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'MNCs enjoy higher level of employee engagement in India than back home'
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Vishnu Makhijani | 08 Mar, 2018
Multinationals enjoy a much higher level of employee engagement in India
as against what they do on their home turf and this has sent out a
powerful message about the commitment and loyalty of the Indian
workforce, Prof. Veronica Hope Hailey, Vice President, The University of
Bath and the Dean of its School of Management, has said.
"Recently,
we were funded by a US foundation to do research in India comparing
levels of employee engagement in multinationals here to the levels of
engagement in the home countries of those multinationals. In the study
we found out that multinationals enjoy a much higher level of employee
engagement in India as compared to what they did back on their home
turf.
"This is what businesses around the world now understand
about India, that the Indian workforce is highly engaged, highly
committed and very loyal to their work," Hailey told IANS in an email
interview.
She's been researching organisational change for over
30 years, and her research elaborates the extent to which one can lead
the change in employees.
Noting that since the financial crisis
of 2008, she has written six reports on trustworthy leadership and
organisational change, she said the West has "a lot to learn" from the
Asian styles of leadership formation and culture.
"One of the
stark things in the Western style of leadership is that they understand
it's not simply about the competence and capabilities, predictability
and reliability of the organisation or leader to deliver good business
results; if you want the customers, employees, local communities and
government to trust you, you have to demonstrate two other elements,"
she said.
Thus, the first area is concern for others, an
understanding that business serves many stakeholders and not just the
shareholders. This means growing young leaders who know they have an
obligation to give back to the society. The second area is the integrity
or moral code of the leader as well as the organisation, as people are
getting concerned about the moral code and ethics of businesses.
"I've
seen an increasing number of fresh graduates who are inclined to work
for organisations with a sense of ethics and integrity. My research
deeply illustrates how businesses can prevent workforce and communities
from losing trust in them. If one recalls the founding of the greatest
multinational organisations of today's age, be it Tata or Unilever; all
of them were instituted on robust foundation of ethics and integrity.
They should be the source of learning for modern-day business
conglomerates," Hailey explained.
Her six research projects
involved working with 25 different organisations -- all giant firms in
Europe with their bases spread across the planet and, further down the
line, and she is looking to replicate this study in India with respect
to Indian businesses.
What about existing research tie-ups between the university and Indian institutions?
"Our
University is particularly interested in research activities and shared
programmes. We currently have research links with the Indian School of
Management & Entrepreneurship (ISME) and the Indian School of Design
& Innovation (ISDI).
"Also, one of my colleagues has been
working with the Central Bank in India for the last 5-6 years developing
an impact case study. I myself have done research on employee
engagement with a noted Indian multinational. We have also met with 10
CEOs or senior managers from organisations based in either
multinationals or nationals such as GKN, Tata, Yes Bank and Novartis,"
the professor said.
Being a huge supporter of cross-border idea
exchanges, the University of Bath is continuously looking for more
research collaborations with Indian universities and businesses "which
share our philosophy of high-quality practice and research", she added..
Given
this openness of engagement, it's not surprising that the University of
Bath is home to a flourishing Indian community of over 250 Indians
currently engaged in full-time degree studies.
"A majority of
Indians tend to value hard skills and swift employment. Therefore, they
enroll more for our engineering and management degrees. Our MBA and MSc
in Marketing are very popular courses among Indian students. Pharmacy
and Pharmacology are other popular subjects. Over the last few years, we
have seen a surge in applications for subjects like HR &
Consultancy, Finance & Accounting, Supply Chain & Logistics,
etc," Hailey said.
"Another important programme of utmost
relevance to the Indian context is our MSc in Entrepreneurship. We all
know this country is growing incredibly, and an expanding young
population needs people to start new businesses. To avoid unemployment
and to stop the best people from going overseas, India needs to create a
mammoth generation of excellent entrepreneurs. If India is going to get
that 'Make in India' lion to roar, which I'm sure it will, we together
are going to have to educate a whole new generation of entrepreneurs;
we'd better be ready and equipped for it," she explained.
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