Global managers have to unlearn, feels Bharti

As inorganic growth becomes one of the ways to scale up businesses, human resource (HR) managers in India will have to unlearn a lot of practices if they want to be successful global HR managers.

According to Inder Walia, group director "� HR, Bharti Enterprise Limited, "The journey from being a successful manager in home country is very different from being a global manager."

Walia was speaking at a seminar in Kolkata organized by the National HRD Network.

"An HR manager has to be familiar with the region wherever a company expands operations," said Walia.

Culture can be different within the same region too.

"What works in east Canada may not work in Chicago. Again, within Germany itself, certain regions have skill wage differences of up to 20 per cent. So, an HR manager has to find ways to manage inter-cultural differences even within the same region," Walia explained.

Walia also pointed out that all companies, before acquisition of an overseas company, should first find out if there could be any inter-cultural connectivity between them.

"Otherwise, workers may always remain hostile towards the owner. Workers may also think the owner is incompetent and never accept the changes at all. This, in turn, can push up attrition drastically," Walia said.