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Dipak Gadekar is a senior HR professional with over 35 years of comprehensive experience covering various facets of HR management at the operational and strategic level. He is actively associated with HR professional associations. Dipak is the Founder Member of the Thane HR Group, an association of HR professionals and HR Infotek - an association of HR professionals working in IT and IT enabled industries.
He has been a visiting faculty at Welingkar Institute of Management Studies and Vivekananda Institute of Management Studies. Apart from this, Dipak was a subject matter expert of the SHRM Panel on Industrial Relations for 2010-11 & 2011-12. A science graduate from Nagpur University, he holds a Law degree and a post graduate degree in Labour Studies from Mumbai University. Dipak has strong interests in social service activities as well.
ET: From Industrial Relations (IR) earlier to Employee Relations (ER) currently, what have been some significant shifts in recent years?
DG: The shift from classical Industrial Relations approach to the current Employee Relations is not a mere name change. It involves a paradigm shift - from a power supremacy (we v/s they) to more 'collaborative', from managing a Group to connecting with Individuals, from adversarial to partnering for collective good.
ET: What challenges do ER professionals need to deal with, especially in the context of the rise of 'knowledge workers'?
DG: With the advent of knowledge workers and the challenging times that the economy has been facing lately, trade unionism in general has been a bit subdued in recent times. The new generation of HR fraternity does not seem keen to handle the IR/ER piece of the people management gamut. This has created a scarcity of capable and willing ER professionals who could handle these matters in the best interest of all stake holders. Also the new methods of manufacturing or service delivery through the outsourced/contracted third-party employees have created its own issues. ER is a very complex art calling for knowledge of individual and group behavior of human beings, knowledge of the law of the land, excellent negotiations skills and a judgment of fairness. Successful ER requires considerable amount of time and effort to be invested in understanding the organization (people) and developing a rapport. Periodical change of person in-charge of ER and/or management pressure to cobble a quick fix solution at times leads to creating potential hazards which could surface anytime in the future.
Also, the knowledge worker would be more interested in understanding and appreciating the logic and rationale behind decisions/policies, etc.
ET: With the rise of automation and robotics, among other advancements, is ER losing its significance? Please share your thoughts.
DG: ER will remain significant as long as there is a presence of the human element in any enterprise. In fact, the 'nuisance value' of this element could be significantly high even in tech intensive organizations as the small element of PEOPLE could be capable of putting the whole investment in technology to a naught, if not managed properly. Only the approach and methodology would change but its significance would continue.
ET: What are some ER mantras to move from the classic 'confrontation' to developing a rewarding 'collaboration' environment?
DG:
Personal integrity and adherence to values is one of the most important requirements to be successful in collaborative ER, in addition to the skills and knowledge discussed above. Unless you are respected as an individual, you are not likely to succeed in ER. Mutual trust is another key element of a collaborative ER environment and it calls for its own investment in understanding and appreciating each other's perspective which can be achieved only through continuous dialogue. One has to give up power positions and instead play the role of a facilitator/catalyst.
ET: As a senior HR leader, what is your advice to professionals aiming to empower people?
DG: Once, while delivering the opening address to a gathering of HR professionals at Kolkata, HH Mother Teresa said something to the effect that to be a successful leader, you need to love your people, and to love them you need to know them. If you keep judging people, when would you love them?
I suppose this is a very powerful message, easy to understand but not so easy to practice. The geographically distributed complex organizations of today cannot work effectively unless they have empowered people resources. To that end, we need to 'BELIEVE' in our people, to start with, put in place processes which enables them to take decisions and provide guidelines with which they can check their decisions, when in doubt. We need to have systems in place to help them keep their tech skills and other competencies sharpened - a culture of recognition and celebration, and above all, an environment where people do not hesitate to take calculated risks without the fear of retribution, should the attempt fail.
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