Business Today Knowledge Forum: Line managers are most efficient IR managers

Clashes between the employees and the management of companies in India are not new. Labour unrest at Maruti Suzuki, General Motors and Coal India, to name a few, have made news in the past.

The industrial relations scenario has become a critical component of the management. But how equipped is today's HR manager to handle industrial relations was the topic of the second panel of the four-city Business Today Knowledge Forum on Human Resources (HR). P. Dwarakanath, Advisor - Group Human Capital, Max India Ltd, said, "You need the art of 'tough love' to deal with unions. Be tough on issues but soft on people."

The first leg of the Forum kicked off on January 21 at The Park, New Delhi, with a discussion on why younger employees should be trained for leadership roles. The panellists comprised Anuranjita Kumar, Managing Director & CHRO, Citi South Asia; Arun Sehgal, Executive Vice President-HR, GSK Consumer Healthcare; P. Dwarakanath, Advisor - Group Human Capital, Max India Ltd; Samik Basu, Chief Human Resource Officer, PepsiCo India and Srikanth Karra, Director - HR, Bharti Airtel.

The new-age leader doesn't have to be of a certain age. Samik Basu of PepsiCo said the age of the PepsiCo leadership team is going down though there are challenges. "If a company does a good job of grooming talent it can fill 80 per cent of leadership roles internally."

People want to be leaders from the very beginning, noted Airtel's Karra. "We do have a programmed approach to creating young leaders. We go to B-schools seeking leadership qualities," Karra said.

Max India's Dwarkanath said everyone cannot become a CEO but one can have leadership roles in a company. He said even traditional firms such as GSK are changing mindsets, and are supporting young talent that was unheard of earlier. GSK's Sehgal echoed the same sentiment. "If you can find youngsters with the right skill sets and maturity for leadership, why not take the chance," he said.

The second panel delved into the much-debated issue of recent times -- industrial relations. HR leaders discussed the return of IR. Aquil Busrai, CEO, Aquil Busrai Consulting; Harbhajan Singh, VP-General & Corporate Affairs, HMSI and U.P. Pani, Director - HR, NTPC Ltd, participated in this panel, while Max India's Dwarakanath and PepsiCo's Basu also joined the second panel of the evening. BT's Senior Editor, Shamni Pande, moderated both the sessions.

HMSI's Singh said multinationals perceive the unions as a threat/trouble, and that IR is context-based, thus requires local solutions. "You need to be compassionate; you need to start talking to people one-on-one to address their issues, hear their discontent."

Busrai intrigued the audience by saying that unions of the future will form on social media. "Industrial relations has to get digitally savvy," he said. NTPC's HR Head Pani questioned the archaic practice of IR regulations. "What is the point mugging up IR regulations and labour law clauses when there is no labour left in the country," he said.

The panellists concluded that the workplace is getting dynamic where it no longer is about one-size-fits-all approach. And, how talking to one's employees is the first policy to solve any IR issues.

SRM University was the presenting sponsor of the event.