Designing HR Policies: The art of Cartography

Paper maps are flawed and imperfect. They don’t show complete reality. They have rivers without water & forests without trees. At best they're just a snapshot of a location at some point in time in history.

Maps are static whereas the world is dynamic. They don't depict the concurrent changes which come across a terrain.

Most HR policies and practices are like maps. In the VUCA World, as the business scenario keeps changing the static HR policies & practices designed over the years may not be much helpful. 

A map that is useful in one situation may not be helpful in another. A best HR practice in one organization if replicated in another place may fail badly. HR policy in an established organisation is less likely to work in a start up.

Maps have a shelf life. Once useful, they cease to work as the terrain changes. So are the HR Policies and Management Models. Frederick Taylor’s scientific model may no longer be useful in current times.

A Map is a Static Partner of a Traveller.

HR is a Strategic Partner of Business.

Like Maps and Models, HR policies are a microcosm of something very complex. The Black Swan moments like COVID forces HR to make the paradigm shift in their approach & align practices with the changing demands of our environment.

The map of the Delhi metro is useful for commuters, but the drivers hardly use them. They use the signals to traverse. HR is the key driver of a business entity. HR must read the signals coming from changing environments to circumvent the path to achieving business goals. 

NTPC has been at the forefront of driving key policy changes in response to the changing times. It is one of the first PSUs to carry out recruitments under Fixed Term Employee(FTE) mode and all female-only executive trainee recruitment drive.

HR policies like maps are tools for exploration and should not be the doctrine to force rigidity at the workplace. HR policies should work as guidebooks and not the laws.

During the challenging times of COVID, several policies upgraded to support the employees and their families. Whether it was work from home guidelines which were need of the hour or introducing special casual leave for COVID affected employees, NTPC responded well to the demands of changing times.

A good Cartographer keeps on making changes in the maps based on the feedback from Travelers and explorers. Technology has helped improve maps with an inbuilt real-time feedback mechanism.

NTPC won the hearts of everyone in the organization by modifying the rigid benefits structure-enhancing the Medical Benefits and providing moral support to bereaved families by taking care of their accommodation and educational needs.

By design thinking, HR in organizations must keep on tweaking the policies on its organizational journey.

Like a good cartographer, HR must Remember the phrase by Alfred Korzybski: The Map is not the Territory!!

Virender Pratap

Sr. Manager (HR)

NTPC Darlipali