Human resource precedes other resources like economic or technological resources in contributing to the success of an organization and in creating its competitive advantage. “Resources can be mobilized, technology acquired but HR has to be nurtured. Even one man can make the difference’’, Dr M Veera Shanmuga Moni, IAS, Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Tamil Nadu, said.
Addressing the `HR Summit 2014, Role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said that people have started recognising HR as the strategic partner providing sustainable competitive advantage to the organization and its unique characteristics.
Dr Veera Shanmuga Moni, IAS, Secretary to Government – Labour and Employment Department, Government of Tamil Nadu delivering the Inaugural Address at the conference. Other in the pix S Venkataraman Deputy Director CII; S N Eisenhower, Vice Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu & Director Operations Saint Gobain Glass India Ltd., Muthu Kumar Thanu Chairman, TN HR Summit 2014 & Group – Chief HR Officer TAFE Limited and B Ashok Reddy Chairman, HR Sub-committee, CII-SR &President – Corporate Affairs & Infrastructure Cyient Limited.
Competitiveness can be enhanced by effectively managing human resources. “In order to formulate appropriate competitive strategy through the employees’ it was necessary to analyze the firm’s competitive strategy or business plan and the human resources practices. In a competitive environment, people make the difference’’, he said.
The clear importance of business competitiveness had profound implications for the HR functions, he said. The HR was being increasingly linked to the business strategy and objectives of organizations. Human resources were cited as the firm’s most important asset but it was also the cost centre of an organization, Dr Moni said.
B Ashok Reddy, Chairman, HR Sub-Committee, CII Southern Region and President –Corporate Affairs and Infrastructure, Cyient Ltd., said that during the last decade there had been drastic changes in the HR practices and the HR department “has been playing a strategic role in the organization to achieve competitive advantage in terms of what the company needs”.
Change was imperative for a company to be competitive and to be above the competitor in the business and to improve profitability. Reddy said sustainable competitive advantage could be achieved and maintained through innovation of designs and practices, development of firm-specific competitiveness, transparency in governance and people practices. He said talent retention was important and this could be achieved by long-term and short-term strategic plans for the career progression of the employees and providing them learning and development opportunities.
S N Eisenhower, Vice-Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu and Director- Operations, Saint Gobain Glass India Ltd., said that HR function was undergoing a major transition in organizations. “It was challenged with national and global variability with respect to global demand and supply gap, cost arbitrage of product and services, speed of execution and delivery, eroding profitability margins and rigid operating environment’’, he said. “The HR professionals had to wake up to face this reality’’, he said. They, unlike in the past, had to be subject experts in their respective domains to perform effectively. They must understand the new eco system in the manufacturing sector, he added.
In acquiring talent, a successful HR manger would be able to establish the match between the aspiration of the candidate and the work environment and the ecosystem. The HR polices have to be simplified and the procedural complications have to be unleashed to deal with the new workforce, Eisenhower said.
Muthu Kumar Thanu, Group Chief HR Officer, TAFE Ltd, who was the Chairman of the TN HR Summit 2014, said the discussions at the seminar were on nationally relevant topics like `Make in India – Skill challenges and solutions, Self –directed work team, Expectations from labour legislative challenges, Effective strategy for employee retention, Employee management for competitive advantage, Building “Hi-Per” culture and `White collar productivity’.
