NHRD Network Journal

Human resource management (HRM) has evolved over the years and is constantly adapting to the advanced technologies and research endeavours to address the complexities of the corporate environment and aspirations of the stakeholders. In this article, the authors explain the relevance of neuroscientific research for HRM practices. Interdisciplinary nature and landmarks of social neuroscience and newly evolved discipline of organisational cognitive neuroscience are discussed. The nexus of Neuro–HR has phenomenal research and application opportunities to progress and enhance the quality of HRM for effective organisations leading to a healthier society. A significant use of neuroscience in HRM appears to be an interesting journey full of opportunities and challenges ahead.

After a brief introduction to the basic terminology of neuroscientific investigations, this article showcases the findings of neuroscientific investigations into each of the traits of the five-factor model of personality (FFM), namely openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. It further presents the findings of research on spirituality and meditation (S&M), and finally focuses on the neurological findings with respect to transformational leadership (TL). The article concludes with juxtaposing neurological research findings with behavioural research findings of FFM, S&M and TL, thereby opening up possibilities of hypothesis articulation for further research.

We can recruit neuroscience to improve our performance, accelerate our growth as well as lead change. Research in pscyhology, behavioural economics and now neuroscience provide the routemap to such a future. The article explores how and on what basis such a routemap could be drawn.

A leader builds an organisation and her/his mood and behaviour often drives the mood and behaviour of the team, and this has implications for the organisation. Current advances in neuroscience have revealed underlying brain patterns possibly associated with certain components of leadership. A leader could build her/his team by learning to manage herself/himself and others in an organisation during critical, challenging situations by using resources on their own volition to balance themselves. When leaders manage, attune themselves and lead, they create a climate of emotional and social intelligence, thereby building a culture leading an organisation into the future with sustained business results. This article attempts to look at why leaders need to continually work on themselves and explores different ways of building socially and emotionally intelligent leaders.

Recent breakthrough advances in neuroscience have helped us understand the changes that the brain undergoes when it is in the process of learning. In this ever-changing environment, it is important for the human resource (HR) fraternity to adapt and stimulate organisational changes using the new knowledge that advances in neuroscience have brought us. It would be observed that in any organisation there are some persons who are better at engaging, impacting, influencing and networking besides meeting all productivity and other related targets. If these positive behaviours could get replicated across more people in the organisation, it would mean that the organisation would have a workforce which can help build ‘organisational character’ and social change by identifying solutions already existing in the system, thereby increasing organisational effectiveness. This case describes how Tata Consultancy Services, facilitated by HR, was able to do this by using neuroscience.

Every company is created to address the need of the consumer that exists for a long time in the market and retain the leadership position in their market segment. Consistently companies are failing on this. Today companies invest a good amount of time and effort in building the state-of-the-art manufacturing and best of technologies for the ease of doing business. The core of all these to operate and implement is the people. How many companies are able to invest proactively on people to think better and find ways to retain their position. In my observation, the companies who invest more on people who can think better and come out of their limitation are able to reap the benefits. The neuroscience-based executive coaching consistently gives an ROI (return on investment) from 5 to 42 times based on the situation and ability to monetise and execute the new thinking.

The article contains a brief description of some basic principles of neuroscience with hints and examples of how they can be applied to executive coaching. The author has been using these principles actively in his coaching practice for the past five years. It is hoped that this article will motivate new and experienced coaches to invest in learning and applying these (and other) neuroscience principles in their coaching practice.

This article is an effort to bridge the gap between two research fields, namely organisational behaviour and neuroscience. Organisational behaviour corresponds to the study of human behaviour at workplace, which is significantly modulated/controlled by the affective state of individuals. Neuroscience, on the other hand, is a multidisciplinary field of biology involved in the study of the nervous system. Research in the field of neuroscience has provided valuable insights into the mechanisms of emotion processing and psychopathologies of various affective disorders. These findings, although nascent, can be directly or indirectly extended in an organisational setting. This article begins with a review of different forms of emotions at workplace, followed by its implications in the productivity of an organisation. Further, this article explores the ways in which research in the field of neuroscience can be extended in an organisational setting to improve the overall affective state of individuals at workplace, thereby the efficacy of an organisation.

In 1992, a United Nations report had called work stress as ‘The 20th Century Disease’. The ‘always on’ economy of the 21st century has ensured that the prevalence of work-related stress is omnipresent even now like the mobile phones that perpetrate it. As stressors in the environment are continually present, what appears to be an antidote, is to change the response and have a more resilient response. In discussing resilient response, the article more specifically focuses on neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity or ‘brain plasticity’ refers to the brain’s ability to change or adapt both physically and functionally throughout life by stimulation from one’s environment, behaviour, thinking, emotions, etc. The article is based on this plasticity and the contention that brain can be structurally altered through the practice of mindfulness and meditation to develop resilience to stress, and respond better to stress. The article draws from the recent findings in neuroscience to strengthen this argument.

By examining the science behind leadership, management practices and how they relate to social cognitive neuroscience, we can understand how to target the most effective conditions for preventing workplace burnout and workplace depression. This process begins with the ability of managers to recognise and react responsively to create a culture of trust within the organisation, and identify and promote prosocial behaviours to prevent feelings of disengagement and displacement. This review discusses how one’s ability to inspire employees is particularly important, because followers with low self-concepts are drawn to a highly personalised vision. Through the promotion of the brain chemical, oxytocin, the material presents eight building blocks to promote a culture of trust, while mitigating the factors associated with workplace burnout and workplace depression.

Workplace happiness is one of the most valued and pursued goals of an organisation. Researchers, scholars and practitioners have acknowledged the benefits that a happy workforce brings to the table and its enormous contributions to business outcomes. Researches in neuroscience help us in gaining more knowledge about the molecular structures of the brain, nervous system and the resultant behaviours. Learning from neuroscience teaches us that happiness is a state of mind and is a result of the complex interplay of hormones and neurotransmitters, and that the release of neurochemicals and neurotransmitters has a role to play in making us happy. There are ways and strategies to trigger these neurotransmitters and boost their levels of secretion, thereby intentionally and naturally causing them to flow and maximise happiness. This article attempts to list various activities and programmes that can be practised at the worksites to achieve, sustain and maximise happiness at the workplace.