The panel comprised of Matangi Gowrishankar, Vice-president (Organisational Effectiveness), Cummins India Ltd, Prof Arup Verma of the Loyola University Chicago, Mervyn Raephel, managing director, William M Mercer Group (India) and Anil Nandkarni, director (personnel), Siemens Ltd. The moderator for the session was Bharat Wakhlu, Sr divisional manager (Corp Affairs), Tata Steel. Their responses:

Matanagi Gowrishankar: It's really the dilemma that we are facing in HR. From the experiences that I have had both in GE and to a lesser extent, in Standard Chartered, I think the role HR needs to play is to try to be a buffer between the individual and the organisation. With individuals it really means working very hard with them individually and in groups to help them to resettle. None of the hackings in GE ever went to the press because the HR teams worked behind the scenes with the people continuously. It's got to be also about getting people a soft landing.

It's about understanding what their needs are and how to help them in their transition. Because, ultimately, we cannot run away from the fact that business requires that change for a majority to survive. And that's the balance we have to draw.

Dr Arup Verma: I don't think HR can do much in an environment where the company has decided that the HR's role is just to push papers. Having said that, I agree with Matangi that HR can do a lot. But the practical response to the question is that HR needs to find a champion in a manager, in someone who can help align HR's role. If all of tough management is against HR playing a strategic role, I don't think there is much that's going to happen.

Mervyn Raephel: I think one can look at this in terms of companies who have to do the hacking that how many of them are retrainable. And I think that's the key. Are they retrainable? Can they be redeployed? And the second, can we outsource them and place them elsewhere. India, I think, is moving to a stage where people are going to be retrained if the business requires them. So, I think, we need to show them and try to facilitate a soft landing. And, I think, increasingly what is going to happen is that this role is going to move to line managers from HR.

Anil Nandkarni: I'd agree to a certain extent that we have to find out soft landing. But I think while on one hand the entire organisation has to do this on one scale, on the other hand it has to try to find out processes and measures by which it becomes more and more efficient. It is the role of the HR to see that it creates a structure for those who opt out, like we in Siemens formed a cooperative society with 300 of our employees to help them out.