NHRD Network Journal

The article presents a shared understanding of what volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) means in the current context. It then discusses the implications of VUCA for human resource management professionals by demonstrating how technology development at an unprecedented scale leads to volatility; unpredictability of business models leads to uncertainty; exposure to multiple dimensions leads to complexity; and constant need for innovation leads to ambiguity. The article ends with a set of questions that would aid human resource professionals to reflect and prepare for the future, in their specific contexts.

The article explores the changing landscape of competitive advantage, and its impact on leadership and management. The idea of transient advantage, and a shift in the traditional assumptions of strategy which focus on an industry perspective are being questioned in the article. The article uses the Rita McGrath model of arena perspective, where the industry analysis is replaced with the connections between customers and solutions. In a transient advantage world that we are in, it is critical for organisations to monitor trends, look at the interplay of technology and other industries and business models, and so on. To this end, leadership mindsets must change, and there must be a renewed focus on building a knowledge-sharing culture. The author recommends the creation of a social intranet for organisations in order to get the bad news to travel faster to the decision makers to grab new advantages and discard old ones.

How does one emulate some of the most successful companies of our times? These are companies, growing at 10X—100X as compared to its peers and creating extra-ordinary value for customers. And, what if someone had reverse engineered the recipes of these companies and then codified them for others to learn from? While VUCA appears to be a threat on the surface, a deeper understanding of the changing nuances of business can turn ‘oh-my-God moments’ into exponential possibilities. The article examines a few paradigms in the talent space and argues that HR leadership is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the making of an exponential organisation.

Age is an important aspect that influences women’s career choices and identities. For employed women, age 30 is often associated with gendered discourses around reproductive time-lines, work–family conflict, stalling of careers or ‘opt-out’ from the workforce. However, age is often ignored in research on women’s careers as well as organisational diversity and inclusion practices. Through an interpretative study of corporate women professionals from India, this article examines the meaning and identity implications of age 30. Findings point to tensions and contradictions in social norms at the intersection of age and gender, and age 30 as a barrier or outer limit for participants’ realisation of strong career identities.

One of the most crucial talent identity strands (also referred to as a human resources dimension) in India Inc. is gender. Given that the rate of change in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment is much faster (and less predictable) than in the past decades, corporate efforts towards managing this dimension of gender have a strong bearing on their ability to effectively combat VUCA. These efforts include those directed towards talent management—attracting, hiring, retaining and developing talent, catering to the differences in aspirations and working styles of men and women. Against this backdrop, this article draws insights from corporate India’s most comprehensive gender analytics exercise—The Working Mother and AVTAR 100 Best Companies for Women in India study—to shed light on the interlinkage between the intent and commitment in employing diversity and inclusion as a culture strategy towards thriving in a VUCA environment.

Be it employee recognition or goal setting, human resources function is based on proven research. However, of late it has been overrun by fads and best practices. Voodoo HR is looking at companies from a totally different milieu and copying practices that worked for them. ‘Great place to work’ and ‘leadership development’ are but two of the trends that have swept organisations. Every organisation is unique in terms of culture, values and the business challenges they face. A ‘catch all’ approach based on industry practices may not be a panacea for all such challenges. To be meaningful, human resources should return to their own evidences and analytics to solve the unique problems of their companies. It is not an easy path and it may be the ‘in’ thing to go with the fad of the moment, but ultimately solving the unique challenges gives HR a leverage that fads don’t.

In complex, volatile and unstable environments, organisations aim to effectively develop and retain their key talent to achieve sustainable advantage. Specifically, in the case of ambidextrous organisations which balance tension between exploration and exploitation, talent management (TM) becomes critical. Continuing this stream of thought, the current study explores central questions associated with the role of TM in an ambidextrous organisation. Previous literature does not address the question of how TM facilitates ambidextrous learning in organisations. This conceptual article attempts to address the gap by suggesting a process model of TM in structurally ambidextrous organisations. The process model is explored further to arrive at some key research questions. The article also discusses implications of the research for practitioners.

This article addresses two vectors of VUCA interwoven in the narratives, a summary of personal theories about VUCA. Such theories are anchored and arise from experiential learning in my practice as HR/L&D and OD consultants over the past four decades.

The implication for HR and OD profession is to consider their relevance when organisations navigate VUCA. Next is the culling out of the specific learning about HR and OD interphases that has worked in my experience, supported by examples and metaphors.

The premise I put forward as conclusion are:

In order to be at the centre stage of partnering with business, HR and OD have to complement and innovate new-age VUCA strategies.

VUCA competencies with appropriate metrics are in the formative stage. The competencies are emerging from the real-time stories of consultants, companies and academia (TATA 26/11 and DuPont safety mandate).

Only when HR and OD integrate and work together can the future of leadership or start-up entrepreneurs learn from their insights to ‘thrive in VUCA’.

In today’s volatile, complex and challenging times, organisational focus on employees requires a paradigm shift. Since the expectations and needs of the people living in this world is continuously changing, it becomes important to re-align the internal organisational processes in order to function effectively in the business. The purpose of the article is to identify the key areas in the domain of Human Resource which needs to be focused upon in these times. These focus areas can help HR professionals engage the talent better. The article also recommends that the HR professionals have to harness the power of human capital in order to bring transformation in the organisation.

In this article, I draw on the wisdom from Kautilya’s Arthashastra to understand the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous context. I focus on the sutras pertaining to controllable and uncontrollable situations, the four principles of execution, the Chatumandal framework of making the uncertain visible, and finally the 11 questions that capture the wisdom on success. Drawing on my experience in consulting for organisations, I have attempted to provide a formula that can help HR leaders to navigate their roles with this background.

HR is going through tectonic change in the way it will operate, be seen and practiced in the coming years. Three changes that are impacting it are geo-political, social and technological. Each one is changing the way it will operate here on. HR professionals will need to learn new skills and also get ready to expand their narrow roles. They will have to become competent in technology, understand and serve the interest of individual talent and learn to influence stakeholders in newer ways. They need to act upon three areas with urgency: learn technology, being influential to variety of stakeholders and being compassionate.

In the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) have a critical role to play in order to ensure that organisations have necessary human capital and human resource capabilities to deal with multiple strategic shifts. The analysis of data collected in our study reveals that future CHROs acknowledge dual roles—strategic and operational—that they would have to deliver on. While the strategic role is explorative in nature, the operational role is more exploitative in nature and hence the need for ambidexterity in CHRO roles.