HR Profession - Assignment for GBM Semester 1 PDF

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HR Profession Assignment for GBM Semester 1 - HRM8130...

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Role of Human Resources Management Practices in WIPRO

Strategic Global Business Management, Conestoga college

HRM8130 Human Resource Management PROFESSOR Joan Kinsey

2021-12-09

Executive Summary: HR is now a key function of the business organization as opposed to earlier times when it was considered as a support service to the organization. This change has happened as now the employees are considered as key agents of value addition to the business and strategic requirements of the organization and not only as workers who fulfill the operational requirements of the organization. Consequently, it has led to the growth in importance of the HR profession. Now the HR division handles multiple functions focused on honing the skills and capabilities of the employees in contributing to the strategy and profitability of the organization and be the representative of the values and organizational brand equity. As a result, it is now more attractive fulfilling in a professional way to choose HR as a career as now a HR is also a business partner of the organization than being only a support service provider to the organization.

Introduction: Human Resources has come a long way from merely being a division to hire and manage employees for organizational work requirements to become an equal and active partner in shaping and contributing to the strategic business requirements of an organization. The following sections looks into the role of human resources in an organization, the different services it provides as a strategic business partner to the organization, the challenges it faces and the solution it provides for them. These form a learning exercise for prospective HR managers to appreciate and inculcate such insights for better management of HR functions. The section consists of an informal interview with a mid-level HR manager on a set of 10 open-ended questions followed by evaluation of the organization the HR manager works for. It then includes a note on my preferred company of work, the insights gained from the inputs of the HR manager including challenged faced in performance of HR functions. This is followed by notes on learnings gained from the exercise and my reflections on the way I would handle HR work from the experience gained from the inputs of the interviewee.

Part One: Interview with M Raman, Manager, Talent Acquisition

1. As a HR professional how has been your journey till now; would like to know something about your educational background? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to get a glimpse of the background and career path of the interviewee. Ans: Sure, my journey started with me choosing human resources management as one of the special elective subjects in my MBA course. I did my schooling in CBSE stream and my graduation in commerce after which I qualified in the MBA entrance examination and chose human resources management as my area of specialization. Since, my MBA days I have focused on learning the different aspects of human resources and their role in the organizational context. My belief has been that the human resources give shape to the strategy and business of an organization and the quality of human resources directly contributes to the business and profitability of an organization.

2. How many years of experience you have as an HR professional? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to find the consistency level of the interviewee to his profession Ans: I have a total of seven years of experience as an HR professional. I started as an HR intern and rose to become Deputy Manager, HR and then Associate Manager HR to now HR Manager.

3. Wipro is a great organizations in the IT sector in India as well as a global name in IT software services. Since how many years are you with the organization?

Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is the find out the consistency of the interviewee to his present organization Ans: I am working with Wipro since 2019. I joined as a HR intern with Infosys where I worked for five years both as an intern and Deputy Manager and Associate Manager. Then I got an offer from Wipro in 2019 as Manager and subsequently I joined Wipro. Since 2019, I am working as Manager, Talent Acquisition for the India market.

4. How was it working with two very renowned IT organizations of India that are in the forefront of IT sector revolution in India? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to find out the work environment and details about sector experience as a HR professional Ans: Infosys is also a globally renowned IT software services organization with a positive work environment. There I got the opportunity to learn different aspects of the HR system and processes, talent acquisition systems and selecting the right candidate for different work requirements. Teamwork is a prominent aspect in Infosys work culture as well as in Wipro. Both Wipro and Infosys consider employees as their human talent base and their partners in business performance. Infosys and Wipro both give importance to continuous improvement of human talent through trainings and skill development programmes. The organizations stress on the importance of continuously assessing the employability of the employees, their work life balance and provide a judicious and pay and benefits package to their employees. Overall, the work atmosphere is positive and the employee management is growth oriented with a long term vision for fulfillment of professional and personal needs of the employees.

5. Is there any standard process followed in human resources management function in these two organizations or each organization follows a system suited to their own requirements? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to find out details about the HR profession experience. Ans: There are a set of standard requirements in human resources management due to which every organization including Wipro and Infosys adopt the same set of stages and processes or basic requirements for their human resources management system. These basic processes or stages include Recruitment and selectin process, performance management process, learning and development process, career and succession planning process, compensation and benefits systems and policies, human resources information system and finally the analysis of human talent base and talent pool for database management and analysis using different analytics tools and packages to help in human resources strategy. However, the rollout is as per the way the different process offerings are designed or planned according to the requirements of the organization or the sector like the IT sector, FMCG sector, manufacturing sector or other such sectors. Wipro and Infosys are leading organizations in the IT services sector and have the similar requirements but the rollout is customized according to the strategic business requirements, vision and policies of the organization.

6. How the basic HR processes does work out for Wipro? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to get details about the workings of the HR system in Wipro Ans: Both Wipro and Infosys are from the same IT Services Sector, and therefore the components of each of these basic process are along the same lines with organizational specific policies factorized in it. For example, Infosys as part of its employee compensation,

benefits and related facilities considers providing employees with more long terms benefits in terms of employee savings and stock options schemes and in Wipro, along with similar benefits they also lay stress on providing better cash in hand schemes so that the employees can also have a better quality of life. In Infosys, the learning and development process is more attuned to providing employees with learning options for projects and service offerings in their own work requirements and other learning and development needs are as per the choice of the employee whereas in Wipro the learning and development process provides both key services training as well as suggests as well as facilitates overall development of an employee including soft skills and in areas of interest. However, employee development is a key focus area of both the organizations. Also, as the business of the IT software services sector depends on the quality of its employees in terms of technical capability and professional efficiency, the selection and recruitment process is specialized into focus business verticals and regions and the HR process also works in close coordination with the business teams of these verticals. And a lot of these work happens in software systems with multiple HR teams and work areas and both the organizations have developed their own software system to manage the HR functions.

7. As a Manager, do you look after all these processes or part of the processes? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to understand the HR department’s way of working in a big organization like Wipro and to know about the particular role of Mr Raman in the overall HR department. Ans: In Wipro and with similar such It organizations, the HR is more a part of the strategic team of the organization. So, it is a strategic HR department, which means it closely linked with the strategic business requirements of the organization. As said before, I am part of the talent acquisition department and my role and responsibility is to align with the business

development and project management team in planning for talent acquisition for different projects in the domestic market i.e. India. This is important because each projects require a specific type of talent pool and there has to be preemptive planning to bid for projects, hire talent of the right kind and at right cost to make a competitive bid and negotiate to bag the project. So, it requires specific planning and focus. Moreover, the HR has to also look for immediate requirements based on replacement needs of talent due to some causes like employees leaving or additional requirements during implementation of projects.

8. What is the system for talent acquisition followed in Wipro? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to know about the hiring policies of Wipro and thereby get an idea of the hiring process of organizations that have employees as one of the key components of business delivery. Ans: Wipro has a well-defined process of talent acquisition. The talent acquisition is managed by a software system that is manned by HR professionals. It starts with the planning process for hiring talent based on requirements shared by the business and projects teams. The HR team then does its own planning with timelines for hiring and onboarding talent for the project requirements. There are different avenues for hiring talent like from the open market, internal referrals and internal realignment of employees based on project requirements. The HR advertises the job requirements in the organizational website and the open media including internal circulation for referrals and realignment based on career progression plans. The selection process is process consists of initial screening and HR round of interviews followed by technical round of interviews and tests and interview with the department requesting the hiring. The steps are shortlisting process. The candidates clearing the technical round and job fit criteria then have a final HR round for salary and other

benefits package after which they are given offer letters. The selected candidates’ data are then shared with the onboarding team to carry on the onboarding process.

9. What are the factors apart from the positon requirements that is looked in prospective employees? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question to know the different factors that go into the hiring process and selection of candidates. Ans: As HR professional we look for candidates with both technical and soft skills for different job positions. The technical skills are the primary requirements and Wipro has its systems and programmes to hone the soft skills and employability skills of selected employees as part of talent management and employee engagement programmes. The values looked for in prospective employees are honesty, integrity, cognitive abilities, willingness to learn, communication skills, team spirit and a constantly learning attitude. 10. What would be your advice to students planning to take Human Resources Management as a career choice? Rationale: The rationale for asking this question is to get tips on key success factors in successfully performing as a human resources management professional. Ans: Human Resources Management is an important and exciting career option. It is important because now HR is part of the strategic business team of most of the organizations especially in organizations that has human resources output directly linked with the core offerings of the business, like in the IT services sector. It is exciting as one gets to meet lots of people and gets to know about different types of people, their qualities and expectations. It is also a very responsible job as a good HR manager can provide value to both the organization and the employees and is the crucial link to ensure business and professional success. So my advice for future HR professionals would be to focus on knowing the unique

qualities of each person and to strive to create perfect match between employee expectations and business requirements. With increasing automation of workplace the synergy between employees and systems are crucial for organizational efficiency and success. Therefore, the HR professional should always consider employees as part of the overall system and be patient in nurturing their talent to improve their employability and attain efficiency for the organization. In essence, as a HR professional one should be patient with employees, be inquisitive about their qualities, nurture their talent and have business acumen to understand the role and contribution of HR is business profitability to enable making and implementing suitable HR strategies and operations.

Part Two – Wipro Technologies Limited Wipro Limited, which started in 1945 in India as a manufacturer and trader of refined oils and edible products gradually diversified over the decades to become a BSE, NYSE, BSE, WIT listed global information technology (IT), Consulting and Business Process Services Company though it retains its initial business as part of its diversified business interests. It has an employee base of 2,20,000 and with operations and services spread over all the six habitable continents of the world. Wipro as a leading IT company focusses on harnessing the power of cognitive computing, hyper- automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help its clients successfully adapt to a digital world. It has a comprehensive portfolio of services catering to different solutions requirements of its clients. Wipro deeply engages with its clients to understand their requirements to ideate on innovative solutions. It has strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship. The inherent spirit of Wipro is its guiding force and it consistently follows it with four indivisible values in all its activities and endeavours. They “Be passionate about Client’s success”; “Be global and responsible”; “Treat each person with respect” and “Unyielding integrity in everything we do” (Wipro – 2021). Wipro’s total revenues in FY 2020-21 is INR 622,425 million and profit after taxes is INR 107,946 million i.e. a profit of around 17.34%. One of the challenges Wipro faced was during the continuing Pandemic led social and economic crisis in the last two years and Wipro faced the challenge by rapidly adopting new technologies and ways of doing work and also by unlearning old habits to incorporate better ways of doing work. One of the other challenges during this period as well as in a rapidly changing technology landscape is the prospect of getting the right talent for the job. Wipro took up this challenge by adapting and reorienting its hiring strategy to recruit talent in front-end domain and new technology areas in

consulting, transformation architects as well as in cutting-edge technologies AI, IoT, Data Sciences and engineering functions. It reskilled and built onsite and improved local scale in digital as well as next-generation capabilities. It infused diversity in its leadership team to improve its gender and ethnic diversity in leadership team and backed it up with driving efforts to institute a ‘high performance’ culture (Wipro – Annual Report 2020-21). My Preferred Company to Work for - Amazon.com: Given a choice I would like to work for Amazon.com. Amazon is a US headquartered ad globally spread e-commerce Company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. It started business by selling books online but diversified itself into e-commerce by selling electronics, consumer goods, daily essentials, grocery, lifestyle items, media & entertainment products and any type of goods of consumer use. Its total global revenue as per 2020 figures is US$ 386,064 billion and net income of US$ 21.331 billion, and it is now the world’s largest online marketplace 9amazon ; annual report; 2021). Amazon is known for its cutting edge technical innovation and application in mass scale in the marketplace to create and run its business thereby providing stiff challenge to competitors so much so that now it is the undisputed leader globally in online market place. It has acquired numerous technology and services based innovative organizations and is making its presence felt in all new areas of business including renewable energy. The prominent challenge it faces is competition in all the markets that it has emerged as the main challenger to other players and as disruptor in traditional marketing and distribution systems in goods and services. Amazon faces such challenges by developing cutting- edge technology and a robust strategy to implement such technology backed by highly trained workforce to effectively implement such technology based strategy and systems. Human talent is a focus area to tackle challenges in marketplace and Amazon provides an enabling and competitive environment to its employees to exceed performance parameters. It hires and develops the best talent to raise the performance bar (amazon; 2021).

Part Three – Role and Challenges of HR in Wipro

Wipro has a very competitive HR policy and processes and the role of the managers are to hire the right kind of talent for the different works of the organization. However, HR is more than just a process. It is a strategic partner to the business of the organization. The HR also plays an important role in fulfilling the values of the organization. So, the HR embodies the values in its practices. Accordingly, the HR takes every care to integrate the values in its hiring, onboarding and employee management practices. The screening process of prospective employees is therefore elaborate and takes every care to understand the employees’ skills, experience, interests and their fit to the job role requirements. They then hire candidates having synergy with Wipro values. Nurturing and increasing the employability of the hired employees is an integral part of the HR practices. Accordingly, the HR partners with the employee and his team in identifying and discussing training and skill development requirements to plan their training schedule. The HR database regularly updates on the skill requirements of employees and the feedback process is integrated into their work schedule and requirements. In effect, the role of HR does into end with recruitment and onboarding of employees. Rather it is continuous involvement of the HR with the employees as an active HR partner in managing the career of employees. It happens that many a times the requirements from the business side is given based on managing and winning in competition for bids. And in IT sector bids, the quality and count of employees does determine a lot in bagging project a...