Advances in Human Resource Management
Abstract
A novel process for HR recruitment and employee performance enhancement is presented. The process is inspired by my recent finding that emotional excellence has a profound impact on performance and leadership. This finding is consequential as emotions can now be measured, and meditation is the process with which to cultivate positive emotions at the exclusion of negative emotions. Meditation has been around for thousands of years, and by now, it has been widely studied and corroborated.
The suggested process can be deployed straight away by HR departments across industries with a modest investment, and, furthermore, the volume of benefits can be audited. Once deployed company-wide, corporations should see a steadily improving performance across all operations with a concomitant rise in business profits.
Background
HR departments the world over are charged with recruiting personnel who will turn out to be productive and possess leadership skills. They are also expected to nurture existing employees so they are working at their full potential.
This article presents novel ideas with which HR departments could dramatically enhance their own performance.
Technical skills are important, but most HR departments aren’t generally looking to recruit candidates with a high level of emotional excellence.
Emotional excellence refers to the ability of an individual to remain centered in the face of extenuating circumstances that are part of life.
If you stub your toe, what is your instant reaction? Or, if you are driving, obeying all the traffic rules, and someone cuts into your lane nearly causing an accident, what is your reflex reaction?
Some individuals are naturally gifted with emotional excellence, but others have to cultivate it.
Emotional excellence has nothing to do with race, religion, or cast, gender or national origin.
Human emotions are of two types: positive emotions and negative emotions.
Positive emotions include unconditional love, kindness, empathy, compassion
Negative emotions comprise of anger, hatred, hostility, resentment, frustration, jealousy, fear, sorrow and the like.
Cultivation of positive emotions at the exclusion of negative emotions is not an intellectual exercise. The required positive changes have to come about from within. Just do a thirty-day self-assessment to convince yourself that such is the case.
Emotional excellence has a huge bearing on the type of personnel HR departments should be recruiting, and how they should be nurturing existing employees.
Evidence
I have uncovered a very strong link of emotional excellence to the performance in the external world, and it can be corroborated with measurements. See this 2019 article, The Secret of Exemplary Performance in Insights, a publication of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the body that accredits B-school curricula in the United States.
The Insights article cites two large-scale examples.
Mumbai’s Dabbawalas are renowned for their legendary performance. The 5,000 semi-literate, lunchbox delivery boys pick up 200,000 lunch boxes a day from peoples’ homes in the suburbs and deliver them to their customers’ offices in the city-center and return the empty lunch boxes back to their homes, six days a week, 365 days a year, producing 1 defect (wrongful delivery, late delivery) in 6 million deliveries. And they have been at it since 1890! Forbes rates their performance better than six sigma. Listen to this 2003 three-minute interview on BBC Radio.
Luminaries such as Prince Charles, Virgin Atlantic Chairman, Richard Branson, and numerous others have made a beeline to witness the Dabbawalas’ operations in Mumbai, and news media outlets such as BBC and CBS have reported on them. Harvard and Columbia MBA students study them too.
All this attention to learn how these semi-literate lunchbox delivery boys are able to deliver such incredible performance, and to learn how to replicate such performance.
The visitors have been fixated on what processes Dabbawalas use, and how, but that is not where the secret to Dabbawalas’ exemplary performance lies. After all, some 80% of Fortune 100 companies, and 50% of Fortune 500 companies have six sigma programs in place to a certain extent according to ASQ, but none of them claim to deliver such outstanding performance.
The real secret to the exemplary performance of Dabbawalas is that their emotional excellence is very high. Dabbawalas are all Varkaris (pilgrims) who travel a distance of 200 km on foot every year from one set of temple towns to another. That is, not only are their processes designed well and operated in the best possible manner, but, equally importantly, the emotional excellence of Dabbawalas is very high. I also measured their Wellness Quotient a couple of years ago with a scientific measurement device which we will discuss shortly, and the results confirmed my hunch that their emotional excellence was very high. The stories of their compassionate work have been widely reported and there is even a Bollywood movie about them.
We have signed an MOU with the Dabbawalas to explain to the world how exemplary performance becomes possible.
Relatedly, the late Dr. Mikel J. Harry, co-creator of six sigma at Motorola, had commented on my work some time back, “Your papers are very timely, thoughtful, intellectual, well-researched, highly-credible, science-based and data-driven. In short, they are a professionally notable and solutions focused.” Not long ago, I made a presentation to the entire senior staff of the Office of the Prime Minister of India and the presentation received a score of 4.0 on a scale of 1 to 5.
The second large-scale example is Kumbh Mela.
Kumbh Mela, is a religious festival held every 12 years in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The festival is considered the largest gathering of human beings on the planet, attracting tens of millions of pilgrims. A recent Kumbh Mela attracted 100 million pilgrims.
For the festival, the state government erects a temporary tent city to house these devotees, complete with roads, sanitation, food, health services, electricity, and water; it is built and dismantled with nearly seamless efficiency. In the tent city, the defect rates are astonishingly low as though the tent city were located in a developed nation, and, yet, in the adjoining city of Prayagraj, the defect levels are astronomically high.
When asked how they are able to achieve such outstanding performance, the Prayagraj commissioner who oversaw the construction of the tent city, responded that the 100,000 workers they hired knew they were doing a sacred task; the tent city was for the pilgrims.
So, the high level of emotional excellence of both the employees who erected the tent city, and the millions of pilgrims who stay there are X factors for exemplary performance in addition to the fact that the tent city processes are designed and operated well, just like the Dabbawalas.
These examples should serve as an inspiration for HR Departments of all companies to deploy the ideas in this article forthwith.
Putting the Ideas to Work
To take advantage of these ideas, we must find a measurement device to measure emotions and a process with which to cultivate positive emotions at the exclusion of negative emotions so the required positive changes come about from within.
There are two devices to measure emotions.
MIT researchers developed a device which goes by the name EQ Radio. The device uses a wireless radio frequency (RF) signal. The device sends an RF signal to the subject and captures and analyzes the reflected signal to estimate emotions, the researchers say at an accuracy of 87%, similar to an EKG. The MIT research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Air Force, with additional support from major corporations.
The device I use goes by the name Bio-Well, and it is based on the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) principle. Here, a harmless electrical signal is applied to the ring-finger of both hands, one at a time. The finger’s response to this electrical stimulus is a burst of photons that are captured and analyzed with software delivering two Wellness Parameters: (1) Stress and (2) Energy, J. These parameters directly correlate to emotions. See this short video clip on how the measurement is made.
The stress parameter ranges from 0 to 10. The lower the stress parameter, the better. The value of ~2.0 is a calm state. Negative emotions elevate the stress parameter, but it may be noted that emotions are very subtle, not easily discernable by looking at someone’s face.
The normal range of energy is 65 to 75 J. Emotional burden depletes energy.
As an illustration, Figure 1 depicts the photonic images of a ring finger of various types. Figure 1(a) depicts the photonic image of an inanimate object emotionally immune and unaffected by external conditions. Figure 1(b) depicts the photonic energy of a long-time meditator, while Figure 1(c) depicts the photonic image of a highly stressed individual.
Figure 1. Photonic Images
For emotional balance these two wellness parameters need to be within spec.
Often the photonic images give an early indication of emotional excellence even without going through data analysis.
Bio-Well is not intended to be used as a medical device, however, the GDV technology is registered with the FDA and the EU. The measurement is non-invasive, painless, and takes only a couple of minutes.
A word of caution. The results of Bio-Well are based on statistical correlations, and, therefore, the possibility of outliers cannot be ruled out. Use the concepts herein as a screening tool to be used along with all other information you have.
The process to bring about positive changes from within is meditation.
By now, a very large volume of articles have been published in reputed science and medical journals that attest to the efficacy of meditation for improving health.
What is commonly not known is that meditation also enhances emotional excellence and performance. A thirty-day assessment accompanied by before-after measurements will prove this assessment.
US Case Study
Three Mason-Ohio area high school sophomores organized two sessions for me with the help of their parents. The first session was held in Mason on July 11, 2021. Figure 2(a) depicts a photograph of the children and their parents, while Figure 2(b) depicts the participants.
In the first session, there were thirty-eight participants. I measured the wellness parameters of the participants and put them through a simple 21-minute meditation practice. Then, the heart rate of the participants, before-and-after meditation, were measured.
Figure 3 depicts heart rate of the participants in the July 11 session. The heart rate of everyone reduced which is a good sign.
The second session was conducted on August 1, 2021. Due to summer vacations, not all the participants present in the first session were present in the second session and not all who were present were able to meditate daily. In the second session, I re-measured the stress parameter and energy level of the participants present to assess if three weeks of daily meditation practice had made a positive difference.
Figure 4(a) depicts the stress parameter of the participants in the July 11 session and compares them with those on August 1 along with the stress parameter of the author, a long-time meditator. Figure 4(b) depicts the energy level of the participants on July 11 and August 1 along with the energy level of the author.
From these figures, it is evident that there is an overall improvement in the stress parameter and energy level of several participants. Over time, everyone will realize the benefits. The children even wrote an article once they realized that the stress parameter and energy level of all three of them had improved.
Implications of Negative Emotions
Negative emotions raise stress, positive emotions do not, and stress has been recognized as a major contributor to illnesses.
Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn showed that high levels of stress cause our telomeres to dwindle, accelerating aging. In a commentary in Nature, Blackburn issued a stark warning to world leaders on the high societal costs of stress. She also suggested that meditation could lengthen telomeres slowing aging. Other researchers have since shown that it is indeed so.
Gallup released a survey of a large number of business units across many industries in 2004 reporting that there were more than 22 million workers in the United States alone who were “extremely negative” or “actively disengaged.” The report said this rampant negativity was costing the U.S. economy between $250 and $300 billion every year in lost productivity alone. When workplace injury, illness, turnover, absences and fraud were added, the cost could exceed $1 trillion, annually. This cost to the world economy must be in trillions of dollars!
On August 19, 2019, the prestigious Business Roundtable signed a New Statement redefining the purpose of a corporation. The CEOs of 181 leading companies such as Amazon and Apple are members of BRT. The signatories to the New Statement committed to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders–customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders, and away from the shareholders-first ideology.
In the light of such large-scale negativity reported by Gallup, why and how will one group of stakeholders work for the benefit of all stakeholders? There is but only one way to actualize the New Statement, and it is to introduce a program to enhance emotional excellence, emerging as better human beings in the process. No amount of training and the myriad of otherwise useful approaches will cut the mustard.
The importance of emotional excellence is also being recognized across society. Yale now has a Center for Emotional Intelligence, and according to HBR, the article on Emotional Intelligence is one of the most archived in their publication.
Emotional intelligence is the notion of knowing the importance of emotions within oneself and in others, and this has an obvious bearing on leadership, whereas emotional excellence also includes the wherewithal of how to bring about the required positive changes from within.
Although somewhat beyond the scope of this article, there is an interesting link of intuition to emotional excellence. Intuition is immediate cognition without the benefit of the five senses and the rational mind. Intuition is important to leadership as leaders are often called upon to make split-second decisions at a moment’s notice.
Intuition can be enhanced provided the yogic training is given at a young age. Intuition is intricately linked to emotional excellence. I personally witnessed a demonstration of enhanced intuition among children a couple of years ago and have video clips from that program.
Implementation
Bio-Well is currently priced at around $1,900. The personnel handling the equipment would also have to be trained.
In as far as enhancement of existing performance is concerned, companies would need to permit staff to spend an hour in meditation on a voluntary basis. Over time, companies will find that the benefits in terms of less absences due to illnesses and an improvement in performance more than offsets the time allocated for the meditation practice.
In Closing
A novel addition to the HR practices of recruitment of employees and enhancement of the performance of existing employees has been presented. When fully deployed and diligently practiced, the companies should see a steadily improving performance and growing profits.
Individuals and businesses must do their own due diligence and research on the concepts and ideas presented in this paper. The author believes his study and research in internal excellence and the practices he espouses is highly beneficial to individuals and organizations and welcomes any feedback.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Tony Belak, former Ombudsman, University of Louisville, for his review and editorial assistance with the article.
About the Author
Pradeep Deshpande is a Professor Emeritus in and a former Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Louisville, and President of Louisville, KY-based Six Sigma and Advanced Controls. Professor Deshpande has interacted with two Prime Ministers (Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao) of India, but the opportunity this time is far bigger, nothing short of world transformation. He has made a presentation to the entire staff of the office of the current Prime Minister of India and the Parliament of Peru
In his thirty-three years on the faculty at the University of Louisville (1975–2008), he supervised twenty doctoral scholars and over forty Master’s scholars. He is an author or coauthor of eight books and over one hundred papers and presentations. He had introduced the ideas and concepts in this article in his six sigma class in the MBA program of the University of Kentucky in Athens, Greece, for twelve years and the students loved it. A recipients of several international awards, Pradeep is listed in Who’s Who in the World. He can be reached at pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com.
Further Reading
1. Deshpande, Pradeep B., PhD and Kowall, James P., MD (Neurology, Internal Medicine), PhD (Theoretical Physics), The Nature of Ultimate Reality and How It Can Transform Our World: Evidence from Modern Physics; Wisdom of YODA, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., 2015 (Amazon).
2. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Six Sigma for Karma Capitalism, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., 2nd Ed., 2015 (amazon).
3. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Racial Harmony: The Role of Religion and Spirituality is Essential, Dialogue and Alliance, December 2021. (Dialogue and Alliance is a publication of the Universal Peace Federation, a New York City-based international organization with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Cultural Council). This issue of Dialogue and Alliance where this article was one of three featured contains remarks by many prime ministers, presidents, and luminaries.
4. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., Boost Your Immune Response to Covid, Letter to the Editor, India Currents. May 18 2021.
5. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Decoding the Significance of Indian-American Heritage, India Currents magazine, April 9, 2021
6. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Why America is at the Crossroads and How China Can Emerge as a Benign Superpower, Scientific God Journal, March 2021.
7. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Actualizing the New Statement, Business Mandate, Madras Management Association, March 2021.
8. Kasanoff, Bruce, How to Measure and Enhance Your Intuition, Forbes.com, November 26, 2020.
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucekasanoff/2020/11/26/how--to-measure-and-strengthen-your-intuition/?sh=57c557637a73)
9. Deshpande Pradeep B., Disruptive Innovation, Mumbai Dabbawalas Website, 2020.
10. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Transforming India and Indian Businesses, Business Mandate, Madras Management Association, October 2020. pp. 55–57.
11. Deshpande, Pradeep B., When Does Democracy Succeed?, ThePulse.One, December 9, 2021.
12. Deshpande, Pradeep B. and Kowall, James P., Decipherment of Scientific Wisdom of Bhagvad Geeta Through Six Sigma, JCER, 8, 10, Nov., 2017.
13. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Scientific Framework for World Transformation, Dialogue and Alliance, June 23, 2019.
14. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Scientific Framework for World Transformation, TEDx UofL Talk, April 7, 2017.
15. Deshpande, Pradeep B., The Secret of Exemplary Performance, BizEd, September/October 2019.
16. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Take Heart, America, you are not declining, BizEd, August 29, 2019.
17. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Leadership: The Path to Self-Awareness, The Hindu BusinessLine, August 15 2019.
18. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Advances in Integrative Health, Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research, 9, 7, August 2018.
19. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Steve Jobs — Yogananda Paramahansa Link Unraveled, Siliconeer, June 2018.
20. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Bhavasar, S. N., Aroskar, S. A., and Kowall, James P., Six Sigma Unravels Science of Meditation, JCER 8, 10, November 2017.
21. Deshpande, Pradeep B., Turbocharge General Education Requirements with Science of External and Internal Excellence, paper presented at ASEE Annual Meeting, Columbus, June 2017.
