With onset of the worst global recession in decades, newer threats to the competitiveness of

IT (information technology) sectors are materializing. Overall Industry health hs been

good despite sharply reduced spending in most parts of the world on IT hardware,
software & services. However, protectionist measures are rising even in the most free-
market economies. Even the biggest
IT firms are cutting back on their investments in R&D (research and development). In
addition, the
downturn means that broadband companies may be unwilling to fund new deployments
without better regulation. As the Internet becomes a prerequisite for many parts of the
IT industry, such hold-ups could harm the IT sector’s development in many countries.

However, most important to long-term IT sector competitiveness is sustained attention

to the
factors in the industry environment which enable IT firms to compete effectively. These
include the
quality of local technology infrastructure, availability & quality of IT talent, innovation
environment, legal regime, & the overall business environment, as well as the
government’s technology policy itself - all central pillars of the IT industry
competitiveness index.

US still remains the world’s most conducive environment for the development and
growth of IT firms,
despite a tougher business environment and the emergence of protectionist measures.
Canada and
west European countries such as Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands are also
prominent in the index top tier, owing to their robust IT infrastructure and strong
support for technology R&D, among other factors. In emerging markets, large pools of
skilled IT employees remain a significant advantage for China, India, Russia and other
countries, but uneven progress in other areas, such as IT infrastructure, remains a drag
on sector competitiveness.

Overcoming IT Skills Threats & Challenges:

1. Accelerate the trade development initiatives.

2. Improve the talent supply
3. Strengthen the local infrastructure
4. Drive the operational excellence

IT services players need to focus on three key areas:

(a) enhance customer interaction & solution delivery
(b) improve resource management
(c) upgrade support processes

11 Best Practices to follow by any Organization :

1. Identify and clearly define our vision, mission, and values

2. Identify the expectations required to achieve what we value
 3. Provide a clear road map as the guiding action plan

4. Provide clear, meaningful communications to employees

5. It's OUR culture, not just management’s!

6. Keep on track by ongoing positive impact.

7. If the leaders will model, the others will follow!

8. Aligned performance requires learning new behaviors

9. Strong cultures are built by recognition, reinforcement

10. Take decisive , effective actions to eliminate the negative

11. There’s only one real boss – Our Organisation’s VALUES

Need for better and Improved Productivity :

Need for improved productivity has become universally accepted & that it depends on efficient
and effective training is not less apparent. It has further become necessary in view of
advancement in modern world to invest in training. Thus the role played by staff training and
development can no longer be over-emphasized. Training is a systematic development of
knowledge, skills and attitudes required by employees to perform adequately on a given task or
job.

Training
Training whether physically, mentally, socially & intellectually are very essential in facilitating
not only the level of productivity but also the development of personnel in any organization.

Training is a systematic development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by

employees to perform adequately on a given task or job. It can take place in a number of ways,
on the job or off the job; in the organization or outside organization. Staff training and
development is a work activity that can make a very significant contribution to the overall
effectiveness and profitability of an organization.

The effectiveness and success of an organization therefore lies on the people who form and
work within the organization. Employees in an organization who would be able to perform their
duties and make meaningful contributions to the success of the organizational goals need to
acquire the relevant skills and knowledge.

Objectives of Training & Development:

Reasons for stressing on the growth & development of employee includes:

 • Creating a talent pool of always available & adequate alternatives for employees who
may exit or move to higher positions in organization.
• Improving the organization’s ability and adopt high technology with the use of highly
skilled employees
• Creating more effective, effecient & supremely motivated team, as it can enhance
the firm’s competitive position & strengthens employee morale.
• Providing sufficient human resource for expanding in new programs.

Specific benefits from training & developing employees:

• Increased productivity
• Reduction in turnover of employees
• Increased efficiency leading to financial gains
• Less need of supervision

Process of Training :

• Organizational Objectives
• Is There a Gap?
• Needs Assessment
• Training Objectives
• Selection of Trainees
• Selection of Training Mode & Methods
• Choose means of Evaluation
• Administer Training
• Evaluation of the Training

Five Reasons why companies don’t engage themselves in training:

Time - Managers find that time constraints don’t allow the managers to train their
employee.

Getting started - Managers haven’t practiced training of employees. Training process is

not familiar to them.

Broad expertise - Managers have broad expertise compared to the specialized skills which
are required for training & development activity.

Lack of Openness and Trust- Most Managers intend to keep information among
themselves. Also, managers keep information secretive from subordinate which could be
beneficial in the training & development process.

Skepticism about the value of training - Business owners tend to believe that the future
can’t be predicted & controlled & the efforts, therefore, are centered on making money.

A well-structured training program will help the firm succeed. Program with the firm’s
strategy & objectives taken in consideration has a very high chance of productivity
improvement.

Formulating the training strategy consider answering certain question :

 • Who are customers? Why should they buy specially from you?
• Who are the competitors? How do competitors serve market? What advantages they
enjoyed? What segments of market they ignored?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?
• What emerging social trends are affecting the firm?

Purpose of formulating the training strategy will be to answer relatively simple but vital
questions: (1) What’s our business? (2) What should the business be?

Recognising Training Needs

The training needs could be assessed through analyzing three main human resources areas:
The organization, job characteristics & needs of individuals. This analysis will provide
answers to following question:

• Where actually training is needed?

• What should an employee learn to be productive?
• Who should be trained?

Analysis will provide benchmarks and with its help the efficiency of training can be gauged.

Secondly, consider if the organization is committed to support the training financially or else
attempt to develop a sound training program might fail.

Afterwards, determine precisely where training is required. It’s foolish to implement

organization wide training without focus on resources where they are required most.

Also, in market-driven economy of today’s, you should ask your customers about the
business. Summarizing, analysis should be focused on the organization & should tell (1)
where exactly training is required (2) where it works out in the organization.

Selection Process of Trainees

After we have decided the training process, its very important to decide upon the kind of
people who we are going to train as its very expensive and we don’t want our employees to
leave the firm after receiving the training.

Also, Training should also be designed in order to use the employees potential to their
maximum with effectiveness and efficiency. Company need to very carefully select their
people for training.

Training Goals

Goals of training should be related directly to needs. Goals set should be relevant,
measurable, effective and well planned. Employees should be included in the discussion in
the whole goal-setting process.

Methods of Training
On-the-job training : Takes into account the employees who are performing their regular
jobs. They doesn’t lose out on time while they learn. Time table with periodic evaluations
about the progress should be communicated to them. Oreintations, apprenticeships,
assistantships & internships coaching & job-rotations are an integral part of on-the-job
training.

Off-the-job techniques : Fims, lectures, Television, special study, discussions or

conferences, role plays, programmed instruction, case studies & and laboratory training.

Orientations : For fresh employees, Introductory days on job are very crucial in success of
employees. The point gets reinforced through the fact that 60 percent of the employees who
exit do that in initial ten days. Orientation training must emphasize following topics:

• Company's history & mission.

• Key members of the organization.
• Key members of the department & the way department helps to fulfill mission of
company.
• Rules & regulations.

Lectures :

1. Presenting Training material verbally

2. Useful to present a lot of material to a large number of people.
3. More cost effective in lecturing a group than an individual.
4. One-way communication and not the most effective way.
5. Difficult to ensure the easiness of the topic and understanding level of the audience
6. Despite all the drawbacks, lecturing has been the most cost-effective way of
targeting large audiences.

Role playing and simulation:

1. Training techniques which attempt to replicate a real-life situation for a trainee

2. Probable problems & alternative solutions will be presented for discussion.
3. Experience is the best trainer.
4. Experienced employees who can easily describe real world situations and experiences
will help in developing the solutions to the problems. The method is cost-effective &
can be used for marketing & management training.

Audiovisual methods :

1. Most effective means of providing real world conditions and situations like
television, films etc.
2. Presentation will be uniform no matter how many times it will be played.
3. AudioVisual method doesn’t allow for changes in the presentation style or
questioning of the speaker.

Job rotation :

1. Moving employees between different jobs

2. Usually, it’s used in supervision training of the employee.
 3. Employee tend to learn in small bits about everything.

Apprenticeships :

1. Developing multi-tasking employees.

2. Associated with a lot of inter-related skill sets which helps an employee to grow.

Internships and assistantships :

1. Combination of classroom & on-the-job training.

2. Often used to train prospective managers or marketing personnel.

Programmed learning :

1. Computer-aided instruction & interactive video allows the trainee to learn at their
own pace with flexibility.
2. Instructor might not be present all the time and trainee can learn on its own.

Laboratory training :

1. Used by upper-management trainees to learn and collaborate and share knowledge

2. Might be costly and not feasible

Trainers

1. Trainers should be very good and thorough.

2. Trainers should be aware of the knowledge & skills necessary to become a productive
employee.
3. Trainers should be taught to establish goals and objectives for their training and to
determine how these objectives can be used to influence the productivity of their
departments.
4. Trainers also must be aware of how adults learn and how best to communicate with
adults.

Training Administration

Careful attention should be given to these factors:

• Facilities
• Location
• Comfort
• Equipment
• Accessibility
 • Timing

Steps to follow by an effective administrator:

• Clearly defining the objectives of the organization.

• Determine needs of training program.
• Define the training goals.
• Develop the training methods.
• Decide who will be trained.
• Administer training.
• Evaluate training program.

Training Evaluation

1. Continuous evaluation over a period of time and several times in number.

2. Determining milestones while developing the training plan.
3. Employee evaluation should be done through a comparison of their latest acquired
skills and those defined by goals of training program.
4. Adjustments needs to be noted and changes to be made in the training program
accordingly.
5. Lot of emphasis should be on the continuous and timely evaluation of the training
otherwise it might lead to the employee disinterest and dissatisfaction.