Human Resource Management

By Dr. Debashish Sengupta

Dr. Debashish Sengupta is the author of a Crossword

bestseller book Employee Engagement (BiztantraDreamtech Press, 2011) co-authored with Mr. S.
Ramadoss, Sr. V.P. & CHRO Titan Industries Ltd. He has
also authored two other books You Can Beat Your
Stress (2007) and FMI (2010). He has been a book
reviewer for the prestigious Emerald Group Publishing,
London (U.K.).
He writes a professional blog on employee engagement
http://www.peopleengagement.blogspot.in.
The
blog
deals with contemporary issues concerning engaging
the modern day employee on an emotional as well as
rational plane, with an objective of nurturing a
productive & happy workforce. He has recently been
invited to write an invitation blog post for a blog on
employee happiness, by Institute for Employee Wellbeing, Bellevue University, Nebraska, U.S. Dr. Sengupta
is among the exclusive 26 authors invited from all over
the world, and the only Indian on this list.

He is an avid researcher and has 64 publications to his

credit till date which besides the books that he has
authored, also include 5 papers in International Journals,
6 papers in refereed and peer-reviewed national
journals, 20 columns in popular business media, 13 book
chapters and 17 articles in academic business
magazines. Some of his research papers are listed on
EBSCO database. He occasionally writes columns for
reputed business dailies like The Hindu Business Line

About the Book

Treating human as a resource and managing them in a way
that the firms strategic objectives can be actualized to ensure
both profitability in the present and sustainability in the future,
is a challenge that confronts every firm today.
This book also assumes that people management is
everyones job and not just the job of the HR department. The
Line specialists are the prime-drivers of the HR management
and the CEO (the Chief Engagement Officer). The HR
department and the Chief Human Resource officer of the firm
are the owners and facilitators of the process, as well as the
strategic partners to core business. And hence, when it comes
to people management, everyone assumes responsibility. This
book is an attempt towards building a case for not only the
management of people but good people management that is
having both speed and direction. Each chapter has been
carefully constructed to address both theory and practice. The
idea is to develop a book that not only equips readers with
but also imparts
practical skills needed to manage
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Human
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the human resource.

The New Brand Ambassador

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Human Resource Management

Key Terms

Brand Ambassador
Corporate brand
Effective Communication
Effective Processes
Employee Pride
The 10 E Model

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Consumer brands rely on brand ambassadors.

Cadburys has Amitabh, Toyota has Aamir Khan,
BSNL has Preity Zinta, Taj Mahal tea has Saif Ali
Khan, Sunfeast has Shah Rukh Khan, Aviva like so
many others has Sachin Tendulkar as a brand
Ambassador. What actually is a brand then? Is it just a
logotype, colour, trademark or a symbol? Perhaps, not!
Brand is an experience to relate with. Its a whole set of
abstract nuances with which a customer associates
himself or herself. The common thread in all this is that
communication is external, driven by mass media
communication.

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however, is that these brand ambassadors may have

very little to do with the company or its values. They
are used because marketers believe there is a strong
fit between the brand ambassadors personality and
what consumer aspires for. Whilst one recognizes the
need for brand ambassadors for some brands, it is
perhaps important to recognize what every corporate
brand needs. Every corporate brand needs champions.
And these champions are within the company. They
are its employees. They impact, mould and convey the
brand values to various target consumers.

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In
any
organization
(especially
service
organizations) the biggest brand ambassadors are
the employees. Every employee in a company
should understand, believe and know that servicing
customers (directly or indirectly)through constant
value-additions and building a positive perception is
the most important factor for gaining or retaining an
old customer and not anything else.

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The customer has already picked-up the company

when they compared prices, quality or other
aspects. Even if they are still evaluating the above
factor, an average employee can make a world of
difference to his/her final decision. The employee
can help create a positive or a negative perception
about the product or service. Whats more important
to understand is that irrespective of what decision
the customer takes at that moment, the perception
will last much longer, affecting even the future
decisions. And then the powerful word-of-mouth will
play its own role.

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Bringing a well-designed customer experience to

life requires aligning every point of customer
contact with the brand promise, from the
storefronts to the call-centers, to the website, from
the first service to the ongoing service interaction.
The most important factor in creating a successful
customer experience is a companys workforce.
It is the human factor which many-a-time makes
greatest impact on how a customer feels about a
company.

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Lufthansa is known for personally thanking the highflier customers even when they are traveling in the
economy-class. It hardly costs the airline anything but
brings in a nice image and of course customer back
again. Contrastingly, another international Airways not
so long ago acquired the dubious reputation of being
the worst baggage handlers in the industry. In 2007,
they lost the baggage of the Indian Cricket team
which was returning after winning the Future Cup in
South Africa. That was a high-profile case but
frequent travelers say the problem is common with
BA.

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Contrastingly, another international Airways not

so long ago acquired the dubious reputation of
being the worst baggage handlers in the industry.
In 2007, they lost the baggage of the Indian
Cricket team which was returning after winning
the Future Cup in South Africa. That was a highprofile case but frequent travelers say the
problem is common with BA.

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How to Develop Brand Ambassadors?

Most of us tend to believe that brand is the
CEOs baby or perhaps of the brand managers!
The reality however is that brand belongs to
each and every employee. It has not only to be
communicated but also to be internalized.
Let us look at the 10 E model to understand
how to develop brand ambassadors out of our
employees

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1. Educate: Its important to understand how the various

interactions with the brand happens both internally as well
as externally. In other words the first step to educate the
employees on brand consciousness is to find out whether
an employee understands the brand philosophy the way the
company perceives it or not. If any gaps are seen at this
stage, they are plugged-in. Then starts the process of
explaining the brand-concept and how people are expected
to represent the same. It may be through dress-code,
informal talks, social gatherings, official parties, stationeries
etc. But the reinforcement of the brand consciousness and
an ability on part of the employees to align with brand
values are critical to developing brand ambassadors.

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The 10 E Model (How to Develop Brand Ambassadors)

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2. Empower: There is this famous story of a Virgin

Atlantic flight attendant. While organizing a wedding, she
got a feel of the hassles associated with it. She felt a
one-stop shop would just be the perfect idea of doing away
with these hassles. She went to the Virgin Atlantic boss
Branson and rest is history. Virgin Brides, a chain of stores
that would cater everything a bride needs was born.
How many times would the same thing happen in our
organizations? How many times would we be encouraged to
share our idea with the CEO of the company and how many
times would he/she listen and respond if the idea is great?
Its important to give employees reasonable autonomy and
give them a feeling of virtual ownership of their jobs. This not
only makes them more enthusiastic about their job but also
about the brand.
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3. Endear: Delighted Employees make Great Brand

Ambassadors. It is necessary for the organizations to
cultivate a genuine concern for the employees; about
their needs, concerns, expectations, apprehensions
etc. Small investments in ensuring ones employees
happiness may yield large gains in terms of stronger
brand ambassadors, checking attrition and in
attracting and retaining customers.

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4. Enable: Enabling the employees by investing in

their training and development is an important step
towards developing them as good brand
ambassadors. One may wonder, the relationship
between employee training and development and in
developing them as brand ambassadors! Obviously,
employees who are not properly trained cannot do
their job properly and hence have poor experiences.
With an inferior experience an employee cannot be
expected to become a brand ambassador.

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5. Enlighten: Today information is the key. Without

detailed information regarding customer or anything &
everything that impacts customer, it is virtually
impossible to satisfy customer. This renders the
employees helpless. Making customers wait for
solutions is like strangulating ones business
opportunity which may be very costly for the ompany.
Hence it is important to enlighten the employees by
making information more accessible on a real-time
basis.

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6. Encourage: For every motive there has to be

an inspiration; in other words there must be
enough motivation. New employees may look for
salary or for nice treatment from their seniors,
senior employees may look for prestige & status;
women may look for fairness; needs may be
different but goals of every individual have to be
aligned with the organizational goals. Keeping
employees motivated presents an opportunity in
itself.

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7. Evolve Culture: Couple of years back a marketing

executive, of a private insurance company, in his
over-zealous bid to out-do his competitor came-up
with a shocking nomenclature to his campaign named
after one of the most wanted outlaw of the world. The
marketing executive was arrested & the company
faced a lot of flak. Evolving a value-based success
culture is key to developing real brand ambassadors
of any organization. Success stories must be shared
and not simply pinned on the display board for
general consumption. Employees have to live &
breathe the brand.

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8. Effective Communication: Effective Communication

applies equally to between company & employees, to
between employees & customers. Effective communication
has at least four components.
a. Sender must be able to communicate what he/she
intends.
b. Receiver must understand the message.
c. There must be no misunderstanding.
d. The recipient must engage in intended action by the
sender.
Any misunderstanding or communication-gap tween
company & employees & between employees & customers
could be like air bubble in the veins. It ultimately leads to
relationship hemorrhage.
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The communication between employees and

customers can only be streamlined when
communication between company & employees is
effective. Few companies have gone a step further in
corporate communication. Employees now form a part
of the corporate presentations mostly used for hiring
fresh / new recruits.

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9. Effective Processes: Dependence on age-old

systems, reluctance to switch to more efficientones,
inefficient & unresponsive back- office, computers or
other equipments which run slower than snail,
bureaucratic step-up approach etc could leave an
average employee hassled & harassed. On the other
hand efficient & responsive systems & processes
could electrify employee morale & in-turn can drive
his will to contribute more.

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10. Evaluate Customer Experiences: It takes

years to win-over a customer, it takes a moment
to drive them away. Just as a company produces
goods & services, it also manufactures the kind
of experiences its customers might encounter.
Hence as it is important to evaluate the quality of
products & services, it is also important to
evaluate what kind of experiences the customer
is having while buying that product or while using
those services.

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