![](/wp-content/uploads/AMBA-logo-Acc-black.png"){kind=logo}
With an objective to engage well known business and HR Leaders and capitalize on their expertise in the emerging trends and challenges in the arena of Human Capital Management, and share their success stories, IIM Indore began its HR & Leadership Conclave—PRABODHAN on August 12, 2016. The two-day conclave has been launched by Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) Batch 2016-17, under the Academia—Industry Connect Initiative.
The conclave aims at knowledge sharing through stimulating interactions, thought-provoking panel discussions and debating on contemporary issues and challenges relevant to business.
The inaugural ceremony of the conclave took place in the presence of Mr. Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India, Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Indore and Professor Prashant Salwan, Chair, EPGP.
Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan welcomed the guests and appreciated the efforts put in by the EPGP Batch 2016-17. He said that considering the huge demographics, offering higher education to all the children and youth is the biggest challenge India faces today. ‘Another big challenge is to manage the theory and practical knowledge in the current scenario. Faculty are undoubtedly experts in their area, but industry connect helps the students in gaining more experience. And this is also the mission of IIM Indore, to be contextually relevant’, he noted.
Professor Prashant Salwan in the opening remarks introduced the Conclave theme and sub-themes to the audience.
This was followed by the inaugural address by Mr. Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India. He gave an insightful presentation on the topic ‘Transforming India’. He started his talk mentioning about the kind of world we live in, full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. ‘It is now time for India to take the next step for performance, and this all depends on the youth which can definitely take our country to the next level’, he believed. He then discussed about the five mega trends which help us decide our strategies, skill levels and imperatives as an individual and country as a whole. These five trends are digitalization, economic power shift from the West to the East, widening economic disparity, changing relationship between the people and our planet and rapid urbanization. ‘We are currently using 1.5 times of the resources what our planet can provide, and this is leading to rapid urbanization. That is, in 2050, two-third of the world will be living in urban areas. And we require skilled managers to manage these challenges’, he said. He concluded his speech mentioning that India is at the cusp of historic growth opportunities, but some serious challenges at economic, social, environmental and political level need to be taken care of, and youth can play an important role in this.
Adding an absolutely different zest to the conclave, a discussion on ‘How to Leverage Data and Insights in HR’ was conducted. The panelists included Mr. Asim Rizvi, Head HR, CallidusCloud India, Ms. Ruhie Pandey, Vice-President, HR, Kaya Ltd. and Mr. Mandar Pawde, Senior Consultant, Analytics, KPMG. The discussion was moderated by Professor Kamal K. Jain, Faculty, IIM Indore. The discussion revolved around how data and analytics are the two key points that give edge to any organization and a company. Mr. Rizvi mentioned that data analytics play a major role in any company as everything there is data driven and you can have an analysis in an easy and quick way which makes any organization special in its own way. Ms. Pandey said that data analytics is the factor which helps in transforming people at work and the company as a whole in a fast manner. Mr. Pawde also agreed with the panelists and said that data analysis helps any leader execute his plan and help CEOs take decisions in more explicit way.
The second half of the first day was full of interactive and attention-grabbing talks by various business leaders who enthralled the audience with their thought-provoking ideas. The first talk was by Mr. Sunil Kashikar, Vice-President, Resource Management Group, Zensar. He spoke on the topic, ‘Challenges of Talent Acquisition—An IT Industry Perspective’. He gave an introduction to what talent acquisition is and how it proves to be a lifeline to every company. He suggested some reasons which may cause clogging in this ‘lifeline’, namely lack of proper forecast from the business, crunched timelines set for delivery, demand supply gap in required skills, lengthy evaluation and selection process and availability of multiple opportunities to candidates.
The second talk was on the topic- ‘Future of Work’, by Mr. Arvind Usretay, Executive Director, Ernst & Young. His enriching talk revolved around how the work pattern is going to change in the upcoming years.
This was followed by the third talk of the day by Mr. Arokiya Sagayaraj, Vice President, Renault Nissan. Speaking on the topic- ‘Embracing Change’, He discussed what demographic shift is all about and how it affects everything around us. ‘With the average age of countries like Japan, Europe and India changing, the economy of these countries would also witness a drastic shift, and so it would affect the hiring pattern of various countries as well’, he said. Mentioned that in the next ten years, around 800 million women would be added to the workforce and providing them employment would be one of the major challenges, and announcing that a company is hiring female employees would no longer be a fashion statement. The shift would bring in employees who would be technologically advanced and will bring lot of expectations from the employees as well, which needs to be thought of.
The last talk of the day was by the Dr. Ritu Anand, Deputy Head, Global HR, TCS. She spoke on the topic- ‘Talent Management’. She advised the participants to dream real and work to achieve it. Mentioning about how the HR has been changing over the years from ‘Personnel’ to ‘Human Resources’, she said that we need to stop treating HR as commodities. We need to get away from this. We need to work in a pattern wherein we can contribute something to the community. People think that in future there would be a time when there would be mentor and learner relationship between the boss and the employee. This isn’t the future, this is the present, she noted. ‘Collaboration and diversity are important and we need to learn how to achieve this’, she concluded.
The first day of the conclave concluded with quite enthusiasm and eagerness for the second day for the participants of the conclave. The conclave was well appreciated by the guests and the speakers.
The second day of the conclave will witness talks on various topics like Managing Disruptions, Organizational Culture, Merger & Acquisition, Leadership in Adversity and Future Business Challenges. A panel discussion on the topic He 4 She would also be conducted with distinguished experts from CSC, TATA Motors, Lanxess India, etc.