ICICI Benchmarks Itself Against Global Corporates

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Mumbai: : As a part of its new learning programmes, ICICI Bank Ltd is benchmarking itself against some of the global corporates as well as updating its managers with new global managerial practices. To enable its managers to do this, the company has deployed an initiative termed ‘study tours’.

Further, the bank is also sending managerial professionals to global campuses like Wharton and Harvard in the US.

Explaining the rationale behind these initiatives, says ICICI Bank Ltd general manager K Ramkumar: “These initiatives are aimed at enabling our professionals to internalise and implement globally benchmarked practices to drive the business forward.”

For instance, a senior management professional from ICICI’s HR division had recently visited the US to study the innovative alternatives to ESOP’s that corporates are deploying as a part of the compensation strategy in their organisations across the globe.

Some of the global corporates that ICICI is benchmarking itself against include Citibank, pharma major Merc Pharma, Bell Communications and Delta Airlines.

Senior management professionals would be conducting trips regularly across the world to study some of the benchmarked practices on strategy and business management from international corporates.

Adds Mr Ramkumar: “They would have to study these practices from companies abroad in detail and then make efforts to deploy it in ICICI in India.”

As a follow-up to this, a presentation will be made to the top management on the learnings and the action plan needed to implement these global practices in the bank.

According to the bank, all these efforts are aimed at utilising HR management in initiating a globally competitive business strategy. Reasons Mr Ramkumar: “All these efforts in HRM are aimed at constantly exploring the best of class business practices across the world. This would in turn aid the organisation in accelerating business in the long-term.”

Commenting on ICICI’s initiatives, says Learning Plan Ltd (LPL) executive director Richard D’souza, a Mumbai-based HR consultancy: “Learning and development are not merely about learning to deliver a job with efficiency. It is about knowing how to deliver global excellence in the corporate workplace.”

However, Mr D’souza affirms that such initiatives also need to be accompanied by constant follow-ups where the professionals are continuously updated on the contemporary developments in the area of learning.

“Corporates may invest substantial resources behind learning interventions for professionals. But unless they are backed up with information on contemporary developments, adequate returns may not be assured for professionals who have undergone such programmes,” he adds.