing business environment to ensure the system is as per the market need. </span></p>
<p>
	 </p>
<p>
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">(Neupane is a SAP global certified consultant currently working in London. He can be reached at neupane_anil@hotmail.com)</span><br />
	</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
	<strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>',
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			'description' => 'Global business environment is changing rapidly with decentralization, smaller profit margin, need to react quickly to the changing market demands and increasing importance of service. In order to survive',
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	<span style="color: rgb(255, 140, 0);"><strong><i><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: &quot;Lucida Bright&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">By Dr Rabindra Karna</span></i></strong></span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-indent: 0in; text-align: justify;">
	<span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">T</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">o know the role of Performance Management, it’s essential to agree on the objective of management. If we collate different views of different management scientists, we can come to a consensus that the objective of management is: to achieve the intended business destination through effective, efficient and economic utilization of people, material, time, information and fund.” <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	It covers all four key elements – job improvement, skills enhancement, task management and internal relationship. It is through the combination of these that achievement of intended destination is ensured. Thus to manage a business effectively, there must be a close link between the work planning, proceeding and review procedure because factors affecting business and people performance interact on each other. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	The management needs to institutionalize and demonstrate latest management techniques, approaches/principles and philosophies to synergize cumulative human endeavour. This can be achieved only through a dynamic change agent driving the change process embodying these qualities for common growth and actualization of the organisation’s potentials. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	In the total management philosophies, there has been unanimous alignment about people resources and it is all agreed that without proper people organization blocks, it would not only be difficult but impossible to eye on any intended achievement without people engagement. Scientific management theory describes 5 key block builders of Human Organization:</p>
<p class="bullet">
	1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Work Cycle: Assignments should be specialized and set to smallest possible work cycle.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Process: Same process be used whilst performing same task in repetition</p>
<p class="bullet">
	3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Leadership: Effective leadership should be demonstrated in decision making</p>
<p class="bullet">
	4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Uniformity: In view of equity and consistency, policies must be uniform<span style=""> </span>across the business.</p>
<p class="bullet">
	5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Exclusivity: Duplication of functions is widely discouraged and thus assignment exclusivity becomes a must in view of task ownership.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;">With the understanding that the people are important, it’s obvious that we need to relate our efforts to achieve with the social perception within organization.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It’s obvious that social behavior is learnt in the form of acceptability within a work environment and we continue to learn and adapt through comparing one another.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Being social animals, the humans make comprehensive arrangements for living and performing with one another and managing the environment. We could perceive most social situations as a negotiation, an interview, a presentation/workshop, an attempt to leadership, etc. Organizations or their people recognise the existence of a problem when they perceive that their goals are inconsistent with one another or when discrepancies between want/desire and expectations are experienced. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	However, to have consistency in business results as well as in people’s productivity and social acknowledgement, we need to pay special attention to Performance Management and that requires serious attention to meet expectations or achieve desired results. </p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">In the light of the above, there cannot be a disagreement, if we say that Performance Management is thus one of the most essential elements of Management and most desired to be in place for institution and/or investments. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">The article is not intended to describe the steps or process of performance management. Rather it is intended to discuss various elements and/or contributing factors of performance management in day to day work life. Various research works suggest:</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<b>1.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Regular Communication at work:</b> Employees mostly show concerns pertaining to the quality and quantity of communication at work.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Inadequate and ineffective communication results in loss of cooperation and coordination, decreased productivity, undesired pressure, increased human turnover, absenteeism, rumors etc and there won’t be any disagreement that all these have huge impact on both personal and organizational performance. Hence, it would be wise to have two way clear, effective and regular communication within the organization to attain the desired performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>2.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Build Trust:</b> It has been widely experienced in daily work life that lack of trust among the members of the work team is very damaging. HR practitioners must accept that the performance management tools should not be considered as the only HR tools. Research works suggest that HUMILITY is one of the best to generate trust within organization. Managers or HR practitioners who are ready to acknowledge mistakes have been considered as highly competent. Even mediocre people are accepted easily saying, “You are trustworthy because you have courage to admit a mistake”. One must be seen by other members not as a competitor but as a collaborator. Trust encourages people to focus on productivity instead of remaining suspicious for every action of Management.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>3.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Satisfy Customers: </b>Customer service must be improved starting from the office of the top management (e.g. Managing Director, CEO, GM etc.). Commitment must be communicated to all the levels (internal &amp; external). An awareness drive can be launched for improvement on customer service. Customers also want to feel that you value them and their business. Loyal customers market the company. This way, the customer satisfaction becomes an important key in driving performance.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b>4.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Get Along:</b> Relationship, conflict, resentment etc. have a big negative impact on performance. Evaluate and encourage change process by allowing a fostering team spirit. Encourage discussions that lead to pointing out inconsistencies in the actions and outcomes against the agreed goals and priorities. Changes in behaviour, generating better understanding across the business, creating common goal and priority and showing concerns about one another’s personal constraints as well as providing support in the hours of need will foster the team spirit and help building everlasting relationship.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>When the people get along, the tasks get done well and quality performance emerges automatically.</p>
<p class="bullet" style="margin-top: 5.65pt; text-align: justify;">
	<b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">5.<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Full Attention:</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> It would be wise to keep everyone informed of expectations from them. The people should be engaged to find solutions to troubles as well as pursuing alternates. Not just talk about open door policy, practice it. Allow people to disagree so that new ideas emerge. Adequate and/or increasing response confirms attentiveness. Listening and recognizing ideas with full involvement encourages participation. Full attention to others’ views, ideas, suggestion and communication generate energy within the team and reflects respect to each other. Most of the time, productive ideas don’t get implemented due to the lack of attention. Improvement often comes from small efforts that were previously sent back without enough attention paid to them. If you encourage team to take RISK, your behaviour too must match your word so that the others in the team are confident that they are being heard with full attention. Ensure that the reminders or follow-ups about agreed move are sent in time. This will encourage participation and certainly will result in improved productivity. <br />
	</span></p>
<p class="bullet" style="text-align: justify;">
	<span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>To conclude, research works show that performance management and performance evaluation are two different poles of the magnet.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>But both of them have the same purpose. The keys to performance are in the answers to the following questions: What is expected of us? What are we doing? What next? How are we doing? How should we be doing? When we must be doing? Why we should or must be doing?</p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Once, genuine answers to these are derived, Performance Management becomes integral part of our daily work life. </span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT">
	<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="BODYTEXT" style="margin-top: 2.85pt; text-align: justify;">
	<i>(Dr Karna is Executive Chairperson, MARK Business Solutions Pvt Ltd &amp; Ad Abhyas Marketing &amp; Communications Pvt Ltd He says this article is based on various research reports and practical experiences.)</i></p>
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