Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A symbiotic relationship
An IT company spends a considerable amount of time and money on freshers so
that they can be integrated into a corporate work environment. In an attempt to
bridge the gap between educational curriculum and actual job requirements,
companies have collaborated with educational institutes. This is where the industry
provides training to the college faculty on current requisites in the industry, and
imparts new skills to them which could be of demand in the future.
The Need of the Hour
Today, corporates face a huge challenge in recruiting the right talent. During a
typical campus connect program, an organisation manages to hire an average of !
people out of every "!! interviewed. A mere two per cent# A deeper probe reveals
that at least half of the remaining $%! miss out on employment due to lack of
behavioural skills or domain specialisation. &The industry and academia need to
embark on a fire'fighting mission together. The need of the hour is to identify and
map the right requirement at the right place and at the right time,( says Deependra
)humble, )hief *eople *erson for +e,aware.
According to a recent consulting study conducted by -ercer, only ." per cent
graduates in India are employed. The figure indicates that there is a huge gap
between the pace of change of university curriculum and the technology needs of the
current industry. As a result, students have good theoretical knowledge but they lack
problem solving skills due to lack of e,posure to practical projects. &/iven the
situation, it is imperative that industry and academia collaborate to improve the
quality of students who are entering into the industry for various roles and positions,(
asserts 0achin Tikekar, chief of people operations, 1*IT )ummins Infosystems.
According to 2omit Dasgupta, director, /lobsyn, &3ne of the biggest indicators that
determine the need for a company to partner with an educational institute is the
shortage of relevant skills. The other indicators include research driven initiatives
where academic institutions can form the breeding grounds for development of
newer technologies.(
Joining Hands!
1eeping this in mind, many companies have tied up with some of the best institutes
in order to bridge the gap between industry and academia. +e,aware Technologies,
in an attempt to increase communication between academics and industry, has
started the &Train the Trainers *rogramme(. The programme conducted a workshop
on 42ecent Trends in Information Technology5, jointly organised by IIT -adras and
+e,aware Technologies. The workshop, meant for faculty members in the )omputer
0cience Department of various 6ngineering 7 )omputer Applications in Arts 7
0cience )olleges, is a part of the Industry'Academia interaction. &The purpose is to
give a better e,posure to the faculty on the latest trends in the IT industry. Training
teachers who in turn train students helps polish certain additional skills required by
the industry, and educating the students on the latest technologies,( notes )humble.
-ulti )ommodities 6,change 8-)9:, in collaboration with some of the top notch
institutes such as II- Indore, II- Ahmedabad and II- ;angalore, II<'=ew Delhi,
>elingkar Institute of -anagement Development and 2esearch, 0ymbiosis Institute
of International ;usiness, etc., provides general as well as customised training
programmes at various levels.
/lobsyn?s entire business model is based on bridging the gap between Industry and
Academia. &>e run a post'graduate program with the @niversity of )alcutta on
Applied 6conomics and Information -anagement, >e also run a post'graduate
program with Aadavpur @niversity on 0oftware 6ngineering and ;usiness
-anagement,( states Dasgupta.
=IIT Imperia offers long and short term management programs to individuals and
corporates, using its innovative synchronous learning technology. The institute has
created a special program for /enpact, to train its employees across multiple
locations.
There are various challenges of this system including sustaining such programmes
in campuses and encouraging the academic fraternity to attend them at regular
intervals. &>e need a dedicated workforce to deliver such special lectures, value'
added sessions etc.,( says )humble.
&3ne of the biggest challenges is that of mindset adjustment. *ure Academics has
always had an 4input driven5 mindset where as Industry initiatives are more 4output
driven5,( affirms Dasgupta.
A Successful ndea!our!
There is no doubt that Industry'Academia collaboration is one of the successful ways
to fight skill shortage. )andidates are now e,pected to demonstrate initiative and
confidence to take on business challenges, and to portray a positive brand image
that is necessary while facing a customer. >hatever the route, the onus of helping
students keep pace with the dynamic business environment lies with the academia.
-odification of academic curriculum and its implementation is traditionally a long
process involving careful research, curriculum design, customisation and delivery.
"olish s#ills to #eep pace
The skills you picked up in the last specialised workshop, which your company
commissioned you to attend, are not of much use for long. They become redundant
within a year, sometimes even sooner, only to get replaced with an entirely new set
of skills which need to be learned afresh.
&1nowledge has become so dynamic and in keeping with it, the skills required to
acquire or access that knowledge keep changing. It5s like using a computer to
access information online. ;esides the information itself changing, the ways to
access it are also very dynamic in nature,( says =erul'based career counsellor
0ucharita 0hetty.
In conjunction with academics and work e,perience is the procurement of skills that
go a long way in boosting productivity. It5s in keeping with this norm that companies
send their key personnel on specialised programmes that are aimed to enhance
skills B soft as well as technical in nature.
>hile most companies continue to dispatch teams of key personnel to attend special
workshops held to boost niche skills, a few of them hold training sessions within the
organisation itself. &A lot of companies are now beginning to realise that skills
imbibed through a workshop or briefing don5t hold good for long as the needs in most
industries continue to change, warranting completely new set of skills,( adds 0hetty.
Cook at A*C, a wholly'owned subsidiary of 0ingapore'based =eptune 3rient Cines, a
global transportation and logistics company engaged in shipping and related
businesses, which has registered an increase of about D! per cent in the number of
in'house programmes in India aimed to boost skills during the last one year itself.
&The skills learned here at A*C are either soft or specific system skills. The number
of programmes held to upgrade these skills has definitely registered an increase in
the last year,( says +2 Director 0anjay 0abnis.
Incidentally, soft skills include leadership management, communication, teamwork
and other programmes that last anywhere between one to three days at A*C. &0kills
used vary in groups and situations,( offers A*C5s Cearning -anager 0enthil 1umar.
&The skills used by the sales team will differ from those used by the customer service
team or for that matter, the operations team, which instead has to use reporting tools
that derive information from the system,( adds 1umar. &The programmes held to aid
upgradation of system skills take place from half a day to as long as a three'day'
session. There has been an overall increase of ." per cent to D! per cent in in'house
programmes in the last one year,( endorses 1umar.
)onsider 0talwart -achinery5s rapidly changing manpower requirement, for
instance. As personnel manager /ovind 1umar puts it, &The skills needed from a
manager a decade back, for e,ample, didn5t include computer know'how or
networking as much as is needed today. 0o much so, that there has been a marked
shift in the role of the manager itself.( 0o, today, there are two different kinds of
managers in the firm to do jobs that would B on the face of things B seem similar.
+owever, the role of a personnel manager is starkly different from that of an +2
manager who will do a much specialised job, armed with special skills too. -ore
importantly, these skills will continue to change and grow drastically B altering the
role and nature of an employee5s profile ' within months as opposed to years as was
the case earlier.
$ffice spaces
Eou needn5t be familiar with the Dilbert comic to imagine why the strip5s creator,
0cott Adams, paints life inside a modern corporate office cubicle as bleak. Although
things rarely improve in Dilbert5s world, the situation inside real'world office cubicles
is improving. The stereotypical office is an orderly place where workers are
seemingly glued to their desks staring at computer screens or papers. That image,
however, may soon be a thing of the past, as more and more businesses, have been
transforming their offices.
%S THR A &%N'((
Is there a direct link between office interiors and productivity and can that be outlined
in tangible termsF 6laborating on the current scenario Ginod * Gijay, creative
director, *rime <ocus e,plains, (In the competitive landscape, interiors do tend to
become another intangible plus that an organisation has to have, in terms of
developing equity with employees or its visitors who might be customers, suppliers
and others. It provides an insight into the very culture of the workplace. Aust as they
say, where clothes reflect a man?s personality the interiors reflect an office?s
personality. 3rganisations are, therefore, becoming particularly careful in the way
they attire their offices. >ith well designed spaces and furniture the efficiency and
motivational levels of the people can be increased as it gives a good feeling.(
There has been a sea'change in the way offices operate and this is reflected in the
way offices look. The nine to five routine is almost non'e,istent with people spending
more hours at work. The working populace is also a young lot nowadays where the
bracket starts as early as . and who are in tune with the 4hip and happening5. The
office spaces and facilities must match the nature of their work. 3ver the past few
years, offices have changed into livelier, more upbeat environments, with the focus
being employee comfort and functionality. =ewer companies, especially in the IT
sector, are looking to woo and retain a younger, livewire'kind of crowd that wouldn?t
be too impressed with just a cubicle that makes you feel isolated from the world.
According to 1ishore *anikker, an architect with 6difice Architects, a -umbai'based
firm specialising in corporate interiors, there have been significant changes in work
culture and contemporary workplaces. +e says ( It is a known fact that even the
smallest thing in the office affects the performance of the people working there, even
if it is an inanimate object like office furniture. The general impression among people
is that the calibre and the skills of the people working in an office affect its growth
and productivity. They do play the most important role, undoubtedly, but believe it or
not, office furniture too plays an e,tremely major role in boosting the productivity of
an organisation.(
TH TRANS)$R*RS
3ffice interiors are changing today keeping in mind the changing trends in the office
space. )ompanies want to portray the image of their office as being in sync with the
new age office, with a modern look and feel. Interiors have helped in redefining the
new age offices. -ore and more companies are increasingly accepting the concept
of modernising the office interiors. An emerging trend vis'H'vis office interiors that is
fast catching up is the bend towards space management and strategic planning
keeping in mind the usage and workflow in conjunction with aesthetics. Apart from
taking care of aspects ranging from comfort to aesthetics to functionality and
ergonomics, new age offices are also laying emphasis on the psychological aspect
of team building within the organisation. ?3pen office? and ?no partition? concepts are
finding their way into the modern offices. *rinciples of vaasthu and feng'shui are also
popular in companies.
&Increasingly, architects, interior designers, facilities managers, and furniture
companies are assuming a new roleI strategic consultants familiar not only with
blueprints but also with human behaviour and organisation. )orporations are using
them to boost productivity which is one of the many ways it works on to gain the
competitive edge in this global market as more and more companies are talking
about going global,( adds *anicker. A good office definitely improves the general
positive factors affecting the work environment. The underlying perception here
being that any place done up tastefully will have good people reflecting the best of
their own selves.
ngaging employees through sur!eys
6mployee satisfaction is a critical element not only in providing high levels of
customer satisfaction, but also for providing higher productivity, turnover, and
reduced costs associated with recruiting. It is imperative to understand the attitudes,
behaviour, motivation and issues affecting the employees and their performance as
they play an important role in shaping and directing the organisation?s productivity
and overall success.
The Need $f The Hour
Though communicating with each employee was considered the best way to
understand their level of satisfaction with the organisation, it may well be called a
primitive way in reading their minds. Cong taken for granted, communication can now
be related to job satisfaction, productivity, team'building, and the general
coordination within the organisation and this is where employee surveys play a
pivotal role.
&6mployee insights into the workplace can help organisations identify issues,
thereby, ensuring high productivity and loyalty. Analysing the data from the surveys
makes it easier for us to identify and address issues that are important to specific
groups of staff. >e can also gauge the attitudes of staff towards a particular issue,
such as pay, or the level of support they5re receiving from their managers. The
survey covers a wide range of issues from careers to facilities to transport,( says
0udheesh Genkatesh, head +2, Tesco +0).
A well'designed employee survey provides specific information, enabling companies
to develop meaningful action plans to address these issues. The cost of conducting
a survey can be minimal compared to its benefits, both in terms of employee morale
and increased performance. 0uch surveys provide valuable data which can be
analysed giving a huge sample of the overall employee engagement with the
company. The higher the employee satisfaction graph, the higher would be business
performance levels because of the pride and kudos that come from working for a
successful company.
The "itfalls
&Apart from being just a tool to gauge the satisfaction levels, this acts as a channel
for people to give feedback on the organisation on specific areas. It could serve as a
very good information tool for future decisions of the company. +owever, it depends
on what you normally do with the survey results. If it is just doing the survey as an
activity every year, it will never give any feedback from employees. They will
definitely want to know what happened to the points raised in the previous survey.
*ost survey, it is very important for you to tell the people what is really being done
with the survey results.
;ased on this past e,perience, people decide whether giving feedback is meaningful
or not,( says D.2ajkumar, senior manager, +2, -icroland. Another point which is
note worthy is the fact that the decision to allow employees to remain anonymous
may allow employees to be more candid, and thus, effective in identifying problem
areas, especially those hidden from senior management. If employee surveys are
poorly designed and implemented, they can do unintended damage. A failed survey
is more than a waste of organisational resources ' it can negatively impact employee
engagement, which defeats the very motive of the survey. +ence, it would be
necessary for an organisation to plan the survey, considering various parameters like
whether they are considering the entire workforce or just few project teams, timing of
the survey, and ensuring that the responses are valued by the organisation5s
management.
A +a#eup ,all
&)ompanies that do not invest in employee surveys will be shooting in the dark with
respect to measuresJinitiatives put in place to increase employee satisfactionJmorale.
>hen employees see value in the survey, the response rates will be e,ceptionally
high. +owever, regular communication forums like staff meetings, blogs, open'door
policies along with the surveys can add to the employee feeling satisfied,( adds
0ushil Tayal, director, +2, Cogica)-/.
)onsidering employees as key stakeholders in the success of the organisation,
valuing their opinions and working on them can brighten the future prospects of the
company. >e need to understand that such surveys show us that there is a direct
correlation between employee satisfaction and the quarter results of the company.
*indset- a po.erful booster of the performance of an organisation
Today5s economic and social environment is changing very rapidlyK markets are
increasingly global, deregulation is taking place everywhere, deflation 8e,cept for oil
and its derivatives: is common in many sectors. The war for talent once again is at
an all time high making it difficult to attract and even more difficult to retain talent.
The shelf life of any product has dramatically reduced, consumers are becoming
more discerning and their behaviour is increasingly unpredictable. 6vidence of these
changes are ever present in our daily life.
In such an environment, organisations are forced to continuously change by
rethinking their business models, redesigning their product lines and reformulating
their approach to markets and customers. The result is that very few of the
organisations that were lauded as the champions of performance