Spirituality and Management

In the recent past globalization has been a buzzword in most of the corporate houses. Looking dispassionately it is becoming imminent that globalization cannot be stopped in the world economy. This throws new challenges in managing the projects, people, production and market places. This need is pushing the leadership to adopt new approaches to utilize the time, human resources and the potential of the workforce. Many researchers in the field of Human Resources Development have found that spirituality is going to bring in such capabilities as the globalization process demands. Though spirituality in the life of human being is generations-old, it is being revisited with lot of conviction and confidence. We observe off and on that many successful leaders of the corporate ascribe the success of that organization to their people and not to themselves. The modern paradigm is characterized by rigid attitudes and beliefs about others and practices in Continue reading

Tips for Managing Stress

Stress management is the need of the hour. However hard we try to go beyond a stress situation, life seems to find new ways of stressing us out and plaguing us with anxiety attacks. Moreover, be it our anxiety, mind-body exhaustion or our erring attitudes, we tend to overlook causes of stress and the conditions triggered by those. In such unsettling moments we often forget that stressors, if not escapable, are fairly manageable and treatable. Stress, either quick or constant, can induce risky body-mind disorders. Immediate disorders such as dizzy spells, anxiety attacks, tension, sleeplessness, nervousness and muscle cramps can all result in chronic health problems. They may also affect our immune, cardiovascular and nervous systems and lead individuals to habitual addictions, which are inter-linked with stress. Like “stress reactions”, “relaxation responses” and stress management techniques are some of the body’s important built-in response systems. As a relaxation response the Continue reading

Personnel Action Systems (PAS)

As the name itself specifies, Personnel Action Systems (PAS) supports the activity of the personnel department in taking actions on the following: Filling job openings and Recording and reporting promotions, transfers, terminations and other employee status changes. Two systems involved in Personnel Action Systems (PAS) are: Placement data system and Personnel activity reporting system. The details vary from organization to organization. Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action concerns in USA are making more extensive data systems necessary with respect to both the above systems. There is a growing need to document the search procedure employed to job applicants and the decision procedure by which the new applicant is selected. Promotions, transfers and termination need more justification than they were in the past. 1. Placement Data System Placement data procedures center around the development and use of more applicant files (generally more than one). Separate files are required for jobs that Continue reading

Service Recovery – Meaning, Strategies and Importance

Service recovery plays an important role in nowadays relationship marketing. Today, many organizations are facing challenges in the area of customer service and service delivery. It has been found that as the cost of attracting a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing customer, therefore, organizations are striving to build long-term relationship with existing customers. This approach helps the organizations to keep their existing customers higher the loyalty level towards their businesses and also benefit the customers in enjoying a high level of customer service which is provided by the organizations. What is Service Recovery? Service failure happens all the time when organizations provide services to the customers. Although a zero defect product and well-trained service delivery can result in a negative service conflict because of the heterogeneity of customer’s outcome and process expectations. These unavoidable mistakes affect the goal of securing customer base. For customers, service failure Continue reading

The Meaning and Essence of Leadership

Leadership is a process of influencing the behavior of other people to work willingly towards the achievement of organisational goals. It involves existence of a leader and followers. So leadership is an exercise to influence the behavior of the followers towards attainment/achievement of specified goals. Here the person who guides or directs his followers is known as leader. Leadership is a process of influence: Leadership is a process whose important ingredient is the influence exercised by the leader on goup members. A person is said to have an influence over others when they are willing to carry out his wishes and accept his advice, guidance and direction. Successful leaders are able to influence the behavior, attitudes and beliefs of their followers. Leadership is the function of stimulation:  Leadership is the function of motivating people to strive willingly to attain organisational objectives. Leaders are considered successful when they are able to Continue reading

Quality of Work Life (QWL) – Definition, Scope, Principles, and Techniques

The term Quality of Work Life (QWL) aims at changing the entire organizational climate by humanizing work, individualizing organizations and changing the structural and managerial systems. It takes into consideration the socio-psychological needs of the employees. It seeks to create such a culture of work commitment in the organizations which will ensure higher productivity and greater job satisfaction for the employees. Quality of work life refers to the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job environment of an organization for its employees. It is generic term which covers a person’s feelings about every dimension of his work e.g. economic incentives and rewards, job security, working conditions, organizational and interpersonal relationships etc. The term QWL has different meanings for different people. A few important definitions of Quality of Work Life (QWL)  are as follows: According to Harrison: “Quality of Work Life is the degree to which work in an organization contributes to Continue reading