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particularly, a fun moniker can be the difference between getting ushered into the
presence of a “to-be” customer, and getting thrown out of the office!
The other idea is that in an age where people are beginning to develop skills that
are exceedingly niche, it is important to have job titles that describe exactly what
the person is doing. Even if it means the title is a mouthful like “Senior vice
president of external enterprise management.”
Closer home, we are also slowly succumbing to the moniker bug. “The trend has
been somewhat encouraged by the multinationals that have not only brought into
India their best practices, but also a part of the culture that exists in overseas markets.
Therefore, I wasn’t surprised recently when I bumped into a “human resource
enhancement specialist” and even a “consumer feedback and complaint analyst”
during my visits to India’s desi “Silicon Valley,” Bangalore.
In Delhi and Mumbai, I’ve encountered “Chief Entrepreneurs (means the company
must have many entrepreneurs) or Chief vice president (everybody’s a VP?) Specialized
titles, if you ask me, are becoming an imperative. After all, not only are people
doing very specific work, they’re also wearing multiple hats (doing more than one
type of job!).The recent flood of Bollywood brave hearts into the world of Internet,
e-commerce / e-business seems to me to be the perfect example. Now what does
“
yahoo” (as in
Junglee
the movie) chief Shammi Kapoor do about his visiting card
Does he say, “veteran film star” or should he opt for the more techno savvy,
“
Chairman of the IUCI” . I prefer the latter!
While some organizations are inventing new job titles for virtually every new hire,
there are also companies (in India as well) that are even doing away with the
monikers altogether. This obviously, has significant disadvantages. You don’t know,
for instance, when you reach out for a card that says Shivanandan Murthy and
provides an e-mail, fax and phone number (and little else), whether you are addressing
the CEO of the company or a technician in the firm’s customer support cell.
Designations then could play a key role in how employees identify themselves
within an organization and the work space they represent. My feeling is that they
should be simple, straightforward and comprehensible. While I have nothing against
either innovation, or frugality, I do believe a job title should be just that: a brief
explanation of what one does. Neither outlandish, nor unbearably plain. So do go
for the simple and direct when you’re given the choice to pick your designation.
Nothing succeeds like simplicity!
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