The Hindu Business Line : `Focus on people, not processes'

Mumbai April 15 Former coach of the Indian cricket team, Mr Greg Chappell, may have stressed a trifle too much on the "process", with unpleasant consequences that played out in the public arena. Just as in a sport, an over-emphasis on systems and processes can have an undesirable effect in the corporate environment too, says a specialist on Human Resource management.

And HR departments will have to rethink system-centric strategies and replace them with people-oriented methods to retain human capital, as they deal with the global shortage of skilled workers that confronts corporates and governments.

Human capital has been over-looked by traditional HR departments that concentrate on systems and processes, says Mr Mark Frost, Chief Operating Officer of Saba, a human resources development and management company. Traditionally, the concentration has been on reducing the drag on the bottomline and reducing costs by managing the workforce.

Retaining the best

But with the global workforce shrinking in size, HR departments are looking at ways to retain its best people, as they compete for dwindling numbers, he points out. Throwing up some numbers to hammer home the point, he says, Japan will have a 12 per cent shortage of workforce in 20 years.

Over the same period, Canada will be eight per cent short of skilled workforce, Australia and France will be six per cent short, the United States will be five per cent short and United Kingdom will see a shortage of four per cent.

India and Brazil, however, pip that trend, with an eight per cent and two per cent increase in workforce, respectively.

And even as work shifts out to China, India and Brazil, companies are increasingly looking at improving the capabilities of its people and investing in its members to retain them, he observed.

A Nasdaq-listed company, Saba is looking to expand its operations in India in the pharmaceutical, financial services, retail, telecom, military and government sectors. All agencies have similar people concerns, he points out.

Headquartered in California, the $100 million company already works with companies in the Indian infotech and banking sectors.

In India, the company operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary, with two development centres at Mumbai and Pune.

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