The Summit commenced with the address of Mr. Suresh Jandial, Deputy Chairperson, ONGC and Mr. T. Raman, Consulting Editor, Business India.
Mr T Raman kick-started the event with his address appreciating the theme of the Summit, 'Harnessing People Resources for Business Imperatives.' He threw light on the new imperatives in today's world that required HR interventions to be dealt with. He also formally launched the official HR Summit magazine "The People Tree". Mr. Suresh Jandial emphasized human assets being the real competitive advantage of organizations in the new millennium. Utilizing the opportunity effectively, he brought to notice the specific talent pool crunch in the energy sector functions which educational institutes of today do not encourage as subjects of interest.
The first panel discussion was on "HR in Finance and Insurance: Issues and Challenges". The panel members were Mr. R. Mahajan, Head-HR, SBI Life, and Mr. Prashant Khambaswatkar, Head HR & Admin, HDFC Insurance. Mr. Prashant highlighted the key issues in his 5 C's – communication, compensation, career paths, camaraderie and common sense.
The discussion was followed by Hay Group sponsored, 'Tantra' – the Inter-B-school paper presentation competition wherein four teams defended their case on topics like 'Teaming or Leading?' and 'HR Consulting: Need or Want?'
The post-lunch session invigorated the audience with the presence of corporate honchos like Mr. Aquil Busrai, Executive Director, IBM India, Mr. Dinesh Agrawal, GM (CSR), NTPC, and Mr. V.K. Verma, Head-HR, TCS.
The topic was Beyond Business: What's and the Worth of CSR! Mr. Agrawal underlined the issue of CSR not as, 'what is to be done?', but 'why and how CSR is to be done?' Mr. Busrai stressed community involvement for CSR to be not just a 'conscience cleansing exercise'! Mr. Verma of TCS voiced that "associating oneself from the heart to the society as a whole constitutes CSR."
The last panel discussion for the day one of IMI HR Summit 2008 was on HR in Manufacturing/Consumer Goods Sector with Mr. Vijay Deshpande, VP-HR, Greaves Cotton and Mr. A.D. Burman, GM, MUL as speakers.
MBAUniverse.com is the Official Management Portal of the summit. Stay tuned for updates.
