Wipro inducts 'Appreciative Inquiry' for better team work

Tarun Narayan, Bangalore,
December 02, 2002

Says Rajesh Sharma, Manager-Talent engagement and development & Head HR (Finance Solutions) Wipro Technologies Ltd:"The initiative is aimed at enabling the teams in moving towards adopting a solution-centric approach to solving business puzzles."

This is how the company deploys the entire programme to create a win-win dynamics for one of the project teams in the establishment:

. Firstly, there is a facilitator who would enable the group to go back in time and openly share some of the high's and low's that they might have encountered in their lives (personal or professional).

. The group may also focus on some of their experiential involvements in projects, generic experiences, critical incidents or stories

. They would then be reflecting on how to evolve action plans that can collectively and pro-actively impact the business.

And this is done by deliberating on some of the key questions such as: 'what have I done better and how can I do things to drive relevant results? Or even some of the hunches like 'What can I do further so as to be able to deliver a more positive action at the work place? According to the company, the participants and the subjects can revisit the attributes and add anything that is not covered in the entire exercise.

But some consultants believe that techniques like AI cannot carry a direct impact either in triggering performance or in creating an ideal team culture. "All that such techniques do is to allow the teams an open environment to communicate and it would be a tall order to attain some of the strategic deliverables in Human Resource Management", says David Robert, managing partner, Talent Trainers Ltd (TTL) a leading HR consultancy that focuses on teams and talent management.

Consultants also affirm that since AI lays too much of emphasis on internal self, there are no foolproof systems to evaluate the extent to which such initiatives have practically enabled the companies in creating business-aligned teams in their respective organisations.

However, the company claims that there are a couple of deliverables that AI can actualise. "For one, the process of (open and complete experience sharing) enables the teams to resolve any issues that might normally pace down the functioning of a normal team.", justifies Sharma.

This would mean that if the traditional problem solving approach forces the subjects to focus on something they want less of AI on the other helps inculcate a lot of positive energy or feel good factor in the teams that are participating in the exercise.

Further,the collective awareness of such positive experiences helps in changing the perspectives and there is a visible difference in the subjects while they are narrating their experiences. The company believes that it also helps in initiating a culture that enforces and breeds a lot of openness in approach and communication amongst the teams.

Sums up Robert:"The need for companies today is to create a culture of mutual trust and openness in the work place since in comparison to AI such simple culture-change initiatives will consume much less of the time and resources of the organisation in creating an appropriate team dynamics at the workplace".

Source: The Financial Express