People Management and Finance: From Hands to Heads

Master of Finance and Control (MFC), Department of Financial Studies (DFS), University of Delhi South Campus in association with HT Careers organised a one-day workshop on "People Management and Finance: From Hands to Heads" on August 23, 2003. Taking cognizance of the need to apprise the student and corporate community of the multifarious complexities surrounding human resource management, the workshop aimed at bringing to the fore the synergy that must flow between finance and Human Resource Management.

The inaugural session was presided over by Prof. Deepak Pental, Director, UDSC. Prof. Shirin Rathore, Joint Director, UDSC also graced the occasion. Prof. Muneesh Kumar, Head, DFS read out the welcome address. The Guest of Honour, Mr. S.Balasubramanian, Chairman, Company Law Board inaugurated the event with traditional lighting of the lamp. In his address Mr.Balasubramanian emphasised the importance of Human Resource in the present scenario. The Chief Guest Mr. K.N.Memani, Chairman and Managing Partner, Ernst & Young delivered the keynote address. Mr.Memani commented upon the aptness of the workshop as he opined that "management at its core is about humanities". Hence, HR functions were essential to any organisation especially in the age of dynamic technology, globalisation and outsourcing. Both provided resounding support to the event as nurturing human capital and dealing with the consequent complications at all levels of the organisation was needed. At the end, Dr.V.K.Vasal, workshop advisor proposed a vote of thanks to the panelists for their considered views and to HT Careers for being the media sponsors.

The workshop was structured into two technical sessions. Mr. Udai Upendra, Vice President- Global HR, Ranbaxy Laboratories chaired the first technical session on "Human Resource Development and Appraisal- Current Challenges". A panel of eminent speakers deliberated on various issues. Mr. Rajan Kalia, Vice President, Max New York Life spoke on Matching People with Jobs, Mr. Rakesh Kher, Director, Daksh e-services on HR Challenges in ITES, Mr.Tajinder Kumar, VP and Regional Head, Citigroup on Potential Appraisal & Competency Mapping and Mr. S. Ravi Ramakrishnan, VP, American Express on People Development.

The momentum continued into the second technical session which focussed on " Compensation and Cultural Issues in HR- Direction and Dimensions". Mr. Vinod Behari, GM, HR, Power Finance Corporation chaired the session and set the ball rolling as he deliberated on the transition in compensation plans of PSUs. Other distinguished speakers also provided illuminating insights; Mr. Manjit S.Lakhmana,Vice President, Bank of America spoke on Impact of MNCs on Managerial Reward Systems and introduced the concepts of "Stacking & Individual Performance Bonus". Mr. Srikanth Karra, VP, GECIS provided a twist to the event as he deliberated on "HR through Metrics" and the number crunching finance community enthusiastically lapped up the statistics involved. Mr.V.Swaminathan, VP, SMIFS Capital Markets and an alumnus of MFC shared his practical experiences with respect to the cultural aspects of managing HR across the country.

The event also witnessed the active participation of industry delegates from organisations of high repute such as Ernst & Young, McKinsey Knowledge Centre, GlaxoSmithkline, NSDL, IFCI, SAIL and others. On the whole the workshop was conducted in an intellectually stimulating environment.