Great Lakes Institute of Management hosted its 10th Annual Human Capital Management Conference (HCMC) on the theme “Millennials and Centennials: Best Practices vs Next Practices” at its campus. Chief Guests Dr. V Damodaran, CEO & MD, Ameex Technologies Inc., and Mr. Sandeep Dhar, Chief Operations Officer, Capgemini inaugurated the event in the presence of Dr. Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Mr. Shreenath, Group Director & Chief Corporate Relations, Great Lakes Institute of Management, faculty members, staff and students. 

The conference, centred towards its theme, aimed to build a platform between future MBA graduates and leaders, present from various corporates, and discussed on strategies to counter the changing workplace scenario.

Welcoming the gathering, Dr Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lake Institute of Management, said, “Great Lakes has always stayed ahead in its practices and that is the reason why this conference is called Human Capital Management Conference instead of Human Resources, as we all know resource depreciates, but Human Capital doesn’t.” Further pointing out the recent disruptive technologies that has changed the way the world operates, Dr Bala opined that emphasis on creating a strong Human capital along with successful disruptive technologies will yield the next practices.” 

Chief Guest of the event, Dr V Damodaran, CEO & MD, Ameex Technologies Inc, said, “ I have to admit - the theme of the conference is complex, demanding and relatively new. Why? Because it is very much relevant to the current generation – Gen X and Gen Y, as they are digitally erudite, marching towards automation, in need of challenges and want to set up clear goals in their career. 

Advising the students on the importance of workplace culture, he added, “Be it a millennial or centennial, work place culture of an organization is applicable for everyone as it directly or indirectly reflects your own perception and also the organizations image.” 

Appreciating Great Lakes for organizing the conference with the need of the hour topic as the theme, Key Note speaker Mr. Sandeep Dhar, Chief Operations Officer, Capgemini, said, “We all are aware of how next practices such as automation, disruptive technologies are evolving. From Agricultural sector to Manufacturing sector, jobs are getting automated and everyone is moving towards service sector to get re-skilled. In few years, this will lessen the work hours and as a result all of us will have lot more time to invest in other creativities. This is nothing but beginning of Cultural Revolution. As the world is moving towards a repeat of the cultural revolution like how it was centuries ago, each of us will have extra hours to indulge ourselves in creativity.  So, do not neglect to take out sometime to build those creative skills.” 

The inaugural session was followed by Panel Discussions on topics – Role of Evolving Management in Redefining Corporate Culture and Perception – The Performance Influencer. The first panel consisted of 4 panellists - Mr. Tojo Jose, Chief Human Resources Officer, Muthoot Pappachan Corporation, Mr. Babu Vittal, Head HR, Shop Clues, Ms. Deepali Bhardwaj, Executive Director - HR, Cushman & Wakefield, Mr. Rajan Sethuraman, Chief People Officer, Latent View Analytics. In this session, the panellists deliberated on the role of management in crafting and strategizing millennial experience in the work sphere that will align both individual and organization s interest in achieving common goal. 

The second panel consisted of 5 panellists:  

Mr. Andheri Prakash Babu, Head HR (India), IMI Critical Engineering – India, Mr. Krishna Gopal, Global Head - Leadership Hiring (Sales & Support) and Talent Management (Sales), Tech Mahindra, Mr. Naresh Rajendran, Head – HR Operations & Strategic Projects, Vestas India, Ms. Minakshi Arora, Director Strategy & BPT, Trident Group India and Ms. Ayshwarya Srinivsan, Vice President – Human Resources, India Campus Recruitment Head, Barclays. In this session, the panellists highlighted on how  corporates are adopting strategies, and focussing on an individual’s perception, and not performance. 

Mr. Shreenath concluded the annual conference by saying that such conferences provide students a comprehensive corporate vision, and an opportunity to listen and interact with eminent exponents from the corporate world, which is a true privilege to the student community.

About Great Lakes – Annual Human Capital Management Conference  

Established in the year 2004 by Dr Bala V Balachandran, Human Capital Management Conference, an annual event, is envisioned as a platform to bring together the best of HR leaders in the industry and potential managers of future. The event includes panel discussions and addresses from distinguished speakers on the central theme of the event. These HR leaders from various industries offer industry-specific insight on the theme. In the last 9 years, HCMC has brought in various industry stalwarts from top corporates like Raymond, Aditya Birla Group, Citibank, Samsung India, SAP, Pepsico, Mahindra & Mahindra to name a very few.