A PROJECT REPORTON

INDUSTRY VISITS

BY

RAJ CHAKRABORTY(BBA)(2011 – 2012)

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFBachelor of Business Administration

UNIVERSITY OF PUNE

MITSOM CollegePUNE: 411038

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr.RAJ CHAKRABORTY of MAEER’s MITSOM College has

successfully completed the project work in partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of

Bachelor of Business Administration prescribed by the University of Pune.

This project is the record of authentic work carried out during the academic year

2011-2012.

Ms. Pradnya Gaikwad (Dr.) R.M. Chitnis

Project guide Principal

DECLARATION

I, Mr.RAJ CHAKRABORTY hereby declare that this project is the record of authentic work

carried out by me during the academic year 2011-2012 and has not been submitted to any other

University or Institute towards the award of any degree.

RAJ CHAKRABORTY

Sr. No. Name of the Company/Organization

Date of the visit

1 PARLE-G FACTORY(BISCUITS)

2 COCA-COLA FACTORY(SOFT DRINKS)

3 RALEGAN SIDDHI VILLAGE(RURAL DEVELOPMENT)

4 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

(SEMINAR)

Content

Date visited : -

Focus Area : - Packaging and Production

Company Instructor: -

Faculty Coordinator: - Mrs. Anjali Sane

Mrs. Amruta Dixit

Parle-G or Parle Glucose is a brand of biscuits manufactured by Parle Products in India. As of 2011, it is the largest selling brand of biscuits in the world according to Nielsen.

Primarily eaten as a tea-time snack, Parle-G is one of the oldest brand names in India. For decades, the product was instantly recognized by its iconic white and yellow wax paper wrapper with the depiction of a young girl on the front. Counterfeit companies have attempted to recreate and sell lower quality products of similar names with virtually identical package design.

History of Parle

The first Parle industry was set up in 1929.the 1st brands were Parle Glucose also known worldwide as Parle G and Parle Monaco.Parle became a multimillion US Dollar Company having 40% share of the total biscuit market and 15% share in the total confectionary market.It is the market leader in many products and has a total turnover of over 2000 crores.

Parle Products was established in the Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai, in 1929. It began manufacturing biscuits in 1939. In 1947, when India became independent, the company launched an ad campaign, showcasing its Glucose brand of biscuits as an Indian alternative to the British biscuits.A long time ago, when the British ruled in India, a small factory was set up in the suburbs of Mumbai City, to manufacture sweets and toffees. The year was 1929 and the market was dominated by famous international brands that were imported freely. Despite the odds and unequal competition, this company called PARLE PRODUCT, survived and succeeded by adhering to his quality and improvising from time to time.

A decade later, in 1939, Parle Product began manufacturing biscuits, in addition to sweets and toffees having already established a reputation for quality, the Parle Brand name grew in strength

Parle-G

with this diversification. PARLE GLUCOSE and PARLE MONACO were the first brand of biscuit to be introduced which later went on to become leading name for great test and quality. That time only one building was having in Vile-Parle where they were making production and any other process. Then gradually that company expanded in many buildings and today that company located in 14 Akers area. That time they were transporting their products only by cycle.

About Parle-G:

Parle-G has been a strong household name across India. A cream colored yellow stripped wrapper with a cute baby containing 10-12 biscuits with

the company’s name printed in Red and you know these are Parle-G biscuits. The great taste, high nutrition, and the international quality, makes Parle-G a winner. Times changed, variety of biscuits did come and go but nothing has changed with these

biscuits. It has been the undisputed leader in the biscuit category for decades.

Parle Quality:

Hygiene is the precursor to every process at Parle. From husking the wheat and melting the sugar to delivering the final products to the supermarkets and store shelves nationwide, care is taken at every step to ensure the best product of long lasting freshness. Every batch of biscuits and confectionaries are thoroughly checked by expert staff, using the most modern equipment hence ensuring the same perfect quality across the nation and abroad.Concentrating on consumer tastes and preferences, the pare brand has grown from strength to strength ever since its inception. The factories at Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Neerana in Rajasthan are the largest biscuit and confectionary plants in the country. The factory in Mumbai was first to be set up, followed soon by the one in Bangalore, Karnataka. Parle products also have 14 manufacturing units for biscuits and 5 manufacturing units for confectionaries.

Parle-G Target Base:

Parle-G is consumed by all ages, from the rich to the poor living in cities and in village. While some have it for breakfast, others it is a complete wholesome meal. For some it’s the best accompaniment for tea. While for some it’s a way of getting charged, whenever they are low on energy.

Parle-G………as a Brand:

The brand is associated with the positive values of life like honesty, sharing and caring. The incredible demand led to Parle to introduce the brand in special branded packs and in

larger festive tin packs. It is synonymous to energy and nutrition. It has become a part of the daily lives on many Indians. It wasn’t a biscuit anymore. It

had become an icon.

Be it a big city or a remote village of India, the Parle G symbolizes quality, health and great taste.

7 P’s of Marketing:-

Marketing services is different from marketing goods, and the marketing tools and practices

developed for goods marketing are often not directly transferable to the marketing of services.

There are several major differences, including:

The buyer purchases are intangible.

The service may be based on the reputation of a single person.

It's more difficult to compare the quality of similar services.

The buyer cannot return the service.

4 P's product promotion placement and price

The differences have resulted in a divergence in the education of services marketing versus

regular marketing. Apart from the traditional "4 P's," Product, Price, Place, Promotion, there are

three additional "3P's" consisting of People, Physical evidence, and Process.

Product refers to the creation of a service concept that will offer value to target customers and

satisfy their needs better than competing alternatives. This consists of a core product that

responds to the customer primary need and an array of supplementary service elements that are

mutually reinforcing value-added enhancements that help customers to use the core product more

effectively.

Place and time may involve physical or electronic channels such as banks now offer customers

a choice of distribution channels including visiting a branch, using a network of ATMS, doing

business by phone or conducting them over the Internet.

Price and other user outlays are crucial as well. To determine if a particular service is “worth

it”, customers go beyond monetary considerations and assess the outlays of their time and effort.

Thus, service marketers must set prices that target customers are willing and able to pay and

minimize other burdensome outlays that are incurred. These may include additional monetary

expense in traveling, time expenditures, unwanted mental and physical effort and exposure to

negative sensory experiences.

Promotion in services marketing is also educational in nature, especially for new customers.

Suppliers need to teach these customers about the benefits of the service, where and when to

obtain it, and how to participate in service processes to get the best results. This can be delivered

via individuals such as salespeople, at websites, on display screens in self-service equipment and

through a variety of advertising media.

GENERAL OBSERVATION:

Parle G as Price Mix:

Parle G has adopted the market Penetration strategy that is low price along with capturing of a large market.

Also they focus on providing good quality products at the same time, which means it uses the value pricing method.

The value for money positioning helps generate large sales volumes for the products. Parle G is available in Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 4 to Rs. 25 packets. Profit margin for distributors is 4% and for retailers is 10-12%. Parle G maintained its price of Rs. 4.00 for the last 12 years and has seen the variation in

its sales.

Parle G as Place Mix:

The extensive distributive network, built over the years, is a major strength for Parle Products.

Parle G biscuits are available to consumers even in the most remote places and in the smallest of villages with a population of just 1500.

Parle has nearly 1500 wholesalers, catering to 4, 25,000 retail outlets directly or indirectly.

Parle G as Promotion Mix:

Advertising:

It was advertised mainly through press ads. The communication spoke about the basic benefits of energy and nutrition.

In 1989 Parle G released its dadaji commercial which was a huge success. The next level of communication associated the brand with the positive values of life like

honesty, sharing and caring. Recently Parle G has started the use of celebrity and their advertisements one of them

being Aamir Khan.

Public relations:

Parle has done the following for enhancing public relations: In the year 1997, Parle G sponsored the tele serial of the Indian superhero, Shaktimaan,

which went on to become a Hugh success. In the year 2007, a national level promo- “Parle G mera sapna sach hoga” was for a

period of 6 months. The promo was all about fulfilling the dreams of children. Parle had introduced the novel promotion called Parle Golu Galta contest.

General Observation:

After visiting the Parle factory as in industrial visit we analyzed that the best selling branded biscuit company offers its customers with large variety of biscuits, sweets and confectionaries. It aims “to serve people and nation.

The privately owned self financed company provided motivation and confidence to its staff and other related members by providing various facilities and organizing certain events. It has a very open work culture. The atmosphere is so comfortable and relaxed that helps in increasing productivity and efficiency.

Parle has found its way into the Indian hearts and home. It spreads happiness and joy among the people of all ages.

Availability of all products is not uniform in all towns. Golden Arch and Nimkim, newly launched, have very less availability. Parle G is most favored brand and is sold most. Parle biscuits are the retailers and

consumers prime choice. Most bites are not accepted by the general masses due to its dissatisfying taste. Even several biscuits are made only of milk which are tasty but only exported to other

countries as they are very expensive and not for local consumption.

Date visited : -

Focus Area : - Manufacturing and Bottling

Company Instructor: -

Faculty Coordinator: - Mrs. Anjali Sane

Mrs. Amruta Dixit

Address : - Coca-Cola Pvt. Ltd.

Pirangut Pune

Company profile :-

About Coca-Cola

On May 8, 1886, a pharmacist named Dr. John Pemberton carried a jug of Coca-Cola syrup to Jacobs’ Pharmacy in downtown Atlanta, where it was mixed with carbonated water and sold for five cents a glass.From humble beginnings 125 years ago, our Company has evolved from one product -- Coca-Cola -- to more than 500 brands in 2011. We’ve grown from selling a modest 9 drinks a day in 1886 to 1.7 billion a day. And we’ve expanded from one city in one country to availability in more than 200 countries around the world.

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the largest

single Coca-Cola bottler in North America and western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major restaurants and food service distributors.

The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime or coffee.

Quick facts:-• Today, there are over 800 low- and no-calorie beverages in our portfolio.• We've committed to include front-of-pack energy information on all Coca-Cola products by the end of 2011.• In 2010, the Company and Foundation spent almost $12 million in support of health and wellness and active, healthy lifestyle programs.

Observation under Focus area:-

What does the Coca-Cola Company actually produce?

It is a common misconception that The Coca-Cola Company itself produced the drinks that bear its name from start to finish. The Coca-Cola Company primarily produces syrups and concentrates that are mixed with water at specific bottlers and then sold to retail outlets.

The bottling process: ‘The Coca-Cola System’

“Our company manufactures and sells beverage concentrates (sometimes referred to as beverage bases) and syrups, including fountain syrups. We also manufacture and sell some finished beverages, both carbonated and noncarbonated, including certain juice and juice-drink products and water products”. From Coke’s 2003 Annual Report.

This quote sheds some light on the production process at the Coca-Cola Company. The company essentially produces syrups and concentrates and then sells them to authorized bottling and canning operations that package and distribute the final product. Separate contracts, or bottler’s agreements, exist between Coke and each of its bottlers regarding the manufacture and sale of Coke products. The Bottler’s Agreements authorize the bottler to prepare designated Coke trademark beverages, package the drinks in authorized containers, and then sell the final product in an identified territory. Bottlers are obligate to purchase all of their concentrates and syrups for designated Coke trademark beverages from the company’s authorized suppliers.Coke has relationships with three types of bottlers: independently owned bottlers where the company has no ownership interest; bottlers where the company has invested but has a non- controlling ownership interest; and bottlers where the company has invested and has a controlling interest. The company makes investments in selected bottling operations in order to bolster production, distribution and marketing and to simply ensure operations are running smoothly. While the company bottles and sells a limited amount of Coke products from company controlled and consolidated bottling operations – 8% of the company’s 2003 worldwide volume – most Coke products are produced and distributed by bottling operations not wholly owned by Coke.This does not mean that the corporation is not intimately involved in the operation of the private bottling firms. Through bottler’s agreements, the company is able to ensure that their products are being produced and distributed properly. The agreements allow the company to exert a certain amount of power and influence over the bottlers.According to Coke, in 2003, independently owned bottling operations produced and distributed approximately 24% of the company’s worldwide volume, while 58% came from operations where the Coca-Cola Company had investments without controlling interests. Regardless of what Coke says about ‘controlling interests’ in bottlers, the company, as a 2003 Forbes article reported, ”effectively controls them [bottlers] by maintaining big equity stakes and a heavy presence on their boards, and by providing their main source of business. Yet it keeps its stakes in the bottlers below 50%, thereby avoiding getting hit with their piles of debt and any unpleasant liabilities”.The remaining 10% of worldwide sales volume was produced and distributed by the company’s fountain and finished drink operations. In certain cases the company will provide promotional and marketing services and funds to bottlers. The Coca-Cola Company has complete flexibility to determine the price and the terms of sale of the concentrates sold to bottlers outside of the United States. There are approximately 80 authorized bottler ownership groups in the North American Coca-Cola system.

Pirangut villagers closely follow Coke controversyAug 25, 2003

PIRANGUT, Pune district: Coca-Cola is not among the preferred drinks in Pirangut village, located 15 km from the city.Nevertheless, the villagers have been anxiously following the raging soft drinks-pesticides controversy as Pirangut plays host to Coke's manufacturing and bottling plant in the district.Coke is dear to the villagers as the plant provides direct employment to nearly 80 of them and indirect employment to many others, including local transporters."Many of our boys earn upwards of Rs 10,000 per month, which is truly a handsome amount," said Sarpanch Balasaheb Gole. He pointed out that earlier, the villagers had to scrounge for work at measly daily wages.For almost 10 years now, managers at the Coke plant have been supporting village activities, in an effort to maintain cordial relations with the villagers. Although this amount is minuscule, the gesture has had a positive impact on the villagers."Without fail, Coca-Cola provides poor students of primary and secondary schools with uniforms and textbooks every year. They spend around Rs 1 lakh on this and give another Rs 50,000 as donation to schools.Also unfailingly, Coke donates Rs 10,000 for the Ganapati festival and another Rs 10,000 for the annual cricket match in the village. "Every year, we have a village fair on the occasion of padwa and Coke gives us Rs 25,000 for it," Gole said.Unlike in Kerala, where the Coke plant at Palakkad is embroiled in a local controversy over excessive groundwater extraction and contamination of soil, the villagers at Pirangut have nothing adverse to complain about the plant.The plant is, however, crucial to Coca-Cola India as it is here that the company manufactures its canned drinks for supply throughout the country.This plant also manufactures and bottles drinks for much of Maharashtra and Goa, said Coca-Cola's area general manager M. V. Natarajan.One batch of drinks worth nearly Rs 60 lakh was frozen at the plant by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 6 and samples collected for testing for pesticide residue.While Limca and Thumbs Up were subsequently declared safe for public consumption by the FDA, results on Coca-Cola and Sprite were awaited as of Friday.At Pirangut, however, the Coca-Cola plant is just one among the nearly 300 small and big units in the industrial area and does not stand out conspicuously in the slow paced humdrum of village life.While the controversy in Kerala is centered on the damage caused by the Coke plant's slurry, which was used by local farmers as fertilizer, at Pirangut, farmers were ignorant of any such opportunity."The villagers here are quite progressive but will not undertake to any such experimentation," said villager Chandrakant Aher.

General Observation:- First the bottle is blown up from pet material.

Then it is supplied to the filling machine through conveyor belt.

It is properly filled and checked is it sealed properly or not.

Then the sticker is pasted automated and MFG date is printed through laser.

Through the conveyor belt it is supplied and packed in boxes automatically.

Whole process of filtering water, filling in bottle and packing in boxes is automated.

600 bottles per minute is the production capacity of glass bottles which are recyclable in

nature.

Plastic bottles production rate is 200 bottles per minute.

Aluminum cans are also made.

Lime, bleaching powder are used to purify water with the help of sand and carbon filters

with a ph level of 6.5.

Water is available from rain water harvested and artificial reserves created to store water.

Ralegan Siddhi: A village Transformed

Date visited : -

Focus Area : - Rural Development

Company Instructor: -

Faculty Coordinator: - Mrs. Amruta Dixit

Rural Development

Generally refers to the process of improving the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Rural development has traditionally centered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks and increased urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers. The need for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions. Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies. In contrast to urban regions, which have many similarities, rural areas are highly distinctive from one another. For this reason there is a large variety of rural development approaches used globally.

Development actions

Rural development actions are mainly and mostly to development mostly aim the social and Economic development of the areas. In Europe, rural development actions also integrate environmental management as a core component. Rural development programs are usually top-down from the local or regional authorities, regional development agencies, NGO's national governments or international development organizations. But then, local populations can also bring about endogenous initiatives for development. The term is not limited to the issues for developing countries. In fact many of the developed countries have very active rural development programs. The main aim of the rural government policy is to develop the undeveloped villages.

Rural development aims at finding the ways to improve the rural lives with participation of the rural people themselves so as to meet the required need of the rural area. The outsider may not understand the setting, culture, language and other things prevalent in the local area. As such, general people themselves have to participate in their sustainable rural development. In developing countries like Nepal, India, integrated development approaches are being followed up. In the context of many approaches and ideas have been developed and followed up, for instance, Bottom-up approach, PRA- Participatory Rural Appraisal, RRA- Rapid Rural Appraisal etc.

Demographic Features:-

The 1991 Census enumerated a population of 1,982 living in 310 households (presently estimated to be around 325). The sex-ratio being 902 females per 1,000 males (1,029 in 1971; 1,013 in 1981). The continued decrease in the ratio is explained as the return of male folk to the village with improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the village. Backward classes (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) constitute only 14.23% of the total population.

The level of literacy has gone up from 30.4% in 1971 to 39.65% in 1981 and further to 50.95% in 1991. As of now, according to the villagers, no one in the 15-35 year age group is illiterate. Today, the overall literacy rate is estimated to be around 65 % which is far above the national average of 52%.

Socio-Economic Structure:-

Marathas of Khatri caste out-number other castes and constitute nearly two-third of the families. Among others are the backward castes including Mhar, Chamar, Bharhadi, Pardi, Sutar, Barber, Fishermen and Matang, etc.

There are only five landless and 13 artisan households in the village. Most of the landholders are small. 51 % of the landholders own 1-3 ha land which is about half the total area as well as population of the village. There are only 12 farmers (about 3%) owning more than 6 ha, who own about 18% of the total area. Though the average size of landholding (2.5 ha), appears to be relatively large, considering the poor quality of soils and low productivity levels, the holdings are quite modest.

Occupation-wise cultivators are in majority, followed by agricultural labor. Agriculture is the mainstay for majority of the people. Others like grocers, drivers, cobblers, barbers, blacksmiths, broom makers, health workers, teachers, shopkeepers, flour mill operators, welder, and bank workers represent the services and rural artisans. Another interesting factor in the Maratha families is that most of them like to send at least one of their sons for military service. However, the occupational structure of the village has been undergoing change since 1976 in favour of agricultural sector.

Village

Fig. 1: Organization diagram of village Ralegan Siddhi

Ralegan Siddhi-The Developed Village

Ralegan Siddhi is a small village in the district of Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. It has become an example for various developmental activities throughout the country.

In 1975 this same village was caught in a web of poverty and illicit liquor trade. The per capita Income was unbelievably low at Rs 271. The transformation took place when a retired army driver Anna Hazare

settled in the village.

To begin with he donated Rs 3000 to renovate a local temple. In that temple he baptised the villagers with his five commandments: prohibition on consumption of alcohol, family planning, a ban on open grazing, a ban on felling trees and voluntary labour.

As the photo shows’ grazing is being done just too much which is leading to the loss of fertility of soil. In order to prevent this loss of fertility Anna Hazare passed law related to ban on open grazing.

Voluntary labour was necessary to ensure minimum dependence on the government for doles. "It socialized the costs of the projects." explains Hazare. Even those who were working outside the village contributed to development by committing a month's salary every year.

Work began with the percolation tank constructed in the village. In 1975 the tank would not hold water. The embankment wall leaked. Hazare rallied people to voluntarily repair the embankment. The seven wells below it swelled with water, for the first time in the living memory of the people. In summer the people reposed their faith In

Hazare and his vision.

A youth group Tarun Mandal was formed. The group worked to ban the dowry system, caste discrimination and untouchability. Liquor distilling units were removed and prohibition Imposed. Open grazing was completely banned with a new emphasis on stall-feeding. The cultivation of water-Intensive corps like sugarcane was banned. Crops such as pulses, oilseeds and certain cash crops with low water requirements were grown.

All elections to local bodies began being held on the basis of consensus. "It made the community leaders complete representatives of the people." says Ganpat Rai Avti head of the village council. Systems of Nyay Panchayats (Informal courts) were also set up. Since then no case has ever been referred to the police.

An Rs 22 lakh school building was constructed using only the resources of the village. No donations were taken. Money if needed was borrowed and paid back. The villagers took pride in this self-reliance. A new system of sharing labour grew out of this Infusion of pride and voluntary spirit. People volunteered to work on each others' land. Landless labour also gained employment. Today the village plans to buy land for them in adjoining villages.

Today, water is abundant, agriculture flourishes In Ralegan. Though at a cost of overuse of fertilisers and pesticides. Prosperity also brings to question the ability of the affluent present generation to carry on the work after Anna. The answer lies on Anna's words. "The process of Ralegan's evolution to an Ideal village will not stop with changing times people tend to evolve new ways. In future Ralegan might present a different model to the country.

Transformation of Ralegan Siddhi

Swami Vivekananda philosophy has great bearing on Anna Hazare. His thoughts and work have been a constant source of inspiration for him. While serving in the Indian Army, he had decided to dedicate his life to social work, but he did not know how to begin. While in the army, he used to visit his village for two months, every year during his leave period. The condition of the village was pathetic and awful. The land was barren and undulated. As the village is located in the rain-shadow area, the annual rainfall is a meager 400–500 mm. All of the rainwater use to run off and get wasted. There were no means to harvest this precious resource. Whatever rainwater use to get collected was sufficient to cultivate only one crop on 300–350 acres of land out of a total 2200 acres of land available in village. 80% families were surviving on one square meal in a day.

As food production was insufficient and no employment opportunities were available in the village, some villagers started brewing liquor to earn their livelihood. Gradually the number of breweries rose to 35. They were aware that what they were doing was socially and morally incorrect, but the circumstances forced them to adopt this profession for their livelihood. Some villagers had to walk 5–6 km. each day in search of employment in the nearby villages.

The helplessness due to poverty and indebtedness led people to desperation and ultimately to alcoholism. Quarrels and street fights became daily chores. Hazare’s house was in a hamlet just half a km. away from the centre of the village. Hazare avoided going to the heart of the village due to this pathetic condition. He always felt helpless since he could not do anything to change the conditions prevailing in the village.  

When he decided to dedicate his life for social cause in 1975, he believed charity should begin

from home. Swami Vivekananda words resonated in his mind – people would not listen to philosophical ideologies with empty stomachs. Social change is not possible if people are haunted by the daily problem of making two ends meet. Hazare taxed his brains on how to solve this crucial problem. He remembered that Late Mr. Vilasrao Salunkhe had in 1972, started experiments in watershed development and water management in some villages near Saswad in Pune district. His work used to be frequently discussed in informal gatherings everywhere. So, Hazare visited his project and was inspired. States Hazare, “This visit gave a direction to my ideas and I decided to undertake similar work of watershed development in my village. ‘’

Watershed development programme

Ralegan is located in the foothills, so Hazare persuaded villagers to construct a watershed embankment and associated works to stop water and allow it to percolate and increase the ground water level and improve irrigation in the area. These efforts solved the problem of water scarcity in the village and made irrigation possible.

Cultivation of water-intensive crops like sugarcane was banned. Crops such as pulses, oilseeds, and certain cash crops with low water requirements replaced them. The farmers started growing high-yield varieties and changed cropping pattern. Hazare has helped farmers of more than 70 villages in drought-prone regions in the state of Maharashtra since 1975. When Hazare came to Ralegan Siddhi in 1975 only 70 acres (28 ha) of land was irrigated, Hazare converted it into about 2,500 acres (1,000 ha).

Hazare then paid a visit to the office of the then Director of Agriculture, Mr. Dikshit, and told him that he had decided to work for betterment of his fellow villagers. He expressed his desire to undertake water conservation work in his village under his guidance. After some days, Mr. Dikshit paid a visit to Ralegan Siddhi along with his subordinates and made a geographical

survey. He was convinced that the topography of the village was suitable for undertaking the watershed development programme and took a decision to implement it.  

On resumption of the watershed development work in the village, Hazare started supervising the work at sites from dawn to dust, without taking a farthing as remuneration. He considered it as social work; and day by day his experience and knowledge was building up. With his experience and knowledge, he constructed many water harvesting structures with people’s participation. So far, 48 nulla bunds, 5 cement check dams and 16 Gabion structures have been constructed. The villagers under Hazare’s guidance also undertook fodder development, continuous contour trenches and loose boulder structures on 500 acres of land.

 The watershed development work helped in conserving each drop of rainwater in the village itself and in recharging the groundwater aquifers. This ultimately raised the water table. In the same village where earlier it was not possible to cultivate more than 300–350 acres of land for one crop, now the villagers are harvesting two crops in 1500 acres of land. Due to availability of water, the agricultural production has boosted up. The agricultural development has created lot of employment in the village itself. Not only has the distress migration completely stopped, but now wage laborers have to be hired from other villages in order to get various intercultural operations done in time.

 Earlier only 300 liters of milk was sold from the village. Now the milk production has gone up to 4000 liters. This milk is purchased by cooperative and private dairies. This brings in Rs. 1.3 to 1.5 crores (13 to 15 million) annually to the village. The dairy business has flourished as a subsidiary to agriculture which has provided a new income generation avenue to the unemployed youths of the village. The per capita income of the villagers has increased from Rs. 225 to Rs. 2500. This has completely transformed the economy of the village. The living conditions of the villagers have improved and the gap between the haves and have-nots has narrowed down. After the economic transformation of the village, villagers constructed buildings worth Rs.1 crore (10 million) for school, hostel and gymkhana and renovated the old village temple through financial contributions and shramdan.

Collective marriages

Most rural poor get into a debt trap as they incur heavy expenses at the time of marriage of their daughter or son. It is an undesirable practice but has become a social obligation in India. Instead, Ralegan’s people started celebrating marriages collectively. Joint feasts are held, where expenses are further reduced by the Tarun Mandal taking responsibility for cooking and serving the food. The vessels, the loudspeaker system, the mandap, and the decorations have also been bought by the Tarun Mandal members belonging to the oppressed castes. From 1976 to 1986, 424 marriages have been held under this system.

Mass marriages are arranged in the village (generally 25 to 30 marriages at a time) in order to curb expenditure. This has helped in removing caste barriers and promoting social cohesiveness.

After the success of watershed development programme in Ralegan Siddhi, Hazare replicated it in the neighbouring four villages. The results are encouraging. Now the same project is being replicated in 80 – 85 villages of Maharashtra. Like any other village in India including Ralegan Siddhi, there was a social problem of untouchability. Today people of all castes and creeds live together in peace like members of the same family. The consecutive droughts led to non-payment of bank loans taken by the Dalit community for agriculture purposes. The bank decided to sell their mortgaged land to recover the loans. At this critical time, rest of the villagers decided to toil on the farmlands of Dalits and repay the loan by harvesting crops. The villagers cultivated their land in 1983-84 and 1984-85 through shramdan (voluntary labour), repaid the bank loan, and saved their land.

In the last 35 years, many institutions and cooperatives like Gram Panchayat, Cooperative Consumer Society, Cooperative Credit Society, Cooperative Dairy, Educational Society, Women’s Organization and Youth Organization, with different mandates are operating in Ralegan Siddhi. Till date no elections were held for the selection of members of these institutions. The members were selected unanimously by the villagers in the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha has emerged as a powerful forum for taking collective decisions at the village level. All the developmental programmes are implemented in the village after taking consent of the Gram Sabha.

Since last 15 years, thousands of visitors, not only from neighbouring states of India, but also from abroad, have visited & are still visiting Ralegan Siddhi to study the impact of watershed development. They include researchers, academicians, farmers, government officials, people’s representatives and students.

While implementing the watershed program trained manpower is required and realizing that there was paucity of trained manpower in Ralegan Siddhi. A training institute to impart training in watershed development was established. So far, about 17–18 thousand people from different states of India have been trained at the Training Centre on Watershed Development.Ralegan Siddhi should not be viewed from the narrow angle of materialistic development, i.e. structures in watershed or economic development. The developmental process in Ralegan Siddhi is beyond this. There is a social and nationalistic thread passing through the process of change.

The big dams are getting filled with silt due to soil erosion which is the result of uncontrolled tree felling in the catchment areas. No emphasis was given to soil conservation and range development. The top loose soil is getting washed away each year by the rainwater and getting deposited in the big dams. The top soil is the creamy layer of the land. According to scientists, it takes more than hundred years to form 1 inch of top soil. On one hand, this precious resource of top soil is being washed away from the villages; and on the other hand, it is getting deposited in big dams thus reducing the life of the dams. This is going to create many problems in the near future. All the major cities are supplied drinking water from a nearby dam. All the industries and sugar factories are provided water from the same dams. The hydro-electricity power generation plants are situated on big dams. All these facilities will come to standstill one day when the dams get filled with silt completely. These dams will meet the fate of death; say after 100 or 200 or 500 years. Nobody can avoid this sorry fate. Neither the government nor the people would be able to de-silt these big dams as the back-water spread of these dams is 60 – 90 km. It will not be possible to remove the huge mountain of 90 km. length and 200 – 300 ft. height from the dam site. There won’t be any alternate sites available for construction of new dams. What is going to happen to all these big dams? That is the question.  Transformation of village economy alone could bring in transformation of the economy of the nation. That is possible only through watershed development programme. Today, our concept of development is based on exploitation of environment and humanity. We are dreaming of development by uncontrolled extraction of subsurface and surface resources like petroleum, coal, groundwater, vegetation and aquatic resources. The growing population is putting tremendous pressure on the available resources. The demands will continue to grow. Villages in India are facing the problem of scarcity of drinking water due to depleted groundwater resource. Water tankers roaming the rural roads for supplying drinking water to villages are a common sight now. If the trend continues in future, one day water will not be available even for supplying by tankers. What will happen to our coming generations if all the resources of groundwater, petroleum and coal exhaust one day?

The development of an individual, family and village is not possible by exploiting environment indiscriminately, but by sustainable use of available resources. Watershed development and water management is the right approach in that direction. Today, every country is facing the problem of environmental degradation. International leaders and scientists are worried about the future of the Earth alike. Watershed development will certainly provide a solution to maintaining ecological balance.

Our idea of development is limited to construction of skyscrapers and wide roads only. On one hand, the height of buildings is going up day by day and; on the other hand, the level of human values is coming down. This is not real development. An individual should be able to stand on his own and at the same time think of betterment of fellow beings, which is true development. One should be able to look beyond oneself, think of one’s neighbour, village and the nation. Today, there is a need to create such individuals who are capable of looking beyond oneself. Such individuals are not created through donations, subsidy and grants. This is possible

through local leadership building programme where stress would be given on character, right values and dedication. Somebody has to make sacrifices.

A field full of swaying crop tells us that a grain has buried itself into the ground to give birth to thousands of grains. The grains which do not burry themselves are taken to the flourmill and ground into flour. The grains which sacrifice by burying themselves in the soil, give birth to a swaying field of crop.

Hazare returned to Ralegan Siddhi, a village then described by Satpathy and Mehta as "one of the many villages of India plagued by acute poverty, deprivation, a fragile ecosystem, neglect and hopelessness."

Although most of the villagers owned some land, cultivation were extremely difficult due to the rocky ground preventing retention of the monsoon rains; this situation was worsened by gradual environmental deterioration as trees were cut down, erosion spread and droughts were also experienced. The shortage of water also led to disease from unsanitary conditions and water reuse for multiple purposes. The economy of the village had become reliant on the illegal manufacture and sale of alcohol, a product on which many of the villagers had become dependent. Many inhabitants borrowed from moneylenders to survive, paying monthly interest rates of as much as 10%. Crime and violence (including domestic violence) had become commonplace, while education and employment opportunities were poor.

Hazare was relatively wealthy because of the gratuity from his army service. He set about using that money to restore a run-down, vandalized village temple as a focal point for the community. Some were able to respond with small financial donations but many other villagers, particularly among the elderly, donated their labour in a process that became known as shramdaan. Some youths also became involved in the work and these he organized into a Tarun Mandal (Youth Association). One of the works of Vivekananda which he had read was Call to the youth for nation building.

Establishments made by Anna Hazare:

Gram Sabha

The Gandhian philosophy on rural development considers the Gram Sabha as an important democratic institution for collective decision-making in the villages of India. Hazare campaigned between 1998 and 2006 for amending the Gram Sabha Act, so that villagers have a say in the village's development. The state government initially refused, but eventually gave in to public pressure. It became mandatory to seek the sanction of the Gram Sabha (an assembly of all village adults, and not just the few elected representatives in the gram panchayat) for expenditures on development works in the village.

Tree plantation

All students in school have been taught that tree is very necessary for survival hence the students are every year made to plant as many trees as they can plant so that the environment remains green as possible.

Grain Bank

In 1980, Anna started the Grain Bank at the temple, with the objective of providing food security to needy farmers during times of drought or crop failure. Rich farmers, or those with surplus grain production, could donate a quintal to the bank. In times of need, farmers could borrow the grain, but they had to return the amount of grain they borrowed, plus an additional quintal as an interest. This ensured that nobody in the village ever went hungry or had to borrow money to buy grain. This also prevented distress sales of grain at lower prices at harvest time.

Milk production

As a secondary occupation, milk production was promoted in Ralegan Siddhi. Purchase of new cattle and improvement of the existing breed with the help of artificial insemination and timely guidance and assistance by a veterinarian improved the cattle stock, increasing milk production.

Rules set up by Anna Hazare:

Education

In 1932, Ralegan Siddhi got its first formal school, a single classroom primary school. In 1962, the villagers added more classrooms through community volunteer efforts. By 1971, out of an estimated population of 1,209, only 30.43% were literate (72 women and 290 men). Boys moved to the nearby towns of Shirur and Parner to pursue higher education, but girls were limited to primary education. Hazare, along with the youth of Ralegan Siddhi, worked to increase literacy rates and education levels. In 1976 they started a pre-school and a high school in 1979. The villagers formed a charitable trust, the Sant Yadavbaba Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, which was registered in 1979.

Removal of untouchability

The social barriers and discrimination that existed due to the caste system in India have been largely eliminated by Ralegan Siddhi villagers. It was Hazare's moral leadership that motivated and inspired the villagers to shun untouchability and caste discrimination. Marriages of Dalits are

held as part of community marriage program together with those of other castes. The Dalits have become integrated into the social and economic life of the village. The upper caste villagers built houses for the lower caste Dalits by shramdaan and helped to repay their loans.

Prohibition of alcohol

Hazare and the youth group decided to take up the issue of alcoholism to drive a process of reform. At a meeting conducted in the temple, the villagers resolved to close down liquor dens and ban alcohol in the village. Since these resolutions were made in the temple, they became, in a sense, religious commitments. Over thirty liquor brewing units voluntarily closed their establishments. Those who did not succumb to social pressure were forced to close their businesses when the youth group smashed their premises. The owners could not complain as their businesses were illegal.

Drunken villagers were tied to pillars and then flogged, sometimes personally by Hazare. He justified this punishment by stating that “rural India was a harsh society” and that doesn’t a mother administer bitter medicines to a sick child when she knows that the medicine can cure her child? The child may not like the medicine, but the mother does it only because she cares for the child. The alcoholics were punished so that their families would not be destroyed.

Hazare appealed to the government of Maharashtra to pass a law whereby prohibition would come into force in a village if 25% of the women in the village demanded it. In 2009 the state government amended the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 to reflect this.

It was decided to ban the sale of tobacco, cigarettes, and biddies (an unfiltered cigarette where the tobacco is rolled in tendu also known as Diospyros melanoxylon leaves instead of paper) in the village. In order to implement this resolution, the youth group performed a unique "Holi" ceremony twenty two years ago. The festival of Holi is celebrated as a symbolic burning of evil. The youth group brought all the tobacco, cigarettes, and biddies from the shops in the village and burnt them in a Holi fire. Tobacco, cigarettes, or biddies are no longer sold.

Today the villagers have completely given up brewing of liquor. Nobody sells liquor in the village. Further, the shopkeepers do not sell cigarettes, biddies and tobacco too for the last 13 years.

General Observation:-

The village was very well maintained.

Every law and order established by Anna Hazare is followed with honor and no one tends to even break it and if any 1 does break the law fierce punishment is given to that person.

All houses have been built well which are strong and can withhold severe damage (pucca house).

Rain water harvesting is done so that there is no problem in the village with lack of water in farms or in any ones house.

Temple has been maintained very neatly. It comprises of a small room made for Anna Hazare which acts as his resting place.

Roads are very well built hence no problem with transportation. Medical facilities are also provided in small hospital that has been established in the

village for the local people.

Seminar On Human Resource Management

We often hear the term human resource management, Employee relations and Personal management used in that popular press as well as by industry experts. Whenever we hear these terms, we conjure images of efficient managers busily going about their work in glitzy offices.

HRM has two definitions:-

The first definition of HRM is that it is the process of managing people in organizations in a structured and thorough manner. This covers the fields of staffing (hiring people), retention of people, pay and perks setting and management, performance management, change management and taking care of exits from the company to round off the activities.

The second definition of HRM encompasses the management of people in organizations from a macro perspective i.e. managing people in the form of a collective relationship between management and employees. This approach focuses on objectives and outcomes of HRM function.

These definitions emphasize the difference between personal management and HRM as described above. To put in one sentence, personal management is essentially “workforce” centered whereas HRM is “resource” centered. The key difference is that HRM in recent times is about fulfilling management objectives of providing and deploying people and a greater emphasis on planning, monitoring and control.

In the 21st century organizations, the HR manager or the people manager is no longer seen as someone who takes care of the activities described in the traditional way. In fact, most organizations have different departments dealing with staffing, payroll, and retention etc. instead, the HR manager is responsible for managing employee expectations vis-à-vis the management objectives and reconciling both to ensure employee fulfillment and realization of management objectives.

Human resources are undoubtedly the key resources in an organization, the easiest and the most difficult to manage. The objectives of HRM span right from the manpower needs assessment to management and retention of the same. To this effect human management is responsible for effective designing and implementation of various policies, procedures and programs. It is all about developing and managing knowledge, skills, creativity, aptitude and talent and using them optimally.

The scope of HRM is extensive and far-reaching. Therefore, it is very difficult to define it concisely. However, we may classify the same under following heads:

HRM in personal management: this is typically direct manpower management that involves manpower planning, hiring (recruitment and selection), training and

development, induction and orientation, transfer, promotion, compensation, layoff and retrenchment, employee productivity. The overall objective here is to ascertain individual growth, development and effectiveness which indirectly contribute to organizational development.It also includes performance appraisal, developing new skills, disbursement of wages, incentives and allowances, travelling policies and procedures and other related courses of actions.

HRM in Employee Welfare: This particular aspect of HRM deals with working conditions and amenities at workplace. This includes a wide array of responsibilities and services such as safety services, health services, welfare funds, social security and medical services. It also covers appointment of safety officers, making the environment worth working, eliminating workplace hazards, support by top management, job safety, safeguarding machinery, cleanliness, proper ventilation and lighting, sanitation, medical care, sickness benefits, employment injury benefits, personal injury benefits, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits and family benefits.

It also relates to supervision, employee counseling, establishing harmonious relationships with employees, education and training. Employee welfare is about determining employees’ real needs and fulfilling them with active participation of both management and employees. In addition to this, it also takes care of canteen facilities, crèches, rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.

HRM in Industrial Relations: Since it is a highly sensitive area, it needs careful interactions with labor or employee unions, addressing their grievances and settling the disputes effectively in order to maintain peace and harmony in the organization. It is the art and science of understanding the employment (union-management) relations, joint consultation, disciplinary procedures, solving problems with mutual efforts, understanding human behavior and maintaining work relations, collective bargaining and settlement of disputes.

The main aim is to safeguarding the interest of employees by securing the highest level of understanding to the extent that does not leave a negative impact on organization. It is about establishing, growing and promoting industrial democracy to safeguard the interests of both employees and management.

The scope of HRM is extremely wide, thus, can not be written concisely. However, for the sake of convenience and developing understanding about the subject, we divide it in three categories mentioned above.

Importance of HRM for Organizational Success

The practice of HRM must be viewed through the prism of overall strategic goals for the organization instead of a standalone tint that takes a unit based or a micro approach. The idea here is to adopt a holistic perspective towards HRM that ensures that there are no piecemeal strategies and the HRM policy enmeshes itself fully with those of the organizational goals. For instance, if the training needs of the employees are simply met with perfunctory trainings on

omnibus topics, the firm stands to lose not only from the time that the employees spend in training but also a loss of direction. Hence, the organization that takes its HRM policies seriously will ensure that training is based on focused and topical methods.

In conclusion, the practice of HRM needs to be integrated with the overall strategy to ensure effective use of people and provide better returns to the organizations in terms of ROI (Return on Investment) for every rupee or dollar spent on them. Unless the HRM practice is designed in this way, the firms stand to lose from not utilizing people fully. And this does not bode well for the success of the organization.

TALENT ENGAGEMENT

Introduction

Talent is one of the most important assets of an organization. An efficient workforce determines the level of productivity of the organization and thus determines the effectiveness of organizational systems and processes. Any organization, whether small or large, which expects to grow and prosper, must take the talent retention issue as a top priority. Failure to do so lead to organizational slowdown and steady decline. Even during the times of economic slowdown, it is imperative for an organization to focus on talent retention strategies. This way, the organization can retain talent and make judicious use of the same. The expedition to find the best way to retain talents has taken HR professionals through concepts such as talent reviews, talent satisfaction and talent delights. The latest idea is "Talent Engagement", a concept that holds that it is the degree to which a talented talent is emotionally bonded to his organization and passionate about his work that really matters. Talent engagement is the level of commitment and involvement a person has towards his organization and its values. An engaged talent is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. Talent engagement is a critical ingredient of individual and organizational success. Engagement is strongly influenced by leadership quality, as well as by job and organization features. This conceptual research is designed to determine if the potential for talents to be engaged in work can be predicted at the time of their initial application for work. These studies also provide additional evidence about the impact of talent engagement on important business outcomes.

This paper makes an attempt to bring to notice the importance of talent engagement, various organizational factors that influence talent engagement and retention, consequences of not paying attention to it and suggestions to attain talent engagement. Three specific objectives are setup in this paper to understand the basic relationship between engagement, performance and retention of specially the talented talents, as they are more important for any organization as compared to talents who are not at all engaged or disengaged talents:

(i) Construct and evaluate the drivers for talent engagement.

(ii) Examine the effect of engagement on individual outcomes such as job effectiveness and retention likelihood.

(iii) Prevent talents from becoming disengaged.

Talent Engagement

Most organizations today realize that a 'satisfied' talent is not necessarily the 'best' talent in terms of loyalty and productivity, but it is the 'engaged talent' who is intellectually and emotionally bound with the organization, who feels passionately about its goals and is committed to its values. The engaged talent goes the extra mile beyond the basic job responsibility and is associated with actions that drive the business and who puts in his maximum skill and talent in accomplishing the common goal. Therefore, it becomes mandatory for organizations to focus on talented talents, so that they can be utilized maximum in favor of the organization instead of focusing on talents who are unable to put in their maximum. This defines and explains the importance of "Talent Engagement" over and above "Employee Engagement".

Development Dimensions International (2007) defines:

"A Talent engagement as the extent to which individuals is committed to their organization and its bottom line, has pride and job ownership, and put forth more discretionary effort in terms of time and energy". The term 'Talent Engagement' represents an alignment of maximum job satisfaction with maximum job contribution. There are five distinct talent segments: (a) Fully engaged (b) Almost engaged (c) Honeymooners & hamsters (d) Crash & burn and (e) Disengaged. The global survey shows that 34 per cent of the talents in India are fully engaged, 13 per cent disengaged and as many as 29 per cent are 'almost engaged'.

Talent engagement is vital to an organization's success. Engaged talents are loyal, highly motivated team players who care about the company and will work hard to help the organization succeed. Talents who are engaged generally perform well, act as positive advocates for their employer's mission and are less likely to leave the company. Disengaged talents, on the other end, are negative forces that can hurt morale and obstruct progress. Talent engagement definitions vary from "a positive emotional connection to talent's work" to "engaged talents are inspired to go above and beyond the call of duty to meet business goals". The Corporate Leadership Council (CLC, 2004) definition of talent engagement is "the extent to which talents commits to something or someone in their organization and how hard they try and how long they stay as a result of that commitment". This includes discretionary effort as a by-product or output of engagement. Towers Perrin-ISR global study (2006) included three components in the definition of talent engagement: Cognitive/ think, Affective/feel, and Behavioural/act as shown in Figure 1. The thinking dimension refers to believing in an organization’s goals and values; the feeling dimension involves a sense of belongingness, pride and attachment to the organization;

the behavioural dimension includes the intention to stay with the organization and willingness to go the extra mile, i.e. discretionary effort.

Melcrum's research (2005) shows the benefits of talent engagement programmes. According to Melcrum, the issue of talent engagement appeared around 2000, and as stated by him, the survey research by the Gallup Organization (2003), showed a link between disengagement and intentions to resign. According to the survey, only 25% of talents are actively engaged, while 17% are actively disengaged and the remaining 58% are neither engaged nor actively disengaged. According to the CLC (2004), Talent Engagement Framework and Survey cited by the Australian Public Service Commission, the engagement (commitment and effort) accounts for roughly 40% of observed performance improvements. According to

CLC (2005), a definition of a fully engaged talent:

(i) Is intellectually and emotionally bound with the organization.

(ii) Gives 100 percent.

(iii) Feels passionately about its goals.

(iv) Is committed to live by its values

This talent will definitely go beyond the basic job responsibility to delight the customers and drive the business forward. Moreover, in times of diminishing loyalty, talent engagement is a powerful retention strategy. Patricia Soldati (2007) states that Talent Engagement is the means or strategy by which an organization seeks to build a partnership between the organization and its talents, such that:

(i) Talent fully understand and are committed to achieve the organization's objectives, and

(ii) The organization respects the personal aspirations and ambitions of its talents

It is seen from the above that the organization's responsibility is to create an environment and culture conducive to this partnership. Talent engagement creates greater motivation within talents for the work they do and increases their commitment to the organization. It is about creating an enthusiasm for their roles, their work and the organization, and ensuring that they are aligned with the values of the organization, well informed and well integrated with their colleagues as well as culture of the organization. According to a recent Gallup study (Katharine Esty and Mindy Gewirtz, 2008) on talent engagement, about 54 percent of talents in the United States are not engaged and 17 percent are disengaged and only 29 percent are engaged. The key business challenge for companies is to create the necessary environment which promotes talent engagement. Many leading HR professionals preach the benefits of this, but what does it involve in reality? It is the means by which an organization seeks to build a true partnership with its talents such that everyone fully understands the organization's objectives and where everybody works together to achieve them. It is a combination of commitment, involvement, organizational citizenship and an outcome of a positive psychological contract between talents and their employer.

So why should organizations look to engage their workforce? What is the business case? A highly engaged talent is someone who will consistently deliver beyond expectation and who will have a sense of belongingness and a strong bond with the company and its brand. Typically, engaged talents are strong company advocates, who provide value for the business by raising awareness and trust in other stakeholders, reinforcing satisfaction and encouraging commitment

amongst colleagues. Engagement requires a two-way relationship between employer and talent. Organizations must work to engage the talent, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer. Towers Perrin--ISR global study (2006) indicate the benefits of enhancing the bond between the talent, their colleagues and the organization. Some of the benefits documented are:

(i) Increased passion for, commitment to and alignment with the organization's strategies and goals.

(ii) Improved overall organizational effectiveness.

(iii) A high-energy working environment.

(iv) Increased productivity and enhanced morale.

(v) Boosted business growth.

(vi) Talents as effective brand ambassadors for the company.

(vii) Creating a sense of loyalty in a competitive environment.

(viii) Attracting more people like existing talents.

(ix) Increased talents' trust in the organization.

(x) Lowered attrition rate and higher talent retention.

(xi) Creating a community at the workplace and not just a workforce.

(xii) Improving customer brand experience and customer loyalty.

Engagement is important for managers to cultivate given that disengagement or alienation is central to the problem of workers' lack of commitment and motivation. Meaningless work is often associated with apathy and detachment from ones works. In such conditions, individuals are thought to be estranged from their selves (Seeman, 1972) .Other Research using a different resource of engagement (involvement and enthusiasm) has linked it to such variables as talent turnover, customer satisfaction--loyalty, safety and to a lesser degree, productivity and profitability criteria (Harter, Schnidt & Hayes, 2002). In the workplace research on talent engagement, Harter, Schmidt & Hayes (2002) have repeatedly asked talents 'whether they have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday'. The response shows that one in five talents strongly agree with this statement and those work units scoring higher on this perception have shown substantially higher performance. Thus talent engagement is critical to any organization that seeks to retain valued talents. The Watson Wyatt consulting companies proved that there is an intrinsic link between talent engagement, customer loyalty, and profitability. As organizations globalize and become more dependent on technology in a virtual working environment, there is a greater need to connect and engage with talents to provide them with an organizational 'identity.'

Talent Engagement Drivers

According to Nitin Vazirani (2007), there are certain aspects of talent engagement, which are significant and should be managed both by the talents and the employer's efforts. The three basic aspects of talent engagement shown in Figure 2 are:

(i) The talents and their own unique psychological makeup and experience

(ii) The employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote talent engagement

(iii) Interaction between talents at all levels.

The above aspects are the organization's responsibility and they have to create an environment and culture conducive to this partnership, and a winwin equation.

there are different types and levels of engagement. They are:

(i) Engaged Talent: "Engaged" talents are builders. They perform at consistently high levels. They want to know the desired expectations for their role so they can meet and exceed them. They're naturally curious about their company and their place in it. They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day. They work with passion and they drive innovation and move their organization forward.

According to the above certain expectations can be assumed for the talents as shown in fig. 3 to get engaged and can be considered as "Talents", which can act as the drivers for their engagement.

(ii) Not Engaged Talent: "Not-engaged" talent tends to concentrate on tasks rather than the goals and outcomes they are expected to accomplish. They want to be told what they should do, so that they can complete the work. Then focus is more on accomplishing tasks rather than achieving an outcome. Employees who are notengaged tend to feel their contributions are being overlooked, and their potential is not being tapped. They often feel this way because they don't have productive relationships with their managers or with their coworkers. The characteristics which can be drawn for not-engaged are that they are "Employees" and not the talents because they do not produce any positive result for the organization.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

No wonder. It turns out that all that employee engagement research undertaken over the past

few years has defined the term differently, and as a result, came up with different key drivers

and implications.

Enter The Conference Board, a prestigious, non-profit business membership and research

organization located in the U.S. This group provides its members — top executives and

industry leaders from the most respected corporations in the United States and around the world

— with vital business intelligence and forward-looking best practices.

In 2006, The Conference Board published "Employee Engagement, A Review of Current

Research and Its Implications". According to this report, twelve major studies on employee

engagement had been published over the prior four years by top research firms such as Gallup,

Towers Perrin, Blessing White, the Corporate Leadership Council and others.

Each of the studies used different definitions and, collectively, came up with 26 key drivers of

engagement. For example, some studies emphasized the underlying cognitive issues, others on

the underlying emotional issues.

The Conference Board looked across this mass of data and came up with a blended definition

and key themes that crossed all of the studies. They define employee engagement as "a

heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that

influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work".

At least four of the studies agreed on these eight key drivers.

Trust and integrity – how well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'. Nature of the job –Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day? Line of sight between employee performance and company performance – Does the employee

understand how their work contributes to the company's performance? Career Growth opportunities –Are there future opportunities for growth? Pride about the company – How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated

with their company? Coworkers/team members – significantly influence one's level of engagement Employee development – Is the company making an effort to develop the employee's skills? Relationship with one's manager – Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or

her manager?

Other key findings include the fact that larger companies are more challenged to engage

employees than are smaller companies, while employee age drives a clear difference in the

importance of certain drivers. For example, employees under age 44 rank "challenging

environment/career growth opportunities" much higher than do older employees, who value

"recognition and reward for their contributions".

But all studies, all locations and all ages agreed that the direct relationship with one's manager

is the strongest of all drivers.

In the final analysis, one wonders whether employee engagement is just another trendy concept,

or really a big deal?

According the report, employee engagement is a very big deal. There is clear and mounting

evidence that high levels of employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group and

corporate performance in areas such as retention, turnover, productivity, customer service and

loyalty.

And this is not just by small margins. While differences varied from study to study, highly

engaged employees outperform their disengaged counterparts by a whopping 20 – 28

percentage points!

Finally, there is some evidence that companies are responding to this employee engagement

challenge - by flattening their chains of command, providing training for first-line managers

and with better internal communications. Changes won't happen overnight, but with such

significant upside to the bottom line - they might happen more quickly than you think

GENERATION X, Y, Z

The answer depends on your age or which generation you relate to most. Each generation is shaped by events, developments and trends of its time. And the media plays a big part in transforming and shaping the perception of generations.

Generation X:

The letter "X" originally suggested the ambiguous, misunderstood, disheartened generation. The ambiguity has since been clearly defined, so its alternative name Thirteenth Generation (we are the thirteenth generation since the founding of the country) should be more appropriately used. Gen X can be described as growing up with MTV, Pac Man andThe Breakfast Club. Pressed between two large generations of the Baby Boomers and Gen Y, Gen X is also characterized with having the middle child syndrome - always being ignored and underappreciated. Like sibling rivalry, with Boomers as the self-righteous eldest and Millennials as the pampered baby with a sense of entitlement. The media has focused a lot of its attention on the Baby Boomers entering into retirement, social security problems, health issues and the rise of biotech. With even more spotlight, the media is fascinated with tabloids of today's youth, their lifestyle, their relationships, and more of the same monotony. Gen X are feeling overlooked and invisible. So we have a generational chip on our shoulders, but how about coverage on success of a X turning 40, X icons, or X as a technologically influential generation? Is it too much to ask for more face time, more visibility, more recognition?

Generation Y: The off springs of the Baby Boomers make up of today's teens and twenty-something. They love fame, celebrities, technology, brand names, and six degrees of separation through social networks. Somewhat ironic, Millennial inherited and benefited from the creation of Gen X platforms such as Google, YouTube, MySpace, and Amazon which are largely responsible for classifying this generation as the Internet Generation. This is a large population of 76 million people who are technically savvy and can be powerful because of their ability to connect to each other. With their sense of empowerment, they demand "I want what I want when, where and how I want it." Quick access to information, to communication equate to instant gratification. This generation's easy access to a plethora of information can be an overload. This trend will continue to a great degree onto Generation Z. 

Generation Z: The future of our tomorrow who are predominantly the children of Gen X. This is a very young generation with the oldest at 12 years old. Despite their young age, the characteristics of this generation are quite apparent. They are exposed to technology very early in their lives and most already have an online identity. They are considered the most stressful generation for their involvement in too many extra-curricular activities – piano lesson, tap dancing, swimming, soccer practice, singing class, etc. With the rigid schedule of daily activities, they sometime forget to be children.

There is no doubt that each generational difference is marked uniquely. The previous generation lays the path for the next. Of course, conflicts between generations are commonplace as one generation expects conformity from the other generation. This would indubitably make our relationships less complicated, but that is not reality. The reality is that generational differences should be embraced, accepted and respected.

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