HR Continuum 2009 at Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay

PR Log (Press Release) – Sep 29, 2009 – The Theme
Today companies are trying to explore new markets, while consolidating the existing ones. The development and preservation of high caliber people is a source of competitive advantage for any business and the HR personnel can be viewed as the axle in the moving machinery of any organization. Thus, the field of human resources is of great importance in today’s environment. An array of eminent speakers expounded on the theme “Managing talent for Strategic advantage” in the context of their individual domains of expertise.

The Event
The continuum began with the inaugural address by Professor Anand Patwardhan from SJMSOM. He set the tone of the event by posing some thought provoking questions about the role of theory in practice and the dilemma faced by the HR department in the industry.

The keynote speaker for the day was Mr. Yogi Sriram, currently working as executive VP, Corporate HR and Personnel at Larsen & Toubro Limited. He provided an insight into what is different and what remains the same in the changing economy while competing for talent. It was followed by a highly interactive session by Ms. Somna Singh who currently heads HR in the Wholesale Banking division of Standard Chartered Bank. She discussed the challenges faced by the HR departments in the industry today in terms of rethinking employee engagement and managing motivation to enhance productivity.

Then was the time for the panel discussion with esteemed luminaries, each representing a different sector and hence providing a varied perspective to the topic for the discussion "Human resource: The key to success in dynamic times”. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Sangram Tambe, Director, Group Human Resources, Piramal Enterprises Ltd.  The panel included Ms Somna Singh of Standard Chartered bank, Mr. Sanjay Mathur, director, Human Resources, Petroleum division of Reliance Industries, Ms Ritu Anand - Deputy Head Global HR & Talent Management TCS and  Mr. Rajesh Ramanathan, Vice president- ‘People & Talent’ at Cadbury India. The panel saw opportunities in the current turmoil for both the organizations and employees to learn share and grow. The panel agreed on the availability of better performance management processes and better learning opportunities for an employee.



The panel discussion was followed by a very riveting session by Mr. Rajeev Dubey, President - HR, After-Market & Corporate Services, Mahindra & Mahindra. He provided an interesting perspective how to unleash the human potential. He talked about how trust, belief, inspiration and vision can help leaders and managers tap their employees’ potential to the maximum. It was followed by a session on how to manage talent during recession by Dr. Asit Mohapatra, Director HR-Textiles at Raymond Ltd. He provided an insight into challenges faced by HR professionals including evolving communication strategies and issues in motivating and engaging employees. The last session of the day was conducted by Ms. Hastha Sivaramankrishnan, CEO, MaFoi Global Search Services Limited & Director of MaFoi Management Consulting Service Limited on the very crucial topic of ‘Importance of succession planning: key to grooming leaders’.

All the dignitaries present gave very interesting talks embellished with real-life examples, which kept the audience engaged and involved through the presentations. All the talks were followed by interactive Q&A sessions wherein the students got an opportunity to pose pertinent questions to the distinguished speakers.