Linda Brady-Hawke
  Publisher

    Email: linda@lbassociates.com

- Ralph Waldo Emerson                         

There’s a nip in the air and the chill promises to get worse. This time around, Christmas has been particularly cold. But the celebrations and the bonhomie surrounding the festival more than make up for the discomfort which the smog creates during early mornings.

Post the US sub-prime crisis triggered in 2008, there is a pall of gloom all over Europe now as the sovereign debt crisis consumes countries like Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain etc. Some say it’s a crisis in leadership. Many others retort the ageing population just can’t manage to support the economy. For better or worse, the eurozone crisis will last for quite some time and the effects will soon be seen in Asia, and in India, particularly.

How do CEOs manage their companies during a recession? This question begs an answer which is ably provided by HR veteran Sridharan Mahadevan of Ion Exchange who writes that organisational culture plays an important role in organisational effectiveness. Mahadevan in his detailed analysis, goes on to suggest remedies that corporates can use to beat recession.

From pre-service training to online research, from in-service training to online instruction, e-learning has revolutionalised the world. Dr Vineeta Prasad of Liqvid elearning writes in her article that in an industry that has witnessed huge leaps in training requirements, technology has stepped in admirably to bridge the yawning gap and e-learning seems to be the logical outcome.

Of particular note, in this issue is an interview with Marc Effron, president, The Talent Strategy Group. Marc says that it’s impossible for great talent management to happen without managers engaging in those activities. More importantly, it’s impossible for any meaningful talent building to take place without the full support of the executive team. In that sense, talent management shouldn’t be confined to HR; it should be integrated in the daily life of every executive.

Performance evaluation is a hot topic in corporate circles these days and quantification is the key takeaway. In his article, Ranan Bhattacharjee of Tata Motors writes that learning and development is a result of this quick result syndrome. He concludes that behavioural theories do suggest interventions that try to move a person too quickly through the stages of change are more likely to create resistance that will impede behaviour change. Therefore, by hurrying into things to force results rather than allowing nature to prevail, we further create a case of ‘transfer failure’.

These and many more articles by industry experts will keep you engrossed and charged.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2012.

I came across People and Management last year. The following caught my interest:-

(a) The Articles and their content.
(b) The presentation-print and paper
     quality.
(c) Apt layout i.e., the sequencing.

I sent in my subscription straightaway.

Being a person dealing with Corporate HR, the material was firstly reader friendly - makes interesting reading & not very difficult and secondly professionally interesting for application.

The magazine continued getting better with each issue in fact the waiting period for the next issue is rather long - my demand may be taxing on the editorial staff but you can consider making it a monthly magazine.