COVID-19 Pandemic and Multidisciplinary Human Capital

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound effect on all aspects of society. In this article, Assistant Professor at Institute of Public Enterprise in Hyderabad M Chandra Shekar writes how the enterprises expect multiple outcomes from their limited human capital.

Hyderabad: Under the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, enterprises expect multiple outcomes from their limited human capital. To deliver numerous timely results, they should acquire multidisciplinary skill sets.

Let us take the example of the teaching profession. In the pre-COVID scenario, the teaching profession was known for “teaching” as a significant activity in majority institutions.

Due to the current crises, many institutions are expecting several outcomes apart from “teaching”. Now teachers working in higher educational institutions are trying to become “consultants”, “researchers”, “trainers”, “fund mobilisers”, and “marketers” to generate new sources of revenue along with a mandate of achieving national (NIRF) and international (QS-World) rankings etc...

Also, they are playing a pivotal role in the digital transformation of teaching. The teacher has become a “virtual teacher” by learning different technologies in the last six months. The learning curve of the teaching community to obtain multiple skill sets in the previous six months was a big surprise and truly commendable across the schools and higher educational institutions.

Now, let us observe the digital transformations in the field of management profession. The corporate expectations from management professionals working across functions are in peak demand.

And due to Covid-19, companies are eager to recruit multitalented human capital under tight budgets to attain cost-efficiencies. The digital transformations in the field of finance are occurring at a much faster pace in comparison with the pre-COVID scenario. Now finance & accounting professionals are upskilling in various technologies such as MS Excel, Power BI, SAP-ERP, SQL Database, Virtual Audits and Data Analytics software Python etc.…

This upskilling will make them fit into the space of emerging Fin-Tech field.

Similarly, the above IT professionals are keen on learning Finance & Banking basics to provide Fin-tech solutions in emerging areas like P2P lending, Open Banking, Block-Chain and Financial Research.

Next, the HR function is known for managing human capital in an enterprise. Their primary role is to identify the right talent (selection & recruitment), provide the required training (learning & development), assess performance appraisals (feedback) to retain and promote best-performing talent in an enterprise.

Further, they are involved in activities like “job design”, “job analysis”, “job rotation”, “compensation pay”, “employee benefit schemes”, “promotions”, “grievance control”, and “conflict resolutions”. Moreover, they deal with the “human capital” daily, so they need a thorough understanding of “behavioural studies”, “psychology”, “business management”, “communication” and most importantly “technology” now.

Also, HR managers’ role is significant in setting up corporate culture.

Covid-19 made employees work from home, and managing them virtually will be a tedious task. So HR managers are acquiring new skill sets to conduct online written tests, virtual group discussions, virtual interviews, and verifying social behaviour on social networking websites.

Of course, they are taking a massive risk while hiring, as they might not able to assess personal attributes such as “character”, “attitudes” and “behaviour” accurately on virtual platforms. Covid-19 further extended HR managers’ role as “Counselors” to manage employee stress-related issues and burnouts.

Similarly, Covid-19 redefined the entire Marketing function. In the pre-COVID scenario, marketing function used to handle “sales”, “advertising”, “branding”, and “market research”.

Due to this ongoing pandemic, the sales manager’s job profile is entirely overhauled. The Pandemic paused the personal selling. Advertising Managers are redefining the strategies on digital mode such as Pay Per Click (PPC) type of advertisements. Also floating advertisements on OTT (over the top) channels such as Amazon Prime and Netflix etc. can be noticed.

So the marketing function is transforming into digital marketing where technology is leading & directing this function. So the marketing managers need to learn the new-age digital marketing skills like “web design”, “managing social media”, “Google AdWords”, “SEO” (search engine optimisation), “programming” and “content writing”.

Covid-19 is transforming management functions in a faster manner with the help of newly available technologies. IITs and universities in the country offer courses across disciplines like Engineering, Technology, Sciences, and Humanities & Social Sciences. It is time to collaborate across disciplines and customise multidisciplinary courses to train human capital for the future needs of the business community.

At the same time, Business Schools in the country must tie-up with Technology companies/institutions to create tech-savvy managers. Finally to conclude, Human Capital must acquire Multidisciplinary skill-sets for survival in the ongoing crisis.