18 May 2020|Noida | Amity University, Noida
Corporate Governance post COVID-19 discussed at Amity University Webinar
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A webinar on ‘Will there be a paradigm shift corporate governance after Covid-19 pandemic?’ was conducted by Dr. Luckmika Perera, Associate Professor, Deakin Universitywhere he began by sharing the economic preparedness and economic consequences of COVID-19 across the globe. Talking about the effects of COVID-19 on Corporate Governance, Dr. Parera shared how very profound challenges are being borne by every aspect of businesses globally in the short, medium and long-term. “The implications for corporate governance are based on five broad aspects including resources; governance; business models; external environment and communication with stakeholders,” shared Dr. Parera. He further averred how COVID has affected Human capital and there was a need for using intellectual property better.
He also shared how in the external environment, social distancing has changed the way we do business, travel and the way physical businesses need to be restructured. He also focused on how inter country and intra country relationships were changing due to this pandemic scenario.
A webinar on Future of People Management was conducted by Prof. Steve McKenna, Member, Management Committee, Australia-India Business Council, WA. Faculty of Business and Law - Curtin Business School Perth, Western Australia. He shared how HR is a contextualized function in business. “Human Resource Management (HRM) has changed its name many times in the course of history stating an identity crisis indicating how HR has always struggled for a future. And with this pandemic, the world of work has changed bringing the question that what is the place for HR?” said Prof. McKenna. He shared seven essentials for the future of people management including how HR will have to continue to push for strategic relevance- know the business you are in; Discover how to create more value for the organization; Have an internal as well as an internal focus; Contribute to SME development, efficiency and productivity; Disrupt conventional leadership and management development; Broaden the view of talent and who is talented and HR needs to be more agile, not simply compliant. Prof. McKenna also shared how organizations across the world are working on designing and enhancing the employee experience.
“COVID-19 has created agility in HR at some organizations in the world. Also a big part in designing and enhancing the employee experience is technology including AI, Chatbots and Virtual Reality,” stated Prof. McKenna. He further added how mobility of people within organizations is under review now and how things will change post the pandemic and virtual teams will find more takers as it is a huge cost saver. Talking about the skillsets required for a global career in HR, Prof. McKenna shared how routine HR jobs are disappearing. He also averred that future job seekers would need to understand the business and how HR can create value. “Be design thinkers, envision the future of work and people and focus on the employee experience. Constantly upskill and about business not just HR. Lastly understand your local context and the mindset of business leaders,” stated Prof. McKenna.
A web-based panel discussion was conducted by Panelist- Dr. Sahera Bleibleh, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University, Dr. Khaled Galal Ahmed, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University and Dr. Olivia Duncan, Architect Urbanist, Department of Municipalities & Transport, Abu Dhabi on ‘Role of Design Community to combat Covid 19 and future steps’.
Dr. Sahera Bleibleh, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University said that Coronavirus has impacted everybody's life but the impact may differ from micro and macro level. “Individual may get affected at personal level whereas community is affected at social level. Business and government is getting affected, transport and travel business has effected as worldwide. We live in an interwoven, interconnected world where an injury to one is truly an injury to all. We must confront the coronavirus with solidarity and fight for a society where the health of all is more important that profits for a few. Community resilience is growing field builds on a strong research base in the areas of community well being, social equity and knowledge acquisition and transfer. There will be new normal. What this normal will look like, in term of cities and everything else, is still unfolding and in the realms of speculation. Yet, its time to democratization of decision making,” shared Dr. Sahera Bleibleh.
Dr. Olivia Duncan, Architect Urbanist, Department of Municipalities & Transport, Abu Dhabi said that due to COVID 19 remote working will lead to death to office spaces as if Twitter implements Work for Home policy forever then what will happen to their big huge offices. Google and Facebook have also extended home working policies until 2021. Dr. Duncan stressed on the need for research and seek evidence based information from Public health professionals, planetary health specialties, scientist who focus on climate change studies and the increasing connections between well-being of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems. He also laid emphasis on seeking deeper understanding of a potential user of a design product and to engage with community's sentiment locally and globally.
Dr. Khaled Galal Ahmed, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University Amazon aims to provide internet to the world by launching thousands of satellites into space. A total of 3236 satellites would be launched into low earth orbit by Amazon to provide internet to millions of people.
A lecture by Dr. Chanda Mahanta, Professor and HOD, Department of Civil Engineering- IIT Guwahati was delivered on ‘Lockdown Lessons: Introspecting future teaching learning priorities in environment science and engineering’.
While delivering the lecture he said that Engineering is an activity that is essential to meet the needs of people, economic development and the provision of services to society. “Engineering involves the purposeful application of mathematical and natural sciences and a body of engineering knowledge, technology and techniques. Engineering seeks to produce solutions which are predicted to the greatest degree often in uncertain contexts. While bringing benefits engineering activity has potential adverse consequences and must be carried out responsibly and ethically. One must use available resources efficiently, be economic, safeguard health and safety, be environmentally sound and sustainable and generally manage risks throughout the entire life cycle of a system,” said Dr. Mahanta. He also shared that the main aim of the civil engineering is to build/construct infrastructures (building, roads, railways, water supply, river work, energy plant etc.).