With tighter schedules and more pressures to have a steeper learning curve, there is a greater need for workshops as an effective tool to bring organisational development. Unnati Narang tells you more.
How much can a day long workshop teach you? As the HR fraternity is now focusing on the over-all learning and development of employees, this question is gaining more and more significance. Organisational Development (OD) has now become one of the most critical HR functions in the present scenario.
VK Nair, Head HR, Fermenta Biotech Ltd says, "HR as a function has evolved from administration to personnel, human resources and lastly to human capital. In the evolution, many concepts have been framed, experimented, implemented and examined. OD has been one of the most recent concepts. OD leverages the reach of HR and removes the perceived limitations of a support function. OD tools have changed the face of HR in the organisation and have helped the organisation as a whole."
Fermenta recently conducted a workshop called Human Process Lab for the entire middle management team across all locations. This workshop was an outcome of the Training Needs Identification (TNI). TNI in turn, was done on the basis of changes required in behaviour patterns of an employee vis-a-vis the behavior pattern required by that function. Post these workshops, reports highlight visible changes in the employees, and the level of openness had potentially increased.
Workshops aimed at OD and bringing about a change in the company, often benefit both the employer and the employees. "The work force has changed today. Employees expect much more than salaries from their work. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of achievement, worthwhile and tasks. OD workshops not only help condition them for professional challenges and opportunities but also contribute towards their overall development as individuals. These workshops are specially designed to improve employee effectiveness which ultimately helps them inculcate better skills, leadership and a sense of commitment to their work. Companies who take advantage of OD understand that they are working not for the present moment, but for over a period of time. "This long-term investment can inevitably contribute to employee as well as an organisation's growth," says Kamal Meattle, CEO Paharpur Business Center.
Inspite of the many advantages of OD workshops, these are not easy to plan and execute. They come with their own set of challenges. Rajita Singh, Head HR, Broadridge Financial Solutions (India) Private Ltd adds, "OD is popularly known as a change agent and obviously has its own challenges. We encounter resistance. The impact is large as it changes an individual's mind-set and behavior. It is important to know how differently people see the world. Hence, there is a need to develop different languages to communicate what they see/ understand." Singh also states that some of the key success factors required by the organisations, are increased productivity, work satisfaction and profit for the client. This can be achieved through workshops based on projects/ processes.
"While OD workshops are 100 per cent long-term investments, if implemented properly, they would reap short-term benefits as well. At the same time, what matters is the outcome after conducting the OD workshop. This is a challenge the HR faces. Also, in such workshops the time involved is large. Getting employees to attend such workshops is equally challenging," says Nair.
He aptly sums up with his points of how OD workshops can be successful. "Some of the success factors required are understanding the issues and gathering sufficient knowledge. A genuine effort is the key success parameter. Managers track results in quantitative and qualitative ways. The financials of a company would measure the quantitative part. There are tools to measure the before and after effects of changes in an individual employee after such workshops."
In recent times, many OD workshops have been organised across industries. From focusing on leveraging ourselves as instruments of change, to those pertaining to conflict intervention, expertise is flowing in abundance. The task left for the employees is to make the most of the workshops made available to them. They must participate as much as possible and take home lessons worth remembering.
Most of all, what counts is how much of it they absorb and to what extent is implemented in their every day lifestyle.
How much can a day long workshop teach you? As the HR fraternity is now focusing on the over-all learning and development of employees, this question is gaining more and more significance. Organisational Development (OD) has now become one of the most critical HR functions in the present scenario.
VK Nair, Head HR, Fermenta Biotech Ltd says, "HR as a function has evolved from administration to personnel, human resources and lastly to human capital. In the evolution, many concepts have been framed, experimented, implemented and examined. OD has been one of the most recent concepts. OD leverages the reach of HR and removes the perceived limitations of a support function. OD tools have changed the face of HR in the organisation and have helped the organisation as a whole."
Fermenta recently conducted a workshop called Human Process Lab for the entire middle management team across all locations. This workshop was an outcome of the Training Needs Identification (TNI). TNI in turn, was done on the basis of changes required in behaviour patterns of an employee vis-a-vis the behavior pattern required by that function. Post these workshops, reports highlight visible changes in the employees, and the level of openness had potentially increased.
Workshops aimed at OD and bringing about a change in the company, often benefit both the employer and the employees. "The work force has changed today. Employees expect much more than salaries from their work. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of achievement, worthwhile and tasks. OD workshops not only help condition them for professional challenges and opportunities but also contribute towards their overall development as individuals. These workshops are specially designed to improve employee effectiveness which ultimately helps them inculcate better skills, leadership and a sense of commitment to their work. Companies who take advantage of OD understand that they are working not for the present moment, but for over a period of time. "This long-term investment can inevitably contribute to employee as well as an organisation's growth," says Kamal Meattle, CEO Paharpur Business Center.
Inspite of the many advantages of OD workshops, these are not easy to plan and execute. They come with their own set of challenges. Rajita Singh, Head HR, Broadridge Financial Solutions (India) Private Ltd adds, "OD is popularly known as a change agent and obviously has its own challenges. We encounter resistance. The impact is large as it changes an individual's mind-set and behavior. It is important to know how differently people see the world. Hence, there is a need to develop different languages to communicate what they see/ understand." Singh also states that some of the key success factors required by the organisations, are increased productivity, work satisfaction and profit for the client. This can be achieved through workshops based on projects/ processes.
"While OD workshops are 100 per cent long-term investments, if implemented properly, they would reap short-term benefits as well. At the same time, what matters is the outcome after conducting the OD workshop. This is a challenge the HR faces. Also, in such workshops the time involved is large. Getting employees to attend such workshops is equally challenging," says Nair.
He aptly sums up with his points of how OD workshops can be successful. "Some of the success factors required are understanding the issues and gathering sufficient knowledge. A genuine effort is the key success parameter. Managers track results in quantitative and qualitative ways. The financials of a company would measure the quantitative part. There are tools to measure the before and after effects of changes in an individual employee after such workshops."
In recent times, many OD workshops have been organised across industries. From focusing on leveraging ourselves as instruments of change, to those pertaining to conflict intervention, expertise is flowing in abundance. The task left for the employees is to make the most of the workshops made available to them. They must participate as much as possible and take home lessons worth remembering.
Most of all, what counts is how much of it they absorb and to what extent is implemented in their every day lifestyle.
