Category: Uncategorized

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Digitisation has emerged as a key disruptor and game-changer, with enterprises leveraging the integration of big data, cloud computing and mobile, and smart technology becoming a key business priority.

Digitisation is creating tectonic shifts in the way individuals work and engage. The way employees interact—with the world at large, amongst themselves and with the organisation—has undergone a fundamental shift. Their perspective of engagement and learning is not what it used to be even five years ago! These behavioural changes are deeply impacting the cultural fabric of the organisation.

The question, of course, will be the extent to which the HR function will innovate, in order to make itself more relevant and create value in this changed reality.

HR technology, in a lot of organisations, is still quite nascent. One of the challenges faced is the integration of systems. Whilst some organisations have adopted state-of-the-art add-on HR applications, their basic data warehouses have not undergone the much-needed overhaul. Thus, they have multiple systems that do not communicate seamlessly with each other.

Nonetheless, the function has adopted mobile applications for more efficient recruiting along with tools, such as virtual interviews and applications to engage with prospective employees, to improve candidate experience. Internal social networking applications are changing the process of employee engagement, improving information access and knowledge sharing between employees, and fuelling innovation. Social technologies also play a big role in leadership access, increasing transparency, and building more neutral avenues for employees to share their opinions. Several bottoms-up organisation changes can be driven effectively through these.

Learning is becoming more shared, application based and bite-sized. The realms of learning are becoming wider and more outside-in with YouTube and MOOC platforms, such as Udemy and Coursera.

Technology-enabled delivery in HR will allow HR professionals to free up their time and utilise their skills more effectively in the areas of strategic advisory to business rather than operations.

Big Data

Big Data is everywhere and will be the foundation of all decisions. HR can be no exception to this. As a function, however, HR has relied heavily on the emotive/qualitative aspects of situations for decision-making. Data consumption has largely been restricted to the basics—reporting lagging indicators rather than predictive data.

The fragmented existence of data, as it is currently available, poses immense processing challenges and is vulnerable to errors, thus hindering integrated analysis and meaningful conclusions. Going forward, HR professionals will embrace technology to build the right metrics to track, analyse and report data-driven decision-making to redefine all aspects of talent and people practices.

Business and people managers are seeing value in HR analytics and starting to increasingly demand direct access to employee data on an ongoing basis. Manager portals on company intranets now empower managers with critical employee data and real-time updates on all employee lifecycle events.

In order to build the necessary inter-linkages that are scientific in their basis, qualified data scientists will be required. Advanced analytics teams can help uncover underlying trends in human capital data and generate transformative, compelling and actionable insights for informed decision support. Also, it will be necessary to present this data in a simple and intuitive manner, since the objective of big data is not to increase complexity, but allow meaningful insights to shine through.

The role of HR will then be to integrate data insights with their expertise in the qualitative and emotive elements of human behaviour, leading to much more holistic decision making.

As digitisation and analytics become more fundamental to business advisory—resulting in innovative and agile people management practices to stay competitive—HR will be truly digital!

Change is the name of the game!

In the VUCA world, the mandate for leaders is to be quick and decisive, taking the most appropriate actions in the least time. The HR function has been faced with the demand for transformation—to drive strategic changes in the way business operates. As one harnesses the power of technology and digitisation, one will free up one’s time to do this better. However, in order to do so, one will need to re-skill oneself and adopt a more flexible mindset. HR cannot just be playing a catch-up game in this fast-paced environment. HR people need to be early embracers and innovators in the true spirit. Agility in the way HR operates will underpin its success in the days to come.

Source :HRKatha.com

Digital transformation has to be a planned activity because even though a business is all set for this mega change, there could be digital shocks for functioning systems.

Digital transformation is not just two fancy words. It’s a full-fledged exercise that organisations need to undertake with clarity, vision and a lot of planning and preparedness. There are companies which equate digital transformation with a software upgrade. That’s the biggest blunder one can do. Digital transformation has to be a planned activity because even though a business is all set for this mega change, there could be digital shocks for functioning systems.

1. Assess and evaluate
According to a study, 90 per cent of CEOs know that digital technology is impacting their industry, but less than 15 per cent are digitally transforming with a clear plan. There is a lot of me-tooism that follows without a clear mandate and foresight on how the individual business is going to get impacted.
It is very important for any business to assess how and which part of its process, should undergo a digital transformation. Yes, there could be a few processes where digital transformation is not possible. There is nothing wrong in that. One has to identify digital models that simulate the nuances inherent in its procedures. It’s important to purposefully model processes with tools that enable creative and empirical simulations.
There is no hard and fast rule, which says that all processes of the businesses will have to go digital. The fit is necessary.

2. Business Plan
Yes, digital transformation is not an activity indulged in just for the sake of it. If certain processes or functions within the business cannot be digitised, let them be.

All a business should worry about is market share, revenue, profit and how the transformation will affect its customers. No digital transformation is worthwhile if any of these elements are negatively impacted. Every digital transformation should have a business case and an organisation should be able to foresee that the transformation will successfully streamline some of its key processes.

3. Prepare your team
People often talk about the skill set required for digital transformation of businesses and organisations. Yes, indeed it’s a great challenge to have and retain that skill set. However, what’s even more important is the cultural transformation within the company. Every employee should willingly and happily accept this transformation. Only then will the entire exercise be fruitful.

What organisations need to do is communicate what lies ahead. Every employee from across functions—be it HR or sales or supply chain—must anticipate the change, foresee the benefits that lie ahead, be in sync with the business strategy to get there and also be aware of their role in the entire process. All this can happen only when a company creates this culture of ownership and collaboration. One missing link can destroy the entire effort.

Look into these sample courses if you wish to successfully navigate the shift to digital and prepare an organization’s talent base for this shift, which are the most significant challenges facing today’s learning leaders.

4. There is no perfect moment
Now or later, digital transformation is bound to affect businesses across the world. If an organisation is waiting for the right opportune time to initiate this digital transformation, it’s digging its own grave.

Digital transformation has to start today, and now. Yes, there will be a few failed attempts, or mistakes on the way but organisations need to show agility and learn from their mistakes. Remember, technology changes faster than organisations can change themselves.

5. Traditional businesses can also transform digitally
Digital transformation isn’t only for new-age technology companies. There are a few examples where traditional brick and mortar businesses have transformed themselves. All thanks to data.

Experts call data the new crude oil and the currency of the future. Digital transformation will allow traditional businesses to collect more and more data, which can then sharpen the insights and business intelligence.

The paints sector follows a very traditional model of business. However, one of India’s largest paint companies has successfully digitised its business processes and reaped the benefits. It implemented call centres and mobile device deployments, utilised data-based decision making and expanded its service offerings along with its geographic footprint across Asia. The company gained on two fronts — revenue increased dramatically, while it also improved the speed and efficiency of its delivery.
Source :HRKatha.com

Your online profile and what you post on social media is of interest to your present and future/potential employers.

Be very careful of what you share or post on social media. You are being watched, monitored and also judged on the basis of your social-media profile, not just by your friends but by your current and prospective employers as well.

And if you think, it is better to not have a social-media profile at all, you are wrong. In the absence of a social-media profile, you will be treated as anonymous, which makes it less likely for you to be called for an interview.

If you believe that your deleted posts will not be visible, you should know that it’s hard to erase your digital footprints, and employers today use deep scan to find out all about a prospective candidate.

According to a recent study by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, 70 per cent of employers use social-networking sites to research on job candidates. Out of these, 57 per cent have decided against hiring a candidate based on what they had posted on social media. 66 per cent of employers have used search engines to conduct their research on potential job candidates.

It is not just your posts, employers also evaluate you on what others are posting about you or on your page—34 per cent of respondents have agreed to have done that.

The trend of scanning social-media profiles of potential hires is more frequent in IT companies (74 per cent) followed by manufacturing (73 per cent) and in comparison less by retail/non-retail sales (59 per cent).

Nearly half of the employers (47 per cent) say that if they can’t find the candidate online, they are less likely to call that person in for an interview. 28 per cent say that is because they like to gather more information before calling in a candidate for an interview; 20 per cent say they expect candidates to have an online presence.

Here are the top reasons why candidates are rejected or hired post evaluation of their social-media profiles.

Reasons for rejection

Candidates are rejected if they are found to have:

1. posted provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information: 40 per cent,

2. posted information about them drinking or using drugs: 36 per cent;

3. made discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion: 31 percent;

4. links with criminals or criminal behaviour: 30 per cent;

5. lied about qualifications: 27 percent;

6. poor communication skills: 27 percent,

7. bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee: 25 per cent;

8. an unprofessional screen name: 22 per cent;

9. shared confidential information from previous employers: 20 per cent;

10. posted too frequently: 12 per cent

Reasons for selection

Candidates are often selected for a job if:

1. their background information supports their professional qualifications for the job: 37 per cent;

2. they are creative: 34 per cent;

3. their site conveys a professional image: 33 per cent;

4. they are well-rounded, and show a wide range of interests: 31 per cent;

5. they possess a good personality, and appear to be a good fit within the company culture: 31 per cent;

6. possess great communication skills: 28 per cent;

7. have received awards and accolades: 26 percent;

8. other people have posted great references about the job candidate: 23 per cent;

9. they have interacted with the company’s social-media accounts: 22 per cent;

10. they post compelling videos or other content: 21 per cent;

11. they have a large number of followers or subscribers: 18 per cent

It isn’t over yet

If you are thinking that your employer will stop monitoring you after you have been hired, you are mistaken. Research reveals that 48 per cent of employers continue to scan social-media profiles of employees and 10 per cent of them do it every day! Around 34 per cent of them have found content online that has caused them to reprimand or fire an employee.

Source :HRKatha.com

New technologies are changing customer and employee behaviours and eventually rewriting the rules of engagement. It is important to see how HR will transform itself in the new era.

Right from the time we get up in the morning till we enter the workplace, we may shuffle through various apps on different devices. However, the digital age is not only about technology, but about how customer and employee behaviours are changing in response to the rapidly-evolving technologies. For businesses, it is about leveraging technology to provide superior customer experience and unlocking the hidden potential of value creation. And to think only 10 years back we had mobile phones with only the ‘calling’ and ‘messaging’ features! Now artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT) and robotics are rewriting the rules of engagement—for customers and employees. On-demand economy,
personalisation and connectedness are some of its key manifestations.

Organisations are all about short-term planning, fluid structures, relentless innovation, iterative and incremental product development, shorter and frequent customer-feedback loops, and holistic and integrated usage of technology across the value chain. Organisations should be able to course correct and pivot frequently in a short duration, according to external and internal environment changes. For this, people in the organisation must develop an agile mindset and follow agile people-management practices.

Only agility can provide the required competitive advantage, for which HR will have to transform first. The same HR that was responsible for implementing rigid structures, processes and systems to ensure standardisation and efficiency, will now have to break those very systems to ensure more agility and flexibility—no doubt a huge challenge!

How can HR make its people practices more agile? By learning from the companies, which have effectively climbed up the digital curve, and are the leaders in their respective domains —the torch bearers of the agile movement! These companies are highly agile in business, organisation design and people management. They have dovetailed the following principles of agility in the way they design their people practices.

Principle-1: Working in short loops
Traditionally, most people practices work on annual or bi-annual loops. For example, goal setting in most companies happens at the start of the year, with employees getting feedback on these goals during the middle or at the end of the year. In the digital age, the goals set at the beginning of the year may no longer remain valid at mid-year or year end because of multiple unforeseen changes, which may occur during the year. Similarly, the training needs identified at the start of the year may no longer remain valid after a few months. Thus, there is a need to continuously pivot these people practices multiple times during the course of the year.

Principle-2: Relentless employee centricity
HR’s traditional love for processes and systems was justified at the time when process efficiency and standardisation were the key success metrics for HR. But in the digital age the focus is on innovation, informal collaboration and speed. Many existing HR processes and systems tend to add unnecessary inertia and inhibit the free flow of ideas and speed of decision making. HR will have to shift focus from process efficiency to employee motivation. All decision making in HR has to revolve around making employees more motivated and productive.

Principle-3: Transparency
Traditionally, HR has been slightly apprehensive of sharing critical people decisions or decision-making methodologies with employees. For example, in many companies high-potential employees are rarely told that they possess high potential for fear of offending those who do not possess the same. This was fine in the age when employees worked in tight hierarchies and were used to receiving partial information. In the current digital age, however, employees work in flat hierarchies and understand the big picture. They are also more connected than ever before. Lack of transparency erodes trust, and trust is essential for informal collaboration and employee motivation.

Principle-4: Regular feedback & reviews
Business deliverables stand the risk of becoming obsolete if they do not fit the requirements of the external market. Similarly, HR deliverables can become obsolete if they do not fulfil the needs of the business and the employees, especially in the digital age, when things are changing so fast. Imagine a system where we create a very basic version of the HR product, test it with employees (and business leaders), incorporate their feedback, work to create the next version, test it with employees, incorporate their feedback till the point there is a perfect fit between the HR product and the employee. This will drastically improve the acceptability of the HR product. Interestingly, Google also tests its HR products first, with one per cent of the workforce, before a company-wide release. This can be done for anything and everything that we create for employees within the HR function, such as training programmes, reward philosophies, PMS, talent management, engagement framework, and so on.

Principle-5: Working in cross-functional teams
Traditionally, HR is used to working as an independent function. With the functional boundaries getting blurred in the digital age, HR will be expected to work more and more on cross-functional projects with people from diverse areas, such as marketing, sales, product management, technology, and so on. Each team will be empowered to solve a particular problem for the organisation. Some of these problems may be business related, such as creating a due diligence framework for M&As, while some may be more people related, such as designing a learning strategy for the technology function. In either case, a cross-functional team of subject matter experts is most suited to solve these issues. Gone are the days when only the HR team used to solve people problems for the organisation, and only the business team solved business problems. In the digital age, HR is business and business is HR.

Principle-6: Loosely coupled HR operating model
HR operating model is the way the HR function delivers value to its employees. Broadly speaking, there are four typologies of the HR-operating model. First is the in-house model, where all the HR-related tasks are carried out by the HR function; second is the outsourcing model, where a portion of the HR- related tasks are carried out by an external vendor; third is the employee self-service model, where a part of the HR-related tasks are carried out by the employees themselves; and fourth is the shared- service model, wherein multiple business units leverage common/shared HR services. Each of these typologies is supported by the right type of HR technology platform, and this is where the maximum scope of innovation lies. Confluence of technologies, such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud can work wonders for HR. More often than not, most of the organisations use a combination of these typologies. However, more agile HR functions are skewed towards the outsourcing model and employee self-service models which can support rapid scaling up and scaling down of HR services, as is the need in the digital age.

All of the above principles, if applied effectively and simultaneously, can make HR more agile. Agility in people practices is the fundamental pre-requisite to make an agile organisation and an agile business.

Source :HRKatha. com

The hyper-connected, dynamic work environment requires organisations to redefine the traits of an effective leader in the digital era.

The new-age digital world of work is different from how it was until a few years back, and in line with that, the definition of effective leadership has also undergone a sea change. In addition to inspiring and supporting people to achieve the desired outcomes, the digital era requires leaders to be more agile and nimble in adopting the new times, and yet be very grounded in ensuring the same human connect that brings people together to work efficiently.

This is why, developing great leaders is now one of the biggest agendas for chief executives across organisations. This hyper-connected, dynamic work environment now requires organisations to re-look at their long-held leadership-grooming models, and the foremost step in that direction is to redefine the traits of an effective leader in the digital era. Here are some key skills that leaders need to possess in the age of digital transformation.

Agility

This is one trait that has been really overhyped in how it has been used ins various contexts across business, while losing out its real essence and application in the real world. Agility in mindset, behaviour and actions is a key skill for leaders in the digital age. The ability to use iterative approaches to divide work efforts into short phases, for early and frequent evaluation; and the flexibility to pivot and transition between varied roles and activities is what makes one agile in the true sense.

Cross-functional dexterity
This is an important quality for leaders, to be able to effectively collaborate across a range of functions, ensuring interconnectedness and streamlined operations across the organisation. In addition, great leaders are capable of offering solutions to cross-functional challenges.

Is your business ready to adapt? Do your leaders have the required skills to take your business forward?

Design thinking
It is the ability to take a design-centric approach to work, while combining empathy, ingenuity and rationality, to address customer needs. This can be achieved by observing behaviour and drawing conclusions about what customers want and need.

Analytical/data-driven mindset
This is one of the most crucial and defining skills that leaders need to possess to be able to survive and be effective in the digital age. Using data and insights for better decision-making and the ability to take a balanced approach to make data-driven decisions have become vital to working in times of big data and analytics.

Virtual collaboration
With flexi-working and remote-working becoming increasingly common, the leadership rules for managing remote or virtual teams have also changed. New-age leaders need to be able to productively drive engagement and demonstrate the power of their presence, even as leaders of virtual teams. They need to be open to leveraging behaviours, practices, techniques and tools that facilitate ef?cient and effective cooperation among dispersed collaborators.

New media literacy
Being socially active and leveraging all media to effectively communicate is essential for leaders in the ‘here and now’ times. This skill entails the ability to leverage new media for persuasive communication and use techniques that target social networks and applications to spread brand awareness and promote products and services.

Computational thinking
This is a problem-solving technique that allows one to decompose a certain problem into smaller, more manageable fragments that are easy to analyse and then draw patterns to look for feasible solutions. It is the ability to understand and practise data-based reasoning, and translate data into abstract concepts. It is what makes leaders adept at finding effective solutions to complex issues in the digital era.

Passion for continuous learning
One trait that never fades out, but has become even more important in the fast-paced dynamic work environment now, is the zeal to learn more. The enthusiasm to seek out and acquire new information and knowledge coupled with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to continue to develop and grow is what will prevent leaders from getting outdated in times of digital transformation.

Team-based orientation
One of the evergreen and most essential skills that leaders need to display is the ability to understand and use behaviours, practices and processes that optimise team interaction and facilitate achievement of common goals. Being an accountable leader to the team and having a desire to achieve consensus and involve others in decision making is vital for any leader to succeed meaningfully in the present times, and more so in those to come.

Customer-centric orientation
A skill that is important for every employee in an organisation, but is a make or break for determining the efficiency of a leader is customer orientation. Great leaders consider customer experience above all. The skill involves using practices and techniques to identify and resolve pain points most critical to the customer.

Leaders in the digital transformation age cannot do without the new skills mentioned above. In addition to conventional skills that never run out of importance, these skills here will redefine effective leadership in the times to come. They will determine how good leaders function and organisations need to consciously identify and develop their leaders with a strong focus on these skills.

Source :HRKatha.com

Those leading digital transformation need other soft skills in addition to technological expertise.

Every organisation wants to jump onto the digitisation bandwagon. It’s the latest buzzword. Not surprising, since that’s affecting business like nothing else has ever done. According to a Bersin By Deloitte study, 90 per cent of organisations surveyed believe their core business is threatened by new digital competitors.

Digitisation doesn’t only affect the way we deal or interact with our customers but it also impacts the way organisations are structured, the way we work and what new skills are required—both now and in the immediate future.

Digitisation erases the legacy mindsets, and paves the way for more agile, collaborative, innovative and adaptive methods of doing business.

Unfortunately, 70 per cent of the companies surveyed by Bersin By Deloitte, agree that they do not have the right leadership, skills, or operating models to adapt.

One must remember that digital transformation is not just about implementing fancy new tools. A company successfully transforms itself into a digital company when people obtain digital skills. Of course that has to start with the leader of the organisation and should spread top to bottom.

Digital transformation is often owned by the chief technology/information officer with strong inputs from the chief executive officer.

It’s also important for companies to evaluate and understand what ‘digital talent’ means. Until the company fully understands the digital profiles, or job functions, available in the market and within the company, there can be no clear way to determine how many digital employees—and in what profiles—it must recruit, develop and retain.

However, the team needs to have the following skills for successful digital transformation.

1. Data analytics

Any digital transformation project will incur a high volume of data. Therefore, data analytics, market research analytics and database administration skills should be the most sought after skill sets.

Suppose a bank wants to implement a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution that uses intelligent software or robots to automate the repetitive and mundane data collection and entry tasks between the websites, banking systems, internal applications and other portals. The skills it should seek are those pertaining to data analytics, which is indispensible.

2. Digital literacy
Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. So it’s much more than just technical knowledge.

It’s not necessary for the digital team to be digital native, but the team members need to understand and appreciate the role technology plays in their daily and professional lives.

3. Learnability

People with a creative bent of mind, and those with cognitive flexibility and emotional intelligence are important, but the most important aspect is learnability. Businesses need to recruit people who are willing to learn, upskill and keep pace with the changing skill sets digital transformation continues to introduce. In addition, they should not be afraid to take risks, fail, and innovate and it’s not just in technology but also in new management and leadership techniques.

4. Change-management skills

Yes, it’s a digital world, but the human touch and interaction is necessary. Digitisation could disrupt the lives of many employees, which is why people with effective communication and analytics skills and those who can manage change will be required. It is important to keep the team spirit alive with regular and personalised communication and face-to-face meetings as well.

5. Ability to facilitate, plan and inspire

The digitisation team is the mediator between digital immigrants and digital natives. Both are important for the business and the job of the digitisation team is to bridge the gap between the two so that everyone in the organisation benefits from the transformation.

The team should comprise visionaries, who also possess the ability to inspire others to believe in their plans.

6. Ability to motivate
Successful leaders possess a vision, and the ability to convince others too to believe in their vision. This means that digital leaders need to be great storytellers to be able to connect and motivate others. While there will be early adopters, there will also be doubters who will need time to acclimatise themselves to the new technology. The leaders will have to handle both.

Digital leaders need not only be technological experts but also be able to envision possibilities that don’t yet exist.

The digital team or the organisation undergoing digital transformation needs to keep one simple thing in mind–people come first.

Forcing people to use a new tool or to adopt new processes at a moment’s notice will only lead to them rejecting the new measures. It’s important to communicate the benefits of the new technology and processes to the team and offer sufficient training and coaching to familiarise people with it. Digital transformation shouldn’t be a chore, it should become part of the organisation and everyone should live it.

Source : HRKatha.com

Despite acknowledging and appreciating the various benefits that on-cloud HR solutions offer in contrast to on-premise ones, some organisations are unable to switch to or adopt on-cloud solutions. Here’s how to approach the concerns.

Hosting digital solutions on the cloud is not new anymore. However, the debate on whether it is better in comparison to the old-school on-premise solutions, is still hot. It’s one of the critical criteria to decide on when looking to digitise HRMS, but also one that determines the effectiveness and the outcome of the entire effort.

Now, although cloud-based HR solutions are gaining importance rapidly –especially among small to mid-sized businesses – there are some industries and organisations that still hesitate to accept the cloud as a better solution than on-premise systems, for instance, the BFSI sector.

A majority of organisations in the sector, despite acknowledging and appreciating the various benefits that on-cloud HR solutions offer in contrast to on-premise ones, are not able to switch to or adopt on-cloud solutions.

Source : HRKatha. com

Employees, irrespective of the era they belong to, always desire to be heard and valued; this is what motivates them and ultimately enhances productivity.

In 1924, an experiment was conducted by Elton Mayo, an Australia-born sociologist at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company, which made telephone hardware for AT&T.The simple experiment was aimed at evaluating the effect of working conditions on productivity. When the lighting in the work area for few workers was increased, it was observed that the productivity of the workers in that particular bay had also increased. This went on to establish the fact that change improved productivity.These workers were also part of several other successful experiments in the following years. Their working hours and rest breaks were altered, and they were offered food during breaks. It was observed that every small change brought in an improvement in productivity.The experiments continued till 1932 and all these changes were reversed assuming that the productivity will fall, but surprisingly there was no fall in productivity levels.

Mayo established that it wasn’t the change in physical environment that increased productivity, but the belief of workers that they were valued, taken care of and that someone was concerned about their workplace. In addition, getting the opportunity to discuss changes before they were implemented contributed to the rise in productivity. This theory has been termed the Hawthorne effect.This laid the foundation for what we call employee engagement today. It’s a known fact that engaged employees are the most productive ones.However, Mayo’s experiment has been evaluated differently by different researchers. Many people with a conflicting point of view say that the increase in productivity level was because of the fact that the employees knew they were being observed and that they had to perform better.

Yes, it is a fact that whenever a group of employees are separated from the team and given extra attention and priority, they are likely to perform better. But does that mean that organisations can follow it as a regular practice? Will that not amount to discrimination against others?However, despite all criticism, what the Hawthorne effect establishes is that employees, be it in the 1920s or a hundred years later, want to be heard and valued. That is what increases their motivation level, and the final outcome is enhanced productivity.

Here are a few ways in which the ‘Hawthorne Effect can be used in modern workplaces.

1. Listening is important

The Hawthorne effect established that the productivity of employees increased dramatically when they felt they were being heard. In fact, this is a great lesson for today’s leadership, who need to give a patient hearing to their team members.

It’s important to appreciate ideas and many start-up organisations have benefitted from this where younger employees were heard and their ideas appreciated. People are mainly motivated not by economic factors, but emotional factors, such as a feeling of being involved and receiving attention. It is important for employees to feel that their concerns are being heard and that they are contributing to a common purpose.

2. Observation over vigilance

The Hawthorne effect established that employees tend to perform better when they are being observed. But it has different connotations in the modern workplace. Employees hate being under vigilance 24×7, but yes, they want to be observed. They want the leaders to take notice of their good work, and be appreciated for the same, without being watched all the time. Paying attention to what employees are doing brings in some wonderful results.

3. Right people in the right group

Employees who are usually productive can become unproductive when placed in the wrong group. At the same time, attentive and communicated mindfulness of how others are working may have a positive impact on their engagement and increase productivity. During the Hawthorne experiment, two insubordinate and mediocre workers were replaced by two productive workers, of which one took on the role of straw boss. They discovered that production increased by the replacement of the two workers, due to their greater productivity and the effect of the disciplinary action on the other workers.

4. Gender diversity

Women are increasingly entering male-dominated professions. However, they are often made to feel unwanted by male peers, which leads to low productivity. Employers need to be observant and bring in small changes to make the environment more conducive. The individual attention and the normal human instinct to feel ‘chosen’ will skew the results.

5. God of small things

Organisations need to realise that the tools used for motivation don’t need to be in the form of ‘big’ things. Sometimes, small changes work wonders in improving productivity.

Source : https://www.hrkatha.com