Green HRM - An Innovative Approach to Enviornmental Sustainability (incl Case studies)

This is paper submitted by Ridhi Sharma & Neha Gupta, University of Jammu at Twelfth AIMS International Conference on Management

Link to download pdf: Click Here

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Practising Mindfulness at Work - Start Bursting Those Thought Baloons!

Have you ever been to a situation where you reached office, opens your inbox and find that the pile of your pending jobs have just gone few more centimeters up (few feet  high will be very much of an exaggeration). Suddenly you feel mix of despair and boredom and makes you drag yourself to end of day somehow without actually doing anything to bring down the pile?

See if you can identify with any of below standard responses.

A) Never (Do actually such stuff happen?)

B) Yes, Occasionally. (Say 1 or 2 days in 3-4 month period)

C) Yes, quite often

Response Interpretations:
A) Liar Liar
B) Pretty Natural, don't bother
C) If it's not other personal issues contributing to your workplace lethargy, and if you aren't totally dissatisfied with your current workplace and is desperately looking for a change, then read along. It  might be time to practice mindfulness at the workplace. 

The Thought Baloons

Practicing mindfulness can be helpful to counter workload related stress, lethargy and boredom at work, and to make everyday more enjoyable and lively is to practice mindfulness.

Like with any other practice, this demands dedication and commitment to bring out benefits.

How to be mindful?

1. Start bursting your thought baloons

There is a  little voice inside our head, or the 'inner speech'. It plays a key role in human consciousness. This can manifest as thought generation (this is particularly helpful) and mind wandering (gotcha). First and the Biggest  step is to be aware of this mind wandering, about that little person who keeps chatting sitting inside your head. 

Instead of letting that voice distract you, get a tight hold of it. Keep wandering within limits

Start pricking those unnecessary thought baloons and make it a habit.

2. Slow down and Practice being "in the moment".

Avoid rushing to things and deliberately slow yourself down for better clarity and awareness.

Instead of mentally rehearsing or planning the next hour's or next days agenda, instead of plan about your meeting with your boss, be in the moment, pay all your attention to the work you are doing. Pay attention to subtle details of it and finish it off with perfection.

Being in the moment means being mindfully aware of what is going on right here and now.

3.  Engage in active listening and avoid unnecessary chatter

Talking consumes energy. Period.

Avoid unnecessary talks to the extent possible. 

Practice active listening and DO listen more than you speak.

There are many hurdles at every work place that is beyond control, but by better utilizing the assets available at your disposal, you can better manage your office ambiance.

There is a 10 minute TED talk  by Matt Killingsworth worth listening. Link here

Image Credits:Pixabay.com

Sony Paul Peter, +Sony Palachodan, Olam Agro India Private Limited.

I/O Series #2: Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): Building An Exception Team & Work Culture

[Next in the I/O Series is about Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). Acquainting with this concept will not only broaden the understanding about organizational behavior but will also help to identify the responsible factors that needs to be encouraged to increase incidence of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour.]

What does the exceptional employee do to be labeled ‘exceptional’? How can the work culture be promoted to bring out more exceptional team members?. 

In I/O Psychology, Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is a concept that describes an employee’s voluntary commitment within an organization that is not part of his or her job description. It encompasses anything positive and constructive that employees do, which help provide support to co-workers and results as benefit to the company.

Defined as:

“Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined as behavior that (a) goes beyond the basic requirements of the job, (b) is to a large extent discretionary, and (c) is of benefit to the organization”

This behavior has been linked to work productivity, employee effectiveness, and other factors that can impact an organizational climate in the short or long term.

            Five Factor Model : Dimensions of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
           Organ (1988)[1], proposed the Five Factors/Dimensions of Organizational Citizenship Behavior.

Five Factors are:

1)      Altruism

Altruism is defined as the desire to help or assist another individual, while not expecting a reward in compensation in return for that assistance. An example is helping other employees with their work, and volunteering to do additional work in order to help other employees reduce their own work load. Altruism in the workplace leads to productivity and effectiveness because it encourages good inter-employee relations; it can also reduce the stress on other employees.

2)      Courtesy
Courtesy is defined as behavior which is polite and considerate towards other people. Courtesy outside of a workplace setting includes behavior such as inquiring about personal subjects that a coworker has previously brought up, asking if a coworker is having any trouble with a certain work related project, and informing coworkers about prior commitments or any other problems that might cause them to reduce their workload or be absent from work. Courtesy not only encourages positive social interactions between employees.

3)      Conscientiousness,

Conscientiousness, sometimes referred to as compliance, reflects the genuine acceptance and adherence of workplace rules, regulations, and procedures. conscientiousness is observed when an employee not only meets their employer’s requirements—such as coming into work on time and completing assignments on time—but exceeds them.

4)      Civic Virtue

Civic virtue refers the active involvement, interest, and participation in the life of their organization, such as functions, events, and meetings. It is how well a person represents an organization with which they are associated, and how well that person supports their organization outside of an official capacity. For example, how well someone represents their business and how they may support that business are all examples of someone's civic virtue.

Eg: taking part in company marathons, charity fundraisers, speaking positively about the business to friends, family and acquaintances

and

5)      Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship describes employees who are willing to tolerate difficulties in the workplace that are intended to improve the organization, abstaining from unnecessary complaints and criticisms.

And like any other behavior we can apply various methodologies into increasing their occurrence through appropriate training and reinforcements. When employees perceive the procedures of their organization as fair and just (procedural justice), they will be more inclined to engage in organizational citizenship behavior. Another factor is the right motivation.

According to group value model[2] and the relational model of authority [3], people are very attuned to signals or information that indicates whether or not they are valued in the organization. If they are treated fairly, they feel they are valued members, and that will more inclined to high OC behaviour.

Back to our question in the beginning

       One possible answer is: Be aware of OCB and Encourage its occurrence

 

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References & Further Reading

1.        Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational Citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

2.        Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York, NY, US: Plenum Press.

3.        Tyler, T. R., & Lind, E. A. (1992). A relational model of authority in groups. In M. Zanna (Ed.). Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 115-191). New York, NY, US: Academic Press.

                                     (Picture used in this post is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0)

Top 15 Indian HR Blogs to follow in 2016 (only active blogs included)

The need for constant updating of knowledge and assimilating fresh and constructive thoughts are very crucial in the ever evolving world of Human Capital Management. There are so many “Top HR Blog lists” available covering bloggers around the world.  Intention behind this list is to compile a list of top 10 HR blogs by Indian Authors, which many of us find easily to relate to.

        Following top 10 HR blogs, you can find Top 5 legal blogs

 

Top 10 HR Blogs

1)      Gautam’s Blog

Gautam’s blog has been listed by HRWorld amongst the top 25 HR blogs worldwide the top 50 HR Blogs to watch in 2009 by EvenCarmichael.com and also amongst the Career 100 – a list of the top 100 career related blogs globally in the English language. His blog is also featured on the Alltop Careers and Alltop India categories. Earlier the blog has been featured as a case study in the book Business Blogs: A Practical Guide

SHRM India lists him as the number 1 HR influencer on social media in 2015

Huffington Post has rated him 7th in the list of Top Most Social HR Experts on Twitter.

Forbes has featured him as a Social Media Thought Leader.

SAP has listed him in the 51 Human Potential Influencers

2)      Abhishek Mittal

His blog  has been rated as one of the top 100 blogs on the subject of Human Resources. He was also featured as one of the “Top 25 HR Digital Influencers” and "Top 25 Online Influencers in Leadership" by the HR Examiner magazine. He has been featured as a contributor to the Management Innovation Exchange - an initiative led by Gary Hamel. Abhishek has published articles and been quoted in Channel News Asia, Singapore Business Review, Business Times Singapore, Indian Management, Business World Philippines & Deccan Herald.

3)      Nisha Raghavan’s – HR Buddy

Co-host of DriveThruHR, HR’s #1 Daily Radio Show at 12.p.m CT and also the Founder and Host of India HR LIVE– a TV channel for HR pros, broadcasts LIVE video interviews & panel discussions on every first and third Tuesday 8 pm IST with HR leaders & Industry experts. She is also a contributing author at The SHRM blog  

4)      Tanmay Vora’s qaspire.com

Tanmay is an author, speaker and consultant who is committed to raising the bar for leadership, learning and quality in an ever-changing world of work. For three consecutive years (2012 to 2014), he has been recognized amongst Top 5 Indian HR Influencers on Social Media by Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) India. (Other Recognitions)

5)      Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit Bhaduri is Chief Learning Officer of Wipro, author & enthusiastic enough to try anything.
Wrote: Don't Hire The Best & the MBA series. Excellent Book reviews are available.

6)      Gurprriet Singh’s Life & Joy

Maintained by Gurprriet Singh, Country Head - YSC India - The world's premiere leadership development consultancy

7)      Jaya Narayanan’s Blog

Maintained by Jaya Narayanan, Executive coach. OD, Facilitator, Diversity & Inclusion Learning & Leadership writer

8)      Manish Mohan’s Blog

Maintained by Manish Mohan, Seasoned operations and business leader with expertise in skill development, training, learning and development. He writes about learning, leadership, performance, management, e-learning, training, blogging, tools, trends.

9)      http://www.younghrmanager.com/

The best exclusively HR related blog that is helping people to make a more profoundly meaningful career in Human Resource Management. Contains valuable resources

10)   https://www.peoplematters.in

Not a blog as defined by entries above. But hosts many informative articles by Indian Authors.

Top 5 Labour Law Blogs 

 

1)      https://labourlawhub.com/blog/ - A hub for labour law and industrial disputes in India. Definitely worth a visit.

2)      http://indiacorplaw.blogspot.in/ - A blog containing a periodic review of topics of interest in corporate and commercial law that impact India.

3)      http://91laws.blogspot.in/ - Good collection of multiple choice questions and answers on Indian Labour Laws for Competitive Exams.

4)      https://archanabala.com/ - Read this post on bonus act amendment to know why I is included here.

5)      http://blog.ipleaders.in/blog/ - Good resource on legal developments and analysis but not confined to labour law.

by: +Sony Palachodan 

Happy Reading!

Industrial Psychology (I/O) Series #1: Conditioning Theories

One of finest concepts that needs to be grasped in Industrial / Organizational (I/O) Psychology in connection with learning is Conditioning Theories

Conditioning Theories help explain behavioral modification approaches and about learning and unlearning of behaviors. First in order is :

1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING THEORY

This theory explains how an inert stimulus (Conditioned Stimulus) acquires ability to illicit a Conditioned Response(CR), by pairing itself with an UnConditioned Stimulus (UCS) that have an ability to illicit a unconditional response (UCR)

World famous example for this theory is the Pavlov Experiment. 

Pavlov's Dog

The BELL which was used to train the dog acquired capacity to illicit the response of SALIVATION in dog after repeated pairing with SIGHT OF FOOD.

2. INSTRUMENTAL / OPERANT CONDITIONING

This is the most common conditioning method employed in raising young children, instilling discipline in any organization, the idea behind recognizing best employees, even to treat substance abuse. The idea is to strengthen positive behaviours or reactions (which is expected) by giving reinforcements and discourage the undesired behaviours by giving punishments.

There are four quadrants for operant conditioning.

 

the 4 combinations

The Four Quardents - Stimulus
Strategy	Pleasant Stimulus	Aversive (unpleasant) Stimulus
Adding/Presenting	Positive Reinforcement	Positive Punishment
Removing/Taking Away	Negative Punishment	Negative Reinforcement

In operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement are an important component of the learning process. When and how often we reinforce a behavior can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response. There are mainly two types of reinforcement schedules and is applied as applicable to the case at hand.

1. Continuous Reinforcement Schedule &

2. Partial Reinforcement Schedules. and under this comes

a)fixed interval schedule

b)fixed ratio schedule

c)variable interval schedule, and 

d)variable ratio schedule

for detailed reading you may visit following links:

Classical Conditioning - http://www.learning-theories.com/classical-conditioning-pavlov.html

Operant Conditioning - http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

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Amendments to Name of Committees under Sexual Harassment Act,2013

Notified On 9th May 2016

As Per Second Schedule To The Act (Page 14), The Sexual Harassment Of Women At Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013 Has Been Amended As Under:

In Sections 6,7 And 24 :-

(I) For The Words "Local Complaints Committee" Wherever They Occur, The Words "Local Committee" Shall Be Substituted.

(Ii) For The Words "Internal Complaints Committee" Wherever They Occur, The Words "Internal Committee" Shall Be Substituted.

Click HERE for gazette notification of The Repealing And Amending Act 2016.

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ESI Act Amendment - Interest calculation for omitted wages -8th April 2016

ESI has made amendment on Interest calculation method on omitted wages. They have issued a circular regarding this on 08th April, 2016. ESIC has decided that the interest on ESI contribution payable on omitted wages, shall be calculated monthly wise.

Earlier to this, the Interest on omitted wages/left-out wages as reported by the Social Security Officer where the number of employees, employee-wise details of wages paid and period of engagement of such employees was not available, is to be claimed after allowing a grace period of 21 days from the date of demand letter/C-18 notice from the Regional/Sub-Regional Office.

From now onwards, the interest is payable on such omitted wages- from the actual due date of the ESI contribution.

Click here to download circular.

No compassion for employee who has no will to work: Delhi HC

No compassion can be shown to a person who neither has the will to work, nor respect for the directions given by authorities, the Delhi High Court has observed while dismissing the plea of a temporary government employee against termination of her service.

The court noted that sufficient opportunity was given to the woman petitioner who appeared to be absenting from work at her “own whims and fancies” without bothering for the consequences.

“Further, no compassion can be shown to a person who has no will to work and no respect for the directions/warnings issued by authorities. It is absolutely clear that sufficient opportunity was given to the petitioner (woman) but she showed no improvement,” Justice V P Vaish said.

The court’s order came on a petition filed by the woman, appointed as a lower division clerk on temporary basis in a district court here in September 1992. Her service was terminated in 2002 under the Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965.

She had approached the high court against the termination claiming that neither was any opportunity of show cause was given to her, nor any reasons for termination conveyed.

Counsel appearing for the office of District and Sessions Judge, the in charge of district court, opposed her plea saying the termination order was legal and valid, as she was a temporary employee and her service was not yet confirmed.

The lawyer also claimed that she was not performing her duties with due diligence as she had regularly absented, even when her leave applications were rejected.

While dismissing the petition, the court referred to the provision of Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965 under which her service was terminated and observed that it “postulates that no enquiry is to be held prior to passing of termination order in case a temporary government servant is not found suitable for the job.”

“It is pertinent to mention here that even after issuance of repeated memos, the petitioner neither reported back to duty nor submitted any satisfactory explanation for her absence which shows that she was absolutely incorrigible and did not mend her ways despite repeated warnings,” it said.

“In these circumstances, any employer would have taken the same action because it was absolutely clear that the petitioner was not interested in her job. If the petitioner has been terminated, she is to blame herself,” it said.

- source: The Hindu Newspaper, 21 April 2016

Contract workers may soon get Rs 10,000 as monthly minimum wage

The Centre will issue an executive order to ensure contract workers get a minimum wage of Rs 10,000 per month, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya said.

"It is the endeavour of the Central government to make reforms in labour laws and to proceed from minimum wage to universal wage. Because the Opposition is not cooperating in the Parliament, we will do it through an executive order," Dattatreya told reporters here.

"Because the Parliament is not functioning properly, we don't want to wait and we want to go ahead with some executive orders for the welfare of the workers," he said.

He said the government has decided to make changes to rule 25 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Central Rules and every contract worker will be entitled to get Rs 10,000 per month.

"We have framed this rule and sent to the Law Ministry (for approval) and shortly a notification will come and after this all the state governments will implement this decision," he said.

Dattatreya said the Supreme Court had given a direction, keeping in view of Consumer Price Index and variation DA, to increase the minimum wage. "In view of the apex court order, we are enhancing it first to Rs 10,000 and then we want to go for universal minimum wage," the minister said.

All contractors must register with the Labour Ministry, he said, adding in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over one lakh sanitation workers (those who get Rs 8,500 per month) will benefit, besides crores of workers elsewhere, by the minimum wage rule.

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