Interview with Munmun Salma Chowdhury

Aurora Consulting

INTERVIEW WITH MUNMUN SALMA CHOWDHURY

Director, Deep Sea Fisheries

Human Resource Advisor, Kumudini Welfare Trust

Former HR Director and Chief People Officer, BRAC International

Former HR Business Partner, CARE International

Former HR General Manager, CARE Bangladesh

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About Munmun Salma Chowdhury (She/Her)

Munmun Salma Chowdhury started her career in the non-profit development sector of Bangladesh. She worked on several development projects including women empowerment, gender equity, education, human resource management, and safeguarding are some the few to mention. She has expertise in training, research, project management, investigation, employee counselling and many others.

Can you tell us about your major accomplishments?

Conducting talent review sessions and developing a talent pool for succession planning of the organization and career development for employees.
Conducting employee engagement surveys and making changes for improvement in the working environment and productivity.
Contributed to developing a performance management system and effective implementation of the system.
Developed policies and procedures for safeguarding and protection against workplace harassment and abuse and successful implementation of the policies.
Developed and successfully implemented strategies and activities to increase women members in senior positions of organizations.

Besides HR, my accomplishments in other areas were:

Leading education programs in remote places in Bangladesh, such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and in poor communities in Rangpur and Dinajpur.
Leading women empowerment program in rural areas of Bangladesh in which 40,000 women were employed for rural road maintenance for a period of four years all over Bangladesh and then they transited to business women with their own savings and became self-reliant.

Tell us about the importance of HR in an Organization.

The HR department plays a vital role in managing the people in the organization. People are at the core of any organization, they give life and energy to the company. An organization cannot operate without its people.

Human resource personnel is trained to handle all kinds of issues and actions related to people management. If people are not well managed in an organization that organization will not bring the desired outcome and will eventually fail. People are very complex and different resources or assets of an organization. For example, one cannot go to a store and buy a worker, just like we do for a computer or furniture.

Human resources need to be selected through a competitive recruitment process and ensure that the person is a good fit for the organizational culture. Moreover, humans are intelligent, emotional, creative, and energetic creatures, with the ability to learn new skills and grow. In other words, they are complicated and can either facilitate the growth of a company or destroy it. The HR department takes huge responsibility in recruiting the right person for the right job, ensuring their timely payment, guiding in the development and professional growth of employees, managing their grievances, taking strategy to uplift their motivation, and ensuring a good exit of the employee in the best possible way. The HR department has also to maintain a balance between the interests of employers and employees.

We are aware of your work in the Middle East and Africa and Asia. Can you highlight some of the milestones ?

One of my accomplishments mentioned above was to increase the number of women in senior positions. When I started my career in the NGO sector there were very few women in senior positions, and ironically NGOs give priority to women's development and women's empowerment, which meant mostly men were giving decisions for women's empowerment. Working in the HR sector, gave me the opportunity to promote women to senior-level positions where women gave decisions for women. In all the organizations that I worked in, I have given the effort to increase the number of women in decision-making positions and was able to make a significant change in the way we work, for example, flexible hours, baby and maternal care, compensation time for working during holidays or weekends, transport for staff, etc.

My other significant work was on talent review and developing succession and career development plans. This was a win-win initiative for both organization and its employees. Through the talent review system, we could identify the right person for the right job and also a development action plan for professional growth. When we have a pool of identified talents for different jobs, it is easier to fill up the vacancy through internal replacement, saving both money and time. However, this cannot be done for a hundred percent of vacancies but it is possible for most of the critical positions. Employees also feel positive when they see their career path and tend to stay with the organization for a long time.

Can digitization of HR benefit an organization ?

Yes, digitization can benefit HR functions in many ways.

Digitization can increase efficiency and accuracy. We can do more work in less time and will high level of accuracy by digitizing HR. For example, a lot of things can be done by automation and therefore allowing HR officers to engage and focus on more important and serious matters. For example, leave management, payroll system, performance tracking, recruitment process, etc can be automated saving time, energy, and error.

In an economic crisis period should a company focus on improving HR?

Focus on improving HR should be a priority before the crisis hits the company. Once the crisis hits, the company will be in survival mode and there will not be much scope to pay attention to improving HR.

In crisis times people may need to acquire new skills and competencies and HR plays a significant role in it to train employees in new types of job skills or hire people with the required skills and knowledge. During crisis time there can be layoffs. The HR department should be ready with a plan to make the layoff process as smooth and painless as possible.

We came across a lot of developmental work that you did in Bangladesh, particularly in remote areas like Chittagong hill tracts . Can you tell us about your experieence?

My experience in the Chittagong Hill Tracts was indeed very exciting and enriching. I worked on an education project called "CHOLEN" from 2000 to 2004, which was funded by USAID. The main focus of the project was to promote playful learning techniques for primary school children. They learned the school curriculum through various activities, games, singing, and playing. Teachers and students created learning materials from local resources. The project had several schools in very remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, for some communities it was the first school they ever saw, the parents of the students had never been to a school or seen one. Therefore, schooling was a very new experience for them, the parents and siblings also liked to come to school and play with the children. For such communities, we had to hire teachers from the urban areas and the villagers used to arrange their accommodation and food without any cost. When the project ended, many of the communities saved up money to pay for the school teachers and they continued the school and learning for their children. We had many challenges but the community always supported us to find a solution. For example, there was one school where children had to cross a river by walking to come to school. The community people made a bamboo bridge for the children to cross the river. Like this, they resolved many obstacles to allow their children to have an education, it was very inspiring and enlightening for us who worked on this project.

Can you tell us about your experience?

What is the future HR?

Most of the procedures are automated and paperless. Information on employees is available at the fingertips of managers and allows them to take informed decisions, with no guesswork.

Potential talents can be easily identified and trained for future responsibility. Succession planning can be done with reliability. Long-term employment will reduce, short-term employment and consultant hiring will be more and the compensation benefits packages will change.

More flexibility will be given in work - more work from home, flexible work hours, and more mobility in employment (for example, a person can work from a park instead of an office room).

Work style will change and so will work management. People will be doing more multi-tasking and remote work because digital facilities will make it possible. All these will mean a big change in the present HR systems and procedures. AI and many modern technologies have to be in use to cope with the new needs of companies and people in general.

Your work was extraordinary in the field of managing emergency reliefs. Can you share your experience and recommend how as a country or system we can improve more ?

As NGOs work with community people, it is very typical that they respond to any crisis faced by the community, it can be fire, flood, storm or earthquake

or war, etc. We usually call such crisis time emergency responses as these are short-term projects and given very high priority to save people's lives. I have had some opportunities to work in emergencies, for example, floods in Bangladesh, typhoons in the Philippines, evacuation due to war and conflict in Sudan and Afghanistan, Displacement and Refugee camps in Bangladesh and Sudan, and a few more. Each emergency is unique and different from the other, therefore one strategy does not work for all.

However, there are some common ways that are needed in all emergency work, top two most important things are resilience and empathy. On the one hand, one must understand the suffering and pain of the affected people, and on the other hand, one must keep working with high hopes that we will be able to end all

the suffering. Having the courage and being ready to fight the challenge is very important and maintaining discipline and following the rules are also very crucial in times of crisis and emergencies. Resources have to be used very diligently and one always has to be watchful on how not to waste anything, including time. Personal likings and disliking are sub-sided and replaced by the larger community's interest. While working in emergencies it is not uncommon that you forget about having meals and breathing space, therefore it is also essential to watch over each other to keep us going.

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Interview with Tasneem Salma Islam

By Kaniz Fatema • November 16, 2023

TASNEEM SALMA ISLAM FOUNDER, AURORA CONSULTING About Tasneem Salma Islam Tasneem Salma Islam is a Data Scientist and Founder of Aurora Consulting. With a background in economics and finance, she's known for pioneering data-driven solutions to empower businesses. EMPOWERING BUSINESSES THROUGH DATA SCIENCE & INNOVATION -BY MANISH KUMAR Data Science plays a pivotal role in empowering and enhancing modern business strategies. By harnessing the vast potential of data, it enables organizations to make informed decisions, optimize processes, and gain invaluable insights into customer behavior and market trends. One visionary industry leader who has been at the forefront of leveraging Data Science to empower businesses is Tasneem Salma Islam, the Founder of Aurora Consulting. With a background in data science, economics, and finance, Tasneem Salma is a seasoned Data Scientist with a unique blend of analytical prowess and business acumen. Through Aurora Consulting, she provides a wide range of services that have been instrumental in helping businesses harness the power of data to drive growth, efficiency, and innovation. Let’s get to know more from her in the below interview snippets. Could you briefly recount your professional journey and what motivated you to establish Aurora Consulting? My career journey commenced as a management trainee at Rancon Motors in the automotive sector, where I gained valuable insights into export, import, lending, credit, and the critical aspects of the supply chain. Following the completion of my MBA, I joined Oscar Hotels in Australia, where I deepened my understanding of accounts, vendor management, and the significance of cash flow. At Healius, a prominent health company, I was responsible for managing financial transactions for over 70 dental and 30 medical clinics, further honing my financial data skills. A brief stint at Oscar Wylee underscored the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace. My career then took a turn towards Data Science, where I reskilled myself to be a Data scientist and started working as a Data Analyst in one of the reputed healthcare Start-ups, Praava in Bangladesh. After a brief career hiatus, I founded Aurora Consulting, driven by my passion for solving problems and creating positive economic impacts through innovative data solutions. My motivation for remote work was inspired by the birth of my child. My most recent venture, INTELLECTHR, is centered on personal and professional growth, drawing inspiration from my mother's HR career and my experiences in my past jobs. As the Founder, what factors influence your effective corporate growth strategies? The foundation of our effective corporate growth strategies revolves around continuous learning, collaboration, and execution, all of which prioritize our organization's most valuable asset: our people. We leverage technology, particularly AI and innovative tools, to enhance both the quality and efficiency of our operations. While economic factors may sometimes pose constraints on revenue and market share growth, we remain committed to internal growth, which can propel the organization forward during favorable conditions. Simultaneously, investments in research and development and infrastructure fortify our resilience, enabling us to withstand economic downturns and outperform our competitors. This approach presents a promising opportunity for growth and advancement. So, in essence, these are the elements that shape our approach to corporate growth. How do you foster a culture of continuous learning to gain insights into customer requirements and harness advanced technologies for business prosperity? I advocate for experiential learning and handson methods to nurture a culture of continuous improvement. To gain a deeper understanding of customer needs, I actively share insights spanning psychology, marketing, sales, technology, and economics. During the initial stages of our journey, I emphasized the importance of striking a balance between technical learning and knowledge acquisition, employing AI tools and automation to aid in this process. I enjoy challenging my team, motivating them to reach their objectives swiftly, and readily embracing and implementing their strategies when they align with our organizational goals. Furthermore, I promote efficiency in our work while also recognizing the significance of allocating time for personal growth and development. Tell us about your leadership style and fundamental principles. My approach to leadership centers on progressing with a clear purpose to effect positive change, regardless of its scale, with an understanding that such actions can create a ripple effect. I mentioned the concept of the ripple effect because, just as a team manager can lead and bring about positive transformations within their team, it forms part of a broader cycle or system. When one person takes responsibility and enhances various aspects, the effects extend beyond that individual. This principle applies not only to my team but also to the companies I collaborate with. Additionally, effective leadership necessitates a profoundly positive and optimistic mindset. Perfection maybe unattainable, even for us as humans, but we can always enhance our strengths. What is your ultimate future goal? My ultimate aspiration is to occupy a position that amalgamates innovation, advisory expertise, creativity, and the ability to solve critical problems. While my immediate focus for the next 5-10 years will be primarily centered around business, financial, and economic growth, I intend to transition towards a more philanthropic approach to problem-solving as I accumulate greater experience and knowledge. Achieving this vision is still a dream for me, and to turn it into reality, I realize the need to acquire extensive knowledge and experience. What advice would you offer to up-andcoming industry leaders? I would advise emerging leaders to maintain their motivation, exhibit courage, demonstrate perseverance, and regularly reflect on their accomplishments towards betterment, both in their personal and professional lives. Having a competitive drive is natural, but it's essential to remember that each person's journey is unique, and continuous improvement is key to achieving one's goals. I also encourage fellow industry leaders to generously share their knowledge, observations, and insights to assist those who will follow in their footsteps.