Human Resource in these rapidly changing times of ever increasing disruptions is undergoing a paradigm shift with work force comprising of Gen X, Y and Z. Each generation has its own mindsets, aspirations and motivations. HR leaders need to relook at their people management strategies and rethink new patterns in handling diverse generation of employees covering a varied landscape of skill sets, abilities, productivity and purpose.

To discuss and deliberate on various elements surrounding HR and ways to remodel practices in present times, a very engaging Food For Thought Session on "A riveting insight on how organizations need to re-invent themselves to face HR challenges of the future", with Dr. Santrupt Misra was organised on 20th September, 2019 at Williamson Magor Hall, The Bengal Chamber. Dr. Misra is a respected and well known industry leader and key person of the Aditya Birla Group. He is the Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Black, Director - Chemicals, Fertilisers & Insulators & Director Group HR - Aditya Birla Group.

Mr. B.B. Chatterjee, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, in his welcome address stated that The Bengal Chamber has been arranging the talk series for quite some time now for exchange of ideas related to industry, trade and commerce. Dr. Misra is one of our country's foremost practitioners who will talk about how to build a team that delivers that has a fire in their belly and that is always successful, he will speak about how to move ahead with confidence.

Dr. Santrupt Misra began by expressing the thought that one of the best way we can pay our tribute is towards institution of repute and one that have stayed for so long. There are seismic shifts that are impacting organizations today and that in turn are impacting role of HR. Earlier organizations were defined by building, boundary and the boss but now these have got diluted and borderless. There has begun a growth of network of interdependence. One has to discover if one is driving the change or being driven by it. While technology is here to stay and the future is in technology but bigger future is transcending it. Companies need to go beyond technology and data reach and still look for human insights. There are four major forces driving the HR field-Technology, Demographics, Globalization and Governance. According to recent global study about 850 million work forces will require re-skilling and up-skilling. He also added that many companies have started employing freelancers and gig work force but with them the concept of work culture and a boss would become nonexistent.

According to Dr. Misra, for decades globalization and trade liberalization created jobs, offshore jobs and lifted a billion people into the consuming class. Globalisation is here to stay and the internet has created information symmetry over the world. Anything significant happening anywhere is available to all concerned. Penetration of globalization has put jobs of consultants at threat with people getting information at finger tips. Governance is a critical priority for the senior management who should focus on shifting to community and society beyond only shareholder return. Corporate governance is hygiene not health anymore. Governance will stay and is an important driver of organizational change and culture. So with changing times, the governance mindset has to be changed.

The organizational design should get comfortable with a highly matrisized structure, leveraging partnership of all forms. Crowd sourcing platforms for open innovation should be done. The future should be about building a customer facing organization rather than a boss facing organization. Also high performance should be redefined to include speed, agility, adaptability and continuous learning. Organizations should be open to encouraging failing fast, failing small and learning fast. Also there should be shift from knowledge is power to sharing of power. Organizations have to be built as entities of experience, aspirational customers and employer's brand. There should be efforts to develop a human centric approach to solve customer problems. Organizations have to connect social initiatives to society at large. Decisions and dilemmas anchored in ethics can be a role model for Corporate Governance. The future should be about shifting focus from being tech shy to tech savvy, from metrics to insights, from process to employee experience, from 'doing it all' to 'doing what matters most'.

Also present on the panel were Mr. B.B. Chatterjee, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Anoop Hoon, Chairman, Marketing and Brand Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Mr. Arnab Chakraborty, Chairman, Kolkata Chapter-NHRD Network.