Alumni Matters Feb 2008

ALUMNI MATTERS!

Dr. Urmi Chatterjee was awarded the Young HR Manager of the year 2007 at the All India HR Summit.

A coveted award where her organizational team nominated her for the commendable body of work as a mentor and a role model.

She completed her PhD in the year 2004 from the Department of Management Studies under the able guidance of Prof. Mary Mathew. Her research was on Organization Designs for Patent Productivity.

She is with Honeywell Technology Solutions, India.

She takes time off her busy schedule to answer a few queries posted to her by the Voices Team.

1. How would you describe the transition from research to industry?

Industry gives you the practical perspectives of all that research brings theoretically. Transition is very smooth as long as you give the required time to understand the organization business model and the way you would want to implement your solutions in that setting.

2. How relevant was the research you did in relation to your job?

Quite relevant – my research was to come up with an Organization Design that will improve patent productivity and my role at HTS was in the area of Organization Design and Development. My analytical skills and ability to go indepth into any process which were developed as a researcher have also helped me to become the “Process Improvement” and “Innovation Champion” for all HR processes in the organization.

3. How did IISc aid your development as a HR Professional?

IISc brought in a HR focus which is very different from any other institute. IISc being primarily a research based organization – it makes HR researchers go through a more indepth and rigorous understanding of the theory and application of the same. It also helped me to build the competency of writing papers, presenting them at different forums even while working.

4. What were the extracurricular activities on campus that you were a part of and did you head any committees?

No. I was not involved in any extracurricular activities.

5. With regard to the award, did you put in any process in place that was viewed as a remarkable achievement?

I have put in several processes in place which include the HTS Competency Framework, the Mentoring process, the recruitment pipeline management system and University Relations framework.

I have also been certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt and mentored and certified more that 10 green belt projects aimed at improving HR processes.

6. What are the learning points of your career and what is the message you would like to give to aspiring Industry Professionals?

Learning points: Understand the business well and be open to learning and picking up new skills wherever there is an opportunity.

Message: Never consider your interests to be bigger than the organization interest. If you are able to achieve the organization’s interest your own interest would automatically follow through.

7. Your tips for to-be HR professionals?

Please keep yourself abreast of what is happening in the industry – things change everyday and we need to be smart enough to anticipate the same and proactively change our processes.