Some of the speakers were: Mr. Rajeshwar Tripathi, Senior Vice-President (HR), Mahindra & Mahindra; Ms. Sanchita Singh, Head (O&S), GE Money and Mr. Vivek Gera, Head HR (North India), Centurion Bank of Punjab.
The discussion on 'Cross-Connection: Mind your culture!' and 'Home-Work: The Perfect Balance!' began with the welcome note by Dr A. Venkatraman, Faculty at FMS who shared some of his work experiences and spoke about the rebirth of HR covering the thematic issue of cultural inferences and tried to answer the question- 'Why do we behave the way we behave?' Mr. Rajeshwar Tripathi, Senior Vice-President (HR), Mahindra & Mahindra spoke about M&M's experiences of an acquisition and joint-venture in China. Citing the learnings from his experiences, he said, "Sending our best brains to China didn't click for the lack of attitude, adaptability and an inability of some of the individuals to understand people from alien cultures."
The second speaker in line was Ms. Sanchita Singh, Head (O&S), GE Money. Ms. Singh brought onto the dais her experiences from a plethora of sectors including manufacturing, commercial, technology and the BPO industry. She delved into the 'Flexible Work Assignments' strategy being followed by GE. She cited her personal experiences from the organization and defined Work-Life balance as a sustainable growth in a changing environment. Mr. Vivek Gera, Head HR (North India), Centurion Bank of Punjab, spoke about his experiences of managing the merger of Centurion Bank and the Bank of Punjab and, sharing information about the role of HR in the success of M&A deals, said, "We need to match designations, salaries, responsibilities, grading structures and pre-plan the processes of integration to eliminate the occurrence of any attrition.
Introducing Work-Life balance as an 'Urban Legend', Mr. Saurav Dey, Black Belt, Process Excellence Team at Genpact, spoke about various myths and inhibitions that we have including more hours in office lead to greater productivity need to be dispelled before a Work-Life balance can be achieved. The last speaker of the first session was Mr. Vivek Tripathi, Vice-President (Consulting Services), Grow Talent. Mr. Tripathi gave insights into the concept of Organizational Culture and the consequences of cross-cultural diversity on the seamless functioning of organizations.
The post-tea session had Mr. Rajesh Jagasia of Art of Living guiding the students towards the path of spirituality to attain the perfect balance between work and life.
