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Ranjana Dasgupta

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Ranjana Dasgupta

Manager Partner Business Transformation and Program Management

CGI

Ranjana Dasgupta is a member of:

Current HR Trends:

I have not been in the Indian corporate worls for some time and I am not qualified to comment. When I was here, the focus was a lot on past achievements and the organizations one had worked with. Volunteering was never considered a plus point. I am not aware that things have changed much.

Improving Education system

The education system in India is very thorough. One can see that from the quality of students that come out to study in the West. They are usually the performers. However, education has ceased to be a pleasure for sometime. It is a drill and the child is so burdened with monthly assessments, daily assessments that she has no time to assess or pursue what may really be her area of talent. Everytime I talk to mothers of schoolgoing children in India I find that the child's assessments tutions rule their lives. Education is not just what the child learns in the classrooms or the courseware. It is an experience. It includes how the child interacts with peers, how their social skills are developing, what values they are imbibing. I think somewhere along the way, the education system in India has left these important factors out of consideration. So we have really bright youngsters, crammed with knowledge but no ideaabout how to put this into good use and make a difference

Identifying and Promoting New Leaders:

A Leader is a person who is able to look at the macro view while dealing with micro issues. He/She thinks team, thinks organization and leads from the front. So along with how well a person conducted a particular assignment or job, I think it would be equally important to review how people perceived his/her leadership skills - that would include a 360 degree evaluation in a respect. I would also like to see how innovative a person has been in conducting his/her assignment and what difference he / she has made to the team's learning.

HR Challenges:

As more organizations are going global, the focus is on building a global workforce. So often we find our people ill equipped in terms of language and culture to deal with their global counterparts. This is despite having probably some of the best technical skills. HR professionals would do well to recognize this and build this into their Corporate Training. Coaching and Mentoring too does not happen in a systemic manner. Successful leaders must be coaches and be responsible for developing a few leaders of equal calibre in the organization.

Helping to develop the country

Volunteering for community service is not a very popular practice in India's corporate circles. True some organizations like the Tata group which I have been part of have active Community Service activities, but participation in these from the bright professionals is still low. If every organization recognized employees that make a difference not only in the organization but also the community it would encourage professionals participate more. Organizations can adopt schools in their area where professionals can go talk about a day in their life at work; what lessons learnt in school helped them and what did not. Schools could also be invited to participate in community development activities sponsored by organization. This would teach the child to be more responsible and more aware of the fact that he/she can make a difference to the country in their own way. It would also develop a sense of ownership

Relationship with HR and Top Management

Too often, HR becomes the mouthpiece of the CEO. HR has to facilitate two way communication and play an advisory role. The CEO is responsible for ensuring that HR has this place. Too often only what used to be called Personnel and Administration functions are relegated to them

Pain Points:

Leadership sponsorship and support; being perceived as a 'support' function and inability to deal with the real world challenges of today's corporate worls. HR competencies need to be invested in and built too. Too often the focus is only on building technical skills

Qualities that we Look For While Hiring:

Attitude, experience and fitment into the culture of the organization in that order. Sometimes people have all the knowledge but their attitude prevents them from giving their best. A positive attitude is a big plus factor when things are going wrong. Previous experience (where the situation demands) is important naturally. Also a person may score an A on the first two and still not be a right fit because his personality is at loggerheads with the organization's culture. Bringing in a maverick into a conservative organization is a punishment to both for example. and vice versa