The 12th National Conference of the National HRD Network (NHRDN) was inaugurated by the Conference Chairman, Mr. S.Ramadorai, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., calling for the Human Resources function to address the need to build leaders not just for today, but for the future also.

Delivering the Chairman’s address, Mr. Ramadorai said, “HR should focus on understanding the new behaviors required to thrive in the new environment”. He reminded the audience that “HR professional’s first need to become change leaders themselves before institutionalizing this into their respective organizations”. He also emphasized that the current crisis, which has raised questions about ethical leadership, must be seen as an opportunity for HR professionals to conduct themselves in a manner which reflects the values of the organizations.

Business leaders including S Ramadorai of TCS, A Vellayan of Murugappa Group, and Babu Lakshman of Rane Group commended the critical role played by Human Resources (HR) in the enabling the growth of Indian industry. They also urged professionals in the discipline to look beyond the traditional boundaries of the function and evolve new strategies ahead of the changing times.

The leaders spoke at the 12th National Conference of the Narional HRD Network (NHRDN) held in Chennai on November 28th and 29th with the theme – What’s Beyond? – HR’s Next Agenda.

Attended by over 700 delegates, representing nearly 400 organizations not only from all over India, but also from 11 other countries around the world from across different industries verticals the 2-day conclave had presentations and discussions covering various aspects of the Conference theme. Speakers from different industries spoke on emerging trends in the Human Resources function as well as next generation practices that anticipate such trends.

Mr. S Ramadorai, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services, who was also the Chairman of the Conference, reiterated that the Human Resouces function should be able to look at employee aspirations from the perspective of an individual employee simultaneously with that of the organization’s business needs.

Mr. Aquil Busrai, National President of National HRD Network and Executive Director – HR, IBM India elaborated on the various initiatives of the Network, including the establishment of a proposed Learning Centre in Gurgaon for furthering HR as a discipline.

Mr. David Nallathambi, President of National HRD Network, Chennai Chapter, and Senior Vice President, SCOPE International, emphasized that the Conference was intended to focus on the future of HR and its practitioners.

The results of the first ever “State of HR” survey, conducted by NHRDN’s Knowledge Partner, Ernst & Young , was released at the Conference. Another first at the Conference was the live web cast of key sessions, hosted by Sify Ltd, the Technology Partner.

The NHRD Awards for excellence in HR were announced at the Conference. Mr. B.Santhanam, President – Float Glass (South Asia) and Founder MD, Saint Gobain Glass Ltd was honoured as the ‘CEO of the Year’. The Outstanding Young HR Professional award was won by Ms. Tanya Misra of ACC, while N.S.Rajan, Partner, Human Capital, Ernst and Young won the ‘HR Excellence’ Award. The Chennai Chapter won the Best Chapter of the Year Award.

The Conference was supported by several sponsors including Murugappa Group, Sri Balaji Society, TCS, ICICI Bank, Coca-Cola, Accenture, Cognizant, Maruti Udyog Ltd, Mercer, Nokia, Patni Computers and Saint Gobain.

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The National HRD Network (NHRDN) is India’s premier association of HR professionals committed to promote the HRD movement in the country; the NHRDN works towards enhancing the competence of HR professionals to enable them to make an impactful contribution to competitiveness and create value for business and society. The NHRDN, a not-for-profit organization, has been progressively scaling up the development of human resources through education, training, research and experience sharing. NHRDN functions through its chapters all over the country. Currently, there are over 30 chapters, which together have over 7,000 members. The National Executive Board coordinates the overall efforts of the Network and the chapters conduct various events and initiatives at the local level. The Network has brought out several publications such as “The HRD Missionary”, by Prof. T.V. Rao and also publishes monthly newsletters as well as a quarterly journal for circulation to its members which are very popular with the HR community. The website of the NHRDN is at www.nationalhrd.org.