The Hindu Business Line : Perception blues

GIVEN the present complexities of most Indian organisations, a recurring problem that haunts most HR (human resource) professionals is `perception'. In a layman's language, perception refers to one's world view — that is, the world as he/she sees it.

In organisational issues, this problem presents itself in many ways. For example, while the HR professional may advocate transparency and openness to encourage creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, the old-fashioned managers would put a full stop to these initiatives, by simply saying that "these cannot work here, because of our culture".

Perception often causes serious inter-personal conflicts. For instance, the boundary, or responsibility, disputes that often threaten to get out of hand between the maintenance department and the production departments. Since neither side appreciates the role of the other, each lives in its own world, with no meeting point on anything, causing immense harm to organisational effectiveness.

In such crucial issues as getting all employees to subscribe to the Vision and Mission of the organisation, the CEO is the ambassador of the right perception. The basic idea is to promote extensive and exhaustive communication in the organisation where the employees' perception of reality matches the organisation's.

For instance, in the early-1980s, a SAIL was dogged by pent up pessimism; there was no positive perceptions of he organisation among the employees. Many a business opportunity was lost. But a new CEO taking over saw through the problem quickly, and built a performance-oriented culture that quickly brought dividends. SAIL turned around and faster than what was thought possible.

A similar rescue happened at BHEL too some years later; even today communication through various forums remains the bedrock of this organisation's functioning. HR practices centred around promoting healthy perceptions are in pace at most of the major Indian corporates. .

Promoting healthy perceptions is a daunting task, and requires a lot of will. The litmus test is: Does the perception of reality of employees the same as the reality itself'? If yes, the organisation can proudly claim that its HR climate is good. It would have reached the take off stage to launch a series of HR interventions where work is fun, is worship, is meaningful, and value adding.

If the answer is no, such organisations will join the list of organisations that lost out due to one vital factor — their inability to harness human potential, perceive HR as a value-adding partner and, consequently, wasted learning opportunities. No modern organisation can afford to say no.

A. B. Sivakumar

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