Management of change - typical story

Management of Change is a specialized area in the HRM practice. Often people specialize in the art of managing change. Because an external person can look at an organization without much of filters and bias such people are hired as consultants for the purpose of managing change often termed as an Organisation Development consultant or OD interventionist or facilitator.



In coming to understand the cases I felt that the story could be much simpler. The milestones are highlighted and is typical of the OD process.



The typical story runs thus



Once upon a time there was a company. It was growing very rapidly. But as it was growing it lost focus in certain areas. The different stakeholders had different demands. So the company was focusing on short term objectives and lost sight of medium and long term markets and activities. In short the company was largely reactive and not proactive, always in a trouble shooting mode.

At times the company had to be very selective in the projects , most of the time it could not. When one pressure was over another started … When the pressure mounted the customer was king and the employees felt like harassed beggars The management felt the employees were losing creativity.

Some creativity had to be infused. De Bono’s techniques were used, but employees still felt they were not rewarded for the trouble. At that time rewards were all individual but something was to be done to make it organisational. Although lot of knowledge was lying around they were not being shared. So a lot of overlap took place in work and sometimes resulted in rework.

The company’s image was also a problem. It existed almost for 30 years but people were not aware of it. Because of this fresh graduate students refused to join. By such and such year a need for change was felt. Systems and people were sometimes in collision. Strategy, structure , technology and culture were needed to be brought together. To align these the company felt the need for some champions. They also appointed certain consultants who revalidated and redefined the concerns.



To simplify understanding the following terms (a model) were used: Voice of Wealth, of Employee, of Customer and of Technology. Balancing the tension across these became a task

To make it more attractive the OD facilitator made a picture- like this. Scenario building was a favourite past time in those days. It spoke of ‘what the company can be’. The OD facilitator was interested in challenging the employees to think out of the conventional ways. Everybody had to do dialogue and listen.



After dialogue and listen they again built various scenarios. Scenarios were possible future pictures of the company. Senior Managers also started playing around and building scenarios. They sat together and started telling stories about the past, had visions of the future, who were the enemies, drew maps of the enemy territory, the need for rearranging the weapons such as business models, products and support functions.

Also the critical weapons and the appropriate deployment etc were discussed and laid down. It was felt that there would be a struggle necessary to achieve the future scenario. So the management and the OD specialist built another diagram. Some systems such as PM and Appraisal were suggested by the OD expert . Special fun sessions like workshops, teach train transfer were pastimes for the OD experts.



Words like goal setting , systems perspective, institutionalising, goal orientation and PMS flew around the place. All workers were tagged with a collar called personal score card. The cards defined and reminded the workers their goals outputs etc even in their sleep. In addition another big thing called BALANCED SCORE CARD with voice as key. Corporate template was cascaded to individual level. Frameworks were plenty with KPAs leading to goals at unit level. Reviews were also plenty which criticised the way work was done. Published results and stated goals were tried to be linked to determine incentives. Words like ‘value add drivers’ tumbled from the ceilings.



Then everybody agreed strategy was important and everybody agreed on goals by function, geography , delivery and relationships. All ensured performance aligned with the big vision of the organization. To push people upwards to the ceiling career planning and mentoring were used.



Assessment and coaching were brought together to further role alignments. Succession plan was brought for satisfaction and talent. All through business leaders dialogued and shouted (communicated) to evolve mission , change, teamwork and individual growth at the top of their voices.

Then the management drew another picture. A new propellor called PROPEL was used. SPIRAL DYNAMICS was also introduced. Together they helped team alignment

Initiation, Awareness sessions and workshops, Gap analysis, Improvement plan and next steps were invited as special guests. Value cards were given to all. AEP was also introduced. At the peak of the programme there were 7 initiatives running at the same time. Mirrors called Darpan were positioned at critical locations. Cultural perspectives were the outcome and they were named ASI and CSI. Cricket match etc were done transparent culture was encouraged. Increased awareness, focus on CSR, fun at work all resulted in team work. Team was better aligned . All resulted in customer satisfaction. At the end, a paradigm shift was noticed.

HRM - an ethical perspective

The entry into ethics was as earlier blogged a fallout of my dalliance with Culture. Prof. James Thomas Kunnanat suggested my name for the paper and I engaged a few years of MBA and MHRM students. Fr. Cyriac was the uncrowned king of ethics having two PhDs besides being a religious.

Students were able to appreciate the paper judging by their interactions and enthusiasm in discussions. Over a period of two years I had started feeling that I was moving away from my core HR with my dalliance with ethics and environment. I took Strategic HRM as a remedy. But my particular capacity to combine two fields I thought of developing an article on the ethics of HRM and got it published in the Annual issue of Kerala Personnel 2005.


HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT-  AN ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE



Shelly Jose


Abstract:



The development of any profession draws on many currents. One such current is that of an incipient feeling of ethics later on development into a practice. The development on ethical lines is especially true in the case of the profession of Human Resource Management. One could delineate a clear streak of the ethical concerns of the society translated into customs, practices and laws.






Underlying all professional development is the tacit view that professions, systems and practices are in the final analysis for the benefit mankind, a fact very often relegated of forgotten. This part is especially significant for the HR profession. Like no other time in history the presence of organizations is a definite fact for one who lives in the present time.






The article identifies an ethical streak and concludes with the expectation that identification of a significantly human streak such as ethics in the development of the profession would accelerate development of the profession, drawing also the fact of a world increasingly brought together by economic and organizational needs.



Introduction



The management of people is as old as organized living. And as organized living has transformed over the years, the function has also metamorphosed. The above sounds a little trite and commonplace. But this article attempts to delineate the function’s transformation on ethical lines and its significance in a multicultural world.


The practicing HR manager would well agree that beyond the numbers, systems, calculations predictions and posturing the typifies this particular function, the pinning decisions are in the final analysis, a careful balancing of values often involving the conflicting interests of the many different players or groups of players. If it was not so, there would very well have been too little of the development of the profession as such. (One hears often of computers taking over the HR function but never fully!)


At the base of it, is the fundamental structural economic element that whatever is the combined import to the employee of the rewards in its various forms is invariably a cost to the company which constantly is sought to be reduced. This dialectic lends the necessary tension to the function for if in too less or too high a proportion the very same tension would be dysfunctional to the system as a whole.

Ethics is in its simplest terms, a matter involving right or wrong in its various ramifications. (1) In a scenario where everything is in black and white there is no ethical dilemma. And the constant flux in the environment, especially the present imperative of an integrated world, provides the necessary grist to the human resources mill which tends never to settle the issue of the proper and the appropriate. At the societal level it involves balancing the self-interest with that of the larger whole and at the international level it involves finding ever newer ways of cultural compatibility and or integration. One needs to recognize the transition from concerns of a culturally relativistic world to the recognition of the need for a framework of universal moral principles. (2)


In a way, the first HR manager was the slave driver. We have come a long way from that and surely neither the conditions under which that model of human organization prevailed nor the model are any longer acceptable. This is also to indicate that what was ethical under that milieu is no longer so and all the more indicates the changing nature of ethics itself and therefore the imperative of changes over to come. Additionally the ethical dilemmas of an integrated world are likely more complex than the earlier one.



One could therefore safely predict that the affairs of men manifested so acutely in the business organization as a vehicle of the economic structure would require even further changes in the practice of the profession tempered by prevailing climes and ever refined notions of what is right and what is wrong also including the distinctly different views arising out of cultural nuances.


Ethical concerns in Recruitment and selection


The oldest of the dilemmas in public life is that of nepotism and favouritism. In modern times, the function has been further tempered by the requirement against discrimination enshrined in many a nation’s constitution. Positively, the function is also to be required not only not to discriminate but also to be active in giving opportunity to those historically deprived. The idea of a positive imperative is well captured in the terminology “affirmative action”. Contrarily, the term reservation has sometimes attracted negative connotation not because of a flaw in the idea but because of its denotation of deprivation for some other in the process.
The development of a system where men can enter freely into agreements to offer one’s labour is itself an improvement over the previously prevalent notions of serfdom and still previously of slavery. The development of democratic notions and industrialization that requires specialized skills often involving long periods of rigorous training are two forces that shaped new social relations involving free entry and exit through contracts. Clearly the ascent of individualism over collectivism is a concomitant of these forces.


Similarly avoidance of discrimination is at the heart of legislations requiring equal remuneration and the requirement to notify vacancies in some countries is intended to provide justice at the societal level and there is no overstating hat both fall into the ethics agenda.


The development of psychological instruments that are more and more fine tuned and those that measure what they are intended to reduce the bias likely in selection. The reduction of bias is an issue of right versus wrong and therefore a matter of ethics.


The notion of a formal induction


The sociological basis of induction is socialization. In the societal world, socialization is a natural process. However in the official world, socialization is a deliberate and artificial process leading to acclimatization and acculturation. It is equivalent to the initiation into the adult world prevalent in primitive societies. At the societal level the process enables a smoothening of the transition. The objective of enabled integration with the larger whole and assistance in doing so, implies an act of facilitation. The development of this function in the official world is not only from the instrumental point of view but also from the ethical point of view that one must make circumstances conductive for the newcomer to integrate into the group. Sometimes this point is clear only when pitted against its antithesis of ragging.


Likely pitfalls and their avoidance in Performance appraisal.



A major concern in performance appraisal is avoidance of bias. To develop an objective measure of performance is a dilemma in the function and no amount of fine tuning of the instruments can avoid allegations of bias as any practicing manager would vouch. The matter is complicated by the perceptual biases of halo effect, horn effect, recency effect and stereotyping. (6) That there are chances of bias and therefore having identified the possibility, an attempt to mitigate the same, makes it a matter of right versus wrong.



The development of techniques such as 360 degree appraisal is an attempt to reduce the dilemma. The underlying assumption is that one cannot avoid bias however hard one tries but not all can be biased in the same direction. Therefore an appraisal by all those who are hierarchically, laterally and diagonally related is expected to cancel out any bias to give as clear or less biased a view as possible. This is akin to triangulation a tool used in research and civil engineering. It involves collection, analysis and of information from multiple angles.



Fairness in Compensation and conditions



On analysis of the history of legislation one could see that those enactments are actually developments over ethical concerns in the course of time. Practices which were ethically likely to be inferior or exploitative were sought to be corrected through enactment into law in a way by the society through its collective body of government. What Robert Owen felt as ethically just and others felt incipiently right was incorporated as the Health, Safety and Welfare provisions in subsequent legislations.



The legislations relating to wages are another example to tacit ethical injuctions codified into law. So are laws relating to compensation upon harm, injury and / or death. The tacit injunctions in the latter is that harm in the course of work is fair to be compensated.



In recent years Welfare and Safety concerns also incorporated notions of freedom of speech as in the workers’ right to warm about imminent danger for instance. Clearly these are subjects that would still be left to the discretion of employers if not or compulsions through legislations.



The dilemma of Industrial Relations

The function of Industrial Relations poses a special dilemma. The dilemma proceeds from the fact that the position of the parties is in the setting of a game and it becomes imperative for the players not to reveal their true intentions. IR as a game therefore relies on the technique of ‘posturing’. It requires the player to be adept in not revealing fully. Obviously, the ethical requirement of having to be truthful and honest does not work in the context. However it is interesting to note than even so (and in fact only in this domain) alone there is what is called a code of ethics. It is very interesting in the sense that where there is a likelihood of less and less possibility of ethics there develops a code of ethics. In a way, like any other game here the development is in the direction of codification of the rules of the game.



The other provisions in the legislation relating to Industrial Relations are also falling into the category of rules of the game. A rule for entering into strikes and its antithesis, a rule for temporary loss of work due to failure and inability, a rule for separation due to excess manpower a rule for closure, a rule for re entry in the event of a subsequent betterment in circumstances, a rule as to what behaviours are to be treated as misconducts, a rule as to what one is entitled to when one is suspended pending enquiry and so on.



The nature of natural justice



It is interesting to note that in the definition of ethics as distinct from other related terms such as morality and law, ethics is treated as what is naturally just. Morality has the force of other systems such as religion just as law has the force of the collective will through the legislature, whereas ethics has the connotation of what is naturally or intuitively just. All three of them has as its base a sense of right versus wrong.



Thus any person against whom a misconduct is alleged is to be given an opportunity to be heard and no one shall be a judge if that one has an interest in the case. A violation of these are sure to be treated as unethical or naturally unjust. And within this rule itself there are injunctions with ethical connotations such as, until proved guilty the person is ‘an alleged’ and never ‘the culprit’ nor can any such term with derogatory connotations be used!







The correction of scientific management



Somewhere along the line it is possible to see scientific management separating from the human beings and being accused of dehumanization and glorifying of productivity alone.



A criticism of scientific management is its blindness to human elements in favour of the machine, techniques and physical conditions. (7) Ironically the very same quest to find the effect of physical factors led to the discovery of the human elements and the human relations school.



However it is possible to see the benefits of scientific management as in ‘higher wages at lower levels of efforts due to increased productivity’ and the eventual replacement of sheer brawn power with brain power as in automation and concern with comfortable conditions as in ergonomics. The point is that the quest for the human angle as in the later concepts of job enrichment and autonomy with underlying notions of what is appropriate, all of which drew the human being to the center again.



Conclusion



The attempt in the foregoing was to look at the development of the profession of Human Resource Management from an ethical point of view. It is possible to see the present form of the profession as accumulative incorporation of the ethical concerns of the society and a fine tuning thereby. Given a common streak, it may be possible to predict and accelerate the growth of the profession in a multicultural world with its added complexity of having to cater to the needs and challenges of a multicultural scenario as well.





Reference:

1. Durant, W (1953), The Story of Philosophy:532. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.

2. Bowie, Norman E, (1993), “Business Ethic and Cultural Relativism”, Business Ethics, A philosophical approach:790-799. New York: Mac Millan Publishing Company.

3. Ferrel, O.C., Fraedrich, J, Business Ethics: 79. Boston, Houghton Mifflin company.

4. Hofstede, G (1994), Cultures and Organizations: 77-78. London: Harper Collins Business.

5. Giddens, Anthony (1997), Sociology: 55-56 Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.

6. Luthans, F (1998), Organizational behaviour: 118-120, Singapore, Mc Graw Hill.

7. Spaulding, Charles S. (1961) An introduction to Industrial Sociology 224-225. Bombay: DB Taraporewala Sons & Co. Pvt. Ltd.



Brief description about the author: Shelly Jose teaches at the Rajagiri School of Management, Kakkanad, Kochi. A post graduate in PM & IR and an FDP from Iim (Ahmedabad), his current interests include Business Ethics as a key component in the Management Profession. Previously he served the Indian Oil Corporation, Barauni Refinery, Bihar, India as Sr. Personnel Officer.

tu jo mila

Some songs can evoke images and feelings that go deep into the soul as when someone keeps you awake without telling who he or she is. Even when you dont know who she is you are sure that she can touch you at all levels body, mind and soul all at once by a mere word, gesture, presence or just the thought that she is there....

A man who never felt so ever in his life is a bit lower in the scale for me.... Here is a song sweet in its evocation that to me is timeless..... The mention here is kept deliberately vague but she knows....just as she knows me. It even evokes loss permanent or temporary but the tone is kept above a  certain highly dignified level in a manner without complaining ..... Click on the heading and the link opens....

to jo mila chand khila
aaj naya rang chanay laga
dil ne kaha me ne suna
chupke sa pani barasne laga
jhoom utha ye assman man mera gane laga
jaag utha naya arman jee mera machalne laga
dil dia hai tujhe to phir kia hai mujhe dar.
jane kiun hai fiza bhi khoe khoe bekhaba
na ja na ja aja
khuab naya dekha tera
too hi to mujh me samane laga
kia hai raat or kia hai din
chen aae nahi tera bin
raat guzari hai mene tare gin
phir sa kali phool ban gae
chori chori sa baat ban hi gae

Syllabus change, Indian ethos and Decent work

Decent work

The MG University has modified the earlier 'Business and Ethical values' paper as under and I was asked to make a comment.

INDIAN ETHOS AND VALUES

Module-1
Indian model of Management; Work ethos ; Indian heritage in Production and Consumption

Module -11
Indian insight to TQM; Teaching ethics; transcultural human values in management education

Module -111
Relevance of values in management; Need for values in Global change – Indian perspective ; Values for Managers


Module -1V
Holistic approach for managers in Decision making- Secular Vs Spiritual values in management- Science and human values – Ethical issues relates to globalization

Module -V
Indian Constitution- History, Fundamental rights, Unity in diversity.

Comments on Indian ethos and Values

SHELLY JOSE

The attempt seems to be to discuss ethics around an Indian ethos which itself is a very skewed exercise since keeping out the ethics of other countries does not make sense .

The syllabus seeks to bring in an Indian ethics as apart from the subject of ethics in toto. Ideally Indian ethics as a module may form a part of a broader syllabus.

The discussion on ethics otherwise revolves around topics such as teleological ethics, deontological ethics, virtue ethics and relativistic ethics.

In the context of globalization a module on Universal moral principles along with cultural relativism and individual relativism is felt to be a must.

Functional areas pose specific ethical challenges as in production, marketing, finance and accounts and HR. Each has their own nature as well.

Discussion on whether ethics is a cultural or a moral issue is another of those fundamental topics.

Also to make it relevant to business the cost of bad ethics and the long term value of ethics are also felt to be needs.

A discussion on the ethical positions of the various economic systems ie capitalism and other systems may not be out of place.

Above all human rights as a part of ethics in the work place and the recognition, acceptance and upholding of the fact that all man-made systems are ultimately for Man and not the other way around would humanize the work place which is a UN agenda subsumed in the broad campaign on 'Decent Work'.

Specific topics of practical use such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act of US and the SEBI guidelines in India in the wake of ENRON debacle are highly desirable.

Environmental ethics cannot be ignored in a discussion on business ethics.
---------------

Bangalore HR summit - 2003: Quantum innovations in HR

In 2003, the IHRD conducted their usual annual Bangalore HR summit. The following is the text of the paper that I delivered. The overall theme was 'From HRM to Strategic HRM: The paradigm shift in HR' and the sub theme was 'Quantum Innovations in HR practices'.

The Chairman on my panel was Mr. Emmanuel David, VP HR Of Volvo India, Bangalore. In the question answer session, some one from the audience asked refering to India or Indians saying things do not work in India in a certain way etc. Mr. David's response is still vivid in my mind. He was critical of the way in whcih an Indian was deprecating the very ways in which the commenter was also party to or contributive.

Looking back I relate the dichotomy between Bharat and India, the traditional rural India and the more enlightened urbanised India the latter of which sort of feels tied up by the slower, less glamorous Bharat. Nevertheless, Mr. David's comment about the condescending question was enlightening if taken in the right perspective.

Abstract

This paper looks into the current conceptualisation of SHRM and recognises transformational Strategic HRM as opposed to process oriented traditional HRM.

It also tries to bring in the concepts of competitive advantage and its necessary concomitant, knowledge Management as one of the key factors according increasing credibility to Strategic HRM. It is argued that in the knowledge economy, investment in HR can alone generate future streams of returns.

Examining the different strategic perspectives, drawn from the paper by Delery and Doty, an attempt is made to expose the universalistic perspective as too one dimensional and contingency perspective too iinadequate to generate quantum leaps from the strategic point of view.

This paper also encourages HR to the adoption of contrarian views with the help of some examples.To do so the configurational approach is proposed to be used as a platform and as the type likely to generate quantum innovations while recognising its amenability more to abstractions as opposed to the explicit empirical.

From Human Resource Management to Strategic Human Resource Management

Introduction :


1.For the purpose of this paper at the outset it is prudent to postulate the conceptualization of strategic HRM as opposed to plain vanilla HRM.

“ Strategic HRM involves the development of a consistent, aligned collection of practices, programs, and policies to facilitate the achievement of the organization’s strategic objectives.” ( Jeffery A. Mello)

The emphasis on the qualifiers rightly imply that traditional HR was inconsistent (with the strategic intent), that traditional HR was inadequately aligned and also that if at all it helped the organization achieve the strategic objectives it was more accidental than intentional. It also implies that strategic Human resource Management is a matter of alignment or congruence.

The intentional is a qualifying term that is at the core of anything professional. Strategic HRM in this vein is a movement towards transformational rather than process oriented action. It is a movement from traditional predictability oriented bureaucratic control to organic, free- flowing control; from specialization to broader job design; from independent tasks to group tasks; from command and control to more autonomous modes; from people as costs approach to people as investment approach from a reactive approach to a proactive approach ( Jeffery A . Mello )

2. From the process oriented approach of HRM, HRM has come a long way. For instance the mere process of recruitment of yesterday has been transformed into a mission with the strategic intent of becoming an “ employer of choice’’ and to hire and retain the best and the brightest.

Or from merely adopting a few practices that one accidentally came across in a conversation, organization have evolved benchmarking as a fairly common and institutionalized practice.

Thus from a mere transactional mode HR has moved towards a transformational mode integrated with the firm’s strategy. And were transactions are unavoidable organizations
have moved to the automating and contracting out mode.

3. New techniques like balanced score cards (BSC) have been used among other things for accountability and what is more, not only for past and present performance but also for things that are the drivers of future performance (Kaplan and Norton ). What has been always felt as a lacuna in managing the long term along with the short term has been made more manageable with the use of such innovations in technique.

A major extension is the adaptation of the human resource function for such diverse organizations such as a hospital, a church, the government and the military and also complementarily, the adoption by these diverse organization of HRM as opposed to a more traditional, bureaucratic, sometimes dogmatic, command and control model. Not with standing the development of the discipline of management from military imperatives this is one instance of the tail wagging the dog, this time more acceptably.

4. The above adaptation and reciprocal adoption can be viewed as a recognition accorded to the HR function as the common factor in such diversified endeavours. What has thus always been intuitively known and said, but viewed with a certain amount of suspicion, especially by those from non- HR streams, namely that ‘ HR is the most crucial function in any organization’, is vindicated as moreover, strategically crucial.

5. Among the many critiques, strategic HRM has been derided as some ploy to bring an otherwise traditional staff function in to prominence. But the merger of the concept of competitive advantage has brought forth increasing credence to the domain as the non – replicability (uniqueness ) element of competitive advantage, the other element being customer value (Pfeffer ) is largely a function of the human resource of an organization through application of knowledge management practices. The unsaid part here is that to date none have brought forth a better alternative to knowledge management than the implicit talent retention and culture building of all superior human resource practices.

Human resource, competitive advantage and innovation

6. A human resource system is defined as a set of distinct but interrelated activities, functions and processes that are directed at attracting, developing and maintaining (or disposing of ) a firm’s human resources. (Lado and Wilson )

A basic premise of competitive advantage is that organizational competencies that are heterogeneous and immobile form the basis of sustained competitive advantage. Many years ago Schumpeter (1934) recognized that innovation and entrepreneurship constituted the crux of the capitalistic economic system. Sustained economic development was possible only when firms engaged in a process of ‘creative destruction’ referring to the carrying out of new combination of resources, methods, system and processes to generate new products and service that effectively fulfilled actual and potential needs of customers. Whatever we today refer to as innovation is this ability to generate revolutions in the industrial domain. The ability to rapidly adapt to these revolutionary changes can earn and sustain higher returns relative to firms that lack these competencies (Delery and Doty )

7. Wesley (1990) has pointed out that HR managers and professionals may contribute to the development and utilization of managerial competencies through participation in strategic conversations. Because they serve as an important strategic node in the communication of information between top management and the rank and file (Nonaka,1988). HR managers in turn are uniquely suited to categorise strategic human issues as opportunities and threats which is a necessary step in the strategy formation process (Dutton & Jackson , 1987).


8. Lado and Wilson (1992) raises the distinction between input based competencies and out put based competencies. Input based competencies encompass the physical resources,
organizational capital resources, human resources, knowledge skills and capabilities that enable a firm’s transformational processes to create and deliver products and service that are valued by customers. Output based competencies include all knowledge based strategic assets, such as corporate reputation, image, product or service quality and customer loyalty.

It is easy to see that because these competencies (largely centered around the Human resources) entail large amounts of firm specific investments in financial, technological, Human and organizational resources that are developed over a considerable period of time and are not easily tradable, they and they alone can generate future streams of economic returns and thus be potent sources of sustained competitive advantage.

Competence enhancing HR systems

9.HR managers can play an active role in articulation the strategic vision and thereby be instrumental in information and realization of strategic vision / mission. HR can further be viewed as a repository of such socially generated knowledge about firm specific knowledge, skills, abilities, relationship and work related values of its employees. They are what labour economists term ‘organizational capital.

10.In the acquisition of input based competencies, HR has obviously a key role to play as in hiring, exploiting imperfections in the labour market, and fostering firm specific human capital. A contrarian view of human resource investment strategy might be to stockpile and train human resources during periods of economic downturn for use in the future, since during downturns human resources are more likely undervalued in the market. Illustrations in the Indian context include some of the information Technology companies who hired in the last lean season when recruitment was other wise lackluster.

11. Miner, (1987) posits a ‘serendipitous strategy of job design in which jobs are created around the unique experiences, knowledge, skills, interest and abilities of current employees or newly hired employees. Taking a cue from the above, Indian firms can think of adopting the practice of many western universities and companies where companies co-opt students students to work with them for specified periods to see ‘what they can contribute to the firm’ rather than recruit people for certain prescribed skills as job specification. The outcomes in creativity far outweighs the incongruence of a person organization fit, in which case it is in the best interests of both the organization as well as the person to disengage from each other.

12.In a similar vein, Jovanovic argued that because they reflect a rare person – job fit, idiosyncratic jobs may result in higher employee productuvuty. This goes against the current grain of thinking which is to mould the employee to suit the firm and involves considerable challenges because be definition socialization and acculturisation does not favor idiosyncrasies. But once again adopting well thought and positive contrarian views may be the direction that future strategic HRM should take.

HRM under the different strategic perspectives

13. Organizations that follow different strategic utilize different HR practices. (Schuler and Jackson, 1988, Arthur, 1992).

Taking a universalistic perspective, Pfeiffer argued that greater use of 16 (HR) management practices such as participation and empowerment, incentive pay, employment security, promotion from within and training and skill development results in higher productivity and profit across organizations. This line of thinking has given the “best practices” approach to SHRM.

Many of the practices enumerated in the above best practices have also been referred to as the 7 practices in the universalistic approach. These are internal career opportunities, training systems, appraisals, profit sharing plans, employment security, voice mechanisms (grievance and suggestions), job definitions (whether tightly defined or loosely defined).

However, this perspective is too one-dimensional from a strategic point of view since, by definition, there is not much leeway in options, as by implication it follows that espousal of the practices (whatever be the other variables)leads to results. But ,in the strategic intent, depending on other factors including rapidly changing external conditions, desired end results may vary, in which case, the perspective provides few options.

14. Another approach, namely the contingency approach argues that in order to be effective, an organizations’ HR policies must be consistent with other aspects of the organization. This approach is what often results in organizational fit or congruence arguments. However, while universalistic perspective is prescriptive in a one shot attempt, the congruence approach assumes a more or less static system so that ‘fit’ is indeed possible over a considerable period in time which assumption is inadequate in rapidly changing times.

The ‘congruence’ approach is the most prevalent interpretation of Strategic HRM because it yields to simplistic explanations. Read the above along with the SHRM definition in the beginning of this article.

15. Configurational perspective emphasize the pattern of HR practices and horizontal (internal consistency, the consistency with other sub systems including non-HR ones) and vertical fit (congruence with other characteristics, implicitly external). This one goes one step ahead of the congruence approach of the contingency approach as it takes into consideration external milieu as well. This contrarian example of recruitment in lean periods, co-opting of university students by companies and Jovanovic’s encouragement of hiring idiosyncratic employees, all cited previously in this article are by hindsight derived from such configurational perspective thinking.

To quote from Delery and Doty, ‘Configurational arguments are complex than either universalistic or contingency theories. Configurational theories draw on the holistic principles of enquiry to identify configurations or unique factors that are posited to be maximally effective. These configurations represent non-linear synergistic effects and higher order interactions that cannot be represented with traditional bivariate contingency theories. Configurational theories incorporate the assumption of equifinality by positing that multiple unique configurations of the relevant factors can result in maximal performance. These configurations are assumed to be ideal types that are theoretical constructs rather than empirically observable phenomena. As a consequence of these differences, configurational theorists working in SHRM, must theoretically derive internally consistent configurations of HR practices, or employment systems that maximize horizontal fit, and then link these employment systems to alternative strategic configurations to maximize vertical fit’.

This implies that while considering the conceptualization, design, development implementation, institutionalization and subsequent adaptations of SHRM, the organization has to look at its objectives, the various subsystems in its internal and external environment, likely changes in its strategic intent arising out of the need for alignment with changing configurations of external reality and ever expanding nature of the larger context of redundancy and refresh cycles due to technological developments / innovations and the consequent synergy and adjustments generated in the economy. In short it takes systems theories to include external systems as well and thereby generating options exponentially.

This is the perspective that has the potential to generate many an innovation as it compels escape from the linear and bivariate constraints of the other two perspectives. In short it argues in favour of quantum leaps in creativity.



References

1. Delery, John E, Doty, Harold D: Methods of theorizing in Strategic Human Resource Management: Test sof Universalistic, Contingency and Configurational performance predictions: Academy of Management Journal. 1996, Vol 39, No. 4 802-835

2.Lado, Augustine A, Wilson Mary C: Human Resource Systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency Based Perspective: AMR 1994, Vol 19, No 4 699-727

3.Kaplan, Robert, W and Norton, David P. TheBalanced Score card: Translating Strategy into Action. Boston: HBS Press 1996

4 Mello, Jeffrey A; Strategic Human Resource Management

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Towards new metaphors for a globalising India : An agenda for Management

In Jan 2005 Rajagiri School of Management conducted the first international seminar at Casino Hotel, Wellington Island. The following article appeared in the journal published on the occassion

TOWARDS NEW METAPHORS FOR A GLOBALIZING INDIA : AN AGENDA FOR MANAGEMENT

Shelly Jose

The time has come where the dominant metaphors are being recast either negatively or otherwise depending on the way the major influence can actively shape them. Managing the macro – variables is a management function. Culture as a macro – variable is rarely thought of in terms of requiring management. Identifying defining and shaping cultural variables have the potential to become a management agenda.


THE CROSSROADS

At this point in the history of our nation when we are firmly into the new millennium, it is fair to assume that liberalization, privatization and globalization are here to stay. Many of those reluctantly watching us have also satisfied themselves that, after India’s pensive economic departures in the early 90s, successive governments are indeed committed to the cause of a new, definitive turn.

India suffered from a severe collective complex of being second rate in comparison with the rest of the world. This was evident in the appreciation of anything ‘foreign’ till recently. The term “Made in India” was almost equivalent to poor quality. Another indication of this complex was that the term MNC evoked an image of India as the host country rather than the home country, despite the fact that there are many Indian MNCs. Our collective mind still plays the second fiddle of imitation, duplicating rather than being the original of the entrepreneurial.

One way to eliminate our blindness to our own strength is to look at how other, especially from the West, perceive us. We would do well to remember Albert Einstein’s comment that western civilization owes a lot to the Indians who taught them how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. Similarly Mark Twain has commented that India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. He adds that the most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man is treasured up in India alone. To quote Romain Roland, “if there is one place on earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from very earliest days when man began the dream of existence it is India”.

The greatness of India was as obvious to these thinkers as we are blind to it. The colonial domination spanning nearly three generations may be to blame, but it is incumbent on the young managers of today to give this complex a definitive turn around considering that they enjoy the privilege of being in, and shaping the pragmatic world.

The peculiarities of India are many. One of the very long standing cultures with a continuity exceeded only by China, India has a sizeable richness, though balanced by the burden of longevity. The richness and diversity among the states of India is unmatched by any of the other large countries. Within India, the cultural dissimilarities among the state are often ignored in favor of some commonness on the broader level. Like all other nations we find ourselves at crossroads and this should compellingly propel us towards a new direction. The effort will be worthwhile at many different levels: the political, the economic and the cultural; but given the nature of the ubiquity and deep influence of organizations, young managers of the nation have a special duty to give the nation a definitive turn.

This paper attempts to form the rationale for such an initiative.

METAPHORS OF YORE AND THEIR IMPORT

In the cultural literature of a country, its dominant values are abstracted as the national character, or the modal personality. A metaphor in this context is a way of representing the dominant personality orientations in the society using symbolic language. In this way the abstract concept is explicated by a more concrete concept.

Some of the traditional metaphors that defined India were all from an etic (outsider’s) perspective. This included epithets such ‘the national of snake charmers, the nation of elephants, the nation where cows, rickshaws and pedestrians jostle for space on narrow by lanes. In some discourses one encounters the more tongue-in-cheek expression ‘the Hindu rate of growth’. The first timer to India from abroad was sometimes shocked to find that India was much more than this. Even within the country the person from one corner would find other places fascinating. Nevertheless, the emotions that were evoked by these word pictures were not exactly appealing to the potential investor in Indian markets.

Markedly absent is the ability to take destiny into ones’ own hands, perhaps influenced to some degree by the deep rooted belief in ‘karma’ or predestination. It is not difficult to see that this conflicts with the basic tenets of Management that things can be and need to be managed with definite objectives and outputs to achieve. Less researched is the effect this belief has on the psyche. The typical Indian thinking underlines a broader inclusive perspective, a long term orientation sometimes extending beyond one’s own life and lifetime. Also, it gives a certain amount of resilience at the individual level against failure as this can be viewed in the larger perspective with loci of control and effect extending beyond oneself.

Upon hindsight, it follows that these are closely related to, and sometimes solutions to the concerns that the profession of management grapples with today; that of finding room for ethics, that of sustainable development, that of handling frustration and conflict. Many a time unconsciously we refer to these peculiarities as antithetical to the market place when we mention that something is against ‘Indian culture’.

ORGANIZATIONAL METAPHORS

Among the metaphors applied at the organizational level, the most frequent for Indian organizations is ‘the family’. The corresponding organizational metaphors for English Organizations is the ‘country fair’, for France ‘the Pyramid’ and for German, the ‘well oiled machine’ or the symphony orchestra; for Italy ‘ the opera for the Japanese the garden and for Israel, kibbutz.

Despite the values attached to the family, when it comes to a work culture, the family evokes connotations alien to the work setting. It invites a sense of the negative informal. The festival season and social functions are excuse for absence under the family metaphor. Also a general atmosphere of tolerance to these at the expense of the objectives is wont with the family metaphor. To speak of objectives, the family metaphor evokes objectives as more diffused than concrete.

At the same time, the community feeling that may have been a positive scorer seems to be missing, as this is retained and confined to the original family setting of the employee. At the organizational level, the metaphor implies a parochial inwardness rather than a professional pragmatic extroversion.

THE EMERGING METAPHORS – THE NEED FOR ACTIVE FORMULATION

The success of the Information Technology Industry and IT enabled industry in the last decade and the ongoing one has shown India in a new light. There are few examples in history where things fell into place so very well to the advantage of a country. Think of the IT success without a favorable time zone difference from the rest of the world. Think of a potentially IT savvy people with no liberalization in sight. Liberalization. IT revolution, a huge pool of English speaking people and India’s favorable geography would have been impotent, one without the other.

The point of relevance in this instance is that the modernization and development in this era is one that is totally liberated from the strap of development envisaged by the first generation after independence. But even as we identify ourselves with this emerging metaphor of the liberated powerhouse we need to be cautioned against other emerging metaphors such as the back office of the world. Are our industries to be recast into a paradigm of a neo second rate while China is being spoken of as the workshop of the world? India needs to forge ahead with value addition on many different fronts of the economy without which it is in danger of being branded with a new, equally derogatory metaphor.

Several dissenting voices about the dominant world order of today reveal a bifurcation of the world into core and periphery. The core represents the countries where the financial, technical and the productive power is concentrated where power is controlled by elite. The periphery on the other hand contains the exploited regions that sell their resources and labour to the core without ever having access to the latter’s wealth. The new movement is a variation of the colonial past where the enrichment of the core is structurally dependent on the impoverishment of the periphery. Strategy is all about seeing where we are going and determining where and how we want to reach our destination. As a nation an active effort towards new metaphors is imperative.

WORK RELATED VALUE DIMENSIONS

There are a number of ways in which people differ on culture which is the cornerstone on which the dominant metaphors are built. This includes the conceptions of values, symbols, heroes and rituals. Out of the above values are the most important but difficult to capture as they are largely internal unlike the other three which are internal. According to Hofstede, a leading authority on the subject, in terms of valued the people of the world differ on.

1) the extent to which power is expected and accepted to be distributed unequally, in other words the degree of inequality, among people, considered normal from relatively equal to extremely unequal.

2)the degree to which people in a country have learned to act as individuals rather than as members of cohesive group, from collectivist to individualist.
3)the degree to which ‘masculine’ values like assertiveness performance, success and competition prevail over feminine values like the quality of life, maintaining warm personal relationships, service, caring and solidarity from tender to tough.

4) the degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations; from relatively flexible to extremely rigid and
5) the degree to which people consider time as something rigid and time as flexible. These four dimensions are respectively called the power distance (high or low). Individualism (the opposite being collectivism), masculinity (the opposite being femininity) uncertainty avoidance (high or low) and time orientation (long term or short term).

Each culture can therefore be classified according to the combination of the above dimensions. A detailed discussion on the combinations is beyond the scope of this paper but it would suffice to mention that India is high on power distance, high on collectivism (low on individualism), moderate on masculinity – femininity and moderate on uncertainty avoidance. While the following discussion advocates the desirable changes that are required, we would do well to remember that cultural dimensions as they are, are difficult to change and changes are by nature, very slow. One could at best hope to throw light on this facet among the whole gamut of variables that determine organizational dynamics.

In terms of the dimensions of work –related cultural values, the challenges to India are many. The high power distance of India is a concomitant of the long reign of the influence of caste. If India is to compete, she needs to move away from a paradigm of high power distance to a lower one to accommodate the large pool of people which is her real strength. Power distance has an exclusing denotation largely in India’s case on reasons of tradition and caste. An atmosphere of achievement appreciation rather than ascription of inherited station is a prerequisite for encouraging greater efforts to advance one’s lot where one need not rely on one’s ancestry.

Among the many reasons for prevalence of individualism is the greater economic independence that characterizes growing economies. While India tends towards collectivism, a movement towards greater individualism is predicted in the light of economic growth. However, India needs to develop and assert collectivism’s non –alienating elements as a counterbalance to the impersonality of modernization if it is to gain the best of tradition and the fruits of modernization.

The oriental inclination towards segregation of the sexes is still largely a feature of India that conflicts with the demands and norms of a job and workplace that is becoming increasingly gender natural. Additionally the feminine qualities of care, concern and nurturance are now professed to be more desirable and finds place in Organizational Behavior literature. To do so we need to be more inclusive and inviting of both the genders in a world where the strengths of both masculine and feminine complement and reinforce.

India is notorious for its lack of systems and its scant respect for those that exist. Consider the disregard for systems such as traffic signals. A system, if bypassed, can have severe consequences at the larger level and is detrimental to the development of a society. A system is antithetical to power as violation of system can be rectified by use of power. This explains the strong disregard for system in a large power-distance country. Among the many interpretations of uncertainty avoidance, the installation of systems is considered as a reliable way of reducing uncertainty. However, the belief in predestination discussed earlier and the disrespect for formal systems go together.

Similarly, an examination of the present pattern of development of the IT industry in India reveals that the development has taken place in centers where there is a youth culture. Where there is a marked absence of youth culture the industry moves on hesitantly. It needs to be recognized that low youth culture is a result of the combination of high power distance, low individualism, low femininity and higher uncertainty avoidance. This is only to highlight the relevance of a cultural fit even within the country as far as specific industries are concerned.

CONCLUSION

Management is critically positioned to influence the destiny of a nation. It has influence over people and can shape the sub-units of the nation at the organizational level. It has the wherewithal and the motivation to do so. The time has come where the dominant metaphors are being recast either negatively or otherwise depending on the way the major influencers can actively shape them. Managing the macro – variables is a management function. Culture as a macro – variable is rarely thought of in terms of requiring management. Identifying, defining and shaping cultural variables have the potential to become a management agenda. This can be one of the emic (insider) exercises by the enabled, for a changing society. In this way the eventual metaphoric outcome can be a competitive strength for the nation as a whole.

REFERENCES

1. Motivation, Leadership and organization : do American theories apply abroad ? G Hofstede, European Institute for advanced studies in Management, Brussels; Report of research carried out from 1973 – 1978.

2.Can Hindus be ambitious ? John Elliot, Outlook, Dec 21, 1998

3. The Twilight of American Culture ; Borris Berman : W.W. Norton and company.

4.Profits over people, (Neoliberalism and Global order) Noam Chomsky : Madhyam books 1998.

5.Branding the nation : Challenge for the masses and policy makers; Joshy Joseph; Advertising Express : January 2004.

6 Cultures and organization : G Hofstede : Harper Collins Business. assion.

Industry mindset and organisational Culture

The following was published in the Kerala Personnel , the professional journal Annual Issue 2007.

Industry mindset and organisational culture -
An attempt at functional distinction.



Shelly Jose

Abstract

A review of the organizational theory indicates the presence of a number of concepts such as industry culture, organisational culture, industry mindset etc. This paper attempts to examine the varied conceptualizations to see the commonness and distinctions attributable to the different nomenclatures. It may be that the different appellations actually mean the same albeit with variations at levels but not necessarily in conceptual essence. However, it is postulated that one may conceptualise industry mindset as what (of the shared values, beliefs and practices) is common across organizations in the industry and organizational culture as more indicative of what is different across organisations (within an industry).

Professional behaviour as a group mindset

An analysis of the literature relating to organizational theory reveals the following variables: industry culture, industry assumptions, industry mindset and industry recipe.


In calling attention to the fact that a people’s way of gaining sustenance promotes certain specific patterns of thought which assist them in their productive and distributive operations, philosopher John Dewey has suggested the concept of occupational psychosis. Citing psychosis in history, the one of the times in which he wrote is described by technological psychosis characterized by experimentalism, laboratory method and a secular morality centering around the occupation.

Paul Meadows comments that a psychosis in this sense is a ‘pronounced mindset’. Further it is also contented that the occupational morality of modern technology was fashioned by certain religious developments, notably Protestantism that unqualifiedly demanded that the “occupation become a preoccupation”. The same idea is reflected by Burke in saying that work both reflects our interests and forms them.

A different instance of the idea is the suggestion of Parsons that it is the differing situations under which business and the professions (‘work’ in the most general sense) operate which account for the apparent differences in motive and not the other way around. In other words it is an instance of the work determining and shaping behaviour around it.

It may not be out of place to also mention E.H. Sutherland’s comment quoted in the same article on the professional thief that the profession is more than isolated acts frequently and skillfully performed. It is a group way of life and a social institution with techniques, codes, status, traditions, consensus and organisation. The article also points out certain social psychological (cultural?) orientations and institutional patterns.

Industry characteristics as influencing organizational culture

A similar line of argument is taken in another article on the relationship between industry characteristics and organizational culture, that while there may be meaningful cultural variations across firms in the same industry, less variation may occur among firms working on the same tasks, using similar procedures and experiencing similar opportunities to grow than across industries.

Industry determinants of organizational culture

George G. Gordon in his article ‘Industry determinants of organizational culture’ suggests that in order for an organization to be successful, industry driven assumptions must be widely shared and widespread disagreement with basic assumptions is unlikely. Though there may be differences in values they may not be undermining of the basic assumptions on which the industry depends. However within the context of the industry assumptions various compatible strategies, structures or processes are available. These are defined by “the assumptions about the specific mission of the organization” that is mentioned by Drucker in his Theory of the Business. The link between organizational culture and the (industry level) environment are loosely coupled which implies flexibility to avoid over-determinism, however, it is also suggested that if the organization is to survive it will be built on certain assumptions required by the industry and it is from these assumptions that certain values (at the organizational level) emerge.

Industry driven assumptions are stable, shared by management and labour alike and productive because they insulate a company from taking inappropriate actions as a reaction to short term crisis situations. Thus industry predisposes all members within it to develop cultures that encourages certain assumptions and values stemming from the nature of what the industry does or produces.

Further, the assumptions that determine mindset in a particular industry centre around the competitive environment, customer expectations and societal expectations which are obviously shared across the organizations within the same industry.


Levels of culture as recognised by Hofstede


[1]Similarly though his elaboration is on culture at the national level, Hofstede in his explication of culture places industry as one level between the occupational and the national levels of culture.



Industry mindsets delineated

One of the articles that speak much more directly on the industry level using the term industry mindset is the one by Margaret E. Phillips.

The article traces the recognition of culture as a set of assumptions shared by a group of people. One reading the foregoing with the psychoses mentioned in the earlier part and also the idea that, less variation may occur among firms working on the same tasks, may immediately recognize an industry level culture.

The set of cultural assumptions is an ‘ideational order’ and more colloquially a dynamic shared mindset. In the article the word mindset is used interchangeably with culture.

Multiple mindsets exist within and around organizations and the identification of the same is now well entrenched and accepted within the organisational theory literature.

The recognition and support for the existence of industry based mindsets has come from institutional theorists in the form of industry systems, societal sectors and homogeneity in form and behaviour among organisations within the same “organisational field”. Also from industrial economics based rationale for notion of evolutionary industry cultures. Marketing theory argues that global commonalities in mission perception exist within certain industries and are developed and maintained through shared experiences.


From the organisational behaviour theory point of view, industry is one of the “trans organisational loci” of culture. Strategy theorists also propose that commonly held mindsets exist across firms within industries and drive strategic decision making by individuals. The term industry recipe appears in the strategic management literature and is described by Spender as “the business specific world view of a definable tribe of industry experts” much like a local culture.

The common strain in each of thee conceptualizations is the “externally (external to the organization) oriented cultural assumptions”. A summary of the above review is given in a tabular form in the annexure.


From the above it may be arrived at that the varied expressions organizational culture and industry mindset mean the same phenomena but at different levels one at the organizational level and the other at the industry level.

Finally for ease of conceptual clarity it is suggested that we may semantically assign industry mindset as more indicative of what is common across organizations in the industry AND organisational culture as more indicative of what is different across organisations (within an industry). Such a differential conception may do well for meaningful professional usage of the terms organizational culture and industry mindset.

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Shelly Jose teaches at the Rajagiri School of Management, Kakkanad, Kochi. A post graduate in PM&IR and an FDP from IIM (Ahmedabad), his current interests include Business Ethics as a key component in the Management Profession.

Previously he served the Indian Ol Corporation, Barauni Refinery as Sr. Personnel Officer.

Message from the students' Union Advisor

Getting tough to the peevish cat and a regret

In 2001 I was the staff advisor to the students' union. In true lone wolf style, things were settled in silence and without much fanfare. The students' activities went smoothly to the outside world. Inside there were some turmoil which were managed.

One holiday the student editor came home close to the college. He had a paper in his hand and said he was resigning from the post. He was tendering the resignation and I said we could meet in the office officially. The issue according to him was that the money for the magazine was lacking. It was the promise of the Chairman that 5000 rupees was kept apart and the rest could be organised through sponsors.

I said I will confirm that the 5000 is kept apart and we will find the rest too. He was insisting on his resignation. I tried to persuade him not to but he was not to budge. Then I asked him whether he wanted the college magazine to see light. He paused and said 'yes'. Then I said if he wanted it I was with him, but in case he was to resign, I too will turn against him and join the rest of the union members. He smiled and slid away like a peevish cat.

The next day I called a meeting of the union members and ensured that the magazine came out. The message from me as students union advisor which appeared in the magazine is below.

During the college union day the priests were taking the then VC, Cyriac Thomas around after the function. During the function my name was raised many times by the student's union chairman in thankfulness.As they introduced me in my cabin, the VC congratulated me too. I said the courteous thanks too. I reminisced later that the thanks should have gone to the priests Fr. Kariyil, the Principal and Fr. Jose Alex, the Manager. It remains as a regret that I was not mentally alert to say so......

Message from the students union advisor

If we were to describe the emerging age it would unsettle many. Especially thise who were in the old mould who imagined that they had enough time to get it all done.

The past few years have proved beyond retract that we are on to a world that will be unforgiving to the complacent. Nowhere is this truer than in the field of management and social sciences. When was it last, one heard of a cushy assignment with enough security to take one through life? Even as such comforts were vanishing, there were still people who thought that there was enough time and they would somewhat be spared.

This is an age of frenzy. This is the age of harsh penalties and rich dividents. To the tough and the "two steps ahead of the competition" kind of person the coming age will be rewarding; the rest are falling by the wayside.

At the same time we are reminded of those success stories whose strengthes were their serious limitations too. In an ever changing landscape, the competence that is valued today may be one's weakest spot tomorrow. What worked here now may not work here later and what worked there need not be the right approach here. That is why the age is an age of frenzy.

The demands that this scenario places on the individual is tremendous. Who is he to turn to? That flamboyant executive who was one's role model is on the chopping list today. The principles that worked yesterday are no longer valid. The ledger that yielded to your fingers have given way to a new software package. The rules that guided you till yesterday are rewritten. The elders to whom we looked up to are also frenzied and are no more guideposts.

Perhaps the only comfort is that one is prepared by this alma mater to think in these terms so that least of all one is not caught by surprise. The cues from the present team, I mean one and all inside and outside the students' executive body, is an indication that they are prepared to take on the challenges of the coming age. What else can the educational institution look forward with pride?

I wish all students the nerve and the battle readiness.

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SHELLY JOSE

Staff Advisor to Students' Union

Many ways of erosion of 'HR' role

In Jan 1999 I had no intention of leaving Indian Oil Corporation. I was nearly six years into the place. Mr. MPC from Project Department was in HR as DGM(HR). An eminently unqualified person for HR I had a grouse against his attitude while in Projects. Projects being too far into the estate the redundant communication channels from Administration could have been easily enhanced by this man. Instead this man was at logger heads with the HR Department. Apart from the inefficiency developed in such a way, this time he himself was DGM in the HR department. It was sure that he would not be able to function without the support of people like me.

Everytime there was an issue I felt he was merely applying his Mechanical Enginering skills where people skills were needed. Things became unusually pendant.

It was at this time that the Chief wanted me to write a summary of the Seven habits for 'Parivartak' the newsletter. Having done that successfully, he marked the paper from JIM's 8M requesting articles and I promptly shot the following one and got it published in their journal.

Prakash Abraham my classmate and colleague saw the article and showed it to Bhalla at the HO. He said it was brilliant and Prakash replied that I have already left IOC. I had mentioned it when I was interviewed for the teaching post and showed the article. Prof. Pothuval who was on the board commented that it was negative and no one listened.It is not difficult to see why it was an adventure of a lone wolf.........

The many ways of erosion of 'HR' role.

A cursory analysis of organisations in the milieu can show that the role of Human Resource Departments is a rather precarious one. At times it has to talk on behalf of the Management to the rest of the organisation. At times it has to ensure enforcement of the company's policies and rules. The aspect of enforcement or administration puts HR at the risk of jealousy of the rest. While it plays its roles, it still retains the role of 'the administered' like the rest, since there can be no policy or rule, separate for HR.

A major role of HR is the advisory one. This is a bottom to top role calling for skills to assert, as the top management or the Chief Executive do not always find it palatable to receive advice. Quite often the top management incumbents fail to attribute its advisory rights to HR.

The danger is more when the top management/Chief Executive are of technical background than managerial. At times the HR is considered as doing mostly unpleasant jobs, like announcing a manpower reduction programme. In the absence of an assertive HR function, the top management conveniently pushes certain decisions downwards which may have human, manpower or cost implications.

One can see endless series of lectures on cost reduction followed by an HR campaign much against the spirit of cost reduction. In this case the perceptive HR man first thinks in terms of the HR man's role in such a seemingly innocuous situation and second in terms of the cost implications vis-a vis the benefits. Where there is a strong culture of budgeting, such an event may not take place without first getting the finance/budget concurrence.Where such practices are absent, the HR man's advisory role is all the more relevant.

This while the campaign in question has to be co-ordinated by the HR department, may gradually render it as an adjunct to the Chief Executive's Secretariat. In such a case HR could be manned by ordinary graduates.instead of HR professionals.

Examples are galore where the role of HR is eroded without anyone taking notice, except the very perceptive, who also observe the undercurrents.

The exit interview followed by some organisations ofers an example of where the behavioural angle is most valid. An exit interview is a unique tool of feedback which otherwise an employee finds constrained to give. By straight jacketing the same in a format, the very purpose of exit interview is undermined. The seriousness is aggravated when HR fails to convince the top management of the futility of such an exercise for fear of tilting the proverbial apple cart or since the company does not want to hear unpleasant truths about itself.

A dangerous practice that erodes the role of HR is the increasing tendency of assigning non-HR professionbals in key HR positions. The obvious thinking behind this practice is that HR is some funciton that can be handled by anyone. Nothing could be far form the truth. If indeed some function could be handled by anyone, the discipline of HR would have died out much earlier. Instead, as can be seen, it is one of the growing professions drawing its currents from such varied fields as Behavioural Sciences, Economics, law, Statistics, Research Methodology and not to mention Management. More importantly it is a profession requiring abundance of perceptiveness of human aspects, a capacity to withstand stress of the interpersonal variety and above all the belief in the human potential for development and the active application of such an attitude.

It is not difficult to see that an engineer trained in the behaviour of machines will be a sad comparison in HR unless he has also developed the capabilities mentioned above by inclination and striving.

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Shelly Jose is Senior Personnel and Administration Officer, Indian OIl Corporation, Barauni Refinery, Begusarai(Bihar).

Sion Laments

Lamentation of the times

The following is an allegorical account of the pain that first is intense and reduces one to the spiritual self alone and then slowly reconstructs it back into rejuvenation at the hands of immense trials and tribulations. Here the man cries out to Jerusalem which houses his wives all of whom have strayed and he is too helpless watching the wives’ folly only to find that he himself is being reconstructed from the foundations in the process. The versifications are reminiscent of the lamentations which was the subject of a previous blog. True to the situation, the man alternates between love and passion and despair and deep wretchedness, imploring God, complaining, confusedly recapitulating his own life and slowly recognizes the folly of the wives and separates himself from it and realizes that this was what he wanted after all and the pain of the time was inevitable.


What is the issue? No amount of blaming Sion prior to or after the incident need make him feel guilty. The 12 year suffering came only due to the guilt of Jerusalem. If the central issue is the trespass of Jerusalem, then Sion has no choice but to dismiss her.The question of whether Sion's behavior was contributive of the trespass is in the moral sense irrelevant. Because, it is for Jerusalem to have her guards alerted at the gate. In a relative sense may be Sion should have shown love and affection albeit as an enactment which would have helped overcome any advances at Jerusalem. The larger question of why this is happening to Sion can only be taken at the spiritual level to avoid any despair. The answer is this is human life. If not for this there is some trial that everyone goes through. That is human life, of choices and mistakes and wrong calculations and unexpected fallouts and out of the blue bolts.All assumptions of a smooth life are faulty.The trials are part of life. The extreme pain that Sion experiences now only can strengthen it. One has to go through this. Only one should be able to bear it in the interim.

The pain that is to the body is one thing. There may be people who love you around to console you. The pain that near ones inflict upon you are less bearable.Because, you are alone in the suffering.One approach is to consider the current pain as a withdrawal symptom while trying to escape from an addiction. The absence is just like an abstinence from an addictive substance. It might take a while when Sion gets over the withdrawal symptom.

In a way the absence relieves Sion and children from the conflict. He had only a negative relief. They had the picture of more idealistic ones compatible in body and mind.One matures and one can really decide the compatibility or not.The identity of the father cannot be denied by Jerusalem and her daughters. Jerusalem cannot deny Sion as long as the child needs as the law provides. Hope good sense would prevail.We grow by unexpected setbacks. Some get it early in some departments others get it in other departments. In some cases no department is spared. This is a cause for concern. The accidents to Sion were many. Subsequent despair and forced choices and Sion’s addiction, the wrong selection and the wrong location the wrong selection again and now the abandonment may be atypical of an average human being. Any mate that Jerusalem finds is an appendage to the first one. The present state is only an exposition of the hidden truth that Sion ignored or suppressed. In this sense Sion is only relieved of the burden of associating with the wrong people.
That things have gone so pathetic at the other side is proven by the fact that Jerusalem refuses to meet a third opinion. Any third party would see through the hollowness of the arguments. ‘I am giving you your freedom’ makes immense sense. Was it not what Sion was craving for?

The unequal yoking was actually a drain on Sion. It was sapping his energy all the twelve years. The agony of being used as a stepping stone is immense. In a way this was all designed although Sion failed to recognize when it was executed. The root cause remains the incompleteness of the yoking. Of adamance and emptiness all over Jerusalem. Filling emptiness with corporate trappings in the right ambience is even more dangerous.

One should say Sion should develop some space for the corporate side, a few more cells reserved for corporate behavior. However, all plans seem to be executed by someone else. One should design one’s movement into something better now. Visualise , visualize….Too little too late to the second largest country. The simplified process came late for the good of Sion. With the corporate shares as well the shares were not got. Sion finds himself late everywhere. Why can’t she forgive when one can forgive trespasses. Jerusalem denies her trespass. Does she not have a conscience?

Is extreme pain good for us physically, mentally? Why do some get it so much? Why did Sion get involved with some people so sadistic? Lord why have you abandoned Sion? Lord give me the courage and strength to hold on. Is Jerusalem better off in this situation? Her freedom, position and money are her strengths now. But they are all materialistic. When will she recognize that? That Jerusalem sided with the evil men itself is cause for Sion to agonise for he did all in the larger interests of Jerusalem and her daughters.

To do this son of man will have to get out of this despair. Lord, when will Sion be out? When will you restore Sion to his former glory? Or is Sion a perpetual scare for you? Why everything is a pain for Sion? The scheming, cunning way in which Jerusalem abandoned the land is too much. She joined other forces and is in the arms of the enemies and now Sion is all alone. But she does not recognise it is all an infatuation. Why Sion? Sion cannot reach out. The only comfort was Jerusalem and her daughters for whom he was working. What sense can someone make out of Sion's own life? Where shall the sons of Sion go hide? What is their future? What shall he hope on? One cannot trust oneself. One is weak physically and mentally. Sion is too weak to take up any assignment.

Sons of Sion are overwhelmed by the many problems that they go through. Each time Sion expected something would come up to console him later. Each time new issues come. This is the end of another dream.

Sion fails to recognise the tipping points. He did not bother to correct. He did not shape Jerusalem. Sion and his sons cannot hope to do anything with her. Any miracle has to come from above. Where there is complete change of circumstance all at once to give a new life to Sion. In fact Sion prayed for a new life without knowing this much of immense pain is in store.

Is there no medicine for mental agony? Should not Sion see some one professionally trained? Is Jerusalem changing into a city of loose women with no morals? What is Sion to do with it? What will happen to her sons? What will happen to the fathers who are weakened? Lord why have you forsaken Sion? Sion is beset with problems from Sion's near ones and the in laws and even his wives have turned against him. Every where he looks it is scary. Even death is not an alternative.

Sion and his sons have no where to run away. Caught by sadistic wives on all sides in deep sea. How can you save Sion now? When things get tough the tough get going. Is it? Sion am reduced to his spiritual self alone. His body is weak. His mind is enfeebled. His heart is torn. His social side is to collapse. His intellectual side is mundane. Only his spirit is left.

Only his spiritual side is being strengthened in the process. Is there a rainbow at the end of the tunnel? What life has Sion left? What can Sion hope for? What have Sion's innocent children done? Sion wanted them to grow healthy in body and mind. Why is it happening to Sion? Is there no happiness anywhere? What about the many other people who suffer. Are they all this pained? Why is Jerusalem not giving him another chance?

Can Sion be reformed to suit Jerusalem? Can Jerusalem be reformed to suit Sion? Is it impossible for God to perform a miracle? Sion is being ruined in gold too. When Sion has to knock at his enemy Egyptians it will be a drain one him. The sons of Sion have to be looked after. What is left of Sion? Lord how can you destroy Sion like this? Why don’t you play a miracle on her conversion? But she is under the influence of the other wives. What is the solution?

Jerusalem is not even willing to talk it out with a third person. The priests and elders are ready, for war will destroy all of us. She does not budge even a bit. And when finally she agreed it was only to get rid of Sion. What a bind is Sion in? How can anyone change this circumstance? Why are you delaying a miracle? Sion is thinking of the extreme step of dying himself. But even that is scary. What will happen to Sion and the sons ? What happens to Sion as a coward?

Is it not cowardice not to face and to overcome? How can Sion give meaning to his life when she is leaving with the other wives? How can Sion acommodate and adjust if Jerusalem turns back? Sion sees no hope. Unless you immediately act some miracle to restore Sion's family to him. Sion promised to be more compassionate to all. Sion is compassionate to all. Only he spends too much time with himself. How will Sion bear this dejection? How come from all sides there is tremendous negative. Is human life so? Is it so? Why is life so painful? Why are we all born into hard times?

Why father, heavenly father? Why did Jerusalem become so sadistic? How did Sion get into this trap? Mother Mary did send some powerful symbols which only Sion knows was promising which gave a lot of positive hope in a worldly way. Is Sion to trust them? Is he to believe the one that he has is to continue or that he is to get a new one? However what is the emotional quality of his life now? Mustn't he get over it now?

How is it that when Sion speaks to Jerusalem he finds in a mood all the more unlike any other time? Who is Sion talking to someone who is so strange and unforgiving? Why is Sion living? Why is Sion in a bind all the time in his life? Six months Jerusalem says she will be ..Leave it to God..Go joint God decide…then why not stop petition. How can Sion change her mind? What kind of stone is her heart? Why is Jerusalem making a mess of her cities?

She is not honest at all Sion am all the more happy. She shapes her arguments in ever more crookish ways. How can anyone cope with a crookish woman? One could say it is all the sins of one and of the forefathers? What basis? Is it the work of evil forces? Is Sion not special to receive all the possible troubles in one life?....

An immense peace pervades Sion after 21 days. He recognises that what he has gone through was not entirely unforeseen or undesirable. He has seen himself shorn of his all other selves except at the deep soul level. He has seen his deep self. Now the rest of it is slowly regenerating. Jerusalem is left to herself. Sion has to go on and Sion will go on. No amount of trials and tribulations is now unbearable to him. His heart is tender as ever but his soul has borne the thorns and can bear for all others too. Nothing was meaningless. Everything has a purpose.......

Love

So much has been said about love. The most authentic Christian view of the various realms of love are below. One completely agrees with it.

In many ways the English term for love is so limited that it cannot express the nuances between God's love, parental love, filial love, conjugal love and the highest of all , the love of humanity. Eros is at one end of the continuum and is translated selfish love and agape at the other end which is selfless love like that of Jesus. But this distinction is only on one dimension namely 'selfishness'.

However, the following places love vertically and horizontally, the Godly and the parental vertical and the rest horizontal. It also places love in various realms. This is a complete treatise on the Christian view in a nutshel and I find no contradiction with the Christian view of love here.

It sharply differs from some of the ancient Indian views especially where the partaking in the erotic enjoyment is a dharma by itself and extra and pre- marital is not ruled out. Here the erotic is uplifted to an art form on a par with music and dance and shringara all of which are preludes and an integral part.

It is said that the Indian ways became prudish with the infusion of the Victorian morals by the British and the adoption of the heavily Biblical view in these matters.

Amidst such perhaps finding what is right and wrong may be relative. However, the Christian view is unambiguous on the issue. That love in all forms has its beginning in God and he intends it in a certain way and no other. Family has a central part in love as also the upbringing of the children in true love in all realms......

Family Education of the Heart

True love requires that we educate our hearts.

While existing on the foundation of ethics, love is not a duty dictated by ethical standards. It is the spontaneous flow of emotion from the heart. Why is the ethical foundation necessary? We know from experience that love is often changeable. Emotions run hot and cold, affectionate and hateful. This is the character of selfish love.Selfish love is changeable; it is not true. It disappoints. It fails. Selfish love is narrow and short-sighted, hence it does not prosper. True love is giving and goes beyond the self.

Selfish families do not serve the public. There is no basis for God's love to dwell in their midst. True love contains true standards within it. It naturally abides by ethical norms and encourages others to abide by them. Therefore, love grows on the foundation of ethics.

Ethical norms lay out the paths which free us to give and receive love.
The vertical ethic nurtures the quality of character that promotes true, lasting love. This is expressed completely in the family. Therefore children learn the standard of ethical love through experience in the family.

The family is the textbook and school of love.

Education happens through stories and instructions. Through our lineage we learn a tradition and way of life from our parents and grandparents. Lessons of the past are passed on. Grandparents love to tell stories of the past. Children love to listen to stories of the past. In this way, past and future are connected. Stories are among the most effective means of education. The most reliable predictor of criminal behavior is not race, economic status or education, but rather the absence of grandparents during childhood.

Education happens through relationships. Through actual relationships with grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, and children we learn proper norms of behavior. Norms are taught by natural practice and living example. The family practices and enforces rules within an atmosphere of love, trust, understanding and acceptance. Rules are not impersonally applied, but personality and feelings are naturally taken into account.

The school of love brings development of the heart (the ability to give and receive love). This is the growth of love. This is the most important purpose of the family. No matter what our wealth, position or fame, the family we are born into and the family we create form a permanent set of relationships to care for us and challenge us to grow from within.
More importantly, our heart grows through the give and take of love with parents, brothers and sisters, husband and wife. We learn to relate with people of all ages and genders.

We learn all our lives: after youth we experience the same lessons from the "school of love" all over again in the position of parents and grandparents. Therefore, our family relationships are the most important learning experiences.

The four great realms of heart.

Heart must be exercised in order for our spirits to remain healthy.
God's heart is the irrepressible source from whence love flows.
Our hearts are vessels to receive love and give love. Heart refers to our innermost, autonomous motivation, desire and ambition.

The expressions of true love in the family reveal the richness, power and depth of divine/human love. There are specific types of love exchanged between family members, based upon their relationship of age, sex and marriage. Each is based upon heart, and each partakes of a "realm of heart" which is from God. The "realm of heart" is a domain of spirit within which a distinctive quality of love, with a special purpose, naturally, spontaneously flows. It flows between human beings and between God and us. A specific type of love naturally flows between brothers, different type of love naturally flows between husband and wife, third type of love flows from parents to infants, or to teenagers, etc.
There are four general "realms of heart," those of children, brothers and sisters, husband and wife, and parents. We grow through these realms like grades at school. We ascend from one realm to the next when our love reaches the standard required for entry into the higher realm. It is wrong to enter a higher realm of love prematurely, which is most common through premarital sex and "children having children." Each realm, however, includes the realms below it. For example, a child may enter the realm of brother-sister love, but he will still be relating to his parents through children's love. A man may enter the realm of conjugal love, but he still respects his wife as he would his sister.

Education of love for each family member progresses through the realms of heart.

Children's heart toward parents.
Brother-sister heart toward each other.
Husband-wife heart (conjugal love).
Parent's heart toward children (fullest expression of God's Heart).
These realms are equally valuable and beautiful. They reveal the basic dimensions of God's love. They pull God's love into our lives, each in its own special way.

In a family centered on true love, love flows through the realms of heart.
Love circulates among family members, gaining energy through daily interactions. In each realm, we love each other, experience each other's love, and help each other grow. Each experience contains both learning and teaching. In the next lesson we will explore the children's realm of heart.


The Children's Realm of Heart

Children's realm of heart.

Every child is born out of the love of God. As he or she grows, he unfolds stage by stage the invisible nature of God in visible manifestation. After all, in adulthood, he is destined to fully embody God's divine nature as a temple of God. As the child receives his parents' love his heart grows.
The child is innocent, curious and open. The child believes in others.
Receiving parents' love stimulates the child's love and causes the child's heart to grow, as sunlight coming from the sky causes plants to grow and multiply. Children naturally offer love and respect, faith and trust, obedience and gratitude to their parents. Thus, the mind of filial piety develops. As a result of receiving parental love, they naturally develop love among brothers and sisters. This is how love multiplies and fills everything.

The parents are the primary conduit for God's love to the child. The face of his parents are the first image of God; in their love he can understand the reality of God. As he is receptive to his parents love, he becomes receptive to God's love and truth. He is filled with wonder at his world and is grateful for its blessings. We have the heart to love God because He first loved us through our parents.

Grandparents' love is a valuable supplement to parents' love. Grandparents represent the larger world. They have more time. They have broader perspective than the parents, in general.

Within God there is yin and yang, masculinity and femininity.
Children receive God's masculine love from their father, and His feminine love from their mother. Boys and girls grow in different directions. The older they grow, the greater the difference. Boys respond more to their mother's love. As they grow up, they must separate from dependency upon their mother and begin to identify and inherit from their father. Girls respond more to their father's love. As they grow up, they must separate from their attachment to their father and begin to identify with and inherit from their mother. This means their love for the opposite sex grows, though latently, while their ability to become a husband and wife grows.

As children, boys and girls persecute each other. They are not meant to manifest sexual love, by natural law. American educator Allan Bloom lamented the terrible effect of early sexual experience upon his students, calling youths who experimented with sex "flat-souled . . . unadorned by imagination and devoid of ideals." (Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987], 134.

Explicit sexual education taught by non-family members is harmful. Children cannot deal with such thoughts and ideas.

Learning to live by conscience.

The conscience represents God, who is the source of the vertical ethic. Therefore the conscience will promote the principle of life for the higher purpose. The physical body cannot transcend its own needs and appetites. Therefore the body will insist upon life for the self's purpose.
Our conscience knows we should be able to get along with everyone. Its perspective transcends self-interest. In the conscience, the child has a natural compass to guide the growth of her heart.
However, children need to be taught norms to educate the conscience.
Filial piety is the basic standard of good and evil for children's conscience. In the story of Pinocchio, his conscience was always telling him to obey his father. When he realized the truth of this, he gained the power to sacrifice himself to save his father's life.
Children have a desire to know right from wrong.
Children have an innate sense of the difference between good and bad.
They test the limits. They do not complain when their parents push them to study, because they know it is for their benefit. The heart of true parents is to pray for their children all night, shedding tears.

However, parents who have not developed good character cannot give true love to their children. Their children are deprived of the love which can nurture the children's realm of heart. Their children's personalities become crippled, unable to relate evenly with all types of people.
When children's love is lost, later in life they distrust and disobey their elders and all forms of social authority. Worse, they lose their relationship with God, who is first perceived by a child in the love of their parents. Thus atheism comes about. Without a full relationship with God, the conscience is weakened and cannot develop fully. Without receiving proper education as children with which to bear fruit in the children's realm of heart, none of the other realms of heart can develop properly.
Parents who have distorted relations with their own spouse or parents cannot function within the parental realm of heart. They will abuse their authority as parents, even making sex objects of their children or young relatives (incest).

One of the most sorrowful results of the failure of parents to establish the realm of children's heart is homosexuality. Homosexuality arises from the failure of true love within the family, especially in the relationship between father and son, mother and daughter. As we grow, we move into the realm of brother and sister love. This will be the focus of the next lesson.



The Conjugal Realm of Heart

The conjugal realm of heart.

A man and a woman who have graduated from the children's realm of heart and brother-sister's realm of heart are ready to enter the conjugal realm of heart.

They are capable of receiving love.
They are capable of relating equally well to all twelve types of people.
They are capable of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the sake of others. Therefore they are qualified to give absolute love.
Their love is pure and their hope and vision for the future are strong.

Each has become God's temple.
Otherwise, God's love cannot be present in their union, and there is no foundation for their love to last. They have followed the vertical ethic, being a son and daughter of filial piety, patriotism, saintliness and holiness. They have developed their conscience. They have the heart to expand their love to the community, nation, world and cosmos.
Jesus said: love your enemy, be like God who sends rain upon the just and the unjust. Buddhism teaches that ignorance and attachment comes from egoism.

The young man and young women are destined to meet and consummate God's love. As teenagers, around age 17, girls become attractive and boys become handsome. The passion arises within them to seek for a partner of love. There is a sense of infinite possibility and boundless enthusiasm.
This great power is condensed and focused into one person: their eternal life partner of marriage. They come together at the center horizontally, and God's love comes down to them vertically. This is a cosmic spark of electricity!

The value of my spouse is equal to that of the entire cosmos.
In loving his wife the husband is loving his sister, daughter, mother, grandmother. She in loving her husband is loving her father, brother, son, grandfather. This means that conjugal love includes all the virtues of loyalty, parental heart, compassion, cooperation, and so forth. These virtues are necessary for the perfect marriage.

In loving his wife he is loving all women in the world. She in loving her husband is loving all men. In loving his wife he is loving all yin elements in the cosmos. She in loving him is loving all yang elements. Each partner represents one half of the entire universe.

In loving his wife he is loving the femininity of God. She in loving her husband is loving the masculinity of God. Conjugal love represents the unity of the cosmos. In loving my spouse we become the center of the cosmos. Our love occupies the entire universe, and the universe dances in harmony. Combined, we have the sensibility to inherit the universe and be its stewards in love.

Their union is the full image of God. Their union is God's dwelling place.
This is the fulfillment of the purpose of creation: the unity of God, man and woman. The entire cosmos resonates with and revolves around this central point of true love. From that point, they become husband and wife and then become parents as they give birth to children. At the same time, God participates as the vertical Parents. We should realize the absolute value of having a spouse.

On the foundation of complete selflessness, purity and fidelity, sexual love is good. It is the foundation for God to dwell with us and for us to become one with God and each other. It is the place where the miraculous creation of new life takes place. It is the place of greatest joy for man, woman and God. It demands a greater degree of love, self-sacrifice, devotion and goodness than the celibate state.

The young man and young woman's love should be selfless and pure (as is God's love). It must have God's Blessing. Otherwise, their love will not meet God's love. There will be a clash, a lack of resonance due to the presence of selfish desire and partial commitment. The vertical line of God's love and horizontal line of human love should meet at a 90 degree angle. Conjugal love is the foundation of loving God and humankind, and it is the foundation for God to dwell within the family. Therefore we should appreciate the greatness and depth of conjugal love.

The sexual organs are the place of their union, where they meet with God in a tremendous explosion of love. They are the most holy place of the body. The sexual organs should be treated as a holy temple and palace of true love. None can enter but the high priest, the spouse. If anyone else enters, the holiness is defiled. The male organ belongs to the wife. To let another woman use it is robbery. Likewise the female organ belongs to the husband. Thus, the sexual organs are hidden and kept with modesty. (Pornography is a tremendous evil, because it violates the realm of conjugal heart and multiplies this violation to the society level. This defiles the sanctity of the society.)

The sexual organs' mysterious function is the source of new life. There, God's electric love merges with the couple through the forty billion cells of their bodies.

Husband-wife love can never be broken; there is no concept of divorce.
Any competing love pales in comparison to true conjugal love. The starting point of conjugal love is God, moving vertically through the conscience to the heart to the holy place. Conjugal love endures even though the body grows old. True conjugal love deepens and grows forever in the spirit world. Death is not the end.

The equal value of husband and wife.

From the viewpoint of the cosmos, the husband represents heaven, the Creator God, because he contains the seed. The wife represents the earth because she receives and nurtures the seed in her body. Therefore, husband and wife represent the entire cosmos, heaven and earth.
In fulfilling these responsibilities, one person takes the leading role as the subject partner. The partner supports as the object partner. Usually, the man is the subject partner by virtue of his role in society, and his wife is the supporting object partner. There is a natural order that the man should have a more public role and be the breadwinner. Men are endowed with minds and bodies more fit to hard labor and to the time-space demands of public life (irregular schedule and location).
But sometimes, the woman has the leading role and her husband is the object partner (e.g. Margaret Thatcher, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir).

Working out disputes between the partners always honors their relationship over and above the separate interests of each. Women's true liberation does not weaken the family bond. Love is true liberation, and true love strengthens the family. Women can move their husbands to their way of thinking with love and service. Betty Friedan is but one modern feminist who repented of her earlier advocacy of women's "liberation" which impoverished family life.

The lack of conjugal love is the root of the problems of this world.
Some couples marry as virgins, but most do not. Some couples are better than others, but there are no couples who have achieved true conjugal love. This is a spiritual barrier for all mankind. Because of it, many religions teach that the way to find God is to live a celibate life. The root of this spiritual problem goes back to the fall of man. Love between husband and wife grows colder as society progresses externally, leading to abuse, frustration, infidelity and divorce.

Children suffer irreparable psychological and spiritual damage as a result of divorce. They lose the capacity to sustain their own male-female relationships, and are likely to divorce as their parents did. All manner of sexual perversions arise as people seek to fulfill their longing for conjugal love which is not fulfilled in marriage (adultery, prostitution, pornography, rape and incest).

The failure to fulfill the children's, brother-sister and conjugal realms of heart is the result of the lack of parental love. We have never had true parents, or known true parental love. Since every child is born with the nature to receive true parental love, to receive anything less is to abuse the child. Abused children grow up into flawed parents. Thus we are a world of flawed parents and abused children.

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