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How to meet HR challenges

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Dr. M. S. Haq :

One of my articles - Kolkata experiences through lenses of Gene mechanics - was published on editorial page of The New Nation - Bangladesh on 4th day of April 2012. The article dealt with a variety of things - against the backdrop of Gene Mechanics, one of my present day brain children. In the article, there was a brief mention of - "failures to take follow-up actions so far by the standard chartered bank, Dhaka - in respect of their free companion tickets following the cancellation of Kingfisher flights - put question marks on credibility of the bank in areas say relationship management, and legitimate customer satisfaction."
The story is about one of the failures of Standard Chartered Bank, Gulshan - Dhaka (hereinafter: the bank or bank) associated with remedying the situation following the failure of free companion tickets to provide to a beneficiary the promised benefit. The tickets were earlier awarded to a customer by the bank. Interesting though, the bank has so far - after a number of contacts made by the beneficiary with the bank officials in person and over the telephone, and through transmission of the copy of above newspaper containing the article to the CEO via the bank official - failed to remedy the situation at least at an AQL (engineering: one of the quality levels).
Let me now share with you another story. I raised certain security concerns with a number of bank officials on different occasions - in the interest of the bank, the customer and concerned others - against the backdrop of security lapses that came to my attention or I came across them or otherwise, as applicable, relative to time, space and other variables. Despite the effort and having found no significant change in pertinent areas, I - at one stage - decided to meet with the CEO. A number of attempts have so far been made by me in that respect but no meeting as yet.
I have written newspaper articles reflecting on inter alia and as appropriate: one, the need for changes for better in security and other areas of the bank; and two, suggestions for implementation of those changes. But there has so far been any significant displacement, as apparent to me, in the direction of above changes. Save and except though: the eventual display of foreign exchange rates on a regular basis by the bank within bank premises and reengineering of an internal form - all, at the expense of inter alia a few of my newspaper articles having reflections on above matters and at least two of my meetings I had with bank officials concerning the matters. The display has now become a regular practice continuing from a sizeable past.
In the midst of above and other developmental areas of the bank, it will not be out of place to mention here: outcomes of efforts of bank staff members (used in a wider sense) towards promotion and sustenance of critical mass of relationship management at for example and as appropriate individual, team, customer, and other levels are meaningfully satisfactory, as well as result bearing. The present day 'face' of the bank in Bangladesh and its competitive status therein bear - apparently and among other things - testimony to that. Congratulations! By the way, Tracy Clarke, Group Head of Human Resources and Communication of Standard Chartered and the team - Welcome to Bangladesh! We wish you a nice and productive stay in Bangladesh!
An initial and brief analysis of reported objectives of the Tracy mission to Bangladesh - would reveal inter alia: the objectives are timely, relevant, result provocative. I believe Tracy's efforts towards 'sustainability' are, in many respects and in a precise manner - what the today's business stands for - essentially, against the backdrop of a progressively reintegrating, incrementally interdependent and continually uncertain world.
Let us now explore the way forward for the bank and for that matter Standard Chartered as a whole in terms of sustaining and promoting the future of the bank in Bangladesh, in particular and in the world at large, in general - with the help of changes for better in areas say human resources management and communication. In that respect, a few of the suggestions have been presented here - not in the order of priority and importance but they are relative to time, space and other variables.
I. Outcomes of human resources management should be such that they could inter alia be instrumental in the enlargement of choices and in the enhancement of motivations of bank's staff members (used in a wider sense) - - enabling the staff members to for example create, sustain and promote the demand for them within the bank at individual, team and other levels; and enabling the bank to for example justify retention, continuity and growth of the staff members therein and vice versa in a mutually reinforcing manner. I believe stronger the mutually reinforcing force better the chances for sustainability in pertinent areas.
I also believe: in the above event and under a proper regime of organizational direction in relevant areas, the critical mass of sustainability could inter alia be energized, adjusted and readjusted through dynamics of ownerships at demand, supply and other levels of staff-organization synergies, organization-staff synergies - all, under the overall context of say market satisfaction, used in a wider sense of the meaning. In a way, a situation similar to the situation arising out of, and in the course of, the work and the function of negative feedback loop in the maintenance of homeostasis of the human body - used in a medical sense.
II. The culture of monitoring, commitment and follow up needs to be improved at conceptual, operation and other relevant levels of the bank - to maximum satisfaction of customers and other stakeholders. Bank officials, as appropriate, should not fail to keep the promise of calling back the customer and concerned others. Bank officials, as appropriate, should be more effective than that at present when it will come to amending themselves from repetitive mistakes - a source of annoyance, as well as inconvenience for concerned customers and a loss of image of the bank, among other things.     
III. The cultivation of group technology (used in an operation management sense) throughout Standard Chartered and its application to relevant domains of work - as operationally, cost-wise and otherwise feasible - should be intensified with a view to for instance coping, in a cost effective manner, with fluctuations in demand for service with a minimum lead time for service delivery at say any given operation time. In that respect, organizational servomechanisms (used in an equivalent engineering sense) should be able to function properly so that they could assist the organization in for example work force planning, as well as organization at a short notice and with available resources for dealing with challenges and opportunities such as peak service demand and an unexpected rise in demand for service on account of a variety of reasons - all, in pursuits of customer satisfaction, financial profits via social profits and vice versa, to mention a few.
IV. The organizational philosophy of Standard chartered should undergo a thorough BMR (balancing, modernization and rehabilitation) exercise with a view to inter alia liberating the philosophy from elements such as harmful conservatism that promotes more isolation than dynamism - at, as appropriate, product design, product processing, product finishing, product marketing, product delivery, product recycling and other levels of product - in pursuits of say product, market and organizational sustainability, as well as growth through future times. In short, make efforts towards constructive openness and pluralism for better result and stronger constituencies in pertin