Page 265 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Mangement

Notes are therefore critical success factors for any organisation. Although there exist widespread
difference regarding constituents of core competencies and its relation with knowledge, skill,
abilities and attributes .of employees, there is agreement among its proponents about how it is
created linking between organisation's goals, structure and culture. Innovation and creativity
helps to develop core competencies supplementing knowledge and skill base for the employees.
In this respect directed creativity, i.e., purposeful generation of new ideas matching with
organisational requirements, is more relevant.
Innovation, creativity and competencies are important facilitators for organisational change.
Imperatives for organisational change basically stem from redefining business focus, restructuring,
customer orientation - all for competitive advantages.

15.2.9 Supply Chain Management, Business Process Outsourcing and
Human Resource Outsourcing

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an integrated approach to outsource to derive customer
satisfaction by cost optimisation. It cuts costs, reduces inventory, shares basic demand forecast
with trading partners for mutual advantage, etc. Even though initial thrust of SCM was to
integrate warehousing and transportation for efficient distribution at reduced costs, over the
years SCM has become a strategic tool to increase market share and multiply customer satisfaction.
The basic hypothesis on which SCM sustains is efficient interaction and interdependence of
planning, people and processes i.e., three Ps which together reinforce output that satisfies
customers, irrespective of their geographical dispersion, and increases market share and
productivity. Outsource everything that's non-core" - this is what Peter Drucker says for today's
organisation. With IT interface, SCM has changed from its traditional Logistics management
approach to many new areas of corporate outsourcing, even encompassing HR functions. Business
Process outsourcing (BPO), to be more specific, is relatively a new concept and an extension of
SCM Philosophy, which is revolutionising the management practices of today's organisations.
Take for example, British Telecom. In 18 months, they have redefined their strategies 8 times. Or
for that matter a Deshi organisation - Reliance, who had surpassed Du'Pont and Dow in terms of
per employee profitability, yet with a HR strategy, which speaks more oriental and orthodox
than trendy. These are the two extreme cases, where BPO and Human Resource Outsourcing
(HRO) have different connotations.

15.2.10 Knowledge is reinforced through learning. Therefore before we
define knowledge it is appropriate for us to understand what is
learning?

Learning is a process of acquiring new skills or knowledge, which results to a new behaviour.
Learning can take place through multiple ways. But for organisations best way to promote
learning is by exposure to new experiences. Knowledge is the ability and wisdom to use the
learned experiences for achievement of individual and organisational objectives. Knowledge
management, therefore, is the process of systematically and actively managing and leveraging
the store of knowledge in an organisation.
Any knowledge management initiative need to be first tested in the light of available Guna
dynamics, as advocated by Chakraborty (1987). It is not that he has contributed to knowledge
management literature but because he has first espoused, knowledge and skills, when reinforced
by values ensure better results. His characterisation of knowledge along three Gunas, in the
light of Indian-psycho-philosophy when reproduced as matrix (as below) indicates that mere
rajas without the essence of sattwa cannot, per se, make a knowledge management and so also
skill enrichment initiative successful in any organisation.

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