NHRD April 2013.pdf - National HRD Network

GEMIFICATION POSSIBILITIES IN HR
S V Nathan
About the Author
S. V. Nathan is the Talent Director for Deloitte U.S. Firms in
India, with over 27 years of professional experience in Human
Resource management, and working across businesses such as
Manufacturing, Services, Telecom and Information Technology.
Nathan led the team that helped in building of the India US Region
in his career of over 8 years with Deloitte.
He graduated in Mathematics and did his post graduation from
XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Gamification appears to be one of the
hottest emerging trends in business
and technology today. It is a topic of global
interest with a rapidly expanding scope
that is making HR leaders and managers
sit up and take notice.
Gamification concepts such as simulation,
challenges, scoreboards, and rewards
have been used for centuries. Games are
as old as the Mahabharata! The outcome
of a game of dice overturned the destiny
of an entire subcontinent. Why was the
game so pivotal in this story? One reason
could be that the game represented the
unforeseen challenges that every ruler
has to navigate during his reign. In my
childhood, I remember my grandmother
playing the game of ‘Pallanguzhi’ with me
while teaching me how to master numbers.
I had to count seeds, distribute them evenly
across cups on a wooden board, and add
and subtract during this process. The
old lady was teaching me strategy and
counting at the same time !! Bless her.
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April | 2013 NHRD Network Journal