Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida, organised a HR Summit ´Steering Organisations with a Human Touch: The Navigational Facet of HR‘ on 31st October, 2009 at Lakshmipat Singhania Auditorium, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi.

With the conviction that a convergence of the best minds from the industry and academic world is needed to bring the HR challenges of the future into focus, BIMTECH planned productive and a taming HR Summit for its students. The Summit engrossed a very well-known pool of eminent diligence practitioners to share their experiences. The guest list comprised, amongst others, senior corporate captains like Mr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, IAS, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Mr. N S Rajan, Partner and Asia Pacific Head of Human Capital, Ernst and Young, Mr. S Y Siddiqui, Managing Executive Officer Administration (HR, Finance and IT), Maruti Suzuki & President National HRD Network, Delhi Chapter and many more. The HR Summit provided a inspiring platform for the students and faculty of BIMTECH to interface with the guest speakers who in turn presented an in depth insight on various facades of the theme

Speaking on the occasion S.Y.Siddiqui, MEO Admin (HR, Fin & IT), Maruti Suzuki & President, NHRD Network, said “Organizarions need to build their ´people‘ strategies for the medium and the long term. If the Japanese employees work dedicatedly for their company and their country, it is mainly because of the aspect of human touch. An employee should have not just capability, but also commitment. HR cannot be season-oriented and there should be some stability in the Hr, which will bring a long-term vision. HR should seek to nurture and develop talent, not create readymade talent.

The summit was divided into three sessions on panel discussion mode. The first session was started by 6 panel debate on Enabling Talent: HR in a Pivotal Role focused on inculcating and nurturing leadership amongst the existing talent pool. Giving light on this issue some renowned and prominent speakers was called to educate the students.
G.P.Rao, Chief HR & MS, Recron Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Member Reliance Group, said “People are talented but in the manufacturing succession planning takes a lot of time as manufacturing takes a long time to grow. Since manufacturing industry is large, there is huge diversity group. Though we have not managed the multinational work culture, we have managed enough diversity within India itself. There is also an aspect of adversity management.”
Further elaborating on the same Rajneesh Singh, Group Head of HR, Network 18 Group stated, “Media is extremely challenging to work in as things keep changing in seconds. This generation knows what they want. Hence it is important to know whether the employees love what they have chosen. ´How to catch them young‘ is the key question and it is daunting to retain them. At the middle-level, it is also important to catch them right i.e. how we engage them so that the excellence can be maintained throughout. Throw challenges so that they remain glad with their work. At the senior level, it is important to provide space to innovate. We encourage all the employees and bosses to write. It helps in better communication and further the idea of ´human touch”.

The second day of HR Summit involved 5 panel discussions which were entirely based on the Way of Business: it was focused on women who have excelled in the corporate domain.
The second day summit was started with Mala Sinha, Faculty, FMS, Delhi followed by many prominent personalities in their respected fields
Dr. Geetanjali Pandit Gupta, Corporate Head, Talent Management, The Indian Express Ltd said, “The present generation is a sandwiched generation, taking care of the old on one hand and tending to the needs of the young on the other, while going on with their careers. The problem is that all the talk about women in the corporate world is about accommodation and not empowerment.

The debate in the third session was on Inspirational HR: A Quantum Leap, focusing on thought leadership, business head and board or entrepreneurial roles which involved 4 panels. Dr. R.Ravi Kumar, Professor, IIM, Bangalore said, “In organizations, it is an HR orientation that is required. The irony is that some of the best works in HR have been done by non-HR academicians. There are four factors for success”

The Summit brought out key aspects on how to keep high performers motivated and thereby becoming more productive in an organization. Also the fact that in today‘s world, it is the people that are the major strength in an organisation and managing them well can really give a company an irrefutable competitive benefit globally.