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notjustinfo.com |
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Knowledge centre for MBA students. |
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Exploiting Personnel
Management to Build Corporate Image B Kanishwarya The Corporate image affects all aspects of corporate life
– share price, acquisitions, partnerships, purchasing as well as sales. It also
affects the core strength of the company - manpower. Corporate image is the image of the company that is
projected in the media and market place reflecting upon the organisation and
its activities as a whole. Corporate image if build professionally -
especially in service industries such as software development and advertising
- can pull best talents to the organisation. On the other hand, each employee
of the company can be used skillfully to build a firms corporate image.
Since, each employee currently employed by the company or who worked earlier
can be silent representatives who build corporate image in an indirect
fashion. Each employee of an organisation speaks while in
employment or after that about the companys behaviour towards them. Thus, if
a company can maintain excellent employee relations within the organisation
can definitely maintain a superior corporate image compared to its
competitors. Further, in the high labour turnover industries (like mentioned
earlier) this will lead to a better image which will help the company to get
the best cream available in the market. If the personnel are managed without dignity, it will be
reflected in the corporate image and the company will get only second or
third best quality manpower. For example, a Chennai-based advertising agency
(which is in the top 10 list of A&M survey) was in need of a copywriter
some time back. And no copywriter was willing to join that agency, because of
their treatment towards employees. In the process, the agency could get only
substantial copywriters and it is reflected in their creative work, which is
the lifeblood of advertising industry. Today this agency is known in the
advertising industry for its lack of creativity. In fact, the Chennai branch
(which is the head office of the agency) gets its creative done from its
other branches. The agency does not want to pay their staff what they are
entitled to. At the time of leaving, they do not pay cheques. They delay
final cheques with out any reason. They use employees provident fund for
other financial adjustments. They take more than a month to issue Form 16A.
Will the ex-employees of this agency talk good about this agency? Definitely
they will only function as image-destroyers of that agency. This is
paradoxical to the core, since ad agencies are suppose to help clients build
brands/images, are not able to manage their own image. Contrast to the above example, in a highly labour turnover
software industry where retaining manpower itself is a major task, one
company is an exception. Infosys. Because, they treat employees as human
beings. Another appropriate example is Hotel Saravana Bhavan, a
local Chennai-based vegetarian restaurant chain. An employment with Saravana
Bhavan is considered to be equivalent of a government job. The management
take care of the employees very well. They even take care of employee’s
children’s education, leisure, and health needs, etc. Another advantage of better personnel management is that,
if treated properly with dignity, even the best ex-employees may come back to
the company at a later stage with more experience, which will in turn improve
the quality of work of the company. Further, a better manpower management
will not only help to build corporate image, but also retain them for long.
This is very important in a competitive business environment with the entry
of trans-nationals with the globalisation of the Indian economy. |
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