Pupose of life?

Hi,

The topic “purpose of life?” is slightly off the core purpose of our group. But being HR professionals, I feel we should explore the said topic to find out the real purpose of our lives. Other day I had a discussion with one of my friends and we felt that some people live because they are born, some think that what ever they do the end result will depend on the destiny. Some really think that there is a purpose for life itself.

Personally I feel that, we are destined to do much for in the life and understanding what you are capable of delivering is a matter of time and luck. In some cases we will live the entire life but will fail to understand the real purpose or mission of their own lives. How we will find the real purpose of life? In order to get enlightened about the real purpose of life we really need to get in touch with the inner self or should rise above the worldly life.

Another aspect of life is that many are not capable of even going to this level. It warrants dedication of a higher order with highly focused approach in life. It is not at all an easy path to pursue but not very difficult also. I am stopping here for the time being with the request to the professionals to explore this topic further.

Regards,

Roy.J.George
Email:royjgeorge@pricol.co.in
royjgeorge@gmail.com
http://royjgeorge.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/royjgeorge

Sathyam Fiasco-2009

Dear All,

Some time back we had a very long discussion on Ethics and unethical practices. It’s a known fact that some of the corporates are known for "fraud" in the eyes of the common man but to them are maximising the value of the organisation which helps the stakeholders in their wealth creation. The stake holders are after increasing the value of their perceived wealth not the real wealth.

In this long race for wealth creation the people who are supposed to run the organizations ethically and honestly succumbs to pressure and indulges in all unethical practices. There are lot of top professionals associated with these organizations but fail to stand up to the unethical practices instead they also fall prey to the temptations since they also get to share the kitty.

The Sathyam fiasco reminds me of the Movie “Corporate” which was released couple of years back. In the movie also top executives were used by the CEO to make unlawful gains but at the end the top executive has been dumped. Here in this case Sathyam CEO got caught may be because of some top official who refused to bend with pressure and have exposed him. Just assumptions, since anything is possible in the corporate world.

But we HR professionals can facilitate the good governance by conceptualizing, designing and implementing robust systems and practices for ethical governance. The organizational whistle blowing system also could effectively contribute to these situations. The administrative system of the different states could bring in stringent laws such as time bound investigation and severe punishment and also revamping the External Audit System itself to prevent these kinds of fraudulent practices. Hope to hear from you all.

Regards,

Roy.J.George
royjgeorge@gmail.comhttp://royjgeorge.blogspot.com/http://www.linkedin.com/in/royjgeorge

DON'T ACT LIKE AN ELEPHANT

DON'T ACT LIKE AN ELEPHANT
Strange statement, isn't it?
But listen carefully because it can make the difference of success and failure in your business and private life. So, let me explain...
You might know that in India elephants are used for manual labor. But what to do with them when they are not working? How to restrain them?
Their handlers came up with the idea to "program" them while they are still very young - by setting self-imposed limits into their thinking.
How does it work?
When the elephants are still small, weighing around 150 pounds, they get tied up with a very heavy rope. All day long, the elephants try to get rid of it, whine, tug at it and some of them even try to chew it. But they can't break free. Finally, the elephants give up and the fight is over. And now it's getting interesting...
From this moment on, they strongly believe that there is absolutely no chance to get rid of the rope. They accept the "fact" that the rope limits them. And with this imprinted belief in place, their handlers are able to tie them with extremely small ropes! And even as adults, weighing 8,000 pounds and more, they never attempt to break free because they "know" they have no chance at all! As you can see, the elephants limits are not real, but exist only in their mind.
And also we are programmed with built-in-boundaries. They are also not real but exist only in our minds. But with these imprinted belief systems, with these inner boundaries, we are unable... to live our lives to the fullest to be successful as we could be to set and reach higher goals to make 10 times more money as we do now to build a successful business to get the promotion and pay increase we always dreamed of to fulfill our true dreams and desires etc. But it hasn't to stay this way. Our negative belief systems don't have to limit us for good. If you *truly* want to become successful and are not kidding yourself, you *can* change your inner belief system, your attitude, and break your inner boundaries.
You *always* have the inner strength; the personal power to change everything in your life for the better. Just try! So, never give up! Never act like an elephant! Roy.J.George

If you want to ride in my Car

IF YOU WANT TO RIDE IN MY CAR

There was a time when I thought my dad didn't know a thing aboutbeing a good father. I couldn't remember him saying the words, "I loveyou." It seemed to me his soul purpose in life was to say "no" to anywhere I wanted to go and anything I wanted to do. Including getting a car. Someparents bought their kids cars when they got their driver's licenses. Notmy dad -- he said I'd have to get a job and buy my own.

So that's what I did. "I'll show him," I said to myself. "If hewon't get it for me, I'll get it myself." I got a job as a busgirl at avery nice ocean-view restaurant and saved every penny I could. And when Ihad enough to buy my own car, I did! The day I brought that car home, mydad was the first one I wanted to show it off. "Look, Dad, a car of myown-- all on my own. If ever you want a ride, I'll only charge you fivedollars." I offered with a smug smile.

"I see," was all he said. One day, my father's truck had to go to the shop and wouldn't beready to pick up until the next evening. So he needed a ride to work."If that five dollar offer is still open," my dad said, "I'll take you up on it."

"Okay, but you have to pay on delivery. I don't accept credit."

"I see, " was all he said. As I dropped my dad off I watched him, dressed in his work clothes and boots, getting his tools from the trunk of my car...

I could tell there were more lines than I ever remembered being there before. I thought about it and realized how hard dad works for his family. My father was a cementmixer.

Watching him lift heavy tools from the car...there was somethingabout him that looked a little more fragile than I recalled. In that instant, it occurred to me that he actually got down on his hands and knees to sweat over hot concrete to make a living for his family. And he did this day in and day out, no matter how he hot it got. Never, not once, had I heard him complain about it. Never had he held it up to his children as being some great sacrifice he made for us. I thought at how much he must love us -- so much that he's willing to do this hard labor in hot weather,and without so much as ever complaining or asking for anything inreturn. To him we were "worth" it. And never once did he "charge" us for it. When he slammed the trunk...he walked over to my window to hand me my five dollars. I rolled down the window and said, "Good-bye, Dad. Keep your five dollars. It's on me. Don't work too hard, I love you."

At first he looked puzzled, then in a clumsy sort of way --pleased. "I won't," he said, then added, "Thanks for the ride in your beautiful new car." His eyes met mine then glanced away in the direction of his waiting tools, he cleared his thought and said, "Oh, me too."

As I drove away, I knew "me, too" was enough because my father showed me his love with his actions, day after day, year after year. In that moment, I decided I'd give him a ride in my car anytime he wanted--free of charge.

By Marie Parada, (age-18)

Daddy's Day!!!

Daddy's Day

Her hair up in a pony tail, her favorite dress tied with a bow.Today was Daddy's Day at school, and she couldn't wait to go.But her mommy tried to tell her, that she probably should stay home.Why the kids might not understand, if she went to school alone.But she was not afraid; she knew just what to say.What to tell her classmates of why he wasn't there today.But still her mother worried, for her to face this day alone.And that was why once again, she tried to keep her daughter home.

But the little girl went to school, eager to tell them all.About a dad she never sees, a dad who never calls.There were daddies along the wall in back, for everyone to meet.Children squirming impatiently, anxious in their seats.One by one the teacher called, a student from the class.To introduce their daddy, as seconds slowly passed.At last the teacher called her name, every child turned to stare.Each of them was searching, for a man who wasn't there."Where's her daddy at?" she heard a boy call out."She probably doesn't have one," another student dared to shout.And from somewhere near the back, she heard a daddy say,"Looks like another deadbeat dad, too busy to waste his day."

The words did not offend her, as she smiled up at her Mom.And looked back at her teacher, who told her to go on.And with hands behind her back, slowly she began to speak.And out from the mouth of a child, came words incredibly unique."My Daddy couldn't be here, because he lives so far away.But I know he wishes he could be, since this is such a special day.And though you cannot meet him, I wanted you to know.All about my daddy, and how much he loves me so.He loved to tell me stories, he taught me to ride my bike.He surprised me with pink roses, and taught me to fly a kite.We used to share fudge sundaes, and ice cream in a cone.And though you cannot see him, I'm not standing here alone.'Cause my daddy's always with me, even though we are apartI know because he told me, he'll forever be in my heart"With that, her little hand reached up, and lay across her chest.Feeling her own heartbeat, beneath her favorite dress.And from somewhere in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears.Proudly watching her daughter, who was wise beyond her years.For she stood up for the love of a man not in her life.Doing what was best for her, doing what was right.And when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the crowd.She finished with a voice so soft, but its message clear and loud."I love my daddy very much, he's my shining star.And if he could, he'd be here, but heaven's just too far.But sometimes when I close my eyes, it's like he never went away."And then she closed her eyes, and saw him there that day.

And to her mother's amazement, she witnessed with surprise.A room full of daddies and children, all starting to close their eyes.Who knows what they saw before them, who knows what they felt inside.Perhaps for merely a second, they saw him at her side."I know you're with me Daddy," to the silence she called out.And what happened next made believers, of those once filled with doubt.Not one in that room could explain it, for each of their eyes had beenclosed.But there on the desk beside her, was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.And a child was blessed, if only for a moment, by the love of her shiningbright star.And given the gift of believing, that heaven is never too far

Business Ethics and unethical practices- a debate

Dear All,

I am raising a new hot topic for debate and discussion. Over the years being in the HR profession, I was closely watching,experiencing and hearing the unethical practices which exists in many businesses. I have also noticed that couple of companies are very good at ethical practices and known for their people friendly practices. Now-a-days in many organisations lot of unethical practices exists like people forced to do personal work of their bosses, you need to give in unwanted favours for getting career moves, better increment ,Getting short-listed for a plum posting etc.I don't want to elaborate much on personal favours and is a weed in IT as well as ITES business but is less in other sectors. The practice of getting financial and non-financial gratification from vendors and suppliers is also widely prevalent and recently a major MNC was in news for that. This is very high in the manufacturing organisations. Other practices like victimisation of the whistle blower, bullying, unwanted scolding in public etc. are also noticed. In most of the cases the senior guys will get away with this and the junior guys will be the sufferer.

I request the learned professionals across the globe to suggest the ways and means to cope up with this menace and how to eliminate these practices from the business. Your contributions will be much valuable for the young professionals, who are facing these kind of situations by themselves or can help the affected employees. You may critically evaluate the topic and give your inputs.

I personally hope and trust that this would be really interesting topic for the December month and with your contributions we all could make a New year resolution of making our organisations ethical in their practices.

Regards,

Roy.J.George

Response by Prof. T.V Rao

From: Rao TV
To: roygeorge@isteel.in
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2006 11:54 AM
Subject: Ethics
Dear Roy George:

Thanks for initiating discussion on this topic. I think "Values and Ethics" is an important part of any Nation, Organization or Society. Like many others I am deeply pained to see these not being paid attention to and some times I feel we may be leading ourselves to destruction.

I think the root cause is the transition we are going through in our society. Unlike in the past today young persons can aspire to have their own house, car, and enough savings by his mid thirties and join the club of the neo-rich. As you see scope you become ambitious. You see other people rich and you aspire to become one and the race starts. The new economy industry has fuelled this race. This is both good and bad. We are enjoying the good part of it as a Nation and as a privileged class in the society. But we are doing very little to contain its side effects.

The most unfortunate part of this is HR Managers themselves have added in many cases to the declining values. I am told that HR Managers have a cut in the fee they pay to recruitment agencies and in the consulting projects they give to consultants. I also see HR Managers having no commitment to their profession or organization. The HR community at top levels is a good example of playing musical chairs. This is highly evident in the IT and other new economy industry. Every now and then they change jobs from one company to another for a 50% or 100% more hike. They seem to become real Change Agents- people who change their job every now and then without changing anything else. The organizations themselves are facilitating the same.

In nineties when one HR Manager applied for a job with CMC and by the time he came for an interview with CMC he already changed his job and yet came for an interview to be considered by CMC, the Chairman CMC (Dr. P P Gupta) lot his temper, refused to interview him and sent him back with a long lecture on the need for commitment to an organization by HR professionals. To day I think many Chairmen go out of way to grab people from ach other than to discourage people from shifting. The problem therefore lies with HR managers themselves. The HR Schools have done nothing in this direction. They do not even promote a code of ethics or conduct. The Professional bodies like NHRDN have designed a code of conduct but hardly did anything thereafter to enforce the same.

This is going to be major issue. I am dreading situation where a young man becomes millionaire at the age of 35 or 40, after having a disturbed family life spends the rest of his life repenting about what he could have done at early years of his career. Recently I was talking to a Psychiatrist from NIMHANS and was told that they get innumerable cases of depression and the like among the young. This is the price we are paying for our “economic growth”.

There are a lot of issues but we need to tackle them. The Academy of HRD (www.ahrd.org) in the US has developed an excellent code of conduct (Ethics and values) for HR professionals. I think it is high time some such thing is enforced by Professional bodies and educational institutions. More than any one some organization like CII should step in and develop a HR code of conduct to be abided by all CEOs and HR Directors and ensure that it is implemented..
Thanks for initiating this debate.
T V Rao

Response By Ms. Nanda, Pondicherry

: Nanda Bhaskar
To: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/HRInnovators/post?postID=MPb0rOZ_BohwqCfgKG681q80yqPrlGM7m8gvVyPdMsFTCqPMzmeGDtuNvn2p-0kGSc3L5MxdQLa4-Tcnrok-o5vGHGQHww
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 2:26 PM
Subject: [Rajagiricollege] Business ethics and unetical practices- a debate
This is my response to the mail on Business ethics andunethical practicesInitiating a debate on ethical and non ethicalpractices in work place is a need of the hour. Thereis a lot of frustration among the employees at alllevels in the present working set up in India. Misuseof power is the main reason for many of the unethicalpractices in workplace. To my knowledge, not onlyprivate organizations even autonomous bodies supportedby government also contribute to the unethicalpractices. To respect the dignity and individuality ofan individual, one of the basics which we learned fromour social work theory is out of question in manyplaces. The pitiest part of it is that the people whosuffer are hardworking, genuine, trustworthy,talented, capable and so on. Just because they lackthe so called trait of chamcha… they are targeted.Here what I understand is that many of the managersare not aware of what a good manager is expected to inhis/her official capacity. I mean his/herresponsibility to the staff, their welfare, staffmorale, discrimination aspects etc. These things aremostly taught in our childhood, some we acquire as wegrow (socialization) and through training in officiallevels. I strongly feel that training on the roles andduties of a good manager is lacking in many firms andworkshops on these may be arranged by professionals inthese lines and make it mandatory to attend. Periodic workshops can also be conducted at different levels toimprove the psycho social quality of employees..

Bydoing so the quality of atmosphere in work set up canbe improved.

Nanda

Pondicherry

Making the Day of the Customer-ICICI Bank case Award against ICICI Bank by banking ombudsman

I had posted the case of ICICI Bank debiting by SB Account wronglyconsequent to credit card payment which they had misplaced. Thebanking ombudsman, Chennai had directed the ICICI bank to refund theamount to me. I still have faith in Indian constitution and theIndian laws. Nobody is above the law. The legal fight is not yetover but just a beginning. The copy of the judgement is attachedbelow.Regards,Roy.J.George98403562079442222006From: Chennai, Banking Ombudsman Date: Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 2:26 PMSubject: Complaint No. C 4364/2008 against ICICI Bank by Shri Roy JGeorgeOFFICE OF THE BANKING OMBUDSMAN(Tamilnadu and Union Territories of Puducherryand Andaman & Nicobar Islands)Reserve Bank of India Building (II Floor)Fort Glacis, Post Box No.4016, Rajaji Salai, Chennai – 600 001Phone : 25395487Fax : 044-25395488BO(Che)/ 5584 /C 4364 /2008-09 December 10, 2008Shri SomasundaramChief Manager (Nodal Officer)ICICI Bank Limited8th Floor93, Santhome High RoadChennai 600 028Dear SirComplaint No. C 4364/2008 against ICICI Bank by Shri Roy J GeorgePlease refer to the above stated complaint. It is observed from thedocuments submitted by the complainant and the bank that:(a) Complainant made part payment and is aware of the same. Thushe is aware that the bank will levy finance charge on theoutstandings.(b) Bank is at fault for debiting complainant's credit cardaccount further by the amount of payment received.(c) As per the terms and conditions quoted by the bank, the bankhas the right to mark lien and set off. However, as the bank has notsubmitted any document to substantiate that complainant was informedabout the bank exercising its right, the complainant suffered due tobouncing of his EMI payments.In view of the foregoing, the bank is hereby directed to(a) Reverse the charges levied by the bank on complainant's SBaccount post its exercising the lien and set off as it committedmistake in debiting his account rather than crediting post receiptof payment.(b) Bank to reverse EMI bounce charge levied and refund /pay Rs.500/- to the complainant for the EMI bounce charge levied by HDFCBank.(c) Bank to issue a letter to the complainant stating aboutreversal of said amounts.The bank is advised to take action on the above directions andreport complainace within a fortnight from the date of this letter.By the order of the Banking OmbudsmanYours faithfully-sd-(Deepa George)Assistant General ManagerEndt. No. BO(Che)/ 5585 /C 4364/2008-09 of dateCopy forwarded for information to Shri Roy J George His attention isdrawn to the telephonic conversation the Secretary of this officehad with himon December 04, 2008 and is advised that in case she hasany further submission to make, he should so may do so with all thesupporting documents within a fortnight failing which the complaintwould be closed without further correspondence.-sd-(S.G. Shivashankara)Manager
December 11, 2008 12:22 AM