The Hindu Business Line : `Egonomics' of human relations?

What was political economy moved on to weightless economy, then to new economy, then to e-conomy and landed up in attention economy. I had kept the readers of this column posted with each of the stages of the metamorphosis. In essence, the point yet to be grasped by the whole spectrum of economic players - CEOs, public relations practitioners, scholars, advertisers, media moguls - is that old methods of capturing and retaining the loyalty, whether of employees or of customers, have become stale and obsolete. The time is long past when they could lord it over both employees and customers as if they are `dumb, driven cattle'. Both employees and customers make or mar the reputation and, along with it, the business prospects of a firm, and they have a multiplier effect in spreading the good or bad word about the organisational behaviour or the design, quality, safety and acceptability of a product or service.

Loyalty is no longer the adhesive that it used to be in making employees and customers stick to an organisation or product or even a brand. They are constantly on the lookout for bettering career prospects, value for money, the way they are treated and, most importantly, the recognition they get as self-respecting human beings. Indeed, `recognition economy' is the new buzzword for this phenomenon in the management lexicon.

This should not surprise any keen observer of the changes taking place in market and work places. The average period for which an enterprise is able to hold to a talented employee or an average customer is getting reduced drastically. The rate of attrition has approached alarming figures in the case of many enterprises, and replacements are hard to come by. The disruption this causes tells heavily on profits and return from investment. Similarly, companies lose 43 per cent of their customers within three years. The so-called brand effect is no insurance against this. Customers are becoming more discerning and discriminating, and no longer depend only on advertisements or Web sites. Opportunities for exchanges of experiences - instant chatting, mobiles, social gatherings - are now legion, and they consider these to be a more reliable and authentic basis for decision-making.

`Press one.' rigmarole

Old time advertising precepts and techniques, including endorsements by movie stars or sports icons, are falling by the wayside. Far from being inveigled into patronising the service or product, savvy customers begin wondering what deficiency or unsatisfactory feature made roping in of such big shots necessary.

They are also angry with nameless, faceless, disembodied voices. Particularly driving them crazy is the `Press one, press two..' rigmarole. They want their relations with product makers and service providers to be interactive, and indicative of the respect due to them as the lifeline of the company.

Unfortunately, even the advent of globalisation and the competitive milieu have not yet sensitised top rungs of business and industry to these emerging trends. One way of remedying this drawback is for the media to publish customer complaints which name names so that the business barons feel hurt where they are hit. As regards employees, companies are trying out a number of methods to keep them happy. Bosses mingle more freely with all levels. Performance appraisals are being made more objective and transparent. There are generous rewards for exceptional performance. Flexitime, working from home, liberalised maternity and also paternity leave, holiday packages on the house are becoming common. Google, for instance, allows employees to spend a good part of the office time on activities of personal interest to them. But these are still nascent and ad hoc. The emerging era of egonomics will demand far greater imaginative and innovative handling if enterprises are not to flounder.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

More Stories on : Human Resources | Insight | Economy | Offhand

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Banking on acquisitions

Global shockwaves from US financial system

Strategies to combat terrorism

Conservation begins at home

`Egonomics' of human relations?

Waiver and after