University Centre:

NIPSTEC
D-82, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi-110 017
(Code No.1640)

COMPETENCY MAPPING
IN
HCL COMNET LTD
(A Subsidiary of HCL Technologies)

PROJECT

By

Project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for ‘Master of Business Administration’
Distance Education Wing, Syndicate House, Manipal-576 104

1
 I hereby declare that the project report entitled:

COMPETENCY MAPPING
IN HCL COMNET LTD

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Master of Business Administration

to

Sikkim-Manipal University, India, is my original work and not

submitted for the award of any other degree, diploma,
fellowship, or any other similar title or prizes.

Place: New Delhi

Date: 15th,Dec 2007

2
The project report of ABC is approved and is
acceptable in quality and form.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Name Name

Qualification Qualification

Designation Designation

3
 This is to certify that the project report entitled

COMPETENCY MAPPING
IN HCL COMNET LTD

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Masters of Business Administration of Sikkim-Manipal
University of Health, Medical & Technological Sciences

By

SH ABC
(Reg. No.)

He has worked under my supervision and guidance and that no

part of his report has been submitted for the award of any other
degree, Diploma, Fellowship or other similar titles or prizes and
the work has not been published in any journal or Magazine.

Certified

Date 15th Dec 2007

4
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, ABC, student of Sikkim Manipal University, MBA, 4th Semester had a great

learning experience and pleasure in doing my project on ”COMPETENCY

MAPPING IN HCL COMNET LTD

I am thankful to Mr. Kalyanraman, Head (HR) HCL COMNET LTD- for their

valuable guidance and support throughout this project.

I sincerely appreciate the brilliant guidance and, all-out support given to me by

Mr. Vikas Chaudhary (Technical-Head, NIPSTEC), which have provided the

solid foundation and without which it was not possible to complete this project.

I would like to thank all of them for their ideas and support.

(ABC)
Reg. No.

Date: 15th Dec 2007

5
 Part -I
Summery

S No. Description Page No.(s)

1. Introduction 8 - 10
2. Aims and objectives 11 - 15
3. Methodology 16 - 17
4. Analysis 17 – 18
5. Conclusions 19
6. Recommendations 19 - 20

PART – II
Overview of the Organization

S No. Description Page No.(s)

1. General 21 - 22
2. An Overview of the organization 22 - 23
3. HCL COMNET LTD 23 - 24
4. Operational Statistics 24 - 25

6
 PART – III
Project Overview

S No. Description Page No.(s)

1. Competence and Competency 25 - 26
2. Definitions 26 – 35
3. Competency Models 36 - 49
4. Objective, scope & utility of 49 - 57
study
5. Analysis 58 - 71
6. Suggestions, inferences & 72 - 80
recommendations

PART – IV

1 Bibliography 86

7
 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Competency Mapping is the process of identifying,

measuring and developing human performance in
organizations and tries to:

 Give feedback to employees to improve subsequent

performance.
 Identify employee training needs.
 Document criteria used to allocate organizational
rewards.
 Form a basis for personnel decisions-salary (merit)
increases, disciplinary actions, etc.
 Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis
and development
 Facilitate communication between employee and
administrator.

1.2 HCL COMNET LTD has introduced the “Competency

Mapping System” as one of the vital aspects of Human
Resources Development for all the employees of the
Company to enable them to:

 Clearly understand their roles in the organization

 Perform effectively in the role against well define

objectives

8
  Develop their skills, knowledge and capabilities both
to their and the organization’s advantage and

 Seek and achieve a growth of their career in the

organization.

1.3 Overview of Competency Mapping

 Ideally Competency Mapping allows management to

specify what employee must do; combines feedback and goal
setting.

 Everyone involved needs to recognize that

Competency Mapping involves human judgment and information
processing; can never by totally objective or infallible

 System should aim to be easy to operate, easy to

explain, easy to maintain, easy to administer

 System should be job related, relevant, sensitive,

reliable, acceptable, practical, open, fair, and useful.

 Need to take legal issues into account.

1.4 Yearly performance reviews are critical. Organizations

are hard pressed to find good reasons why they can’t
dedicate an hour-long meeting once a year to ensure the
mutual needs of

9
1.5 The employee and organization are being met.
Performance reviews help supervisors feel more honest in
their relationships with their subordinates and feel better
about themselves in their supervisory roles. Subordinates
are assured clear understanding of what’s expected from
them, their own personal strengths and areas for
development and a solid sense of their relationship with
their supervisor. Avoiding performance issues ultimately
decreases morale, decreases credibility of management,
decreases the organization’s overall effectiveness and
wastes more of management’s time to do what isn’t being
done properly.

2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To test the effectiveness of the existing frame work by

taking the feedback through discussions from the
participating employees.

To study the existing frame work of Competency Mapping.

To analyze the feedback received through discussions with

the employees.

To suggest appropriate process to achieve the goals of

Competency Mapping.

10
 2.1 AIMS

2.1.1 Effective Competency Mapping systems contain two basic

systems operating in conjunction: an evaluation system
and a feedback system.

2.1.2 The main aim of the evaluation system is to identify the

performance gap (if any). This gap is the shortfall that
occurs when performance does not meet the standard set
by the organization as acceptable.

2.1.3 The main aim of the feedback system is to inform the

employee about the quality of his or her performance.
(However, the information flow is not exclusively one way.
The appraisers also receive feedback from the employee
about job problems etc.)

2.1.4 One of the best ways to appreciate the purposes of

Competency Mapping is to look at it from the different
viewpoints of the main stakeholders; the employee and
the organization.

Employee Viewpoint
From the employee viewpoint, the purpose of Competency
Mapping is four-fold:
1. Tell me what you want me to do.
2. Tell me how well I have done it.
3. Help me improve my performance.
4. Reward me for doing well.

11
Organizational Viewpoint

From the organization’s viewpoint, one of the most

important reasons for having a system of Competency
Mapping is to establish and uphold the principle of
accountability.

For decades it has been known to researchers that one of

the chief causes of organizational failure is “non-alignment
of responsibility and accountability.” Non-alignment
occurs where employees are given responsibilities and
duties, but are not held accountable for the way in which
those responsibilities and duties are performed. What
typically happens is that several individuals or work units
appear to have overlapping roles.

The overlap allows – indeed actively encourages – each

individual or business unit to “pass the buck” to the
others. Ultimately, in the severely non-aligned system, no
one is accountable for anything. In this event, the
principle of accountability breaks down completely.
Organizational failure is the only possible outcome.

In cases where the non-alignment is not so sever, the

organization may continue to function, albeit inefficiently.
Like a poorly made or badly tuned engine, the non-aligned
organization may run, but it will be sluggish, costly and
unreliable. One of the principal aims of Competency
Mapping is to make people accountable. The objective is

12
 to align responsibility and accountability at every
organizational level.

2.2 Objectives of Competency Mappings:

Objectives for Competency Mapping can be understood in terms of

potential benefits:

2.2.1 Competency Mappings seek to meet specific objectives.

They include tell and sell, tell and listen, problem solving,
and mixed model. Tell and sell is evaluative in nature. It
is used for purely evaluative purposes. The supervisor
coaches by telling the employee the evaluation and then
persuading the employee to follow recommendations for
improvement. Tell and listen is evaluative in nature. The
supervisor coaches by telling the employee the evaluation
and then listens to the employee’s reactions to the
evaluation in a nonjudgmental manner. Problem solving
is developmental in nature and involves counseling. It is
used for employee development purposes. The
supervisor does not offer evaluation but lets the employee
decide his or her weak areas and works with the employee
to develop an action plan for improvement. The mixed
model combines the coaching and counseling. It is used
for both evaluative and development purposes. The
supervisor begins the appraisal with a problem solving
session and concludes with a more directive tell and sell
approach.
2.2.2 Almost universally, where Competency Mapping is
conducted properly, both supervisors and subordinates
have reported the experience as beneficial and positive.

13
 Appraisal offers a valuable opportunity to focus on work
activities and goals, to identify and correct existing
problems, and to encourage better future performance.
Thus the performance of the whole organization is
enhanced.

For many employees, an “official” appraisal interview may

be only time they get to have exclusive, uninterrupted
access to their supervisor. Said one employee of a large
organization after his first formal Competency Mapping,
“in twenty years of work, that’s the first time anyone has
ever bothered to sit down and tell me how I’m doing.” The
value of this intense and purposeful interaction between a
supervisors and subordinate should not be
underestimated.

2.2.3 Motivation and Satisfaction

Competency Mapping can have a profound effect on levels

of employee motivation and satisfaction – for better as
well as worse.

Competency Mapping provides employees with recognition

for their work efforts. The power of social recognition as
an incentive has been long noted. In fact, there is
evidence that human beings will even prefer negative
recognition in preference to no recognition at all.

If nothing else, the existence of an appraisal program

indicates to an employee that the organization is

14
 genuinely interested in their individual performance and
development. This alone can have a positive influence on
the individual’s sense of worth, commitment and
belonging.

The strength and prevalence of this natural human desire

for individual recognition should not be overlooked.
Absenteeism and turnover rates in some organizations
might be greatly reduced if more attention were paid to it.
Regular Competency Mapping, at least, is a good start.

2.2.4 Training and Development

Competency Mapping offers an excellent opportunity –

perhaps the best that will ever occur – for a supervisor
and subordinate to recognize and agree upon individual
training and development needs.

Competency Mapping can make the need for training more

pressing and relevant by linking it clearly to performance
outcomes and future career aspirations. From the point
of view of the organization as a whole, consolidated
appraisal data can form a picture of the overall demand
for training. This data may be analyzed by variables
such as sex, department etc. In this respect,
Competency Mapping can provide a regular and efficient
training needs audit for the entire organization.

15
3. METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology

• Research design: Desk research.

• Research Instrument: Observation & literature

• Sampling technique: Census study of employees

• Data collection technique:

• Secondary data: From existing frame work, manuals

and Internet.

• Primary data: Through discussions with the

employees.

3.1 Methodology for Competency Mappings

3.1.1 A formal appraisal in the Government sector is known as

Annual Confidential Report written at the end of calendar
or financial year.

3.1.2 In view of its utmost importance, a confidential report are

necessarily to be prepared scrupulously and carefully after
following the procedure prescribed and personally
assessing the performance of the employee. The report
is based on an objective assessment of the work quality of
the officer reported upon. The officer recording the
remarks has to realize the importance of entries made by
him and write them with greatest possible care because

16
 slightest default or negligence on the part of the recording
officer may lead to injustice to the officer reported upon
by marring the future of the employee.

3.1.3 The reporting officer impressed upon not to be in a hurry

to write the reports on all the officers working under him
on a single day. He should, however, write them within
the period stipulated.

3.1.4 The forms have been devised with a view to ensuring

maximum objectivity in the preparation of the report. In
filling up the forms, tick marks and dashes are not to be
used. Both the reporting and the reviewing officers have
to indicate their opinion by writing out in full and
appropriate alternatives which best describe the officer’s
qualities.

3.1.5 Cryptic, vague or non-committal remarks are to be

avoided. Sometimes entries may not be sufficiently
meaningful. Such reports are to be returned to the
reporting officer for reconsideration, amplification or
explanation.

4. ANALYSIS

4.1 Generally there are two things which determine how

successful a Competency Mapping system is in place in an
organization. 1) The contents/design of the Competency
Mapping form and 2) the manner in which Competency
Mapping is conducted. While organizations lay great

17
 emphasis on the contents/design part, spending much of
time, money and energy on designing most suitable,
objective, comprehensive…. formats, it comes to a naught
if the appraising process is not conducted properly.
Effectiveness of the Competency Mapping system depends
on how seriously it is perceived, importance given to it by
both the subordinate and reporting officer, and the impact
it is going to have on possible rewards and punishments.

4.2 Organizations use Competency Mapping records for a

variety of things. But the best way of utilizing them is to
develop people and improve their performance through a
clear understanding of their work goals, so that they
realize and reach what Maslow calls "Self actualization"
(i.e. fully realizing their potential and thereby achieving
their own professional and also organizational goals). In
organizations where Competency Mapping is used for
reward and punishment, great care must be taken so that
it forms objective, honest and accurate record of formal
evaluation of on the job performance of the employee and
supports or corroborates the kind of rewards and
punishments proposed.

4.3 The achievement of the stated objective is the mutual

responsibility of both the reporting officer and the
subordinate by making the appraisal process as objective
as possible. It should be a joint participative, sensitive and
positive exercise rather than being one sided, evaluative
and judgmental.

18
5. CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Most of time Competency Mappings, are for determining

training need identification and for promotions etc. The
Competency Mapping has delinked itself from being an
instrument of evaluating performance through
performance review discussion and bringing about better
performance in the organization. Application of
performance management practices that enable
organizations to improve their performance and bring in a
performance driven culture is the need of the hour rather
than Competency Mapping only.

5.2 All reporting officers must be well versed in conducting the

appraisal process, as it brings consistency in evaluation
across the organization not benefiting a few because of
the functional area they are in or to a particular reporting
officer they are attached to. Company however need to
invest more time and energy in educating the reporting
officers on how to conduct the appraisal to establish goals
for the future, open channels of communication and
strengthen the relationship between employer and
employee.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Keeping in view the experience gained over the period, it

is recommended that top management should exhibit its
commitment towards a fair and objective Competency

19
 Mapping process and actions taken on appraisal records
should be timely, objective and specific. Line managers
should be impressed on conducting appraisal and utilizing
it properly for organization’s benefit and conducting
appraisal should get integrated with counseling, mentoring
and proper implementation of training policy.

An appropriately conducted appraisal process will result in

better placement of employees, bring role clarity and
leads to job satisfaction which is great motivating factor
for an employee.

6.2 Identification of Training needs in the appraisal format

should be to cover the gap between the existing
competencies and the desired competencies to achieve
the set goals. Such training needs should be catered
immediately by the Reporting Officer so that it facilitates
the individual employee to attain the goals set for him.

Having identified the training needs of the employee, it

becomes the responsibility of the Reporting Officer to
ensure that such training needs are taken care of on a
timely basis. If not provided, next year’s appraisal report
should highlight it and the employee should be given due
weightage on his performance.

20
An overview of the organization:
Born in 1976, HCL has a 3 decade rich history of inventions and
innovations. In 1978, HCL developed the first indigenous micro-computer
at the same time as Apple and 3 years before IBM's PC. This micro-
computer virtually gave birth to the Indian computer industry. The 80's
saw HCL developing know-how in many other technologies. HCL's in-
depth knowledge of Unix led to the development of a fine grained multi-
processor Unix in 1988, three years ahead of Sun and HP.

HCL's R&D was spun off as HCL Technologies in 1997 to mark their
advent into the software services arena. During the last eight years, HCL
has strengthened its processes and applied its know-how, developed
over 30 years into multiple practices - semi-conductor, operating systems,
automobile, avionics, bio-medical engineering, wireless, telecom
technologies, and many more.

Today, HCL sells more PCs in India than any other brand, runs Northern
Ireland's largest BPO operation, and manages the network for Asia's
largest stock exchange network apart from designing zero visibility
landing systems to land the world's most popular airplane.

HCL COMNET LTD is a Subsidiary of HCL Technology. HCL COMNET

LTD has its headquarters at NOIDA, India. HCL COMNET LTD has
grown rapidly to become the largest Infrastructure player in India
(Nasscom 2007).

HCL COMNET LTD provides a wide variety of services ranging from IT

strategy and consulting to system integration, design, application
development, implementation, maintenance and product engineering.
HCL COMNET LTD is ISO 9001:2000 certified and is also assessed at
SEI-CMMi Level 5 and SEI-

PCMMi Level 5. HCL COMNET LTD is also BS7799 certified

across.

21
 Employee strength 51,000 as 30th September, 2007 (including
subsidiaries)

Global Presence Operations spanning 18 countries

India Presence Offices in 170 cities & over 360 service locations

Global Delivery Centers USA, UK, Poland, Singapore & India

Focus markets USA, Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan

Clients 500 global organizations

Gross revenue US$4.4 billion

Locations in India include : Noida, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata,

Delhi,Hyderabad,Chennai

Locations Worldwide include : United Kingdom , USA , Europe,

Asia pacific, middle east

Some of the Partners of HCL COMNET LTD include: Microsoft,

Cisco, IBM, AMD, BOEING, DEUTCSHE BANK, BRITISH
TELECOM, APPLE, DISH TV

HCL COMNET LTD

HCL COMNET serves customers throughout Asia Pacific, Europe,
North America, and the Middle East. Clients include Microsoft, ,
BT, AMD, ABN AMRO, STAR INDIA LTD, CUMMINS, NATIONAL
STOCK EXCHANGE(India), RELIANCE INDUSTRIES, KOTAK
BANK, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, SBI and other nationalized banks.

HCL COMNET has been recognized with an ISO 9001:2000

certification and an SEI-CMM Level 5 assessment for our
software development processes, meeting the industry's highest
standards. HCL COMNET has also been certified as being
BS7799 certified across its centers . With a significant
investment in research and development, HCL focuses on
developing methodologies for fast and cost effective
implementations of new HCL COMNET Technologies. HCL has
over 35000 employees and a global presence with state-of-art
development centers in UK and India and regional offices in
USA, UK, Germany, UAE, Egypt, India, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand and Australia.

HCL’s Offerings

HCL's long-time record of delivering mission critical software

solutions on target, for industry leaders, has led to its success

22
over the years. HCL leverages its domain expertise, coupled
with proven frameworks to help customers gain efficiencies for
faster time-to-market. HCL is instrumental in radically reducing
customers' operational expenses and maximizing ROI. Solutions
support areas include:

• Business Support Systems including Telecom Billing

Systems, Billing Mediation, Customer Relationship
Management and Fraud Management.
• Operations Support Systems including Inventory
Management, Traffic Management, Fault Management,
Workforce Management and EAI Solutions.
• Network Management Services including Network
Planning, Provisioning, and Deployment, Intelligent
Networks, Managed Network Services, Assurance Services
and Mobility Computing.
• Security Management and Business Continuity
Services including Security Audit, Analysis, and Proposal
Services, CIRT Services, Business Risk Analysis and
Continuity Planning.
• Next Generation Services including VoIP, Intelligent
Networks and Mobile IP
• Business Process Management

Creating dedicated, in-country teams of business professionals,

combined with a synchronized Middle Office and efficient
delivery teams, HCL works closely with customers to deliver the
right combination of offshore, onshore, and onsite support
needed to deliver solutions, savings, and service.

Our Vision

• To be amongst the most admired and most trusted integrated utility

companies in the world, delivering reliable and quality products

23
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and services to all customers at competitive costs, with

international standards of customer care - thereby creating
superior value for all stakeholders.

• To set new benchmarks in standards of corporate performance

and governance through the pursuit of operational and financial
excellence, responsible citizenship, and profitable growth

Statement of Values

 We believe that any business conduct can be ethical only

when it rests on the nine core values of Honesty, Integrity,
Respect, Fairness, Purposefulness, Trust,
Responsibility, Citizenship and Caring. These values are
not to be lost sight of by anyone at HCL COMNET LTD
under any circumstances irrespective of the goals that are
intended to be achieved. To us, means are as important as
the ends.

COMPETENCE AND COMPETENCY

Competency-based approaches have developed quite rapidly since their

introduction 25 years ago. David C. McClelland is credited with
introducing the idea of “competency” into the human resource literature.
In response to a growing dissatisfaction with intelligence testing and the

24
traditional job analytic approaches to personnel selection, the
competence-testing movement was described by McClelland by study of
foreign-service officers. “Testing for Competence Rather than
Intelligence”-McClelland’s landmark paper has continued to stir debate
even after a quarter century.

Competency-based approaches gained popularity and acceptance within

the human resources community through the work of McClelland and his
associates, particularly Richard Boyatzis, past president at the McBer
and Company. Boyatzis is credited with popularizing the term in his book
“The Competent Manager (Woodruff, 1991)”.

Boyatzis suggested that a competency was a combination of a motive,

trait, skill, aspect of ones self-image or social role, or a body of relevant
knowledge. In other words a competency is any characteristic of an
individual that might be related to successful performance.

Klein’s (1996) offered one more definition which diverges the most from
the others by suggesting that competencies are a collection of observable
behaviors, or behavioral indicators. These Behavioral indicators are
grouped according to a central theme, which then becomes the
competency. Klein suggests that the behaviors underlie the competency;
this is contrary to other definitions, which suggest that competencies
underlie behaviors.

Woodruff raised the issue of distinguishing between competence and

competency and proposed that competence is performance criterion
while competencies are behaviors driving the competence.

More recently, Rowe raised the same issue and discusses competence in
terms of a skill and a standard of performance and defines competency

25
as a behavior needed to achieve competence. This is similar to Klein’s
argument that competencies are not psychological constructs thematic
groups of demonstrated observable behaviors that discriminate between
superior and average performance. These behaviors require no
inference, assumptions, or interpretation.

Definitional and boundary delineation issues exist at a number of levels

within the competency literature. This confusion exists primarily for two
reasons: difference between countries and differences arising from
pedagogical theories of how people learn. The former is largely
historically determined and reflects differences in relationships between
education and labor market in different countries. Pedagogical
differences, on the other hand relate to issues of how behavioralists,
cognitivists and constructivists theorists consider notions of competency.
Levels of definitional confusion and differences in perspective exist:
• Conceptualizations of competency in terms of its function.
• Differences in the context of competency and competence.

However the gurus in this field feel very strongly that it is necessary to
distinguish between competence (hence competences) and the
competency (hence competencies). Disaster, they claim, will overtake
anyone who confuses the two terms. Whether this is true or not, the
received view of the distinction between them should be understood

Competence Defined.

Competences describe what people need to be able to do to perform a

job well or how the required results are achieved. They are about
stripping the jobs down into their component parts and linking together
the two basic elements of performance- what is to be done and to what
standard.

26
Competences are concerned with effect rather than effort and with the
output rather than inputs. Some people adopt what may be called the
output model of competence, based on the proposition that the concept of
competence is meaningful only when it is demonstrated that
competences have been applied effectively.

Competences can be defined at three levels:

1. Core competences- these apply to the organization as a
whole. They refer to what the organization has to be good at
doing if it is to succeed. This could include such factors as
customer orientation, producing high quality goods or
delivering high quality services, innovation, adding value
through the effective use of resources and managing costs.
Core competences can be linked with “balanced score card”
of measuring organizational success as developed by
Kaplan and Norton.

2. Generic Competences-these are shared by a group of similar

jobs- financial accountants, system analysts, team leaders
etc. They cover the aspects of work that they have in
common, and define the shared capabilities required to
deliver the results they are expected to achieve.

3. Role-specific competences – these are unique to a particular

role. They define the special tasks that they have to be able
to do; in addition to any generic competences they may
share with other people carrying out broadly similar roles.

Competency defined

27
Competency is defined as referring to the dimensions of behavior that lie
behind competent performance. These are often called behavioral
competencies, because they are intended to describe how people
behave when they carry out their role well.

When defined as competencies ,these behaviors can be classified in such

areas as the following:
• Understanding what needs to be done- critical reasoning,
strategic capability, business know- how
• Getting the job done- achievement drive, a pro-active approach,
confidence, control, flexibility, concern for effectiveness,
persuasion, and influence.
Taking people with you – motivation, interpersonal skills, concern for
output, persuasion, and influence.

Competencies are behaviors that individuals demonstrate when

undertaking job-relevant tasks effectively within a given organizational
context. (Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde)

Lyle Spencer, director of research and technology worldwide at

Hay/McBer, has been a font of data and wisdom about the
competencies of star performance and the value of stars for
organizational performance in coauthored classic – Competence at
work: Models for Superior Performance.

McClelland’s 1973 paper “Testing for competence Rather than

Intelligence” shifted the concentration from just intelligence. He argued
that traditional academic aptitude, school grades and advanced
credentials simply did not predict how well people would perform on
the job or whether they would succeed in life. Instead, he proposed
that a set of specific competencies including empathy, self-discipline and

28
initiative distinguished the most successful from those who were merely
good to keep their jobs.

His paper launched an entirely new approach to the measure of

excellence, one that assesses people’s competencies in terms of specific
job they are doing. A “competence “in this tradition, is a personal trait
or set of habits that leads to more effective or superior job
performance --- in other words, an ability that adds clear economic
value to the efforts of a person on the job.

The terms “competence” and “competency” are attributed to multiple

meanings depending on the context and the perspective adopted.
Although all these definitions look different on their own way, they have
the following things in common
1. Competencies are Knowledge, Skill, Attitude and Other
Characteristics such as personal motives, traits that are
observable and measurable.
2. The underlying attributes must be observable and measurable
3. They should clearly differentiate superior performers from others
for a given position.

There are two levels of job competence and two kinds of job competence
models. One assesses the threshold competencies, those that people
need in order to get the job done. These are the minimal skills needed to
carry out the tasks associated with a given position. Most organizational
competence models fit into this category.

The other kind of job competence model describes distinguishing

competencies, the capabilities that set star performers apart from
average ones. These are the competencies people already in a job need
in order to perform superbly.

29
At a simplistic level, competency models seek to identify the
ideal combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes and experience,
the possession of which enables employees to become high
performers with the potential to add value to the organization.

APPROACHES TO DEFINE COMPETENCY

Competency can be defined through three approaches. They are-

1. Worker- oriented
2. Work-oriented
3. Multidimensional

Worker-oriented definitions:
• The behavioral characteristics of an individual that are
causally related to effective and/ or superior performance
in a job. This means that there is evidence that indicates that
possession of the characteristic precedes and leads to effective
and /or superior performance on the job.(Boyatzis,1982)
• An underlying characteristic of an individual that is
casually related to criterion referenced effective and/or
superior performance on the job. (Spencer and Spencer,
1993)

• A high performance or H-competency is a relatively stable

set of behaviors, which produces superior workgroup
performance in more complex organizational
environments. (Schroder, 1989)

30
Work-oriented definitions

• Occupational competence- the ability to perform the activities

within an occupation or function to the level of
performance in the employment. (Management Charter
Initiative, 1990)
• The ability to perform the activities within an occupation
(Nordhaug and Gronhaug, 1994)
• An action behavior or outcome which the people should be
able to demonstrate (Training Standards Agency)

Multidimensional definitions

• The ability to apply knowledge, understanding, practical and

thinking skills to achieve effective performance to the standards
required in the employment. This includes solving problems and
being sufficiently flexible to meet the changing demands. (NCVQ,
1997)
• The skills, knowledge and understanding, qualities and attributes,
sets of values, beliefs and attitudes which lead to effective
managerial performance in a given context, situation or role
(Woodall and Winstanley, 1998)

The conceptualizations of Boyatzis and Spencer and Spencer are

predominantly input-based and worker oriented and focuses on
person related variables that individuals bring to the job.
Another perspective argues that competency options should be output
based or work-oriented and considers outputs associated with effective
performance.

31
Multi-dimensional definitions tend to draw on the best of both
approaches.

CONCEPTUALISATIONS OF THE FUNCTION OF COMPETENCY

The literature reveals that competencies are defined in terms of three

distinct perspectives: competencies as individual characteristics;
competencies as characteristics of organizations; and the notion that
competencies as a tool to structure and facilitate communication between
education and labor market.

Competencies as characteristics of individual

This perspective argues that competencies are essentially related to the

characteristics of the individuals. The most important difference in
emphasis here relates these characteristics can be learned or whether
they are innate. The dominant view is to emphasize the trainability
dimension of competency. A more traditional view emphasizes that
competence and competencies are given. They argue that characteristics
such as emotion, attitude and cognition originate from innate abilities and
therefore cannot be learned; they can only be developed. A related
perspective here is the notion that competencies do not relate to
capacities, but instead to the willingness and ability of the employee to
use his/ her capacities in specific situations.

Competencies are characteristics of organization

This perspective takes as a starting point the view that human

competencies are one of the resources available to the organizations.
This origin of this notion of competencies can be attributed to the work of
Prahlad and Hammel (1990), who analyzed the competitiveness of the

32
organization and attributed it to the core competency of the organization.
They postulated that organizations can possess unique clusters of factors
that allow the firm to be competitive and human capital is one of those
factors. The resource-based view conceptualizes the organization as a
collection of competencies and draws attention to the issues of learning,
including knowledge accumulation and experience.
A further consideration here is whether competency frameworks should
be based on current organizational priorities or should be based on
current organizational priorities or should be future oriented and derived
from organization’s vision statement. Such a dualistic choice is dependent
on whether one views competencies as a tool enabling organizational
change through direct communication with employees or whether one
believes that competencies should be used as a behavioral modeling
mechanism to deal with current organizational problems and difficulties.

Competency as a mode of discourse between education and labor market

This perspective argues that competences represent a tool to improve

communication in education and labor market. It conceptualizes
competencies as a framing device- a model of discourse- and it in no way
attempt to specify of what competencies consist. This perspective is
commonly advocated in Continental Europe and to a certain extent in the
UK. The need for such a discourse arises from two sets of developments.
The first relates to the changing nature of the labor market with its
emphasis on flexibility, employability, the potential for obsolescence of
knowledge and skills and the emergence of knowledge as a production
factor. These changes in the requirements of the labor market in turn
influenced views on how people are educated and trained in educational
institutions.

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

33
A Competency Framework is a model representing the required skills,
knowledge, experience and personal qualities for the people in an
organization. They can be grouped under the generic title of
Competencies. The Competency Framework is developed for an
organization through the competency mapping process.

Typologies
Sparrow and Hilltrop suggest that competencies fall into three
categories: behavioral, managerial and core. Behavioral competencies
are defined as behavioral repertoires, which employees bring to and input
on the job. The level of analysis is the individual and the job and there is a
clear specification that these competencies are what employees need to
bring to the role /job to perform at the required level. Managerial
competencies tend to be defined as knowledge, skill and attitude and
small number of personal behaviors. The unit of analysis is the
organization and it is assumed that such competencies are generic; are
externally transferable and there is an entry-level threshold. Core
competencies derive from within the realm of strategy and competitive
advantage. The unit of analysis is both an organizational and individual.
Boyatzis(1982) made earlier attempts to specify competency frameworks
when he distinguished between “threshold” and “high performance” level
competencies.
The Kioto people management model, for example (Devisch,1998)
categorizes competencies as core, functional and specific competencies.
Devisch argues that the concept of core competency refers to the means
by which employees adjust to the corporate culture of the organization.
Functional competencies are linked to job roles and the way in which they
interact with other roles. They can be both technical and organizational in
nature. Specific competencies are defined as attributes that a person is
required to bring to a job, in order to ensure successful performance.

34
Kujipers (2000) adopts an even broader perspective and proposes a
typology of competencies which consist of three levels:
1. General working competencies, which she defines as
competencies required for different working situations and at
different time periods.
2. Learning Competencies, which consist of bundle of competencies,
which facilitate the development of working competencies.
3. Career related competencies, which are defined to manage
working and learning competencies within a personal career path.

Nordhaug (1998) advocates a more robust classificatory framework of

work-related competencies. It utilizes three levels of analysis: task-
specific, firm specific, and industry specific. He suggests the three
categories here. He uses the term “meta-competencies” to encompass a
broad spectrum of knowledge, skills and aptitude such as analytical
capabilities, creativity, knowledge of culture and capacity to tolerate
uncertainty. His additional categories include intra-organizational
competencies which include knowledge about organizational culture,
informal networks, the political dynamics of the organization and general
industry competencies such as knowledge about industry and the ability
analyze the activities of the competitors.

COMPETENCY MODELS
THE OUTPUT MODEL

35
The most radical model and by far the most powerful in impacting current
managerial education and training is the output model. It is at the heart of
Management Charter Institute work. This model is primarily concerned
with:
Deciding what outcomes you want managers to achieve.
MCI has analysed, defined and published generic occupational standards
– called management standards – for four levels of management:
supervisory, first line, middle and senior. They are what MCI calls
‘Benchmarks of best practice’.
Generally the standards are defined in this way:
Occupational standards are not descriptions of the performance
itself (specific activities or tasks), nor the means of achieving competence
(knowledge and skills learned through the training program) not the
means of measuring quality or achievement (assessment) nor the
process by which the achievement is recognized publicly (qualifications).
Standard are ‘bench marks’: descriptions of the expectations of
employment against which the actual performance of individuals will be
compared and assessed as competent, or not competent as appropriate.
In the output model, descriptions of competence are derived from a top
down analysis of a job function called functional analysis. This entails a
cascade of questions. The first question for each level of management is:

What is occupation’s key purpose?

To achieve the organization’s objectives and continuously improve

its performance.

What key roles are entailed in fulfilling that key purpose?

• Manage operations

• Manage finance

36
 • Manage people

• Manage information

What are the outcomes, which must be demonstrated in each of

those key roles?

The outcomes are first defined as units of competence. These describe in

broad terms what is expected of a competent manager is particular
aspects of a job. It is these units, which are certified within NVQs
(National Vocational Qualification).

The units of competence are then broken down further into their into their
elements of competence (something you are able to do as part of that
achievement).

• Each element of competence is backed up by performance criteria.

• Onto the performance criteria are tagged range statements or

indicators.

These suggest the areas and circumstances within which

employees must be able to perform satisfactorily against the
elements of competence and provide evidence of achievement.

• Covering the five performance criteria are four range indicators.

• The elements of competence are complemented by assessment

guidance.

This completes the output model.

The basic conceptual model developed by Mansfield and Mathews is
given below

37
THE MANAGEMENT STANDARDS MODEL

The Manager’s Key Units of competence Elements of

Key purpose roles competence

O
U
T
P
U
T

Personal competence model

38
As an extension to its work on the output-based sets of management
standards, and for use as a complement to them, MCI
developed the Personal Competence Model.

The MCI model consists of four clusters and against thirteen dimensions.
Shown in the following figure.

Clusters of personal Dimensions of personal competence.

Competence.

1. Planning to optimize
the achievement of
results.
• Showing concern for excellence
• Setting and prioritizing objectives.
• Monitoring and responding to
actual against planned activities

2. Managing others to • Showing sensitivity to the needs of

optimize results. others.
• Relating to others
• Obtaining the commitment of
others.
• Presenting oneself positively.

3. Managing oneself to • Showing self-confidence and

optimize results personal drive.

• Managing personal emotions and

stress

• Managing personal learning and

development

4. Using intellect to • Collecting and organizing

optimize results information.
• Identifying and applying concepts.
• Taking decisions.

39
The input model

The input model is concerned with deciding what qualities you want in
managers, who the manager is and what the manager knows.
Here competence is thought to depend on the possession of combination
of personal characteristics, expressed in clusters, such as the following:
• Intellectual ability, knowledge, logic, creativity, etc.

• Social language, ability to relate to others, etc.

• Emotional stability, confidence, motivation, etc.

• Physical prowess, dexterity, keen senses, etc.

Work undertaken by the McBer Corporation in conjunction with

Harvard Business School has also resulted in a widely used
model. Hayes and Boyatzis include references to the following:

• Knowledge: Content knowledge. e.g. facts or procedures ,

technical or interpersonal.
• Motive: The underlying need or thought pattern that drives an
individual’s beheviour.
• Trait: a general disposition to behave or respond in a certain way.
• Self-concept: attitudes or what people value or are interested in
doing.

Items in the input model such as these are sometimes called ‘soft skills’,
compared with the tangible outputs required from the output
model. When selecting or developing managers, these factors

40
 lead to questions about the kind of person they are, their level of
education and what skills they have. This model of competence
is the prevalent approach in the USA.

Process model

The process model takes the model of personal inputs a step further. It is
concerned with deciding what tasks you want people to carry
out.
The process model is easily recognizable in the design of many traditional
training and selection activities, but nowadays it is the least
discussed of the three models at this level, being more relevant
for low- level, mass occupation.

The Integrated Model

Roger Stuart (Stuart Associates) and Philip Lindsay (ACL

Consulting) tentatively tried to integrate paint a more complete picture by
bringing together and integrating the input and output models into a
coherent whole: a model competence comprising of competencies. Since
neither approach adequately defines managerial competence in terms of
the context of the organization, its culture, market place and business
environment.

O
R C M C
ORGANISATIONAL COMPETENCE DOMAINS
O O A O
ENVIRONMENT G M N M
A P A P
N E G E
I T E T
S E R E
A N I N
T C A C
O E L E
41
N
 COMPETENCIES

ORGANISATIONAL
CULTURE COMPONENTS OF
COMPETENCIES

The central propositions underlying the above framework are as follows:

• Competence is a statement of value that is placed on the manger
who is able to perform and “be” in ways that are highly valued and
required within a particular organization.
• Organizational competence is a lens on the world of managerial
competence. The lens is in part shaped by organizational culture.
In turn, organizational culture is based on and derived from prior
experiences, learning, assumptions, beliefs and preoccupations.
• The lens of organization competence is malleable. The lens is
changeable in response to varying circumstances, enabling
reconstrual of competence over time.
• The lens of organizational competence will bring areas of key
concern- the competence domains- into focus and enable their
definition.
• The lens of organizational competence will bring into focus and
define the key competencies, capabilities and attributes required to
perform successfully within the key competence domains.

COMPETENCY LEVELS

MASTERY

42
 RECOGNISED STRENGTH
(Conscious of
unconscious
competence)

INDEPENDENT COMPETENCE
(Unconscious Competence)

SUPPORTED COMPETENCE
(Conscious Competence)

UNDERSTANDING
(Conscious Incompetence)

UNAWARE
(Unconscious Incompetence)

OBSERVABLE BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH LEVEL OF

COMPETENCY.

Unaware (UA)
 Fails to recognize the relevance of competency to
their job.
 Yet to acquire knowledge or experience in the area.

43
  Insensitive to issues related to competency, failing to
bring them to the attention of others inappropriately
trying to deal with them
 Doesn’t not recognize own limitations, unwilling to
learn

Understanding (U)
• Acquiring insight and knowledge in the
competency.
• Has sufficient understanding to answer
general questions or enquiries with
confidence.
• Has not yet fully demonstrated competence in
practice.
• Ready for closely supervised delegation
• Recognize own limitations and is ready and
willing to learn.

Supported Competence (SC)

• Succeeds in applying the competency

• Requires regular supervision of
performance in this particular
competency
• Still requires direction and coaching to
translate theory into practice.
• Not yet fully confident in their ability to
work independently in the area.

44
 • Seeks out opportunities to apply their
developing competence in challenging
situations.
• Seeks to demonstrate that they can
work more independently

Independent Competence (IC)

• Usually succeeds in applying the
competency.
• Confident in own ability in this
competency.
• Generates trust in others in their ability
in this competency
• Guides and coaches others
• Can be delegated to with confidence

Recognized Strength (RS)

• Succeeds in applying the competency
even in challenging situations.
• Responds intuitively to challenges
utilizing their breadth of experience in
this competency.
• Strength in this area is clearly
recognized by the firm and clients
• Uses strength in this area to
compensate for relative personal
weakness in other competencies than
necessary.

45
 • Is actively involved in the transference
of knowledge and expertise to others
with respect to this competency.

Mastery

• Succeeds in applying the competency

in challenging, unusual or highly
sensitive situations.
• Achieves a degree of capability most
would aspire to but rarely achieve,
distinctive within and recognized within
their peer group.
• Generates the absolute trust of others
inside or outside the firm in this area.
• Used as a point of reference within the
firm, people going out of their way to
seek advice or counsel.
• Able to use mastery in this area to
compensate for relative personal
weaknesses in other competencies
when necessary.

46
The Development Curve
The scale below illustrates the development of an individual’s levels of
competence.

E
V
E
L
S

O
F

C
O
M
P
E
N
T
E
N
C
E

EXPERIENCE

NEED OF THE STUDY

47
Competency mapping had not been hitherto used
as a Human Resource Management tool. HCL COMNET
LTD took the charge of Telecom Solutions in India as
well as across the world in the year 1992, It has
constantly felt the need to increase its manpower to
meet various customer expectations. However, The
organization has been undertaking this function without due deliberation
into the Competency Mapping, which can actually aid them in finding
specific selection parameters of eligible candidates for particular
designations.

Thus this was the right time to conduct a sample study on Competency
Mapping at this juncture in the organization. Thus far, no studies on the
same have been conducted in the organization. The findings of my
research would initially be used in the process of Recruitment & Training
purposes & later the scope would extend to other HR functions viz.
Performance Management Systems by carefully defining Key Result
Areas (KRA) for different departments & Effective Pay & Grading System
for increased employee satisfaction.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To find the competencies requirement at various designations in IT,

Customer Care and Business department of HCL COMNET LTD.

1. To understand the working of above-mentioned departments.

2. To gauge the training and development needs of these

departments as realized by the employees based on
competencies.

3. To explore the specific selection parameters (competencies) for

different designations in these departments to assess eligible
candidates.
4. To develop comprehensive base for HR department for conducting
competency study for whole organization in future.

48
 5. To provide the functional heads with parameters for drawing well
rounded and effective performance management processes.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of my study encompasses IT, Customer Care and Business
Departments of HCL COMNET LTD.
IT department – It covers Head IT, Head Systems, Manager, Additional
Managers, Officer, Sr. Officer etc. It has not covered Billing technical and
functional teams.
Customer Care Department – It has also covered IT automation part of
customer care also. Head Customer Care, Sr. Officers, OSD (Officer on
Special Duty), Assistant Manager etc.
Business – Business Managers of various divisions in India
e.g.,Mumbai,Noida.
The findings of this study are initially used by Recruitment & Selection
Department and Training Department and later on can be used as
effective tool in comprehensive Performance Management System (PMS)
and Pay and grading scales.

Descriptive research design, most suitable for studying Competencies

was used. A primarily qualitative study was conducted.

Types of Data:

Primary Data

Primary data was collected through various methods-

1. Interviews- Comprehensive interview of job holders and their

immediate bosses were conducted ascertaining purpose of job, job
profile, reporting structure, number of subordinates,

49
 interrelationships, external linkages, skills requirement for higher
performance and training needs etc.

2. Observation- Employees were observed as they perform their

jobs and information is collected and analyzed. The observation
method is most commonly used especially in studies relating to the
behavioral sciences.
Observation becomes the scientific tool and the method of data
collection for the researcher, when it serves a formulated research
purpose, is systematically planned and recorded and is subjected to

checks and controls on validity and reliability. Under the

observation method, the information is sought by
way of investigator’s own direct observation
without asking from the respondent.
• Working profile of employee
• Dealing with customers both internal and external etc.

3. Critical Incident Techniques- This technique developed by

Flanagan (1954) requires observers such as supervisors, peers or
subordinates or person himself. Observers are asked to describe
incidents of effective and ineffective behavior of a person over a
period of time. It is a particularly effective technique in competency
mapping since it gives an idea about the person oriented
characteristics at particular designation, which are needed to
perform a job well.

Secondary data

Secondary data means data that are already available i.e., they refer to
the data, which have already been collected, recorded and analyzed by
someone else.

50
This data has the advantage of being
• Cost and time effective
• It provides a reference base to the study

• Can be extremely useful for comparison

purposes

In my study I have used the following sources of

secondary data the details of which shall be
given in later part of our report (bibliography):

51
UTILITY OF STUDY

The study of competency mapping in few departments such as IT,

Customer Care and Business of HCL COMNET LTD would act
as a concrete base for taking the concept to Top Management to
undertake this project for whole organization. Initially, the findings
are given to Recruitment & selection and Training functions
of Human Resource Department of HCL COMNET LTD. Later on,
these will help making an effective Performance Management
System, which will be both goal and competency based. These
will aid the training department to improve Return on Investment
(ROI) on training. The study has helped in training need
analysis (TNA) of these departments and added the behavioral
dimension to all elements of training and development which will
help in designing modules and selecting events and activities
for the same. For recruitment & selection function, it will be used
in making selection criteria for various designations, to assess
eligible pool of candidates in interviews and for giving
assessment feedback to candidates. It will also explore the
working of various departments to be helpful to HR department in
a number of ways. In short, it will act as a new relevant and well-
informed knowledge base. .

52
Activities of Commercial Department are the following --

New order

Client Solutions

Billing

Consumer care center

Recovery

HCL COMNET LTD is committed to be the best fully integrated electric

supply utility and leading provider of value added services. It is
fully geared to fulfill or exceed the customer expectations by
continuously improving the quality of all services.

Findings mentioned are developed on the basis of interview

conducted and observation with six business managers as
Sample.

CADRES & DESIGNATIONS

Officers are in the Grade ranging from A-1 to A-10. Officers have
been classified as follows:
Top Management - CMD, Directors
Senior Management - A-7 to A -10
Middle Management - A-4 to A-6
Junior Management - A-1 to A-3

Grades and Designations of the officers are as follows:

53
Grades and Designations of the officers
S No. Grade Designation
1 A-1 Officer/Engineer
2 A-2 Sr. Officer/Sr. Engineer/Asst. Manager
3 A-3 Dy. Manager
4 A-4 Additional manager
5 A-5 Manager /Business Manager
6 A-6 Sr. Manager
7 A-7 Chief Engineer/Chief Controller of Finance & A/Cs/
Chief Personnel Manager/ Chief of Management
Training and Development/Chief Manager
8 A-8 Dy. General Manager*/Addl. vice President
9 A-9 General Manager/ Vice President
10 A-10 Executive Director/Group General Manager/ Senior
Vice President/ Chief General Manager
11 A-11 Board of Directors/CEO
12 A-12 Vice Chairman
13 A-13 Chairman
.

54
 Business Manager (Commercial) Hierarchy and
Reporting structure

BUSINESS
MANAGER
Accountant

Commercial Officer AMPS

SupporT

Telecom SolutionsIT support

Mgt.
Commercial BAM Cust. Mgt.
front Consume
desk r N/W
Back support C Inspection M
Data center o Energisationo

Metering

Recovery

Records

Division Level-1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Division Level -2
--------

Customer Assistance

55
 WORK PROFILE OF BUSINESS MANAGERS

Department Head of District / Division Office (Grade-A5)

Responsible for various functions—

• Internal administration of staff and all other infrastructure facilities in

Office eg. Furniture.

• Material Management (cables quantity, meters with seals, blank

bills, PC’s , infrastructure etc.) and also complaint handling related

to same.

• Recovery of pending dues from consumers.

• Bring new customers into net.

• Quality upgrading of services etc.

 Performance Measures in terms of

• Increase in revenue collection and recovery from clients.

• Increase in number of new clients

COMPETENCIES FOR BUSINESS MANAGER

BEHAVIORAL / GENERIC COMPETENCY SET

1. PATIENCE :To remain cool and poised with every type of client in
any condition.
 To have composure, maturity and self control in dealing with all
types of customers-external as well as internal.

56
 To remain ready to hear any absurd word from disturbed
consumers.

2. COPING WITH CHANGE- The power to overcome difficulties

or problems in any modifications in past scenario of system
or way of working and acclimatize in new system.
 To be non-resistant for any reengineering process in system.
 To be accustomed to a new situation or climate variation in
shortest time frame.
 To learn new upcoming technology and make it a part of system.

3. WORKAHOLICNESS – The behavior of compulsive work with

no constraints of time and effort devotion.
 To remain ready for dedicated work with no time limitations.
 To be enthusiastic to work in all relevant activities of job profile.
 To give the job utmost importance and priority.

4. CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTATION – The ability to

anticipate, recognize and meet customer needs by
understanding their perspective.
 To provide best service to customers by taking active interest in
their concerns.
 To satisfy customer needs in present applicable guidelines of
system.
 To grasp customer’s perspective, acting as a trusted advisor.
 To resolve customer problems by empathizing with him and taking
quick initiatives.

5. COACHING AND DEVELOPING SUBORDINATES- The ability

to sense subordinates developmental needs, bolstering their

57
 abilities and instruct, direct or train them for high
performance.
 To identify people’s needs for further growth and give pertinent
training in this regard.
 To offer timely and correct feedback to subordinates for
improvement.
 To acknowledge people’s strengths and coach them to concentrate
on same.

TECHNICALCOMPETENCY SET

1. UNDERSTANDING OF BUSINESS- The sound knowledge of

commercial aspects of business to deliver improved results
and solving consumer problems.
 To possess in-depth knowledge of IT business in whole.

2. ATTENTION TO DETAILS- The ability to focus on all minute

details and aspects of any issues of assigned job.
 To be meticulous in finding and using relevant intricacies of
problem or task.
 Use of clear-cut guidelines for department reference in all
scenarios.
 Develop plan of action to get things done quickly.
 To meet all deadly requirements of work assigned under
commercial aspect.

4. PROBLEM SOLVING- The ability to find knowledgeable,

workable and fast solution or explanation for any consumer
grievances.
 To fix or resolve any type of consumer query in shortest possible
time.

58
  To work out justified reasons for the issue cropped up.
 To hit upon a solution to consumer questions within novel and
updated technology framework.

As Business Manager is responsible for each and every penny calculated

from consumer and overall revenue efficiency for his division, he should
posses above-mentioned skill set. The business of HCL COMNET LTD is
related to tangible commodity of use for everyone .Business manager
should be knowledgeable and possess maturity and patience to deal with
consumers of all profiles and solve their problems as consumer’s problem
is escalated to him it was not resolved at other levels.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TRAINING AND RECOMMENDATIONS

o Training should definitely be imparted in initial years of
joining for greater effect.
o Training is more of information dissemination.
o Interested in following trainings—
• Human Resource Management
• Motivation
• How to take best out of employees
• Customer orientation
• New process or system automation knowledge
For Subordinates—
o Group induction and orientation should be
introduced prior to joining at front office.
o On the job training is avoided in technical aspects
and customer dealing as mistakes are sometimes
very heavy and department needs to pay heavy for it.
o Communication skills and customer goodwill should
be regularly provided to employees of district offices.

59
 o Training should be regularly undertaken with new
aspects attached related to new technology in use
etc.
Favorable time
4-5 days prior to four due dates in a month and training dates should
be informed well in advance for more attendance, effort and zeal.

IT DEPARTMENT
The Information Technology (IT) Department at HCL COMNET LTD is
involved in modernizing the present computing infrastructure and
providing assistance to the other department employees to use advanced
techniques and emerging technologies in a secure and reliable
environment.
Software’s related to Database maintenance & monitoring, Data collection
for billing, Consumer billing and attending to online consumer grievances
are successfully developed and implemented in all circles and districts.

The functional divisions under IT are –

1. IT Support/Helpdesk
2. Monitoring / Networking
3. Execution
4. Software
5. Training
IT department at HCL COMNET LTD provides support for internal
communication and information flow by –
 Team HCL COMNET LTD MAHINDRA – Intranet site
 Microsoft Exchange

Software’s for business support and consumer support –

 Computer Application System
 Billing Amendment Module
 Document Management System

60
  SAP (System Application Products)
 SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition)
 GIS (Geographic Information System)
For working towards a world class electric utility.

HEAD IT
WORK PROFILE
 Department head of Information Technology Department
 Monitoring of all projects and activities in terms of time of completion
(daily, weekly and monthly) as per activity times defined, cost limits
etc. undertaken by IT dept.
 Approvals for different new projects/technology and annual budget
decision for dept.
 Negotiation with vendors for discounts and extra facilities for unlisted
items by HCL COMNET LTD.
 Understand software or automation requirement by all other
departments of HCL COMNET LTD
 Careful scrutiny of all ongoing projects.
 Responsible for providing better IT service to whole organization with
optimization of all costs.
 Pre and post release testing of all IT modules.
 Enhance improvement in all ongoing projects and pushing ahead.
Technology is same for whole organization as per corporate
planning, Resource planning.
Requirement is to review the planning, give new ideas and
discuss the relevance of all projects in present scenario. Role
of Head IT is of a facilitator and not inspector so that no havoc
is created.

61
 REPORTING
Dual reporting –
Administration wise: In NOIDA office
Technically: To Corporate office in NOIDA

COMPETENCIES REQUIREMENT FOR IT HEAD

BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCY SET
1. LEADERSHIP- It is the ability to lead, give direction, motivate
within team context for goal attainment by doing right things within
policy framework.
 Monitors boundaries and defines limits for working.
 Provides direction and inspiration to all team members.
 Finds a sense of purpose in larger mission.
 Guide the performance of others while holding them
accountable.
 Operates openly and is accessible to others.

2. TEAM BUILDING – It is the art of building a foundation to bind

members harmoniously using their capabilities for the achievement
of shared goal.
 Creating team synergy in attainment of collective
goal.
 Model team capabilities of collaboration, respect and
cooperation.
 Work cohesively in team, unleashing every member’s
energies and abilities to give best output.
 Build effective team spirit with people of diverse
abilities, perspectives and talents.

62
3. LEVERAGING DIVERSITY – It is the ability to cultivate
opportunities through different kinds of people and
their skill set.
 Respect and relate well with people
possessing different technical skills.
 See diversity as opportunity and blend well to
get best out of people.
 Understand every member as crucial and give
due importance.
4. NEGOTIATION – It is the art to confer with another to reach at a
solution via mutual agreement.
 Magnanimous spirit will be winning strategy in long
run.
 Compromising with other party more or less equally.
 Reaching a consensus based on mutual
understanding of each other’s needs.
 Listens attentively to second party and using varied
styles to put point.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

1. IT INRASTRUCTURE AND SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE- Sound

understanding of all networks, interfaces, software’s and
technologies blending.

 Knowledge of connectivity, LAN, WAN, typologies, leased

lines, wireless etc.
 Understanding of various connectivity protocols.
 Full information on Lotus Notes 6.5 and it’s working
 Exposure to all modules in use under SAP e.g. payroll,
finance etc.

63
2. PLANNING- It is the art of setting plans and agreeing for
department to complete goals in calculated time and
resources.
 Ensures all plans are achievable in constraints.
 Sense risks and manage them in time and least effort
 Plans well so that system will not stop working in any
scenario.
 Scheduling of all activities and working according to
priority.

3. UNDERSTANDING OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE

CYCLE- It is the ability to use all steps of SDLC in all
software projects for optimization of costs.

 Developing Information systems through a multi-step

process from information requirement through analysis,
design, implementation and maintenance.
 Use of rational unified process for each critical
software development activity.
 Appropriate model combined into hybrid methodology
to make best fit for every project.

4. PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS – It is the ability to plan

and manage temporary endeavor undertaken to create
unique product / service in time and resource constraints.
 Proper planning and scheduling of all activities to
accomplish aim of project.
 Taking calculated risk to maximize project output.
 Monitor the progress of project activities as per plan.

64
  Management of all aspects related to project e.g. costs,
time, manpower etc.

Head IT is responsible for system integration at TECH

MAHINDRA, development of consumer support model and
satisfying software needs of all departments at HCL COMNET LTD
and of all offices. At such designation, technical vision and
encompassing technology in phases viz knowledge of system
integration, IT infrastructure, support and monitoring are critical for
high performance. On the other hand, behavioral competencies of
team building and leadership are essential to get work done from
collaborative teams and task forces. Negotiation skills are add-ons
resulting in win-win situations for dealing with outside vendors.

HEAD SYSTEMS
WORK PROFILE

Responsible for -
 Software development in commercial areas of business.
 SDLC requirement fulfillment of whole Delhi region.
 Development, testing, implementation of various
software .
 And later on providing support for similar modules.
 Imparting of training to end users of software created.
 Successful Business Process Reengineering (BPR).
 Bridges the gap between user of new system and
software developer through interactions.
 Revenue Cycle Generation module in billing by 20 lakh
customers.

65
  Deals with finance, administration, legal, enforcement and
customer care department for any software requirement.
 Understand internal customer needs and acts as an
interface with software programmer.
 Building different cross functional teams of diverse talents
and capabilities according to quantum of work.
 Monitoring the progress of projects undertaken to
complete them in least possible time and resources.

COMPETENCIES REQIREMENT
BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCY SET
1. UNDERSTANDING OF BUSINESS- It is the ability to
grasp the working and knowing the gaps of all aspects of
power sector.
 Knowing business capabilities and growth parameters.
 Improving the business performance with every decision taken.
 Focus on consumer support model with system integration and
automation.
2. ANALYTICAL SKILLS- It is the art of weighing the pros and
cons in very uncertain and ambiguous situation and developing
optimal and creative solution.
 Judging any situation with proper analysis.
 All perspectives should be considered before making any
decision.
 Business relevance and all post effects are taken care of.
 Logical understanding of any issue crop up.

3. TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS- It is the art of utilizing the

available time to its optimum, thus making it the greatest
available resource.

66
  Using every minute available in useful work.
 Scheduling all the activities with strict time frames.
 Execution of all projects by sticking to planned schedule.

4. COMMUNICATION- It is the technique of providing and

receiving verbal or written messages in precise manner to
ensure proper understanding by receiver.
 Articulate the ideas in a manner that is properly understood by
receiver.
 Effective utilization of different channels to provide full
information to everyone.
 Delivery of message to receiver in time and taking
acknowledgement.

5. SELF-CONFIDENCE- It is the art of sensing self worth and

capabilities to enhance performance.
 Presenting oneself with self-assurance.
 Take a stand on what is right.
 Decisive despite uncertainties and pressures of different
constraints.
 Make one’s presence felt in any business scenario.

6. PERSEVERANCE- It is the skill of persisting with an endeavor

inn spite of all hassles.
 Pursuing a standard of excellence in every work.
 Never leave a task unfinished.
 Generating alternatives in any difficult situation.
 Reminding the purpose of task to team in the face of
obstacles.

FUNCTION COMPETENCY

67
 1. SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT- It is the ability to use system
thinking in all stages of software development to
implementation.
 Understanding of how software can be implemented in
current system.
 Feasibility of automation of any work process
 Analyzing the optimal capability of software in any framework.
 Interface between user needs and software developer for
better understanding and use of resources.

At Designation of Head Systems, comprehensive set of behavioral

skills are essential as system’s perspective and holistic view is a
key. Dealing with internal customers in organizations,
understanding their needs and guide subordinates for automation
are the requirement. Technical vision is necessary but soft skills
and managerial skills weigh heavy on technical competencies.
Person should be aware of technical updatings but imbibing every
new technology is not essential.

TRAINING NEEDS AND SUGGESTIONS

• Communication skill (verbal as well as written) training by all
channels is essential for whole organization.
• Team building exercises or outbound learning programs should be
started with good management games.
• Trekking in teams with minimal constraints will be quite beneficial.
• For Subordinates
o Good technical knowledge and understanding of ins and
outs of all new software is essential. So, training is required
for oracle, D2k and any new platform or database should be
provided.

68
 o Communication skill training is the cry of hour for this
organization.
o Time management training can be imparted.
o Leadership and negotiation skill training.
o Induction program should be launched and implemented in
HCL COMNET LTD.
o In-house trainers should be employed who will take care of
all training needs of departments as follow up is necessary
and essential for greater effect.
o Technical modules should be provided on intranet site for
effective and ease in learning.

MANAGERS AND ADDITIONAL MANAGERS

(IT)

DESIGNATION GRADE AREA WORK RELEVANT

PROFILE(Responsibilities) EXPERIENCE
Manager A-5 Infrastructur • Monitoring of all IT 12 + Years
e infrastructure components in
all divisions and offices of
HCL COMNET LTD .
• Connectivity , P.C.’s
,Telecom
• Voice, data & hardware
maintenance and execution
Manager A-5 Data centre • Server management at 12 + years
NOIDA office.
• Disaster recovery strategy
development and
implementation.
• Providing back up and
recovery (no data loss)
during exigency.
• Business continuity by IT
support systems.
• Implementing new and best
practices.

69
Manager A-5 Projects • IT support by software 15+ Years
development, procurement
and implementation except
billing.
• Finding relevance of
applications of new
technology areas.
• Studying, evaluate and
analyze new software tools
for use in organization.

Additional A-4 Training • Planning and providing 16-17 Years

Manager various trainings both
internal & external
• Training module and
calendar preparation.
• Training needs analysis of
basic IT support in division
offices and technical in IT
deptt.
• Conducting and organizing
workshops, seminars, guest
lectures.

COMPETENCIES REQUIREMENT

BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCY SET

1. INITIATIVE- The ability to seize new opportunities and take

advantage in development of business.

 Take anticipatory action to avoid problems before they happen.

 Acting before being forced to by external environment.
 Displaying proactive approach in taking action with awareness of
consequences.

2. OPTIMISM- The ability to operate from ray of hope rather than

fear of failure.
 Persistent in achieving results despite any hassles and setbacks.
 See setbacks as due to manageable rather than a personal flew.
 See the positive side of every situation and circumstance.
 Work with full charm in work and confidence.

70
3. LEADERSHIP SKILLS- the ability to provide vision to the teams,
inspiring and guiding individuals to goal accomplishment.
 Plans for the teams and delegating work to them.
 Making every individual move towards mission.
 Channelising team towards increasing productivity.

4. INTERPERSONAL UNDERSTANDING- The art of developing and

maintaining positive relationships with others with proper
understanding of other’s perspective.
 Understanding the attitudes, interests and needs of others.
 Knowing what motivates others
 Understanding reasons for others behavior in particular situation.
 Giving regard to others feelings, emotions and moods.

5. QUEST FOR LEARNING- the urge to continuously find, imbibe

and use systematically information and knowledge.
 Continuously seeking out information on any new updating
technology.
 Observe the pattern of system and learn from the same.
 Translates new concepts into new applications.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES
1. PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING AND SOLVING- The ability to
understand any issue in current state from all perspectives
and finding applicable solutions.
 Distinguishing symptoms from causes of any issue.
 Anticipating ideas to resolve the issue quickly.
 Understand the needs of internal customers of organization and
apply systems approach to find a workable solution by technology.

71
 2. UNDERSTANDING OF NEW TECHNOLOGY- The ability to
understand and appreciate the new tools and techniques
with hybrid applications.
 Bent of mind to imbibe new technology.
 Appreciate use of new tools in current system to improve business
performance.
 Awareness of environment in terms of networking, databases,
storage systems etc.
3. SYSTEMS APPROACH- The ability to integrate all components
of a system
With support of information technology and see the effects in
totality.
 Don’t divide the process into sub processes.
 Find solution with integration approach.
 Holistic way of understanding any problem scenario to find
solution.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FOR TRAINING

HEAD TRAINING INTERSTED IN SUGGESTIONS

For himself subordinates AND VIEWS

Infrastructur Overall o Team • Trainings

e management building don’t change
processes skills. people
o Manageme overnight.
nt skills • Training is
helpful in
initial years of
joining.

72
Projects Communication o Communic • Praised
ation Transformatio
o Team nal leadership
behavior workshop by
skills external
o Office trainer.
discipline

Data-centre Achievement o Communic • How much a

motivation ation person learns
Stress o Information and gains
management sharing skill from
behavioral
training
depends on
person to
person.

INFERENCES
In competence mapping self appraisal is also an important
feature for it provides a perspective from employees’ point of
view. It communicates his contributions, accomplishments and
reflections on various facilitating and inhibiting factors which
played a role on attaining or otherwise of the goals he set for
himself.

Analysis of performance of the employee through mutual

discussion is a very crucial aspect where the design of the
Competency Mapping format is of less importance than the
process of conducting it. Reporting officer should not let their

73
own biases creep in, put the subordinate at ease, set a
constructive tone, listen to subordinates’ self appraisal, present
his own evaluation of subordinates’ on the job performance,
discuss areas of difference of opinion and arrive at mutually
agreed workable solutions for realizing future goals and for the
fulfillment of professional goals of the subordinate and the
organizational goals.

Application of performance management practices that enable

organizations to improve the performance and bring in a
performance driven culture is the need of the hour rather than
Competency Mappings only.

No doubt without the commitment of the top management it

would just be very very difficult to bring this sort of change.
This in fact calls for a cultural change wherein emphasis is not
only given to the outcome or the end result but also on the
process and effort made to achieve the result. While discussing
of the process and effort we need to focus on the leadership
style, his approach of consulting others, his ability to learn, his
approach as a team member, his effort in planning his days and
week, and his overall orientation for subordinate development.
For this what can be done is that once in a month or two an
effort can be made by the supervisor to sit with his subordinate
and have a face to face interaction in a non threatening
atmosphere. What I have personally observed that it changes
the motivation level of an individual considerably and in fact the
employee makes all out effort to achieve the Organizational
goals.

74
If you want the employee to do something, you must tell
him/her exactly what you want: what jobs or tasks are most
important, what skills and behaviors are required and
acceptable, what goals should be accomplished, and what result
you expect. There are two (2) primary ways to accomplish this:
providing the employee with a job description and setting goals
and performance expectations.

Goals should be SMART:

•Specific.
•Measurable.
• Attainable.
•Realistic.
•Time-limited.

Remember: initiating and maintaining positive communication

about work expectations and work performance is
management’s responsibility!

RECOMMENDATIONS

To achieve the objectives of Competency Mappings in HCL

COMNET LTD., the need to initiate the individual review require
as once appraisals are filed away, people pay little attention to
the process. Performance reviews are intended to measure the
extent to which an employee’s performance meets the
requirements of that individual’s employment position. A yearly
review may not be enough to elicit the high level of performance
from employees. What can be used throughout the year to train
and motivate the employees? Performance management
sessions held throughout the year with each employee can help

75
 accomplish the set goals. Competence mapping through
Performance management is an ongoing process that involves
regular goal-setting, communication, evaluation and allocation
of rewards or consequences. A good performance management
program has a number of advantages. A good program can
help you get the best from your employees, because when
employees know that attention is being paid to their
performance, they are generally motivated to work better.
Performance management helps redirect employee efforts. An
employee may be working hard, but working on the wrong
things. Sessions throughout the year will enable a manager to
keep tabs on what employees are working on, in order to direct
efforts to better fulfill company goals. Periodic performance
management gives managers a measuring tool by tracking
whether employees are achieving specific goals set for them and
with them.

Holding informal reviews once in two – three months is ideal all

staff. There are several benefits of reviewing frequently and
informally:

• The manager is better informed and more up-to-

date with his or her people’s activities (and more in touch with
what lies beyond e.g., customers, suppliers, competitors,
markets etc.)
• Difficult issues can be identified, discussed and
resolved quickly, before they become serious.
• Help can be given more readily – people rarely ask
unless they see a good opportunity to do so – the regular
informal review provides just this.

76
• Assignments, tasks and objectives can be agreed
completed and reviewed quickly – leaving actions more than a
few weeks reduces completion rates significantly for all but the
most senior and experienced people.
• Objectives, direction, and purpose is more up-to-
date – modern organizations demand more flexibility than a
single annual review allows – priorities often change through the
year, so people need to be re-directed and re-focused.
• Training and development actions can be broken
down into smaller more digestible chunks, increasing success
rates and motivational effect as a result.
• The ‘fear factor’, often associated be many with
formal appraisals, is greatly reduced because people become
more comfortable with the review process.
• Relationships and mutual understanding develops
more quickly with greater frequency of meetings between
manager and staff member.
• Staff members can be better prepared for the
formal appraisal, giving better results, and saving management
time.
• Much of the review has already been covered
throughout the year by the times comes for the formal
appraisal.
• Frequent review meetings increase the reliability of
notes and performance data, and reduces the chances of
overlooking things at the formal appraisal.

Self-assessment :

• It involves review actively in the review process.

77
 • It is likely to reduce defensive behavior.
• It provide scope to run review meeting as a constructive
and open dialogue by reducing the top down
developments of traditional performance approach.
• It helps to generate less irritate and more positive
discussion.

Training and Development

Competency Mapping offers an excellent opportunity – perhaps

the best that will ever occur – for a supervisor and subordinate
to recognize and agree upon individual training and
development needs.

Competency Mapping can make the need for training more

pressing and relevant by linking it clearly to performance
outcomes and future career aspirations. From the point of view
of the organization as a whole, consolidated appraisal data can
form a picture of the overall demand for training. This data
may be analyzed by variables such as sex, department etc. In
this respect, Competency Mapping can provide a regular and
efficient training needs audit for the entire organization.

The scope for improvement lies in identification of training

needs and such training are taken care of on a timely basis. It
should be made more frequent because training of any kind is
always helpful be it profile oriented or personality oriented.
There must be proper dissipation of training schedule so that
nobody skips these programs.

78
The perforated sheet in the appraisal format which contains the
area of training required by the employee to enable agreed
action to happen, must reach HR Division and it becomes the
responsibility of the Reporting Officer to ensure that such
training needs are taken care of on a timely basis. If not
provided, next year’s appraisal report should highlight it and the
employee should be given due weightage on his performance.

*****

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Working with Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman

2. Competence at work :Models for Superior Performance

Lyle M. Spencer and Signe M. Spencer

3. The Competent Manager: A model for effective

performance
Richard Boyatzis

4. A Practical Guide to Competencies

Steve Whiddett
Sarah Hollyforde

5. The Handbook of Competency Mapping

Seema Sanghi

6. Andres Drejer “Organizational Learning and Competence

Development”

79
 The Learning Organization, Volume 7. Number 4,2000,
pp206-220

7. Competency Frame Work, Ernst & Young

8. Pearn Kandola (1996) ‘Tools for Assessment and

Development Centres’
Institute of Personnel and Development.

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81